Part 53! Of Going Native! BSG/STNG crossover! Yay!



“You want guards on the science lab? To maintain the evidence chain of Lt. Gaeta‘s possible Prime Directive violation?” Bill Adama didn’t like it. And he was coming to the conclusion that he didn’t much like Cmdr. Will Riker of Starfleet either. Riker had a smugness about him that set Bill on edge even when what Riker was requesting wasn’t high handed.
“The answer is no,” he said, enjoying the look of irritation that crossed Riker’s face. He kept his voice low so that the crew in the CIC didn‘t hear. “This is not a Federation ship and we are not under Federation law.”

“Not *yet*,” Riker said, his voice taking on a warning note. He drew himself up and squared his shoulders.

It almost made Bill smile. Riker had a tall man’s tendency to use his height as leverage. Not a threat, just a hint of a threat, an ‘I’m bigger than you so perhaps you should rethink things’ sort of gesture. It also confirmed that Riker knew he was asking for something that didn’t have to be granted. “The answer is no, Cmdr. Riker. Your request is out of line.”

Riker’s eyes narrowed. “I can have Captain Picard make this request.”

“The answer would still be no.” Bill said easily. Much as he suspected, Riker’s body posture deflated. Playing the ‘I’m bigger’ game only worked if you were willing to throw fists over it. Riker probably was a good fighter, a good man to have around in a crisis, but Bill suspected he was badly underestimating his opponent. He didn’t consider himself someone who was excellent at the political games of command, but he did know how to play them. Riker didn’t seem to realize that.

Riker crossed his arms. “May I ask why?”

“No. You may not.” Bill was not surprised that Riker nodded curtly and walked away. A good man, all things considered, and no doubt he was off to report to his captain. Which was a good thing. It gave him time to seek out Laura Roslin. Captain Picard would make the request next, and if refused, would give an order, an order Bill only intended to follow if the president of the colonies agreed to it.
~*~

Kara didn’t consider Gaius Baltar a credible source. The man lied about everything. But she was curious to see if he had been telling the truth. Not that she planned to do anything with the knowledge, not really. At least not in a way that would help Baltar. Reg Barclay was nothing but generous about loaning her his padd to look things up. Prison on Earth, even for Prime Directive violations, was ten times better than the average day in the life of the people of the fleet. That was hardly a punishment fit for a usurper of the gods.

So she was in the science lab, looking for a notebook. She wasn’t going to take it to the Starfleet officers if she found it. That ultimately would do nothing but remove any chance she had to deal with Gaeta. Plus she had a good feeling that Baltar would use it to his advantage somehow, and the last thing she wanted was to assist that motherfrakker. She just… wanted to be sure. She hadn’t been sure before.

If she was going to kill a man, she wanted to be sure she was right. Athena’s will was for the usurper to die, to perish before all of the people died with him. She didn’t want to be Athena’s arrow of death, she understood it was a thankless task that would no doubt send her to the same prison that Gaeta was going. There were worse things. There was letting a false god destroy what was left of her people.

She looked around the lab. It was neat. Much neater than when Baltar had been in charge but that was no shock. Gaeta had always been neat, neat and tidy. Baltar had always been disorganized, not mentally but in every day things Baltar was the sort of man who needed a keeper even when he was psychologically well. Gaeta was different, he was an organized person who labeled all of his clothes and kept files like a master. If it was Gaeta, he would have the notebook filed under ‘notebook’. Crossfiled under ‘earth’,’ secret’, and ‘warp drive’, of course. Whereas Dr. Baltar’s level of organization meant that she would need to tear the lab apart to find it. Great, she thought as she looked at the files, this could take hours. If the notebook was even there. Gaeta *was* neat. Baltar likely shoved the book into a filing cabinet but Gaeta had almost a year to find it, and she didn’t think Gaeta was a fool. He could have easily found it and destroyed it.

But before she could get started, the hatch door began to turn. She dove under the small desk and pulled the chair to hide herself from whoever it was. The Admiral had been going fairly easy on her, she was able to see that despite her anger. But for what she needed to do, she needed to be out and about, not locked up in the brig for breaking into the lab. She wasn’t entirely surprised to see one set of feet in military boots and one set in the civilian attire of one Laura Roslin.

“It won’t work forever,” she heard Bill Adama say. His feet angled so that he was looking at Roslin. Kara made a point of slowing her breathing. The Admiral and the President thought they were alone, and they were definitely players. Adama continued, “it’s my ship and my rules, but you and I both know that there’s only so much we can do here. They’re asking now. Once the FTL drive is fixed, I don’t have any leverage to use.”

“And when is that happening?” Roslin asked.

“Within the next few hours. Picard said he’ll use their transport technology to make sure that Mr. Gaeta arrives discreetly and without any fanfare. To keep any potential assassins from taking a shot at him.” He sighed heavily. “ Saul and that damn Circle made us look like monsters.”

“We were.” Roslin’s voice took on an edge. “The decisions I’ve made, the choices you’ve had to make… It won’t be easy sleeping at night but this is one thing I’d like to have off my conscious.”

“I don’t understand why he wrote anything down. For Baltar of all people.” Adama said it harshly.

“You’re mad that he didn’t trust you,” Roslin said after a moment. Kara found herself nodding to that. Laura Roslin could be a bitch, an ice queen, but she was also often very insightful. The Admiral prided himself on being close to the crew. It no doubt stung the man that Gaeta had lied to him about almost everything.

Laura continued with, “I have a feeling that this notebook was an act of desperation. A failsafe. Something he did to ease his own conscious. Something for just in case. For what it’s worth, he didn’t trust me either.” She laughed suddenly. “The truth, Bill? I don’t think Felix Gaeta even likes me. He despises my religious visions, and yet he’s intentionally protecting me so that the Federation won’t insist that I step down from the government. Right now they only suspect that Gaeta told me he was from Earth. As long as neither of us admit anything, I am protected. I’d like to be able to return the favor.”

She knew, Kara thought suddenly. She knew and believed him. In the prophecy the usurper was a liar, a trickster. The Federation seemed pleasant enough but if the prophecy was correct, then the colonies were doomed.

“I want to return the favor as well, but this isn’t the Quorum we’re dealing with.” Adama sounded worried. “Once the FTL drive is fixed, I have no reason to refuse their request to look for evidence. And they will assume that we’re stalling to hide the evidence. They already think that’s what we’re doing. And if we tear this room apart, they’re going to know we were looking for the notebook. So how important is this to you? Because if I need to, I can take a flamethrower to this room and handle it. I’m not overly concerned about being asked to step down.” Kara was surprised to hear him laugh. “I was retiring after years in disgrace after all. If we move to a Federation colony, it’s not as though you’ll need much of a standing military.”

“You’d let someone take over? Lee perhaps?” Laura asked, clearly not believing it.

“No one lives forever, Laura. Although I had the impression that you were considering Lee for a role in the government?” A sigh. “He’d be happier there.”

“I had some ideas for him, I must admit. I get the impression you’re not horrified by the idea.” Roslin managed to sound amused, Kara noted. She personally wasn’t surprised. Lee had always been unhappy in the military and it was just surprising that Bill Adama was able to admit it. “If you’re letting me have Lee, who do you intend to take over the colonial military?”

“Kara.” Adama said it so quickly, Kara was amazed. “She’s not ready, not yet, but she’s the best of the officer core. If she doesn’t want it, then Karl Agathon.” He paused. “My third pick was Felix Gaeta, and I don’t have a fourth. I know if I ask Lee, he’d take command and hate it, and do a damn good job and… He’d be unhappy. I’m his father. I don’t want him to be unhappy. He’d do a good job, but not an excellent job, and he’d be unhappy and things are such that… I don’t want my son to be unhappy. Kara and Helo and even Felix would enjoy the job of running the military. Lee wouldn’t.”

“I hope you tell him that before you give the job to Kara.” Laura said. “He needs to hear it, I think.”

Before Adama could answer, the ship loudspeaker began to chime. The nervous voice of Lindsay Alghee sounded, “Action Stations! Action Stations! An unknown ship has appeared! Action Stations!”

Kara wasn’t surprised that both of them ran to the door. She waited until they left to look about. An unknown ship was most likely a Federation ship so she figured she had a few moments. If I was Felix Gaeta, she asked herself as she went to one of the filing cabinets, where would I put a notebook for people to find, just in case I died.

She opened the filing cabinet and looked under ‘earth’. Sure enough, along with a lot of navigation charts, tucked away in the back was a small blue covered wire bound notebook. She flipped through it, taking enough of the equations to understand that yes, Felix Gaeta had written down the route to Earth, and enough of the drawings to see that Federation technology was very different. But best of all, it made her right.

Felix Gaeta had given Gaius Baltar Federation technology. That meant he was the usurper of the prophecy of the Scroll of Apollo was indeed Felix Gaeta. And he was soon to be brought over to the Galactica to fix the FTL drive.

Kara smiled. The nice thing about prophecy, she mused, was that it gave a person a chance to make it right.