Battlestar Galactica
The Storm of the Heart
By LeatherKnight
<><><><><><><>
Part 2
<><><><><><><>
Standing alone by the edge of the river.
He traded his life for a glass full of tears.
The bargain was quick, for one's life is less dearer,
When the sand's running out and the ending is near.
The ending is near,
The ending is near,
The ending is.
The man climbed aboard and set sail for the ocean.
He put on the mast all the canvas she'd take,
Then laid himself down on the deck 'neath the tiller
The ship was his coffin, this moment his wake.
Run away reasons,
Run away seasons,
Time is a treason
That I give back to you now.
The wind touched the sails and the ship moved the ocean.
The wind from the storm set the course she would take.
From a journey to nowhere towards a soul on the ocean
From the wake of Aquilon, to Aquilon's wake.
Run away reasons.
Run away seasons.
You take tomorrow,
Because it means nothing
To me,
To me,
To.
Her scanner blinked, and she spied Starbuck, closing fast. She smiled and aimed right
for him.
"Come on, Starbuck," she growled. "Come on!"
Starbuck watched his scanner, seeing Athena heading right up his nose. He focused his
attention outside, seeing the spec that was her ship, rapidly growing and taking on
shape. A halo erupted behind her Viper and she hurtled toward him at an even greater speed.
"Lords," said Starbuck, he squeezed off a shot, missing, and rolled wildly as Athena's simulated Viper shot past mere metrons away, turbos blazing. The flash set spots in his eyes, and his ship bounced erratically as he fought to keep control.
"She's crazy," he said to himself, rolling his ship after her. Before he was half way
through his turn, she shot past him again, his ship bouncing wildly in her wake. Again
he was blinded by the backwash of her turbos.
His ship spun wildly.
"Athena!" he called out.
In the observation room, Adama and Apollo stood behind Daggit, watching the emotion
playing out on both pilot's faces. The central monitor showed an external view of the
battle, with Athena constantly strafing Starbuck at perilously close distances.
Adama watched another near miss, and then looked up at the monitor that showed
Athena's face. His heart froze at what he beheld. She seemed unaware of her
surroundings. Her eyes moved quickly, with total detachment as she watched her prey
flash past again."She's toying with him," he said in horror. "Like a feline with a rodent."
Then he looked up at his son. "That's not my daughter." He said. "I don't know who that is?"
Apollo only nodded in regret.
Michas was singing. His voice surrounded her, like a blanket. Within that blanket, she was invincible. She dropped in behind Starbuck and fired, one of her shots grazing the tail fin of Starbucks Viper. Starbuck wheeled his Viper over and dove away, turbos blazing. His ship was still flying erratically.
Starbuck reacted on instinct as the simulated laser blasts exploded around him. He blinked furiously, trying to get the spots out of his eyes and glanced behind him at Athena, closing rapidly. Her ship was like a visage of death. A single numbing thought came to him.
"A Viper pilot only flies three Vipers. The one he trains in, the one he escapes from, and the one he dies in."
He rolled in the opposite direction and risked a second glance, just as two more orange
lances flashed past him. What he saw was not a simulated enemy. He saw Death.
Death, in the form of a wicked, tri winged bat, untiring, undaunted, and coming for him.
"Oh, frack!" he cried out, and he felt, for the first time, the fear of a man who knows he
is about to be destroyed.
Athena pressed her advantage. She watched the cross hairs of her attack computer, and just before the cross hairs centered, she fired, grazing Starbuck's ship again.
The simulator lurched, and several instruments winked out, simulating damage to his ship.
Starbuck hit the braking flaps and reverse thrusters. His ship sped backwards as Athena
shot over him.
Athena looked over her shoulder, eyes wide. Quickly, she rolled her ship over and dove away, trying to turn around and face her enemy before Starbuck's crippled fighter got up to speed.
The two simulated vipers passed within six metrons of one another as each pilot committed to the reckless maneuver.
Both simulators bounced violently as they passed through each other's wake.
In the dark he heard a word a whisper, Asking him to understand.
In the desert look for water,
On the ocean look for land.
In the dark he heard a word a whisper,
Asking him to understand.
In the desert look for water,
On the ocean look for land.
And there in the waves,
Was a man in his grave,
That he saw in the night,
'tween the flashes of light,
And he
Could not be there
And all he had prayed,
Or had given away,
He now found to be wrong,
In the grip of the storm.
And he,
Could not be there
Athena followed the rhythm of the song, the words driving her on. She spun her Viper
around again, the alarms signaling excessive stresses before she leveled and closed
again on the wounded ship.
"Apollo!" Starbuck called into the mic. "I can't get her off of me!"
His ship bounced again as it received another hit, this time the indicators for his lower left engine flashed red before winking out. "She's taking me apart!"
Athena jabbed quickly on the reverse thrusters so as not to overshoot Starbuck's
crippled ship. She gauged her shot again and fired, watching as her target jumped again.
Could you keep our lives together,
Safely back onto the shore.
Could you grant this last illusion,
Only this and nothing more.
Could you keep our lives together,
Safely back onto the shore.
Could you grant this last illusion,
Only this and nothing more.
And all at once the heavens bled their fire.
The anchor broke, the chains they flew away.
And suddenly the waves were reaching higher
And in the dark I thought I heard them say.
Athena watched her target drifting right into her cross hairs and she fired again.
Starbucks ship lurched again, and this time, he saw that his laser generators winked out. He was crippled and unarmed. He looked behind him and turned his crippled ship out of another deadly volley.
It took little skill for Athena to match Starbuck's move, and she slowly settled into another pursuit slot.
Everything I ever had for one more tomorrow,
Everything I ever had for just one more night.
And if this is not to be I pray could I borrow
Just another final centar unto my life.
Athena let her finger rest lightly on the fire button, waiting for Starbuck to come into
range. Her face was devoid of emotion, her mind reeling in the words that echoed in
her mind. She was one with them. One with the ship, the words, the song. She was one
with him.
Everything I ever had for one more tomorrow,
Everything I ever had for just one more night.
And if this is not to be I pray could I borrow
Just another final centar unto my life.
Starbuck looked behind him and saw the hopelessness. He switched the Unicom on.
"Athena!" He called out. "I surrender! I repeat, I surrender!"
Athena heard the plea, but she closed in mercilessly, the targeting computer began flashing. She moved her thumb back on the firing button.
"Dammit Athena!" Starbucks voice came over the speaker. "You win! I surrender!"
Everything I ever had for one more tomorrow,
Everything I ever had for just one more night.
And if this is not to be I pray could I borrow
Just another final centar unto my life.
She paused, feeling the words. Perhaps hearing them for the first time. A man, lost, and
begging for just one more moment. One more chance. Just like him. Just as Michas had
probably pleaded in his darkest hour. And someone or something had granted him that.
Her heart began to pound, and the tears welled up in her eyes.
Everything I ever had for one more tomorrow,
Everything I ever had for just one more night.
And if this is not to be I pray could I borrow
Just another final centar unto my life.
She released the controls as the emotions flooded over her. The sobs burst from her and she fell back in the seat, her simulated Viper falling away from the kill, out of control.
The chamber went dark, and then the lights slowly came up as the canopies of both ships whined open. She ripped the helmet from her head and threw it away, her head dropping back into her hands as she let the sobs burst from her.
A hand came to rest on the back of her head. A loving, familiar hand. She looked up into the eyes of her father. His own eyes streaked with tears.
Carefully, he helped her out and held her to him. She wasn't a warrior at that moment. She was his daughter. A child who had awakened from a nightmare and needed his comfort and compassion.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry." She kept repeating it over and over.
It's all right, my dear," he whispered. He stroked her hair, whispering comforting words in her ear as he led her from the room.
Standing once more by a boat on a river,
He pushes it off while he stays on the land.
And seeing the timeglass now, so much clearer,
Which someone had refilled by hand.
And somewhere that boat's now adrift on the ocean,
The mast at full sail and there's no one on board.
The timeglass no longer sits by the ocean,
Only his footprints all alone on the shore.
And soon they're no more,
No more,
No more.
A secton later, she stood against the railing of the celestial dome, her eyes wandering
over the tinkling stars in the heavens. In her hand she still held the parchment with the
song, the Wake of Aquilon, hanging forgotten in her fingers.
The gentle rumbling beneath her rose in volume as the circular hatch lifted open. Out of the depths climbed Starbuck. He sealed the hatch and removed his earmuffs.
"Hi," he said stepping slowly over to her, the earmuffs bending and twisting nervously in his hands. He finally looped them next to hers on the rail and leaned up beside her, looking out at the stars. "I didn't know you knew about this place?" he said.
"Apollo told me about it after-" she stopped and looked at him.
"Ah, ah," said Starbuck. Then he smiled. "The council approved the new Raptors."
"So I guess you'll be promoted to Captain, then," said Athena.
Starbuck shook his head. "Naw," he said.
She looked at him in mild surprise.
Starbuck shrugged. "How can I expect anyone to follow my orders when I'm always disobeying Apollo's?" His trademark grin spread on his face.
She smiled and let her head drop.
"Anyway," Starbuck continued. "I prefer to go it alone in a Viper, than having someone sitting behind me and shouting in my ears all the time." He looked out at the stars.
"Out there is the only time I get to be alone."
"You always take this long to get to the point?" asked Athena.
"Yeah, well," Starbuck shrugged. "I just, you know. I'm sorry for ever hurting you. I know I haven't been the best thing to happen to you, and I just wanted to-" He stopped, suddenly unsure.
"It's all right, Starbuck," she said.
"Friends?" asked Starbuck.
She looked at him, and for the first time, saw the man in front of her.
Not the fantasy. She embraced him fondly.
"Friends," she said.
They stayed that way for a long while. When they parted, Starbuck reached for the earmuffs and headed towards the hatch.
"Oh," he said as if it were an afterthought. "Captain Milesar told me to tell you that he's only filled eleven pilot slots in the new squadron."
"Eleven?" asked Athena.
Starbuck nodded. "The final spot is for you, if you want it."
With that, he disappeared down the hatch.
<><><><><><><>
The launching bay was dark, simulating ship's night as Athena descended the lift. She stepped into the bay and walked over to one of the two prototype Raptors, her hand coming to rest on the cool metallic skin. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she felt a gentle smile tug at her lips.
She climbed up the ladder and into the forward seat. His seat.
Her hands fell on the flight controls, and for a moment, she felt as though she was back again with Michas. Her head fell slowly back against the headrest and her eyes closed. In one micron, she felt as if she were lying on the beach, with his arms wrapped comfortingly around her.
It was a moment that they had never been able to share, and yet, it was like he was
there, sharing it with her in that ship, in that seat. In that moment, she knew what she
wanted. For the first time in yahrens, she knew who she was and where she belonged.
His eyes stared into hers and his gentle smile washed away any fears she had.
"Anything the lady wishes."
She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, but she was suddenly aware of a presence. She turned her eyes down towards the floor and found Captain Milesar standing casually by the lift.
"Comfortable?" he asked.
She smiled, looking down at the controls of the powerful new ship.
"Look," Milesar continued. "I need to turn my roster in to the commander for final approval, so-?" He rolled his hand towards her expectantly.
She looked down at him with certain fire in her eyes.
And with a single nod, she gave her answer. "I'm in."
END