BATTLESTAR URANTIA - "Aqua Vitae" (EP. 008)
PREVIOUSLY, ON BATTLESTAR URANTIA...
The look on Tyler Standish's face turned into a mix of anger, fear, uncertainty, and deep hurt, as slowly, his left hand loosed its grip on the black box containing the ring, and it fell to the floor.
Not having to think about it any more, Tyler's right hand quickly reached for, and drew his sidearm, and raised it, bringing it to aim, at D'anna's face.
D'anna's face now wore a look of shock, as she looked to Standish.
"What the frak... you believe her?" she asked, beside herself.
Standish did not answer her with words. He merely looked deep into her eyes, with his own, behind his aimed gun.
His face wore a look of total seriousness, yet his eyes made no effort to hide the deep hurt and sorrow and betrayal he was feeling at this very moment.
Finally, a group of Marines arrived outside the door, beside Grae, and looked in, shocked to see the Admiral holding a gun to their XO.
"MARINES!" Standish yelled. "Get this... THING, out of my sight. Take it to the brig." he ordered, still aiming his gun at D'anna, as the Marines moved in, rifles aimed, as one Marine placed leg and then hand cuffs on the XO, and the group led her out.
- - -
He began to pour himself a drink, filling the glass, as he began to now chuckle, looking at himself in the mirror, as he drank the first glass dry.
"Hehe... she... she made a fool out of you..." he laughed, while also crying, still looking at his reflection in the mirror. "Made a fool... a Gods-frakking FOOL!" he added, now shouting, as he threw the glass at the mirror, shattering both, as he took the whole bottle of brandy, and walked to the center of the room with it.
He up-ended the bottle, and drank straight from it, guzzling the brandy in long thick gulps, before bringing it down again, and again laughing, as he stumbled to the other side of his desk.
"What... what did you DO?" he asked himself, still in a mix of laughter and crying. "The fleet... all this time... the people we lost..." he added, as he looked to the ceiling, and let out a guttural shout of anger, before falling to the ground, the bottle still in his hand.
- - -
Finally, lost in his drunken haze, Standish did what his emotions felt like doing, and he brought his face to Grae's, kissing her hard, with all the fury and passion he had left in him.
Grae began to protest, flailing her arms to try and break the embrace, and stop him.
"Sir... no... no... you're drunk. Don't do thi--" she tried to say, but was muffled by the embrace, as Standish now forcefully began to unbutton her uniform, and rip off her uniform top, as his hands reached down, and began groping, as he leaned into her with his body, pushing her back on the couch.
- - -
He looked up at himself in the mirror, which had been partially shattered the night before, and saw that there were a few scratches to his face, as if a woman's hand had scratched him, in the heat of passion. He felt his back, and felt a few scratches there, as well.
He looked to Grae, his face a mix of confusion and desperation.
"Oh, Gods, no..." he began, starting to panic.
- - -
AND NOW... PART TWO OF "AQUA VITAE"...
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
ADMIRAL STANDISH'S CABIN
Tyler Standish looked at Grae's naked form on his couch, as his breathing got deeper, and without knowing it, he wiped some beading sweat off his face, as he thought about what to do.
His heart was beating at near FTL speeds, and he was starting to panic... the memories of last night's drunken interlude beginning to flood back into his mind.
He could... should, stay here, and be here when she wakes up... to try and somehow explain what went on. But how could he? What way could there possibly be, to explain his actions? No... he decided he could not face this... not here, and certainly not right now. He had to leave. Get out of here.
He quickly put his uniform back on, and did a quick comb of his hair, before taking one last look at Grae... his CAG, and the closest thing he had to a daughter, before turning, and walking out of his cabin, the door shutting closed behind him.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
The ship led the fleet in a slow and high orbit over Virgon.
CIC
The whine of the DRADIS monitors filled the room... a room that was now extremely empty.
The command table was vacant. There was no Admiral Standish, and there was no XO. Only the other duty officers were present, led by Mister Hindri, Urantia's Officer of the Watch, as he stood at his station, gazing at the vacant area by the command table.
Finally, one young female officer walked over to Hindri, holding up a clipboard of reports for his to look over.
"Yes?" Hindri asked the woman, in a calm and soft tone.
"Sir, the latest Watch Log from Beta Shift. And, Sir... we're still being overrun with calls from the fleet ships... they're demanding to know why the Admiral has not responded, or why their messages have gone unanswered." she said, looking to Hindri with concern in her eyes. "What shall I say to them?" she asked.
Hindri looked to her, and tried with all his might, to shoot her a reassuring smile.
"I don't know." he began. "For now, tell them the Admiral is unreachable... and that if need be, I will address the fleet by the end of the day." he offered.
"You know where the Admiral is?" the young woman asked.
"Nobody knows where he is." Hindri softly returned. "Look... I'll make some rounds... see if I can talk to him. If you need me, call. The deck is yours, until I get back." he said, taking his headset off, and placing it down, with the clipboard, as he left, the young woman nodding that she understood.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA -BSG-53
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
The room was somewhat quiet, as a disheveled Tyler Standish sat at the bar, nursing a glass of brandy, with a bottle beside it, as he looked to the bar's surface. As he raised the glass to take another drink, he felt the presence of another person, and turned to see who it was.
*SLAP!*
The sting of a woman's hand flying across his face told him it was Grae, who had found him.
"You Godsdamned motherfrakker!" she said, while also sobbing, while various people at the bar and the seating area now looked to the spectacle. "Why? Why the frak did you do it?" she asked, as tears rolled down her cheek.
The Admiral just looked at her, his face worn with both age and exhaustion, his eyes deep and sad. He could not answer her question. There were no words. How could there be?
"What?" she began, softly. "SAY SOMETHING, MOTHERFRAKKER!!!" she shouted out, looking right into his eyes.
Finally, her anger got the best of her, and she rushed to him, beating at him on his chest, with her fists, as he tried to get up from the barstool.
As he arose, the force from her hitting him, and his drunken state, made him stumble backward, and he fell to the floor, groaning somewhat, as he struggled to right himself, coughing, as a string of drool spilled from his mouth to the floor.
Grae looked to him, and shook her head.
"You're frakking pathetic. A frakking pathetic old man, nothing more than a drunk." she spat, as Tyler now looked up at her. "I loved you... you were the father I never had." she said, as tears again began to stream down her face.
Tyler, still laying on the ground, tried to reach her with his arm, as she stepped back.
"No... don't frakking touch me. Not ever again!" she spat. "Frak you!" she shot, as she began to sob, while turning around, and rushing out of the room.
Gradually, Tyler picked himself back up, as the people in the lounge looked at him.
He walked back over to the bar, and grabbed the bottle, and stumbled his way to the seating area, where he saw a woman he recognized... an upper-middle-aged blonde woman... Helen Azaire... Grae's mother.
He walked over to her, and as she looked to him, with only her eyes, he plopped down in the seat across from her, placing the bottle on the table.
"Well, well..." Helen said, looking to Tyler, as he looked up to her with only his eyes. "Long time no see, Admiral." she added.
Tyler was not in the mood to play with her, and took a drink from the bottle, as Helen got up, and walked over to him, sitting down beside him, taking the bottle from him, and taking a drink herself. Tyler could tell that Helen was already quite drunk, as well.
"You know..." she began, facing Standish. "There IS something very familiar about you." she said, moving close to him, as if to whisper a secret. "You remind me of another Tyler I once knew... never told me his last name, but he had your rugged looks, and graveled voice. And boy, was he a good frak." she said, giigling, as she nuzzled his face, before drawing back, so he could look at her. "But that was just one night... and before I was married, mind you." she added, laughing a drunken chuckle.
Standish focused on her... looking at her, studying her features... there was also something very familiar about her, as well.
"Yeah, well..." Tyler replied, taking another drink. "You remind me of a woman I was with, as well... but then, I frakked around a lot in my youth." he stated.
"That was before I met Paris." she went on. "Back then, I was Helen Jaxion... Gods, I miss that name..." she said, wanting to continue her story.
At the mention of the name "Jaxion", Tyler turned to face Helen again, as she continued talking.
"Of course, that must have been one good frak he gave me that night, because a month later, I found out that I was pregnant with Grae." she said, as suddenly, all the color drained from Tyler's face.
"You..." he began, softly, as she looked to him, confused. "It was you... that was ME you frakked..." Standish said, getting up from the seat, as she looked up to him. "Are you saying... she's... Grae's... my daughter?" he asked, sternly.
"Helen was still not realizing the impact of what she was telling Tyler, and she looked up to him, chuckling, as she tried to climb over the seat, her loose blouse making a great show of her half-exposed breasts and cleavage. "Well, she's not Paris's." she said, laughing, as she stumbled back onto the sofa seat, in a drunk giggle.
Every bit of color was now gone from Standish's face, and the sweat began to frm, and bead all over his face, as he wore a look of total shock. He could not believe what he had just heard... what he had just done... the true scope of it.
He suddenly felt short of breath, and tried to walk out of the room. He worked his way out the door.
Once outside the lounge, he leaned against the wall, and clenched his heart with one hand, while steadying himself against the wall with another, as he clenched his teeth, taking deep, wheezing breaths. After a few long seconds, he looked up, and stumbled his way forward, in a staggered walk.
ADMIRAL STANDISH'S CABIN
A hand pulled open a desk drawer, and Tyler lifted his service pistol up, and readied the weapon for firing, before holstering the weapon at his side, and slamming the desk drawer shut, and again walking out of his cabin.
URANTIA CORRIDOR
The weapon in his hand, at his side, Standish stormed down the corridor, rounding it, and walking, until he came to the door to the Brig, opening it, and walking over to the cell where D'anna was being kept.
The Marine on duty opened the cell for Standish, and he told the Marines to leave the room, and they did, as he entered D'anna's cell.
D'anna looked to him, from her corner, the slightest trace of a smile creeping onto her face.
"So... you decided to come and visit little old me, after all." she said.
In response, Standish merely cocked the hammer on his gun, and aimed it at D'anna, as her smile began to vanish.
"You have no idea what you've done." Standish spat. "How you've frakked things up."
D'anna looked at him for a long moment, before lunging towards him, with a sudden rush of strength and speed.
It was too little, however, for Standish fired one shot at D'anna, which struck her, right in her left shoulder, sending her reeling back in unbearable pain, as she cried out, holding her bleeding shoulder with her right hand.
"Why?" Standish asked, now shouting, as he walked right over to her. "WHY THE FRAK DID YOU DO IT?" he shouted, as he threw the gun into the back corner behind him, and readied his fists, as he fired off the first punch, right into D'anna's face.
"YOU'RE ALL THE SAME! YOU ALL HAVE TO FRAKKING SCREW ME OVER!" he yelled, as he punched her again and again, across her face, as she began to bleed. "Oh, yes... you're liking this, aren't you?" he asked, his mind now stuck in the past, addressing Tina. "AREN'T YOU!!!" he shouted, looking at D'anna.
His face was a frenzied mix of intense rage, horror, unbelievable sorrow, and loss, as he clenched his teeth, and relentlessly continued his assault on the unseen victim, as blood sprayed onto his face, as he began to now yell out, in rage.
Suddenly, his mind began to see a different image before him... a lone Cylon Centurion... a modern version, sat slumped in the corner of the cell, blood spattered all over its metal body, as the "V" panel on its face that housed the scanner remained dark and lifeless.
Suddenly, something changed... from deep within the Centurion, a sound began to grow... a sound that was wicked, and taunting...
As Standish looked to his enemy, the red scanning light again erupted to life, and began to move to and fro, as the sound intensified... it was laughter... a deeply wicked and dark laughter, meant only to taunt. The Centurion was laughing at him.
"FRAK YOU!!!" Standish yelled, as he grabbed D'anna by the uniform collar, and pulled her upright, as he punched her yet again.
"You... you get me to frak my own frakking daughter?" Standish spat, through clenched and bloodied teeth, as he prepared to throw another punch.
Suddenly, a voice from outside the cell called out to him, breaking him from his onslaught, as he still stared at D'anna's broken and bloody face.
"TYLER!" a man shouted out.
Standish looked to the source of the voice, to see Commander McAllister, looking to him with a look of shock.
"Leave me be, McAllister!" Standish called out, as McAllister drew his gun, and aimed it at Tyler.
"SIR! Stop what you're doing, Sir!" McAllister called out, just as Standish landed one last and final punch into D'anna.
The force of the punch produced a loud snapping sound, and D'anna's jaw visibly dislocated itself, as she fell to the ground, the shock of the pain becoming too much for her.
Tyler stood looking over her, his teeth still clenched, and breathing hard, as blood spattered his face and uniform. Finally, after the rush began to wear off, he found he could not stop his heavy breathing, and he staggered backwards, hitting and slumping down against the far wall, clutching his heart with his right hand, as he groaned in pain.
"Gods..." McAllister exclaimed, holstering his weapon, as he went to go and help Tyler up.
SICKBAY
The door to Sickbay flew open, and McAllister rushed Standish into the room, as Doctor Casten and a few nurses rushed over to take the Admiral from him.
"Gods..." Casten began, as Standish was placed onto a bed, and his uniform top ripped off, as the nurses hooked him to biomonitors. "What the frak happened?" he asked McAllister.
"I dunno... he had trouble breathing, and he collapsed." McAllister replied, as Casten went to work, looking at the monitors.
"Frak... he's going into full cardiac arrest! I'm gonna need some help here... defibrilator, STAT!" Casten shouted out, as he went to work, and the nurses drew the curtain closed, around Standish's bed, cutting him off from view.
TO BE CONTINUED...
