(no subject)

[thegoodlighter]

You're doing this to me why?

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[itsthosemoments]

Evil.

[thegoodlighter]

What, the whole Universe has it out for us?

[itsthosemoments]

Sure seems that way doesn't it?

[zealots]

My apologies, Major. I'll be the first to concede this interrogation procedure is crude, but I simply haven't the time for more refined methods.

Again. What do you know about the whereabouts of the Colonial traitor Baltar?

[thegoodlighter]

I've told you, I have no idea. I'm not his babysitter. The man goes where he wants. He still has enough followers lingering about from that old cult of his that any number of them could be responsible for his disappearance.

[A pause, and cold stare. He resents the inescapable consequences of his choice to stand up for justice and defend Baltar.]

[thegoodlighter]

Sure does. How do you cope with it?

[zealots]

[There's no reprimand this time, just the overpowering surge of pain that he's inflicted on the prisoner three times now. No device is causing it, nor any instruments. This interrogation method... call it what it is, torture... is one he's inflicting entirely by his mind alone.]

They could, yes. But not a one of them are as valuable to him as you. You aided him in his greatest hour of need once. Why should I believe you would not do it again?

[He relents in his onslaught, allowing his prisoner a moment to catch his breath. His expression could be carved from granite for all that it gives away.]

You are not in the custody of your Colonial Fleet. You understand that now, yes? The laws you know by heart will not shield you here on Avalon.

[thegoodlighter]

[At some point, pain results in a sort of humorous delirium. At least, it does for Lee. This is a bit more intense than he felt while trapped with Zarek.

Under stress, he thinks clearer. He actually impressed himself, the first time. Now he was more bitter and sarcastic than inclined to play some sort of hero.]

The laws. Exactly. That was the only reason I aided him. If you're going to torture me based on actions I took in my Colonial Fleet under our laws, then you need to consider them.

I helped him because it is unjust to make one man who's decisions reflect what a good majority of the people I have known would have done in the same situation. This doesn't make him righteous or moral. It makes him human. I don't defend his actions. I just couldn't stand to watch a man become the scapegoat of an angry, desperate mob out for blood.

If you have some problem with him, I'd be happy to help you find him. But I don't know where he is any more than you do.

[A sharp inhale. How is he inflicting all this pain? Was this some new model of Cylon? With ...mind powers?]

You are right, though. I'm most likely who he'd turn to. Well, there is one other. You've already tried Lieutenant Gaeta, I assume?

[zealots]

[His expression doesn't once change, remaining stoic and dispassionate throughout. Exodus isn't enjoying this. It's one thing to fight a man, or even to kill him in battle. But this is something else entirely.

Orders are orders, that's a reality whether on Avalon or Galactica. But this is his doing. His responsibility. So he doesn't look away from the other man's face, not once. Not even when he wants to.]

This isn't a punishment for your defense of Gaius Baltar, Major. However ill-considered your actions might have been, they were in accordance with your people's laws. He was tried by your laws and escaped justice by them.

But did you really think it would end there? That a man of his ambition would truly be sated, that anything less than the galaxy itself would satisfy him?

[A step forward, two, and now he's in his prisoner's physical space. Close enough to grab his face in both hands, to stare hard into it as his mild voice rises with conviction.]

The blood on his hands, every drop from that day forward, it is on yours. That is why you are here.

[Just as quickly as it came, the intensity is gone and he's stepped back again, his tone once again measured and even. Mostly.]

Yes, Lieutenant Gaeta was actually our first lead. We had hoped to do this with a minimum of fallout, and his disappearance would not have been as closely investigated as your own. But he was already gone. We believe he is with Baltar, wherever it is they have taken refuge.

sorry for the delay. exhausting night.

[thegoodlighter]

Escaped? [He sounds incredulous as his focus on regulating his breathing is interrupted by noticeable irritation. He has an acceptable 'poker face' while playing Triad, but in actual life, he is one of the worst he knows at keeping his feelings off of his face.

The only time that is managed is when he feels resigned or complacent enough to manage a blank, impassive or stoic look. But anger has never been something he could repress. Still, he's learned lashing out at those who are superior or more powerful than you only makes matters worse.

Which doesn't mean he necessarily cooperates, follows orders, or behaves later towards them in a mature and non-vindictive manner.] That was Justice. If you define it differently, I don't want to know what manner of people you work for.

[Every drop of blood is on him. No, it wasn't. Baltar was responsible for his own actions, Lee was only responsible for his own. His own kept up the law. It did not force Gaius to break it again, or do whatever he had done to make this man come looking for him.

They were people, not gods. People could not base legal action, or decide the life of a man, off of what they decided he was likely to do in the future, based off of their, at the time, very emotionally biased point of view.] Baltar had two choices: stay alive and minimize the damage the Cylons caused, while finding agents to slip information out to the resistance, which is the only reason any of us is still alive, for the record. Or, refuse to 'cooperate', getting himself killed and causing someone else take his place. That person probably would have been Gaeta, who then wouldn't have been able to be our spy. Those monsters were not leaving without a puppet.

[He wipes his face against his shoulder, gritting his teeth, frustrated that he couldn't see a way out of this. He had no idea what Baltar had done now, and legitimately no way of finding out where he was. It was inconceivably infuriating that this motherfrakker might be the end of him.] If you are blind to that, then you and your superiors can frak off.

no prob, today ended up exhausting for me too

[zealots]

Justice is balance, Major Adama. [His tone is sharp, his face stony and jaw set, but he does not lay hands on his prisoner again. For many years he was trained to master himself, his emotions as well as his abilities. It will take more than a single shortsighted man to make him forget those lessons.

Perhaps if the major were free to defend himself, he could sanction such aggression. But he isn't. The man can't even move a single limb, held as he is in the grasp of a power he has never known. It's his, that power tht holds Lee Adam now, and he'll not sink to the level of the enemy by abusing it. He lets out a slow breath.]

Balance. Crime and punishment. If a man commits a crime, he must be punished. Where is the punishment in freeing that man to commit crimes again? Your people have advanced so far since last they crossed paths with mine, yet you still cannot recognize the dangers in one of your own.

[The needs of the many versus the needs of the few. Perhaps even after all this time they still don't understand that. But he does. That's why he is here, why he is interrogating this man in a fashion he would normally consider to be distasteful and beneath him. The needs of his people outweigh his own needs.

But then, even they are not gods. He is not a god, no matter the lofty title he carries for their sake. And it is true that this human knows things he doesn't. That's why they took him in the first place.] You say that you saved Baltar's life so that your people might continue to make use of his contributions to your war effort. Can you tell me, then, that you never stopped to think, not even once, that he might be using you, all of you, as pawns in a game none of you could even see? You knew what he was. When you put on that uniform, did you not swear to defend your people from threats within as well as without?

[He stares hard at his captive. The idea of telling the man why he is here flies directly in the face of his standing orders, which in turn are at war with his principles as a person. Justice is balance, and what balance is there in punishing a man when he doesn't even know the crime he committed? Lee Adama doesn't know what the man he once defended has done. But by the laws of his people the major can't know, not and live. He turns away from the other man for the first time, running a gloved hand over his face.]

I do not wish to kill you. [His voice is low now, and it feels as though he speaking to the man for the first time as himself, as Bennet and not the great and terrible Exodus.] If you tell me where Baltar is, I can return you to your home. I will do this, you have my word. But if you give us nothing... I have been given orders to have you executed.