DISCLAIMER: Battlestar Galactica is the property of Glen A. Larson, Ron Moore, David Eick Sci-Fi Channel, R & D TV, Sky and NBC Universal.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
WARNING: Echaracter death, violence.
SPOILERS: For episode 4x06 "Faith".
BETA: Kore
Hate
By Olli
"I'm gonna kill that bitch," Jean Baroly spat angrily. She looked around in the cave that was the HQ of the New Caprica resistance and got mostly approving nods from the assembled members of the organization that had gathered for their usual evening meeting. Only the former Colonel Tigh narrowed his eyes at her. Jean waited for him to speak.
"What bitch?" Tigh asked. Jean had already ranted about 'that bitch' before he had arrived.
"The Six I'm working with at the water treatment plant." Jean replied looking steadily in the one eye that had been left to the man after his imprisonment by the Cylons.
"You know that afterwards you have to hide," Tigh said.
Jean nodded. "I know."
"On the other hand you're valuable for us at the water treatment plant," the colonel continued. They just had figured out which water pipes led to the Cylon headquarters. Tigh had already thought about the idea of introducing poison into the pipes.
"I know, sir," Jean replied.
"So, why do you want to kill her?" the colonel asked. He knew he could simply order the redhead to leave the skin-job alone but before making a decision he wanted to hear more.
Jean hesitated for a second. But she knew that she couldn't lie about the reason. "Yesterday that bitch kissed me."
Surprised Tigh blinked, that was the last thing he had expected.
One of the men gave a wolf whistle and grinned.
"What?" Jean asked glaring hotly at the man.
The man shrugged. "You have to admit that they look hot. Back on Pegasus…"
"I'm not a frakking toaster lover," Jean hissed and left her place at the wall she had leaned on and marched over to the still grinning man. She pushed him back into the wall and shot another killer glare at him. The grin faded from his face. "I give a frakking shit about what you did on Pegasus with the toaster. Don't you ever dare to call me a Cylon Lover;" she said in a dangerously low voice her teeth gritted.
The man lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. "Okay," he said. "Sorry."
Jean gave an approving grunt and stalked back to her place at the wall. "Do you know how long I brushed my teeth yesterday, just to get rid of the taste?" she asked into the room, addressing no one particular.
Tigh had observed the whole scene without saying a word. He knew that a deep-rooted hatred against the Toasters, if channeled in the right direction, could be a valuable asset. More than enough people had volunteered to strap a bomb to their bodies. He decided this direction could work, even if it meant losing easy access through Jean to the water treatment plant. "Okay," he said. "Go on. We'll see that you find a proper hideout."
"Thanks," Jean nodded at him.
Gwen ran along the gangway above the cesspools of the New Caprica Water Treatment Plant some hundred meters outside of the settlement. The blond No. Six Cylon held her head down because of the pouring rain. In her opinion the constantly foul weather was one of the most offending characteristics of this planet. She headed for the small building that contained an office and the pump station to provide fresh water to the settlement. The office and processing building was surrounded by different pools for the different stages of the water treatment.
Arriving at the building, Gwen pushed the door open and stumbled into the small room shaking the water from her hair. Looking around she registered that she was the first one there – as usual. Jean Barolay had been assigned to her shortly after the Cylons arrival on the planet, not a single day had the human arrived on time. Hanging her soaked coat on a hook on the wall, Gwen loaded the coffee machine and switched it on before stepping to the back wall of the office. The whole wall was covered with indicators framing a door that led to the pumping machinery. Taking a clip board Gwen scribbled down the readouts. It was their job to provide clean water to every person on this planet, but Jean was no great help.
Jean was on her way to the office. She'd waited until the rain had stopped a few minutes ago before leaving her tent to walk to the facility. There was no reason to hurry; she knew the skin job would be there on time as usual. As disgusting as the machine having the hots for her was, it also had one positive effect; the Cylon had never reported her for being consistently late. She walked casually as the last 24 hours rolled through her mind.
Yesterday, anger had boiled inside her after the skin-job kissed her. It turned had into a coldness that lay like an icy lump in her stomach. She had tried everything to get rid of the sick feeling; playing a hard game of Pyramid until her friends had told her to stop; running around the settlement until she couldn't run anymore. Finally, she had focused on the idea of killing the Six to give herself a sense of power and control.
Jean had spent half the night thinking. For a while she wondered if she had given the Cylon some signal, if the kiss was somehow her fault. The skin-job had tried to be friendly and engage Jean in conversation. Jean couldn't deny that and sometimes she had responded, but she had not invited the kiss. How could she have? The skin-job couldn't or wouldn't see that they had brought misery and despair to the humans for a second time, and if you count the first Cylon war, a third time. All she had talked about was the new start they had here on New Caprica. Then there were other things that had annoyed Jean, like the Cylon's clothes and the coffee she drank every day. The Cylon wore boots, jeans, a shirt and a jacket as work clothes, but they were pristine every day. Jean had to struggle just to get enough soap to wash the smell of the cesspools from her hair every evening. The coffee the Cylon generously shared with the human. However, since the New Caprican climate was not suited for coffee plants, the Cylons had to ship it in from the Colonies making it just another painful reminder of mankind's lost home.
In the end Jean had come to a conclusion. The skin-jobs, trying to show off their superiority, did what they had always done: they took, like they had taken the colonies; they destroyed, like they had destroyed the cities and they raped, like they had raped her friends in the farms on Caprica.
Seeing the building ahead Jean quickened her pace.
Gwen filed away the records and leaned back in her seat, sighing, Jean was late even for her standards. Gwen began to wonder how wrong it had been to kiss the human. She hadn't planned it, but yesterday they had worked side by side for a while in the pumping room and by chance had come so close together that their shoulders touched. Gwen had felt the warmth radiating from the human's body and without thinking she had leaned to the side and pressed her lips to the human's. Jean's body had stiffened immediately. The next moment the human had stepped back with an expression of anger and disgust that had been like a slap in the face. Before she had been able to say anything, the human had turned on her heel and left. Gwen hadn't seen Jean since. She hoped Jean would turn up soon. She didn't know if she could cover for her absence any longer.
Gwen took another sip of coffee. She knew that the humans had a lot of reasons to hate the Cylons. Sometimes she wondered if, instead of wiping out whole colonies, an attack against military targets would have been the better choice. Gwen didn't feel responsible for the decision of an all out attack because she had been born afterwards. Yet, she had seen the destruction her people had caused. The empty cities filled only with the sough of the wind and the echo of the marching centurions had left her with an unpleasant feeling. That had been the reason she had agreed to the plan of the war heroes, Caprica and Boomer, to try a new way to approach the humans. It had been the reason to volunteer for working with humans in the water treatment plant. Gwen wanted to show them that Cylons were willing to do the dirty jobs to make up for what they had done.
Unfortunately she had also started to wonder what it would be like to have sex with a human. She had wondered if it would make her feel different to look into a face that was not an exact copy of her own when she sent her partner over the edge - if a human would taste different, react differently? Despite the long time she had spent with Jean here in this office she didn't know much about her or about humans in general. Jean had refused to go into personnel details about her life and walking through the camp would be suicide. Gwen had tried to break the ice, but couldn't seem to. Since she had become curious about having sex with a human, Jean had been her first choice. Jean was definitely attractive. She was the only human she worked with on a daily basis and had never shown outright hostility toward her – only reluctance. Gwen was sure over time she could get through to her. It's just that yesterday she had acted without thinking. Even now Gwen couldn't say why she had done it – if she had only taken some more time. Maybe in a few weeks Jean would have welcomed the kiss.
She wondered if she should apologize.
Jean opened the door and entered the office. The skin job sat on her desk looked up and smiled.
"Morning," Gwen greeted.
"Morning," Jean hung her jacket on a hook and poured herself some coffee shoveling sugar into the mug. She knew that this would be the last coffee she would have for a long time. She sat down at her desk, head to head with that of the Cylon. Lazily stirring her coffee, she nodded at the wall of instruments, "Everything alright?"
"Yeah. No changes since yesterday, no alarms."
"Good."
"Before we do anything else we have to check the filter system. Doc Cottle reports some people with gastrointestinal disease," Gwen said. Maybe later that day she could bring up the kiss again and talk to Jean.
The redhead sipped her coffee while laying out a plan in her head. Holding the mug with both hands before her, she peered over the rim at the Cylon. The idea she was contemplating had been stuck in her head since yesterday evening. The more she thought about it the more she was convinced that it would cause the skin-job the most possible distress after resurrection. Checking the filter system was a lucky break because it was an opportunity to handle heavy tools. Jean smiled. She had her plan and now she knew how to carry it out.
Gwen wondered. It wasn't often that Jean smiled at her. Maybe the human hadn't had as many problems with the kiss, as she thought. She would try to find out. Maybe she would get her experience with a human female after all. Maybe it wouldn't be the last, if it was enjoyable for both of them. "You alright?"
Jean nodded still smiling. "Yeah." She was sure the Cylon was speaking about yesterday. And to be honest, now that she had made her decision she indeed felt alright. The sick feeling was gone; the bad taste in her mouth was gone and the icy lump in her stomach was replaced by anticipation. "No hard feelings."
Gwen flashed a beaming smile at the human. After checking the filter systems she would make fresh coffee and speak with Jean. "Great," she exclaimed enthusiastically.
For a moment Jean was stunned by the radiant smile and the almost relieved tone of the skin-job's answer, but then the anger in her boiled up again. She fought it down and tried to keep up a friendly mask. The idea that she was talking to an already dead skin-job helped a lot – even if the she would only be dead for a short while.
Gwen watched the human blushing and saw it as a positive sign, but first things first. "So, I think we should check the filter system in the pump room before we go out to the primary filters."
Jean jumped from her chair. "I'll go check the system. You have a look at the handbook, okay."
"But I can help you," Gwen said crestfallen. It seemed that Jean hadn't any intention spending too much time with her.
"This way we can finish much faster."
"Oh, right." It would give them more time to talk, Gwen thought.
"I'll shout if I need your help."
Gwen nodded. "Okay." She watched Jean disappearing through the door to the pumping room and admired the swing of the human's hips. The sound generated by the pumps went through the open door filling the office. Turning around she opened a drawer and took the handbook for the filter system. Flipping through the sides she searched for the troubleshooting chapter.
Jean left the door open and switched the lights on. She took a tool kit and searched for the right one making loud clattering noises. The anticipation she felt vanished, replaced by determination. Luckily the pumps were installed in such a way that they weren't visible from the door. "At least, I didn't have to fake working on the machinery to lure the skin job," she mumbled under her breath. For a few more minutes she continued clattering with the tools then she stopped.
"Gwen?" Jean hollered over the noise of the machinery.
"Yeah?" the Cylon replied, shooting up from her seat. Jean had never used her name before. Gwen felt a tickle rising up in her belly.
"Can you give me a hand in here?"
"Sure," Gwen yelled, stepping through the door. Unable to spot the redhead, she stopped and looked around the brightly lit room. "Jean?"
"I'm right here," the blonde heard, then pain exploded in her head and everything went dark.
Jean stood over the fallen Cylon, crowbar still in hand and kicked the blonde. The Cylon didn't react. Kneeling down Jean felt for a pulse and was glad she found one. She had hit hard to make sure the Cylon was knocked out cold and unable to defend herself. It would have been a pity if the skin-job was already dead. Satisfied Jean rose and walked over to the tool kit. She put the crowbar back in and took out a roll of strong tape.
Slowly awaking, a hammering pain in her head made Gwen whimper; she felt cold and miserable. With a sudden shock she realized that she couldn't move. She tried to speak but couldn't, snuffling through the nose she lifted her throbbing head from the floor where she was lying face down and looked around. She registered that her mouth was taped and that she was still in the pumping room. She was cold because she was naked; a pair of boots filled her field of vision and her wrists and ankles were tied together.
"So, sleeping beauty is back in the land of the living," she heard a sneer. "I was afraid that I hit you too hard and you wouldn't wake up before the great finale."
Gwen tried to lift her head to see who was speaking but couldn't, the pain was too great. Closing her eyes she tried to relax. It must be the resistance, she speculated. Somehow they had managed to get into the pump room, maybe during the night. Then she hesitated, that was impossible. The figure standing over her squatted down and a strong hand grabbed her hair forcing her head up and back. The pain drove tears into her eyes blurring her vision. As she blinked to clear them, she found herself looking directly into the face of Jean Barolay. Her eyes widened in shock, and then fear and anger.
Jean knelt down on one knee to lean even closer to the Cylon's face. She was still holding her by the hair. Looking the skin-job directly in the eyes, she finally revealed her true feelings. "You destroyed our worlds. You destroyed our culture. You murdered billions. You put women into breeding farms. And now you want me to spread my legs for you. Or would you rather have me kneeling before you with my tongue up your pussy?"
Gwen tried to speak, to explain but only grunts and whimpers escaped her taped mouth. Desperation and fear made her nauseous. The redhead's ice cold tone was one of the most terrifying sounds she had ever heard.
"Today is payday," Jean spat and let go of the blonde's hair.
Again pain shot through her body as her chin hit the floor. Gwen turned her head from side to side, sliding her face over the concrete, trying to peel off the tape over her mouth. Whatever Jean had in mind, if she could only talk to her, she could stop it all. She could explain that she had nothing to do with the attack or the farms. She would promise that no one would learn about this. She would support Jean's request for a transfer to another workplace. She was still trying to get rid of the tape, when she felt her ankles being grabbed and her legs lifted.
Gwen's screams were muffled by the tape still slapped over her mouth as Jean dragged the naked Cylon face down over the cold floor.
Gwen's screams had faded into whimpering by the time they arrived at the gangway over the septic tank No. 1. Jean let go of her ankles and her feet crashed onto the grating. The redhead placed her hands on the hand rail and looked down at the tank holding all the untreated waste water from the settlement. It was full of excrement.
Gwen had tears in her eyes, her mind and body numb from the pain. All the way from the office to wherever she was now, she had left a trail of blood from her abraded skin and shredded breasts. All she hoped for was that it would be over soon.
Jean stepped over the almost unconscious Cylon and grabbed her under her arms, lifting her to her feet. Looking down the Cylon's front she pursed her lips. "Ewww, time for a bath, sweety." Without another word Jean pushed the Cylon over the rail and watched her fall.
Gwen didn't register what was happening to her until she smashed hard into a soft surface. An abhorrent stench cut into her nose and pain exploded in her body. She sank into thick, warm liquid. She struggled against the ties. Her eyes burned as she screamed into the tape. Writhing, she turned round and round and sunk deeper and deeper. Her lungs seemed to explode and finally she gave in to the impulse to breath. Thick, stinking liquid ran up her nose and the pain was unbearable. The liquid ran down her throat causing her to throw up. The vomit came up pushing back the excrement, exploding out of her nose only to be replaced by sewage again.
Jean remained only a few moments until the struggling Cylon was completely under the surface; then she turned and walked away without looking back.
Gwen's eyes jerked open and she found herself surrounded by thick warm liquid. Fighting, bucking and turning; she screamed as the liquid ran down her throat, increasing her panic. Lashing out, she hit her hands, knees and feet against hard walls. Suddenly firm hands grabbed her and pulled her from the resurrection tank. The liquid sprayed from her throat as she screamed and screamed and screamed - for minutes or hours, Gwen didn't know. On the floor of the resurrection chamber she was being gently held in the strong arms of a sister. She panted and looked around with eyes opened wide. Her sister was caressing her naked body, still covered in the liquid from the tank, while murmuring soothing words into her damp hair. "You are safe now. You are safe."
Gwen clung to her sister and started to tremble, the phantom stench of the septic tank still in her nose and the memory of Jean's face, full of hatred, in her head.
Jean sat on a box in her hideout. Unhurriedly she munched on a cracker from an emergency ration. The cave was small but she had a lamp, a sleeping bag and a gun - for now that was all she needed. Suddenly she heard hammering. It was the signal that someone from the resistance was coming up the tunnel. Still, she laid the cracker aside, pulled out her gun and, rising from the box, she aimed at the entrance. As one of her fellow resistance fighters came into sight she put the gun back into her waistband. "Hey," she greeted.
"Hey." The man looked around. "Cozy," he said grinning.
"Thank you," Jean sat back on her box and lifted the cracker box. "Want some?"
"Nah. I gotta get back soon. The boss sent me to see if you're alright."
"Yeah. I'm fine," she replied while sitting down.
"Good."
"How is it out there?" Jean looked at the ceiling.
"The metals and some skin-jobs are turning the settlement upside down, breaking a lot of things, but up to now they haven't taken anyone in."
"Good."
"The skin-job's are shocked about what happened to the Six. Most of them are hiding in their fortress."
Jean grinned. "Sounds good."
"Yeah. Well, I have to go."
Jean rose again from the box and held out a hand balled into a fist. The man did the same. They butted them against each other.
Epilouge
"What the hell are you looking at?" Jean spat at the Six that was stalking her since she had left the basestar's CIC to hook up the Raptor's FTL drive with the damaged FTL drive of the Cylon baseship.
"I know you," Gwen replied. "You were on New Caprica. You were part of the Resistance. You killed me. Watched me drown, kicking and thrashing like I was some kind of an insect."
"Well, be happy to put you down again." Jean said angrily. The whole idea about working with the Cylons was one of the stupidest ideas Starbuck ever had, but Jean also believed that the hotshot pilot had the best chance of finding earth – at least Starbuck didn't take drugs like Roslin. Even though she supported Starbuck that didn't mean that she had any intention of spending one minute more in the company of a Cylon than absolutely necessary. She only hoped that the more hostility she showed towards the Cylons the more they would stay away from her. If she had killed this Cylon then it wasn't the only one and it wasn't the only one she had killed brutally. Drowning was one of the most efficient ways to shock a Cylon to the core – right after burning them alive.
Gwen felt a wave of anger and hatred boiling through her body she didn't realize she was capable of. Jean didn't even recognize her! After she'd been murdered she had tried to cope, taking any help to adapt her sisters and brothers could offer. At the time she wanted to never again have anything to do with humans or to suffer through another resurrection. The only reason she had agreed to the truce with the humans was out of loyalty, to avoid opposing the majority decision of her sisters. Now with Jean's callousness, fury blurred her sight and she lashed out.
Jean had almost turned back to the Raptor to go on with her task when she saw the blow coming but couldn't react fast enough. Her head hit the hatch of the Raptor, hard. Pain shot through her head and she slumped to the floor of the docking bay. With an effort she hauled herself up and stood beside the Raptor staring at the skin-job. Jean shook her head, but the hammering wouldn't go away, it only increased the pain. She wouldn't show any sign of weakness in front of the Cylons. "I'm okay," she mumbled, but for some odd reason couldn't make out who she was talking to. She was sure someone had asked her if she was alright – or maybe not? The pain increased even more. Maybe she should go to the doctor, but Doc Cottle wasn't here, was he? Jean looked around; there was a blonde woman in front of her, she thought she knew her. Maybe the blonde could tell her were to find a doc-----
Gwen stared at the body of Jean Barolay. Never before had she killed anyone. The anger and the hatred faded from her and literally left nothing behind. She felt herself grabbed and thrown around but didn't care. There was shouting around her, but she didn't pay attention to it. Gwen's eyes were fixed on the dead human and she felt no satisfaction, no relief. She wondered why this was so. It was wrong. Everything was wrong. Nothing like this should ever happen. It made no sense.
"Why, sister?" The gentle voice of her sister cut through Gwen's blurring thoughts.
"I just couldn't let it go. On New Caprica..." Gwen wept. She registered humans and Cylons standing around, but the memory she had fought in vain all these months to forget was back overwhelming her consciousness.
"She was the one?" her sister Natalie asked.
"I never did anything to her. We were working at the water treatment plant and she just..."
"I know, I remember. After you downloaded, we tried to work through this..."
"How do you work through something like that? I'll never forget her expression as I tried to scream. Just... just slapped tape over my mouth and threw me in that septic tank..." Gwen concentrated on the face of her sister Natalie. She had followed her, trusted her and despite their defeat in the civil war she still trusted Natalie.
Someone shouted but Gwen blocked it out from her mind. She concentrated on the eyes of the sister who had tried to comfort her, who tried to help her forget. "I still see her face when I try and sleep. We were trying to help these people."
"I know. I know. I wish there was something I could do," Natalie responded.
Gwen heard the wearily tone in her sisters voice and knew the way out was at hand. The one she had thought about, but could never go through with. The one way out that had been dismissed by Natalie. Gwen turned her gaze from Natalie towards Jean. The human stared with empty eyes into infinity. "I'm glad it's you," she whispered.
As Gwen began to lower her head to the floor, Natalie lovingly took her face in both hands and kissed her gently on the lips. Rising and vanishing from Gwen's view, she wrapped her hand around a human one holding a gun.
Gwen focused on Jean. God loves all his children; he will take the pain away. She wonders how it will-----
The End