Chapter Four – Transit

Caprican Rail Transport
Mid-transit, Human District to Caprica City

Lee and Kara had been left on their own in the compartment, after the Six had gone to do whatever it was she was supposed to do now that she had the tributes on board. Once she'd left Lee had gotten up to try the food that was on offer, realising that actually he was starving, but Kara hadn't moved. He looked over at her as he piled up a plate with food, concerned that she'd barely moved since they got here. Then deciding that eating could wait, he set the plate back down.

"Kara?" he said as he crossed back over to her, but the only acknowledgement he got was a brief glance in his direction. "Are you alright?"

She scowled at him as he sat down opposite her. "What do you think, Lee?"

Well, that was a fair response, he thought, given the stupidity of the question. "Well, obviously you're not," he quickly clarified, "I just meant, how are you holding out?"

She didn't answer, instead just avoided his gaze and shot another question back at him. "Did they let you see Zak?"

"Yeah, they did."

"What did he say?"

A little taken aback, Lee struggled for a moment as to how to answer. This was something he didn't really want to talk about, but then Kara shook her head as she seemed to change he mind. "Wait. Don't answer that." She sighed and leaned back in her seat, and Lee found himself wondering what had happened when she'd seen her family for the last time. Given what he knew about Socrata Thrace, he doubted that it had gone well.

He didn't want to ask about it, knowing it would only make her feel worse, but he didn't have chance to say anything before she'd shot yet another question at him. "Why did you do it, Lee?" Kara asked, her tone almost disbelieving. "Why did you volunteer?"

The answer to that one was much easier. "Because I have to take care of Zak."

"That's hardly fair," she said bitterly. "Why is it that Zak gets someone to take his place, but other people… other people have no-one. No-one to take of them, and no-one to care if they lose…" She suddenly fell silent, and it seemed to Lee that she was trying not to cry. This really must be about her mother, he realised.

"What did she say to you, Kara?" he asked gently, and for a moment she looked like she was going to pretend she had no idea what he was talking about, but then she relented.

"She said she'd be disappointed if I didn't win," Kara replied, her tone full of bitterness and anger. "Said that I could win, if I only stopped making mistakes, and that I ought to win. But it was still my own fault for getting my name in so many times."

Lee didn't know what to say in response to that. "I'm sorry," he said awkwardly. "I'm sure she didn't mean in that way, she just doesn't know how to deal with the prospect of losing you…"

Kara shook her head emphatically, wanting him to shut up. "No, don't you dare do that, Lee. Don't make excuses for her. She is going to have to frakking deal with losing me, because even if I win this, there's no way I want her coming to live on Earth with me. Or my dad. Unless he's found a way to leave the planet he must have known I was reaped, but he didn't even come to see me. I guess I was already as good as dead him, for all the interest he's shown these past six years. So I'm done caring about either of them."

It was breaking his heart to see her like this, but he couldn't lose perspective. This was the girl that two weeks from now he'd be facing in an arena in the fight to the death, but still… Lee couldn't bring himself to suddenly switch off all the affection he held for her. "You don't mean that, Kara," he said gently.

"Yes, I do," she snapped back at him. "I've got nobody who cares if I die in this thing, Lee. I'm on my own."

"No, you're not," he replied. "Zak cares about you. My dad cares about you."

"But they care about you more."

That he couldn't argue with, so he fell silent and stared at the floor. Kara sighed again.

"Did Zak tell you how much of an idiot you were for volunteering?" she said after a pause.

"He might have mentioned it, yeah," he replied, looking back up again to find she was smiling just slightly. Just because of what was going to happen, it didn't mean they had to sacrifice their friendship just yet.

"Well, he was right."

"Hey, you know the last person who volunteered actually won this thing?" he countered, feeling just a little defensive.

Kara smirked. "If you're talking about Tom Zarek that hardly counts. He only volunteered because he was practically forced to. He'd got his name in so many times for rebelling against the Cylons that they were on the verge of executing him, so he volunteered to save anyone else having to go and die in the games."

"Which was quite noble, don't you think?"

She shrugged, obviously not wholly in agreement. "Some people say that he never wanted to win; he wanted to be a martyr. He went into it expecting to die and it was only because of a frak up with the airlock that he ended up being the last man standing. Seems odd to me that he could have won without trying to, but that's what they say happened. "

"Yeah, I heard that too, but I wasn't even born at the time. I don't know much about it," Lee replied, although he knew Kara didn't actually know anything more about it than he did. They'd all heard the stories, but it was only the people on Sagittaron who knew the full truth about why Zarek had volunteered, and probably only Zarek himself knew how he'd managed to survive. It was, however, common knowledge that he hadn't been happy about abandoning his people to go and live on Earth, and he'd been quite vocal about that during the victory tour. Then, of course, he'd disappeared. Whether he was actually still alive on Earth or the Cylons had killed him, nobody knew.

Their conversation was cut short as the compartment door opened again, signifying Six's return. This time she was accompanied by a man with blond hair and gray eyes, but both tributes recognised him as just another skinjob. "Lee, Kara, this is the Two who will be your mentor," Six introduced him.

Kara glanced over at Lee and muttered under her breath. "What do you think's worse; having the toasters make us fight each other to the death in the first place, or having them tell us how to win?"

Lee just looked grimly back at her as they waited for the Two to speak.

-oOo-

Colonial Transport Vessel
Mid-transit, Picon to Caprica

As Six left the room again, leaving them to 'get acquainted', the Eight sat herself down opposite Galen and Cally and gave a slight smile. It didn't seem at all friendly to the tributes when it came from a Cylon, and realising that wasn't actually making them feel any more comfortable, she stopped smiling and introduced herself. "As Six has said, I'm the Eight who'll be your mentor. Since we've found that names can help you trust us, you can call me Sharon."

"I don't normally call toasters by name," Cally muttered, and a look of disappointment crossed over Sharon's face.

"Alright, that's understandable," she responded calmly, "But I am your mentor and you're my tributes, and believe it or not, I do actually want you to win."

She let that sink in for a couple of seconds, even though the tributes were still far from convinced, but then Galen said, "Alright, so why don't you start telling is how we do that?"

"I'm going to. But why don't you get something to eat first?" Sharon suggested, making an effort to be friendly, but Galen just gave her a sullen look.

"I'm not hungry."

"Okay…" Sharon didn't want to antagonize them. She'd done this before, many times, but she found it never got easier. They were always suspicious of her, and justifiably so, but she did genuinely get quite attached to her tributes. Unlike some of the other mentor models, she didn't enjoy seeing them go and die. "I'll get started then," she answered. "The first thing you'll need to know is how to actually get to the arena in the first place. There's a launch site where there'll be eighteen vessels, and each tribute is going to have to get in and fly one of them if they want to reach the Galactica." Already looks of horror were forming on their faces, but she tried to overlook that and continued. "The first thing they'll teach you in the two weeks training is how to fly a Raptor and a Viper. In the actual Games there'll be six Vipers and twelve Raptors. The Raptors are easier to fly and can take more than one person, but the Vipers are armed. Whoever gets in one of them will have the chance to blow the others out of the sky."

"Wait," Cally interrupted suddenly, looking at her in disbelief. "You're saying we're going to have to fly a Viper or a Raptor?"

"Yes, but you will be trained," Sharon replied, but it didn't little to reassure the two tributes who were wholly inexperienced with flying any kind of aircraft. "Even though the Vipers are armed, I'd recommend going for a Raptor. It's difficult to fly the Vipers out of the atmosphere once they've left the ground to air launch tubes, and even if they make it that far they're still harder to land. The Viper pilots will have no experience; their aim will be completely off and there isn't much chance of them hitting you. Just make sure you get up in the air and land safely: landing is half the challenge, so make sure you pay attention to that part of the training. I'd also suggest you team up: there aren't enough planes to go round, and if you get two people in a Raptor flying it will probably go smoother than with just one of you. Make sure you move fast. There'll be a five minute scramble to get to the birds after the starting horn sounds, and if you don't get up in the air and away in that time the entire launch site explodes."

Looks of terror crossed their faces as she told them what they would have to do, but even though Sharon didn't like seeing that, it was easier to say it all in one go than keep dumping bad news on them later.

Sharon noticed Galen was frowning slightly as if in thought, then he spoke up again. "You're going to let us fly Raptors? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they have faster-than-light capabilities?"

Sharon smiled slightly, knowing what he was thinking. "They do, but don't go getting any ideas. All the FTL drives on the Raptors have been disabled, and if anyone tries flying away our Raiders will be onto them in minutes. People have tried it before, and they didn't get very far."

Galen looked crushed by that news, but he couldn't possibly have really been considering it anyway. He knew that the Cylons must have every possible escape route covered.

"That's the first obstacle you'll have to overcome. Would you like to hear the rest of it? Or do you think you'd like to get some food and some sleep first," Sharon said, "Because I guarantee you, you'll need your rest."

"Alright," Galen grumbled, standing up. His stomach was still churning uncomfortably, but he knew she was right: he'd have to eat something at some point. And that was probably enough bad news for him to try and wrap his head around for now.

Cally followed him, deciding to go and get something to eat as well. "So, you and me? Think we should form a Raptor crew?" she said quietly.

He looked down at her, thinking how much more difficult it would be for them to turn on each other later if they started out like this, but there didn't seem to be much choice. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea," he replied.

-oOo-

Colonial Transport Vessel
Mid-transit, Tauron to Caprica

Karl Agathon climbed into the top bunk in the cabin he and the other tribute had been allocated. It was nine hours until they reached Caprica, and the Eight they had as a mentor had recommended that they got some sleep in before then. Karl wasn't convinced that he'd get any, being as nervous as he was, but he understood that it was probably a good idea to try.

The other tribute was in the bed below him. She was sixteen – just a year younger than him – and they hadn't actually spoken much to each other since they'd got here. That probably made things easier. Neither of them had ever met before in their lives, and all he knew was her name: Tory Foster. She could well be a very nice girl, for all he knew. It seemed likely, actually, but Karl couldn't stand the thought of even beginning to make friends with her when he would have to face her in a fight to the death later on. It sickened him: the thought of what he was going to have to do; what the Cylons forced people to do all across the colonies in order to strengthen their own tyrannical reign, but he didn't see what possible options he had to try and resist it. It was best for both of them that Tory remained as much a stranger to him as every other tribute from across the colonies.

Despite not wanting to know her better, he had to admit he'd been impressed by how well she was handling it so far. She was managing to retain her calm composure, but that didn't mean she wasn't just as scared as he was. The Eight – who wanted to be called Athena – had given them the pep talk about what was in store, and he honestly found the prospect of it terrifying. What also disturbed him was the way the Cylons had taken to giving themselves names, supposedly for the tributes' benefit. Particularly Athena. It was a blasphemous name for a Cylon, but she's said that one of her former tributes had chosen it. A tribute who was dead now, just like Karl most likely would be soon.

He found it unusual, that a tribute who had once been in this position would choose to give his mentor that name, but he also found it surprising how the Eight model somehow seemed more caring - dare he even say human - than the other models. She'd taken no delight in telling him the many ways in which he could die. Maybe it was just an act, but she did genuinely seem to want to help her tributes win. Maybe he didn't know what to make of it, but he was grateful that he had this model as mentor and not one of the others. Especially not a Six.

Somehow, sleep found him at some point in the journey. For a while he dreamt of being in a forest in the rain, running away from a convoy of centurions. At one point one caught up with him, and he grappled with it before falling down. Then a Six appeared from somewhere. "Are you alive?" she asked, before leaning down to kiss him. Then she was shot and Karl realised that he'd been saved by an Eight. The weirdness of the whole thing only dawned on him after waking, as he realised he was being gently shaken into consciousness by the real Eight telling him that they'd be arriving on Caprica in fifteen minutes.