Torn

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta doesn't question the assignment when it comes to him: it's rooted solidly in his posting, it deals with a matter of utmost importance, and he's probably the best bet any of them have at deciphering the notes

Comments

[faithful_lt]

"Some people sleep, you know," he remarks. "Or play cards, or do other things that don't involve working through their down time."

It's an observation that carries no hint of censure. It hadn't taken Hoshi long at all since Gaeta's return to be aware of the other man's commitment to his duty-- not when anyone with eyes could see it.

"Sure, thanks." He finishes changing quickly, shuts his locker, and walks over to join Gaeta at the table.

[faithful_lt]

"Because if you'd rather not--"

His worried frown is deepening.

"-- I mean, I don't want to pry or push or anything, but--"

[mr_gaeta]

"No, I do," he insists. "I should."

A beat passes, as Gaeta takes in the look on Louis' face.

Quieter: "It's not anything. Really."

[faithful_lt]

He studies him for a second longer, and then--

"Okay," Hoshi says, quietly accepting that.

A beat, and then he smiles.

"So ... why don't we get started? That way, we can get there while you still have time before your next shift, and before someone else cleans Racetrack out of the game."

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta exhales a small laugh, loosing a mouthful of cigarette smoke to go with it. "Unless it turns into strip Triad, then she's going to go out in ten minutes."

A considering pause, as he pushes the documents closer to Hoshi in invitation.

"Her or Shark, it could go either way."

[faithful_lt]

"Truer words were never spoken," he agrees. "Maybe it goes with being a pilot."

He walks the short distance back over, then drags the chair from the end of the table around until it's beside Gaeta before sitting back down and reaching for the nearest stack of papers.

"Do you have these in any particular order?"

[mr_gaeta]

"Part of the screening process, I bet," he agrees, dryly amused once more, before fanning out a cluster of papers near the top. "I'm trying to, but it's...a little haphazard by nature. And there's a lot of cross-referencing required, to the point where I don't know if putting them in any concrete order might limit the chance to make those connections."

[faithful_lt]

"Mmm." Hoshi looks at the table with a thoughtful expression. "Haphazard and cross-referenced, huh? I guess it'd have been too much to ask for it to be simple."

A beat. He glances sideways at Gaeta.

"We could try looking at them in a couple of different orders? See if anything jumps out?"

[mr_gaeta]

I wouldn't expect anything less with Gaius, he almost says. Swallows it back.

"Sounds like a plan," he agrees instead, and shuffles the papers back together before pushing them aside. "Though I already know for a fact we're going to need -- "

Gaeta lifts up another stack as he says this (a much larger one, mostly charts held flat at the edges by other paper stacks) to unearth a beaten, leather-bound book. He drops it between them with a bit less ceremony than the title allows; but more than he might have shown, once upon a time.

Sacred Scrolls, reads said title.

"This, no matter what we dig up."

[faithful_lt]

The book hits the table, and Hoshi reflexively picks it right back up, holding it with some care.

The look he gives Gaeta is quizzical.

"I didn't know Dr. Baltar was a believer."

[mr_gaeta]

"He wasn't," says Gaeta, and silently congratulates himself for not slipping up a second time and saying he is. "Not really. But -- "

A few scraps of paper jut beyond the edges of the cover. Gaeta taps the topmost one.

"Book of Pythia," he explains -- or speaks, at least, as if that were the full explanation.

[faithful_lt]

"Oh." Evidently it's explanation enough. "He was trying to link parts of the prophecies to ... er... to things that happened?"

Word gets around, after all, and even those who weren't with Galactica when she reached Kobol have heard about it.

[mr_gaeta]

"He might have been."

Gaeta crushes out his cigarette in the ashtray, keeping it clear of Hoshi's, and scratches his temple with the back of one thumbnail.

"In some cases it's the best lead I could come up with as far as deciphering some of this goes."

[faithful_lt]

"It's a place to start, anyway."

Hoshi darts a quick smile at him.

[mr_gaeta]

"Exactly," he answers, and finds himself returning the smile without thought, right before separating out another pile of papers to hand Louis' way. "You start with these, I'll take the ones over here?"

[faithful_lt]

"Sure. Let's see what we've got." Hoshi takes the stack of documents, spreads a few out, and starts going through them.

A comfortable working silence descends, broken from time to time by the soft rustle of shifting papers.

***

Just over three-quarters of an hour later, Hoshi's cigarette is ash, his original stack of papers has turned into three carefully-arranged and labeled piles, and he's looking at another document and scribbling notes on a scrap of paper beside it when suddenly he lets out a half-swallowed oath.

"Oh that's not; it can't-- you've got to be frakking kidding me--"