Word Count: 1,460
Date: 11/11/05
Series: Season 2
Rating: T
Category: Relationship
Pairing/Focus: Lee/Kara
Warnings: none
Summary: Kara on a rescue mission.
Spoilers/Disclaimers: I do not own the characters.
Acknowledgements: Thank you Marimba for being my BETA!
Lt Kara Thrace charged into the holding area as soon as the door opened. She exhaled when she saw the familiar faces in the cell. She made a fast head count and came to the conclusion that parts of the team were missing.
Lee was missing.
The Marines and with one very relieved ECO came momentarily to their feet. They all looked wrecked but their faces were now filled with hope.
"Are we happy to see you, Starbuck!" Helo exclaimed loudly, firmly grabbing the bars with a gratified smile on his bruised face, "How the frak did you find us?" he wondered.
"Long story," Kara did not want to explain how she had endangered the fleet by jumping in after them, or how the Actual's crackly voice over the Com had ordered her to land the Raider, immediately!
She had a feeling she was going to have to do a lot of explaining back onboard the Galactica when they returned..
...if they returned.
This stunt of hers would probably ground her permanently and get her some good-old brig time. But she didn't care, as long as they all returned safely and she could deliver the Old Man's son in one piece.
"Where is," Kara started while she looked around, "Where're the others?" she demanded as she approached the bars and aimed for the lock, blasting it to pieces.
Helo came out of the cell and met her gaze, "I think the Chief and Apollo are in a cell down the hall."
Kara had already turned before Helo had finished his sentence but she came to a full stop when Helo grabbed hold of her arm, forcing her to face him again.
"What?" she couldn't wait another minute to make sure Lee was alright. She froze when she saw the look on Helo's face.
"Kara," he stuttered. His smile was gone and he looked dead serious, "I," he tried to continue, but he struggled to find the right words.
Kara looked upon him, fearing the worst, "What's wrong?" she asked warily.
"It's the Captain," he finally managed to say while the rest of the team gathered around them, looking just as upset as Helo did.
"What about the Captain?" she asked, almost whispering, knowing something had gone terribly wrong.
"He was badly injured when they shot us down." Helo tried to explain.
She closed her eyes and a chill went through her spine. She was not surprised, she had almost felt it. That was why she had disobeyed orders, to go after them. They had been gone too long and she and the Commander were worried sick. Lee had known the risks with the mission, they all had. Kara was the only one who had refused to accept that they were gone. She could not go on without knowing, frak the orders.
"There is more," he added while he gently put his hand on her shoulder and lowered his head to her eye level. "When we encountered the enemy," he paused and took a deep breath, "Let's just say that they didn't go easy on him."
Kara knew now that she had been right all along, something had gone wrong. Helo's tone of voice was all the confirmation she needed to understand that, and of course the fact that they were imprisoned. Kara could see that Helo struggled to unveil exactly what it was.
"Spill it,", she pleaded.
Helo did not want to be the one to tell her the painful news but he had to.
"They said they didn't want to waste any bullets on him so they used their Cylon-knife-hands." he slowly continued, dropping his gaze to the cell floor, too emotional to meet her eyes.
Kara could picture his meaning. She had seen the damage Cylon blades were capable of. She tried to shrug the images away but without any success.
"Then they wanted to interrogate him but he was just too." Helo faltered,
"too injured, I'm sorry Kara." he whispered.
Kara felt her strength leaving her but she knew she had to pull it together. Lords, don't take him, she prayed silently. This could not be it, he could not be gone, no frakking way! She needed to focus, Lee needed her to focus. All they had to do was to get into that other cell and get him and then head for a bird, ASAP!
"Ok, listen up! I saw your gear, it's stacked just outside this cell. I've taken out all the guards in this area but I am pretty sure they know what's going on by now so we do not need to keep this quiet. They will definitely send us a greeting party so we need to move fast! Gear up and we'll head down to the other cell. Follow me!" she ordered.
Kara was acting on instinct now, she could not really think straight. This was her training talking. Frakking Cylons! Her adrenaline was pumping out of rage. Blurred images of Lee, wounded and dying, flashed in her mind. She tried her best to get rid of them but they kept coming back. They were so gonna pay for this!
They all did as ordered and shortly after collecting their gear and weapons they halted in front of the other cell door. Kara tried to use the security card she had retrieved from one of the Cylons she had disabled in a firefight minutes earlier but without any success.
"Oh, come on!" she barked at the door. "They must have changed the codes." she stated as she examined the door to figure out how to unlock it as fast as possible.
"Boom?" one of the Marines suggested.
"Set it up!" Kara prompted with a forced smile.
The Marine applied a charge over the seal, "Take cover!" he shouted.
The next second Kara barged into the cell through the fog of dust from the explosion. She coughed and could hardly see anything as she looked around frantically. Finally, she distinguished figured-shaped shadows at the end of the cell. She leaped closer and found the Chief leaning over Lee. She froze when she saw the blood all over the floor and the dreadful cut on Lee's chest.
"Lee?!" Kara cried out as she sank down to her knees and took Lee's hand, gently squeezing it against her chest. Lee's eyes were closed and he didn't react at all to her touch or voice. He didn't even appear to be breathing.
"Status report?" she demanded without taking her eyes away from him.
The Chief had unsuccessfully tried to stop the bleeding with strips of clothes and even his bare hands.
"I think he is unconscious, I can barely feel any pulse." The Chief stated.
"Kara," he paused, "he lost a lot of blood," he finally said, "I don't know if he'll."
"He will survive." she cut him off.
She looked up to the Chief and saw that he some cuts and bruises as well. "What actually happened to you guys?" she wondered, nodding toward his injuries.
"Well, first we crashed and then we had the Cylon welcoming committee," he tried to lighten the mood with a smile but the situation was far too serious for that smile to get through to Kara.
Kara looked upon Lee and understood that every second mattered, if it wasn't too late already. "Can we carry him out?" she asked. There wasn't really any choice. Ready or not, they had to get him out of there.
The Chief nodded as the Marine medic started to apply a field dressing on Lee's chest wound.
"Alright, let's do it." she stated.
They needed to get out of here, fast, before the Cylons figured out what was going on exactly and sent reinforcements--and most of all, before they lost Lee. Nothing else mattered! She swallowed hard and blinked away tears.
Mission! Focus on the Mission!, she ordered herself.
"All right, listen up, this is what we're gonna do. We need to get a shuttle to jump off this rock. I came in the Raider so we have to find something that can carry us all. I passed a shuttle bay on my way over here so just follow my lead. I'm sure our hosts will do everything to stop us from getting to that ship we need."
Kara's eyes drifted towards Lee when the Marines started to lift up his lifeless body.
Mission Kara!
"I want diamond formation with the Captain in the middle, remember short bursts, save your ammo, because that's all the protection we have right now. Normal rounds for soft Cylons, projectiles for hard-assed Cylons, you know the drill. Ready?"
They all looked as ready as they could get, it was time to go.
"Move out!" she ordered them.
TBC