Fic: The Other Side of Dawn (4/?)
Title: The Other Side of Dawn
Genre: Drama/Angst/Romance/Action
Rating: MA/ K+/PG-13
Summary: AU for miniseries. Laura Roslin isn't the Dying Leader, but as XO of Pegasus under Admiral Cain, she finds herself bereft at the End of the Worlds, trying to do her duty all while fearing the deaths of her friends William and Saul.
Part 4: Cold
Laura gasped involuntarily as the sound of the bullet filled the silence of CIC. Her mind filled with thoughts of the havoc this was going to create. Cain had a loyal crew, but Laura knew that she had the knuckledraggers, the doctors and nurses, the techs and the maintenance workers. There would be trouble.
But as she fell to the floor, she realized someone was above her, their arms wrapped around her in a protective position.
When she hit, she fell to the side on the grating and opened her eyes to stare in Juergen's. Blood was already trickling down his lip and she realized he had stepped back in front of her.
“X..O.” He choked out. Laura quickly scooted out from under him and turned him on his back, her hands covering the wound in his chest.
“Keep with me, Juergen.” She pleaded, even as his blood soaked her white sleep pants crimson. She hadn't even bothered to dress properly in Life Station, and so the darkness of the man's life spilled out onto pure blankness.
“I should have let Joe escort me the whole way,” she muttered to herself, but even as she said it she saw the temporary XO's eyes roll up in his head and the blood cease it's flowing. He was dead.
She looked up, staring coldly into Admiral Cain's eyes.
“Not going to kill me, Helena?” She said, loud enough for only the Admiral to hear her.
“No.” She replied, lowering Juergen's gun. She turned to one of her CIC officers, “Fisk, you're up as XO. Colonel Roslin, you are dismissed and confined to quarters indefinitely.”
“The price of my soul, Helena?” Laura said with a chill in her voice.
“Franklin, Tam, escort Miss Roslin to her quarters. Ensure she does not leave.” The two marines, shaking infinitesimally, bent to help Laura up.
Laura nodded and bent over Juergen Belzen, closing his eyes with one hand whilst whispering a prayer to Persephone to stay her husband's erratic hand. She rose with the help of the two marines and slowly made her way out of CIC.
Confined to her room, Laura went through Dark Day in a matter of hours and her own copy of Tirisfal Glade in three days. The memory of what her calculating, intelligent Admiral had turned into could not be shaken, nor could Colonel Juergen Belyzen's dead gaze.
She heard of very little in the days following the shooting and her confinement. The young Petty Officer who brought her her small meal said little. Her name, Laura gleaned, was Tiamat Sarn.
One day, though, Tia came in late, an extra protein bar on her tray and sat down with Laura, shaking.
“Tiamat, what's wrong?” Laura questioned.
“I...I need to tell you what just happened. Thats what the extra bar is for.” Tia's instructions, as Laura recalled, were to wait while Laura ate before taking the tray and cup of water out with her. Time, it seemed, was necessary.
“Tell me.” Laura said, taking a bite of the bar and a sip of water.
“We...we found a civilian fleet two days ago...”
Laura brightened, “..but..thats incredible news!” A Civilian Fleet....perhaps protected?
“..The Admiral ordered the FTLs and spare parts, workers, and supplies transferred to Pegasus. We left them.”
Laura choked on her water, and young Tia was forced to come around the side of the couch and pat her back until she regained control of her breathing. Then she returned to her seat, eyes downcast as Laura struggled with the news.
It was beyond survival; it was the Admiral lost in a haze of lust and revenge. It was something her heart screamed at. What if the civilians had been previously protected? What if the attack hit Galactica later than it hit them and there were survivors? What if-
Laura cut herself off, letting the nausea wash over and out, head cupped in her hands.
“There is more...isn't there.” She said flatly, looking back up at Tia.
“The Cylons look like us now. Gina Inviere is a Cylon.”
Laura laughed, bitterly and darkly, the irony of Cain's brutality and choice of lover coming to look like a cosmic joke. The Cylons looked human and the woman loosing every last shred of her humanity had been fraking one.
“How very fitting...” Laura murmured, a clouded smile overtaking her features. Tia looked up at her uncomfortably,” why are you telling me all this?”
“The crew,” Tia said, gathering up the wrappers and cup, ready to leave,” the below-decks crew, is doubting Admiral Cain's ability to lead this ship.”The words 'we follow you' hung in the air, but Tia didn't speak them. Only a look gave Laura any indication of mutiny. And without so much as a backwards glance, Laura's newest ally shut the hatch.
Laura lay back in the couch, realizing the enormity of what she was beginning to consider. Mutiny.
Her stomach turned over, the disgust building in place of her fears and anxieties. Mutiny was never something she'd considered before, leaving her loyalty with the people she answered to. Once it had been Bill as CAG, then Admiral Cain. She was a soldier, she did not use her heart, her emotion, to analyze her orders. But had her CO not crossed that line? She shot a loyal officer who's morals-his honor, not his heart-had not been what she wanted? Removal, dismissal, anything would have been more appropriate a punishment. Cain had not, therefore, used the part of her that held reason. Her punishment had been a gross overkill for the crime of insubordination.
Reaching for the phone, she dialed what she hoped was the deck and prayed.
“Gods forgive me.”