Supply was a bottleneck in any war. That was the first thing a cadet learned in the opening strategy class at the Academy. Supply on the Galactica was a frakking nightmare, one that Gaeta dealt with constantly. The four explosive hand grenades that Smash had were some of the last in the fleet, and the dumb son of a bitch hadn't thrown any of them at the Cylon before the Cylon literally crushed him under its feet.

One, two, three, four, and then Kara was out of ammunition. That left him, with what amounted to a toy gun, and the sickening realization that he was living the last few seconds of his life. Even catastrophically wounded by Kara's last shot, the Cylon was still functional. Functional enough to start clawing at the barrier, and still protected by enough armor that shooting at it was an exercise in futility.

He didn't want to die. As terrible as the last few months had been, as tired and angry and numb as he felt most of the time, the last thing he wanted was death. At the same time, the fleet counted more than one life. If rushing the Cylon, blasting it with his gun, gave the marines just a few more seconds to get there and save the ship, then it had to be done. He closed his eyes just for a moment and wished something, anything, would come to him. But all he could think of was the stupid game that had led him to be in the position he was in. At least I won, he thought as he stood up, and with both of us dead everyone will calm down.

It felt like he was moving in slow motion, through an invisible liquid. Dimly he heard someone shouting but it was just background noise to the roaring in his ears. He looked into the life support control hub, gun raised. The Cylon was throwing off sparks as it pawed the barrier. Smash was lying at its feet. The grenades poked out of his bloody jacket, taunting Gaeta, just as Smash had taunted him during their game. He could see Smash's fingers open and close ineffectually. The Cylon realized that he was standing there and began to turn.

That was when it hit him. He was still going to die, but he knew how to stop the Cylon. He smiled as he lowered the gun, took careful aim, and fired at the explosive grenades still visible on Smash's jacket.

He felt the blast before he saw it. Then he felt nothing at all.

Kara couldn't figure out what Gaeta was doing. Aside from killing himself, and it wasn't like they weren't about to die anyway. She rose to her feet to try and tackle him down so at least she didn't have to watch the Cylon splatter him into the wall, but she didn't have time. Gaeta smiled, the same smile she'd seen him use right before coming up with a winning move, and fired his pistol. The explosion took her by complete surprise. She dove to the floor, covering her head from all of the flying metal. After a long moment, she raised her head.

Dust and smoke filled the corridor. She didn't wait for it to settle. They had to be certain the Cylon was dead, but as she looked at the gore splattered walls, she realized what had happened. Gaeta had fired at the hand grenades that Smash had been wearing. The Cylon was in pieces, as was Smash, the ricochet from the grenades had left both Smash and the Cylon in so many pieces, it was like looking at metal flecked hamburger. Problem solved, she thought grimly. She turned her attention to the next problem. " Gaeta?"

He was lying on the floor, face down, up against the far wall. The good sign was that he wasn't in pieces. The bad sign was that he wasn't moving. She knelt down beside him, and turned him over. There was a lot of blood. Gaeta was covered with blood and metal shrapnel, but she didn't see any spurting blood. " Don't be dead," she said softly as she felt his neck for a pulse. " Don't be dead, don't be dead, because the gods favor the crazy, and that was one crazy stunt."

Finally, she found a pulse. It surprised her to feel so relieved. She was getting tired of funerals, and she especially didn't want to bury someone who had saved her life with a move crazier than any she had ever seen. All right, she thought to herself, it was going to be a few minutes before the rescue crews got there. Conscious was better than unconscious, she remembered that much from the first aid training class. " Come on, Gaeta, you're not dead, so wake up. Don't leave me hanging here, I need you to play cards with." She carefully tapped his face.

After a long moment his eyelids started to flutter. "No…" he mumbled.

" No? Are you too good to play with me?" Kara asked with a laugh.

He opened his eyes. " You play too rough." He started to sit up and stopped, obviously in pain. " Whenever I do anything with you, I get hurt. Look at me." He grabbed his chest, and pulled out a piece of shrapnel. " This was my best uniform. And my tattoo is ruined. What happened?"

" Ok," she said, taking the shrapnel, " I think we need to let Dr. Cottle pick the metal out of you. Don't you remember what happened?" She realized suddenly that she had seen Gaeta's head slam into hard metal at least three times in the last ten minutes. It hadn't been more than a week since the last head injury. There was a very good chance that Gaeta was not going to remember anything. " You fired into one of the explosive grenades that Smash had. I never thought a bridge officer could out crazy me."

" I'm the defender, the guardian at the gate. It's my job." Gaeta said tiredly. He closed his eyes.

Kara tapped him again. "No sleeping on duty." She was starting to worry. His last comment had been a little odd. " Maybe you'll get a medal. Or even better, a day off. I think saving the ship should get you at least a day off."

Gaeta opened his eyes again. He looked surprisingly clear for someone who was barely making sense. " You're not telling anyone that I shot Smash in order to blow up the Cylon. You and I are going to tell everyone that Smash pulled the pin with his last dying breath. He saved our lives."

" I think you've hit your head one too many times," Kara said after a moment. " He was going to kill us both." She laughed. "This is what you call ironic. We're lucky Smash died when that Cylon stepped on him. He was going to kill us both, just for spite."

"I'm not an idiot," Gaeta said tiredly, " But the real story is that I killed him, and which story do you think everyone will want to believe? That a bridge officer gunned down a pilot, possibly out of revenge, or that the pilot gave his life saving the fleet and the two people he'd had the grudge with?" He hesitated. " You wanted a solution, well now you have one."

After a moment, Kara nodded. It was an elegant solution to the problem. Smash was enough of a bragger about his abilities that everyone would believe that he could have done something as foolhardy and suicidal. The truth made a fine tale, but Gaeta was right. There would be any number of people who would think that he killed Smash for revenge. The truth would make things worse for everyone. " All right, that's the story we'll tell, but you know, you'll have to teach how you do this."

He looked at her quizzically. " Teach you what?"

" How to be the perfect officer on the outside, and completely insane on the inside."

Gaeta tried not to laugh. " It's a lot harder than it looks." Even talking hurt, but as the shocked numbness started to wear off, he knew it probably looked worse than it felt. He felt like he had a thousand pieces of sharp, tiny metal bits driven into his skin, but he could breath, and pain meant he was alive. " I'm still alive."

"Try not to sound so surprised," Kara said with a laugh. She looked down the corridor. " I see the rescue team." Louder, she said, " It's about frakking time, Lee!"

Lee Adama entered the outside rim of Gaeta's vision. He was still in a flight suit, holding out a sidearm." I'm sorry, I was busy flying a mission against Cylon raiders while you were screwing around." He looked into the life support hub and grimaced. " What happened?"

" Smash had a grenade," Gaeta said quickly. He pulled himself up into a seated position, despite the pain. " When we ran out of ammunition he rushed the Cylon."

" Exactly!" Kara said, grinning. " He was a total bastard but he saved our lives." She gestured to Gaeta. " Hey Captain, even though I think most of the blood here on Lt. Gaeta is backwash from Smash exploding, it might be a good idea to call a medic." She gave Lee a meaningful look.

He could tell that Lee Adama didn't quite believe them, but he knew Kara would keep the secret. It was the fleet that mattered after all. One more secret on the Galactica wasn't going to be a problem. And he didn't mind that Smash would get the credit. The ship was saved, and the families that lived there wouldn't be at each other's throats.

He had won the game, after all. That was the important thing.