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Rose Hathaway flew loops in space, laughing almost hysterically in delight. Starbuck laughed with her over the intercom.
“Steady, Guardian. It’s only your first day in the seat.”
“It’s amazing!” said Rose. “How do you ever do anything else?”
“Well, eventually you need to stretch your legs. And eat and sleep. Come on, nuggets, back inside.”
One by one, the viper pilot trainees coasted into the entrance tube, Starbuck guiding them.
“Steady on, Ares. Pull up just a hair. Good. Now Guardian. Cut your thrusters…now. Pull down, yes, just like that.”
Back on the hangar deck, Rose sought out her instructor, and spotted her talking to Captain Adama.
“Ares is a little rough, but with work he’ll be fine. Timber is iffy. If he doesn’t shape up within the next couple of sessions, I’m failing him. Guardian is a natural.”
Flushing with pride, Rose dodged a line of hobbit mechanics and ducked back behind a viper, not wanting to be seen eavesdropping.
“What are you still doing here? Get back to work, you nugget.”
“Yes, Captain Romanov.” Rose nodded and hurried away from the stern CAG before her mouth could betray her. She found Lissa and Dimitri in the training room, sparring gently. Lissa, although a superb mechanic, had nowhere near the fighting ability Dimitri, a Marine, did.
“Captain Thrace thinks I’m a natural!” she gasped out, distracting Lissa and enabling Dimitri to clock his opponent in the head.
“Ow! Time!” squawked Lissa, rubbing her head. Dimitri gave in, grinning good-naturedly.
“Fancy a match, Guardian?”
“Yes,” said Rose immediately, turning away to get her gloves.
“Hold on,” protested Lissa. “You haven’t told us your story yet.”
Rose weighed satisfying Lissa’s curiosity versus her own need for a good sparring match, and decided the sparring could wait.
“I overheard her telling Captain Adama.”
“You mean you eavesdropped?” snarked Dimitri.
“Shut up, Comrade. No, honestly. Although Widow caught me. She probably thought I was.”
“Do you call her Comrade?” inquired Dimitri.
“Naw, that’s your special nickname. Anyway, she only gave Ares a passable and I thought he was good, so I must be even better.”
“How was your landing? A lot of pilots look like great fliers until you force them to land.”
“Perfect,” snarked Rose. Lissa and Dimitri rolled their eyes simultaneously. “Come on, can we fight already?”
Lissa made a shooing motion, and Rose ran to her rack for her gloves and a change of clothes. Back in the gym, Lissa was gone, and Dimitri was pacing as though she’d taken hours. Rose hopped once on the balls of her feet and attacked. Dimitri was strong, but Rose was faster, and she ducked his punches, spinning around him with the perfect control she’d need to extend to her viper if she wanted to be a real pilot. Eventually, she and Dimitri both began to tire, and when Dimitri actually tripped over his own feet, she called for time.
“Draw?”
“Draw,” he agreed. Sweat was pouring off both of them and their gym clothes were completely soaked, so without discussion, they headed off to the showers. Neither of them noticed the blonde viper pilot watching. This might have been considered an inexcusable lack of perception on the part of a Marine and a martial artist turned pilot, but as the blonde viper pilot in question, top gun and one-time CAG, utterly failed minutes later to use her common sense and ability to predict movements, no one spoke of anyone’s failings that day.
Rose and Dimitri split at the showers, and Rose indulged in what was, for her, a long shower—a full ten minutes, almost. She got out, dried off, and changed into the spare clothes. She was just leaving the showers and on her way into the main part of the ship when she heard voices. And one of them was Kara Thrace’s.
“I wish Rose hadn’t gone into pilot training.”
What?
“Kara—” That was Captain Adama.
“I’m fraked if she isn’t the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen, Lee. Have you seen her?”
“She’s a looker,” Adama agreed tentatively. Rose smirked to herself.
“Well, yeah. You’d have to be blind not to notice that. But the way she carries herself, the way she stares challenges in the face. I wanted her before she ever joined up. But now I’m her teacher, and, frak, Lee, I’ve been there.”
“The mistake you made with Zak was not being honest with him,” said Adama. “If you just learn from that, the thing with Zak won’t happen again. And besides, it won’t. You said Rose is a natural.”
“She was born to be a viper pilot,” said Starbuck, and Rose felt her heart jump.
“Well, then.”
“I’m still her teacher. And you know what’s frakking ironic? That just makes her more attractive. The way she flies that viper, and then the way she got so excited? It was like I’d given her this amazing gift.” Starbuck sighed and ceased to be poetic. “I want to kiss her or jump her every time I look at her, and not only is it inappropriate, I have no idea what she’s thinking. And I can’t just ask her out for drinks, she’d report me to the old man. I can’t read her at all.”
“There is that,” agreed Adama. Rose had heard enough. She rounded the corner to where they could see her.
“Frak that,” she said eloquently, and pressed her lips to those of the startled pilot.
Let no one say that Kara Thrace has ever been out of her element when being kissed. In a second, Rose felt herself being pulled against Starbuck, hands at her waist and caressing her still-wet head, lips kissing hers back passionately. After a moment, they broke apart, and Starbuck’s eyes raked Rose’s body. Rose became acutely aware of how her clothes clung to her damp body. Kara’s hands were still running through her hair.
“Don’t cut it off,” she said suddenly. “I know most of us women do, but don’t you dare.” Rose grinned predatorily.
“Yes, Captain,” she said, then regretted it at once. Starbuck’s hands dropped, and she looked frustrated.
“Look, Guardian—”
“No. You want me, I heard that. And I want you. I think you’re incredible. I’m capable of making my own decisions, Starbuck.”
There was a small pause, and then, “Kara,” said the other woman quietly. Rose heard the unwritten explanation and understood. Call signs were for work, not relationships.
“Rose,” she answered. Kara grinned at her for a moment.
“Battle stations. Set Condition One throughout the ship. Cybermen are attacking the pyramid,” came over the intercom, and Rose shrugged.
“Business as usual?” she said, and Kara squeezed her hand for a second before they left to defend their ship.