Louis Hoshi

Lieutenant Louis Hoshi wouldn't say that he's gotten used to taking things in stride, but at this point they've all been through so many impossible things that what's one more?

Besides, this impossible thing comes with an opportunity that he'd never thought to have again, in life or after. This probably isn't the Fields - or at least, it's not what he's always been told to expect of them - but he'll take it all the same and make the best of it.

It is a party and celebration of some sort, that's been made clear. He's never been one to worry about fashion and the Lords know it's not like any of them have a lot in the way of choices for that kind of thing any more, so he puts on his dress grays instead of his duty blues and calls it good enough. They're in decent condition, at least.

For now, he's content to find a place at the side of the ballroom and watch the event with unabashed delight, and never mind the nerves and far deeper hidden emotions thrumming through him.

This night is a miracle.

He'll make the most of it.

The events of the day have hit him -- hit all of them -- with the force of a hammer. Ellen Tigh's return from the dead had been shock enough; the confirmation that the damage to Galactica is too extensive to repair had been worse. Far, far worse.

Hoshi hasn't the first clue how to begin dealing with it, much less how to break the news to Felix. For the first time, he considers breaking the now-regularly-established habit he's formed of going from Galactica to Milliways an hour into the half-shift down that's all he claims to need any more, spending the night there, and slipping back into his rack before shift's end.

But they're all living on borrowed time now, and not much of it at that. He can't just disappear, not when--

-- he cuts that thought off right where it is before it can go any further, and heads for Milliways as usual.




Still, just being there doesn't mean he has any frakking idea of what to do, much less what to say. Felix asks him what's wrong, of course; Hoshi evades answering, pleading exhaustion. From the looks that he keeps getting, he imagines he must look pretty bad, but thankfully Felix doesn't press, or at least not much. He does try to draw Hoshi out in conversation, but it doesn't go well. Hoshi can't keep his mind on what they're talking about, and ends up calling it a night early.



Unfortunately for him, sleep might bring rest, but it also brings dreams.






He walks Galactica's strangely empty corridors, watching in horror as cracks spread along the walls beside him. He walks faster, then faster, as the cracks continue to grow, moving more quickly than he can keep up with, until he's somehow no longer walking but running, running as fast as he can --


-- and then with the strange suddenness of dreams, he's no longer on Galactica, but instead back on Raptor 718, staring in horror at Ellen Tigh, who's sitting in the jump seat and looking right back at him.

Between them on the floor is Felix's fallen body, marked with the bullet wounds of his execution.

He'd waited around in the corridor after his shift until the XO came out of CIC. Hoshi falls in beside Tigh as he walks, and begins to plead his case.

"Sir, I know our resources are limited, but it won't take much--"

"Pull yourself together, Lieutenant," Tigh growls. "They know where the Fleet is."

Hoshi doesn't budge. "That’s my point, sir. It was a false alarm, and everyone has jumped back."

Everyone but Raptor 718. Everyone but Felix. He swallows the fear back yet again and continues, urgently,

"It's been over two days now, and they’re still not here. Just give me a Raptor and a pilot, and -- "

Tigh stops walking and turns around, pinning Hoshi with a look. "And what would you do with that, jump randomly?"

It's a fair question. What he's proposing is a wild chance, one in a million or more, and yet... it's still a chance.

Hoshi draws a quiet breath, and meets Tigh's eye with a steady gaze.

"Sir. There is something in the universe, something we can't understand - something that let us find Earth, dead as it is. Now I know--"

He rushes on even as Tigh starts to shake his head.

"-- I know I can find Felix. Me and Felix..."

Hoshi trails off there, but continues to hold Tigh's glance all the same. Silence hangs heavy between them for a long beat.

"There’s been too much loss already," he finishes, quietly.

Tigh heaves a sigh. "I’ll have to run it by the old man."

It's tacit permission, and they both know it. Hoshi doesn't waste any time.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you."




It's all he can do to keep himself from running through the corridors.

Hang on, Felix. Help is on the way.

He makes it to the rec room in record time all the same. Hoshi slams through the door with enough clatter to draw everyone's attention from the usual card game to him in an instant.

Earlier in the day, he'd traded with PFC Jameel for the chance to borrow copies of the Caprica Times and Scorpia Paragliding.

Pleased with the results, Hoshi's taking advantage of a couple of hours of his down time to stretch out in his rack and read the editorial page of the Times. No matter what the subject, it never ceases to interest him how people present their points of view.