Word Count: 1,350
Date: 3/05
Series: Season 2
Rating: T
Category: Alternate Universe, Relationships
Pairing/Focus: S/H, S/G (Two Sharons in this story!)
Warnings: A TON of angst in this one!
Summary: Lieutenant Karl 'Helo' Agathon and Chief Galen Tyrol
have to work through their respective memories, and regrets, concerning the two
Cylons they had known as Lieutenant Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii. Adapted from 'The
Defectors' as a stand-alone story.
Spoilers/Disclaimers: Spoilers for ‘Kobol’s Last Gleaming
pt.2’, especially; and some Second Season episodes, as well. The characters
and situations in this story are adapted from the Sci-fi Channel Original Series
‘Battlestar Galactica’, which is property of the Sci-fi Channel and of
Universal/MCA. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money has changed
hands.
Another day begins aboard the Battlestar ‘Galactica’, some weeks after the fleet had departed the Kobol System.
Lieutenant Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon steps out onto the hangar deck of the ship he had once given up on ever seeing again. The first person he encounters is Senior Chief Galen Tyrol, who claims the hangar deck as pretty much his personal domain.
“Good morning, Sir.”, with a crisp salute.
Returning the salute, “Good morning, Chief.”
Both can feel the awkwardness between them – an awkwardness that has almost nothing to do with military discipline or protocol, much less the social barrier between officers and enlisteds. An awkwardness that is not only a barrier between them, but also, paradoxically, a bond. A bond of… shared regrets?
After another moment, “Still thinking of her, huh, Sir?”
“Yeah, Chief. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself.”
“Same here, Sir.”
“Same time this evening, same place?”
“Yeah,… I mean, Yes Sir.”
Helo appears to not notice, or else not respond, to the Chief’s unintentional faux pas.
“Very well, Chief. Carry on.”
The two men move on, to start their respective workdays aboard ‘Galactica’.
********************
Each man starts reflecting on the ‘her’ that Chief Tyrol had referred to: Junior Lieutenant Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii. For ‘Helo’ the memory is one of budding love that had turned – at least for him – to bitter hatred, and then back to love only when it had become too late for that restored love to be anything but painful for the both of them – all because she had proven to be a Cylon! Nonetheless, during the time he had been stranded on Cylon-occupied Caprica, that particular Cylon had looked out for him – had come to love him – had remained steadfast in that love even after he had turned on her. When Lieutenant Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace had arrived on Caprica, with a story about needing to retrieve an old artifact called ‘The Arrow of Apollo’, ‘Boomer’ had made her getaway from a man who had shot and then brutalized her after learning her true background. However, having escaped, she had made a beeline for one of the oldest museums in Delphi, a major city on Caprica. ‘Helo’ and ‘Starbuck’ had gone after her as soon as they had realized where she was going and why, meaning to kill her, once and for all. The shocker had been the next time they had seen her – coming towards them with the Arrow of Apollo, and begging them not to shoot.. She had then accompanied them back to the city’s spaceport – now a Cylon military base – where she had apparently triggered a false security alert, clear on the other side of the base from where the fugitives actually were – thus giving them a brief window of minimal resistance in which to make their move. She had capped off her astoundingly un-Cylonlike behavior by helping them commandeer a ship, of the type they would need to get back to ‘Galactica’ – a Cylon Light Transport. The last few minutes he ever saw her alive are burned into his memory.
********************
As ‘Starbuck’ had powered up the ship for liftoff, ‘Helo’ had gone over to ‘Boomer’, who was showing no sign of joining them. Rather, she looked like she was getting ready to fight a small war.
“Sharon, aren’t you coming?”
She smiled warmly, for just a moment. Acknowledging that his love for her had indeed been reborn, at last.
However, “No, ‘Helo’, I’m not. Someone needs to cover your escape, and it’s too late for me anyway.”
“Sharon, I’m-“
“’Helo’, *don’t*. Not now.” Then, “Just make it out of here in one piece, okay? Let the death of this body have some meaning.”
Then, tears flowing freely, she had given him a brief, but fierce, kiss, which had said, ‘Good-bye, my love, my life!’ far better than mere words could ever have. This had been followed immediately by, “Now, *GO*!”, in her best drill sergeant tone of voice.
From ‘Starbuck’, “Come ON!”, in a similar tone.
The last he ever saw of ‘Boomer’ as he boarded the Cylon transport, was of her taking up a defensive position, to fight a hopeless, one-sided battle against the swarm of ‘Toasters’ already approaching their position, led by a tall blonde. To cover their escape. He had been in a state of emotional shock for the rest of the trip back to ‘Galactica’, where ‘Starbuck’ had presented the Arrow of Apollo to President Laura Roslin prior to surrendering herself to the military authorities for disciplinary action.
********************
For Chief Tyrol, the sad memories and regrets were of a somewhat different sort. They had started right after the witch-hunt that had caused Specialist Third Class Socinus to be unjustly (in the Chief’s view) punished. He had responded to that to that by breaking off the romantic relationship he had had with Jr. Lt. Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii.
Some days later, as they worked on a captured Cylon Raider, she had confessed to being a Cylon. He had told her that what she had said wasn’t even funny. She had asked if it would make any difference to him if she could prove that she wasn’t one. He had not responded, and she had left – to have Dr. Gaius Baltar test her, as he later found out. Even though Dr. Baltar had apparently told her that she was Human, things had gone from bad to worse nonetheless.
Eventually, she had shot herself, but survived. The official story had called that a tragic accident caused by a stupid blunder on her part, but the Chief had suspected the truth – that she still suspected that she was, in fact, a Cylon, and couldn’t live with that suspicion any longer, and had thus attempted suicide. He had gone to see her in Sick Bay, to try to be there for her, but she had pulled rank on him and thrown him out – thus making it clear that he had, in fact, lost her. A few hours later, after Lt. Thrace had gone off on what most at the time had considered a wild goose chase, in blatant violation of orders, Commander William Adama had gone to see her about what had turned out to be a suicide mission, to take out a Cylon Base Star orbiting the recently rediscovered planet Kobol. She had left her bed of pain, to undertake the mission – ordering her newly assigned ECO, Junior Lieutenant Margaret ‘Racetrack’ Edmonson, to remain behind. She had never returned, but the Base Star had been destroyed, the remaining Cylon Raiders had bugged out, and the ‘Galactica’ fleet had assumed orbit around Kobol. Soon after, Lt. Thrace had returned, in a Cylon Light Transport, her ‘wild goose chase’ even more successful that any could have hoped for. Not only did she have the artifact the President had sent her after, but accompanying her had been a Lt. Agathon who had been in a state of emotional shock, and who had confirmed that Jr. Lt. Valerii had been, in fact, a Cylon. Cdr. Adama, who had decided to see how matters played out before deciding on how to respond to Pres. Roslin’s suborning of Lt. Thrace, had let the matter drop with a reduction in rank for ‘Starbuck’ to Junior Lieutenant, the promotion of ‘Helo’ to Lieutenant, and a long, heated discussion of the matter with Pres. Roslin, aboard Colonial One, in private.
Even knowing the truth about her, the Chief still blames himself for at least contributing to her death. Surely he could have done more to be there for her, he tells himself repeatedly. Lt. Agathon had at least once tried to tell him that there would have been nothing he could have done to help her in the final analysis, but he still wonders – and blames himself. Just as he knows that Lt. Agathon blames *himself* for the other ‘Boomer’s’ death, with somewhat greater justification.
The Chief had also been upset for a while that Lt. Agathon had been so willing to move in on a woman whom he had had every reason to believe was still romantically involved with the Chief. However, he had gotten over that some time ago, and their (somewhat) shared loss had eventually led them to become friends.