TM #187 - Which is the more exquisite sensation: revenge, relief, or vindication?
Relief, by a long shot.
I can't begin to talk about how many close calls and near-misses I-- frak, that we all have had to go through since leaving the Twelve Colonies. It's like our entire lives have become nothing but a series of narrow escapes and of blind luck keeping us from being extinct.
The first big sigh of relief came when I finally got back to the Fleet after being on occupied Caprica for all those months. Starbuck had gone on her crazy mission for President Roslin and had picked up a couple of strays, Sharon and me, and got us all back to humanity in a stolen Heavy Raider. Even after Anders and the resistance, it was still a fifty stone weight off of my chest the moment we walked through that airlock and saw human faces again.
Yeah, that relief didn't last long, but I felt it.
And then when Hera was born... Gods, that was beyond relief. I can still remember what it felt like to pound on the outside of that godsdamn cell, watching Sharon shivering and crying under her blanket. I can still remember her hand slipping out from under that blanket, covered in blood. Nobody knew what it was going to be like, delivering a hybrid child, but I don't think even Doc Cottle had been able to predict that.
I was there for the whole thing, holding Sharon's hand, mine getting crushed in her grip. All I could do was stand beside her and try to coach her through the whole thing, promising her that everything would be okay, when I had no idea if it would. When I finally heard Hera cry and watched her move, and when I finally saw that Sharon was alive and sleeping, I was breathing again. I thanked the Gods up and down for sparing them both and letting me be there for them.
There was relief when the Galactica Jumped out of New Caprica atmosphere, knowing that the old gal had actually pulled off the Admiral's insane plan. And you know there was relief when I finally got transferred out of Dogville.
Relief. Definitely as good as it gets.
Capt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
Battlestar Galactica
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