This is a present for Melissa and Laura, who are both fabulous human beings. It'll be short, probably around three parts. It's inspired by Battlestar Galactica, but loosely enough that you could look at it and think "Klaroline in a space war" and totally be able to keep up.

I hope you enjoy it :)

"I have to what?"

"Making me repeat it for dramatic effect won't change my statement, Lieutenant," Ansel said dryly, and Caroline wrinkled her nose, crossing her arms.

"I'm not a great teacher."

"You were a flight instructor for years."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out," she said, her voice so quiet that it was barely audible.

He gave her a sympathetic look, the pain in his eyes mirroring her own, and she felt more than a bit tactless.

"You won't be alone. You'll have Klaus to help you."

"Oh, well I can't wait," Caroline said, trying to break the tension with the sarcasm thick in her tone, and she knew it was only by virtue of her being practically family that kept her from getting a sharp slap on the wrist and possibly a night in the brig they reserved for soldiers who needed a reminder of who was in charge.

He gave her a level look that told her she was on thin ice and she sighed, standing up. "Fine. I'll go look through my old lesson plans. We'll have to get a viper refurbished to take them out in, and I'm not giving anyone a go to fly unless I think they're ready. I don't care what tests they pass or how fast we need people. I'll only teach if you can promise me that they don't go out without my approval."

"Agreed," Ansel said with a sharp nod, and she saluted before leaving, trying not to let the dread well up inside of her.

Klaus was leaning against the wall outside of the Commander's office, his arms crossed over his chest. "Hello, love."

"Get the recruits and meet me in the briefing room in the right wing," she said grumpily, stiffening at his raised eyebrow. "Sir," she added, unable to suppress the sarcasm in her voice.

He'd just been promoted a week or so ago, and had taken great pleasure in rubbing it in her face, reminding her to follow protocol or he could throw her in the brig. They both knew he wouldn't, but she knew Ansel totally would if word got back to him that she was purposefully undermining Klaus's authority.

She also suspected he had a thing for her calling him by his title, but had decided not to pursue that line of thought, lest she wake up next to Tyler with slick inner thighs and her new superior's name on her lips. Tyler had always been more than a little jealous of the on-again-off-again half-friends-half-enemies connection that she and Klaus had, and she tried not to exacerbate it by giving him any reason to think she had feelings for Klaus.

Because she didn't, obviously.

Not one bit.

"I'll excuse the lack of politeness since you've obviously been given such terrible news," he said, shooting her a teasing grin, and she had to fight down a smile.

"Yes. I'll never survive."

"We'll, you've not died so far despite your obvious death wish."

There was a tone in his voice that she didn't like, almost as though he was irritated with her, though he sounded enough like he was joking that she couldn't call him out on it. "I don't have a death wish, Klaus. I'm just following the orders the higher-ups, including your dad, give me."

"Since when do you follow orders, sweetheart?"

"From the higher ranks? Always, within reason."

"I'm a higher rank now, Caroline. Be careful or I might start putting you on the dangerous ones to get you out of my hair."

She rolled her eyes. "As if. You like me too much."

She'd expected him to shoot back a witty retort, to tell her that he'd be doing what was best for their people, but instead he gave her a look that made her feel uncomfortably bare. "One must occasionally put their personal bias aside for the good of their people," he said quietly, his eyes full of too much affection to be teasing, and she looked away hurriedly. "But you're lucky that I do find you enjoyable enough to keep around."

She swallowed. "Yeah. Anyway, I'll go get my notes. Get the recruits please, Sir."

She walked away before he could respond, resisting the urge to glance back at him, not wanting to see the look on his face in case the feelings she hadn't realized he had were painted too plainly. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she slumped against her bunk door when she closed it behind her, taking a few deep breaths.

She knew he wanted her. They'd never been able to be 'just friends', the tension between them too hot and invasive, but she'd never realized that his desire was deeper than lust. There was no mistaking the way he looked at her just moments before, though. That kind of affection was dangerous, especially in their line of work. With the constant attacks by their enemies, she never had any way of knowing whether Klaus would come back from missions (or whether she would survive hers).

She knew that if she got too attached she wouldn't be able to handle watching him strap himself into a jet and not know if he'd come back. And she wasn't attached yet, she insisted to herself. Klaus was a coworker, a friend with the potential of something more, but she'd never let them realize that potential if she had anything to say about it.

She didn't know if she could handle it.

On a more practical note, Klaus had a lot more power than she did. His father was the general, and he was a higher rank than her now. Klaus was ruthless if slighted, petty and mean-spirited at his worst, and she had no desire to walk on eggshells for fear of becoming a casualty of his spite. She also knew that on the flipside of the coin, he was incredibly protective of those he cared for, and he already lobbied against her taking the most dangerous missions. She had no idea how much more he'd try to shield her if they got together, but she had a feeling that a padded cage and low-risk missions would be in her future.

She grimaced at the thought.

Okay, so maybe she was being too hard on him with the cage thing. He'd never tried to take her choices away, and even when she insisted on taking the most dangerous risks, he wouldn't interfere once he made his concerns known. Still, she doubted he'd be all that happy if she decided to take too many risks. She knew that if she gave into her feelings she wouldn't want him going on dangerous missions either.

And there was Tyler, she thought belatedly, making her feel a little ashamed.

Her boyfriend had been more tolerant of her and Klaus's unconventional friendship than she'd thought he would be when he'd asked her out, and she thought their relationship was progressing nicely. She liked him a lot and enjoyed spending time with him, and she knew he felt the same. Sure, she occasionally wished that his brown eyes could lighten to blue and his voice would soften into an accented lisped drawl, but she'd long ago decided that it was just lust...

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she bent over the large chest of keepsakes she kept at the foot of her bed, rifling through her diploma from flight school and some various papers and photographs before she finally found the binder she used to hold her lesson plans when she taught at flight school.

She quickly scanned the contents as she walked to the briefing room, and she found a bunch of recruits filling the cheap chairs in ill-fitting uniforms that were clearly hand-me-downs from other soldiers. Klaus was standing at the front silently, observing them all with sharp eyes, and she had no doubt that Klaus told them to sit and be quiet while they waited. She sighed, walking to the front of the room and looking at all of them.

"Thank you for volunteering for our air force," she said quietly, feeling everyone's eyes on her. "Your service is appreciated. You should know that now that you've volunteered, you're like any other member of the military. You will not leave service until you're discharged. Is that understood?"

There was a low murmur of affirmatives, and she frowned, knowing she had to establish her authority early. "I said is that understood?"

"Yes," everyone chorused.

"I'm a higher rank than you, therefore my title is 'Sir' or "Lieutenant'," she said sharply. "Let's try that again."

"Yes, sir."

"Good," she said with a nod before walking to the blackboard at the back usually used for tactics. "Now, I'm going to go over some basic rules and regulations for you and then we're going to go look at a few jets and I'll show you how to fly a viper. We need to get you trained quickly, so I suggest you keep up. Anyone who can't will be moved to another branch where they can make a difference in some other job. Sass or backtalk of any kind will not be tolerated, and I will throw you in the brig if you're too mouthy with me."

She heard Klaus chuckle and shot him a glare before turning back to the new students. "Let's start."

She spent eight hours talking to them about flight safety and showing them the practice controls for a viper before sending them to shower and sleep, warning them they'd have an early morning.

Klaus stuck behind though, and she looked at him warily as he approached after shutting the door behind the last recruit. "What?"

"You were too nice to them," he said. "They won't respect you if you're such a pushover."

"And what do you know about respect?" she shot back, looking up at him.

"Everyone obeys my orders, so I'd think quite a bit."

"They're afraid of you," Caroline said, shuffling the papers, more for something to do than because they weren't already straight. "It's different."

He pressed his lips together in a thin line, and she could see his walls going up, could see him getting defensive. "And what's wrong with that? It gets the desired results."

"Okay, so they listen to you, but who do you think they'd be more loyal to? You or someone they respected?"

They stared at each other, electricity crackling between them, and Klaus stayed silent, though he was looking at her with a greed that made a shiver run down her spine, as though he was considering how she'd answer the question. Caroline fought down a flush, pressing her lips together and looking back down at her notes. "Exactly," Caroline said with finality, knowing she'd proved her point.

"Be careful, Caroline. Wouldn't want me to have to throw you in the brig for disrespect."

His tone was deceptively mild, and she could hear undercurrent of danger, but she was unable to hold back a laugh as she looked up at him. "We both know you like me being honest with you too much to punish me for it."

"True enough," he said, but her smile faltered when he didn't give her one in return, his eyes calculating, almost surprised. It was as though he had just realized something and wasn't sure how to process it.

Before she could comment he'd walked past her and through the door. It closed behind him with a metallic clack, leaving her alone and confused in the briefing room as she tried to figure out what had made him leave so abruptly.

XXX

Caroline laughed at Tyler's joke, leaning against him slightly, as she glanced around the table. They were playing poker with the rest of the squad, as they usually did on Saturday nights, though most people were sitting out, too tired from the training that day. She had a straight, and judging by her read of everyone else she was going to win the round, so she wasn't all that concerned. She was still avoiding Klaus's eyes though.

Though he'd come up to her the day after he'd walked out on her and started a conversation as though nothing had happened, she'd still been wary around him. It didn't help that he'd always been the only one who could read her when they played cards, even when she kept a straight face, and she wanted to win the cigars off of him that Tyler had lost their first round.

Jeremy told them to lay down their cards and she was unable to restrain a triumphant smile, which dropped as soon as she saw Klaus's hand.

"Straight flush," Klaus said quietly, his eyes never leaving her face, keeping eye contact as she set her cards on the table. She weighed her options. Did she want to hand over the whiskey? It was her favorite, and really rare on the ship, only obtainable through the black market or gambling. Instead, she caught the hem of her tank top between her fingers. His eyes widened a fraction before his expression cleared. "I'll have the whiskey bottle then, sweetheart."

"I didn't know you got to choose," she said, tilting her head to the side as she edged the fabric slowly up her abdomen.

"I simply thought you'd prefer handing over the bottle than your shirt."

Her lips curled in a smile. She knew he was aware that she had no problem stripping front of half of the pilots. If anything it would help her game, and she was nothing if not competitive. Maybe he thought he'd be one of the drooling idiots that couldn't bluff because they were too distracted by boobs?

"Then you don't know me very well, Sir," she said, giving him a pointed up-and-down look, her voice dropping at the title in a way that could pass for mocking but still made him swallow, his tongue darting out to lick his lips.

She heard scattered laughs and shot Tyler a heated look as she tugged off her top in one smooth movement and tossed the cloth at Klaus before stretching, arching her back slightly. Her breath caught when her eyes met Klaus's. She'd expected irritation and perhaps a bit of heat, but he was eyeing at her like he wanted to consume her, shooting a warning look at a subordinate pilot who had wolf-whistled, the boy's ears turning pink as he quickly moved his gaze to the floor.

She felt the heat of Tyler's hand on the small of her back, giggled at the whispered complaint of what she was doing to him, and glanced back at Klaus to see him with his jaw clenched, his body stiff. He wasn't looking at her though, too busy giving Tyler the filthiest look she'd ever seen him wear (which was saying something). He was jealous, she realized.

There was a stab of heat in her lower belly that made her thighs press together instinctively, her core suddenly achingly empty, and Tyler had clearly sensed the movement by the way he laughed quietly, laying a hand on her leg, his thumb brushing along the sensitive dip of her knee. "Do you want to get out of here, babe?"

She bit her lip, shaking her head, unable to tear her eyes away from Klaus's as she spoke. "Not yet. Anticipation makes it hotter, and I like making you squirm."

She felt soft lips against the juncture of her neck and jaw and shivered, finding herself wishing there was a scratch of stubble against her sensitive skin in addition to the quick flick of the tip of a tongue. Her nipples pebbled at the thought.

Klaus looked livid.

"Another hand?" he growled, his eyes glittering, and she nodded, unable to resist bending over just a bit too far to push her cards in his direction. His eyes lingered on the scalloped lace framing her cleavage as he pulled her cards towards him. "Do you normally wear lace under your uniform, love?"

"Do you normally think about what I wear under my uniform?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, and he smirked, absently shuffling the cards as he just looked at her, not answering.

She fought down an unexpected flush at the way his eyes burned her skin, hoping that anyone who could see her cheeks pinking would attribute it to the heat from all the people packed into such a tiny space, but Klaus seemed to read her easily, his smirk turning into a wicked smile that sent heat straight to her lower belly.

"It's your deal," she said, her voice embarrassingly breathless, and he nodded, shuffling. She couldn't help but let her gaze land on his long artist fingers as they wrapped around the cards, the way he spun them in his hands as he slid them to each person, and she wondered if they'd be just as nimble between her thighs.

She found herself wishing she'd taken Tyler up on his offer to leave.

She swallowed as she picked up her cards, keeping her face blank as she studied them and forcing herself not to glance up at Klaus, despite feeling his eyes on her. She considered her options, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she weighed her odds of winning the hand. Before they'd had to escape from their home planet, poker had been different. There were rounds of betting, and there was more strategy involved. The game was much simpler now due to the lack of valuables. If you thought you'd lose, you folded. If you thought you could win, you stayed in the game. Everyone who stayed in the game who lost had to give something over to the winner. If everyone folded, the winner got something from everyone.

She hesitantly glanced at Klaus to see his facial expression, looking for clues to what she might want to do. He stared back at her, face carefully blank, though eyes were dark with want.

She quickly turned to glance at Tyler, Jeremy, and Matt, the other pilots playing. Tyler would fold, judging by the set of his jaw, and she had a feeling that Jeremy would try to bluff (rookie mistake when playing with Klaus, but if she won she'd be happy to take the small bottle of salt that he'd won off of Matt two rounds before).

Matt had already thrown his cards down, and Caroline smiled slightly as she looked back at her hand, knowing Klaus had caught the movement judging by the way he stiffened slightly. "Everyone else staying in the game?" he asked, his voice mild, and Tyler hesitated before nodding.

"I'll trade three," he said putting his cards down, and Klaus obligingly dealt out three cards for him. Tyler glanced at them and sighed, folding with a grimace.

Jeremy stayed in after trading two, his brow slightly furrowed. "All right, then. Let's see them, then."

They laid down their cards and Caroline grinned once she glanced at them. "Fork over the salt, Private," she said, smirking as she wriggled her fingers, and Jeremy groaned before passing it to her. She turned to ask Klaus for the cigars he'd won from Tyler, but her mouth went dry when she saw him peeling his shirt off instead, dropping it to the floor.

She'd seen him shirtless before, of course, but there was something about him sitting in front of her with a challenging gleam in his eye and his stupid leather necklaces dangling around his neck against his bare chest that made her want to drag him off to the nearest bunk and map every inch of skin with her fingers and tongue.

"Should I deal the next hand?" Tyler asked beside her and she felt herself pulled back to the present. He looked annoyed, but she leaned over to press a soft kiss to his cheek and whisper that they'd leave soon, unable to resist glancing at Klaus's darkened expression as she did it. There was something possessive and primal in his eyes that made her still, her lips parting slightly as her breath caught.

"Sure, mate," Klaus said, passing him the deck.

Caroline glanced at her cards once Tyler passed them out, inwardly groaning at the clear low score. She was about to fold when she caught Klaus's eye, and she found herself tempted to stay in the game, just to see what his reaction would be if she lost again.

Five minutes later she stood to shimmy out of her cargo pants, taking the time to fold them neatly and set them by her chair, looking at Klaus through the corner of her eye as he licked his lips, the tension crackling between them.

There was no way Tyler (and everyone else) hadn't noticed the eyefucking, but no one mentioned it, and Tyler curled his fingers through hers when she sat back down, squeezing lightly. She could have sworn that Klaus growled when she reached for the cards to deal the next round, and she folded early, not wanting to lose anything she'd won or shed more clothing.

"Want to get out of here?" Caroline asked once Matt had collected a small bottle of whiskey and a small box of cigars, not bothering to lower her voice, and Tyler nodded, standing and reaching for her pants on the floor, swiping her shirt from across the table before handing them to her. She thanked him and put them on, let him place a hand possessively on her hip, though it slid just a bit to land on her ass when they started to walk. She couldn't resist glancing behind them at Klaus as they left.

His jaw was tight, his eyes dark and glittering with desire, and she failed to fight down a smirk as she turned away, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing between her thighs.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

Please let me know your thoughts. Did you have a favorite part or line of dialogue? Something you thought I might be able to improve on? A favorite scene between the training and the poker? Any predictions for how they'll get together? I'm excited to hear what you guys think! :D