My First Fic: Mathematics (1/10): Decimation
Series Title: Mathematics
Segment Title: Decimation (1/10)
Author: kappamaki33
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Eventually, Gaeta/Eight, implied Caprica/Baltar, and (unrequited?) Gaeta/Baltar
Series Summary: Scenes from New Caprica. It was such a simple equation: Felix+Eight= valuable, effective death lists. But the math never remains that uncomplicated, once life gets factored in.
Part 1 Summary: “Decimation”: Humanity’s children take a brutal lesson from their parents’ history. Eight and Felix may no longer be in control of their own destinies, but only Eight knows this.
Spoilers: Through “Face of the Enemy” Webisodes
Disclaimer: I do not own BSG or any of the characters described herein. These works are for fan appreciation and entertainment only, and I do not benefit financially from them.
Series Notes: So, this is my first-ever fic. It’s going to be a ten-part series when I’m done. I wanted to impose some sort of structure on the story to make it a bit more challenging-and also to help me develop an overall framework-so each vignette has some connection to its number, in descending order from 10 to 1. The connection to the number is more obvious in some than in others, but it served its purpose as a structural framework. Also, I recognize that it’s not very Gaeta-y yet, but that’s coming. Originally, it was going to be completely from Gaeta’s perspective, but now I think it’s going to trade back and forth between Gaeta and his Eight, whom I discovered was a far more interesting character than I ever would have thought if I hadn't tried writing a fic involving her.
Part 1 Notes: I found the webisodes fascinating and thought they opened up a lot of potential questions, so I tried to speculate on a few of them. In this segment: why did the Cylons even bother with making death lists? How did the idea come about?
And in case you’re wondering, yes, the Cylons do have Monopoly. Hey, if BSG has Bob Dylan and Emily Dickinson, who says they don’t have the Parker Brothers, too?
Also, this segment is brought to you by the number 10, a number that has an interesting and bloody historical connection to the word “decimation.”
Mathematics: Decimation
There were two Fives, a One, a Four, and a Six already in the President’s office and speaking in hushed tones when Eight pushed aside the curtain in the doorway. They turned to look at her, but it unsettled Eight that they all kept staring even once they saw it was her.
She didn’t take a seat immediately, instead standing in the doorway. She had been trained to always leave herself an easy exit, especially when her gut told her something was wrong. Of course, this wasn’t enemy territory, but old habits die hard. “Am I late?”
“No, two minutes early, in fact,” the Five leaning against the President’s desk said, glancing at his watch. “But now that you’re here, I think we might as well start. Have a seat.”
She sat down on the sofa next to the Six. The Five and Four on the other side of the narrow room looked a little tense and excited, but she could see barely contained amusement in the One’s eyes. She knew he took great pleasure in observing how poorly her warrior’s instincts served her in politics. Soldiers and politicians both watched and waited for their opponents to make a small but critical slip-up before taking them out, but at least soldiers were up-front about it. Somebody could deal you a death-blow in politics and you might not even know you were dead until months later.
Eight looked around the room again. “Aren’t we going to wait for a human? Not that I expect the President would wake up for a staff meeting, but I thought I saw Gaeta leaving for the settlement on my way-”
“We sent Mr. Gaeta to oversee a supply delivery to Dr. Cottle’s hospital,” Four said. “He won’t be back until well after we’re done here, I’m sure.”
Eight’s brow furrowed. One laughed. “Oh, come on, boys. As much as I’m enjoying watching the Eight try to puzzle this out, just tell her already.”
The Five at the front of the room straightened up and gave a self-important tug at his lapels. “We have an idea,” he said, then waited for a dramatic beat. “An idea for how to solve the human insurgency problem.” Five waited again, hoping for a gasp of shock and amazement from her, Eight knew. She just crossed her arms. “You tell her, Simon.”
Four leaned forward. “It’s based on an old human military practice called ‘decimation.’” Eight saw why the Five had let Four tell this part of the story; his rich, deep voice added an almost reverent weight to the word, an effect the Fives never could have pulled off, despite their love of theatricality. “When a unit of soldiers gravely misbehaved-threatened mutiny, desertion-their punishment was to be divided into groups of ten to draw lots. Even though all were guilty, only one out of every ten would draw death. That way, the generals could show their men they were serious, set an example, without gravely depleting their numbers.”
“But what makes our idea so much better is we’re not going to draw lots at random,” the Five at the head of the room cut in, unable to hold back his excitement any longer. “We want a much more precise system, one where we target only the worst of the insurgents, only the most critical, the biggest threats.”
“Well, in theory, that makes sense,” Eight said, “but that’s been our problem all along. Sure, there are a few obvious leaders like Colonel Tigh, but for the most part, stamping out the resistance has been so difficult because we can’t tell the rebels from our loyalists, let alone who their leaders are.”
The Five sitting down said, “Which brings us to Mr. Gaeta-”
“-and to you,” finished One, lips quirked in a wicked cat-that-ate-the-canary smile.
Eight's stomach churned. She knew she was cornered, but she couldn’t escape because she didn’t know what weapons the others were going to come at her with.
“We have a good percentage of the human population in detention at any given time,” the Five continued. “All we need is someone who can tell us who in our prisons are the most valuable, the biggest threats-someone who knows the other humans well.”
Eight shook her head. “Look, Gaeta may work for us, but don’t think for a minute that’s because he likes us. He’s trying to keep the human society from completely falling apart, and we’re just the people he has to go through to keep things running.”
“Hmm, you certainly do seem to know a lot about Mr. Gaeta,” One said quietly, raising an eyebrow.
Five continued, “Oh, he won’t think he’s choosing a death lottery. On the contrary-he’ll think he’s handing out get-out-of-jail-free cards. You’ll convince him he is.”
“I…? Oh.” Eight did her best to keep her face impassive as her heart sank. Damn them, they’re going to make me into another Boomer, she thought. They’re going to make me into another one like the sister trapped on Galactica. I’ll kill for you, brothers, I’ll die for you, I’m ready for that, but- “No,” she finally said. “No, it won’t work-can’t work…”
“I’m with you, Eight,” One said. “Personally, I don’t see why we need to bother with all this one-in-ten rigmarole. If we just cut the population down to a few hundred, a thousand at most, we’d have no trouble keeping the humans in check. Why we even wanted to keep 40,000 of them in the first place is beyond me. Pets are nice, but this setup is akin to us being the crazy cat lady who lets her pets take over her house. I know that the Threes agree with me, as will the Fours, eventually, and the Twos owe me a favor. I thought the Fives were really our swing vote, but if the Eights are on board with my plan as well…”
“Sharon,” said the Six beside her, speaking up for the first time. “I know the plan isn’t ideal, and it’s asking a lot of you, but it’s the best solution on which we can reach a consensus.” She turned and put a hand on Eight’s wrist, whispering, “Please.”
Eight knew she was trapped. She may not have been as enthusiastic as her sisters were about coexisting with the humans, but she couldn’t let them down and let One win. The only thing keeping him from getting enough votes was the Fives’ egos and investment in their own idea. She decided to try one last shift in tactics before surrendering.
“I’m not so sure I’m the right sort of bait to set out for Felix Gaeta. Don’t you think a Five would be more his type?”
One doubled over with laughter. “Ha! A Five couldn’t seduce a horny rabbit if his life depended on it, let alone a particularly buttoned-down human. Nice one, Eight,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes.
“The fact is, you’re our best option,” Six said. “Gaeta seems very, very uncomfortable around the D’Annas, Simons, and Dorals, and from what I can tell he silently loathes my model for some reason. We considered a Leoben, since Gaeta hasn’t had much contact with them, but Leobens have a tendency to come on far too strong. Which leaves you.”
“Which leaves me.” For an instant, she considered arguing, “Why me? Why not another Eight?” Luckily, she caught herself in time. An Eight is and Eight is and Eight, even if they trained one to be a soldier, to love being a soldier, and then shoved her into a tiny, windowless office in a hopeless bureaucracy.
And now, shoved her into bed with a human.
Eight sighed. “When should I start? It’s going to take me awhile to get him to trust me with a list like that.”
The Five beamed. “I’ll leave that completely to your discretion, but we do have a full staff meeting tomorrow morning at 0800.”
With that, everyone picked up their files and started to leave. As she stood, though, One caught her eye and gave her a knowing smirk that made Eight wonder if she hadn’t kept that last, unplayed card as close to her chest as she thought.
Segment Title: Decimation (1/10)
Author: kappamaki33
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Eventually, Gaeta/Eight, implied Caprica/Baltar, and (unrequited?) Gaeta/Baltar
Series Summary: Scenes from New Caprica. It was such a simple equation: Felix+Eight= valuable, effective death lists. But the math never remains that uncomplicated, once life gets factored in.
Part 1 Summary: “Decimation”: Humanity’s children take a brutal lesson from their parents’ history. Eight and Felix may no longer be in control of their own destinies, but only Eight knows this.
Spoilers: Through “Face of the Enemy” Webisodes
Disclaimer: I do not own BSG or any of the characters described herein. These works are for fan appreciation and entertainment only, and I do not benefit financially from them.
Series Notes: So, this is my first-ever fic. It’s going to be a ten-part series when I’m done. I wanted to impose some sort of structure on the story to make it a bit more challenging-and also to help me develop an overall framework-so each vignette has some connection to its number, in descending order from 10 to 1. The connection to the number is more obvious in some than in others, but it served its purpose as a structural framework. Also, I recognize that it’s not very Gaeta-y yet, but that’s coming. Originally, it was going to be completely from Gaeta’s perspective, but now I think it’s going to trade back and forth between Gaeta and his Eight, whom I discovered was a far more interesting character than I ever would have thought if I hadn't tried writing a fic involving her.
Part 1 Notes: I found the webisodes fascinating and thought they opened up a lot of potential questions, so I tried to speculate on a few of them. In this segment: why did the Cylons even bother with making death lists? How did the idea come about?
And in case you’re wondering, yes, the Cylons do have Monopoly. Hey, if BSG has Bob Dylan and Emily Dickinson, who says they don’t have the Parker Brothers, too?
Also, this segment is brought to you by the number 10, a number that has an interesting and bloody historical connection to the word “decimation.”
Mathematics: Decimation
There were two Fives, a One, a Four, and a Six already in the President’s office and speaking in hushed tones when Eight pushed aside the curtain in the doorway. They turned to look at her, but it unsettled Eight that they all kept staring even once they saw it was her.
She didn’t take a seat immediately, instead standing in the doorway. She had been trained to always leave herself an easy exit, especially when her gut told her something was wrong. Of course, this wasn’t enemy territory, but old habits die hard. “Am I late?”
“No, two minutes early, in fact,” the Five leaning against the President’s desk said, glancing at his watch. “But now that you’re here, I think we might as well start. Have a seat.”
She sat down on the sofa next to the Six. The Five and Four on the other side of the narrow room looked a little tense and excited, but she could see barely contained amusement in the One’s eyes. She knew he took great pleasure in observing how poorly her warrior’s instincts served her in politics. Soldiers and politicians both watched and waited for their opponents to make a small but critical slip-up before taking them out, but at least soldiers were up-front about it. Somebody could deal you a death-blow in politics and you might not even know you were dead until months later.
Eight looked around the room again. “Aren’t we going to wait for a human? Not that I expect the President would wake up for a staff meeting, but I thought I saw Gaeta leaving for the settlement on my way-”
“We sent Mr. Gaeta to oversee a supply delivery to Dr. Cottle’s hospital,” Four said. “He won’t be back until well after we’re done here, I’m sure.”
Eight’s brow furrowed. One laughed. “Oh, come on, boys. As much as I’m enjoying watching the Eight try to puzzle this out, just tell her already.”
The Five at the front of the room straightened up and gave a self-important tug at his lapels. “We have an idea,” he said, then waited for a dramatic beat. “An idea for how to solve the human insurgency problem.” Five waited again, hoping for a gasp of shock and amazement from her, Eight knew. She just crossed her arms. “You tell her, Simon.”
Four leaned forward. “It’s based on an old human military practice called ‘decimation.’” Eight saw why the Five had let Four tell this part of the story; his rich, deep voice added an almost reverent weight to the word, an effect the Fives never could have pulled off, despite their love of theatricality. “When a unit of soldiers gravely misbehaved-threatened mutiny, desertion-their punishment was to be divided into groups of ten to draw lots. Even though all were guilty, only one out of every ten would draw death. That way, the generals could show their men they were serious, set an example, without gravely depleting their numbers.”
“But what makes our idea so much better is we’re not going to draw lots at random,” the Five at the head of the room cut in, unable to hold back his excitement any longer. “We want a much more precise system, one where we target only the worst of the insurgents, only the most critical, the biggest threats.”
“Well, in theory, that makes sense,” Eight said, “but that’s been our problem all along. Sure, there are a few obvious leaders like Colonel Tigh, but for the most part, stamping out the resistance has been so difficult because we can’t tell the rebels from our loyalists, let alone who their leaders are.”
The Five sitting down said, “Which brings us to Mr. Gaeta-”
“-and to you,” finished One, lips quirked in a wicked cat-that-ate-the-canary smile.
Eight's stomach churned. She knew she was cornered, but she couldn’t escape because she didn’t know what weapons the others were going to come at her with.
“We have a good percentage of the human population in detention at any given time,” the Five continued. “All we need is someone who can tell us who in our prisons are the most valuable, the biggest threats-someone who knows the other humans well.”
Eight shook her head. “Look, Gaeta may work for us, but don’t think for a minute that’s because he likes us. He’s trying to keep the human society from completely falling apart, and we’re just the people he has to go through to keep things running.”
“Hmm, you certainly do seem to know a lot about Mr. Gaeta,” One said quietly, raising an eyebrow.
Five continued, “Oh, he won’t think he’s choosing a death lottery. On the contrary-he’ll think he’s handing out get-out-of-jail-free cards. You’ll convince him he is.”
“I…? Oh.” Eight did her best to keep her face impassive as her heart sank. Damn them, they’re going to make me into another Boomer, she thought. They’re going to make me into another one like the sister trapped on Galactica. I’ll kill for you, brothers, I’ll die for you, I’m ready for that, but- “No,” she finally said. “No, it won’t work-can’t work…”
“I’m with you, Eight,” One said. “Personally, I don’t see why we need to bother with all this one-in-ten rigmarole. If we just cut the population down to a few hundred, a thousand at most, we’d have no trouble keeping the humans in check. Why we even wanted to keep 40,000 of them in the first place is beyond me. Pets are nice, but this setup is akin to us being the crazy cat lady who lets her pets take over her house. I know that the Threes agree with me, as will the Fours, eventually, and the Twos owe me a favor. I thought the Fives were really our swing vote, but if the Eights are on board with my plan as well…”
“Sharon,” said the Six beside her, speaking up for the first time. “I know the plan isn’t ideal, and it’s asking a lot of you, but it’s the best solution on which we can reach a consensus.” She turned and put a hand on Eight’s wrist, whispering, “Please.”
Eight knew she was trapped. She may not have been as enthusiastic as her sisters were about coexisting with the humans, but she couldn’t let them down and let One win. The only thing keeping him from getting enough votes was the Fives’ egos and investment in their own idea. She decided to try one last shift in tactics before surrendering.
“I’m not so sure I’m the right sort of bait to set out for Felix Gaeta. Don’t you think a Five would be more his type?”
One doubled over with laughter. “Ha! A Five couldn’t seduce a horny rabbit if his life depended on it, let alone a particularly buttoned-down human. Nice one, Eight,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes.
“The fact is, you’re our best option,” Six said. “Gaeta seems very, very uncomfortable around the D’Annas, Simons, and Dorals, and from what I can tell he silently loathes my model for some reason. We considered a Leoben, since Gaeta hasn’t had much contact with them, but Leobens have a tendency to come on far too strong. Which leaves you.”
“Which leaves me.” For an instant, she considered arguing, “Why me? Why not another Eight?” Luckily, she caught herself in time. An Eight is and Eight is and Eight, even if they trained one to be a soldier, to love being a soldier, and then shoved her into a tiny, windowless office in a hopeless bureaucracy.
And now, shoved her into bed with a human.
Eight sighed. “When should I start? It’s going to take me awhile to get him to trust me with a list like that.”
The Five beamed. “I’ll leave that completely to your discretion, but we do have a full staff meeting tomorrow morning at 0800.”
With that, everyone picked up their files and started to leave. As she stood, though, One caught her eye and gave her a knowing smirk that made Eight wonder if she hadn’t kept that last, unplayed card as close to her chest as she thought.