Chapter 28B - On the Galactica...Out of the Jump

[Brie]

As Brie finished up her lunch she looked at Boleman and shook her head. “All I want at the micron is for this to be done. I’m so sick of waiting. I just want to find the fleet and get the tribunal over with, whatever the outcome may be.”

“We KNOW what the outcome will be, Major,” Boleman said, purposely using her rank. “But you just have to be patient. This will all be just a memory soon enough.”

Brie sighed. “I don’t know. It feels like I’ve been on the Galactica forever.”

They both picked up their things and headed towards the door. A woman a few yarhens younger than Brie, wearing a med tech’s uniform, stopped dead in front of them, blocking their exit. “YOU!” she screamed.

“I’m sorry,” a confused Brie said, “have we met?”

“No,” the woman said, walking slowly towards Brie. Brie took a few steps backwards, and soon found her back against a wall. She knew she had just made a stupid mistake. “You don’t know me, but I know who you are. Empress Brie, the woman who would be God.”

“Excuse me?”

The woman put her face up close to Brie’s. “We were meant to be together, but you just left him behind. You left him there to die. How could you be so cold, so heartless? His blood is on your hands.”

Brie quickly tried to remember both Lazant’s and Deke’s files. Lazant had lost a girlfriend decades earlier, there was nothing that she could remember about Deke’s personal life. She made an educated guess. “You knew Captain Lazant?”

“Lazant?” the woman screamed. “Who gives a frack about Lazant?”

“Oh, so you were a friend of Lieutenant Deke’s.” Brie tried to remain calm, she knew that every eye in the mess hall was upon them.

“A friend?” the woman repeated. “Deke and I were more than friends. He was the love of my life. I wanted to take the seal, have children, grow old together, but no, after our second date he didn’t want to see me anymore.”

Brie was tempted to sarcastically say, “I wonder why,” but instead said, “what’s your name?”

“Krista,” the woman replied.

“Krista?” Brie repeated. She knew she had to come up with something fast. “I have something for you.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the volunteer note that Deke had given her. Krista took a step or two backwards. “Deke and I were talking on our way to the moon,” Brie lied. “He told me that he hadn’t been honest when he volunteered. He said that his obligation was to the fleet, but he sometimes wished that it wasn’t so. He told me about a beautiful med tech named Krista, whose heart he had broken because being sealed to a warrior is just too difficult of a life. He said that it was the biggest regret of his life, and asked me if he didn’t make it back to find Krista and tell her that he loved her as well.”

Tears were running down Krista’s cheeks. It was obvious that she had bought Brie’s story. She threw her arms around Brie in an unexpected embrace. “Thank you,” she said. “I knew he loved me.”

Brie slowly pulled herself away, leaving Krista crying by the wall. She walked the rest of the way to the door as quickly as possible. “Maybe I should just go back to hiding,” she whispered to Boleman.

[Agelastus]

The aroma drifting from the mess hall (carefully crafted to be inoffensive as it was) made my mouth water as I approached.

The pair of techs standing near the door gave me a little pause though. There'd been a fairly loud noise as I turned the corner; it had been human, not mechanical though, so my mind had paid little attention to it. I guess I was still quite tired.

The two techs seemed to be reluctant to enter the messhall as I came up to them.

"'xcuse me," I muttered as I pushed past them. Then I too stopped as I registered the silence from the room I was entering. Everyone seemed to be looking towards the door, while trying to appear to be not looking towards the door.

It was quite an uncomfortable sensation for a couple of microns. Until I realised just who all the attention was focused on.

"Ah," I murmured to myself. Classic timing on my part...

[Brie]

As the incident with Krista ended Brie realized that all eyes in the mess hall were on her. She knew that was a feeling that she would somehow have to get used to. All she now wanted to do was make a quiet exit.

Glancing towards the door, Brie noticed Captain Agelastus for the first time. He immediately looked away, giving Brie the feeling that he, as well as so many others, was blaming her for Amy and Lazant’s deaths. She turned her back slightly and whispered to Boleman, “Team member. Agelastus. Standing over near the two techs.”

“Agelastus.” Boleman thought for a few microns. “I don’t think I read his statement. I wonder if he made one.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Brie informed him. “His testimony wouldn’t help either side.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me,” Brie said. “I’m not hiding anything, but I’m not sure at the micron now much of his file is classified. Is there another way out of here? We’ll walk right into him if we go out the door.”

“Come with me.” Boleman grabbed Brie by her good arm and she followed quickly behind. He led her into the kitchen area, no one stopped them. “Being sealed to the head chef has MANY advantages.” They walked out a different door and into the corridor. Since there wasn’t anyone around he stopped. “Don’t EVER pull a stunt like that again.”

[Agelastus]

I watched Brie and the man who, by the specialty and rank tabs, had to be her Protector Boleman slip out of the mess hall via the "back-door" - the route via the kitchens used to dodge somebody you didn't want to meet.

I was good at watching people from the corner of my eyes, without them realising they were being so observed. I knew Brie had seen me, and cursed the momentary flicker of my eyes away from her. It had been almost instinctive, an attempt to grant privacy to a scene that should not have been held in public. Not even the aftermath of said scene that was all that I had seen.

One thing that seemed likely though was that the Major was reluctant to make use of potential testimony from me. At least, that was the inference I thought I could make from the way Boleman had ignored me in order to get Brie out of there.

Fine. I could still make a written rather than oral submission. That would leave the choice whether or not to use it up to Boleman. Moreover, given the importance placed on witnesses who would testify directly in Colonial jurisprudence, it was quite likely that the statement would never be used, so Major Pierce would never get the chance to attempt to discredit it. I would have done as much as I could.

As much as I could immediately, anyway. I definitely had a few questions to ask.

All that took me a few microns to decide. However, as I looked around the Mess Hall, I realised people were still not talking. Oh, a couple of whispered conversations were going on in corners, but the majority of the people there were looking either at the exit the Major and Boleman had used, at a woman who was still crying by the wall or...at me?

"Are we all having fun here?" I said, deliberately pitching my voice to the loudest it could get without actually shouting.

Absolute silence.

"I'm reminded of my youth here." I went on, almost conversationally. I still had no idea of the cause of the scene, but the presence of a woman weeping against the wall, and Brie's expression, gave me some fairly strong hints. "My youth on Sagittara's northern continent.

"I saw a pack of feral daggits once. Feral, not wild. Wild daggits will protect any member of their pack, no matter how weak or injured the particular individual is. Even when the leader is challenged for Pack rights, the challenge is made in the open and fairly. Feral daggits, however..."

From the corner of my eye I could see the weeping woman, crying more gently now, edging towards the door. All eyes seemed to be on me, no-one noticing her movement. Good.

"Feral daggits will attack any member of their pack who shows a moments weakness. Viciously. Ruthlessly. And then they'll turn away, waiting for the next misstep, for the next weak one to rend. Just like that pack I saw in my youth."

Some of the people there were getting angry. I saw that the weeping woman had been able to slip away though.

"That's what you all remind me of now. Major Brie has done more to protect each and every one of you. No, more to save each and every one of you, than any twenty people here in this room. And then when the most ridiculous charges since your own then-Lieutenant Starbuck was accused of murder are made against her, does she get even a sliver of belief, or any benefit of the doubt. Does anyone remember her service to you all?

"Apparently not. Apparently, what she has done for you all means nothing." I shook my head. "And just to make it clear, in case any of you don't understand what I think, the charges against her are malicious, they are false, and they are ridiculous. Without her, in all probability none of us would have got back from that Cylon base. And if she asked me, I'd go with her on another such mission in a micron."

I could see some people looking more thoughtful. Others just looked puzzled. A handful were outraged. And a couple...a couple looked disgusted, as if they couldn't believe anyone could defend someone like the Major. That shook me a little. I hadn't realised that she was the sort of person who collected enemies along the way. That was more my style.

"Suddenly, I'm not very hungry," I concluded. "Something in the air around here ftastes a little...rancid".

I turned and strode out of the Hall. I'd make a statement from the temporary quarters I'd been assigned and drop electronic and hardcopy versions off at Boleman's office as required.

Still, I suppose, looking at the bright side - no-one's tried to kill me yet.

And the one thing I had learned in the bowels of the Galactica was that the Sorayama was still very much alive and kicking...

[Brie]

“Don’t EVER pull a stunt like that again. If you do, you’ll be looking for a new protector.” Boleman was just about as angry as he had ever been.

“What stunt?” Brie asked.

“What you just did with Krista. Next time let security handle it.”

“Sorry,” Brie said without meaning it. “Problem solving happens to be one thing that I’ve always been very good at, my whole life. I saw no reason to bring someone else into it, especially since I saw such a simple solution.”

“Were you lying to Krista?” Boleman asked her straight out.

“Yes.”

“There lies the problem,” Boleman explained, lowering his voice. “You’re too good a liar. Everyone in that room knew that you were probably lying to her, but you were convincing enough that they didn’t know if they should believe you or not. Your credibility has now been shot. Who knows who was there who might be called by Pierce to testify against you? You could have just blown your whole case.”

“Sorry,” Brie repeated. This time she almost meant it.

“Until this tribunal is over,” Boleman continued, “your life belongs to me. You don’t make a move, say a word, take a breath without my permission. Do you understand?”

“Am I allowed to think?” Brie asked sarcastically.

“Drop the attitude, Brie,” Boleman instructed. “If you end up on the prison barge I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, but believe me, YOU will. I’m very good at what I do, but you have to let me do my job. Now come on, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” Brie asked.

“Back to my quarters. I think that’s going to be the only way to keep you out of trouble.

Brie walked silently next to her protector. He might be good at his job, but at the micron she didn’t really like him very much. She hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer until contact was made with the fleet.

[Brie]

Brie sat on the sofa in Boleman’s quarters, as he sat at his desk working at his computer. “A-g-e-l-e-s...”

“It’s a-s-t-u-s,” Brie corrected. “Not e-s. Why are you looking him up? I already told you that he couldn’t help us.”

“I’m just curious.” Boleman read silently for several microns. “He made Captain pretty quickly,” he observed.

“Yeah, it was one of those things,” Brie told him. “He had proven himself willing to do just about anything, and he could take on the responsibility of having a higher rank. Plus none of us were expected to survive the mission, so in a way it was some type of gesture.”

“What’s in the classified part of his file?” Boleman asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Or just give me your security clearance, either one will do.”

Brie shook her head. “I can’t do that.”

“I just want to see how bad it is,” Boleman explained. “Make the decision myself whether or not to ask him to testify. He does owe you, since you had him promoted.”

“I already told you that Agelastus can’t testify for either side,” Brie said, speaking very slowly.

Boleman seemed astonished. “It’s up to me whether or not Agelastus could help your case.”

“I’m not telling you classified information.”

“Why not?” To him it seemed like such a simple matter, he didn’t understand what the problem was.

Brie was trying very hard to remain calm. “Because if I share classified information I could be court-martialed!”

Boleman held back a laugh. “Brie, you’re already BEING court-martialed.”

“But if I divulge classified information, I’ll actually deserve it.”

“Okay,” Boleman said, “you win. But Pierce is up to something, and we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“As long as I know that I played by the rules, I can accept the outcome,” Brie said.

Boleman sighed. “I hope you really mean that.”

[Agelastus]

Somewhere on the Galactica...

"Well? Do we..."

"Kill him? No. It's in abeyance. That means that a senior council member has to authorise it."

"But..."

"Don't ask me why. Don't ask me why he was to die before, or why he now might live. That's not something that concerns us. We just have to obey...

"...or die. I know, I know."

Silence...

[Agelastus]

My temporary quarters were quiet. Quiet enough that it didn’t take very long at all to put together the bare bones of my statement.

It didn’t take much longer to flesh it out. To recap the mission; to praise the Major’s leadership; to discuss the critical decision points, particularly as they related to Captain Amy and her fate; to say where I agreed and where I disagreed, but to make sure even where I disagreed that I could not really fault the reasoning that had led the Major to make a different choice.

In short, to show up the charges against her as being pointless. And probably malicious.

I did spend some time on a coda to the statement though. It was unrelated to the main issue at hand, but I felt that Pierce could use the presence of Corporal Briseis on the mission as supporting evidence against the Major. I had to explain the reasoning I’d used to convince the Major, and then demonstrate how right the decision to allow Briseis to go along was.

I wanted to cover as much as I could think of, even if the statement might never be used.

And then it was time to take it to Boleman’s office. To my surprise, I had discovered that he kept an office to one side of his quarters. Taking my electronic and hardcopy versions, I headed out towards the Galactica’s main living quarters.

Fast as it had been, it had still taken me some time to prepare the statement. I was slightly surprised therefore to find that Boleman’s door still had him as “open for business”, in a manner of speaking. I’d thought that he’d be on a sleep cycle and that I’d be able to drop the statement off in the secure storage that all Protectors and Accusers had near their offices for just such occasions, without ever meeting him.

The door whooshed open with the pristine smoothness of good maintenance. I could see that whatever else they might have become over the yahrens since I’d served on her, the Galactica’s techs were as good as ever.

As I walked into Boleman’s quarters, he looked up from behind a desk in the section he used as an Office.

“Ah! Captain Agelastus. Just the man I wanted to speak to.

“What could possibly be in the classified section of your file that makes you useless as a witness?”

This took me aback a little. It sounded as if Boleman hadn’t even been able to access the section of my records dealing with my incarceration on the prison barge, let alone my original conviction. Which was odd, as a yahren and a half ago, the “bare bones”, at least, had not been so highly classified (even though, of course, I really shouldn’t have been snooping around in my file.) No real point, after all. There’d even been a mention of the rumours surrounding the mysterious death of a fellow inmate (nothing more than rumours though; self-defence though it may have been, a killing was still a killing.) Only the exact details of the trial, including whatever reasoning had led to me receiving the maximum possible sentence, had been sealed and secured with a high-level clearance.

Certainly Boleman should have been able to access enough information to tell at a glance why my testimony would be fairly worthless. For either side - true as any statement that I made might be, my own history would make it far too easy to discredit me, if not my words.

But he didn’t know that. In the last yahren and a half, someone had decided large portions of my file needed a higher level of clearance.

There was a brief stir in the shadows near the wall. Major Brie had apparently been sitting there all along, so quiet that I had not noticed her on entering.

Something I would have to remember, the analytical part of my brain thought.

I wonder if she had anything to do with the reclassification of parts of my file...I mused.

[Brie]

Brie sat quietly on the sofa in Boleman and Trula’s quarters. There was no light on where she was, and that suited her mood just fine. She was silently stewing, upset with her protector for even assuming that she might be willing to share classified information. When a file was sealed there was always a reason. Boleman worked at his desk, no longer even speaking with Brie, the only light on in the room shining directly on him.

The door opening startled Brie. She hadn’t even realized that there was anyone there. She was surprised to see that it was Agelastus but his showing up told her one thing, her initial reaction that he agreed with the charges was wrong. There would be no reason for him to seek Boleman out unless he thought that maybe he could help, and that would be at a personal cost.

“Ah! Captain Agelastus,” Boleman said without looking at Brie. “Just the man I wanted to speak to. What could possibly be in the classified section of your file that makes you useless as a witness?”

Brie moved slightly, hoping that Agelastus would notice that she was there. His pausing without answering gave her time to do something that she knew she might regret. “You don’t have to answer that, Captain,” she said at last. “Your file being reclassified is an opportunity. Do you want to live your life based on your current accomplishments, or on your past mistakes? The choice is yours.”

[Agelastus]

"...on your past mistakes? The choice is yours.”

The Major's words surprised me. Not their content, but the fact that she'd admitted that she'd had something to do with the reclassification.

I hadn't realised...just how good a squadron commander she was. People talk of a clean slate, but they rarely get one. From anybody.

This clean slate only really applied to the Callisto though. There were people aboard who had been with the Fleet prior to the Callisto's arrival, of course, such as Captain Killjoy, but they'd had no reason to broadcast my past - particularly not when I'd spent the best part of two yahrens on the "scut" patrols before graduating to, well, one can only describe it as "front line duty".

But this was the Galactica. There were people here who knew not only the official version, the charges, the trial, but also probably remembered the rumours.

The things they had not been able to charge me with. The things that were the reason my sentence for what, in the end, amounted to little more than theft was the maximum (well, other than the fact that the items in question had belonged to a member of the Quorum of the Twelve...)

Which is why my decision was easy. I wanted to help the Major, but unless Boleman knew the limitations of my evidence, I would be more of a liability than an asset.

"Major", I said, straightening to a more formal stance. "I appreciate what you've done for me. You've never held my past actions against me; in fact, you've shown enormous faith in me.

"But this is the Galactica. This is the past. It was always going to catch up with me when we rejoined the Fleet; this is just earlier than I'd expected.

"And if testimony of mine is going to help you at all, your protector here needs to know just how it could be discredited."

I turned towards Boleman, then paused and said one more thing to the Major. Dropping into a familiarity that was both undisciplined and new. And one that was almost certainly never to be repeated.

"Besides, Brie," I said softly. "We both know that in the end you can never entirely run away from the past."

With that, I began to explain to Boleman just where I'd been before the Callisto, with all its' second chances, appeared.

The bare bones, of course. He didn't need to know more than that - and the full story would have taken most of the upcoming sleep cycle.

I wondered if I would dream of Tanais and the Acropolis again later that ship's night...since remembering the end of my career on the Galactica always reminded me of the beginning....