Fascinate Young Writers Festival

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

‘Deserving’ A Battlestar Galactica the new series fan fiction. By Melissa Hill

Rating: PG
Words: 1,980
Genre: Romance, Angst

Their eyes met over the dispersing crowd. Her’s were filled with a myriad of emotions, as if she couldn’t decide what to feel. Lee couldn’t blame her; the entire crew of Galactica was still coming to terms with the recent tragedy. Three people had been killed by the resident humanoid cylon, Sharon. After she had lost her hybrid baby, Sharon had suddenly turned on them. She began thrashing around in her cell, abusing the guards and being all around destructive. Commander William Adama had made a rushed decision and sent Helo and Starbuck down to talk to her. Adama had been pretty confident that these two could calm her down, the rest of the crew had agreed with him.

The plan didn’t work.

Once Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace and Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon had entered the cell, half an hour passed with relative silence. The next hour Lee still remembered vividly.

Flashback

Lee had been chosen as part of the team that would stand at the door of Sharon’s cell while Helo and Starbuck saw her. It was supposed to be pretty routine. Stay alert and keep your ears open.

The team consisted of seven marines and two pilots, Lee and Hotdog. Everyone had been pretty relaxed for the first half and hour, only becoming really alert when raised voices could be heard. After an hour the mood suddenly turned panicked. Loud bangs, like gunshots, sounded from behind the doors. The team had been told that they couldn’t enter the cell until they were called for, but at this stage, rules could be disregarded. The guard team stormed the cell, guns raised. The scene they were greeted with made them stop in their tracks. The glass around Sharon’s cell was shattered, the phone was off the hook and the door that opened into her cell had been torn off the wall. Lee was scared, not only for himself but for the safety of his best friend, Kara. The guard team entered the cell. Inside was a mess. The bed was overturned and the covers strewn across the room. All eyes turned to Sharon.

The humanoid cylon sat huddled in a corned, a still smoking gun lay at her feet. The cylon looked scared and confused; her eyes were locked on the opposite wall of the cell. Lee turned around to be greeted with two still bodies. He rushed over to a blonde female form lying near the wall. As he passed Helo he stopped, noticing the pool of blood around the Raptor pilots head. A quick glance at Kara confirmed his suspicions, they had been shot.

Lee’s training took over and he called for a guard to get a med team down there, stat. Lee quickly checked Helo’s pulse, though he knew it was hopeless, he had been shot through the head. He rushed over to Kara’s side. He knelt beside and was relieved to find that she was only unconscious, not dead. She had sustained two bullet wounds, one to the upper left thigh, and the other to her abdomen. Applying pressure to her stomach wound Lee prayed to the Lords of Kobol that Kara would hang on. Medics arrived quickly.

The rest of the day had been a bit of a blur for Lee. He knew he had gone with the medics to life station, and stayed there until Kara had gotten out of surgery. He had then sat by her bed. She woke up later that night, eyes full of fear and guilt. She didn’t say a word, no matter what he had said.

End of Flashback

Lee began to follow Kara off of the flight deck, dodging mourners and other personnel. The day after the shooting would be burned into his memory forever.

Flashback

The day after the shooting the humanoid cylon killed again. The President of the Colonies, Laura Roslin, had been overseeing the cylon’s final interrogation and round of tests. The aim of this final meeting was to try and gain all the information they could about the cylon fleet, and the remaining unidentified humanoid cylon models, before Sharon got flushed out of an airlock. Vice President Baltar, Galactica’s resident cylon expert, had been conducting the interrogation and tests. From what Lee had been told, President Roslin had turned away from the viewing window briefly and had never gotten a chance to turn back. Sharon had lost it again; she had broken free of her restraints, snapped Baltar’s neck and was out of the cell before the President could react. Shortly after, the President joined the list of Sharon’s kills.

Sharon finally met with her destined airlock.

End of flashback

Now the triple funeral was finished. And everyone was going there separate ways. Lee ran to catch up to Kara. It wasn’t hard, she was still on crutches.

“You okay?”

Kara looked at him, emotions still flickering in her eyes. “I seem to be hearing that a lot lately.”

“That’s because you won’t give anybody a straight answer.”

She stopped walking to look at him. Hazel eyes locked with blue.

“Helo was my first friend on Galactica, he always covered my back, and he saved my butt on Caprica. Now he’s dead. The President and the Vice-president are dead and I’m out of the air for the next six weeks. Yeah Lee I’m frakkin’ peachy!”

Lee searched her face. Kara’s eyes were hardened and her jaw set.

“Your blaming yourself for Helo’s death aren’t you?”

She glared at him. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

She sighed. “Not now Lee. I’m not in the mood.”

He looked at her like she had just grown horns. “When aren’t you in the mood for a challenge?”

“Since now.”

“Talk to me Kara, don’t shut me out again.”

“Not here.” She gestured to the stream of people passing them.

“So you’ll talk?”

“Only if you get your butt into gear and find a place for us to talk flyboy!”

“My office?” he suggested.

“Done.” She said, and started to limp/hop in that direction. He followed.


They reached his office in record time, considering Kara was on crutches. Once inside he sat behind his desk, Kara took the chair in front. He leaned forward, elbows on the desk.

“Well here we are so talk.”

“Pushy.” She grumbled. Looking apprehensive she said. “Uh Lee, don’t interrupt me. If you do I might not be able to finish.”

He nodded. With a deep breath she began. She talked about Caprica, the resistance, she even mentioned Anders. She talked about the farm and told him what she was thinking when she slept with Baltar after Colonial Day. She told him why she jumped away to Caprica. Lee was speechless when she finished. Throughout her speech Kara had kept her eyes locked on the wall above his head. Now she watched his face. His expression went from confused, to angry, hurt, and then betrayed and back to confused. He finally spoke.

“So you slept with Baltar because he was there and you thought I didn’t want you. You then cried out my name as you came. You jumped to Caprica because you felt betrayed by my father, and the President had asked you to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo. On Caprica you were shot and taken to a cylon breeding farm. By killing the cylon doctor that was taking care of you, you managed to escape. While there you made a promise to the leader of the resistance that you would be back for him.” He thought for a moment. “Did I get that right?”

Kara nodded, close to tears. Lee rose and walked around the desk, kneeling in front of her he said,

“Oh Kara I’m so sorry. I did want you on Colonial Day, but I let you go because I was afraid, I was afraid I would frak everything up. I shouldn’t want you; I shouldn’t be in love with you. You’re my brother’s girl, his ghost hangs between us.” He searched her face, though her eyes never left the floor.

“Kara, look at me.” She didn’t budge. “Look at me…please.”

She let out a soft sigh and met his eyes.

“Kara I love you, remember, you said no take backs, I’m not taking it back, I never will.” He said softly, eyes never leaving hers. He could almost see the walls guarding her emotions crumble away as she began to cry. Lee pulled her into his arms, praying she wouldn’t resist. She didn’t, instead she melted into his embrace, shoulders shaking for her sobs.

They stayed like this for most of an hour, until the flood of tears finally stopped. She mumbled something into his shoulder, something he didn’t quite catch. He pulled back so he could see her face.

“Hmmm…?” he asked, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

She turned pink and mumbled “I don’t deserve you.”

Lee shook his head. “Don’t say that, you know it’s not true.”

The look in her eyes became desperate. “But it’s true Lee. I don’t deserve you, I didn’t deserve Zak and I didn’t deserve a friend like Helo. Look where it got them.” she began to gesture empathetically “It seems that anyone who gets close to me, dies.”

Lee grabbed her wrists and pulled her back into a hug.

“I’m not dead, dad’s not dead. You deserved Zak, you deserved Helo, and you sure as hell deserve dad and I. Hell you probably deserve better. You’re a hero Kara, the famous Starbuck, don’t ever think yourself unworthy.”

Her reply was to hug him tighter. She then whispered in his ear “No one could be better than you Apollo, after all, you claim the call sign of a god.”

Lee smiled into her shoulder. She was teasing him, which meant she felt better.

“You feeling better?”

She cracked a smile. “Nice way of re-wording the original question Captain. And yes, I’m fine.”

“Good. And thanks Kara, for not shutting me out.”

She grinned, one of her trademark, knee melting grins. She was still sitting across from him, bad leg stretched out. Lee suddenly had the urge to do something he probably shouldn’t do. ‘Frak it’ he thought, and closed the distance between them for a kiss. She didn’t object, like he thought she would, instead she kissed him back, hard.

The kissed turned passionate fast. She tangled her hands in his hair, holding him close. His hands supported her head, as the kiss became impossibly deeper. When oxygen became a real problem, they broke apart, gasping for air.

“Wow.” She panted. “Maybe I should pour my heart out more often; if I’m going to get a kiss like that.”

He laughed. “Maybe we should just skip straight to the kissing bit.”

“You know Captain Adama; I like that proposition, a lot. But what happened to the by the book Captain. What have you done to him?”

“That Captain is still here, you just bring out the best and worst in him.”

She laughed evilly and kissed him again.

“Captain Adama, report to CIC, pass the word the CAG to CIC.”

They broke apart with a groan, foreheads touching.

“Duty calls.” He said, getting up.

“Duty can wait until you get me up off the floor, my leg cramped about half an hour ago.”

He laughed and offered her a hand up. She thanked him with a parting kiss.

“Hurry back.” She said.

“I’ll try, but you know Tigh.”

She groaned. “Bastard. Once my leg heals I’m going to kick his ass.”

“Rather than plan your revenge, maybe you should figure out something to spill your guts about.”

She let out a ringing laugh and winked at him as he left. She turned to his desk and looked at the stack of paperwork covering it.

“Probably should do something to pass the time.”

She smiled, feeling much better and for once, felt like she deserved what she had.


The End

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