Battlestar

The young woman looks close to crying. He realizes she has never lost, or thought she lost, a subordinate before. He reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder, "Now listen to me Lieutenant, you had at least a dozen Wraith fighters on your tail, if you had engaged them they would just have turned the boy and you into larval food too. And if that had happened there would have been no one to provide me with her last known position and vector. You did the right thing, and you saved her life as much as I did."

She shakes her head, "You took them all out just on your own."

He grins, "There were only six still around when I came in, and I have a lot more experience fighting these bastards than you and your flight mate have. I also had surprise on my side.., and I got lucky." She clearly isn't entirely convinced, but going by her softening expression she also isn't entirely convinced it was all her fault anymore. "It's all part of the job," he says, she nods slowly. He looks down at the name tag on her chest, "Listen Elise," he says, "What I came over for is to ask you to make sure Bunny gets back in the saddle again as soon as possible."

She blinks, looks down at his chest in return, then smiles, "Aren't you operating a bit outside of your jurisdiction here, Benjamin?"

He grimaces, "Yes, I am - guilty as charged. It's really none of my business. Let's just say I wouldn't like for us all to lose a good pilot."

Her eyes twinkle, "You really like her, don't you, Lieutenant Commander."

He feels himself blush again, "Yes, in a fatherly way, of course."

She nods somberly, but her eyes still twinkle, "Of course..."

He swallows, "She's way too young for me..." That excuse is getting stale quickly mate.

The Lieutenant laughs brightly, "I'm fond of Helga too Benjamin, in an older sister kind of way..." Her face gets serious, "You're afraid she'll balk at flying again?"

He nods, "It was close Elise, the fuckers were already cocooning her fighter. She looked death straight in the face, and it wasn't a pretty face."

Elise nods, "I'll take it up with the squadron leader, make sure she gets inside a cockpit again as soon as the medics clear her for flight."

He sighs relieved, then his communicator goes off. He raises his wrist and activates the display, it's a message from his wing commander, asking him to join him at his quarters asap, 'as you are'. He's still in his flight gear, and wonders what the hurry is. "That was my boss calling," he tells Elise, "he needs me in a real hurry apparently."

She nods, "Yeah, bosses..." He grins, starts moving to the door. When he's about to open the hatch he turns around to say goodbye, only to find she's on his heels. She hugs him, "Thanks for saving my girl Benjamin."

She lets go; he smiles at her, "My pleasure ma'am."

***

When Benjy arrives at Wing Commander Mackay's quarters his superior officer is already waiting for him in the corridor. He raises his eyebrows, "Sir?"

The commander grins, "Meeting with the brass, and I think we might profit from your expertise." He looks down at his flight suit, raises his eyebrows questioningly. "No time," Mackay simply states, then starts walking towards the closest transporter.

He follows him, "What's it about Sir?"

Mackay throws him a look, "What do you think it's about?"

Benjy grins, "We're going after the Scourge."

Mackay nods, "Yep, we're going after the fuckers who just tried to turn your federation girlfriend into larval food. Good call by the way, ordering everyone back to the ship."

He almost stumbles, "She isn't my girlfriend Sir!"

Mackay shakes his head smiling, "I was there Benjy, in the bay, when you carried her away. It was all over your face, everyone saw it."

Shit, and there's me thinking the girl's in trouble. He sighs, "I just like her Sir, we haven't..., hell..., she doesn't even like me." Mackay throws him this incredulous look, then shakes his head, grinning. "What?" he exclaims following his commander inside the transporter, which is really a sort of tube transport system. Mackay just grins at him. He watches him punch in their destination: the command deck located at the core of the ship. The transporter pod covers the roughly half a mile distance in less than a minute with barely a hint of acceleration.

"You're my introducé," Mackay says just before they enter the conference room, "Just follow my lead."

Entering, he feels his eyes widen, it's a meeting with 'the brass' indeed. Just about anyone above his pay-grade on Pacifica is present, as are their colleagues from Enterprise. Also present are the commanders of most of the capital ships in the task force, and the admiral himself with his command staff. He notices Fisher, Campbell, and McGregor among them, the commanders of HMSS Warspite, HMSS Repulse, and HMSS Revenge, respectively, they nod approvingly at him.

He's the only one in a sweaty flight suit, it's dress uniforms wall to wall, Fuck! he thinks. Silence descends and he's very aware Admiral Fitzpatrick is looking him over. He salutes, starts assembling an excuse for his less than splendid attire, then remembers Mackay's words, 'Just follow my lead'. So he keeps his mouth shut, Mackay salutes next to him, "I decided to bring Lieutenant Commander Arundel along admiral, he alone probably has more experience with the Scourge than the rest of us put together."

The admiral had turned his attention to Mackay when he started speaking, now his eyes dart back to him, "Ah, you're the maverick pilot with the fancy moves who just, to everyone's delight, saved his girlfriend in a way that would give even the best 3dv space opera a run for its money."

He stands rooted, tries not to blush, failing miserably, "Sir.., she isn't, she's just..."

The admiral looks at him sternly, "So you go into suicide mode for anything in a skirt? I'm starting to understand why you imperials keep your women from flying..." He feels he's turning beet red, the admiral produces this wide grin, "At ease, Lieutenant Commander, I'm just pulling your leg, thank you for saving one of my precious pilots."

One of the staffers has pulled up an extra chair, Mackay gestures at it and he sits himself down. The admiral addresses the room, "When the Mayday came in we decided, based on time constraints and the navigational hazards the system represents, not to deviate the fleet but send in some fighters instead." The admiral takes a deep breath, "The situation has changed though, there's a Scourge presence in the system and it represents a horrific danger to local shipping at least. So we have now decided to change our original plan and eradicate this danger."

His eyes find his again, "Lieutenant Commander Arundel, we basically plan to move the fleet close to the system, use the lighter units to block all exits, and then send in every fighter we've got to clean out this nest. How does that sound to you?"

All eyes focus on him, again. Benjy swallows, "That wouldn't be a good idea, Sir," he says.

To his relief the admiral just nods, "Explain, Lieutenant Commander."

He hesitates, this is way above his pay grade, "There's going to be a hive ship in there, admiral. That means many hundreds of Wraith fighters at least, probably even more than a thousand. And sending ships in with the fighters, or after them if things go wrong, will be very risky considering the mess this system is. We might end up feeding a lot of larvae..."

The admiral just nods, "Suggestions?"

He swallows again, "Split the fleet, close on the system in a pincer move, and then launch all the fighters, but don't let them enter the system. The Scourge are opportunists, there's a good chance we'll flush the hive ship. Once it makes a run for the systems hyper limit, send the cruisers after it, and destroy it with long range fire. Those things are carriers, not battle carriers."

The Admiral nods again, "And what do we do if they don't make a run for it?"

He hesitates, "Then we turn around and come back later, with at least double the current number of battlestars."

The admiral frowns, "You think them this dangerous?"

He nods, "Yes Sir, we'll need at least parity in numbers, and we don't know how many fighters they have. It's that frigging energy drain weapon of theirs Sir, we have no real defense against it. And any pilot we can't recover within an hour at most will be larval food." He hesitates again, "I have been aboard a cocooned ship once, Sir, on a rescue mission, at a time when we didn't know that infested couldn't be saved. I saw them up close Sir, at arms length, heard their agonized moaning, heard their whispers, begging for death."

He hasn't been able to keep the emotion out of his voice. A deep silence has fallen, the admiral cocks his head, "That's why you pulled all the stops to save the girl. I understand now. I'm sorry I made fun of you earlier, Lieutenant Commander." The admiral thinks for a moment, "We'll do as you suggest, if it doesn't work we'll leave behind a bunch of stealth drones warning shipping off and file a report, including the information you just provided. We can leave it to High Command to decide if and when they rout out this nest."

Benjy sighs, relieved, "That would work great Sir. And I do like the girl Sir." Fuck, why did you say that.

The admiral chuckles, "You're dismissed Lieutenant Commander, your superiors have some work to do." He stands, salutes, then heads for the hatch, "Oh, Lieutenant Commander," the voice of the admiral sounds behind him. He stops and turns around, the admiral winks, "Good hunting, Lieutenant Commander Arundel."

Going by their grins, even from the female officers present, everyone knows the admiral isn't talking about the Scourge, he blushes anew, "Thank you Sir."

***

Benjamin returns to his quarters and hits the shower, one of the little perks that comes with rank, in the Federation Navy as well as the Royal Navy apparently. Once the hot water starts loosening his muscles he starts to really relax, enabling him to think clearly about this whole situation that has developed with Helga for the first time. He realizes that, subconsciously, he must have denied his true feelings for the girl. His reaction upon receiving the news of her mishap, and his resulting actions, have proven that beyond any doubt.

And then there had been those strong feelings of premonition, and the morphing of her face into that of Alfhild in his mind. The latter had happened twice before, with other women, but on those earlier occasions the face of Alfhild hadn't smiled. And this time it had been so much stronger, he had actually smelled her he realizes. What does it all mean? Does it simply mean his subconscious accepts her as a replacement for his former betrothed, and it hadn't accepted the other two before? Or is there more to it?

He has never believed in all that mystic mumbo jumbo, shakes his head, Those three centuries in the freezer damaged your brain Benjy. When he came out of cryo, over ten years ago, he had this memory of Alfhild sleeping with him for most of his long slumber, which was ridiculous. And the doctors had confirmed it, you weren't supposed to dream in cryo, but they had added they really didn't have any experience with people who had been in cryo as long as he had.

And then he had discovered she had been in cryo too. Alfhild had loved him so much that, with him reported MIA, and later even declared death, she had still put herself in cryo, to wait for his return. And it had almost worked, almost... She had died only seven months before his own awakening. After his rescue it had never happened again, he had never dreamed of her sleeping with him again. He often wondered if this was due to her being dead now, and him knowing she was dead.

Those first years, after coming out of cryo, he simply hadn't been able to have something with a woman again. After all that had happened, starting something anew with another woman had felt like betrayal. It had taken him four years to realize how happy he would have been had he learned Alfhild found a new love and lived a happy live after he got declared dead. On the heels of that thought, the realization had come that Alfhild would never have wanted for him to stay alone after her death either.

That had been six years ago, but he never had found someone who could compare with her, not really, until now. But does she love him too? Will she even be able to distinguish between love and gratitude for saving her life; probably not. And how fair would it be anyway? She deserves someone better than him, someone her own age, someone with less emotional baggage. It might not feel like betraying Alfhild anymore, but it does feel like he would be taking advantage of her, and that just won't fly, that isn't who he is, that's not behavior befitting a warrior of the realm.

The Maiden

Helga wakes slowly, everything is white around her, and she panics for a moment, then realizes she's in sick bay. "About time you returned to the land of the living," a female voice remarks next to her. She turns her head, and her eyes meet those of a medic.

The woman is wearing the rank insignia of a commander, "What happened ma'am," she hears herself ask, then she remembers what happened.

The whole thing replays before her mind's eye at breakneck speed, she shivers, hardly notices the medic taking her hand. "You're okay," the woman says, "he got to you in time."

She looks at her hand the medic is holding, then up into her eyes, "He came back for me," she says, her voice trembling. "He risked his life for me. No, he risked way more than his life for me." She feels tears starting to run down her cheeks, "And I have treated him so badly."

The medic produces a soft cloth and wipes the tears from her cheeks, "Why did you treat him badly?" She asks.

Helga closes her eyes, "He has been trying to turn me from the moment he came aboard."

The medic frowns, "Turn you?"

Helga nods, "Convince me he and those other Nordicans were now our new best friends. I didn't believe him. Couldn't believe him. And now he has proven himself truthful, hasn't he? No one takes the risk he took just to prove a lie. I still don't know about the rest of them, but he really does want to be our friend." The medic chuckles softly, Helga frowns, "What?"

The older woman shakes her head, smiles, "You think this is just about a former 'enemy' trying to become your friend? I have news for you girl, the 'enemy' loves you."

Helga shakes her head, "No..., he can't..., what makes you say that?"

The older woman grins, "I saw his face when he brought you in, the way he held you."

Helga's mind is in turmoil, she never even considered he could have amorous feelings for her, he's so much older than she is. She also never noticed anything in his behavior, he never 'hit' on her, it was always only about the Imperials becoming their friends. But what if the medic is right? Since the sword fight she has felt a physical attraction towards him, but love? Oh fuck, and after what he did for me, I don't want to hurt him! She focuses on the woman again, who by the looks of it has three times the years of experience with men at least. "What do I do now?" she asks, her voice sounding a bit desperate.

The woman's smile only deepens, "You just follow your heart honey." She doesn't understand. "Why do you think I told you he loves you? It's reciprocal," the medic says.

Helga is short for words for a moment, "No.., I don't love him!"

The woman laughs, "When he brought you in and tried to put you down on the bed we had to pry you from him."

She remembers him carrying her away, his strength, his smell, blushes, "I.., I was in shock, I just clung to the nearest person."

The medic shakes her head, laughs again, "You didn't simply give the man who saved you a hug girl, you melted into him. And when you half fainted, after the medics checked you, and he picked you up, you clung to him like your life depended on it. The 3dvid of it has been all over the ship net, hell, I doubt there's anyone in the entire Task Force who hasn't seen it by now."

Helga feels faint, "How embarrassing," she whispers.

The woman chuckles, "Embarrassing? Mesmerizing you mean. With one hug you accomplished what three weeks of integration efforts failed to do, you made everyone realize that we are all humans first, and empire or federation second."

Helga swallows, "I'm not sure about my feelings for him, and he's so much older than I am."

Another chuckle, "There's the age difference, there's the nationality issue, and you're from two entirely different cultures, but the chemistry is there. You both acted subconsciously, all those 'conscious' issues weren't a factor." Helga feels uncertain, "He thinks he's too old for you too," the medic adds. She looks at her questioningly, "We teased him a bit when he brought you in," the woman explains, "I asked him if the two of you were an item, the reaction on his face was priceless. That's when he said he was much too old for you anyway."

Fuck, Helga thinks, Half the crew probably thinks you and Benjamin are an item. The medic smiles, "You do realize what this age problem you both put forward means?" She shakes her head, "It means both of you look at this as a long term thing. This isn't just a fling, for either of you." She swallows, she hasn't even had a steady boyfriend yet, and now she is supposed to be looking for a mate for life?

"Your ages don't matter that much anyway," the medic continues. "People get twice as old as they used too nowadays. You're just twenty three now, and these fifteen years or so he has on you feel huge, but fifty years from now it'll be insignificant. And biologically speaking it's insignificant already. Even if he had thirty years on you he would still be able to father children long after you stopped producing eggs."

Helga blushes again, "On average, in a relationship, men are older anyway." the medic continues, "that's because women grow up faster than men do." The woman laughs, "Hell, most men never really grow up at all, they only get a bit closer to adulthood with age." That last remark doesn't fail to bring a smile to Helga's face.

***

Arriving back at her quarters to a warm welcome, Helga learns the task force has only just gone to hyper, because it first made a small deviation, to destroy the Scourge. "So I missed all the fun?" she asks her fellow pilots.

Lieutenant Commander Tom Kershaw, her squadron leader, shakes his head, "Nah, you missed nothing," he says. "When we closed on the system this large Scourge hive ship made a run for it, the cruisers ran it down and nailed it just before it got to the hyper boundary."

Jason chimes in, "Yeah, what you did miss was seeing that empire battle squadron tear at it like a pack of fucking hellhounds. Those guys sure have a bone to pick with them Scourge."

Kershaw grins, "It sure was a spectacle to behold. But anyway, we had strict orders not to engage them, we weren't even allowed to enter the system. The brass decided to grant the big guns the honor I guess." He winks, "Don't worry though, I put your lazy butt on scramble alert duty for re-entry, you'll be among the first ones out of the bays once we're out of hyper again."

She smiles happily, "That's great."

"Oh, and you're officially off duty until then," he adds with another wink.

She frowns, "There's nothing wrong with me, Sir."

He smiles, "You had a close call Helga, and I'll need you fit for action again, just take the rest, okay?"

She nods, "Okay boss," then a question surfaces, "did they recover my Hellcat?"

He shakes his head again, "No, with all its electronics fried, and half covered in that Scourge shit, it was declared a write-off not worth the time and risk trying to recover. You're going to get a new bird."