Fic: Don't Count Stars (2/??)
Title: Don't Count Stars(1/??)
Rating:K
Characters/Pairings: Adama/Roslin
Summary: Adama and Roslin and have a daughter. 'Nuff said really. Basically just imagine season three or two but with the whole story arc slowed down. AU obviously.
CIC
“Frakin’ Cylons have found us again!”
Admiral William Adama didn’t need to turn around to know it was Colonel Tigh who had spoken. Instead he fixed his eyes firmly upon the screen showing those tiny red symbols that controlled almost every aspect of his existence.
“We got Starbuck already out there-but the cap’s at the other side of the fleet. Launch the alert vipers!” Tigh yelled in his customary angry tones.
Adama made a mental note to have a word with Starbuck later. He hadn’t even known she was out there today. Much less that she was out there alone. She might be the best pilot he’d ever witnessed, but she wasn’t invincible and it was high time she learnt that.
“Set the fleet at condition one”
Tigh’s magnified voice wasn’t frightened like in those first few years. Adama cast a quick glance at his friend. Saul seemed more concerned with keeping the crew in CIC on their toes than the imminent threat to his survival. It bothered William Adama sometimes that nobody stopped to think anymore how damn odd this was, the whole damned familiarity of this scenario.
“Get the fleet ready for an emergency jump”
Adama had said the words so many times he hardly had to think as he uttered them now.
President Laura Roslin was in CIC too. He paused a moment too watch her from the corner of his eye taking in his wife’s clamped mouth and determined stance. She looked so much like Oura before bedtime then that he had to stop himself from smiling at the resemblance.
However the thought of Oura sobered him up instantly. She was in daycare at the moment, a safe enough place, though not as safe as he’d like. If Galactica got hit near daycare-he stopped himself there not allowing his thoughts to dwell on if anything happened to her.
Instead he yelled at Starbuck
“Starbuck -Cylons will be on you in 15 seconds- other vipers will be with you in 45 seconds!”
Space
Oura saw nothing but Cylon raiders. Starbuck’s hands shot over her shoulders in a desperate attempt to grasp the controls they both knew she wouldn’t be able to reach.
Ourania knew there wasn’t enough time to swap seats with the experienced pilot just a few centimeters away. She realized abruptly how stupid they’d been. It had been dumb to assume something like this would never happen and they’d just been damn lucky it hadn’t- until now.
Dimly she registered her headpiece sliding off and Starbucks orders for her to turn around fading away with it.
And then the raiders were upon them.
It was like nothing Ourania had ever seen. After a few microseconds of complete shock she managed to grasp the firing handle and shoot, hitting nothing but empty space where moments ago a Cylon raider had been.
Damn they’re fast she thought to herself managing to only narrowly dodge their shots. Starbuck’s grip tightened on her shoulders.
Okay focus-this is like a game she chanted to herself
Then Ourania noticed it, if she’d thought flying came naturally to her it was nothing compared to shooting.
Boom, boom! Boom! It was like a personally conducted rhythm only for her. Even though her headpiece was slung around her neck she heard Starbucks shouts of delight. The other vipers had joined them now and victory seemed certain. Only a few raiders remained.
Ourania could feel a euphoric grin spreading on her face.
She had little time to register a glint of metal from the corner of her eye. The noise was deafening. There was a blinding flash followed by a searing pain in her head.
And then there was only silence and darkness.
CIC
Laura Roslin watched the screen as one of the Cylon raiders grazed Starbuck’s viper.
I hope she’s alright she thought glancing over to her husband who tilted his head slightly as if to say she’ll be fine.
“Looks like that wasn’t a basestar, just a raiding party.” One of the viper pilots informed the admiral.
“We’ll still make the jump-just to be sure.” Bill sounded tired
Laura walked over to her husband as Tigh took over. Bill kissed her softly then smiled
“I could sleep for a week-let’s just go and pick up Oura and lock ourselves into our quarters.”
“Somehow I don’t think the fleet will respond well to that or for that fact Oura.”
She said it teasingly but wondered at the same time if Oura would ever stop being so uncontrollable.
Laura hated herself for thinking it but she hoped Ourania would not take after Captain Thrace and her wild antics, just watching Starbuck out there today had made her jittery.
“I’ll need to have a word with Starbuck first- try and knock some sense into that meat head of hers.”
A shadow passed over Bill’s features as he spoke. The mix of concern, love and a healthy dose of anger towards his older ‘daughter’ that she saw there, reminded Laura once again of why she loved him so much.
“I’ll come with you. Captain Thrace will at least try to keep it tasteful if the President of the Twelve Colonies is watching.”
She resisted the urge to cup his scarred cheek with her hand while she grinned; the CIC crew was already having a hard enough time not staring.
Bill laughed, his dark mood instantly waning
“Somehow, I doubt that”
Main Hangar Deck
Starbuck scrambled out of her cockpit as soon as the jump was complete. She had managed to fly a semi-conscious Oura to the deck but as she now dragged the girl out of her seat unconsciousness seemed to have befallen her.
Please be alright, please Starbuck prayed silently in her head as she checked the girl for any injuries. Apart from a thankfully not so serious looking head wound Oura was in perfect condition.
Chief Tyrol chose that moment to appear along with his crew.
“Breaking my vipers again Starbu-oh frak”
Starbuck looked up to see him having spotted Oura.
“The old man is quite literally going to break your neck for this one.”
“Why would I do that?” Adama’s voice came from further off followed by Roslin’s laughter; they obviously hadn’t spotted them yet.
Other side of Starbuck’s Viper Main Hangar Deck.
Adama had the feeling that his crew was nervous. Whatever for? We just destroyed another wave of toasters he thought to himself as he and Laura rounded the viper.
The first thing he noticed was that Kara was on her knees with her back to him and Laura. Someone’s head was resting on the cold metal floor in front of her, presumably another pilot. Had there been another crash? He didn’t remember one…maybe one of the nuggets got motion sickness again. Neither of which frankly explained why Starbuck was actually acting concerned.
None of the nuggets have red hair…Adama thought to himself hearing quiet whimpers coming from the injured pilot.
Starbuck moved aside and he saw Oura.
Adama had to clutch the viper for support; Oura’s usually auburn hair was even redder with a metallic smelling liquid. Blood he thought dimly There is blood through my Oura’s hair.
He closed his eyes firmly willing it all to be a bad dream.
Next to him he heard his wife sharp intake of breath and listened to the clacking of her heels rushing towards Oura and finally the sound of her pushing Starbuck aside and whispering, crying and finally almost yelling Oura’s name.
“Relax Mom I’m fine.” At long last came a croaky response
He opened his eyes. Oura was struggling to escape Laura’s almost steely grip.
“I can’t breathe.”
Laura reluctantly loosened her hold. Bill vaguely noted Chief Tyrol talking rapidly into one of the hangar deck phones, apparently calling for a medic. His full attention was on his wife who now examined their daughter’s injury with a frantic yet critical eye.
“What the frak is going on here?”
Sick Bay
Dr. Cottle went through all the motions of checking for injury several times until he finally snapped at the Admiral and the President that he had other patients to see. Oura had by this time regained enough consciousness to be thoroughly worried by the look in her father’s eyes.
“Starbuck” he could barley say the name “Starbuck told me all about flying lessons. You are never under any circumstances to set foot in a viper again or for that matter anywhere near Captain Thrace!” he had lost control and practically shouted the last words.
Oura looked to her mother for support, to Oura’s surprise her mom was crying, a thing which as President of the Twelve Colonies, she rarely did. But her voice was surprisingly steady as she spoke.
“You could have died.”
The admiral gripped the edge of Oura’s bed harder at this.
“From now on you will have a permanent marine guard to accompany you to daycare and school. Under no circumstances will you talk to Captain Thrace” Adama spat out her name as though it were a swear word before he continued “and we will most definitely not be celebrating your birthday!”
Oura’s strict new regime began the moment she was released from sickbay the following day. Her new bodyguard wasn’t entirely mean but the other children were frightened of him and talked to Ourania even less than before. Even Nicholas Tyrol avoided her.
Neither of her parents changed obviously but Oura felt their watching eyes on her wherever she went. She mulled over the exact change for a few days until finally realizing that she had lost their trust.
For her birthday they only had a small dinner followed by cake. Nobody, not even Lee, was invited. Her mother had tried to make this a cheery event but since her father had really not talked to her anymore then necessary this failed miserably. Oura felt like crying when she curled up to sleep that night.
When her mom left to sort out some sort of colonist problem aboard the Carina, Oura felt suddenly very alone. Her dad had stopped really speaking to her since she moved back from sickbay and her older brother Lee had military duties to fulfill. Lee at least had been moderately forgiving about the ‘viper incident’ as her mother had begun to call it; but Oura suspected that even he’d had a falling out with Starbuck.
From time to time Ourania would catch a glimpse of Starbuck, but Oura could never follow her unable to escape from her guard. She’d heard rumors though; apparently Starbuck had been stripped of her title and had also accumulated a pile of demerits.
Finally Oura made a plan. She had to see Starbuck. The plan itself was simple. She would fake needing to use the toilet right during the time Samuels saw his girlfriend, a deckhand aboard Galactica, so he would not want to leave. She’d promise to be good and come right back.
It went surprisingly smooth. Oura was sometimes surprised by how the stupidest plans usually worked.
Ourania almost skipped along Galactica’s passageways. She was going to see Starbuck! Oura suddenly hoped Starbuck wasn’t mad at her; it was after all Oura’s fault that Kara had gotten into all that trouble. The thought only made her pause for a moment. She’d gotten in trouble too hadn’t she? No friends over, a guard following her and her parents basically ignored her birthday. Oura figured they were mostly even.
The sound of voices she knew brought Oura swiftly back to reality. Hastily hiding behind the nearest hatchway, she spotted an officer rounding the corner, talking to some very jaded cleaners about finally fixing up this part of the ship which had been damaged in the escape from New Caprica, no less than seven years before.
Ourania waited till she could not hear his voice until resuming a stealthier pace. Somewhere behind she heard her name being shouted. Samuels had finally discovered that his charge was missing. He wouldn’t find her any time soon - these old corridors were like a maze. Still Oura bit her lip and walked faster; hoping nobody would hear the shouting and recognize her.
What she looked like had never been exactly well-known by the rest of the fleet. Her parents prohibited journalists from publishing photos of her and hardly took her along on official outings. Within Galactica it was a different story. When she was younger she used to enjoy the way everybody apparently loved her. The deck crew even made up a special salute to greet her. Then one day she’d overheard Athena jokingly tell a deckhand to stop “sucking up to the old man’s daughter”. She’d stopped visiting so much after that. It was dumb how much it still hurt that they only liked her because of her dad.
Oura’s dark red hair didn’t exactly help with blending in and so she didn’t look anybody in the eye as she shuffled hastily toward the damaged cabins aboard Galactica. Nobody except for Starbuck could enjoy living here Oura thought, noticing the increasingly shabby corridors becoming dimmer with more blown out bulbs.
Suddenly the ship shook. Above her sirens began to wail. Then her father’s voice rang out magnified by loudspeakers.
“The fleet is at condition one. The Cylons have found us.”
Next part is here