"My word as a Warrior..."

"My word as a Warrior…"

“Alpha shuttle, you are cleared to launch,” came the voice over Apollo’s headset, as he prepared to leave the freighter Gemini.
“Alpha shuttle, l…” Apollo began, then stopped. He could not get the images, or the voices, of the shattered refugees he’d seen aboard this flying scrap yard out of his head. He took the phones off, and tossed them onto the dash. Taking a deep breath, he unbuckled his safety harness and got up.
“Hey, Captain, where are…” said Boomer, as Apollo vacated the pilot’s seat. He watched his CO head aft, past the wounded being transported to the Galactica, and made for a locker at the rear of the shuttle. “Uh, hold Gemini,” he told control.
“Captain?” said Starbuck, looking up from his datapad. As with Boomer, Apollo didn’t answer. He moved to the locker next to the weapons cache, and keying a sequence into the controls, opened it. He perused the contents, and ran a quick inventory.
“Come on, let’s get these out of here.”
“The shuttle’s survival packs, Ap…Captain?” asked Starbuck.
“Yes. Enough water and basic rations to sustain a shuttle crew of four, with care, for a sectar if necessary.” He began unloading the items, piling them on the floor. “We don’t need them. Those people inside do.”
“They won’t go very far, with all those people, Captain.”
“They’ll go a Hades of a lot farther than nothing. Come on, help me.”

The woman in the shredded party dress looked up, to see a Warrior in front of her tiny cubicle. A caustic comment came to her lips, but it died as she saw what he was holding out to her. The dark-haired Viper pilot held a small canteen of water, and his expression bade her take it. Slowly she did so, then the small ration pack. She looked at it, military issue cardboard, but it was food nonetheless. She looked back up at Apollo, but all she could manage to say was-“I…thank you. But…”
“My word as a Warrior,” he said, and was gone.

“You know, I can’t fault them for resenting us,” said Apollo, as the shuttle pulled away from the freighter. “They lost everything. They have to blame someone.”