She could hear the mechanical footsteps approaching the tent and knew.
"Maya?" She called to the young woman straightening books in the back. Maya came to her quickly, worried by the edge in the former President's voice.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"They're coming…" Maya looked at her sharply and opened her mouth to speak, but Laura cut her off. "They're coming for me. I knew this was going to happen. Tell the rest to proceed according to plan." Maya shook her head.
"We can't do it if they take you… You… You would be killed."
"Maya, promise me you will tell the rest to go ahead."
"Ma'am…"
"Promise me."
"I… I'll tell them."
"Take good care of Isis; don't let anything happen to her…" Laura paused for a moment, reaching into her desk and pulling out a thick envelope. "And please, when the Admiral returns… make sure he gets this." She handed Maya the envelope, her hand trembling slightly.
"I will." Maya quickly pocketed the letter as the Cylon centurions entered the tent, a Doral model between them.
"Dr. Roslin, you are under arrest for conspiring against the joint cylon-colonial government. I suggest you come quietly." She stood slowly, lifting her head as she walked towards him. She glanced once more at Maya before exiting the tent, Maya nodded to her, tears spilling down the young woman's face.
Doral led the way down the dirt street, Laura walking between the two centurions. The people outside turned to watch her being led towards the detention building with frightened expressions. She caught an angry looking Thrace's eye and shook her head slowly. Do not get yourself killed on my account. Kara stared back at her, fists clenched at her sides, for a moment before turning and hurrying off into the tents, presumably to tell her fellow resistance members what had just happened.
She was not afraid, she knew Maya would pass on her orders and the rest of the resistance would follow through, she was just sorry she wasn't going to see Bill again. She had known she probably wasn't going to get out of this hell alive but she had hoped she'd be allowed to see him one last time. She shook her head, guess not…
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She was surprised when she was shoved into a holding cell. "If you're going to kill me I'd prefer it if you'd just get it over with."
"Oh, we're not going to kill… Not just yet anyway. There's the small matter of reciprocity to settle first."
"Excuse me?" Doral merely smiled in return, before shutting the cell door and sending her into pitch darkness. She stood still for a moment as his words sank in before sinking to the floor. She couldn't see anything, there was no sound. She felt as though the world were shrinking in on her. She hadn't been afraid to die, she'd been prepared to die for quite awhile, but now that they didn't seem to be interested in killing her, she could feel fear rising within her. Reciprocity… What were they planning?
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She had fallen asleep, waiting for something to happen. Something jolted her out of sleep, someone was moving around in her cell. She sat up quickly, looking around. The cell was still pitch black, she couldn't see a thing.
"Names."
"What?" She turned around, trying to locate the source of the voice.
"Give me names."
"Names?" So that's what they wanted. She wasn't going to tell them anything.
"Don't play stupid." The voice was familiar, she had come in contact with this model before, but which one was it? "We know you're the leader of the rebellion and we know something big is about to go down. We want names." She stayed silent; surely they didn't expect her to betray her fellows just like that. "No? More fun for me then." And a boot collided with her side, knocking her over. She gasped in pain, struggling to right herself.
"All this has happened before and all this will happen again. The roles change but the story remains the same." A different voice this time, this one she remembered… It had haunted her dreams before, it belonged to Leoben.
"I'll ask you again. Who are your fellow rebels? We know their number is substantial. Give us names." Sharon, it was Sharon. Again she remained silent and waited for the next blow. Instead someone grabbed her, hauling her to her feet. "Answer me." She heard Sharon growl. Sharon's face had to be right in front of her own but it was so dark she couldn't even make out an outline. She shook her head, trying to twist out of Sharon's vice-like grip.
"No." She said firmly. She was reward with a hard slap in the face; she felt blood trickle from her nose and onto her lips. She felt Sharon's grip alter.
"We have a plan for you, Laura." Leoben's voice whispered in her ear.
"Names!" Sharon shook her violently.
"No!" Sharon threw her into the wall. She crumbled into a heap on the floor, pain shooting through her back. She struggled to her feet, leaning heavily against the wall.
"We will be back later." Sharon spoke as Laura heard a heavy lock sliding open.
"I'm looking forward to spending more time together." Leoben said as the door opened and Laura was momentarily blinded by the brightness, before the door closed again, returning her to darkness. She slid down the wall, taking a shuttering breath. She wiped at the blood streaming from her nose, she didn't think it was broken. Her ribs on the other hand definitely hurt as did her back. She was going to have some very impressive bruises at the very least, not that she'd be able to see them.
Leoben had spoken of a plan… Is that what they had meant by reciprocity? Torturing her to make up for what they had suffered. Justly suffered in many cases, she reminded herself. Still, the torturing of both Leoben and Gina had been unacceptable. The Cylons had killed billions, but they could also feel pain… fear… She paused, she wasn't sure. They were at war and sometimes terrible things had to be done to save lives… But they had raped Gina… numerous times. She shook her head, in the Cylons' eyes she deserved this and from her point of view they deserved to die, deserved to suffer… to a point she added. She could understand the Cylons hatred towards her… but at the same time, she had not condoned using torture as a method to get information. Most of the killing that had been done, had been done by the pilots of Galactica under the orders of the Admiral… Bill. Her thoughts shifted, she was trying to place blame on others. It was a weak thing to do and for a moment she was filled with self-loathing. People like Baltar blamed others, she took the blame and tried to solve the problem, tried to make things better. She shook her head again; this was a product of her fear. She remembered the argument she had had with Richard before leaving for Galactica's decommissioning ceremony. That too had been her fear looking for an outlet. Though that wasn't quite the same. He had been wrong. Why was she thinking about Adar now? She had mourned his death yes, but after learning what love really was from Bill she had realized how he had used her. She hadn't thought about him for over a year and suddenly she was. She sighed; sometimes even she didn't understand how her mind worked. She reached down and gingerly felt her side. There was a large bump, painful to the touch. She leaned her head back against the hard metal wall. Sharon had said they would be back… How long were they going to be this time? She closed her eyes lightly, how long had she been here? Her internal clock told her that she must have slept for at least a few hours and her stomach told her that she had missed at least one meal. They weren't pulling any punches here. Starvation, total darkness, physical abuse…. But she wouldn't break, she was determined on that, they would kill her before she gave them anything. They know that, she realized suddenly and they had no intention of killing her any time soon. Reciprocity…
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"She's refusing to talk."
"As we knew she would Eight."
"She's stronger than you think Shel- Six."
"So you keep saying."
"I'm serious, you underestimate her."
"Shut up Leoben, we all know how you feel about her."
"My feelings have nothing to with it, Doral. Not only will she not break but she'll fight back. Maybe not physically or visibly, but she'll fight. She's clever, she'll study us just as we study her. She'll find a weakness and exploit it."
"What do you suggest then?" Laura could hear the discussion going on outside her door; she crawled closer, trying to make out all the words.
"Oh, you know what he'd like to do."
"I wasn't asking you, five."
"I have no suggestions that you would agree with. I merely wanted you to know that I think this is a bad idea and I participate in it with strong reservations. And I don't appreciate what you've been insinuating, Doral."
"I don't care if you appreciate it or not, I've seen the way you look at her. Granted if she wasn't responsible for all of this, I might agree with you on that score." Laura was still having trouble making out what was said. What was this about Leoben? What were they discussing?
"Stop arguing you two, the plan goes ahead… unaltered." Plan? Laura listened as footsteps retreated away from her door. She had been waiting for what seemed like hours for Sharon and Leoben to return.
"Shall we get this over with Sharon?"
"You going to help this time?"
She heard the lock sliding back and hastily moved away from the door. Leoben… He had been the only one using their human names, that was interesting… Light filled the room and two figures entered before the door slammed shut.
"Going to talk?" Sharon asked.
"You already know the answer to that." She replied quietly, trying to predict where the blow would come from. Someone shoved her down from behind.
"We're floating in the same river… Stop fighting against the current; join the rest of us swimming easily downstream." She laughed.
"I read Kara's report about you… you're obsession with streams." Someone grabbed her by the back of the neck and pushed her head down, into water, and held her there. She struggled, she couldn't breath. Finally they let her up, gasping for air, coughing. "Reciprocity…" She murmured, still laughing. She couldn't stop laughing… her fear had found an outlet; she knew she was becoming hysterical. They pushed her under the water again and again held her down until her lungs felt as though they were about to burst. She got a grip on her self, gulping down the air, now was not the time to lose her head. "Does this help?"
"Shut up!" Sharon's voice rang out as a fist collided with the side of her face. Then her head was in the water again and again she was denied oxygen until she nearly blacked-out.
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She came to hours later, cold and in pain. Someone was standing over her, prodding her. She pushed herself away from the stranger's hands.
"Calm down… I'm here to take a look at your wounds." She didn't recognize the voice and tensed. Another Cylon… "Eight did quite a number on you… I'm surprised you didn't pass out earlier." She struggled to sit up; biting off the cry of pain she couldn't stop from escaping her. Her side was on fire.
"Careful, don't move too much, you've got two broken ribs and your collar bone is fractured."
"Why are you here?"
"I told you, I'm here to see to your injuries."
"Why bother, you're only going to give me more." She spoke through clenched teeth, aching all over.
"Yes, but we don't want to kill you… for the most part. Eight did get a little carried away though; good thing Leoben stopped her when he did. That wasn't part of the plan." His fingers were feeling her side and she shied away from them. Leoben had stopped Sharon? And again with this plan… "You should be alright. Try and get some rest and don't move too much." She heard his footsteps walking away from her and then the cell was filled with blinding light as the door opened. Darkness returned and she lowered herself back down into a horizontal position. She was extremely hungry and very thirsty. How long were they going to keep this up? She closed her eyes, rest. How long had she been here already, a few days now? She drifted of into a light and troubled doze.
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She was wandering through a forest. It was dark and misty, she couldn't see much more than the looming outlines of the trees around her. A light came from behind her. Turning she saw a Cylon raider flying towards her. She began to run, zigzagging through the trees. Someone was laughing at her; she could hear the raider getting closer and closer behind her, somehow managing to avoid the trees. Suddenly someone grabbed her, pulling her behind a large tree and pinning her against it, a rough hand placed firmly over her mouth. Her eyes widened, once again Leoben was haunting her dreams. He released her once the Cylon raider flew past. "I have a plan for you, Laura, but so do the others. You're at a crossroads, which path do you choose? Neither is easy, but one will save you. Trust me Laura… I want to help you." Then there was a blinding flash and he collapsed, bloody, to the ground in front of her. Doral strode out of the mist towards her, gun aimed on her and a smirk twisting across his face.
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Someone was nudging one of her legs, her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. "You disgust me…" She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising, Doral was inside her cell. "You make me sick."