Hi all, RL has diverted me for a little while, but my muse has been working away and has finally made me post the next part. Hope you like, reviews always welcome, the good, the bad and spelling mistakes all welcome….
Chapter 5
Saul Tigh was a hardass. He'd spent years in the service, years that had shown him man at his very best, and his very worst. He'd been driven to drink and had lost his way years before, and in the time since then he'd forgotten why he started. But recently, since the end of the world as he knew it, he'd rediscovered his purpose, his commitment to the service, and to Bill Adama. That man had saved him before and Saul knew he owed him everything. More than that, he trusted him.
The only thing they'd ever disagreed on was Kara Thrace. From their first meeting, Saul had seen far too much of himself in the young pilot and had come down hard on her at every opportunity. Her cockiness, insubordination, her brashness, her take no bullshit attitude drove him mad. She was reckless and knew the inside of the brig better than he knew his wife. He had once been the same, but he never had a commander like Bill that let her get away with things so often. Where Saul had been busted back down to foot soldier, Thrace seemed only to get a night in the brig, a slight dress down, then she was off flying again. And he hated her for it. He just could not see what Bill did, and he hated that she drove a wedge between them. And when one drunken night he realised he was jealous of her, he really hated her for making him so petty.
However, all that said, at this very moment in time he'd give his right arm to have her in his face, punching him across the rec room then strolling off to the brig. Because if she was here, she would not be being beamed across the fleet to all open vid screens in her current state. And Bill Adama would not be going insane with rage and helplessness. As Saul looked around CIC he saw not only Bill but Lee Adama red faced with rage, and standing across the command desk was Laura Roslin, her eyes steely, yet hidden behind welling tears, her fist clenched in front of her mouth as she watched the screen. This was the 3rd time in a week the bastards who had Thrace had broadcast her suffering to the fleet. Previous times it had been audio only, the sound of a beating, of Starbuck's pained grunts as she was attacked. Each time ending with no apparent sign off. Another half muffled scream drew his eyes back to the recently started broadcast, this their first opportunity to lay eyes on the viper pilot.
On the screen was what looked to be your standard cargo hold room. Grey walls, grey floor, grey ceiling. All grey, except for the blood spatter. These were things he'd noticed later, the first thing that drew his attention had been the blond figure strung up by her wrists in the centre of the room. Head down, hair over her face, feet barely touching the floor, yet undeniably it had been Starbuck. He could see her chest and stomach move as she struggled to draw in breath and could hear her pained whimpering, so unlike the Starbuck he was accustomed to he wondered what the hell they'd done to her to cause such a noise.
Obviously she'd been worked over by some experienced thugs, bruises stood out on her exposed skin under streaks of blood and a layer of pain induced sweat. Her unfettered ankles were ringed with dark bruises and patches of blood from what he assumed had been tight restraints. Her wrists, pulled high out and above her head were currently bound in chains, but he could see the lines of blood running down towards her elbows. He could only imagine the pain she was in from that alone.
And then there was her knee. The same one she'd had such trouble with before, the same one that had kept her out of her Viper for so long. It had clearly been the focus of a sustained, brutal attack. He wondered if it had been a coincidence that they had gone for it, then realised it unlikely, and that they had carefully planned exactly where to hurt her the most. It was swollen to twice its normal size. Black with bruises extending out to purple bruising on her thigh and calf. It look smashed, misshapen, beaten out of all shape. Saul could only imagine the agony she went though as they caused that much damage, though her current whimpering suggested it had been unbearable, and recent.
And then he saw the reason for her screams. A sound he knew he'd never heard from her before. Starbuck did not scream, ever. Shout, yell, curse, sure, he'd seen all that. But such a pain filled, girl like scream? Saul shook his head, he often forgot she was a woman, she certainly never expected any special treatment for it, she made sure she could run as far and as fast as the men, she could hold her own in a fist fight, and she could certainly out play most of them at cards. But, for all her training, someone had managed to get hold of her and put her in this position. He wondered how they'd got her. Then realised it didn't matter, he couldn't change that.
He could only watch as once again someone off screen unleashed a ferocious lash from a leather whip onto Kara's back. As the whip connected her whole body was thrown forward, her weight forced onto her damaged knee before the chains holding her hands in place swung her back. He saw her try to stop her scream even as it was ripped from her and he wondered if it was the whiplash or the movement of her knee which elicited the heartbreaking yell. He couldn't tell if her trying to control her reaction was for her own benefit, or for the watching audience which he was sure she knew about.
Again and again the whip found her back. Each time the same result, a shift of her body weight, more blood spatter, more blood from underneath the chains holding her up, and more screams to the point where she could no longer stop herself. Saul willed her to pass out, to stop hanging on, to just black out and spare herself the pain. But he knew that she wouldn't get the chance for that as he heard her voice, quieter and more pain filled than he thought possible, evidently everyone else in CIC heard it too as several heads shook in disbelief and horror.
"….no more…..please, no more…."
A disembodied woman's voice came over the broadcast, loud, clear, and dripping with sarcasm
"Speak up Starbuck, we can't hear you, all the nice people watching can't hear you, speak up".
Everyone watched as Kara visibly flinched at the voice, painfully drawing another breath before slightly louder she spoke again,
"Frak you, you heard me".
"Oh Starbuck, you know the deal, you ask, you receive. You ask me to stop and I will, I thought you asked, but obviously not." The woman's voice hardened, "Start again….."
The whip crashed once more onto Kara's back, this time her scream was devastating to those watching as she followed it with the words everyone wanted her to say, yet no-one wanted her to give in at the same time.
"Ok, please…" a deep, painful breath, "please no more".
All this time Kara did not look up, Saul unsure if she was unable, or just ashamed. He soon found out it was the latter as the woman's voice once more demanded,
"Look up Starbuck, you look at me, look at me and ask me to stop hurting you."
Kara stayed still, breathing deeply, the voice again, now shouting,
"Do it little girl, or we start again".
It seemed to Saul that everyone held their breath as Kara slowly, obviously painfully raised her head upright, carefully shaking the hair out of her line of vision. Gasps all round CIC as they got their first look at her face. Her left eye almost swollen shut, blood dripping from above her eye and the opposite corner of her mouth. A nasty ring of purple bruising around her throat as if she'd been choked. But for all of that, it was the look in her eyes that caused the most upset to the people in CIC who knew her. Her eyes were full of despair and shame.
Saul could see her internal battle waging as she tried to be strong, to be the respected pilot she was, yet at the same time faced with unbearable pain and suffering, the threat of more, and with the shame of knowing that the entire fleet was able to see her humiliation. All of a sudden his animosity to her disappeared, how could he have missed the courage and fortitude she was displaying at this moment? He owed Bill an apology. But first, they had to watch this play out.
Again the grating woman's voice,
"Well, what's it to be little girl? You want some more, or you want me to stop? Come on, we're all waiting."
A tear trickled down Kara's face as she battled with herself.
"What's the matter, Starbuck, you hurt? Huh, you want to cry some more 'cos it hurts?"
Kara's eyes slid to the floor in shame,
"Go ahead and cry little girl, it makes great television. Go on, lets have some more tears, show them just how tough you are. You really are pathetic, a little rough and tough and you start with the waterworks."
Saul watched as Starbuck tried desperately to stop the pain induced tears, he could see her draw in deep breaths, eyes still averted. His heart broke for her, compounded by the next heartless words from the as yet unknown woman.
"Little girl wants her mommy to make it better?"
The woman let loose a harsh laugh as Kara's eyes flashed to hers, a deep rooted pain and anger evident as the woman continued
"Oh that's right, how could I forget. Your mommy was the one who made you cry, wasn't she little Starbuck, not the one to make it all better. Tell me, was it her fists or her belt that made you cry the most?"
Saul saw it coming, knew from experience just how far you could push Thrace before she lost it, and he'd never dared venture into her family history. He saw the anger push aside her pain as she lunged for the woman off camera, momentarily forgetting her restraints.
"You bitch, you shut up about my mother, you don't know anything, let me the frak go".
Then to everyone's surprise the woman belonging to the voice appeared on camera for the first time, stalking towards Kara from beside the camera position. The tall, thin blond was instantly recognisable to the command staff as a cylon, the twin of Gina. All of a sudden things fell in to place and a sick feeling washed through CIC as they realised it wasn't simply Cylon supporters that had Kara, it was the Cylon's themselves.
Before having time to contemplate further the blond cylon had advanced on Kara, grabbed her around her already bruised throat and got right into her face.
"I know everything little girl, about your mother, about your broken bones, about the dark little cupboard under the stairs…"
Kara's eyes went wide
"….about what she did to you before you ran away join up"
The cylon chuckled as Starbuck tried to head butt her only to earn a vicious knee to her gut
"We've been over this Starbuck. You are nothing, nothing. You are mine now, and I make the rules. So, you want me to stop? Or you want me to continue?"
Kara straightened back up from the blow, aware of the hand still around her throat, but once more too pigheaded to give in, fully aware of who could be watching, desperate not to let them down, she fought back with all she had left, her words. Venom infused her as she spoke.
"So you made me cry, well done, such an achievement after you tie me up and beat me half to death. Real proud of yourself for that aren't you. But you know what, I will never give in to you, never.."
Kara braced herself for the killing blow, welcoming the release,
"…not like Gina did…"
Anything else she wanted to say was cut off by the enraged cry of the cylon, her fists pounding into Kara's ribs robbing her of breath.
"Don't you mention her, don't you even dare."
She signalled off camera, instantly Kara's chained wrists were slackened enough that the cylon forced her down onto her knees, Kara's piercing cry of pain reminding everyone of her destroyed knee as she was forced to kneel on it. The cylon produced a gun from her belt and pointed it directly at Kara's face.
"Open your mouth you frakking bitch".
Kara shook her head, the cylon kicked at her knee, and as Kara involuntarily screamed, forced the gun all the way to the back of her throat.
CIC was one big gathered breath as the standoff continued, their best pilot shackled on her knees, a gun in her mouth with a cylon holding the trigger. Everyone was sure this was the end, the cylon shaking with anger as she cocked the trigger. Kara closed her eyes, afraid to move one inch.
The moment dragged on until the cylon spoke, Kara instinctively opening her eyes as she could only listen.
"You will never speak of her again. Do you hear me. What your government have done to my sister is unspeakable, inhuman. What your government sanctioned, what those monsters did to her….."
The cylon visibly pulled herself together, straightening her trigger arm, forcing Kara's head back further,
"…you will experience. This is only the beginning. Your fleet is watching little girl, they will see what happens to POW's in this war, and they will know that we do nothing that they did not sanction on the POW currently in the brig of the Pegasus."
The cylon turned to the camera, her eyes burning into the audience.
"Know this Admiral Cain and Commander Adama, this prisoner is going to continue to suffer for at least the same amount of time as you have held my sister, 52 days and counting. You want this bitch back, you let Gina go. The choice is yours."
She tuned back to Kara, pushing the gun further back to her throat making Kara gag.
"The next time you're in this position, I guarantee it wont be a gun you're sucking on"
She withdrew the gun before slamming it into Kara's temple, knocking her out. As she swung unconcisous from her suspended hands, the cylon turned back once more to the camera, lifting Kara's head by the hair so the camera picked up her beaten face
"Her life is in your hands, give me what I want and you'll get her back."
The screen went blank.
CIC was silent.
The cards had all been laid on the table, Bill knew what he wanted to do, but he had a feeling Admiral Cain wouldn't be so willing to give the cylon what she wanted.