Word Count: 1,563
Date: 10/29/05
Series: Mini
Rating: K+
Category: Relationships
Pairing/Focus: Lee, Kara
Warnings:
Summary:
Spoilers/Disclaimers:Source: fanfiction.net
"You're not here!" Baltar demanded, pacing back and forth in his cramped quarters aboard the Galactica. "You're not really here!"
"You don't really believe that, do you?" asked the statuesque blonde in the red dress. "You know better."
"Do I?"
"Yes."
"I don't know anything anymore," Baltar mumbled with confusion. "People have called me a genius. For the last two months I've felt like a fool."
"A fool?" Number Six asked, her voice silky, sensuous. "A fool in love?"
"With you?"
"You love me. I love you," she purred. "It works out well, doesn't it?" She smiled coquettishly, and despite himself Baltar felt an urge of longing for her.
"Where are you?" he asked the image of blonde sexuality before him.
"Here, Gaius. I'm right here."
"I mean where are you really? In my head? On the Cylon homeworld? Where!"
"Maybe I'm both. Maybe I'm neither. Maybe it doesn't matter as long as we love each other the way we do."
"You're nothing but my imagination!" he growled ferociously.
"I'm real. And so is our love. You love me."
"Do not!"
"Love." she smiled.
Looking at her mocking full lips, Baltar felt more urges. He shook his head. "You and your fellow machines are behind us. We escaped from your fleet two months ago. You'll never find us again."
"You don't believe that."
"I do!" he sputtered angrily.
"You haven't lost us. Even now we're close." She smiled again, and this time he felt no urges, but a chill. "Very, very close," she smiled.
* * *
Two sleek craft plied the stars, shooting forward with grace and speed.
"Nothing in this sector," reported Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama. "It looks safe for the fleet this way."
"Acknowledged," replied Leiutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. "Scanners look clean, except for that deserted planet that showed up in Beta Quadrant. Should we get a better look at it and see if there are any resources we can bring back to the fleet?"
"Our supplies of fuel and food are enough for now," Lee informed. "We've got to put more distance between us and the Cylons before we stop for too long and make ourselves a target."
"Cylons can be targets too, Lee. Targets made to shoot down," Kara challenged with the confidence that only she could display. She was the best fighter pilot in the fleet with more kills than anyone.
"Let's not get too cocky, Kara," instructed Lee. "You may be the best figher pilot in the fleet with more kills than anyone, but there's only the two of us out here. We'd be no match for."
Suddenly there was an alarm from the scanners.
"Cylons!" warned Kara. "Sector Three!"
Lee saw them too. They swerved their vipers to intercept. Five Cylon raiders swooped at them, lasers blazing with white hot intensity.
Kara and Lee opened fire as well. Two Cylon raiders erupted into flames under the firepower of Kara's belching laser guns. A missile soared past Lee's cockpit, missing it by less than a meter. He triggered his guns and shattered the attacking ship into a thousand pieces.
"That was close," he breathed with relief.
"Too close," agreed Kara.
"There's still two more of them out there," Lee said, and just as he said it, his ship suffered a glancing blow from another missile. He spun out of control.
"Damn it, I'm hit, Kara!"
"Hold on, Lee, I'll be there in a minute."
She swerved her ship so that she was coming straight down on the two remaining Cylon raiders, which were just about to open up on Lee again and finish him off for good.
"Hurry, Kara!" he exclaimed.
She opened fire, turning the two ships into fireballs.
"That was close," Lee said.
"Too close," Kara agreed. "Can you make it back to the fleet?"
"It's too far. I'd never make it."
"What about your life support systems?"
"They're still working but my engines are shot."
"What if I magnetically sealed our ships together and flew us both home?" Kara asked.
"Still too far. You'd use up all your fuel with the extra weight of my ship."
"Then I'm taking us to that planet we spotted earlier."
"But we have no idea what's on it. Could be Cylons."
"No choice," Kara responded.
She edged her viper closer to Lee's and they clanked together with a loud clank. "Hold on," she instructed.
"Have I ever told you that you were beyond insane?" Lee asked.
"Frequently."
* * *
Colonel Paul Tigh strode along the corridor on his way to the bridge. His left hand shook with withdrawel symptoms from not having had a drink in the past ten days, the longest he'd gone without a drink in years. He was determined to become the officer he was capable of becoming. He would no longer let the actions of his wife cause him to seek relief in the bottle. His wife was gone now. He would not be haunted by either the ghost of his wife or the ghost of his past drinking.
He entered the bridge, and approached Commander Adama, "Husker" to his friends.
"Have my son and Kara Thrace reported in yet, Colonel?" asked Adama.
"Not yet, sir."
"Are you feeling up for duty, Paul?" Adama asked softly, so that no other officers could hear. "You don't look well."
Tigh stilled the trembling in his hands and tried to compose his face into one of rigid discipline. "Yes, sir, fine."
Adama offered him a knowing, encouraging grin. "You can do it, Paul. If anyone has the strength to break the bonds of alcoholism, it's you."
"Thank you, Commander."
Tigh moved away, feeling new strength and determination.
* * *
The landing had been rough, but Kara's piloting skills saved the day. Scanners had read an oxygen atmosphere on the surface, and they had emerged from their cockpits happy to be alive, but uneasy in the knowledge that they were stuck here.
"At least the fleet is heading on this vector," Lee informed.
"Yeah, but at the speed it's moving, it'll be days before the Galactica gets within transmitter range. I'm afraid we're stuck here together."
"I could think of worse people to be stuck with," Lee said, offering a grin that he hoped she would not read anything into that wasn't there.
She grinned back. "Same here."
Lee forced himself to act in a more military manner. "All right, we should set up a temporary shelter and make a fire. I'm guessing it's going to get cold here at night."
"I'll get some firewood. This place is pretty desolate, but there's plant life, so it shouldn't be too hard to find something to build a fire with."
"Agreed," agreed Lee. "But animal life is another thing. Keep an eye out. We don't know what we're dealing with here."
"Worried about me?" Kara asked, grinning again.
"Wouldn't want to lose the best pilot in the fleet," Lee said, hoping that would be enough to fool her.
"No. You wouldn't."
* * *
"How's your new friend doing?" asked Tyrol.
"Boxey? He's a trooper," replied Leiutenant Boomer.
"That's a lot of new responsibility you've taken on," Tyrol commented. "Are you sure you can..."
"Handle it?"
"No offense, but you're still a rookie getting used to life aboard the Galactica. Now that the colonies have been destroyed, it's going to be tough for all of us."
"It's tough for Boxey, too. He lost his parents. I've got a responsibility to take care of him."
"If anyone can handle that responsibility, you can" Tyrol encouraged.
He moved close to her and they kissed with passion, arms entangling.
"I'm on duty in another five minutes," Tyrol remarked.
"Then let's make the next five minutes something to remember," Boomer said, leading him through a hatch into a storage compartment.
"Yes, sir."
* * *
They got a fire going with no problem and broke out their rations, which would last them for a week. Lee found himself stealing glances at Kara's face as the fire reflected off it. The fire gave off a heat that Lee seemed to feel on a more personal level.
"I think we're safe here," Kara said. "No signs of life of any kind, no wild animals that might attack us while we sleep."
"Hurray for small miracles," said Lee.
"What if something happens on the Galactica and they're forced to alter course?" asked Kara. "We'd be stuck here."
"They won't change course. When they don't hear anything from us, they'll make it a point to follow the course we took on our patrol, to see what happened to us. My father wouldn't leave us out here."
"The old man might not have a choice," Kara said.
"Let's not think about it."
"Right. I don't want to give myself nightmares. Being trapped here for a few days with you is going to be bad enough, I wouldn't want to repopulate an entire species with you," she joked, but something in her eyes made Lee pause before responding.
"Go to sleep, Eve. It's getting late and the next few days are going to be hard on us."
"Sleep. Aye, aye, sir."
She rolled over onto her side, and Lee settled back too. But his eyes kept wandering to the figure lying beside the fire, the firelight glinting softly on the curves of her uniform.
(to be continued)