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shadowsong26) wrote2011-04-14 12:07 pm
shadowsong26) wrote2011-04-14 12:07 pm
Entry tags:
For Sorrow Sung, Chapter 3
Title: For Sorrow Sung
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (new series)
Author: shadowsong26
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings/Warnings: For this chapter: implications of previous torture, Helo, Hughes, OFC, Hughes/OFC, various other OCs.
Summary: Helo goes to the Red Pelican to see if Atia's friends can shed any light on motive. Iliana comes through for Hughes with a copy of Cottle's report on her injuries.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their respective creators.
Note: This is a work in progress. It's possible I'll end up revising and reposting this at some point, but it's largely finished. Thank you for your patience, and any feedback is welcome!
Chapter 3
Seventeen Days Before Gaius Baltar's Trial
Red Pelican
Helo was met at the Pelican by a young woman, maybe in her early twenties. "Hi. Um. I'm Kelly Nerys," she said. "You're here about Atia?"
He nodded. "I'm Captain Karl Agathon. And yes. I just need to talk to her friends for a minute. How well do you know her?"
"Um. Well enough, I guess. She and her friends have been living on the Pelican since the beginning. They were on a school trip; their teacher had a heart attack about a year and a half ago. Um. I think she's been trying to figure out a way to make more paper?" Miss Nerys ran a shaky hand through her hair. "She's kind of quiet. Keeps to herself. Really smart, all ten of them are."
He nodded again. "Thanks. Where can I find her friends?"
"I'll show you," she replied. "Um. This way, Captain."
He followed her through the Pelican to where Atia and her friends stayed. The ship was a little bit smaller than Colonial One, having been a commercial liner out of Luminere before the attack, and had been hastily rearranged into living quarters.
Miss Nerys showed him a partitioned-off section that had been set up as a sort of schoolroom. There were ten improvised desks. Girls were sitting at nine of them, all about the same age as Miss Reyes; the last was tellingly empty.
The nine of them looked up when the curtain dividing them from the rest of the ship was pulled back. One of them, a petite girl with very dark hair, stood up and came over to talk to them.
"This is Captain...um..."
"Agathon," Helo supplied when Miss Nerys trailed off, uncertainly.
"Right. Agathon. Sorry. Um, he's investigating the...yeah."
The girl nodded. "I'm Rose Yates. Is Atia gonna be okay?" She had the flat, nasal accent common to people from Leonis, same as Miss Nerys did.
Helo decided to be honest with her. "She's still alive, and Dr. Cottle thinks she's probably going to be okay. As of when I left Galactica, she hadn't woken up yet."
Miss Yates took a deep breath, and nodded. "Right. Okay. Do you know why someone would...?" She broke off, clenching her fists a little.
He hesitated. "We're still looking into things. I wanted to talk to you and your friends, see if you knew anything that might...?"
She shook her head firmly. "We copy books, Captain. That's all. We don't do anything that would put us at risk of...of getting..." She took another deep breath. "Atia was copying a romance novel, for the gods' sake. It wasn't even a particularly--" She cut herself off, going a very brilliant red.
Helo coughed a little. "Does she have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?"
Miss Yates thought a minute, then shook her head. "Not that I know of. She's kind of kept to herself since we left New Caprica. She doesn't even talk to us as much as she used to. Only time she leaves our area these days is when she's delivering books to people. We draw lots for that," she added, to explain.
He nodded. "Was she...do you know if she was detained?"
"She...disappeared, for a few weeks, right before you guys came back for us," Miss Yates replied, after a moment's hesitation. "She won't tell us where she was. After a while, we stopped asking, figuring she'd probably tell us when she was ready to. None of us want to force her."
"Of course, I understand completely." So she was. Which means the scarring is almost definitely from a personal problem. "Has she ever been involved with anyone, as far as you know?"
Miss Yates shook her head again. "No, sir. Lissa left us for a while when she moved in with her boyfriend, and a couple of the others have had special friends, but...even before New Caprica, Atia wasn't ever especially interested in that." Helo thought she sounded slightly frustrated, and filed it away in the back of his mind.
Another thought struck him. "Was she writing anything herself? A novel or anything she'd made up?"
"Not that I know of," Miss Yates said, slowly. "She was always more into numbers than stories and stuff. I think that's why she's been using her spare time trying to figure out a way to make paper from what we have here. It interests her more."
He nodded. "I'd like to go through her desk, anyway. Just in case."
"Yeah, sure," she replied. "Do you want to do that first, or talk to the others first?" She flushed a little. "A lot of what we copy out that isn't trashy romance novels is really bad detective novels, so I sort of guessed what you'd want to do when you got here..."
Helo smiled a little. "I'll talk to people first, then go through her desk."
Miss Yates nodded, still a little red. "Okay. If you want to ask me anything else, I'll be at that desk." She indicated the one she'd gotten up from, in case he'd forgotten, then gave him the others' names. He thanked her, then found a place to set himself up where he could talk to each of them privately.
~~~
The Next Day
Zephyr
Iliana set a file down on Alan's bed. He blinked and looked up at her. "What's this?"
"Your lucky day," she said, then perched on the edge of the bed. "Major Cottle's report on the girl's injuries. Apparently, Bossman's just as suspicious about the timing as you are, so he asked to see it. Though he made up a different excuse, of course."
"Is this the original?" he asked, wary. If I get caught with it--or if she gets caught with it...
She rolled her eyes. "I may not be a lawyer, Alan, but I'm not stupid. It's a copy."
He relaxed a little. "Okay, then." Carefully, he opened the file. Iliana moved around him to look over his shoulder.
"I haven't actually looked at it yet," she admitted. "I didn't want to risk being caught with it, so I hid the copy I made 'til I got here. And gods know I don't actually pay attention to what I'm copying down. I'd never be able to do things fast enough to suit Bossman if I stopped to think about what I was doing."
Alan nodded, and started skimming through the pages. Most of it wasn't very interesting--two bullets, what damage they'd done, the angle and other factors indicating the shooter was average height and about six feet away, shots entering from the front. The girl had most likely seen her attacker.
Finally, though, he found something useful. Descriptions of scarring on her chest, where someone had burned the word 'traitor,' and her back, where the same had been carved in. Iliana gasped faintly and clapped her hands to her mouth, giving him a horrified look. Alan himself closed his eyes.
"Who would...?"
There is a connection, Alan thought dully, not answering his girlfriend right away. And, unfortunately, at least one angry motherfrakker with a gun knows about it. "I don't know," he finally answered.
"Are you going to tell anyone?" she asked.
That was the question, wasn't it. He chewed on his lower lip for a minute. "Not...yet," he finally said. "Not until I get a chance to confirm I have something to tell. Without exposing my illegal access to confidential medical files. If I could talk to her, too...but I can't. Not without giving the game away. And we all know that people in a position to do real harm...might." He closed his eyes, blotting out the mental image of Colonel Tigh.
Iliana nodded. "My guess is Bossman's connected the dots, or he will as soon as he actually looks at the file. If you want to handle leaking the connection yourself, you don't have much time."
"I know," Alan said. He shut the folder and sighed. "Believe me, I know. Do you have any idea what your boss might do once he's worked it out?"
She spread her hands and shrugged helplessly. "He can be hard to predict. He might make the announcement, or at least tell the President, as concrete proof that there shouldn't be a trial at all. Or he might sit on it. I don't know."
He nodded. "Right. Okay. Thank you for getting this to me."
"No problem," she said. "You've got a way to get rid of it, or should I take care of it?"
"I can handle it."
She nodded, squeezed his hand briefly, then left.
Alan pinched the bridge of his nose and focused on squelching the idea of using what was in the file to force his client to tell him the specifics of the connection. Too much chance of getting caught with it. Sharing the facts verbally would have to be enough.
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (new series)
Author: shadowsong26
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings/Warnings: For this chapter: implications of previous torture, Helo, Hughes, OFC, Hughes/OFC, various other OCs.
Summary: Helo goes to the Red Pelican to see if Atia's friends can shed any light on motive. Iliana comes through for Hughes with a copy of Cottle's report on her injuries.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their respective creators.
Note: This is a work in progress. It's possible I'll end up revising and reposting this at some point, but it's largely finished. Thank you for your patience, and any feedback is welcome!
Chapter 3
Seventeen Days Before Gaius Baltar's Trial
Red Pelican
Helo was met at the Pelican by a young woman, maybe in her early twenties. "Hi. Um. I'm Kelly Nerys," she said. "You're here about Atia?"
He nodded. "I'm Captain Karl Agathon. And yes. I just need to talk to her friends for a minute. How well do you know her?"
"Um. Well enough, I guess. She and her friends have been living on the Pelican since the beginning. They were on a school trip; their teacher had a heart attack about a year and a half ago. Um. I think she's been trying to figure out a way to make more paper?" Miss Nerys ran a shaky hand through her hair. "She's kind of quiet. Keeps to herself. Really smart, all ten of them are."
He nodded again. "Thanks. Where can I find her friends?"
"I'll show you," she replied. "Um. This way, Captain."
He followed her through the Pelican to where Atia and her friends stayed. The ship was a little bit smaller than Colonial One, having been a commercial liner out of Luminere before the attack, and had been hastily rearranged into living quarters.
Miss Nerys showed him a partitioned-off section that had been set up as a sort of schoolroom. There were ten improvised desks. Girls were sitting at nine of them, all about the same age as Miss Reyes; the last was tellingly empty.
The nine of them looked up when the curtain dividing them from the rest of the ship was pulled back. One of them, a petite girl with very dark hair, stood up and came over to talk to them.
"This is Captain...um..."
"Agathon," Helo supplied when Miss Nerys trailed off, uncertainly.
"Right. Agathon. Sorry. Um, he's investigating the...yeah."
The girl nodded. "I'm Rose Yates. Is Atia gonna be okay?" She had the flat, nasal accent common to people from Leonis, same as Miss Nerys did.
Helo decided to be honest with her. "She's still alive, and Dr. Cottle thinks she's probably going to be okay. As of when I left Galactica, she hadn't woken up yet."
Miss Yates took a deep breath, and nodded. "Right. Okay. Do you know why someone would...?" She broke off, clenching her fists a little.
He hesitated. "We're still looking into things. I wanted to talk to you and your friends, see if you knew anything that might...?"
She shook her head firmly. "We copy books, Captain. That's all. We don't do anything that would put us at risk of...of getting..." She took another deep breath. "Atia was copying a romance novel, for the gods' sake. It wasn't even a particularly--" She cut herself off, going a very brilliant red.
Helo coughed a little. "Does she have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?"
Miss Yates thought a minute, then shook her head. "Not that I know of. She's kind of kept to herself since we left New Caprica. She doesn't even talk to us as much as she used to. Only time she leaves our area these days is when she's delivering books to people. We draw lots for that," she added, to explain.
He nodded. "Was she...do you know if she was detained?"
"She...disappeared, for a few weeks, right before you guys came back for us," Miss Yates replied, after a moment's hesitation. "She won't tell us where she was. After a while, we stopped asking, figuring she'd probably tell us when she was ready to. None of us want to force her."
"Of course, I understand completely." So she was. Which means the scarring is almost definitely from a personal problem. "Has she ever been involved with anyone, as far as you know?"
Miss Yates shook her head again. "No, sir. Lissa left us for a while when she moved in with her boyfriend, and a couple of the others have had special friends, but...even before New Caprica, Atia wasn't ever especially interested in that." Helo thought she sounded slightly frustrated, and filed it away in the back of his mind.
Another thought struck him. "Was she writing anything herself? A novel or anything she'd made up?"
"Not that I know of," Miss Yates said, slowly. "She was always more into numbers than stories and stuff. I think that's why she's been using her spare time trying to figure out a way to make paper from what we have here. It interests her more."
He nodded. "I'd like to go through her desk, anyway. Just in case."
"Yeah, sure," she replied. "Do you want to do that first, or talk to the others first?" She flushed a little. "A lot of what we copy out that isn't trashy romance novels is really bad detective novels, so I sort of guessed what you'd want to do when you got here..."
Helo smiled a little. "I'll talk to people first, then go through her desk."
Miss Yates nodded, still a little red. "Okay. If you want to ask me anything else, I'll be at that desk." She indicated the one she'd gotten up from, in case he'd forgotten, then gave him the others' names. He thanked her, then found a place to set himself up where he could talk to each of them privately.
~~~
The Next Day
Zephyr
Iliana set a file down on Alan's bed. He blinked and looked up at her. "What's this?"
"Your lucky day," she said, then perched on the edge of the bed. "Major Cottle's report on the girl's injuries. Apparently, Bossman's just as suspicious about the timing as you are, so he asked to see it. Though he made up a different excuse, of course."
"Is this the original?" he asked, wary. If I get caught with it--or if she gets caught with it...
She rolled her eyes. "I may not be a lawyer, Alan, but I'm not stupid. It's a copy."
He relaxed a little. "Okay, then." Carefully, he opened the file. Iliana moved around him to look over his shoulder.
"I haven't actually looked at it yet," she admitted. "I didn't want to risk being caught with it, so I hid the copy I made 'til I got here. And gods know I don't actually pay attention to what I'm copying down. I'd never be able to do things fast enough to suit Bossman if I stopped to think about what I was doing."
Alan nodded, and started skimming through the pages. Most of it wasn't very interesting--two bullets, what damage they'd done, the angle and other factors indicating the shooter was average height and about six feet away, shots entering from the front. The girl had most likely seen her attacker.
Finally, though, he found something useful. Descriptions of scarring on her chest, where someone had burned the word 'traitor,' and her back, where the same had been carved in. Iliana gasped faintly and clapped her hands to her mouth, giving him a horrified look. Alan himself closed his eyes.
"Who would...?"
There is a connection, Alan thought dully, not answering his girlfriend right away. And, unfortunately, at least one angry motherfrakker with a gun knows about it. "I don't know," he finally answered.
"Are you going to tell anyone?" she asked.
That was the question, wasn't it. He chewed on his lower lip for a minute. "Not...yet," he finally said. "Not until I get a chance to confirm I have something to tell. Without exposing my illegal access to confidential medical files. If I could talk to her, too...but I can't. Not without giving the game away. And we all know that people in a position to do real harm...might." He closed his eyes, blotting out the mental image of Colonel Tigh.
Iliana nodded. "My guess is Bossman's connected the dots, or he will as soon as he actually looks at the file. If you want to handle leaking the connection yourself, you don't have much time."
"I know," Alan said. He shut the folder and sighed. "Believe me, I know. Do you have any idea what your boss might do once he's worked it out?"
She spread her hands and shrugged helplessly. "He can be hard to predict. He might make the announcement, or at least tell the President, as concrete proof that there shouldn't be a trial at all. Or he might sit on it. I don't know."
He nodded. "Right. Okay. Thank you for getting this to me."
"No problem," she said. "You've got a way to get rid of it, or should I take care of it?"
"I can handle it."
She nodded, squeezed his hand briefly, then left.
Alan pinched the bridge of his nose and focused on squelching the idea of using what was in the file to force his client to tell him the specifics of the connection. Too much chance of getting caught with it. Sharing the facts verbally would have to be enough.