Through a Glass, Lightly: Past is Prologue - Chapter Two
Title: Through a Glass, Lightly: Past is Prologue - Chapter Two
Summary: All of this has happened before and will happen again and again until the end.
Genre: Alternate universe, but very familiar.
Rating: T
~ ~ ~ chapter two ~ ~ ~
He couldn't breathe.
Bill gasped for breath, unable to draw one deep enough to matter to his lungs, which contracted painfully in his chest. Someone was shouting something to him, nudging him insistently, but he had no idea what was being said. He slumped to the side, his hands having long lost their place on Sharon's wound and clawing along the decking of the Raptor. He felt something press against his face and a sudden rush of air tore through his lungs. He blinked and sputtered, reaching for the object now covering his face, inhaling the precious air as deeply as he could between coughs. He managed a few more breaths before he was able to focus.
Numb fingers and wooden arms were barely able to keep the oxygen mask against his face, the padded seal circling around his eyes, nose and mouth. His ears stung with the stabs of chilled daggers, each one slicing into his nerves. He began to shake and felt the urge to close his eyes overtake him. He could no longer hear the surviving marine as he shouted directly in Bill's face, his own obscured by the glass and lights of a similar breathing mask. He reached beside Bill's head and pulled the straps around his ears, securing the mask in place. The marine slapped Bill several times on his shoulder to keep his attention. Bill finally nodded at the young man, giving him a weak thumbs up in response.
Bill glanced around the interior of the Raptor and could see that Baltar was slumped over in the front seat, Racetrack beside him frantically steering the craft toward Galactica, which loomed beautifully close in the visible distance. Helo was bent over Sharon, one hand holding her mask in place and the other pressing a wad of gauze into her side, already darkened with crimson blood. Her eyes stared vacantly through the glass of the breathing apparatus.
More immediately troublesome was the small hole in the hatch of the ship, large enough to put his fist through, the one that was causing them to depressurize so rapidly. Bill tapped Helo on the arm and pointed wildly at the hole. Helo looked back and forth between his wife and the hole in the hatch before his mouth set grimly. He pointed at the bandage over Sharon's side and Bill slid across the floor to take his place. Helo, secure in his own flight suit and helmet, worked quickly to open a panel under the electronics console and remove some sort of large, round disc. He hefted it up against the damaged door and gave it a sharp twist, a light on the top of it blinking red. He untwisted and twisted it again, another red light. He shouted something that Bill couldn't hear toward the front of the craft as held the seal in place with brute strength, twisting it over and over again.
Bill slumped against the wall, exhaustion overtaking him as his hands fell away from Sharon.
He was so cold.
~ ~ ~
"Prepare ship to jump as soon as Raptors are secure," Laura barked on her way out of CIC. "When we rendezvous with the fleet, tell them to execute jump order Zeta Alpha Nine through Twelve. Get us some distance. Colonel Tigh, you have the deck."
Laura barely heard Saul's affirmative response before she was out the door, two marines close behind her. She walked as quickly as was dignified, given her rank and standing, and it was all she could do to keep from breaking into a dead run at several points.
"Galactica, Racetrack," the frantic call had come in several minutes ago. "My Raptor has lost pressure and we have wounded with decompression and bullet injuries. Coming in hot and fast, Starbuck on my six."
Laura stretched her legs as far as she could as she took lengthening strides, finally giving up all pretense of propriety when she broke into an quick jog, her marines following in stride.
"Attention all hands, prepare for jump," Gaeta's voice called out over the intercom. Laura counted down to ten in her head and then stopped to brace herself against a bulkhead to await the jump. There was the familiar, if disconcerting feeling of being pulled apart, then the quick snap back into place. She felt the ship settling, jump powering down, pods holding steady instead of expanding outward. She would be in the hangar bay by the time they made the second jump.
Bill. Bill. Bill.
She tried not to let her imagination run rampant as she dashed past startled crewmen and women, unaccustomed to seeing their commanding officer in such a hurry. They instinctively moved aside at the sound of heavy footfalls, hers and those of the marines trailing her. Was he alive? Injured? Would he walk off the wing of the Raptor to greet her or be wheeled away with a sheet over his face? Was he even in the Raptor at all? She blinked back frantic tears that threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes before launching herself down the last steep staircase toward the hangar deck.
There was a great deal of chaos and shouting that greeted her upon her arrival. Tyrol and three of his deckhands were trying to pry the door off of one Raptor, while another two were underneath the craft, trying to access it through the assault hatch below.
"Chief!" Laura shouted, out of breath. "Report!"
Tyrol cursed at the tool in his hand and glanced back over his shoulder. "Frakking door mechanism is jammed!" he replied quickly. "It depressurized before landing and we can't get it to regulate. It's created a vacuum seal." He pointed upward at a mean-looking gash in the door panel. "They've got a breach seal over the hole and Helo can't get it to disengage."
Ishay stood by with four stretchers and a team of med techs, concern clear on her face. "Air needs to flow in slowly," she explained, "or everyone not wearing a suit inside will get reverse decompression syndrome."
Laura's eyes darted back and forth as she processed the information. She moved around to the front of the craft, its glass frosted heavily inside from exposure. She could make out movement inside, maybe someone in a flight suit, and someone slumped over in the second cockpit seat.
"We got the seal off!" Tyrol said triumphantly. Air hissed slowly into the Raptor and the hatch released moments later, steam venting from the hydraulic lifts.
Someone pushed Laura out of the way. "Admiral," Ishay snapped. "We need to get these people into hyperbaric beds now."
Laura stepped aside as she craned her neck to see the people inside the Raptor. The first person brought out was Sharon Agathon, her skin white and lifeless, bloody bandages held in place by Helo. Two more medics ducked back inside for the next person and brought out Corporal Mance, who tried to walk out on his own until he stumbled and was caught by Tyrol as he fell off the wing.
Agonizing moments later, Ishay waved her over as Bill was loaded onto a stretcher, breathing mask still in place. His face was grey behind the glass, eyes closed and face slack.
"He's alive," Ishay assured her quickly, though her expression was one of grave concern. "No external injuries. Decompression and exposure symptoms. Get him to Life Station!" she shouted at the three medics who attended him. She turned back to Laura before following Bill's stretcher down the hangar deck. "Hopefully we got to him in time," she called back over her shoulder as she ran behind her team.
~ ~ ~
Laura paced outside Life Station, having been ushered out by an angry and flustered Cottle, so distressed that he'd apparently forgotten to light his newest cigarette, instead chewing the end of it into a clump of wet mash. Galactica had reunited with the fleet and they had just completed their fifth and final emergency jump, putting a good distance between them and where they had destroyed the Cylon baseship. With luck, it would put the Cylons off their trail for a long while.
"Sir," Starbuck said with a quick salute, still in her flight suit and breathless from running up from the hangar bay once her Raptor was secure.
Laura blinked and unfolded her arms from across her chest, a telling sign of her distraction. "Captain," she said with a small bit of relief to see the young woman unharmed. "What happened out there?"
"There were toasters in the landing bay," Starbuck explained. "The marines got into a firefight during the rescue op. Anseck and Garren went down on the deck, Wallace died shielding the Pres..." She stopped and shook her head. "Shielding Adama. He got Wallace back inside, then Sharon took a hit. Best we can figure, hatch closed, toasters broke out the big guns and hit the plating really hard at close range. When they jumped out, it sheared the titanium, caused it to decompress. And here we are." She nodded toward Life Station. "How is he?"
"Alive," Laura said, her voice breaking slightly. She cleared her throat to push back the lump that had formed. "Other than that..." Her voice trailed off and she put her hands on her hips, squaring her shoulders. "Cottle chased me out," she said with a weak smile.
Starbuck snorted and rolled her eyes. "He's a cranky son of a bitch," she muttered. She watched the open doorway of Life Station, where Laura herself could barely see any of the injured through the sea of white coats and blue scrubs. "Adama's gonna be okay. He has to be." She turned back to Laura, her blue eyes cold and piercing. "Because we didn't lose three guys just to bring back Baltar. Adama dies, I'll kill Baltar myself."
~ ~ ~
Hades requested an audience.
Lee walked into the Ward Room of Pegasus with a healthy dose of apprehension and confusion. Zarek had come over on a shuttle minutes ago, asking for priority docking clearance and a private meeting aboard the Battlestar. The President was already sitting down at the head of the table, in the chair normally reserved for the ship's commanding officer, leaning back and looking away from the doorway. He seemed to be studying the series of formal photos of the ship's commanding officers throughout her history, from Massey on down to Cain, with small photos of Fisk and Garner added haphazardly. Lee had never seen the need to add his own photo to the ranks. People on that wall ended up dead.
Zarek must have heard him enter the room, as much noise as the hatch made, but didn't turn his way. "You wanted to see me?" he said, skipping the formalities.
"Lee. What do you know about the...operation that just went on?" Zarek asked slowly, still staring at the wall.
Lee shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. "It was a quick turnaround. The Admiral saw an opportunity to destroy a Basestar and she took it."
Zarek drummed his fingers on the table and stopped, though his hand retained that peculiar tremor that had afflicted him since New Caprica. "What else do you know about it? The specifics?"
"Uhh, two Raptors were used," Lee recalled, frowning. "One nuclear warhead was detonated within the ship's interior. The operation was successful."
"And were you informed of this plan before the Admiral acted on it?"
Lee blinked. "No. Time was an issue. She ordered Pegasus to jump away with the rest of the fleet. Everything I know about it came from a data briefing that came over from Galactica actual after we finished jumping."
Zarek finally turned toward him, lacing his fingers together and leaning forward to brace his elbows on the table. "Did the Admiral personally give you any of that information?' he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"No."
He tilted his head to the side, his face dark. "I wouldn't expect her to, given that you weren't told half of the purpose of the mission," Zarek said in irritation.
Lee huffed and shook his head. "Look, if you have a problem with the mission, you should probably take it..."
Zarek suddenly stood up and walked the length of the table toward Lee, his face angry. "My problem is with the Admiral herself and how she abandoned the fleet, again, for Bill Adama."
"What?" Lee's heart lurched in his chest and he cocked his head to the side in query. "Adama's dead. The Cylons nuked New Caprica after we abandoned it."
"William Adama is alive and resting somewhat comfortably in Galactica's Life Station, by all accounts," Zarek countered with a lopsided smile that never reached his eyes. "That operation was to get Adama off that Basestar, where he's been held since New Caprica. Destroying the Cylon ship was the icing on the cake."
Lee exhaled slowly and sat down on the edge of the table, scrubbing one hand over his mouth in disbelief. "How do you know this?" he asked slowly.
"My office has ears everywhere, Lee," Zarek replied with a small shrug. "And mouths that will relay everything that shouldn't be kept a secret. Admiral Roslin got, according to my sources, three marines killed, all to rescue her boyfriend."
Lee's mouth dropped open and Zarek chuckled at his reaction. "She didn't even tell you about that, did she?" he asked. "My gods. She wasn't on New Caprica to pick up a few things from the market. She was visiting Adama. All night. In fact," Zarek raised his hand, "I even helped them escape Baltar's men, not knowing the Cylons were just a jump away. I paid a rather hefty price for that."
"Adama?" Lee asked, still not believing. He had an inkling that she was seeing someone on the planet, but Adama? Frak. He really was a blind jackass.
"So she risked her entire ship and the entire fleet, all of humanity quite frankly, to snatch her lover back from the Cylons," Zarek said quietly. "Doesn't that seem to you as if she's lost perspective, just a little?"
Lee felt anger rising inside of him, both at his mother for keeping not only her relationship and the true objective of the mission a secret to him, as well as Zarek for insinuating she was anything but a competent leader. His jaw ached from clenching and he had to force himself relax before he lost his temper. "Even if the mission happened for the reasons you say they did, that Baseship was destroyed and hopefully we've thrown the Cylons off for a while."
Zarek laughed grimly, thrusting his hands into his pants pockets and pacing the room. "One ship out of many," he said over his shoulder as he look up at the cold lighting above. "A drop in the bucket, but not worth the risk nor the cost." He walked toward the door of the Ward Room, passing close to Lee and stopping to lean close. "I know you have loyalties that run far deeper than blood," he said in a low voice, almost a whisper, "but you need to begin thinking like a soldier and a commanding officer and realize that your Admiral has been potentially been compromised not from without, but from within. Take care that when you follow her to Hades, you make sure you don't get on the boat with her."
~ ~ ~ end chapter two ~ ~~
Summary: All of this has happened before and will happen again and again until the end.
Genre: Alternate universe, but very familiar.
Rating: T
~ ~ ~ chapter two ~ ~ ~
He couldn't breathe.
Bill gasped for breath, unable to draw one deep enough to matter to his lungs, which contracted painfully in his chest. Someone was shouting something to him, nudging him insistently, but he had no idea what was being said. He slumped to the side, his hands having long lost their place on Sharon's wound and clawing along the decking of the Raptor. He felt something press against his face and a sudden rush of air tore through his lungs. He blinked and sputtered, reaching for the object now covering his face, inhaling the precious air as deeply as he could between coughs. He managed a few more breaths before he was able to focus.
Numb fingers and wooden arms were barely able to keep the oxygen mask against his face, the padded seal circling around his eyes, nose and mouth. His ears stung with the stabs of chilled daggers, each one slicing into his nerves. He began to shake and felt the urge to close his eyes overtake him. He could no longer hear the surviving marine as he shouted directly in Bill's face, his own obscured by the glass and lights of a similar breathing mask. He reached beside Bill's head and pulled the straps around his ears, securing the mask in place. The marine slapped Bill several times on his shoulder to keep his attention. Bill finally nodded at the young man, giving him a weak thumbs up in response.
Bill glanced around the interior of the Raptor and could see that Baltar was slumped over in the front seat, Racetrack beside him frantically steering the craft toward Galactica, which loomed beautifully close in the visible distance. Helo was bent over Sharon, one hand holding her mask in place and the other pressing a wad of gauze into her side, already darkened with crimson blood. Her eyes stared vacantly through the glass of the breathing apparatus.
More immediately troublesome was the small hole in the hatch of the ship, large enough to put his fist through, the one that was causing them to depressurize so rapidly. Bill tapped Helo on the arm and pointed wildly at the hole. Helo looked back and forth between his wife and the hole in the hatch before his mouth set grimly. He pointed at the bandage over Sharon's side and Bill slid across the floor to take his place. Helo, secure in his own flight suit and helmet, worked quickly to open a panel under the electronics console and remove some sort of large, round disc. He hefted it up against the damaged door and gave it a sharp twist, a light on the top of it blinking red. He untwisted and twisted it again, another red light. He shouted something that Bill couldn't hear toward the front of the craft as held the seal in place with brute strength, twisting it over and over again.
Bill slumped against the wall, exhaustion overtaking him as his hands fell away from Sharon.
He was so cold.
~ ~ ~
"Prepare ship to jump as soon as Raptors are secure," Laura barked on her way out of CIC. "When we rendezvous with the fleet, tell them to execute jump order Zeta Alpha Nine through Twelve. Get us some distance. Colonel Tigh, you have the deck."
Laura barely heard Saul's affirmative response before she was out the door, two marines close behind her. She walked as quickly as was dignified, given her rank and standing, and it was all she could do to keep from breaking into a dead run at several points.
"Galactica, Racetrack," the frantic call had come in several minutes ago. "My Raptor has lost pressure and we have wounded with decompression and bullet injuries. Coming in hot and fast, Starbuck on my six."
Laura stretched her legs as far as she could as she took lengthening strides, finally giving up all pretense of propriety when she broke into an quick jog, her marines following in stride.
"Attention all hands, prepare for jump," Gaeta's voice called out over the intercom. Laura counted down to ten in her head and then stopped to brace herself against a bulkhead to await the jump. There was the familiar, if disconcerting feeling of being pulled apart, then the quick snap back into place. She felt the ship settling, jump powering down, pods holding steady instead of expanding outward. She would be in the hangar bay by the time they made the second jump.
Bill. Bill. Bill.
She tried not to let her imagination run rampant as she dashed past startled crewmen and women, unaccustomed to seeing their commanding officer in such a hurry. They instinctively moved aside at the sound of heavy footfalls, hers and those of the marines trailing her. Was he alive? Injured? Would he walk off the wing of the Raptor to greet her or be wheeled away with a sheet over his face? Was he even in the Raptor at all? She blinked back frantic tears that threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes before launching herself down the last steep staircase toward the hangar deck.
There was a great deal of chaos and shouting that greeted her upon her arrival. Tyrol and three of his deckhands were trying to pry the door off of one Raptor, while another two were underneath the craft, trying to access it through the assault hatch below.
"Chief!" Laura shouted, out of breath. "Report!"
Tyrol cursed at the tool in his hand and glanced back over his shoulder. "Frakking door mechanism is jammed!" he replied quickly. "It depressurized before landing and we can't get it to regulate. It's created a vacuum seal." He pointed upward at a mean-looking gash in the door panel. "They've got a breach seal over the hole and Helo can't get it to disengage."
Ishay stood by with four stretchers and a team of med techs, concern clear on her face. "Air needs to flow in slowly," she explained, "or everyone not wearing a suit inside will get reverse decompression syndrome."
Laura's eyes darted back and forth as she processed the information. She moved around to the front of the craft, its glass frosted heavily inside from exposure. She could make out movement inside, maybe someone in a flight suit, and someone slumped over in the second cockpit seat.
"We got the seal off!" Tyrol said triumphantly. Air hissed slowly into the Raptor and the hatch released moments later, steam venting from the hydraulic lifts.
Someone pushed Laura out of the way. "Admiral," Ishay snapped. "We need to get these people into hyperbaric beds now."
Laura stepped aside as she craned her neck to see the people inside the Raptor. The first person brought out was Sharon Agathon, her skin white and lifeless, bloody bandages held in place by Helo. Two more medics ducked back inside for the next person and brought out Corporal Mance, who tried to walk out on his own until he stumbled and was caught by Tyrol as he fell off the wing.
Agonizing moments later, Ishay waved her over as Bill was loaded onto a stretcher, breathing mask still in place. His face was grey behind the glass, eyes closed and face slack.
"He's alive," Ishay assured her quickly, though her expression was one of grave concern. "No external injuries. Decompression and exposure symptoms. Get him to Life Station!" she shouted at the three medics who attended him. She turned back to Laura before following Bill's stretcher down the hangar deck. "Hopefully we got to him in time," she called back over her shoulder as she ran behind her team.
~ ~ ~
Laura paced outside Life Station, having been ushered out by an angry and flustered Cottle, so distressed that he'd apparently forgotten to light his newest cigarette, instead chewing the end of it into a clump of wet mash. Galactica had reunited with the fleet and they had just completed their fifth and final emergency jump, putting a good distance between them and where they had destroyed the Cylon baseship. With luck, it would put the Cylons off their trail for a long while.
"Sir," Starbuck said with a quick salute, still in her flight suit and breathless from running up from the hangar bay once her Raptor was secure.
Laura blinked and unfolded her arms from across her chest, a telling sign of her distraction. "Captain," she said with a small bit of relief to see the young woman unharmed. "What happened out there?"
"There were toasters in the landing bay," Starbuck explained. "The marines got into a firefight during the rescue op. Anseck and Garren went down on the deck, Wallace died shielding the Pres..." She stopped and shook her head. "Shielding Adama. He got Wallace back inside, then Sharon took a hit. Best we can figure, hatch closed, toasters broke out the big guns and hit the plating really hard at close range. When they jumped out, it sheared the titanium, caused it to decompress. And here we are." She nodded toward Life Station. "How is he?"
"Alive," Laura said, her voice breaking slightly. She cleared her throat to push back the lump that had formed. "Other than that..." Her voice trailed off and she put her hands on her hips, squaring her shoulders. "Cottle chased me out," she said with a weak smile.
Starbuck snorted and rolled her eyes. "He's a cranky son of a bitch," she muttered. She watched the open doorway of Life Station, where Laura herself could barely see any of the injured through the sea of white coats and blue scrubs. "Adama's gonna be okay. He has to be." She turned back to Laura, her blue eyes cold and piercing. "Because we didn't lose three guys just to bring back Baltar. Adama dies, I'll kill Baltar myself."
~ ~ ~
Hades requested an audience.
Lee walked into the Ward Room of Pegasus with a healthy dose of apprehension and confusion. Zarek had come over on a shuttle minutes ago, asking for priority docking clearance and a private meeting aboard the Battlestar. The President was already sitting down at the head of the table, in the chair normally reserved for the ship's commanding officer, leaning back and looking away from the doorway. He seemed to be studying the series of formal photos of the ship's commanding officers throughout her history, from Massey on down to Cain, with small photos of Fisk and Garner added haphazardly. Lee had never seen the need to add his own photo to the ranks. People on that wall ended up dead.
Zarek must have heard him enter the room, as much noise as the hatch made, but didn't turn his way. "You wanted to see me?" he said, skipping the formalities.
"Lee. What do you know about the...operation that just went on?" Zarek asked slowly, still staring at the wall.
Lee shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. "It was a quick turnaround. The Admiral saw an opportunity to destroy a Basestar and she took it."
Zarek drummed his fingers on the table and stopped, though his hand retained that peculiar tremor that had afflicted him since New Caprica. "What else do you know about it? The specifics?"
"Uhh, two Raptors were used," Lee recalled, frowning. "One nuclear warhead was detonated within the ship's interior. The operation was successful."
"And were you informed of this plan before the Admiral acted on it?"
Lee blinked. "No. Time was an issue. She ordered Pegasus to jump away with the rest of the fleet. Everything I know about it came from a data briefing that came over from Galactica actual after we finished jumping."
Zarek finally turned toward him, lacing his fingers together and leaning forward to brace his elbows on the table. "Did the Admiral personally give you any of that information?' he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"No."
He tilted his head to the side, his face dark. "I wouldn't expect her to, given that you weren't told half of the purpose of the mission," Zarek said in irritation.
Lee huffed and shook his head. "Look, if you have a problem with the mission, you should probably take it..."
Zarek suddenly stood up and walked the length of the table toward Lee, his face angry. "My problem is with the Admiral herself and how she abandoned the fleet, again, for Bill Adama."
"What?" Lee's heart lurched in his chest and he cocked his head to the side in query. "Adama's dead. The Cylons nuked New Caprica after we abandoned it."
"William Adama is alive and resting somewhat comfortably in Galactica's Life Station, by all accounts," Zarek countered with a lopsided smile that never reached his eyes. "That operation was to get Adama off that Basestar, where he's been held since New Caprica. Destroying the Cylon ship was the icing on the cake."
Lee exhaled slowly and sat down on the edge of the table, scrubbing one hand over his mouth in disbelief. "How do you know this?" he asked slowly.
"My office has ears everywhere, Lee," Zarek replied with a small shrug. "And mouths that will relay everything that shouldn't be kept a secret. Admiral Roslin got, according to my sources, three marines killed, all to rescue her boyfriend."
Lee's mouth dropped open and Zarek chuckled at his reaction. "She didn't even tell you about that, did she?" he asked. "My gods. She wasn't on New Caprica to pick up a few things from the market. She was visiting Adama. All night. In fact," Zarek raised his hand, "I even helped them escape Baltar's men, not knowing the Cylons were just a jump away. I paid a rather hefty price for that."
"Adama?" Lee asked, still not believing. He had an inkling that she was seeing someone on the planet, but Adama? Frak. He really was a blind jackass.
"So she risked her entire ship and the entire fleet, all of humanity quite frankly, to snatch her lover back from the Cylons," Zarek said quietly. "Doesn't that seem to you as if she's lost perspective, just a little?"
Lee felt anger rising inside of him, both at his mother for keeping not only her relationship and the true objective of the mission a secret to him, as well as Zarek for insinuating she was anything but a competent leader. His jaw ached from clenching and he had to force himself relax before he lost his temper. "Even if the mission happened for the reasons you say they did, that Baseship was destroyed and hopefully we've thrown the Cylons off for a while."
Zarek laughed grimly, thrusting his hands into his pants pockets and pacing the room. "One ship out of many," he said over his shoulder as he look up at the cold lighting above. "A drop in the bucket, but not worth the risk nor the cost." He walked toward the door of the Ward Room, passing close to Lee and stopping to lean close. "I know you have loyalties that run far deeper than blood," he said in a low voice, almost a whisper, "but you need to begin thinking like a soldier and a commanding officer and realize that your Admiral has been potentially been compromised not from without, but from within. Take care that when you follow her to Hades, you make sure you don't get on the boat with her."
~ ~ ~ end chapter two ~ ~~