It All Came Tumbling Down (48A/?)
Title: It All Came Tumbling Down
Warnings: Some mature content used. AU but some material from all seasons
Characters: Kara/Lee of course!! some Karl/Sharon and all cast appear
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters unfortunately they belong to to Ron Moore and Universal. I'm just borrowing their brilliance!
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STUPID LJ MADE ME CUT THE CHAPTER IN TWO
Chapter 48
Ford could feel his stomach flipping over and over as he pulled on his jumpsuit, zipping the front up firmly. He could sense that the others also felt the same way and the room was silent. He could almost feel Caroline’s presence waiting for him outside and felt a pang in his stomach at the thought that he wouldn’t see her for weeks.
Biggy suddenly slapped him on the shoulder, pulling him out of his private reverie and saying “cheer up.” He was the calmest looking one out of them.
They both then turned as the door to the room opened and in walked Blondie and Rugby. The former was wearing the same kit as them but Rugby was wearing one of the spacesuits with a helmet under his arm.
“How comes he gets one of those?” asked Biggy jovially.
“Just in case,” replied Ford. “The other one was damaged when we were experimenting with it.”
“And the owner’s tiny,” added Blondie via the translation computer.
“So is Skulls,” said Rugby tugging at the collar. He looked very uncomfortable and the fit was obviously tight.
“You ready?” asked Blondie with her arms folded over her chest.
The men all said yes in reply, but Biggy was the only one who was convincing. Blondie and Rugby on the other hand looked raring to go. Ford glanced over at Greg Langley. He had been the quietest one and had spent most of the preparation time just staring at the wall.
Ford took a deep breath and then neared Blondie. She had her own handheld translation device so he said to her quietly, “just remember not to betray our trust.” The woman seemed a little insulted by the accusation and Ford almost wished he could take the comment back. “My back still hurts from where you shoved it through that window,” he said with a smile.
This time the woman laughed, “don’t worry, I’m not going to try anything. I’m not that suicidal.”
Ford glanced over at Rugby who chuckled, making him feel as if he had missed some sort of private joke. It had seemed like years that their guests had been held here, but the faint bruise on Blondie’s cheek, reminded him that in fact it hadn’t been long at all. Their individual personalities had ingrained themselves on his soul, but there was still so much to learn.
“Ready?” he said.
Blondie nodded and then addressed the room. “Remember, touch nothing on that ship, even if it beeps at you.”
“Especially if it beeps at you,” added Rugby.
“Exactly,” continued Blondie. “You have no idea how to run the systems on the raptor, no matter how smart you think you are, so don’t frakking try it.”
She had successfully silenced the room again.
“Thanks for that,” replied Ford and then stepped aside so Blondie and Rugby could walk out first. Straightening his shoulders, he followed out behind them, trying to hide the nervous wreck he held inside.
The ship loomed in the distance, surrounded by members of staff who had come to watch the off. He saw Caroline standing there watching him and everything inside of him wanted to walk over and take her into him arms. But he knew he would never be able to let her go again if he did. Instead he gazed longingly at her and then boarded the ship.
The sound of the hatch door closing seemed deafening in the small metal enclosure. Ford had walked straight up to the front of the ship where Blondie joined him and took the seat next to her. Rugby sat in the chair next to all the panels and the others took seats in fold down chairs near to the hatch door. He had never felt so claustrophobic before.
There was a hum as the power in the ship was spooled up and all of the panels came alight. Ford didn’t fully listen as Blondie and Rugby started flipping buttons and seemed to be going through a pre-flight checklist.
“Right,” she said after flipping one button. She stood and turned towards him, pulling the seat harness over his shoulders and attaching it at the front. Ford couldn’t help the slight flash of desire spark through him as she leant in close, which was soon pushed out as she tugged forcefully on the belt, knocking the air out of his lungs.
“Was that really necessary?” he asked.
“Nope,” she replied. “But then again, this is the first time I’ve had to strap someone else in myself.”
Ford found himself tugging on the belt. Blondie then squeezed through the gap and went into the back of ship. Ford could only twist his head round slightly to see what was going on. Both she and Rugby were strapping the others into their seats.
“Are you okay?” asked Blondie and Ford could see she was talking to Langley, who looked decidedly pale.
“I’m just…” he replied weakly, “a little scared of flying.”
“So you decided to volunteer for this mission?” said Blondie. Even through the translator machine, Ford could hear the exasperation in her voice.
“I thought I would be fine, I’m sorry.”
“Do you want off?”
“No, please, no, I just might need something if I throw up.”
Blondie sighed and walked over to Rugby, grabbing his helmet and turning it upside down, placing it in Langley’s lap. “If you throw up, make sure it’s in that.”
Ford frowned, “I thought we needed…”
“Just don’t tell anyone,” replied Blondie and leant in towards Langley, pointing at her eyes to make him focus. “Hey, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
“How many take-offs out of the atmosphere have you done?” he asked over the rim of the helmet.
“Honestly? In the past few years, not many. I’m a viper pilot, but I used to train people how to do this. Don’t worry I’ll make the take-off text book perfect.” That seemed to bring some of the colour back into the man’s face.
Blondie and Rugby continued to do their checks and then took their seats. Blondie pulled the seatbelt harness over her shoulders and attached it at the front.
The raptor rumbled to life and Ford felt his fingers digging into his seat. Glancing out of his side window he could see Caroline and Blue Eyes had moved back and were watching on looking forlorn. He closed his eyes briefly and then turned to Blondie. “Text book right?”
“Relax, we’re already off the ground.”
Ford spun his head to glance out of the window, seeing that they were already a few metres off the ground. Blondie made it look effortless as she turned the ship as they continued to rise and then pushed forward on the throttle. The g-forces felt like the start of a fast rollercoaster in his stomach and then the clouds were streaking past them. As they hurtled into the atmosphere, Ford found himself imagining what the first astronauts felt like as their rockets blasted off into the unknown.
Quickly the ride got bumpy and he found himself looking up in awe as they left the blue skies behind and the blackness of space surrounded them. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He flicked his eyes towards Blondie who seemed unaffected, concentrating on her controls.
“Putting her into a standard orbit,” she shouted out to Rugby. “You see anything on dradis yet?”
“Not yet,” replied Rugby who was also flipping switches.
Ford glanced out of his window, watching the world go by. It looked so peaceful up here with England looking so tiny from this far away.
“Is this what you were expecting?” asked Blondie.
“I don’t feel any weightlessness.”
“What did you expect? To float about the ship? Frak, your planet really is behind.”
Ford ignored her jibe, choosing to stare out of the windows as the Earth went by below. “They’re not here are they?” he said at last after about an hour.
“It’s a big frakking sky out there.”
“But a big ship would be hard to miss,” he observed.
“The Pegasus won’t be here, they’d send a raptor to watch and wait.”
Ford looked at her briefly and then turned back to the windows. “Nice of you to share that information before we took off.”
“I thought it was obvious.”
“Have we at least communicated with the base?”
“Yes, Helo did that whilst you were staring out the window.”
Ford glanced back at her, seeing that she was focused on the path ahead. He had never met someone that could be so wonderfully abrasive before, and he found himself looking forward to seeing what she was like amongst her other crewmen, especially those whom she answered to.
“We’ve got something,” said Rugby from the back of the ship.
Blondie spun her head round towards him, “friendly?”
“Hang on…I’m getting a Colonial transponder signal.”
Blondie turned to Ford with a quick grin, “told you.” She then slipped headphones, with a comm device attached, onto her head. As he looked at her, he could see out of her window, a shadow appearing.
“Oh my god,” he said and pointed to what looked like a ship which was identical to theirs.
Blondie turned quickly to look out of the window and then they heard a crackling over their comm system. It was a man’s voice.
“This is raptor 295, please identify yourself.”
Ford felt slightly panicked and his stomach twanged with nerves, which was only slightly eased by the smile that grew on Blondie’s face.
“I never thought I would be happy to hear your voice Stinger,” she said, continuing to glance out of the window at the ship which was getting closer and closer.
The man’s voice, who Ford guessed belonged to this “Stinger” person, spoke again. “Starbuck? Is that really you? You look as if you’re ship is drifting, is your axial position altered?”
Blondie laughed, “that would be a negative Stinger, we are not under duress. We do have some interesting passengers here though.”
The ship was now cruising parallel to theirs and Ford could see the occupant in the front, but he couldn’t really make out his features due to the helmet he was wearing.
“What the frak are you wearing sir?” asked the man looking in at them.
“Long story Stinger. Looking forward to sharing it back on the Beast though and not out here,” she paused and then said in a wobbly voice. “Stinger, my kids…”
“Causing havoc sir, but they’re fine.”
Ford saw Blondie’s shoulders visibly relax. He had no idea whether the translator was incorrect or not, but it sounded as if she had referred to their ship as the beast giving him an uneasy feeling, but before he could voice his concern the man spoke again.
“I’m sending over the jump co-ordinates to you now.”
“I’m getting them through,” added Rugby.
“What do you want me to tell Fisk?” asked the male.
“That we’re friendlies and not to blow us out of the sky,” replied Blondie, sounding only half serious.
“Who else is with you?”
“Oh, just me, Helo and some people from Earth.”
Ford found himself frowning slightly, not quite sure if the pilot banter he was hearing was normal, or if they would land on their ship and have a gun thrust in their faces.
“And the others?” asked the male.
“Back on Earth. Listen, tell Fisk that we’ve all come unarmed, but with supplies, including toothpaste.”
“Okay Starbuck, spooling up our FTL now.”
The other ship seemed to move away and with a sudden flash it was gone.
“Holy shit,” exclaimed Ford, “did they just jump away?”
“Yep, and we’re going to follow,” replied Blondie. “You ready Helo?”
“Ready on your mark,” responded Rugby from the rear.
“Get ready everyone, this can feel a little strange the first time. Langley, you still got that helmet?” She smiled widely to herself with a shake of her head when there was a muffled response from the back.
A little strange was an understatement. Ford could feel his stomach being turned inside out, his body compressing inwardly and then with a sudden flash he decompressed again, his head feeling as if it was floating. Stretching out beyond them he could see a planet looming ahead. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Everyone okay?” asked Blondie out loud.
“Oh my god, is that…that’s,,,” said Ford staring out at the beautiful planet. “This is…wow.”
“Mmmm,” replied Blondie. “Believe me when I say, finding uninhabitable planets gets really boring after a while.”
“I’ve seen pictures of this planet since I was a kid. I mean, its Saturn, I never imagined I would get to see it this close.”
Blondie seemed to glance at him quickly with curiosity but then corrected herself and looked back at her controls. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
To Part B