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Post by LucianG on Jun 22, 2007 19:51:24 GMT -6
Finky almost laughed at the thought in reply, “Oh, Lucian! The gold one is long gone! Gold was more valuable than,” she paused, trying to think of the comparison, then continued, “well...gold...early in the Exodus. They needed it for recycling so they could make some of the stuff that was really needed like contact points and electronics stuff. They took it when I was a baby, and left me with this cheap tin one. However,” and she suddenly looked sad again, “when they took it, they didn’t do a very good job protecting the pictures. They stored them for me until I was big enough to appreciate them, but they were damaged in storage. She opened the locket to reveal two pictures. The first, in pretty good shape, was a young boy about ten to twelve yahrens of age. The image in the second, however, was almost impossible to see since the picture had been subjected to what appeared to have been severe water damage. It appeared to be the outline of two shadowy figures, possibly holding a baby or a really small child...or possibly a cat or a small daggit, but Lucian couldn’t tell for sure what it was. “They thought the boy was probably my brother, who may have been the one who took me to the evacuation center, though they don’t know for sure. The second one was probably my parents holding me, though for all the times I’ve stared at it, I really can’t tell for sure. I’ve had it examined by an photo expert to see if it could be restored somehow, but was told ‘there’s too little left to make it worth while.’” Her lip trembled as she looked into Lucian’s eyes, fighting back the tears in her own, and she said, “’Too little left to make it worth while.’ Other than a boy no one even knew, everyone seemed to think that about me when I was real little….”
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Post by LucianG on Jun 30, 2007 9:31:22 GMT -6
Lucian took her hand as he gently closed the locket and returned it to her. He started, “Finky, I’m sor—”, but she shook her head, almost violently, cutting him off as she continued, “I wus near starving when they rescued me, and wouldn’t have made it much longer cause of my size. They said I ‘didn’t have any reserves.’ Once they stuck me on the orphan ship, I started to grow, and eventually became almost normal, developing “family” of fellow orphans. There wus six of us in our little group, and we loved each other as brothers and sisters cause we wus all that we had. Wards came and went, but everyone was so traumatized from what had happened that a lot of people didn’t know what to do. And, there was so many orphans that there wasn’t nearly enough people to adopt all of us, though some people tried to help at times. Our little group was together ‘til I wus almost five yahrens, then they had to transfer some of us cause it was so fracking overcrowded. The regs wu-were totally screwed up back then, so they transferred my family group to one of the other ships, but they left me behind! Five yahrens of age, and I’d lost my second family! I wus so traumatized that I stopped talking and just cried off and on for several sectars, but nobody really noticed cause we ended up with another group of new wards about the same time. The new idiots just thought I was shy or something. Here was the cry’in kid that didn’t say a word to anybody and she’s just shy. Such idiots! That’s about the time that Mama Porphiria took over the orphan system, and things really started to change. They finally realized that us orphans were going to grow up to be something, someday, and they started treat’in us better.’
“Of course, I wus too young and too dumb to know what to do, too. I didn’t know that I could tell somebody and they might do somethin about it. So, when somebody finally realized what was wrong with me, it was already too late to do anything. Somehow, they’d adopted out a couple of my little orphan family and broken up the rest of it. They changed the rules about that just a little later, but it’d already left a bad mark on me. It wus a long time before I ever saw any of my little orphan family again, and when I did finally see a couple of them," she said as she wiped tears running down her face, "they were really different. They didn't seem to remember me very well at all.” She leaned close to Lucian, tears on her cheeks, and he responded by putting his arms securely around her as means of comfort. She concluded, “Now, I’ve been with BatGal and you for so long, gotten to know you so well, and am so close to you that I see you as my big sis and brother. You may not realize it, but we do so many things together like families do, you’re really the closest thing to family I have. And what are those bastards doing? They’re takin’ you away, doin’ it to me all over again!”
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Post by LucianG on Jul 1, 2007 5:19:41 GMT -6
While holding her comfortingly, Lucian thought about the times he’d spent with BatGal and Finky.
With his advanced placement credit for his training aboard the O-9, he’d been assigned BatGal as his wingman almost immediately on arriving at the Academy aboard the Galactica. They quickly became best friends, which was quite strange at first to Lucian since he had grown up as the only child on the O-9 and had never really had a best friend his own age before. When some of the male Cadets started taunting him about asking, or rather, not asking, her on a date, Lucian had shaken his head and tried to explain that BatGal was more like what he imagined would be, since he’d never had one of his own, a very close sister. Besides, he was then involved in a relatively rapid-fire series of very superficial dates with various women aboard the Galactica, in which he’d been able to practice some of what he’d been taught by the O-9’s younger Socialator. Despite this, the “date BatGal” taunting continued for a while…until the next flight simulation when the “siblings” had scored top honors over those doing the taunting. Shortly thereafter, Lucian had met Kaytoe and started his first serious friendship with someone his own age outside the Colonial Military. And then, he’d met Mar-nee’ and found what he thought was true love…and what he knew to be true heartbreak. As a result, he’d severed the relationship with Kaytoe and sworn off women altogether for several yahrens since he still carried the darkest, most secret flame for his former friend’s wife.
During this time, BatGal had been assigned to follow him to the Callisto, and they’d served as wingmates for quite some time until they were both eventually needed to provide on the job training for new, less experienced Warriors. They’d remained very close, even when Lucian was transferred to the Bridge and BatGal was elected Black Squadron Leader. They spent even more time together starting a yahren later when BatGal joined Lucian on the Bridge. Lucian smiled ever so briefly at the memories, and realized that their display on the Bridge a little earlier must have seemed a bit strange to someone who wasn’t aware of what was happening. Someone like Finky….
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Post by LucianG on Jul 1, 2007 18:54:07 GMT -6
Finky had entered the picture as a questionable troublemaker who’d almost been kicked out of the Colonial Military just after being assigned to the Callisto’s Bridge as a very junior officer. When Lucian met her, she had been a very short-tempered, angry young woman, unliked by most if not all of the other Bridge staff members because of her attitude. As a result, she’d been bounced from one assignment to another, with one bad report following after another, each somewhat worse than those coming before. However, Lucian had seen something in the young officer and taken a chance on her. After a very shaky start, they’d eventually bonded and developed a sort of understanding between them. He had tutored or mentored her in a number of subjects, spending only brief periods working with her at first as she resisted, but eventually, she grew to welcome the effort. Then, Lucian spent centars teaching her some of the things that hadn’t seemed that important to her when she was originally supposed to have been learning them, and countless centars more expanding that education much as his various tutors on the O-9 had done with him many yahrens before. While Lucian helped broaden her education, Finky had been working diligently to do her job right and on another very important private project: learning to control her temper. Over time, she’d made progress, but the explosive charge was always there near the surface, waiting to go off at inopportune moments. Fortunately, those moments became less frequent over time.
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Post by LucianG on Jul 2, 2007 5:44:45 GMT -6
When BatGal transferred to the Bridge, she’d joined in the training, and the transformation of the angry young woman into the trusted Bridge officer had quickened. At the same time this was happening, another, more subtle transformation was taking place. The time that Lucian, BatGal, and Finky spent over drinks in the O-Club (usually non-alcoholic for Lucian), in conversation over meals, exercising together, sparring in self defense classes, shooting competitively at the range, bluffing each other in the late evening card games, working together at times to help superdetail Lucian’s scale, hand-built model of the O-9, and occasionally just relaxing on the couch in Lucian’s or BatGal’s quarters watching vids broadcast on the IFB had brought them all closer together. Unlike Lucian's friendships with JustinB, Fallel, Randrius, and Kris, it was something that was different, something that was difficult to describe. Looking back on it, Lucian realized that he had never really pictured Finky as he had BatGal, but in reality, for the last few yahrens, he had really treated them both the same, essentially as his nearest, dearest family. Holding Finky close, comforting her as the brother he now felt himself to be, he started to pull away so he could look her in the eyes as he told her—
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Post by LucianG on Jul 2, 2007 10:20:31 GMT -6
During their hug, Finky had been thinking, too, but not exactly along the same lines as Lucian. Suddenly releasing the embrace and pulling herself back, she said, anger blazing in her eyes as she wiped away the last of the tears, “But it’s not like that for you, is it? You can just walk away, like it’s nothing, leaving the poor little orphan girl to fend for herself! Well, I’ll tell you, I’m not the fracking poor little lost orphan girl that I used to be! I’m almost 29 yahrens old and I don’t need you! I don’t need anybody!” She ripped the locket from around her neck, breaking the clasp in the process, and threw it at Lucian so quickly and unexpectedly that he barely had time to bring up a hand to knock it down before it hit him in the chest. She stepped to the door and turned to give him one last look as the door opened, shouting at him, “Just go away, and don’t ever come back! See if I care!” Turning, she ran away down the corridor.
* * *
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Post by LucianG on Jul 3, 2007 5:36:17 GMT -6
Having followed her out, Lucian stared down the corridor for several microns after Finky rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. "Women!" he whispered softly to himself. "I sure hope I can figure them out someday. Well, til' then."
Stepping back into his quarters, he first checked his chrono. He still had about 95 centons before the Callisto emerged from the jump, just less than a centar, to complete all of his tasks. He quickly finished packing as he thought about what had just happened, glancing several times at the locket he’d placed on the table. Soon, a junior engineering officer arrived to take his bag to the launch bay where he would, soon after arriving in the Borreck System, catch the shuttle to the Galactica. He continued to pack his personal duffel bag as he made a mental list of the stops he still had to make: JustinB, Fallel, Black Squadron….
Taking a last long look around his quarters, he saw nothing significant that he was forgetting. The model of the Odyssey Nine, secured to the shelf above the vid monitor, would have to wait a while longer to receive its final touches. Lucian just hoped that Major Teslor would take good care of it. Turning back to the locket still lying there on the table, as if calling to him like a beacon, he made up his mind what he had to do. Donning his warrior jacket and hefting his personal duffel bag, he scooped the broken locket off the table and headed to the door. Glancing at the chrono once more, he saw that he still had 62 centons. That, he decided, should still be enough time. He turned off the light, and left for an unwelcome, but still necessary, detour.
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Post by LucianG on Jul 5, 2007 5:36:55 GMT -6
There was a fierce debate raging in his mind as he approached the door. There were several people who could probably accomplish the mission he had in mind, but only one that he was absolutely sure could do it fairly quickly. Fallel or Major Urdea’s protégé, Captain Proteus, might succeed eventually, but with their respective workloads, the timeframe might be sectars, so Lucian decided to go to the Callisto’s undisputed master, or perhaps more correctly, mistress, of information.
A few centons later, he stood in front of a door. Having been here once before, his finger hesitated due to his apprehension over what had happened and what hadn’t happened that time. Wincing, he rang the entry chime.
It took a second ring before it slid open, and when it did, he caught his breath momentarily at the sight in spite of the fact that he’d attempted to steel himself against just such a spectacle. Her hair, usually up in a severe bun or pony tail, was down, but appeared somewhat shorter than the last time he’d seen her like this. She wore a short white, very sheer shirt, with only a couple of buttons fastened at the bottom, revealing her ample cleavage…and more. Remembering their last similar encounter, Pell took advantage of the pause and said, “Major Lucian, how nice of you to stop by again. Perhaps you’d like to join me this time for a drink…or something?”
Lucian, vividly remembering the same encounter when he was attempting to help Captain Amy, concentrating on her eyes to keep himself from concentrating on other ‘scenery,’ said, “Sergeant Pell, I hate to say it, but I feel almost like we’ve played out this scene before. I, uhm—”
Interrupting, Pell replied, “Oh, Major!” as she bounced her hair, and more, teasingly. “Don’t hate it! Why don’t you...relish it...and consider yourself doubly blessed?”
With thoughts of Mar-nee', Lucian’s face reddened at Pell's suggestion. He was rapidly losing control of a conversation he would much rather have avoided. “Pell, I need some help with something and need it pretty quickly.” Then, worried about the ease with which she was redirecting the conversation, he added, “I’m sorry, but…uh…can you put something on over that?”
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Post by LucianG on Jul 6, 2007 21:04:35 GMT -6
Ignoring his question entirely, Pell smiled at him coyly and said, “Oh, Major, please, come in and shut that door. It’s a bit…drafty…out there.” When he complied, she continued, “Now, you ‘need some help with something.’ That sounds distinctly unlike a command. Would this, by chance, be a personal request?” As she asked the question, she briefly hunched her shoulders upward, causing the shirt to open a bit further as they fell back into place, and the smile to linger on her face.
Lucian, noticing, nodded as his blood seemed to race at the sight of her, and he took a quick look in spite of himself. Well into her late 30s, she had voluptuous female shape, and she kept herself in fairly good physical condition by generally eating right, exercising somewhat regularly, and liberally using a variety of vitamins, ointments, and creams that covered a nearby shelf. To Lucian’s eye, her face was fairly pretty, but she wasn’t what he considered beautiful. However, combining her physical aspects with her natural…or perhaps, highly practiced?…poise and grace, and her wardrobe, she was, to say the least, extremely alluring. Even more, extremely sexy, he thought.
Then, there was also the Pell legend. Rumors of her amorous nature were nearly legendary aboard the Callisto. However, they were seemingly always only rumored since no man fortunate enough to have such an experience would ever broadcast. Those who were gentlemen would keep the secret because they were gentlemen, and those who weren’t would hold their tongues due to the later unfortunate experiences of a loud-mouthed braggart who, once upon a time, didn’t. Their “encounter” occurred some yahrens before Pell transferred to the Callisto. Shortly thereafter, he told a tale that far outstripped actual events, embarrassing the usually unflappable Pell. It wasn’t long, however, before he his good luck ran out. He was stripped of his rank, his personal finances were wiped out, an embarrassing medical issue was broadcast over the IFB, and he was transferred to the Garbage Scow. Though he claimed that Pell had used her computer expertise to accomplish these feats, nothing was ever proven, and as a result, he was still serving aboard the Garbage Scow. Now, rumors persisted, but only rumors….
“Lords! How did I get myself into this?” he asked himself as he forced his eyes back to concentrating on her face. Returning to her question, he stumbled along to say, “Yeah…it’s a two part…no, make that three part…personal issue.”
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Post by LucianG on Jul 7, 2007 8:38:12 GMT -6
She smiled at him quizzically, almost daring him to try to continue. With effort, he did, saying, “First, I’m looking for anything that might be in the records about a boy to young man, say age 10 to 18 yahrens, at the time of the Exodus. He would have probably been on Gemon, possibly in Gemon City, but that’s by no means a certainty. He might have looked like the boy in the picture,” he said as he held out and opened the locket. He most likely would have had burns on his back, possibly pretty severe.”
“A lot of people suffered burns in the Cylon attacks. Of those who were transported out of the Colonies, many of them died because there wasn’t enough synth-skin to go around for even the worst cases, much less for those with less serious burns,” Pell replied, looking a little dubious at his request so far.
“That’s what I’ve heard, too,” said Lucian, “so you’ll need to list them all.” Finally becoming a little more comfortable now that they were into the discussion, Lucian continued, “Then, you’ll need to create a subset of those who may have had a burn mark, the pattern of a necklace that would likely have been around his neck when he was burned.” Seeing Pell glance at the necklace in her hand, he shook his head saying, “No, it’s not thats necklace, but it probably was gold, so there may have been a bit of gold residue in the burn. If he came with the Fleet, I want to know what happened to him, and where he is now. That’s it for number one.”
“You mean that’s not enough? That could take ages!” Pell exclaimed.
“I know. It could,” replied Lucian with a nod. “But then again, that’s why I came to you, since I knew, with you, it won’t.”
Accepting the compliment with a hint of a smile, Pell said, “Okay, so that’s one. What are two and three?”
And Lucian proceeded to tell her.
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