Future

By Bea

Word Count: in progress
Date:
Series: Alternate Universe
Rating: M+
Category: Relationship
Pairing/Focus: Lee/Kara
Warnings: adult situations, sex, angst, torture, violence, language
Summary: An alternate take on what could have happened following the Season 1 cliffhanger...
Spoilers/Disclaimers: 

---

-Cylon Occupied Caprica-
Lieutenant Kara Thrace
Call Sign 'Starbuck'
First day on Caprica

Kara Thrace gazed at the city spread out before her for a moment, then sat down to wait. She was wounded, she had a friend to bring back with her, and she had no more fuel for the raider. So she found a place to leave the thing and tried to camouflage it as much as possible. Now she waited for Helo and the toaster to catch up. She'd given Helo the arrow before leaving the museum. He was a lot steadier on his feet than she was at the moment.

Resting her head on a tree behind her, she had no more refuge from her thoughts. *A toaster. I was friends with a frakking toaster.* She shook her head. Why be surprised? She had learned through hard experience that the only thing you could count on in life was for it to find some way to frak you. That was the way things went.

You either got used to it and went with the flow, or you died. Sometimes literally, sometimes not. She scrubbed her eyes and looked up to the sky -the abode of the Gods she wasn't even sure she believed in. *You know, this whole thing might be easier if you didn't make it possible for us to feel.*

Gods she was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She still hadn't learned.
***
As the three of them walked away from Caprica City the sun was setting in the distance, painting the sky with bright autumn hues. The only sound was the scrape of their feet against dirt. For obvious reasons, they had avoided the roads and continued hiking through the countryside until their progress slowed to the present crawl.

When she couldn't take anymore, she flung herself on the ground next to a tree. Helo came to sit beside her, slinging off his pack, while the toaster hovered in the background.
"You okay, Starbuck?" He asked, concerned. She didn't look up.

"Yeah, just wonderful." He helped her sit up. Damn, that hurt. Luckily, they'd managed some jury-rigged bandaging of her ribs a while ago, or she probably wouldn't have been able to stand at all. She smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. I just need to rest a little." Or rather, crying about it wasn't going to help any. He didn't seem reassured. She surveyed their surroundings.

The treeless hills and valleys on the outskirts of the city had given way to a progressively thicker forest, making progress more and more difficult. Now that they had finally stopped, Kara noticed that aside from the gathering darkness, the temperature had dropped significantly.

"We should find somewhere to stop for the night." She stated bluntly. Helo turned and gave her a look.

"Kara, I hate to have to say this, but I think this is pretty much it."

She snorted sarcastically. "Yeah, you know, I did figure that one out all by myself. But this particular clearing is pretty much in the open. We need to find somewhere less exposed, don't you think?"

The sarcasm earned her the finger while the rest of her comment had him looking around.
"I'll scout ahead a bit. You two stay here." He left before she could protest. Kara rolled her eyes, then turned to observe her silent companion.

"Have a seat, bitch." She said unctuously. The other sat. Yep, silence was just fine. She didn't really feel like talking to the thing just now anyway.

***

She had the gun up and ready the moment she heard the leaves rustling.

Helo stepped into the clearing, hands up. "Easy. It's just me." He jerked his head back the way he had come. "It gets a little thicker over there. It's the best I could find." He helped her to her feet, and it was his turn to roll his eyes as she shrugged off his help. "Right." He waved 'Sharon' on ahead of him. "After you." He said sarcastically, and they set out.

The sound of their movement through the trees and bushes seemed terribly loud to her ears, as did her harsh breathing. Okay, so she was having trouble keeping up and she should have accepted his help. She looked up at the sky. *I swear you guys must really like proving me wrong. Ah, no disrespect intended of course.* She grimaced. *Wouldn't want to be struck by lightning or something.*

Helo let himself fall back beside her and put his arm around her without being asked, helping support her weight. "Thanks." She said softly. He grinned back at her. Kara rolled her eyes. *Men.* She thought to herself.

"So tell me Helo. What the frak happened to you, anyways?"

"I survived." He shrugged. "I ran a lot. Managed not to get caught. Found some food and some radiation meds." Another shrug. Nothing more seemed to be forthcoming.

"And her?" She asked. "How'd she get into it? And what's this about her being pregnant?"

He stared ahead of them, towards 'Sharon', as he visibly considered his words. His answer, when it came, rocked her back on her feet.

"I didn't know she was a Cylon until later. And the child's mine."

"Frak." Frak. What did she say to that?

"Yeah... So how about we talk about something else?" His expression was stoic, unreadable.

She didn't have a clue what to say to him to make things better. Yep, no question about it, she really sucked at all that emotional stuff. And she was always good at chickening out. "What do you want to talk about?" She asked, accepting the change of subject. She still had a honking huge shipload of questions for him, but they could keep for later. Besides, she'd already skipped some choice bits about what happened with the fleet, so she figured it was only fair to return the favor.

Eventually the trees began to cluster together as the night around them came to full fruition. The air seemed to grow cold teeth as well, and so it was with mixed emotions that they stopped to rest. Then it started to rain.

"Frak." Helo looked towards Kara with concern in his eyes. "I was gonna build a fire..."

She shrugged. "It's okay. Let's just try and sleep a bit." He helped her as she gingerly found a moderately comfortable position to rest in. The pain in her side seemed to have gotten worse. Frak.

She closed her eyes, and to her surprise, sleep did come.

***

It was the unmistakable noise of footsteps which woke her. Opening one eye, she saw that it wasn't Helo or 'Sharon'. She couldn't see much else in the darkness. Her hand moved towards her gun and she shot to her feet, drawing her weapon and wincing at the pain in her chest.

Surprise shot through her as she saw the girl. She looked to be no more than twelve, really. Her eyes were wide and set deep above hollow dirt-smeared cheeks, and her hands clutched a tin can of food from their supplies. Her clothes were torn, her feet bare. There was fear in her eyes. She took a step back when Kara took a step forward.

"Um. Hey, kid."

At the sound of her voice, the girl ran off into the forest. Kara looked up at the sky again, sighing.

*Okay, I already knew I suck at the touchy feely stuff. D'you have to rub it in?*

"Frak." Kara walked over to Helo and shook him awake.

"Mmm?" He groaned sleepily.

She waved in the direction the girl had gone. "We have company -the thieving kind, not the dangerous kind. I think."

"Huh?" Helo was visibly confused by her monologue. She gestured towards him impatiently.

"Just stay put. I'll be right back." She limped into the forest.

No noise. No footprints. She looked around for any sign of a trail. She'd never been very good at this stuff -and what knowledge she had dated back to basic training at the academy. Frak.

Okay, what about going in a straight line? That might work. Yay Starbuck.

She set out.

***

She'd walked for a while (how long she didn't really know), when she heard noise behind her. She turned around quickly, drawing her gun.

Helo stepped into her line of sight, Sharon behind him. "Don't shoot. I come in peace." He seemed to be making quite an effort not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, it's just that I thought I'd come help you out. I mean, I wouldn't want you to become lost and never find the campsite again, now would I?"

"What the frak are you talking about? I was trailing someone..."

He was truly laughing now. "Well, never let it be said that there isn't *something* in the galaxy that the Great Starbuck isn't any good at-"

"What the - " She moved towards him threateningly.

He held his hands up, still laughing. "Well it's just this. You do know you were trailing in a real big circle, right?"

"What? That's bull-" She cut herself off. There was rustling in the forest all around them -the sound of many footsteps approaching. She and Helo drew back to back, guns drawn and at the ready.

And found themselves staring into the barrels of at least six guns, held by a motley assortment of young and old, graying and not, male and female, united by the hardness and despair in their eyes.

One of the new arrivals, a man, stepped forward.

"My name is Denn and you have six minutes to convince us you're not Cylons." He gazed harshly at them. "And may the gods help you if you fail."

***

After five minutes and fifty-three seconds, no one was convinced.

By tacit agreement Helo and Kara (their companion had required no convincing to keep its mouth shut) had described their life on the Galactica before the attacks and explained that they were stranded here, but had not mentioned the fleet or the fact that Kara had arrived on Caprica a short time ago. Or 'Sharon'.

No, mentioning Sharon was probably not a good idea.

Of course, they were kind of hoping their new buddies hadn't run into one of her twins yet.

"We came here because she was attacked and wounded." Helo pointed to Kara as he detailed their last day for the umpteenth time, his tone indicating his mounting impatience. "She got wounded fighting a Cylon in the city."

One of their new companions gestured towards 'Sharon'. "And her? She have a tongue? Vocal chords?"

"Yeah, I can talk, asshole." 'She' snarled back. "I just didn't want to talk to you."

*All in all, not a bad tactic.* Kara thought to herself. She'd had enough too. And she'd never been one to forego or over think the aggressive approach.

"And that's the end of it, boys and girls." Kara stated firmly, cutting into the conversation. "Look, either waste us or let us go. And make up your frakking minds fast 'cause I've got a night's sleep to finish if you ever decide to let me finish it. 'Kay? And if you're so frakking convinced already, then what are we doing arguing about it? I've got an afterlife to get to." She grimaced a smile at them. That seemed to put an end to the discussion.

The leader, Denn, waved several of the others a ways back while four stayed to watch the three of them, guns at the ready. They talked, gesturing wildly. They were still arguing as they walked back to face Kara and the others.

The leader shrugged, then spoke tiredly. "You can come with us. We won't shoot you." The despair was back. "Just in case you're human. There's been enough death. So much death." Suddenly he smiled, but without much humor. "'Course, you could decide we're Cylons and off us I suppose, but my guess is that's up to you." He scrubbed a hand tiredly through his oily hair, then waved them up. "Come on -assuming you want to."

***

After an hour's walk the terrain became more rocky and began to slope slightly upwards. Another hour or two saw the trees thin out. Beginning dawn lit the horizon.

Denn waved them all to a halt next to a rocky hill. He carefully lifted branches from the rock face, moving them aside. Kara realized at this point that it was a hidden entrance to a cave. Following the others inside, she took in her surroundings. The light from outside, along with the slight illumination from a tiny fire, allowed her to make out most of what was around her.

She froze. Forty or so desperate faces were looking towards her. Desperation, grief, and hunger stared out of sunken eyes that had seen too much hell. Eyes set above sunken cheeks in dirty, sallow faces. They were bodies wearing rags in lieu of clothes; skin and bone predominating over sparse flesh.

Despair.

Shocked, she turned back towards Helo just as Denn reached them, having rearranged the branches camouflaging the entrance. He nodded grimly, seeing their expressions.

"Friends, welcome to hell." He said sardonically.

Picking their way carefully, Helo, Kara and their companions moved deeper into the semi-darkness. A frail hand reached up as Denn passed by. "Son..."

He sank to his knees, holding the old woman's hand. "This is Sara, my mother." Looking up, he continued softly. "When the Cylons attacked, I tried to find her, but I didn't manage in time. She was captured, tortured, then released. She doesn't know what the Cylons wanted with her. No one does -what would the Cylons want with an eighty year-old former housewife? It's not like she had anything useful to tell them. But then, they never asked her any questions... Now she's dying." He stood abruptly, wiping tears away. "I'm sorry -I've got to go. I'll be back." He left, heading deeper into the cave, his henchmen from the forest fading into the darkness.

"Son..." The old woman was calling for him again. Kara looked around. The sick lay everywhere, surrounding them. "Denn..."

Kara looked around again. No help there. There was no help from anywhere, as this woman lay dying. She looked towards Helo, who looked back at her sadly. Not knowing what else to do, she knelt beside the woman, who turned tired eyes towards her. Helo and Sharon sat down on her other side. Taking a deep breath, Kara took her hand and tried to smile. The woman smiled back.

"My name's Kara." She said softly, not knowing what else to do.

***

"You know, you don't need to stay with me. I'll be fine." The woman told them some time later. For some reason, Kara had done most of the talking.

"It's okay. We don't exactly have anywhere to go, and I kind of have to nurse an injury myself, so..." Kara pointed to her ribs. The woman, Sara, smiled sadly.

"Can I ask you something, my dear?" Kara nodded.

"Sure."

"Do you have any family that survived?" Kara looked away.

"Bad question to ask?" Sara said softly. Kara sighed.

"I... I didn't have any family before. So no family after the attacks, either." The woman looked saddened by this. She nodded towards the back of the cave.

"I guess I'm the lucky one then." She said before being hit by a coughing fit.

Kara looked at her. "How do you figure that?"

"Well, I've still got my son." She coughed again. "He's actually a good man, you know. Despite what things might look like now. But what happened to the rest of his family -his wife and child, and then to me... I don't think he's been able to process it all yet. Or deal with it." She smiled that sad smile again. "I suppose we all deal with grief in different ways." She patted Kara's hand. Kara looked away.

"Yeah, I guess so." She said softly. After a few moments of silence, Sara resumed her quiet monologue.

"Ten years ago, when my husband died, I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to go on." She wiped tears away from her eyes. "I was all alone, my children were gone, and the gods had taken my husband. He was my life. I don't know how I went on, but I did. My children did help, too."

"I'm sorry." Kara said. What else could she say?

"The point is though, that there was always something missing. A part of me." She paused. "But now, now I'm going to see him again. Soon." She turned her head towards Kara. "So you see, I'm pretty lucky." She smiled and coughed again. When she settled, her breathing was more raspy than before. She grasped Kara's hand harder as yet another coughing fit racked her body, almost on top of the last one.

Sara gazed around her in sorrow, visibly considering every person surrounding her, each in turn. Finally, it was Kara's turn.

"Kara?" Her breathing was becoming more labored by the minute.

"Yes?"

"This is crazy, I know, but -" Sara shook her head.

"But what?" Sara looked at her.

"We've just met. You hardly know me, but... But I can see." Kara frowned, confused.

"I always did, even though no one except my husband ever knew about it." She smiled. "It never was visions, you know, just a way of looking. At least I don't think so... I was almost never wrong." She paused to breathe before continuing. "You've survived the end of the world like we all have, and yet, it hasn't broken you." Kara looked away.

"Yeah, well, there's more to the story than what you think." She replied quietly. Sara shook her head, dismissing that as irrelevant.

"You're strong. That's one thing I see. But not all." Another pause. "Promise me something." Her grip tightened on Kara's hand.

"Promise what?"

"Promise me you'll help these people." Her breath rasped in, and out. "Promise me." She squeezed Kara's hand, tightly.

"I... I promise." Kara said. The old woman quieted after that, apparently satisfied.

Kara stayed with her until she died, some few hours later. She stayed after the old woman's chest had become still, as her hand became limp.

Finally, she couldn't take the silence anymore, and walked out of the cave.

Once outside she stood, looking at the trees surrounding her and the sunlight shining above her. "I promise." She said softly, and nodded.

"Starbuck?" She turned when she heard Helo's voice behind her.

"You okay?" He asked. She nodded.

"I'm fine." She turned towards him. "Except I made a promise." He didn't say anything to that.

She swiped at her eyes. "So we're taking them with us." When he seemed to be about to argue, she cut him off almost viciously.

"Have you seen these people? I don't care how hard it is. I don't care what we have to do." She turned away again.

"When we leave, we're taking them with us."
***
-Cylon Occupied Caprica-
Lieutenant Kara Thrace
Call Sign 'Starbuck'
Day 3 on Caprica

Kara nodded as Carlos, a heavyset man somewhere in his sixties, told her of his life since the Cylon attacks. He had been a successful businessman with a pleasant home in an affluent neighborhood, and had arrived at work one morning only to learn that the Cylons were attacking the colonies. He had rushed home only to see his entire neighborhood destroyed by one of the enemy strikes. Somehow he had escaped unscathed, but his entire family had been lost.

"Anyway -" Carlos cut himself off and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Sorry for going on like that, girlie. Guess everyone's got a story like that or worse, these days."
She smiled back. The man had a sweet way about him -and according to him, she reminded him of his daughter.

"Don't worry about it. Tell me, are you doing okay here? Is there anything you need?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm luckier than most of the poor SOB's you'll find here, actually."

"Okay." She patted his hand and stood, ready to move on to the next person she hadn't talked to.

"Starbuck?" Helo.

She walked over to him. "Yep?"

He was fishing around their supplies bag as he pitched his voice low. "You know, we won't have much food left at the rate we're handing stuff out here."

"I know that." She replied quietly.

"Well, I just want to know this. Do you want me to keep any for us or not?"

She pointed to the people around them. "Look at these people Helo. They're starving."

Helo nodded sadly, but still had a determined expression on his face. "Kara, there isn't that much food to go around any more. Once this is gone, I don't know that we can get more. You know that, right?"

She was silent for a moment. Then she looked him in the eye. "I know. And I know that getting all these people away instead of just us is gonna be hell, but I've got to try." She shook her head. "I've got to." She looked around at the carpet of misery around their feet. "I can't explain why at this point, even to myself. But I've just got to."

He looked at her for a moment, then finally nodded. "Okay." Then he smiled. "It's your call anyways, right sir?"

She groaned and laughed at the same time. "Yeah well, do me a favor, huh? Don't start saluting me any time soon 'cause there's only so much I can take. The only thing I ever wanted to be top of was the triad table food chain." He laughed at that. Leaning back against a cave wall, she turned her mind back to her inventory.

After a few hours the day before spent mentally kicking herself for getting roped into the responsibility, she'd begun torturing herself trying to figure out how to get these people off this hunk of rock. She'd finally decided that the only place to begin was at the beginning. With that in mind, she had begun taking a kind of inventory of the people here and of their needs. Besides, talking to everyone was also the way to figure out what she had to work with in the way of assets -i.e. people with certain talents, equipment, and so on.

So far she had found a few people who could be useful on the technical side of things -engineers and such, as well as one former commercial pilot- but nothing in the way of equipment. And she had no ship, obviously.

Yep, they were all frakked, but what the heck. A promise was a promise, right? Never mind that it was impossible and she was completely mindfrakked for even considering this whole venture, never mind the Cylons would never miss this crew leaving even if they did have a ship. And-

Frak. What she wouldn't give for a stogie at this point. She sighed.

She'd counted about seventy bodies so far -only about thirty or forty of whom would be able to help when it came to getting things moving. From what she had gathered, the able-bodied people among the group had managed to sneak into the city on occasion and steal a little food. There wasn't much to go around but it seemed the sick were getting some of it. Which was quite unusual in Kara's opinion, since privation in her experience tended to make people degenerate to the level of 'me, me and me again'.

Another fact she'd been able to glean was that several of the sicker people had already been badly off even before the Cylons attacked -some sick, some poor. It appeared that in some cases the attacks had simply made a bad situation worse. None of that surprised Kara -she knew from personal experience that a society with a nice comfortable per capita income didn't mean that a per capita income was what everyone got. She'd been part of the dregs of humanity herself, once upon a time.

Turning around, she noticed Denn staring at her from the other end of the caves. Seeing her look, he turned on his heel and began to walk away. "Hey wait a minute!" She called after him. He stopped and turned towards her. She ambled up to him, ignoring her aching side.

"What do you want?" He growled.

"Lots of things. More than I can count, actually. But right now, I'll start with wanting to bury her." She pointed in the direction of Sara's body. He didn't look too happy with that idea.

"What the frak for? She's not your mother. What the frak so you care?"

"I just do, pal. Doesn't look like you do, though. I just thought I'd try and do my part to honor the dead, you know?"

He gave her a truly dark look. "Or we could just leave her to the worms. But I guess that's up to you, like you said."

She looked him up and down. "'Cause she is your mother, not mine."

He laughed at her -a desperate, dark sound. "You're really something, you know that?" There was a wild expression on his face. "Don't you get it? We're all dying in here. That's all that's left for us now. That's *all* we have. Why the frack do you think burying one person the traditional way is important? After all that's happened to us, do you really think there are Gods out there who give a damn?"

Kara shrugged, then responded calmly in the face of his agitation. "Are there Gods? Who knows? I don't have a clue about that. But I do about this -we're still people, not animals." She paused.

"Take it from someone who's fought them. The toasters can take everything else away from us, but they can't take away who we are." She pointed a finger at him. "I want you to think about what you want to say when we bury her. That's all you have to do, okay? I'll fix the rest." And she would. She already had, in fact.

She had sent two people among the many she had scouting the terrain (another of her current projects) to choose a site far enough away from the caves that it wouldn't lead the Cylons right back to them.

"You just do what I tell you. I'll do the rest." She told him quietly.

***

-Cylon Occupied Caprica-
Lieutenant Kara Thrace
Call Sign 'Starbuck'
Day 4 on Caprica

The morning sun shone brightly through the trees, illuminating what remained of the rainfall so that it shone like delicate pearls. The only sounds to be heard were those of the early morning forest, and the sad sound of the traditional blessing for the dead. In stark contrast to the joyfulness of their surroundings, the gathering of ragged humanity stood silent as Denn spoke. "And so we remit the soul of your daughter, Sara, into your care... As it has always been, so shall it always be..."

"So say we all."

"So say we all." They whispered their reply into the sighing wind. Like the wind, most of the people around the grave began quickly disappearing now that the service was completed.

Looking down at the mound of dirt, Kara bowed her head. She wondered idly what the old woman had meant at the end, about seeing things. Seeing what?

She looked up as Helo walked up to her. "I'll try and find some way to hide this." He said as he indicated the burial site, "Not that the toasters couldn't find it or us if they really wanted to, I guess, but..." She nodded. That ever-present threat was the reason why, despite insisting on the funeral, she had also insisted that a site far from the cave be used for it.

She looked up to see Denn walk off into the trees. "I'll see you later at the cave." Kara said to Helo as she followed.

She caught sight of him a few minutes later, walking away at a brisk pace. She followed as best she could. "Hey! Hey Denn!" She called out. She thought he hadn't heard her at first, but then he simply stopped, his back to her.

She walked up to him. "Are you okay?"

He laughed, without humor. "I would have thought you'd already have the answer to that, you know."

"What are you talking about?" She asked as he turned to face her, and the desperation she had seen in this entire group of people in the last few days was burning in his eyes.

"Well, it's just that you seem to know what's better for the group better than I do. You've been staying with us for what -two days? Three days? And already, everywhere I turn, you're giving orders." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey, pal, I'm sorry if your macho's hurt or something, but I was just trying to help. And don't you think it's a little stupid to be worrying over who's head honcho right now? I had some ideas, so I suggested. People acted. Deal with it." She shot back.

She was surprised when he didn't answer right away, almost as if he hadn't heard her.

"But you know what's worse than that?" He finally continued, without looking up. "What's worse is that everyone follows them. They follow you in a way they don't follow me." His voice shook. "Don't you understand? I'm not a leader. I'm not a fighter. I'm an engineer. Heck, the only time I ever fought with anyone was when someone tried to steal my wallet ten years ago." He raised his eyes back to her.

"But it's the only thing I have left. It's the only thing I have left in this crazy universe where nothing makes sense to me anymore. I lost *everything* I ever cared about, lady. I *don't* frakking care about being a leader. But it's... all I have left." He had tears in his eyes. When she didn't answer, he turned to go back, wiping his eyes.

She caught his arm. "Wait. Wait a minute." She said. "Look...I'm sorry if I made you feel like you aren't good enough. I... I didn't mean to do that. I was just trying to help, okay?"

She took a deep breath as she came to a decision. "I'll tell you something I'd like for you to keep for yourself just now."

"Oh?"

"I want to get all of us off this frakking planet." She continued, cutting him off, when he seemed to be about to protest the craziness of that idea. "What you don't know is that there's somewhere we can go -all go- where you can all be safe. But I need your help to get there. I need your help to get everyone there."

He still looked skeptical. She sighed. "Look, you know that my friends and I were Colonial military, right?" He nodded. "Well, let me put it to you this way. What makes you think that we're the only ones that survived?"

She stopped, seeing his arrested expression. He looked like a man afraid to hope. She looked him right in the eyes as she continued. "I swear on the Gods that I'm telling the truth..." She said softly.

He stood there, facing her, for a few moments while she waited for him to digest it all.
"Look, I'm not trying to take over or cause trouble. This is your show, okay? I just want to help." She added finally.

He looked at her gravely, and shook his head. But was it her imagination when she thought she saw a faint glimmer in those eyes where before there had been only despair?

"I swear I must be crazy to just believe you..." He paused and smiled ironically. "But it's not like we've got anything else to believe in at this point -except for the fact that if we continue this way we're all going to die. So let me tell you lady, if there's a way you can get these people away from this hell, then it's your show. You just tell me what you need."

She smiled at that, and clapped him on the shoulder. "I just need... your help."

***

By the time she returned to the gravesite all the people had left aside from Helo, who was finishing up with his self-appointed camouflage work. Sharon was standing off to one side, silent. For obvious reasons, neither of them wanted to let her out of their sight.

"Missed a spot." She said as she came up behind him.

"Hmm? Where?"

She pointed and he flattened the spot in question, covering it with leaves. He stood, surveying his work. Finally he turned to her, apparently satisfied.

She waved 'Sharon' ahead and waited until she was a short way ahead, but still in sight, before setting out as well.

"How are you doing?" She asked him quietly. He looked away. "I'm okay. I'll survive." He waved a hand at their surroundings and laughed bitterly. "It's not like any of us have a choice, do we?"

"Nope. I am sorry though." He nodded. As they began to walk back towards the cave, she considered how to ask what she had to ask next. "Helo, what do you want to do about her?" She asked, pitching her voice so it wouldn't carry. He stopped and stared at her.

"You're asking me what I want to do with a frakking toaster?" Ouch. Yep, that whole subject was still a sore spot. Still, she had to ask.

"You haven't killed her yet. You've kept her alive, and I figure the kid has to count for something in that. So I'm asking -what do you want to do? Take her with us? Leave her behind? I'm *really* sorry if this hurts you, Helo, but I think we need to be on the same page on this if we're going to swing getting away from this place." She waved her arms. "Talk to me, here."

He sighed and leaned back against a tree. Further ahead, 'Sharon' stopped and began to wait for them.

"I don't know." He answered finally, more quietly. "I can't kill her, and I don't think I should leave her here. I think... The Cylons seemed to want her back pretty badly, for some reason. I guess I'm figuring that if they want something that much, we should probably try to see to it that they don't get it." He shrugged. "As for the rest, I just... don't know. I guess I'm... too numb to know how I feel at this point. Does that make any sense?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. That's what I needed to know. When we leave, she comes too." And with that, they resumed their walk back to the cave.

***

Their journey was uneventful, their footsteps punctuated only by the sun bobbing through the canopy of trees and the chirping of a few birds. Not as many as she remembered from summers past, Kara reflected. It seemed the Cylons had killed off more than just people.

When they reached the cave, the general mood was subdued. Helo walked off without a word. 'Sharon' (Kara still had trouble thinking of her without italics), watched him go.
"Sit." Kara waved her away from the others, indicating she should take a seat near the mouth of the cave. Rather than obey, her 'companion' walked off, heading out of the cave. "Frak." Kara swore under her breath, hurrying in pursuit. "Damn."

When she stepped outside, the other was heading out of the clearing. Kara followed, giving up all pretense now that she was out of sight of the others. She ran.
Surprisingly, given what she knew of Cylon physical capacity, she didn't have any trouble catching up. 'Sharon' had stopped, and was standing silently amidst yet more trees.

"What the frak do you think you're doing?" Kara snarled.

"Getting some air." The other replied nonchalantly, without turning around.

"Not on my watch."

Sharon turned towards her. "You know, I've really had enough of both your crap. I'm cooperating. I haven't tried to escape, and I certainly haven't attacked you in your sleep or sucked the blood out of any small children."

"So? What do you want, a medal?"

"Tell me, is a little politeness just too much to ask? And, you know, being able to pee without and audience would be nice too."

Kara smirked at that. "You know, until recently I was really wondering if toasters did that. Thanks for being so instructive."

"Frak you." Sharon replied.

"Right back at ya." Kara shot off promptly.

The other turned, leaning her/its head against a tree. "Is it really so hard for you -both of you- to get that I *am* a person? I think, I feel... And right now I suffer. Okay?" Her voice wavered slightly at that. She paused and looked back in Kara's direction. "Not that you'd care."

"You're right. I don't." Sharon snorted and looked away again. Deciding she might be here for a while, Kara sat down, her hand still on her trusty sidearm. She picked a blade of grass with her other hand, twirling it idly.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Kara asked, more quietly.

"Get *what*? That I want to get my child to away from here -because I don't want the others of my race to take it from me? That that's my priority right now? That I *do* actually love that asshole in there? That I don't believe in the same God you do?"

"Gods."

"Whatever." She waved that off with a shrug.

"Nope." Kara shook her head. "Not whatever. It's something."

"What are you talking about?"

Kara leaned her head back against the tree behind her. "What I'm trying to say is that you might look human, feel human, frakking *bleed* like a human, but you still don't get it. What it is to *be* us."

"Frak you."

"You keep saying that. Is it a standard programmed response or something? Whatever." She raised her voice when it seemed that what she was saying was going to get dismissed again.

"The point is, what you're not getting, is this. You -the Cylons- came here and attacked us. No rhyme, no reason. Somehow, Helo was lucky or unlucky enough to survive. You show up at some point, convince him it's just you two against the world. And for what?" She looked down at 'Sharon's abdomen. "For some crazy-ass experiment? And when he finds out you think saying 'sorry' is gonna make it all okay?"

"You lied, and you took something from him you had no right to. Hell," She snorted sarcastically, "you took something from all of us. Sharon was my *friend*. Don't you even care about how that frakking makes *me* feel?"

"The point is that you seem to think you're entitled to something. Well, you aren't. You screwed us. What you are is damn lucky we aren't telling those people in there what you are and leaving you to them."

"So those are my options, huh? Shut up and take your crap, or get wasted? What about Helo wanting to keep me alive?" Sharon asked.

"Heard that, did you? Thought you might. Well, as far as I'm concerned, that works if you cooperate... Got it?"

"Yeah I got it." Sharon sneered. Kara smiled back, a nice show of teeth.

They were both silent for a moment.

"Look..." The other began, hesitant. "I've thought about this a lot...and I want to make a deal with you." She paused.

"And I should believe anything you say because?" Sharon snorted.

"Listen, I want off this frakking planet, and so do you. I figure my best chance of ever seeing my child after I have it is with you, not them. So, I'll cooperate... and I'll make you a promise. You get me out of here, and I'll help your fleet fight the Cylons."

Kara stopped at that. "You'd actually help us against your own people?"

Sharon nodded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Many reasons, not the least of which being that if I'm useful to you after we leave here, I might be allowed to see my child." A sad look crossed her face. "And that's not a small consideration to me, like I've just told you." She smiled. "Who knows? I might even see Helo once in a while too."

Kara sighed. She'd never wanted to be a leader, and she'd never asked for this kind of responsibility. In fact, she'd avoided it like the plague.

She thought it through. It wasn't like she and Helo were going to relax their guard anyway (and she'd make a point of reminding Helo of that next time she saw him) so what did it really change in her plans? The toaster could be useful if she meant it.

Of course, that was a pretty big *if*, but what the heck.

"Fine. But you'd better not be lying to us. Because if you are I swear to the Gods -I'll find you and kill you myself. And you can count that as a promise." Her voice was deadly serious.

Sharon nodded. "Fair enough."
***
-Cylon Occupied Caprica-
Lieutenant Kara Thrace
Call Sign 'Starbuck'
Day 8 on Caprica

"What've you got?" Kara whispered, slithering over on her belly to reach the two men who were observing a small group of Cylons from their rocky perch on the edge of Caprica city.

The one nearest to her pointed down. "Eight of the metalheads at one o'clock. They seem to be waiting around. Two of the human model ones went into the building on the right." He pointed to a gleaming, rather squat structure. "Ten more -three male humanoids and seven centurions- just left to go further into the city."

She nodded. "And?" She asked.

The second man, Gregor, answered for his friend. He didn't look up however, keeping his eyes on the activity below. "You know, I was doing some of the looting for food around here even before you had us begin to stand watches and keep tabs on Cylon activity. So I've gotten used to knowing where the toasters are. I guess you could call it an instinct." He shrugged and finally turned towards her, grinning. "If I hadn't, I'd pretty much be dead by now."

"Well, for the last week or so, they've been more active. More agitated, moving around more.. I don't know. And I don't know why. It almost reminds me..." He continued even more softly.

"Of what?"

"Of an anthill. You know, when you disturb it or something?" He shrugged, a rather sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry. That doesn't make much sense I guess."

She smiled and patted his shoulder before beginning to inch away again. "Hey, don't knock it. Your instincts've kept you alive so they must be good for something. I've never been one for ignoring that." She said.

Once she was far enough away from the city for it to be safe, she stood and began walking, deep in thought.

She had finally told Denn about Sharon -over Helo's objections. She hadn't been sure how he'd react, but she had had to do something to prepare for the very real possibility, especially now that she had her people keeping track of Cylon movement and activity, that there would be someone who would get a look at another 'Sharon' and begin to ask some pointed questions. All in all, he hadn't taken it as badly as she had thought he might have.

He had apparently already decided the only way out was to trust them, and learning about Sharon hadn't changed that overmuch. But he had warned her that things would get sticky if -or when- the others found out. She shrugged mentally. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it. There wasn't much she could do about it now, and whether it happened now or later she figured the reaction would be the same.

In the meantime, they were using Sharon's pregnancy as an excuse to keep an eye on her and not to assign her any responsibility. Besides, based on recent experience neither she nor Helo were inclined towards sharing everything that was on their minds -another example of this was the fact that she and Helo had elected to keep the arrow and the knowledge of it between the two of them.

Kara had also finally extracted from Helo a detailed description of what had happened to him. Gregor's comments, as it happened, dovetailed nicely with Helo's story. All in all it seemed like Helo was right when he said the Cylons wanted Sharon back very badly.

How very interesting.

She began to hum tunelessly as she made her way back to the cave. Stopping before one particular tree with a particular scratch in its bark, she gestured up at the invisible sentry she knew was perched in the foliage above her. When you didn't have high tech means at your disposal, you used what you could, in this case -good old fashioned line of sight.

She entered the cave. Denn, in the midst of helping one of their sick eat some of their precious food, nodded in greeting. She leaned against a wall and waited until his task was completed. Joining her, he pitched his voice low so it wouldn't carry. "How are Gregor and Ian and the others?" She shrugged.

"Good. Gregor says the toasters are quite active in that part of the city." He nodded.

"I heard from some of the other scouts."

"And?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing new from the Cylons, we've got a little more food... And they haven't found anything yet... But there is something else."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I just thought you should know that there are rumors I heard about recently."

"Go on."

"Some of the later arrivals here, just before you came... They said... They said that they'd met up with some people -they lost sight of them later, before they got here- who told them that they'd heard of more survivors who had been taken in by the Cylons and tortured, experimented on, things like that."

"Like your mother."

He nodded sadly. "Yes."

"But there's more." He continued. "I don't know if this is for real or not, but I heard that there are even camps out there, somewhere. Camps where they keep people for -something. I don't know what."

"Frak." She said. He nodded.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly. It seemed like everyone wanted her to fix everything these days. "Well, let me know if you hear anything else." He nodded again, then looked at her questioningly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

He hesitated, then plunged ahead. "What makes you so sure those scouts will find anything useful for getting us off this planet?" She laughed.

"I'm not sure at all, actually. But it's the only thing I know to do, at this point. The chances of us being able to steal a Cylon ship able to carry us all out of here are pretty frakking low, and that leaves us with just one possibility -a transport the Cylons don't know about." Somehow, that didn't seem to reassure him.

She clapped him on the shoulder before moving on into the cave. Henry and Diane, two nurses from Picon who had been vacationing on Caprica and who were the only medical personnel they had, were tending the sick. She looked at them and they shrugged, indicating no change.

In other words, no one had worsened or died during the time she was gone.

She tried to think of what else she could do. Nothing came to her.

***

-Day 16 on Caprica-

"Hey Starbuck!" Helo's voice caused Kara to roll around and rub her eyes. She'd been hoping for some much needed sleep. It didn't look like she was going to get it.

"Yeah. Okay. I'm awake." She said crossly, sitting up. Her side twinged, but at least it hurt less than before. "What's going on?"

He came to sit beside her, visibly still concerned for her. "Sorry to wake you. It's just that you wanted to be told if anyone found anything shipwise-"

She straightened up at that. "Someone found something? Like what?" Helo winced.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't pin my hopes up over this one... Basically it's an abandoned shipyard, with a few hulls. That's all they really are, actually. Hulls. As in empty."

"Empty?"

"Yeah, just old rotting metal hulls." He snorted. "I guess it makes sense that the toasters wouldn't leave anything we could use."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess that would be a bit much to ask." She stood and walked out of the cave.

"Where are we going?" He asked as he followed.

"Well, I want to see those rotting empty hulls. You never know."

***

*Yeah, they really are pretty much rotting, and they really are empty.* She thought a few hours later as she walked through the morass of hulking, decaying silhouettes. It wasn't like they had much choice equipment to work with, though. All they had was this scrap heap on the outskirts of one of the smaller Caprican cities, and a couple of spare parts they'd been able to scrounge up.

"So, which one d'you think we should pick?" She asked Helo with a touch of humor. "Rotted, rotted, or just decaying? Though I suppose we should get the engineering and tech types on this too." Helo shrugged.

She sighed. "Okay, well, let's go back and get some of our people on this."

***

The next few months were grueling. Despite cutting back somewhat on their usual tracking of Cylon activity, Kara and Helo had very few people to assign to the various tasks associated with their little operation.

They had a small cadre of former engineers (some with more useful qualifications than others) and a few others with knowledge that would have qualified them as military techs. These were sent to select the most likely hull among the aforementioned group of decrepitude and degeneration and, with the help of a few people who had worked as builders, to begin the painstaking and apparently impossible process of building a hyper-capable ship essentially from scratch. More people had to be assigned as sentries and guards for protection whenever the group left the cave, and more went with along to assist with the grunt work. Yet more found themselves combing various regions looking for spare parts.

In the meantime, Kara was attempting the impossible by teaching a few volunteers the basics of piloting without any teaching aids, sims, or spacecraft of any kind. However, she had at least shown up with the proper star charts, and so plotting and a jump should be possible -assuming the necessary people could be taught to execute it.

One or two of the group had asked Kara how they were to elude the Cylon presence in the system (assuming of course they managed to get themselves underway at all), but she never gave them an answer.

No one, save Helo and Sharon, knew where she went when she went to check on her raider.

Finally, in addition to everything else working against them, there was still one crucial consideration. Fuel. And the only source of that was literally -the ennemy.

***

-Day 46 on Caprica-

She looked around her at the somber ship graveyard. The silence combined with her surroundings was truly eerie -it almost seemed to sing to her of drowning hope.

*Okay, that was maudlin.* She thought, laughing mentally at herself as she turned a corner. As she did so, the contrast between what lay before her and the wasteland she had just walked through was striking.

Several men and women were visible, laboring over a large hull, several sections of which had visibly been replaced by newer alloy plating.

Denn walked up to greet her. "How are things at the cave?" He asked.

"Fine. Still trying to make pilots out of sow's ears." She answered somewhat sarcastically. "And how's the work here going?"

He grimaced. "Slowly. Really slowly. We've been really careful in our design and building so far so as not to waste any of the parts we have, but even then it's pretty obvious we're going to come up short."

She sighed. "Well, we've got some more stuff for you at the cave. It's not much, but the others took apart some housing stuff they found in Caprica city and figured you might be able to use some of it." These days, not all spare parts had the words *for use in spacecraft* written on them.

Denn nodded. As they reached the others, she noted the air of fatigue on their faces. Despite that, they smiled as they saw her. She smiled back. "You guys are doing good." She said, and they were. Like Denn said, things were progressing slowly. On the other hand, they had come far.

Several more of the team came to speak with her, detailing not only needed parts and tools, but grievances. As was her habit, she listened to every one attentively. To some, she offered solutions. Others she promised to look into. When necessary she gave a sharply worded answer or refusal.

As she walked away she missed the glance, slightly envious, that Denn sent her way before bending back to his work.

***

-Day 92 on Caprica-

She'd already managed to teach Basic Flight with no sims on board the Galactica, and now she was actually managing something along those lines with no sims and no ship. All in all, she felt she had some reason to be proud of herself.

She was in the midst of lecturing her group of three pupils -usually she had four, but Helo had taken Sharon with him and gone with one of the survey/scout teams earlier that morning- when several people burst through the cave entrance. Her eyes widened when she noted the blood on their clothing.

"What the hell happened?" She asked Susan, one of the engineers.

"The Cylons ambushed us on the way back." The woman panted, obviously winded.

Frak. She'd wondered if it was just a question of time before the toasters found out about their efforts. "Who'd we lose?" She asked tightly. By this point Kara was able to make out the fact that none of the people standing before her was seriously wounded.

"Harvey and Thompson stayed behind... They... stayed behind so that we could escape." Susan was shaken. Kara nodded.

"Anyone else?" The other woman nodded sadly.

"They caught up with us a second time... They got Ian and Sonia."

Frak. Four dead, and those last two had been part of the tech team. And aside from that, she could see that the people facing her weren't eager to go back out there.

She sighed. "All right. The first thing to do is to make sure you weren't followed here." She waved one or two of her pupils along with her, moving to the mouth of the cave. They hesitated, and she stopped when she saw their eyes. Fear. She glared at them until they reluctantly followed.

*Ah yes, the start of another lovely day in the hind end of the galaxy.* She thought to herself angrily.

But that was fine. She'd deal with all of them later.

***

-Day 93 on Caprica-

After exploring the area around the caves and talking with the sentries, they had come to the happy conclusion that the tech team had not brought the Cylons back with them. Furthermore, after checking the construction site it appeared that they had lucked out and that the Cylons did not seem to have discovered it.

However, the difficulty lay in convincing everyone of that.

It was only after much heated debate that she managed to convince anyone to go back outside, let alone to the building site. She had volunteered to go with them to help replace the dead sentries and to help out with the building -despite not being a tech, she wasn't completely ignorant of the inner workings of spacecraft.

That had at least made them somewhat ashamed. When she had proven she was willing to keep her word, they had seemed even more ashamed, and work had resumed. Kara felt only relief. As time passed, they looked fearfully up at every sound -fearing aerial patrols. They leapt at every sound, fearing ground patrols. And their eyes became drawn with the constant stress and fear.

But they kept going, and achieved the impossible.

She did not stop to consider the significance of that fact. But then, she had never been one for introspection. A lot of things were easier that way.

***

Six months to the day from her arrival on Caprica, Kara Thrace squeezed around the corner of a warehouse in Caprica city as she examined her target. Finally she nodded. It looked doable -to a crazy person like her, anyway.

Squeezing back, she picked up her backpack and motioned silently to her companions, who set out in several different directions.

She inched her way forward, acutely conscious of the centurions just a few yards to her right. She had purposely chosen the most dangerous location in the warehouse as her part of the operation. She grinned. What could she say? She was an adrenalin junkie. She certainly hadn't picked her career flying Vipers out of a hat. Just in case however, she had made sure Helo knew about her part of the operation and was able to carry it out -if her luck didn't hold this time.

Setting down her pack, she began to position and arm her share of the explosives.

***

She reached the others' observation point, a few streets out, just as the weapons depot exploded.

"Did everyone make it out?" The man she was talking to grinned back at her.

"Yep." They watched, laughing, as the Cylons began to swarm in the vicinity of the building they had just sabotaged. Kara took great satisfaction in noting that they looked like a bunch of hornets whose nest had been stepped on. She turned to look towards another nearby building.

"Are they out yet?" She asked tightly. The other shook his head, his grin fading. Their wait was filled with anxiety. Thankfully, it was of short duration.

Kara sat up as she glimpsed several of their group making their way towards them from the second building, heavy packs on their backs. As they arrived, the second building exploded. Kara's team fell back quickly, making its way out of the city. When they reached the outskirts, Kara turned back to look at the city for what she sincerely hoped was the last time. They had just seized enough fuel to carry out their operation, and gotten some well-deserved revenge to boot. And their sabotage of the two Cylon installations should serve to camouflage the fact that their ultimate objective had been the fuel.

For a time at least -and that should be long enough for them all to get the frak away from here. Assuming something didn't go wrong.

She sent a prayer to the gods.

***

-Six months and 2 days on Caprica-

It was dark when Helo woke her.

"Starbuck." He said as he shook her shoulder. "We've only got about three more trips to make before everyone's settled in the transport."

She nodded. That was her cue to get going. However, she'd made sure she had time for a little detour first.

"Okay."

Starlight shone brightly down on her as she stepped outside the cave. The forest was mostly silent as she walked, save for sounds from various animals. Despite her own eagerness to be gone, she was going to miss this place. She hadn't ever spent much time outside the cities or spacecraft up until this point, and she had been somewhat surprised to find that she liked the country.

Helo had been forced to stop laughing at her about three months ago when she had proven that she had, by necessity, become quite adept at getting around despite the lack of roads. Which was just fine -it saved her the trouble of having to frakking hit him.

She was going home, but home to what?

She'd avoided thinking about the events that had led to her being here, but it was impossible to avoid those thoughts now. Impossible not to wonder if some things could ever be forgiven. She swiped at her eyes and turned her thoughts outward, having reached her destination. A destination that in many ways was just an unpretending patch of forest resembling a great many other patches of forest in this part of the world.

She knelt down before a particular patch of ground, laid the flowers she had been holding over it, and bowed her head.

"I just wanted you to know...That we're leaving. That we made it this far." She said softly. She paused, gathering her thoughts.

"I didn't know you for very long, but I just wanted you to know I did my best to do what you asked and to keep my promise. I have to say I don't understand why you said all those things about me. Why would anyone have visions about me? But I did what you asked. Even if I don't understand."

"Be at peace, and with the gods, Sara." She rose and began to walk away.

She wondered if it just her imagination when she heard a voice in the whisper of the wind, saying, *I do*...

***

A few hours later, with morning just ghosting upon the horizon, Helo was helping out with the last trip from cave to transport with Sharon along for the ride. Around him several people were carrying equipment, supplies, and one another as the last of the sick were being brought to the transport.

Suddenly a shot came at them from behind and struck a nearby tree.

"Everybody down!" He shouted, shoving the woman next to him to the ground and drawing his sidearm.

There was a long silence, punctuated only by the breathing of the people around him. Finally, one of them began to rise. "Stay down!" Helo cried -but it was too late. The man screamed as a shot struck him in the chest -a scream that died as quickly as it was born. Blood began to seep onto the ground as he stared up at the sky, glassy-eyed.

The others lay silent and frozen as the sound of marching, increasing in volume, could be overheard.

"Frak..." Helo said under his breath as roughly twenty centurions came into view. He shot one and it fell, writhing. He shook his head. There was no way he was going to be able to deal with them all. He was drawing breath to tell the others to run when, from the corner of his eye, he saw a shape stand and move to face the enemy. Sharon!

As she moved to face them, it seemed for a moment that she would be trampled. Stopping only a meter or two from her, one of them made a move to grab her and she twisted away. Then she did something he'd had absolutely no idea she was capable of -she lifted the toaster nearest to her and literally threw him several meters towards his fellows. She turned towards them -towards him, with a wild expression on her face. "Run!" She yelled.

Finally throwing off their paralysis most of the others ran, leaving everything behind including the last of their sick -four people.

Helo didn't. "Run!" She said again, visibly upset.

"Frak that!" He answered. "I'm not leaving anyone behind!" He shot at one of the toasters as it neared her. It fell.

"You don't have a choice!" She said, getting into his face. "These people can't make it Helo! You have to leave them!" He scoffed at that.

"That's convincing. We're just humans remember? And you're not." He said sarcastically as he sent off another shot.

"I care about you, Helo. And all you'll do is die if you stay here. You won't save them. You can't. And the others need you." She grabbed his face, made him look at her.

He had tears in his eyes -because she was right. He had no choice. He turned to the few others who had had the courage to stay behind. "Let's go."

"But..." One of them protested. Helo shook his head.

Reaching down, he put his sidearm in the grip of Henry, one of the sick. "This is yours." He said hoarsely. "Use it any way you will." Braving their mutinous looks, he ordered the others to precede him into the forest.

He didn't turn back when he heard the gun fire once, twice, and a few more times... Until finally he couldn't hear it fire at all.

***

A short time later they were in sight of the transport, which was being readied for departure. By any conventional standards it would have looked a ramshackle affair, all fused bits of metal alloy and spare parts. They had named it the Icarus -or rather, Helo had once jokingly suggested the name as a means of making sure they didn't get too big for their britches and jinx it all.

Denn was waiting for them as they reached the ship and paused to catch their breath. "What the frak happened?" He asked, giving Sharon a hard look. "I've heard some really weird stuff from the others-"

One of the others, a short dark-skinned woman, interrupted him. She pointed at Sharon. "She's a Cylon. She has to be-" Helo swiftly cut her off and at the same time glared down another of his fellows.

"No time to talk now. We got ambushed. Let's just get going." Denn's face tightened at that.

"The others?" He asked. Helo shook his head. Denn's eyes took on a sad look. He waved them all inside. "All right. Let's go." He said quietly.

"But I saw her!" Another man said. Denn shook his head firmly in response and gestured them all inside. One of the others seemed to be about to say something more, but shut his mouth with a snap upon seeing Helo's and Denn's faces.

Once past the hatch, Helo headed for the cockpit.

Helo wasn't a pilot, but he was acting in that function this time -at least he had spent a fair amount of time around pilots and had known the basics. Jake, an elderly man and former commercial pilot for Colonial Flightlines, was acting as copilot. They and another two volunteers with no experience had spent some time being 'trained' by Kara, and the other two were along for the ride as backup. He and Kara hadn't been entirely sure what they would find at the other end of their jump, and so had planned for the possibility of a long flight.

He strapped himself in, noting that Sharon had taken a seat behind him, and keyed the ship's intercom -one of the few original ships systems which had still been marginally functional.

"Everyone ready?" He asked tersely. A few minutes later he received the all clear from the passenger compartment.

The ship had already been put through the pre-flight sequences and checks, and so with a quick prayer to the Gods, Helo set them aloft. His co-pilot relaxed visibly as the ship's engines roared to life.

Not so for Helo.

Looking down he saw the city then the planet below as they rose. He would probably never see this place again. He dragged his eyes away.

One important detail in their plan had been the choice of the moment at which they would set off. After some time of observation of Cylon patterns on the ground and in the air, they had noticed that air patrols were sent out at fairly regular intervals but that every few days there was a window during which there were no Cylon craft in the air in the vicinity of Caprica city. Why this window existed was a mystery, but one that presented a rare opportunity.

Things went well until they reached the outer atmosphere. They had pre-calculated their jump parameters, but they would need to get far enough out from the planet to escape the effects of its gravity before initiating a jump.

A soft beeping noise sounded in the silent cockpit.

"Multiple enemy contacts -we're surrounded!" The copilot announced, just as a hit shook them from stem to stern.

Helo only nodded. There wasn't much of this the old girl could take. *Come on Starbuck.* He thought, *You can do it. You can pull off another bit of magic for us.*

***

At that very moment Kara was flying her raider in what was, even for her, a truly daring bit of flying. She was in fact sitting right in the middle of the Cylon fleet.

*I guess I could also call this suicide.* She thought grimly. She looked down, noting that her ship's scanner reported the Icarus had reached the outer atmosphere.

*Time to get cracking.* She thought as she set her ship in motion, putting herself directly in the transport's path. Reaching over to her right, she flipped a switch. That action caused a hidden compartment on the outer hull of the ship to open, venting its content of explosives. Biting her lip in her concentration, she set her charges, then detonated them as she arced away.

Nothing happened at first. Then everything went to hell as her raider was carried forth on the edge of the shock wave. An instant later, she was flying through the outer edge of a field of debris. "Yes!" She cheered as she saw that the Icarus' path was now clear. She watched until, a few minutes later, the Icarus reached her destination and jumped.

Bowing her head and closing her eyes, she took a minute to simply savor the feeling of relief. They were safe, and with the arrow with Helo on the Icarus she had actually accomplished her mission!

Distracted as she was, she failed to notice the raiders closing on her location. Or the fact that, damaged in the earlier explosion, her emitter was no longer sending out its regular 'I'm a friend' signal to the nearby Cylon fleet.

Kara's head shot up as she felt a concussion shake her raider. *Frak!* She thought in shock. *I just took a hit! What the...* Another hit followed, this one doing more damage.
She threw her ship into a sharp dive to evade her pursuers.

Another hit. She screamed in pain as she felt the flesh of her left leg burning. Sobbing, with her mind functioning on autopilot, she drove her ship into more evasive maneuvers. Wiping her eyes, she used the few seconds this gave her to input her jump coordinates, and activate the raider's jump engines.

She felt the wrenching disorientation of the jump at the same time as she felt a wave of pain turn her vision gray.

And then she felt nothing.

***

"Commander!" Commander William Adama looked up as Petty Officer Dualla spoke. "Picking up an unknown on an approach vector, sir!"

"Identification?" He demanded. She began to smile, and put a message on the loudspeaker.

"...peat. This is Lieutenant Karl S. Agathon on the Icarus. I have seventy-two refugee civilians from Caprica on board..." Dualla was smiling widely as a cheer made its way around CIC. Smiling, Adama gestured to Dualla and waited as she connected him to the transport.

"...Request permission to join the fleet."

"This is Commander Adama on the Galactica. Request granted." He chuckled. "It sounds like you'll have quite a few stories to tell, Lieutenant."

"Yes sir." Came the reply. "And sir..."

"Yes lieutenant?"

There was a slight hesitation on the other end. "Have you heard from Starbuck, sir?"

***

It was the sound of comm chatter that woke her.

She took in her surroundings, gasping as her leg reminded her viciously of recent events.

"Starbuck, do you read? This is raptor 5 from the Galactica, please respond." She grinned widely. She'd actually survived and made it back!

"Starbuck here, raptor 5."

There was relief in the other voice. "Do you need assistance, sir?" She laughed, at nothing and everything, and examined her ship's systems.

"Yes, thank you. That'd be much appreciated. I think I must have blown my engines on the way out..."

"Will do, Starbuck. Stand ready."

Moments later, she felt the shudder of a magnetic grapple gripping her ship, then movement as she was towed to safety. She laid her head down again and waited, watching the stars shine through her view screen. The landing bay of the Galactica lay straight ahead, then surrounded her ship as she landed.

She squeezed herself out of her cockpit and managed to stand unaided as she saw people rush towards her. She looked around her, breathing deeply, then froze as he stepped up to her.

Somehow, she couldn't look away. "Lee." She said, looking into his eyes and finding so much staring back at her. Hope, despair, sadness... and joy. She felt his arms as he reached out to hold her, the stubble on his cheeks, the hardness of his body and the taste of his mouth -salty with his tears- as he kissed her. Then a wildness arising inside her as their kiss deepened and his arms tightened around her, bringing together bodies and rapidly-beating hearts.

Someone cleared their throat.

They stepped apart self-consciously, and she winced as her leg wound decided to trouble her again.

"I...uhm... need to have a look at this thing and see what's salvageable." Tyrol said with a smile. "And I think you should let them take you to Life Station, sir." He indicated the personnel grinning around them.

"Uhm, okay." Kara said, rather at a loss for words. She let herself be drawn away and placed on a stretcher. Turning back, she watched him as they took her away.

She smiled. She was home.

***
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
20 minutes after attempted assassination of Cmdr. Adama

The dimly-lit battlestar corridors surrounded Lee Adama as he walked, feeling numb. He felt as though he was dreaming -a nightmare, peopled by the ghoulish shadows dancing on the walls, the discomfort of the restraints on his wrists and the blood on his hands and arms.

The marines flanking him turned as they entered the brig. They passed President Roslin as he was marched along the row of cells.

Stepping into his cell, he heard the metallic clang of the door closing behind him as he rubbed his wrists -now free from the cuffs. Walking up to the sink, he washed, observing the redness flowing away from him. He threw himself down on the bunk and closed his eyes.

"Captain?" The president was calling out to him -based on how they had placed them, he could hear her but couldn't see her. He looked at the ceiling, desperately wanting to be left alone.

"Captain Adama? Is everything all right?" Frak. He stood up, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sorry ma'am. You were saying?" He asked, schooling his tone so that is sounded as polite as always.

"I asked if you were all right -you seemed preoccupied when they brought you in."

He leaned his forehead against the bars. "I... no. I'm sorry to say that everything isn't all right, ma'am."

"What happened?" She asked. "I haven't heard anything-"

"My father just got shot." He said bluntly.

Though he couldn't see her expression, there seemed to be shock in her voice when she finally spoke. "Gods. Is he-"

"I don't know. They wouldn't let me stay with him." Lee answered softly.

"How-"

He interrupted her again. All right, so he wasn't feeling that polite at the moment. "Lieutenant Valerii shot him while we were in CIC. Point blank."

"Is she another Cylon?" Roslin asked tersely.

"That seems pretty likely at this point." Lee replied.

"I -" He cut her off when she seemed to be about to continue with her questions.

"Look, I'm sorry Madam President, but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it just now."

"I... understand, Captain. But I simply wanted to apologize."

He sighed. "For what?"

"For getting you into this situation."

He shook his head, even though she couldn't see him. "I made my own decisions."

"And I wanted to thank you for what you did. Despite the way everything turned out, I do respect your actions."

He gripped the bars convulsively. "May I speak freely, ma'am?"

"Of course." She seemed surprised at the question.

"With all due respect, Madam President, the fact is that I can't respect yours." He paused before continuing. "I don't condone my father's actions -I happen to believe in the Constitution. But you should know that I do *understand* what he did."

"The fact is, ma'am, that you and he had built something with regards to this fleet that relied as much on mutual trust and on agreeing to work together, as it did on the articles of the Constitution. What you did in ordering Lieutenant Thrace to return to Caprica -it may not have broken the letter of the law, but it did do something else. It broke that trust. The trust you -*we*- were all relying on for us to be able to continue to work together as a people... And to survive."

"I... see." She seemed to be somewhat at a loss for words. "I... suppose I appreciate your honesty, Captain." He could tell that wasn't all she *appreciated*, however, and suddenly and rather whimsically he wished he was talking to some of the more direct people in his life, who would probably have told him to go to hell.

He nodded. "Yes, well... If you don't mind, Madam President, it's been a really long day..." And he couldn't take much more of this.

"Of course. But may I say Captain, that I am sorry for what happened to Commander Adama? I sincerely hope he will pull through. Of course, he is a strong man. There is hope in that." She said softly.

"Thank you." He said. That seemed to put an end to the conversation.

Despite what he had told Roslin, he found himself pacing his cell for hours, unable to sleep. He remembered being dragged away as his father was carried out to the Life Station, and rubbed his aching eyes, trying to rub out the vision.

Finally, he laid down and managed to find sleep.

***

He was floating above his body and his cares, when without conscious volition he felt himself rise still more and watched as a carpet of stars surrounded his feet. Then, wrenched away from his contemplation, he flew.

He walked along a field, watching the tall grass waving in the wind and feeling the breath of spring along his face. He suddenly found himself faced with a structure -ruins, really. What was this place? Standing within was a woman, a beautiful blonde woman. She turned and smiled at him, but there was a coldness in her eyes.

"We are here. We are waiting, and the cycle will be completed." She said, smirking. He had the certainty he had seen her somewhere before.

The sun shone down on him, and he lifted his face towards it. When he looked back, temple and woman were gone. Instead, before him lay a river, its raging current an unstoppable force.

When he walked towards it, it bent away from him, his steps altering its course. He shook his head, confused. There seemed something important about this, somehow.

Giving up on his attempt to make sense of it, he resumed his walk, and the river quickly disappeared.

As consciousness claimed him, the ground receded and faded beneath his feet, and he heard the wind sigh against his cheek one last time. *Remember...* The wind told him, its voice vanishing into the mist that surrounded him.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
12 hours after attempted assassination

The rattling noise of his cell door being opened was what woke him. Two marines waited to escort him, as the usual brig guard opened his cell.

"Captain Adama?" One of the marines called as he stood.

"Yes?"

"We're to escort you to the XO's quarters, sir. He's asked to see you."

Lee nodded, then waited as the cuffs were placed back on his wrists. The walk to Colonel Tigh's quarters passed quickly and Lee soon found himself standing before the man, freed from his restrainst. He waited as Tigh dismissed the marines.

Tigh gestured to a chair. "Have a seat, Captain." He said.

Lee sat. "May I ask how my father is doing, sir?"

Tigh sighed. "Unfortunately, he isn't doing so well. He survived the emergency surgery he went through last night, but he hasn't yet regained consciousness." The other man let Lee have some time to digest this.

"Can I see him?" Lee asked.

Tigh nodded. "Yes. Of course. I'm sorry it wasn't possible before -things were too unsettled." Lee elected not to respond to that comment.

"I had you brought here for a reason." Tigh finally continued. "The long and short of it is that I'm stuck commanding this fleet now, which truly makes my day -hell this makes my frakking week- and I have very few qualified people to work with." His face wore a harried expression.

"Despite the mutinous nature of your recent actions, the fact is that we need you. Badly. So I'm having you released. However, there are two conditions."

"What conditions?" Lee asked.

"The first is that you will report to an appointed marine guard at the end of every day, and you will be required to detail your daily activities to that person."

"So I've got a keeper, basically." Lee stated with some sarcasm. Tigh's face tightened at that.

"The fact, mister, is that regardless of your motives at the time, you drew a gun on a superior officer. Who just happened to be me. So forgive me if I don't appreciate your flippant attitude." Relaxing somewhat, he then continued.

"In fact, I'm already bending the rules by freeing you and delaying any court-martial proceedings against you." The colonel paused. When Lee said nothing, Tigh went on in a flat tone.

"The second condition is that you will lead a rescue mission for the fleet. I am sorry to send you away at a time when personal reasons might have won you compassionate leave, but I have no choice. I need someone capable of carrying out this mission, and you're my best option."

Lee sighed, then nodded. What choice did he have? It was certainly better than cooling his heels in the brig. "All right." He said. "I'll do it."

***

Lee stepped out of Tigh's quarters, heading for Life Station to see his father, and considered his next step.

"The civilians have already made several demands for Roslin's release and reinstatement." Tigh had explained just minutes before. "Unfortunately for them, I'm not inclined to agree to those demands at the moment."

"However, if I keep her in the brig I also need to find someone to replace her -unless I'm considering imposing martial law. To be honest, I would much rather not have to do so and I know the old man wouldn't have wanted it either." He had sighed. "Your mission, therefore, is of crucial importance."

"You are to take a raptor to the Kobol system, and to decide whether a rescue of our personnel on the surface can be attempted. If you decide it's feasible, the primary objective of your mission is to bring back the Vice President in order to calm things down here -until I decide what the frak I'm going to do with all this." He had looked at Lee.

"Do you have any questions?"

Lee hadn't had any then. Now, however, he found himself wondering at the insanity of a universe that could take every bit of happiness away in the blink of an eye. Then he shook himself -moaning about it wasn't going to help.

He turned the corner and entered the Life Station. Finding his father didn't take long -once recognized he was sent in the right direction.

He stood by his father's bedside, unable to find the right words. "I'm sorry." He finally blurted out, his vision shimmering with unshed tears. "I'm sorry Dad. And... I... I love you." He finished quietly.

***

A few hours later he was sitting in one of the Galactica's raptors, dealing with the final preparations for his mission.

"Sir?" He turned. It was Racetrack, his ECO for the mission. "I talked with Supply, sir, and they got us those last things we needed. They'll be aboard soon." Lee nodded.

"Sir, can I ask you something?" The young woman asked him.

He paused in his checklist. "Of course. What's on your mind?"

"Well sir, I was just wondering... What do you think we're going to find down there? I mean, do you think there's a chance they're still alive?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, Lieutenant. But I guess we'll find out -or at least we'll find out what kind of presence the toasters have there now." Any rescue attempt would obviously have to be abandoned if they couldn't get around the Cylon presence in the system. Racetrack nodded, and bent towards her own panels.

Before long they were ready, and after conferring with CIC Lee set the ship in motion. The stars were bright pinpricks around the ship, then suddenly ceased to exist as they initiated their jump.

Once in view of Kobol, Lee stood ready to have the raptor jump back to the fleet. He smiled. "Well, what do you know..." He said softly, turning to Racetrack, who grinned back.

A natural reaction, given that they were the only ship to be seen.

***

They spent the next few hours surveying the planetary surface, following a grid pattern. It took only a few hours for them to find a downed raptor.

They landed to examine the damage. "Based on the damage, sir, I think it's quite possible at least some of them survived the landing."

Lee nodded. "That's what I thought." He looked around. "They're not around here if they did, though." Racetrack nodded in return.

"All right. If I were them, I'd have figured that with the Cylon presence, and with probable injured, taking cover would probably be my best bet. So they've had roughly two days on foot to get away from here."

"So what do you want to do sir?"

He waved her back to the raptor. "Let's start combing the region again, but this time we'll start moving outward from this position. We'll look for anything that could present adequate cover, and note any likely possibilities. Let's go."

***

Several hours and a radius of several kilometers later, there was still no sign of their missing crewmembers. Furthermore, they would soon be low on fuel -flying in an atmosphere took more out of a ship than maneuvering in space. "Damn." Lee said softly. "I was hoping we would've found them by now.

"All right." He sighed. "Let's set down here for a moment -we'll load up the extra fuel we brought."

Tall evergreen trees rose up to encircle them as they set down in a small clearing amidst a forest of trees. Around them stood several gentle hills topped with yet more trees, under a carpet of silver-gray sky. At least there were some fringe benefits to this mission, Lee thought to himself as he followed his companion out of the raptor. He hadn't seen real sky in a while.

"Sir!" They both turned around. Three of their missing crewmembers -Tyrol, Cally, and Crashdown- hailed them as they stepped out of the surrounding trees. Smiling, Lee greeted them.

"It's good to see you all -and unharmed."

"And you, sir." Tyrol answered. "We're *really* glad to see you. It's been really strange here... The short version is that it'll be nice to get back to the Galactica."

"How many of you are there?" Lee asked.

Tyrol grimaced. "Well, we were the only ones to make it down here sir, and we lost a few on way down. And after..." He hesitated.

"After?"

"Well, let's just say it's become obvious we're not alone down here, sir."

"Oh?"

"Yes sir." He ran a hand through his hair. "We've managed to avoid them so far, sir, but there are toasters on the planet. They keep getting closer to our position... And moving was a little complicated with our wounded, but we had to do it once or twice just so they wouldn't find us... With that and everything else, we lost another man sometime last night."

Lee shook his head grimly. "Understood. I think we'd better be on our way quickly, then. Where are the others?"

Cally turned and pointed up a hill. "Right there, sir. There's a site up there that has cover but also let us have a visual of any approach route. That's how we saw it was you two down here."

"All right." Lee sighed. "Racetrack, you and Crashdown stay with the raptor." Stepping inside the ship, he handed out guns to the new arrivals. "If anyone shows up you don't recognize -you shoot first and ask questions later. Understood?"

Racetrack nodded. "Yes sir."

Crashdown stood mutely. "Lieutenant?" Lee prodded.

The other man shook himself. "Uh, yes sir. Sorry sir." Lee shook his head -Crash wasn't looking so good. He shrugged mentally. Oh well. Time to deal with that later.

Lee, Cally and Tyrol headed into the trees. Around them the forest was mostly quiet save a few chirps from birds and other animal sounds, and the air was crisp and fresh. It took only a few minutes to reach a nearby hill, and a few more to climb it.

"Ah." Lee said, understanding. In this part of the forest the trees seemed to be thicker, essentially obliterating the sky. It did provide fairly good cover from discovery from above. After stepping under this leafy canopy, a small number of bodies laid out on the ground came into view, surrounded by yet a few more members of the Galactica's crew.

"Where's the Vice-President?" Lee asked Tyrol, noting the man's absence.

The chief shook his head. "I don't know sir -I'm sorry. It was a bit chaotic just after we landed, and... Well, I guess we just lost track of him, sir. Last one to see him was Stephens over there, and he just saw him walking away from the crash site."

He sighed -getting everything he needed at once would probably have been too easy. Lee nodded. "All right. Let's get all of you back to the ship. We'll figure out what to do about this then."

The other crewmembers had obviously been prepared to move on short notice, as the wounded were already laid down on makeshift stretchers. As the group made its way down the hill, Lee kept an eye out for movement around them. He saw none, just as there had been no Cylon presence visible in the system when he arrived, which was odd. He supposed it was possible that the toasters might have been distracted by their recent loss of a basestar... But from what Cally and Tyrol had related to him on the way to the campsite, they had spotted some toasters just about a kilometer away from their position as late as a few hours ago, heading south-east. And with every sighting the Cylons had drawn closer to their small group.

Crashdown and Racetrack waved at them as they entered the small clearing near the raptor, stepping up to help settle in the wounded.

"What are you going to do, sir?" Tyrol asked him quietly as they watched the proceedings.

Lee sighed. "Well, I'll have to make another stop at your landing site. We can have a look around there for the doctor... Though I hate to trek around like this with those wounded on board." The Chief nodded.

A short time later he set the raptor aloft and brought them back to the original crash site. He stepped outside, followed by Crashdown and the Chief.

He turned back towards the latter. "All right, I'm going to go have a look. You say he went in that direction?" Lee pointed towards the grassy horizon and some nearby ruins.

"Yeah, that's what Stephens saw, sir."

Lee gave them a hard look. "I want you to wait an hour or two, and if I'm not back by then, you are to return to the Galactica. Is that understood, Lieutenant?" He spoke to Crashdown.

The other nodded. "Yes sir."

He continued, "And what's more, if you see *anything* that remotely smells like a Cylon you are to get these wounded the frak out of here."

"Sir... You want us to leave you behind, sir?" Tyrol asked him, seeming concerned.

"If the toasters show up then yes, that's what I want you to do, Chief. Your priority is to get these people -and yourself- back to the fleet where you belong. Is that clear?" He asked harshly.

Tyrol nodded. "Uh, yes sir." He didn't seem easy with the idea.

Waving them back towards the ship, Lee walked off into a sea of waving grass.

***

"This is a momentous time, Gaius." Six was saying to him as he lay in the grass. She had sung him a lullaby, and now his head lay in her lap.

"Oh?" He asked, as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Yes, my love. But you won't see it right away... Because they must have hope."

"Who must have hope?"

She smiled. "Why, the humans, of course. Hope is the greatest lie there is..." She kissed him sweetly, softly.

"Doctor? Doctor Baltar!" His head slammed down against a rock.

She had disappeared.

"Ow... Frak..." He complained, sitting up.

*Oh, wonderful.* He thought sarcastically as he recognized the person calling out to him. "Hmmm... Over here, Captain Adama." He said, irony lacing his voice. "So *wonderful* to see you." He continued, as the other man helped him to his feet.

"Right. How are you doing, sir?" Apollo asked, his face tight.

Good. It was always gratifying to know that a strong feeling of antipathy, like love, was returned.

"I'm just fine. Thank you for asking, Captain. May I assume you're here to get us off this rock?"

Apollo nodded. "Yes. If you'll come with me, sir."

***

By the time they made it back to the raptor, Lee was having to hold the Vice-President by the arm to keep him on track. *I suppose dragging him along could be another way to put it.* He thought sarcastically. All in all, Lee was tending towards Colonel Tigh's view of civilians right at the moment.

Once in view of the raptor, Lee waved to Cally and a crewman who were standing lookout. They waved back and moved towards them, when several shots suddenly rang out and several humanoid and metal figures appeared -seemingly out of nowhere.

"Frak!" Lee said, shoving Baltar down to the ground and drawing his weapon. Two shots hit the raptor. "Damn!" Turning to his companion, he yelled, "We need to get to the ship! It's our only shot!" Instead of responding, the Vice-President covered his head with his hands and shivered.

*Frak.* Wrenching him up, Lee yelled at the man. "Listen, you frakking idiot! Do you want to get out of here alive?" The only response he got was a shocked, glassy stare.

"Fine! So glad we had this conversation! Let's go!" Lee shouted again, gesturing to the people in the raptor to cover them as he forced the man behind him relative to the enemy, and began to drag him along. He shot randomly as he went.

They were almost at their destination when a shot grazed his shoulder. He hissed at the flare of pain. Oh well, he told himself grimly. It was usually the superficial wounds that hurt the most, anyway.

Finally, they reached the raptor, which had taken a few more hits in the meantime. *I hope this frakking thing can still fly...* Lee thought to himself cheerfully as they entered.

Thrusting Baltar towards a random crewman, he rushed to the pilot's seat and waved Crashdown out of it. "I'll handle this one, lieutenant." He said. The other pilot stepped out of the way -seeming dazed.

"How are we doing?" Lee asked.

Racetrack looked up at him. "Not so good sir. We can still fly, but she's taken some damage from all those hits."

"Right. Well, let's get us out here." He replied, just as his fingers flew over the console.

"Hold on!" He warned the others.

Taking off, he dove the raptor into the firing Cylons, scattering them. That should reduce the number of hits they took, he thought to himself as he sent the ship high into the atmosphere, heading for space. However, once they arrived there...

"Frak me." Tyrol said, looking out over his shoulder. The system was crawling with Cylons.

And despite Gaeta's Cylon device, several raiders swerved off towards the raptor, heading to intercept. However, that wasn't entirely surprising. In the event destroying a basestar wasn't enough to put them off, he had thought it was unlikely the same trick would work twice.

Lee shook his head. He wasn't giving up -they were going to make it back. He gestured impatiently at the chief, without raising his eyes from his control panels.

"Yeah, well, why don't you calculate a jump for us? I'll hold them off."

"Sir..." Tyrol replied, his voice sounding strained. "How the frak are you supposed to hold *that* off? It's impossible! I-" Lee cut him off.

"You just get us those coordinates, chief! I'll deal with the rest!"

Shaking himself, Tyrol began his task.

Lee waited as the raiders nearest him drew closer. And waited.

"Uhm... Captain Adama, sir... They're getting closer." Crashdown said to him, his voice wavering.

"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. I did manage to notice that, thank you." Lee replied calmly, looking up ahead of him at the fast-approaching ships.

Then, sending the raptor into a sudden turn away from the main concentration of Cylon forces and the approaching raiders before their ship was encircled, Lee got the enemy to pursue. He examined his readings -the raiders were rapidly gaining on them as the raptor sped away from the planet.

He sent the raptor careening madly in a complicated series of evasive maneuvers, just as the raiders opened fire. A hit shook them, while another passed a few mere microns from the hull. Once they were close enough on his tail, Lee hit a key, engaging a preprogrammed sequence in the ship's systems.

As a result a cloud of dust spread from the aft of the ship, momentarily hiding their pursuers from view. As the raiders began to emerge from it, there was a sudden explosion.

"Captain, sir! I have the jump coordinates!" Tyrol called out.

"Thanks Chief. And right on time, too." Smiling, Lee engaged the raptor's jump engines.

***

Chief Tyrol mopped sweat off his forehead as they approached the Galactica.

"Sir... Can I ask you something?" He asked quietly, stepping up beside Lee.

"Sure chief. What's on your mind?"

"Well, uhm... what the hell *was* that? Sir?"

Lee grinned up at him. "Space dust, Chief. Well, mostly."

"What?"

"It was just an idea I had... I mean, ships usually get all kinds of pitting and scoring damage from this stuff. Not to mention the way it fraks with electronics... Well, you'd obviously know about all that much better than I would. Anyways, I needed a way to distract them and finally hit on storing a load of this crap along with a few explosives in our external compartments. The dust blinds them, then boom." He shrugged. "Pretty basic idea, really, but it seems like it worked."

Tyrol grinned back at him. "It sure did sir. That was good thinking, by the way."

Lee laughed. "Well, it was pretty obvious I needed to think of *something* to keep the toasters busy if they showed up again, so..." He shrugged somewhat self-consciously before turning back to his controls.

Looking back towards the Galactica, his smile faded.

***

It took a few hours to get everyone settled in, and for Lee and the others to complete a debriefing led by Colonel Tigh. Lee had stopped to visit his father and to have his shoulder checked and bandaged beforehand -the commander's condition had thankfully stabilized, but he was still unconscious.

"That was good work, Captain. Very good." Tigh said solemnly at the end of the meeting, as they walked out of the conference room.

"Thank you, sir." Lee replied quietly.

"And you've very possibly saved me some serious headaches with the rest of the fleet. At least I'll be able to convince them we're not gunning to scrap the articles of the Constitution." Tigh said acerbically. "So at least we should be able to hold it all together until I decide what the hell to do next."

There was a discreet cough behind them.

"Uhm... I'm sorry to be a bother..." Lee and Tigh turned -it was Billy Keikeya, who seemed quite flustered.

Lee frowned. "What is it, Billy?"

"Well, uh, sir..." He hesitated.

"Go on." Lee prompted.

"Well sir... It's the, uhm, Vice-President sir. I can't... I need to find him to brief him and I can't seem to find him. I thought you might know -I've asked around, but now I don't know where to look..." He cut himself off.

Tigh looked up at the ceiling. Lee looked down at the floor.

"Frak." Lee heard Tigh mumble. "Just what we needed... Of all the-"

Lee cut him off. "Sir, why don't I take care of this?"

The other snorted a laugh and looked at him. "You think you can find him, Captain?"

Lee shrugged. "I think I've got a few ideas where he might be, sir."

"This isn't going to put back your recovery any, is it?" Tigh asked again, looking pointedly at Lee's shoulder.

Lee shook his head. "No sir. The doc said it's just a superficial wound. It doesn't even affect my range of motion -although I won't be able to fly for a few days."

Tigh nodded. "All right." He sighed. "This is truly just what I frakking needed. Well then yes, Captain, if you want to solve this problem -" He said sarcastically, "be my frakking guest."

Lee watched him stalk off, mumbling to himself about retirement and never wanting this job in the first place.

Standing next to a hovering Billy, Lee grinned.

"Let's go, Billy." He said, clapping his hands together decisively. "This could be fun!"

***

They found him in the crew quarters, playing triad.

"I think he's drunk." Billy said to Lee as they both watched him from the room's entrance.

"Oh, I'm pretty damn sure he's plastered." Lee said sarcastically.

Billy sighed, visibly annoyed. "This is just great. What am I supposed to do with him?"

Clapping Billy on the back, Lee strode into the room. "Don't worry. I'll sober him up for you." He said over his shoulder. "I actually know a pretty good remedy..."

Walking up behind Baltar, Lee grabbed the back of his collar with one hand and jerked him to his feet.

"What the... hell..." The Vice-President said somewhat incoherently as he tried to sit back down.

Lee shook him. "You're done here."

"Like hell!" Baltar replied, shaking him off. "Why don't you frak off. I may be a bit drunk right now, but I'm still the Vice-President..."

Lee laughed at that. "You know what?", he replied, "I really don't give a frak." He began to drag the wobbly scientist behind him, who in turn managed to pull himself to a stop.

"Do you know what I think? I know the speed at which gossip travels in a place like this... I think you just might be jeal-" Even drunk, Baltar was shocked at the speed with which he found his face slammed against the table next to his winnings.

"I'd really suggest you not finish that thought." He heard the other man say quietly.

"Let's go." He found himself being dragged out of the room more harshly this time, leaving silence in their wake.

"Well, frak." One of the others said, brilliantly.

***

"Hey Dad." Lee said softly, sitting down beside his father. "Uhm... I was a little bit busy there for a while, but I thought I might spend some time with you now that I'm done." He paused.

"I hear you're doing better -I'm really glad."

He stopped, not knowing what else to say. It looked like even when one of them was unconscious, communication wasn't what they did best. Right. Well...

"Um, well anyway, I guess I'll just sit here, 'cause it looks like I just ran out of things to say." He finally reached out to hold his father's hand for a moment.

Laying his head back tiredly, he wondered idly where the chair he was sitting in had come from -he'd just shown up this time and there it was. He smiled. It seemed the commander was pretty popular around here. Closing his eyes, he revisited the past.

This time, he decided he'd try to remember the good moments, and not the bitterness.

***
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
1 day after attempted assassination of Cmdr. Adama

The corridor outside the interrogation room was the same plain, unadorned gray as the rest of the ship. The difference, however, lay in the chilling sound of a woman screaming.

*Well, sort of a woman.* Tigh amended silently, as he stepped up to the marines stationed outside the door.

"Has it talked yet?" He asked them abruptly.

The marine nearest to him shook his head. "No sir. We've been working it over for several hours now and it still hadn't told us anything." Tigh nodded.

"Fine. I want to talk to it."

The two men hesitated. "I... Are you sure that's a good idea sir? It was just hours ago that it put two right into the Commander's chest, sir." One of them protested.

Tigh waved that away. "I'm aware of the risks, and you can come in with me if you want. But I'm going in." He waited as they unlocked the door, then stepped inside.

Two more marines were standing inside the room as he entered, holding a bruised and bloodied Sharon Valerii up by her hair. Blood lay splattered generously all around her.

"Take five." He told them, and watched as they dropped her unceremoniously to the ground. One of the marines who had been guarding the door, an extremely tall blond-haired man who towered over the Colonel, stayed in the room with him as the other two left.

"Doesn't look like they were too subtle about asking you questions, does it?" He said as he bent down to the shape huddled on the floor.

"Frak you." She managed to reply as she turned half onto her back to gaze up at him.

"I want to ask you something, and I want an answer." He stated tightly.

"Why should I...answer anything you ask me?" She shot back, gasping.

"I want to know why you shot the Commander. Was it a prelude for attack?" He continued.

She laughed, then moaned and clutched at her ribs.

Tigh reached over and shook her. "Was it?" He asked angrily. She laughed while tears ran down her cheeks.

"You don't get it, do you? I'm not going to tell you anything -partly because I just don't know, and partly because I don't frakking want to. And did I mention you're a real asshole? It's really nice, you know, to actually be able to tell you that now."

Tigh stood and looked down at her for a moment. Finally, he gestured towards the giant behind him. "Let's go." After stepping outside, he spoke to all four marines. "Let up on the physical side of things -I want to try something different."

"Like what, sir?" One of the marines asked.

"I think there's a strong possibility it actually wants to die -wants us to kill it. I don't want to give it that escape. Try sleep deprivation. And there might be a few things of interest in Sharon Valerii's service record -though how accurate it'll be is anyone's guess. But it's worth a try." He paused.

"The point, gentlemen, is that I want an answer. Our Commander was shot by that toaster, and I want to know why." He thought for a moment. "Pick up Chief Tyrol. He and Valerii had a relationship a while back. I want to know if he knows anything about her we can use. But go easy on him -we don't have any evidence that he's a Cylon, and he could have been fooled by her just like we were." The others nodded.

As he walked away, Tigh decided that it would probably be best to move the fleet to a new location -just in case. When he arrived a few moments later however, CIC was already at a frantic level of activity -evidently events had preceded him.

"Colonel Tigh!" Lieutenant Gaeta was saying. "We're picking up a major Cylon incursion into this system on Dradis, sir!"

Tigh grunted as he quickly considered their options. It would mean stranding Lieutenant Thrace if she ever did make it back, but they had no choice. And at least they'd gotten their people off Kobol.

"All right." He began. "Tell the fleet to prepare to jump. Send out our fighters, and have us prep for jump." He listened as his orders were relayed to the fleet. Finally there came the disorientation of the jump, and then the relief of all around him as they reached their destination.

When everyone had assured themselves that there were no signs of a Cylon presence, he left CIC and headed back to the interrogation room. For some reason he couldn't explain, he had a hunch he wasn't going to like what he found there.

All four marines were outside, facing the door, and he saw one of them wince when the man caught sight of him.

"What's going on?" He asked as he reached them.

One of them sighed and opened the door -which wasn't locked. Why the frack wasn't it locked? As he entered, he looked down at the floor and fought the urge to gag as he saw the pile of blood and guts that had once borne a woman's shape.

"How the frak did this happen?"

The two men who had followed him in shook their heads. "We don't know sir. We only left her alone for a few minutes, sir." The man who spoke shook his head earnestly. "I don't know how this happened -she should still be alive."

Tigh began to swear both vigorously and creatively. "Yeah. Where've I heard that before?" He asked bitterly, as he walked angrily out of the room.

***

-Colonial One-
Colonial Fleet
8 days after attempted assassination

"...and the Captain of the Opal Jewel had asked for help in repairing their drive."

Gaius Baltar, Vice-President and interim President of what was left of the Colonies, didn't bother hiding his boredom as Billy Keikeya droned on about this ship's needs and that group's concerns. He felt his head begin to droop as he nodded off.

Suddenly something smashed against the table, scattering several papers.

"Frak! What the hell..." He mumbled as he came abruptly awake. He was understandably tired -last night had been quite momentous, really.

Billy had dropped a heavy stack of folders on the table in front of him, and now stood -diffident as always and yet with a twinkle of ever so polite defiance in his eye, a twinkle which hadn't been there originally.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, sir. But maybe you could actually take a look at what I just explained to you?" Billy half asked and half ordered quietly.

"Well-" Baltar began to say.

"Of course, if you still have your, ah, *headache* from yesterday I could speak with Captain Adama and ask him if he has any more of that medicine he gave you the last time." Billy continued with a polite smile.

Baltar blinked. He didn't know what was in that thing, but it had to have been a collection of several of the most disgustingly vile substances known to man.

All right, maybe he wasn't *that* hung over.

"That's quite all right, Billy. Um, shall we?" He replied, gesturing to the stack of papers that they -or Billy- had been discussing. "So why does the Opal Jewel need help exactly? Don't they have their own engineer?"

Billy shook his head. "No sir. Their two engineers were killed before they joined the fleet after the first wave of Cylon attacks."

"Ah. I see. Well, ah..." He was saved from dealing with a topic he had no idea about by the arrival of Colonial One's communications officer. The latter was a post which had come into existence as a result of the large amount of message traffic involved with presiding over a fleet such as this one.

"What is it Sean?" Billy asked the man.

"A meeting of the quorum of twelve has been convened for tomorrow morning." He handed Billy a sheet of computer printout as he continued, turning to Baltar. "It seems the meeting was convened by Representative Zarek. As for the topic of discussion, well..." He gestured uncomfortably.

"What is it?" Baltar asked.

"Well, they want to discuss your presidency, sir. They, uhm, say they're... Well... Apparently they're not happy with your performance, sir. They're asking for a full review of your actions while in office, sir. And they're saying... They're saying you should never have risen to the office in the first place." The rather nervous looking little man finished in a rush. Then, having happily noted that his presence was no longer required, he promptly left the premises.

Having recovered from his initial shock, Baltar shook himself. "I've been doing this job for barely a week! How can they possibly know anything about the way I'm doing my job as interim President?" He asked angrily.

Billy shrugged. "I don't know, sir." He answered in a marginally polite tone. *Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that you've almost never shown up for work other than when someone had tracked you down, threatened you, and beaten you over the head to make you get to it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that you told the representatives from Picon and Sagittaron that you didn't give a frak about their concerns concerning the distribution of water and food supplies. Or maybe it was that time two days ago when you were caught frakking the wife of the Narcissus' Captain... But of course, I could just be wrong about that!* Billy thought much less diplomatically, giving the man a hard look.

Both of them were silent for a moment. Then Baltar spoke, in a much quieter tone than before. "I'm... I suppose I never was much of a vice president, was I? And I am even less of a president." Standing, he gazed silently ahead of him for a moment, seemingly at something only he could see, before appearing to shake himself out of his thoughts. "Oh well." He said, and shrugged.

Billy stood before him with his mouth open in surprise, and didn't manage to think of a response before Baltar walked out of the room.

The man was truly odd.

***

"Hello, Dad." Lee said as he walked over to his father's bedside. The Commander's eyes opened as he turned his head to gaze at his son.

"Lee." He said softly.

Lee smiled. "Yeah, it's me again. You're looking much better."

His father nodded. The silence lengthened and intensified. Finally, Lee sat in his usual chair, partly in order to wait it out.

"So, Captain, why won't *you* tell what's going on with the fleet?" Adama asked, his voice sounding both stronger and more irritated than when he had awakened three days before.

"For the same reason that no one else is telling you." Lee shrugged. "Doctor's orders. He said you were supposed to take it easy for a few more days or so at least."

His father's face tightened. "This is my ship Captain, and I'm in command of this fleet's defenses -while we're in the middle of a war. So you tell me -how comfortable would *you* feel at this point?" He snapped.

"Probably not very much." Lee admitted. "But this isn't my call -if you'll recall, the doc outranks you in here."

His father snorted. "And since when has following orders been a consideration of yours?" He bit off.

Lee's face fell, and he stood rather abruptly. "I... I'm sorry if I ruined your morning." He said, and left.

Adama closed his eyes and sighed. Damn.

How was it that he always managed to say the wrong thing to the one person in what was left of their universe that meant more to him than any other?

***

Lee moved from side to side in his bed, trying to make the nightmares stop. He tried desperately to escape the death screams of those he had killed. When he dreamed of them it wasn't normally as bad as this, but now... Now he couldn't escape from the voices of the people on board the Olympic Carrier, and those of so many others.

He tried to run, but they followed. As he looked down, his feet were suddenly stuck in quicksand. *No!* He screamed, as the quicksand changed to assume the deep red color of blood. Blood lay everywhere around him.

And then, just as suddenly, he was free.

He looked around him at the grass that lay in every direction, disappearing into the horizon. A soft, gentle breeze touched his cheek, like a soft caress.

When he turned, she stood before him, smiling.

"Are you really here?" He asked, and she shrugged. There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek, the uniform she wore was worn and dirty and she seemed to be favoring some injury to her side, and yet she had never looked more beautiful to him.

"Beats me." She walked up to him. "It feels pretty real though." She was still smiling.
"But it really seems to be easier to say things here, somehow."

"Like what?" He asked.

"I guess... Things that are really frakking impossible to say when we're awake." She walked up to him and put her arms around his neck.

He looked into her eyes. "Nothing's impossible if you care enough, Kara." She shook her head -disagreeing with him as always, and kissed him.

It felt real and true, like the wind, the sun, the dirt beneath their booted feet.

He pulled back. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

She grinned back at him. "Oh, I just thought you needed rescuing from your dreams. You always did take the weight of the entire galaxy onto your shoulders."

He snorted at that. "Right. And you never did the same."

She waggled her eyebrows at him, and shrugged.

"You know," She continued, "I don't think I'll remember this when I'm awake -I never was one for believing in all that Gods stuff... But..." She looked away.

"But what?" He asked, talking her chin with one hand and bringing her eyes back to meet his.

She kissed him again, and this time it was wild, like the sudden storm on a hot summer's day. Suddenly the rain beat down on them as they clung to each other in an embrace tinged with more than a little desperation. "I love you." She said into his mouth. "I love you so much." She paused, and pressed her forehead to his. "Anyways, I just... I guess I realized a while back that I might never get a chance to tell you."

"I love you too." He whispered, as the dream ended and the Gods ripped her away from him once more.

***

-Cloud Nine-
Colonial Fleet
9 days after attempted assassination

Lee had been put in charge of security for the meeting of the Quorum of Twelve. Regardless of his recent injury, the fact was that he was one of the few people with the necessary experience in both military matters and, albeit more recently, colonial politics.

He did however find himself delegating the more physical aspects of his job -despite enjoying his altercation with Vice President Baltar a few days ago, Doctor Cottle had not been pleased to have his orders ignored. Thankfully, in a few days the restrictions on his activities would be lifted, which pleased him no end -one thing he had in common with his father was a definite tendency to loathe hospital beds and doctors.

The circumstances of this particular meeting were somewhat different, however, from the last meeting of the Twelve. There was no press, access to the entire ship was heavily restricted, and despite the use of the Cloud Nine's luxurious facilities there was a somber and combative feel to the entire proceedings.

Lee winced as he stood off to the side, surveying the screaming delegates. Having finished detailing Vice President Gaius Baltar's performance in office, Saggitaron Representative Tom Zarek stood, waiting for the current furor to die down before resuming his current speech. Baltar stood at the podium wearing a harried expression and gesturing, desperately trying to restore order.

"And to conclude," Zarek was saying, "I move that this assembly condemn the military's blatant usurpation of power in the strongest language, and that it demand the immediate release and reinstatement of the legitimate President Laura Roslin. I also move that a date be set for elections as soon as possible, so that the people of this fleet may be reassured that their democratic institutions still exist -and that they *will* be preserved!"

This statement provoked a further outcry as various delegates stood in their seats, bellowing out their opinions. Baltar gestured rather uselessly once more, and the brouhaha continued until Zarek raised his hands, demanding silence.

"Is there a second?" He asked into the silence, once more taking over Baltar's role. The latter stood holding his head in his hands -evidently feeling as useless as he appeared.

Several bells rang. Raising his head, Baltar chose one at random. "Seconded by the Representative for Virgon." He sighed, and looked over the room. "Is there anyone who would like to request a vote on the proposition put forward by the Representative for Saggitaron?" He asked formally, continuing with the standard procedures of assembly and visibly wishing the end of this meeting were in sight.

No one spoke.

"Then the motion is carried." Baltar said softly as he struck the podium with his gavel.

***

"There is no frakking way in hell I'll give them what they want!" Tigh bellowed into the quiet of the briefing room as he stood, faced by Lee, Lieutenant Gaeta and Major Ramsay of the Galactica's marine contingent.

"What do you want to do then, sir?" Gaeta asked.

Tigh shook his head. "Well, I'm afraid they've left me no option. I certainly don't want to, but I'll have to declare martial law."

"With all due respect sir, they do have a point." Lee broke in as Tigh turned to glare at him. "They see Roslin's imprisonment as an unlawful act. And the truth is, sir, the military's actions in this regard did break the law. The Colonial Constitution clearly states that the civilian government is supposed to be the head of the military, not the other way around-"

"I'm well aware of your opinions on the matter, Captain!" Tigh snapped in reply. "But the problem you and the civilians consistently fail to grasp is that we're in the middle of a war. If we're going to survive, then we need to be able to decide what to do in military matters without continual interference from the civilian authorities!"

"And democracy, sir?" Lee asked quietly.

"Sometimes, in the middle of a war, extreme measures are called for. And these *are* desperate times." Tigh finished, sighing as he sat back down in his chair. "Believe it or not, I don't like having to do this."

He looked towards the others. "Pass the word on to our communications people." He told Gaeta. "It looks like I'll be giving a press conference in a few hours."

Gaeta nodded, a shocked expression on his face. "Yes sir." He said softly.

***

"...as a result of these demands we find ourselves with no choice but to declare martial law..." Tigh's voice was saying from the marine guard's talk wireless unit as Lee stepped into the brig, stopping before President Roslin's cell.

"You heard?" Lee asked her.

She nodded wearily. "Yes, and I can well imagine what brought this on." She said.

Opening her cell, Lee nodded in reply, then stepped to her side to support her as she somewhat shakily got to her feet. He released her as they approached the door of her cell and the eyes of her marine escorts.

"Thank you, Captain." She said softly, as he began to walk with her towards the Life Station and her appointment with the Galactica's doctor.

"Until further notice, certain restrictions including restrictions on movement between fleet vessels will be put in place and enforced... We regret the necessity of these actions, but the actions of the civilian government...no choice..." The wireless unit crackled on as the small group of two marines, President and Military Advisor walked by.

The two of them walked slowly through the corridors, the unacknowledged reason for this being the increasingly fragile state of her health. Once in Life Station, the guards fell back, and Lee took her arm again once they were out of sight.

"You know, you don't need to walk me to and from my appointments every day like you've been doing. I'm actually not *that* badly off, Captain. Mostly I'm just tired."

He nodded rather self-consciously. "Yes ma'am... Uhm, I'm sorry. I was just concerned, and..."

She smiled somewhat impishly. "It's all right, Captain. I don't mind -I'm actually grateful... I suppose everyone needs a friend once in a while." She patted his arm as she walked a few more steps and laid down on one of the beds. Smiling in return, Lee pulled the curtain around her alcove and headed for his father's room.

"Hello sir." He said softly as he approached his father's bedside.

"Captain." His father nodded in reply. Then...

"You don't have to hide it from me you know -I heard it from Saul. He came to tell me himself about an hour ago."

"I see." Lee replied. He sat down.

"I also know that you disagreed with his decision. Unfortunately for you however, I happen to support it. I've decided to come out publicly in favor tomorrow."

"But what about the doctor's orders?" Lee asked with concern. "He said you weren't to return to duty just yet since you're still healing from your wound and the surgery..."

"I know that, Captain." Adama replied. "But I need to do this -things are at a critical juncture right now. This is bigger than just one man."

Lee looked down at the floor before returning his gaze to his father. "And the fact that we're throwing away many of the things we've sworn to fight for doesn't bother you, sir?" He finally asked quietly.

"Colonel Tigh is my XO and your superior officer, mister. I am your Commander. Whether or not you agree with us is irrelevant. Your only concern is to execute your orders. Is that understood?" His father responded angrily.

Lee stared back at him for a moment before replying. "Yes sir, I understand. I'm sorry for disturbing you, sir." He began to walk away, trying to ignore the tears he wouldn't
-couldn't- shed.

"Lee." He heard his father call out. He turned around.

"Yes sir?"

Adama looked away from his son, and was silent for a moment. "I... I just wanted to say that..." He paused. "I'm sorry son. I'm sorry it's so difficult for us to talk. I'm sorry for so many things. But most of all I wanted to say that..."

"Yes, Dad?" Lee asked, standing beside him. Adama looked at him.

"I... I love you son. I may never agree with you on some things, but I do." He shrugged. "I... Well, I just wanted you to know that. For whatever it's worth."

Reaching out, Lee squeezed his father's hand. "It's worth a lot, Dad." He said softly.

***

-Caprican Sunset-
Colonial Fleet
14 days after attempted assassination

Lee stepped out of the shuttle he had flown over to the Caprican Sunset, and looked around. He hadn't visited this particular ship in a while.

"Captain Adama?" A voice called out to him. He turned.

"Mother Elosha." He said softly. "I'm sorry I'm late for our appointment, but several things came up at the last minute, and..." She nodded back calmly.

"I understand. This is a busy time for someone in your position." She held out her hands and he bowed over them in the traditional religious greeting. "How is Commander Adama?" She asked. "I hope he is recovering from his wounds?"

Lee nodded. "Yes he is. And he should be returning to limited duty in a few weeks or so." *And he's already giving us his opinion on everything and everyone.* Lee thought with some amusement.

She smiled. "That's very good news." She waved a hand out towards the shuttle bay's exit. "Shall we?"

They walked over to her office, a small room located one deck up, sparsely furnished with a table, chairs and several copies of sacred texts.

"Have a seat, Captain." She said, as she did the same. "So, what can I do for you? This is the first time that you have sought me out for advice, and I must confess to being slightly curious as to what has brought you to my door, so to speak."

"Well..." He hesitated.

She smiled. "While I am certain you are aware of this Captain, let me reassure you that I am prohibited from revealing anything which we discuss in a session such as this. The respect of confidences made to us by others is a cornerstone of my order. So nothing you say will leave this room."

Lee nodded. "Yes, thank you. I suppose I'm just not quite sure how to begin." He shook his head, gathering his thoughts.

"I wanted to ask you about dreams."

"Dreams?" She asked. "What kind of dreams?"

"Well, I was wondering...do you think it's possible to have dreams which are true? That show you glimpses of the present or the future?"

She leaned back, steepling her fingers, and was silent for a moment. She appeared surprised by his question.

"May I ask if you are speaking from personal experience, Captain?" She finally asked.

Lee shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea." He ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose the reason I'm asking is because I... have had certain dreams that feel like they're more than just that lately."

She seemed to ponder this. "I see." She said finally. Then, shaking herself, she looked back at him.

"The unvarnished truth is, Captain, that before recent events I might have given you a very different answer. But now that I have seen the truth of what we believe in, of what the Gods have taught us and made of us, I tend to see things quite differently."

"To answer your question, I would tell you that several sacred texts speak of the Gods favoring certain mortals with visions. There were usually several reasons for this, but the most consistent and important one seems to have been that the people in question were near to, or were themselves, people important -even crucial- in the shaping of things to come." She paused, looking at him. "You are, despite your relative youth, in an important position in this fleet, Captain. It may well be that the Gods have taken note of that fact."

Lee was silent for a time after she finished, pondering what she had said. Finally he sat up. "Thank you for your time, Mother. You've... given me things to think about."

She smiled. "I'm glad I could be of service. If you ever have need of me again-"

"I will. Thank you." He said, standing up.

He was deep in thought as he walked back to the shuttle, and later as he flew back to the Galactica.

What he had been told made him uneasy, in a way. The truth of it was that he had never been easy with the recent strength of President Roslin's religious convictions. One reason for his discomfort, he admitted, was probably the fact that he had never been the most religious person himself, despite having been raised by his mother to follow the formalities of organized religion. He often found it difficult to believe that there was something more out there than what he saw and perceived with his senses. But there was more to it than that.

Despite his personal commitment to following a righteous path in his life, he had always been uncomfortable with the notion that there was *one* way to follow and only one correct way to be. And it seemed that recent events had collapsed everything into an either/or binary view of the world for many people among the fleet.

Worrisome, that.
***
-Colonial Fleet-
33 days after attempted assassination of Cmdr. Adama

The space around them was crowded with the fleet's many ships as Lee piloted the raptor towards the Narcissus, yet despite it the stars lit the space around them as they always had, shining brightly regardless of human woes and cares.

He was here because he was currently in charge of a mission to retrieve some supplies from the civilians -supplies to be used by the military. In the two weeks or so since Colonel Tigh's declaration of martial law, relations between civilians and military had steadily deteriorated to the point where it was a useful safety precaution to send an armed escort when requisitioning supplies for military use.

He docked the raptor to the larger ship's airlock with precision, adjusting the fit until both ships were exactly aligned. When his board showed him the green lights of a firm air seal he rose from his seat, motioning the marines under his command to follow him. Before opening the airlock, he turned to his three man and one woman team.

"Until we've had the go-ahead from the Captain here I want you all to stay with me." He said quietly. "And I'm sure I don't need to remind you to be on guard at all times. It's pretty clear nobody here is overjoyed to have us pay them a visit -so things might become unpleasant pretty fast."

The four nodded. "We can handle it sir." One Private named Jensen, replied with assurance.

Lee nodded. "I'm sure you can, but let me also remind you that your primary purpose here is to help us *avoid* any entanglements. Therefore I want you to keep your wits -and your heads- about you. Is that clear?" The private didn't *quite* roll his eyes, but his expression belied his requisite polite tone when addressing a superior officer. "Yes sir." He said.

They stepped through the airlock and headed off to meet with the ship's captain.

The Narcissus was a freight carrier who had been carrying a full load of foodstuffs at the time of the Cylon attacks. It was an ungainly looking ship, with many patches on its elderly hull which showed even from the inside. Obviously, its owners had been more interested in turning a profit than in repairs and maintenance.

"Captain Sawyer?" Lee called out as they reached the main control room. The Captain, a short balding man somewhere in his middle years, crawled out from under a control panel.

"Over here, Captain Adama." The man called out, his tone verging on unfriendly.

Lee sighed. "Hello Captain. We're here for the food, as we said?"

"Yes, well, I'm sorry Captain, but I'm afraid there's been a change of plans." The man replied, not meeting his eye.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I'm afraid I've decided to refuse the Galactica's latest request. It's not like we couldn't use the food ourselves, you know. I could even trade it -money may not be worth much these days, but food certainly is."

Lee's face tightened as he stepped towards the man. "May I ask the reason for your refusal?" He asked. "Other than making a profit, of course." He finished bluntly.

"Well now Captain, there's no call to-" The other man began, only to be interrupted by the sound of a shot in the corridor behind them. A second shot caught one of the marines standing behind Lee in the chest.

"Down!" Lee yelled as he moved, shoving Sawyer to the ground behind one of his control panels and diving towards cover himself as a third shot hit the ceiling. Then, looking up and around the corner of his temporary hideout, Lee surveyed the situation.

The three other marines had taken cover, sending out a few shots of their own in an attempt to distract the shooter from their wounded comrade. Motioning to one of the three, Lee indicated they should cover him while he checked on the man. The woman in question's face wore an expression of consternation as she watched him begin to crawl towards the door of the main control room.

The crawl seemed to take forever, with the floor taking on gargantuan dimensions. He managed to reach the marine's side as the others released a volley of shots above him. The man was bleeding substantially from a chest wound. Reaching into his pockets he drew out a handkerchief and pressed it to the wound, then focused his thoughts on trying to draw the man with him to safety -and on trying to control his breathing.

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps through the gunfire and rolled onto his back, pointing his sidearm at the intruder. He found himself facing the barrel of a gun held by a tall, slim, dark skinned young woman, as a few more shots were sent into the room by her fellows.

"Hold your fire!" He told his men as they stared at each other. The shooting from the entry to the control room stopped as well after his order was obeyed.

"Put it down." She said to him firmly, despite the fear lingering in her eyes.

"Miss..." Lee began, just as she trained her weapon on the fallen marine beside him.

"Put it down or I'll shoot him. Not that he doesn't look dead already, but still-" She sneered.

He put his gun down, and she motioned him back before bending down to pick it up.

With his hands free, Lee reached over to try and staunch the man's bleeding once more. The woman turned the gun towards him. "Easy." Lee said in his calmest sounding voice, bringing his hands up. "I'm just trying to help my man, here." She shrugged and motioned to him to continue.

As he pressed down on the wound, he turned towards her again. "Can I ask you a question?" He said quietly.

"Whatever." She responded sarcastically.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

She snorted. "Shouldn't I be asking *you* that? You people keep coming here, telling us you need this or that, and you just take... And I have to wonder if there'll be anything left for us once you're finished. And what are you taking it for? So you can protect us? Give me a break." She snorted. "We can't even frakking sneeze without asking you for permission. You say you protect us from the Cylons -but I have to wonder if it's bloody well worth it."

"And do you really think this is going to help?" He asked, and watched as she looked away.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen once what just went on here becomes known on the Galactica." He continued. "They're not going to let you get away with it -they can't, because they'll have to figure that if they do it'll invite everyone else to do the same thing. So they're going to send more troops, with bigger weapons." He paused for a moment to look at her. "Do you really want that to happen?" He asked.

She shrugged mutely.

"Listen to me." He said, knowing that despite her attitude she was listening to him, and paused until she turned to look at him. Making his voice sound as calm and earnest as possible he continued, "This man is injured. We need to get him to our medical facility. One of my marines over there, Raynes, is capable of piloting our ship back to the Galactica. Letting them bring him back would go a long way towards proving you're willing to talk. There will have to be charges laid for what happened to him, but-"

She looked at him with frightened eyes. As he'd thought, it appeared none of them had truly thought this through.

"What would we have to bargain with if we let them go?"

He looked her in the eye. "You let them go, and I'll stay to make sure they listen to your concerns."

"And how could you get them do that?" She asked doubtfully.

He smiled self-deprecatingly. "I'm high enough in the food chain over there that I can make sure they at least listen."

"All right." She said tightly. "But I need a few minutes to clear it with my friends over there." Lee nodded.

He watched her back away, then waited until she returned. When she did, she gestured towards the three marines behind him. "All right, they can go with your wounded man."

Standing, Lee waved the marines out of hiding. "Bring him to the ship." He ordered the rather nervous looking man standing closest to him. Bending down, the man took his place beside their wounded comrade, keeping the pressure on his wound.

There was a sudden scuffling sound as they stepped towards the control room door, and one of the marines raised his weapon and fired.

"Hold your fire!" Lee yelled as he rushed ahead to forcibly push the man's weapon down towards the ground. "Damn it! These are civilians, not frakking Cylons! So you hold your fire until you're frakking well *sure* they're threatening you, you idiot!"

"But sir, I thought..." He didn't have time to finish his sentence as they heard a scream come from somewhere nearby.

Running out into the corridor, Lee stopped in his tracks at the sight that faced him. At his feet was a little girl, lying in a pool of her own blood. A somewhat older woman, apparently the child's mother, sat beside her, cradling the girl's head in her lap as she alternately cried and screamed.

"Oh my Gods." The young woman he had talked to before whispered behind him. "She was always hiding in corners to see what was going on..." Lee stepped up to the little girl and felt her pulse -weak, but still there. Raising his head, he turned towards the young woman.

"I can get us to the Galactica and our medical facility in a few minutes. And I happen to know our doctor is there right now, and that you don't have anything of the kind on this ship." He said urgently. She looked at him.

"It'll take you more than that to negotiate your way around the other ships." She said finally. "She'll probably be dead by then." She continued, indicating the child with a thrust of her chin.

"Not for me, it won't." He urged again. Bending down, he carefully picked the child up in his arms. "Look. There's no time to argue about it." He said to the two women before him -and to the several other civilians with weapons presently trained on him. "If you want to, you can come along. But this is her only chance." Not even waiting for the woman's nod, he hurried to the docked raptor, checking only once over his shoulder to make sure the marines were transporting their injured man behind him.

Once inside the raptor, he set the child down gently beside her mother and his would-be captor, and watched as his people got them squared away before hurrying to the pilot's seat. He gestured to one of the uninjured marines to follow him.

"You contact the Galactica." He told the woman as he indicated the communications equipment. "I want you to let me handle explaining what just happened, but tell them about the two injured we're bringing in." She nodded, and he got the ship underway.

He was true to his promise, and a mere few minutes of careful yet quick flying later, they were setting down in the Galactica's landing bay. He quickly opened the hatch, clearing the way for the medical team to take the wounded away. The two women were about to follow when Lee stopped them.

He spoke to the women. "I need to take your guns." Without a word, they handed them over. "Come on." He said. "I'll show you the way." He sighed inwardly as he noticed Colonel Tigh step into the landing bay.

"What the hell just happened, Captain?" He asked angrily.

"It's... complicated sir." Lee replied. "I- these women need to get to Life Station- could we discuss this then?"

Tigh finally nodded, taking in the shock in both women's eyes. "All right. Come and see me in the briefing room when you're done, Captain."

Lee nodded in reply. Setting out again, he brought the women to the Life Station, where Doctor Cottle and his staff were moving frantically around their newly arrived patients.

"I should go." Lee said softly to the distraught mother and her friend, and turned to leave.

"Captain?" The younger woman called out to him.

He turned back to her. "Yes?"

"Thank you." She said finally. The other woman nodded in agreement.

He shrugged self-consciously. "It's my job... But you're welcome."

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
34 days after attempted assassination

"Hello, Master Sergeant Jenkins." Lee said as he stepped into the cluttered communal office used by their marine detail, to meet with the marine keeping track of his activities. She was an attractive middle-aged woman, with the kind of tough no-nonsense look about her that only comes from real experience.

"Captain." She said as she looked up from the paperwork she had been filling out.

He sat down before her and presented her with a written list of what he had done during this past day. He didn't exactly enjoy doing this, and writing things down beforehand was a way he had come up with to make it all go faster.

Taking the sheet of paper from him, she glanced at it before turning back to her paperwork.

Lee frowned. He did have many other urgent things he could be doing.

He cleared his throat. "Excuse me." He said politely. "I really don't mean to be rude, but I do have a lot of things to do -so if you wouldn't mind..."

She looked up at that. "I'm sorry Captain, but I would mind." She said in a flat tone.

"I...beg you pardon?" He asked, somewhat confused.

She sighed, and seemed to take a deep breath. "What I need to say isn't easy for me, but from what I've heard recently... What I meant to say is... that I happen to mind that our centuries-old democracy no longer exists. I liked being able to vote. I actually liked having a say." She told him, and paused.

"And I... I agree with what you did, sir." She told him, her vulnerable expression looking somewhat odd on such a fierce looking person. "And I heard about what you did on the Narcissus..." She continued.

"Then you heard wrong." He told her firmly. "I didn't do anything."

She shook her head. "Maybe you're not aware of it sir, but you did. The thing you might not have considered, is that you kept your head and you calmed things down. I'm an experienced marine, sir. Or I suppose someone in your position might say -less flatteringly- that I'm 'an old jarhead'." She smiled at her own joke. "I happen to know firsthand just how much a situation like that one might have gotten *much* uglier than it did, *very* quickly."

"We lost a lot of people when the toasters attacked, including marines. I know our people, sir, and the truth of it is that you got saddled with some real green hotheads when you went out there yesterday. Besides that, you also found yourself facing a bunch of scared, angry, and gun-happy civilians. However despite that, you kept your head -and at least two lives were saved thanks to your quick thinking."

Lee shrugged, feeling rather uncomfortable. "I-" He began, not quite sure what he was going to say.

She cut him off. "What I'm trying to say sir, is that I have a lot of respect for what you did. And I deeply respect what you've done in other situations as well. And with everything that's happened..." She paused, and sighed. "I've actually never disobeyed an order in my life, and I never thought I'd start now. I always believed in the chain of command." She shook her head.

"Despite that, I just wanted to let you know that... If there are things you do or places you go to which you feel you don't want to bring to my attention, well... As long as you don't write them down and show them to me, I'm afraid I simply won't have the time to take it upon myself to investigate." She smiled at him and continued in a drier tone. "After all, I've never been the best records keeper -and paperwork has a way of pissing me off."

He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing, and he reflexively glanced around the room.

She grinned at that. "Oh come on, Cap. You don't think we'd be having this conversation if there was anyone else in the room, do you?"

He stared at her for a few minutes, his mouth hanging open. "Uhm, I afraid I don't know what to say." He finally admitted.

She laughed. "Might I suggest 'thank you', sir? And of course, if asked I'll deny this conversation ever took place."

He had to smile at that. "I understand, Master Sergeant. And... thank you. I can't say I understand why you're doing this, but-"

She shrugged. "Let's just say I have hope that our democracy will someday be restored, and that I'd like to do my little bit to help those who believe in it. And I happen to know from recent events that you do. And I suppose I also believe in the importance having something worth fighting for." She finished softly.

He nodded as he stood. "Thank you." He said quietly, somewhat stunned by his newfound freedom.

***

-Colonial Fleet-
40 days after attempted assassination

Two men and two women in work-soiled clothing waited beside an airlock as a shuttle made contact with their ship. Finally, six men in red prison coveralls walked through the airlock to join them.

One of the four greeted the new arrivals. "My name is Kohl. I'm in charge of the tech side of things here on the Constellation." Turning around, he introduced his comrades with a gesture in their direction. "That's Jeffries, Kim, and Yang. You know, we really thought you weren't gonna show. Lots of you people haven't been wanting to go on the work details any more -not since the martial law decree." He commented, then added quickly. "Um, no offense guys."

The man facing him shrugged. "None taken. I'm Andrews by the way and, well, I guess we just decided we'd come this time. Isn't that right boys?" He asked the men behind him, who made vague sounds of assent.

"That's fine, fine." Kohl said nervously. "This way." He took the lead, after pointing out the direction to the newcomers.

They walked for some time through dark and somewhat dank corridors, passing by a series of closed hatches, until they came to an intersection between two corridors and stopped in front of one particular hatch.

"Well, here it is." Kohl said again, rather uselessly.

Andrews simply nodded, while his men kept to their taciturn, laconic discourse.

"Um, well... What we need you to do is to help us clear the septic tank -it's been backed up for days you see, and it's really getting to be a problem. All you need to do is go in, and make sure the areas around the waste disposal conduits are free. I'll show you where the environmental suits are, and uhm... Well, we do have shovels specifically for that job, as well."

Andrews nodded again.

Kohl provided the prisoner detail with environmental suits -bulky affairs with their own oxygen supply which closely resembled space suits- gave them shovels, and after describing their unappealing task in more detail, let them get to it.

A short time later, the men stood in their environmental suits just inside the hatch, on the edge of the tank.

"Why'd you figure they're not guarding us this time?" One of the other men, a tall thin man aptly nicknamed Reed asked.

Andrews laughed. "Because, dimwit, *nobody* wants to spend time in a septic tank. They don't figure us as being any different. We're expected to do the job, then get the frack out of there. They don't expect us to do something that'll make us be down there any longer than we have to." He paused. "You do know what a septic tank is, right?"

Reed glared at him sullenly. "Yeah, of course I do."

"Great. I'm so glad I won't have to explain it to you.

"So what are we going to do to this place?" Another man asked.

Andrews turned to him. "Well, we promised Mister Zarek we would do something that would get a little more attention than what we've been doing so far by refusing to work. So, in case you all didn't figure that out then, let me spell it out for you. We're supposed to engage in a little sabotage for the benefit of those friendly people we just met." He shrugged. "It's not what they're expecting, but, well, you can't get everything you want in life."

He smiled. "Let's go boys."

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
45 days after attempted assassination

Lee walked into the rec room at the end of a long and tiring day, to find several of his pilots playing cards. Rather than join them, he sat in a chair, and sighed softly at the feeling of merely sitting down for a moment.

"So what the hell happened on the Constellation anyway?" Crashdown was asking Kat as he shuffled the cards.

"Well, looks like it was another of that asshole Zarek's work parties -they were supposed to be working on fixing a septic tank that was backed up... And they blew it up instead."

"Frakking assholes. So now they're not just refusing to work anymore, huh?" HotDog asked.

"Looks like it." Kat shrugged. "I overheard the XO and the old man talking about it, and Lords, were they ever pissed." The others grimaced.

"So, you three gonna play before next year?" Jammer asked grumpily. The three in question gave him dirty looks but complied, and the cards were dealt.

"Hey -you guys ever think about it?" Kat finally asked quietly.

"'Bout what?" HotDog replied.

"About the whole martial law thing... I mean, I wonder sometimes -what happened to us that we got here, you know?" She said.

Crash shook his head quickly. "No. And I don't plan on it either. It's not our place to question orders -remember?" He said firmly, with a pointed glance in Lee's direction.

Kat turned and seemed to notice him for the first time. She stammered. "Um, I'm sorry sir -I didn't mean..."

Lee cut her off with a gesture and stood. He walked out without replying.

"Captain! Captain Adama, sir!" Kat yelled after him, having followed him into the corridor.

Lee stopped and waited, but didn't turn towards her.

"I... I'm sorry sir." She said nervously. "I'm sorry -please don't report me sir."

Lee laughed bitterly. "Don't worry Lieutenant." He said. "I won't report you."

"I don't understand, sir."

He turned to face her. "I said I won't report you. If I did, I'd have to report myself too." He shrugged. "But be more careful of what you say from now on, won't you?"

"Yes sir." She said, sounding relieved and confused at the same time.

For him however, things had suddenly become much clearer.
***
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
90 days after attempted assassination

As Lee jogged through the Galactica's corridors he appeared calm and detached, and seemed to have chosen his route quite arbitrarily. Just another day, another pilot.

*Appearances can be deceiving, however.* He thought as he carefully took note of the number and identity of the guards flanking the entry to the ship's FTL engines.

He jogged on, humming rather tunelessly to himself. A short time later he passed by two other pilots, Kat and Tiny, also on their morning run. Noting that the corridor was otherwise empty, he stopped. "They just changed the guards near the FTL engines." The others nodded, then set off to pick up the surveillance where he had left off.

He had finally decided to resort to mutiny.

He had begun by determining who was most likely to aid him, and who seemed to be able to keep their mouth shut. He was now working on the second stage, which was a detailed surveillance of the Galactica's most crucial sites -with the notable inclusion of the armory.

The third stage would involve appropriating some weapons and making certain the rest could not be used against them, as well as taking control of selected sites on board ship. And they would need a way of confusing their opposition, because the truth was that there was no place which could not be broken into given sufficient motivation.

***
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
143 days after attempted assassination

CIC was as busy and bustling as usual when Commander Adama walked in at the beginning of his duty shift. He'd been put back on full duty a few days ago. That had been welcome news to him, because the fact was that he truly hated being an invalid -and he knew he'd been more difficult with the Life Station's personnel than he should have been, but he hadn't been able to help himself.

"Hello Commander." Petty Officer Dualla said to him as he came in. Lieutenant Gaeta and a few others saluted silently. He'd gotten rid of the standard protocol involved with a commanding officer coming on deck at the very beginning of his command and had never regretted it. He much preferred the simple but honest words and gestures of welcome given by those who felt like giving them.

"What's our status?" He asked.

"We're currently at normal duty stations sir, just like yesterday. Dradis is empty. Colonial One reports a minor glitch in its sublight engines, and Representative Zarek has not responded to the message you sent him yesterday -or any of the previous messages." Dualla replied.

"Great." He said, sotto voce. It looked like he was going to have to take a hard line there. "Does Colonial One require assistance?" He asked more loudly.

"No sir. They said everything is under control." She replied.

Adama nodded, and began to look over various Galactica systems status reports. All in all, it looked like it was going to be another quiet day for their runaway fleet.

Suddenly the lights all over CIC flickered and dimmed, as the Galactica seemed to stagger mightily, throwing people and objects to the floor.

"Commander, sir!" Lieutenant Gaeta was shouting just as the lights came back on.

"What the hell just happened, Lieutenant?" He demanded as he got himself back to onto his feet.

"I don't know, sir..." He was wrestling furiously with his controls. "What I can tell you is that we somehow lost power in many different sectors of the ship for a few seconds."

"But it's back now?"

Gaeta nodded. "Yes sir. Everything's back on now, but... What the frak?" He asked suddenly.

"Talk to me Lieutenant!" Adama snapped.

Gaeta turned to face him. "Sir, I don't understand how, but... I can't access the FTL or sublight engines, the armory, Life Support, and a few other sectors. Somehow the CIC links to all those systems have been knocked out."

"Could it be the Cylons?" Adama asked.

Gaeta shrugged. "It certainly could be. But the only way to see what's going on now is to physically go to each of these locations and report back, sir."

Adama nodded. He picked up an intercom phone and ordered, "Attention all hands. Action stations. Action stations. This is not a drill. More instructions will follow.". He turned to Dualla. "Make sure techs get sent to all the areas we can't reach at the moment. Contact Major Ramsay as well and tell her I want her to send her marines to accompany the techs, just in case." He turned as his XO entered the CIC, summoned by his order to go to action stations.

"What do you think?" He asked after filling him in.

Tigh shrugged. "More sabotage? It wouldn't be completely unexpected -we never did figure out who the saboteur was last time." Adama nodded.

"I wonder if it could be something -or someone else though?" He asked quietly.

Tigh grunted. "Thinking about the Constellation? Well, we don't have any of Zarek's goons here -we never would have let them on board, that's frakking sure."

Adama was about to reply when he was interrupted by Dualla. "Commander! Major Ramsay reports that none of our people can get into the areas they've been sent to, sir."

"Why not?" He asked. "Have they encountered opposition of some kind?"

She shook her head. "No sir. But apparently those sectors are all locked down -the emergency bulkheads have somehow all been triggered in those sectors." She frowned for moment, looking down at her instruments. "I'm getting a written message from inside one of the cut-off zones, sir... Life Support, actually. I-" She abruptly cut herself off.

"What does it say?" He asked, coming up beside her. She handed him the sheet of computer printout.

We now control all systems essential to the Galactica's survival and defense. Our aim -and our most fervent hope- is not to harm anyone, and we have taken this step with the greatest reluctance. We have no wish to cause or effect bloodshed, but we are prepared to defend ourselves if necessary, and we will maintain our positions for any required length of time.
The reason behind our actions is that the loss of our cherished democracy is not something which can be allowed to go unchallenged. Many of us have risked our lives to protect this fleet, and yet now we stand against its current leadership because we believe that there is more at stake in this fight than simple survival. Because we feel that we also must struggle to maintain the ideals that have been at the core of our society since its inception.
Our conditions are as follows. We demand the immediate release and reinstatement of the legitimate President Laura Roslin, as well as free and fair elections. These demands are non negotiable. This aside however, we are open to discussion at any time and we will await futher communication.

Captain Lee Adama

Adama looked up from the printout, and passed it to Tigh.

"Frak me." The Colonel said softly.

***

Adama stepped into the brig. He gestured somewhat irritably as the marine guard snapped to attention upon seeing him. "Stand easy. I'm here to see the prisoner."

He walked to Roslin's cell without waiting for the guard's nod. She stood facing the bars to her cell, apparently waiting for him.

"I suppose you heard?" He began abruptly.

She nodded. "Billy's been on board since this started and he told me." They were silent for a moment -a tense, charged silence.

"What are you going to do?" She asked finally.

"That's need to know, and you don't have a need." He snapped.

She snorted at that. "Commander, if you're here to ask me if I had anything to do with this, the answer is no. I had no idea this was coming, and you knew as much as I did -and do- about my former Military Advisor's intentions."

"I'd say all this probably doesn't trouble you too much, though."

She shook her head. "Actually, it does, Commander. I never wanted to see a fine young officer like Captain Adama throw his career away -I would also say the same of those who have joined him. And I certainly don't want this situation to turn to bloodshed -as it very well might."

He turned his back to her abruptly, feeling a definite urge to make some holes in the wall. When he got himself under some semblance of control he turned back to her.

"Right." He said in a disbelieving tone, then shook that thought away. "There's one thing I can't understand, however." He said in a calmer tone.

"Only one?" She asked with some sarcasm of her own.

Refusing to lower himself to the level of arguing with her like a ten year-old boy, he ignored her question. "Why did they leave you out here when you're the person they're trying to reinstate?"

She shrugged in reply.

"It does grant us the possibility of using you as leverage in our negotiations, which seems rather ill-planned and out of context when you consider how well thought out this entire little operation has been thus far." He continued.

"It seems odd of you to compliment them." She said in a somewhat surprised tone, gazing at him with raised eyebrows.

He laughed, without real humor. "Only a fool doesn't grant his adversary their due."

"Well, I suppose everyone can make a mistake." She replied.

He shrugged, then cut her off when she seemed about to continue. "I've got work to do." As he walked out of the brig and ignored the guard's punctilious salute, he tried not to think about the many puzzles and unknowns in this situation -or about the fact that unknowns had a way of turning around and biting a person in the ass.

***

"So, what do you think they're going to do, sir? Do you think they're going to go for it?" Stephens, a computer systems specialist, asked rather nervously as she paused in her labors to wipe sweat off her face. She and others at various locations all over the ship had been at it for hours, throwing roadblocks into the attempts by the people on the outside to override their commands to the emergency bulkheads.

Lee Adama smiled at her reassuringly as he paused in his phone conversation with others in their group who were blocking the entry to the FTL engines. "I don't know. But even if it doesn't, it was a damn good idea."

Stephens grinned back. "Thanks sir. I have to say I'm disappointed I won't be able to put that one on my record. Although to be fair, it was you who told us we'd need the diversion in the first place."

"What do you think they're going to do to us once this is over, sir?" Another nervous voice broke in.

"I don't know, Petty Officer." Lee replied honestly. "That'll be up to them. But what's up to you now is that work you're doing -that way, whatever happens to us later we can at least say that we didn't do it for nothing. Wouldn't you agree?

The man nodded. "Yes sir." He said, sounding somewhat chastened, as he returned to his work.

***

"Status report." Adama barked as he walked back into CIC.

"Chief Tyrol says it's going to take his people a while before they can override their tinkering on those bulkheads." A crewman reported to him. Adama then turned to Lieutenant Gaeta, who shook his head.

"No sir. I still haven't had any luck overriding their commands from here either. But that's not surprising in a ship like this one, sir -because the computer systems were intentionally put in as standalones as a protection from the Cylons, things were also initially designed so that local commands could override CIC input if it became necessary. It was a protection in the event someone tried to take over the ship by linking the systems into a network from here."

Adama nodded -that particular news had not been unexpected. And, needless to say, Lee and the others with him had also known that little fact about the Galactica's systems and had taken full advantage of it. He rubbed a hand through his hair, then smiled wryly as Tigh gave him a sympathetic look.

"Sir! Picking up multiple enemy contacts on Dradis! It looks like a basestar and several raiders!" Dualla called out, looking at him in horror. A feeling of horror which echoed through him -without control of the Galactica's systems, they were sitting ducks.

Adama found himself drawing on each and every one of his years of experience in order to remain calm. "Contact the fleet and have them prepare for a jump -and tell them they're under orders to jump as soon as they are able." *At least we can get the damn civilians out of here.*, he thought. "And contact Captain Adama. Relate the situation to him in full." He ordered.

"Since we can't, let's see if the Cylons can't get them to budge." He muttered to himself with a stab at gallows humor.

Dualla nodded, swallowing nervously. "Yes sir." She sent her message, then waited. "No response, sir." She whispered.

"What?" He stepped up beside her. "I know they've got their demands, but I can't believe they want to get us all killed by the Cylons! Are you sure they got the message?"

"I sent it out on the standard intraship channel, sir. They haven't responded."

"Sir?" Lieutenant Gaeta was saying.

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Adama said, turning towards him.

"Sir, they might not have gotten the message." He continued urgently. "They might have done more than just override the CIC commands to the ship's systems. They could have actually cut off all the links between us and them -it wouldn't be hard to mess-up and knock out the intraship that way. And that part of their tinkering mightn't have really kicked in until after they sent us their original message, so they'd have no way of knowing."

"Is there another way to get in touch with them?" Tigh asked tightly.

Gaeta nodded. "There might be, sir. If we tried to contact them locally, instead of through the CIC loop... They might have taken out the communications link to CIC only and not to the rest of the ship."

"Enemy launching more raiders, sir!" Frak!

Adama nodded. He didn't much like the idea of giving in, but he wasn't the kind of commander to damn his people because of his pride.

"All right. Lieutenant, I want you to go and contact them. Take whoever you need with you. How fast can you do it?"

Gaeta nodded. "Fast, sir." Getting up, he gestured towards two techs who followed him out of CIC at a run.

"We're sitting here next to a frakking basestar and we can't fight or jump. Just how screwed are we?" Tigh asked sarcastically.

Adama grimaced in agreement, then turned to Dualla. "I want you to broadcast a message to the fleet. Tell them Laura Roslin will be freed and reinstated as President immediately, and that free elections will follow. Conclude it by sending out my authentication code so they'll know it's genuine. Then route a copy of the message to Gaeta with the instruction to pass it on to our 'rebels.'"

Dualla stared at him. "Um, yes sir." She seemed to shake herself. "Messages sent, sir." She said a few moments later.

Nodding, Adama continued. "And the Cylons, what are they doing?" She looked down.

"Sir, it's really odd. They're just... sitting there, sir. Not engaging us."

Adama nodded thoughtfully, then finally turned back to Tigh. "You know, we might not be as screwed as all that, Saul." Tigh looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

"What I don't understand is why those toasters haven't done us in yet." The Colonel muttered with a shake of his head.

Adama smiled sarcastically. "Oh, I think I may just have figured that one out. But then I've got an advantage there." He finished darkly. Tigh responded by giving him a puzzled look.

After a few more minutes of silent tension, Dualla called out from her station. "Commander, sir! The Cylons..."

"What are they doing?" He asked.

"They've disappeared, sir! I'm no longer seeing them on Dradis! But they can't just all have jumped out simultaneously like that -it doesn't make sense!"

Adama chuckled. "Oh, I think it does, Petty Officer. But keep an eye on them for me -will you? And warn me if anything changes." She nodded.

A few moments later, they got the call from Lieutenant Gaeta. There was relief in his voice. "They're standing down, sir. Captain Adama is here and wants to talk with you, sir. And sir, he says the Cylons on Dradis are a technical blip they put up on purpose to confuse us. Looks like they slipped us a little package into the Dradis computers before they began this operation, sir. I've got some people working on weeding it out."

Adama sighed. "That actually doesn't surprise me all that much, Lieutenant. Have the Captain brought to the briefing room, will you? I'll meet with him there."

"Yes sir." He replied, as Adama cut the communication.

"Colonel, you have command. I'll be back shortly." Tigh stopped him with a hand on his arm as he began to move towards the door.

"You knew that was a ruse the whole time -didn't you?"

Adama nodded. "Yes. But then I had an advantage -unfortunately, that's my son over there." He said dryly, before leaving CIC.

***

Lee was sitting, staring at the wall in front of him when Adama entered the briefing room.

"How about you tell me just what the frak I'm supposed to do with you this time?" Adama asked without preamble.

Lee shrugged uncomfortably. "Whatever you want, I guess." He said softly, not looking him in the eye.

Adama sighed. "Of all the... Let me ask you this -are you determined to do everything I ever told you *not* to do, and not to do everything I ever told you to *do*? Help me out here, because I sure as hell don't understand what the hell is going on with you!"

Lee looked up at that. "This isn't about you, sir. Or you and me."

Adama snorted. "What the frak is it about then?" He demanded.

Lee sighed and looked away again. "It's about doing what's right. That's all I was trying to do. Look... I know you don't agree with anything I've done lately, but all I can say is... I'm sorry for disappointing you. But I'm not sorry I did what I did."

Adama laughed bitterly, then sat down. "Yes, I understood that much, thanks. But let me tell you this. You may have gotten lucky because, unlike you, I didn't want to risk the safety of this ship on the unlikely event that the Cylons were really here or the chance that they might actually show up before we resolved this. So I gave in. And now that I have, I know that I can't go back without completely losing face. So, either way -I lose. But so will you -because there's no way I'll keep a loose cannon under my command. Or a mutineer."

Lee nodded. "I understand, sir. And I'll accept whatever decision you make. Although I would like to add that the plan was mostly my idea, and that the others involved are loyal soldiers, sir, despite their recent actions."

Adama frowned darkly. "I'll have to disagree with you on that, Captain."

Lee sighed unhappily, although any other response would have been quite unexpected. "There is also something else I need to say to you before we conclude this."

"Oh?"

"Yes sir." Lee handed his father a sheet of computer printout. After taking a few moments to read it through, Adama raised his eyes back to his son.

"What the hell is this?" He asked.

"It's a statement, sir. Which President Roslin has agreed to have broadcast in her name to the entire fleet-"

Adama interrupted him, reading from the sheet. "Where she *apologizes* and admits she exceeded her authority in fact if not by law, and to not using proper channels. How-" Adama began, surprise evident on his face.

"I stopped by the brig on my way here. I'd... always thought it would be more appropriate and *fair* this way, sir. While I was there, I pointed out that she'd be reinstated soon, but that a show of good faith might go a long way. And she agreed." Lee shrugged.

Adama gave him a skeptical look. "I wasn't born yesterday, you know. For her to agree to this there must have been *some* arm twisting involved."

Lee grimaced. "Well, I did point out -among other things- that her reinstatement was still contingent on your good will, sir. She was enough of a politician to see that. I thought it was a fair compromise, sir. And *that's* what I wanted." Lee finished quietly, without elaborating any further.

After a few more moments spent staring uncomfortably at each other, Lee walked out of the room, and Adama laid his head on his hands in tired frustration.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
160 days after attempted assassination

"Madam President." Commander Adama said brusquely as she stepped off her shuttle.

"Commander Adama." She replied in kind, wearing a smile that would have been more aptly referred to as a show of teeth.

"You wanted to talk, so let's talk." He said without preamble.

She shook her head, still grimacing. "Well... Why don't we take this to your conference room, Commander? For one thing, it will allow us to maintain our dignity in front of everyone else even if we do end up pulling each other's hair and screaming."

He nodded. He was, in truth, willing to go along with whatever got her off his ship with suitable dispatch.

The silence between them as they made their way to the briefing room was heavy and unpleasant. A few unlucky crewmen started upon seeing them, and promptly gave them a wide berth.

"So, what is it you want?" Adama asked once they were safely away from prying eyes and ears.

She sighed. "I have to warn you that you aren't going to like this."

He laughed at that, as she waved the humor of the situation away impatiently.

"I would like you to send a ship to the coordinates we were at prior to our last jump."

Adama paused at that, unable to believe his ears. "You've got to be joking." He finally managed to say.

She shook her head. "No, I'm not." He began to turn away, dismissing her, and she caught his arm. "And will you listen to me when I'm talking to you?"

He paused, and she removed her hand from his arm. "I'm giving you five minutes." He said bluntly. "And after that, I'm walking out of here and returning to my duties." He sat in a chair at the table. "Your five minutes have begun."

She walked over to face him across the table, leaning on it for emphasis. "I *know* that we're meant to find Earth." She began softly. "There is no way for us to do so without the Arrow of Apollo which Lieutenant Thrace was supposed to bring back from Caprica. She will not be able to find us if we are not there when she returns to our previous coordinates. And I have... had a vision."

Adama rolled his eyes at that and appeared to be about to speak, when she stopped him with a raised hand. "You did say you would grant me five minutes, Commander. My time isn't up yet."

"What I saw... tells me that she will return and that we *will* find the way." She continued. "And since I know that you won't agree to do this voluntarily, I'm ordering you to send a ship to determine if we can return to our previous coordinates."

"You're ordering me?" He said angrily, as his face darkened.

"Since I do have that right as President, and unless you intend on reneging on your decision to reinstate me, yes." She removed her hands from the table and stood, gazing at him as she visibly dared him to revisit their earlier dispute.

"You do realize that whomever I send will very possibly die if, as I suspect, there are still Cylons in the system."

"I'm sure of what will happen, Commander. They won't die."

He sighed. "And even if there are no more Cylons in the system, what makes you think they won't return later? They found us there once."

"I *know* we have to go there." He watched the determination shine in her eyes.

He nodded. "All right, fine." He said, and watched as her eyes widened in shock.

He chuckled without real humor at her response. "I'll tell you what. I'll make a deal with you, Madam President -since you're so sure you're right." *And since I'm so sure you aren't.* "I'll send out a raptor. If there are no Cylons, we will discuss our options. If, however, there are Cylons in the system or if the raptor doesn't return..." He paused.

"Then what?" She prompted.

"Then, Madam President, you will leave me and my people the frak *alone* so we can do our job. Do I make myself clear?" He said, not minding in the least the fact that he sounded as though he was dressing down some wet-behind-the-ears crewmember.

To his surprise, she smiled. "It's a deal." They didn't shake on it.

***

"Are you frakking well out of your mind?" Colonel Tigh exclaimed a short time later as Adama told him of his plan. "The woman's a raving lunatic! I sure hope she doesn't get reelected, because that isn't what she deserves -she should be committed!"

Adama looked back at his longtime friend calmly. "Are you done?" He asked when it appeared Tigh had run out of steam.

"Not bloody likely! What the frak-"

"Well, that's just too bad, Colonel." Adama cut in firmly. "Because I've made my decision and this is still my ship."

Tigh groaned. "Oh come on, Bill. Don't pull rank on me now! And you know the last thing I ever wanted was your job -that's just one more reason why I'm trying to convince you not to do this thing!"

Adama sighed. "I know, Saul. But I have to do this -I have to keep this fleet alive and functioning, and putting the woman in the brig didn't help with that much, the last time. And there's no way in *hell* I'm sending some kids out to get themselves killed on a suicide run like this one. So I'm going to do it. Besides, even if I don't make it back it'd certainly be worth it for the rest of you since it'd prove her wrong."

"And have you considered what getting yourself killed would do to the fleet?"

Adama smiled. "Don't give up on me so fast, old friend. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve -even if I am an old soldier. I could actually make it back." He stood, and looked around the briefing room. "Take care of her for me, will you?"

"You know I will." They shook hands in silence.

"But just in case I don't make it back... It's been good run, Saul. See you on the other side." He said quietly, before stepping out of the briefing room and heading for the hangar bay -and his waiting raptor.

***

When he got to the hangar bay, he saw he wasn't alone.

"I heard." Lee said simply. He now spent his time on Colonial One -he did still have a job there, after all. And since he had had the choice between spending his time in the Galactica's brig or being banished from the ship entirely until his court-martial, he had chosen the latter.

Adama nodded in reply to Lee's statement, as he considered his son -who was not supposed or allowed to be here at all, and yet had found some way to be here to see him off. There were actually many things he wanted to say now that he knew he might never have another chance, and yet he still hadn't learned how to say them. Perhaps he never would.

"For what it's worth, Dad, I'm sorry I disappointed you. I can't be sorry for what I did, but I am sorry for that." Lee said quietly, then paused. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me go on this mission in your place, would you?"

Adama shook his head. "No." Was it his imagination or did his voice sound strangled as he said so?

Lee sighed, knowing very well it was more than useless to argue. "It was worth a try, I suppose." He nodded. "Be safe, Dad."

"You too, son." Adama said quietly as he watched him walk away. Finally, he shook himself and stepped into the raptor, and got himself underway.

***

-Colonial One-
Colonial Fleet
161 days after attempted assassination

"Madam President?" Sean, who was in charge of Colonial One's message traffic, was hovering in the background as President Roslin discussed several issues concerning the fleet with Billy Keikeya and Lee Adama.

"Yes, Sean?"

"Madam President, we've received a communication from the Galactica." He said solemnly, handing her the sheet of computer printout he held.

She glanced down at the message, then held it out to Captain Adama. "Commander Adama has returned, and reports that there are no more Cylons at our previous coordinates." She said with a trace of smugness.

"What are you going to do?" Lee asked, after having read the message.

"I'll have to discuss it with the Commander, but I want us to have a more long term presence in that system. When Lieutenant Thrace returns, we *must* be there to meet her." She replied.

"With all due respect, ma'am, are you sure that's a good idea? What if the Cylons come back?"

"Then we will deal with it, Captain." She turned to Billy, dismissing his arguments. "I need to go to the Galactica." Billy nodded and left to arrange her trip.

Somehow, Lee didn't see his father agreeing to her proposal without a fight.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
161 days after attempted assassination

"So, how does it feel to be back from your death-defying jaunt into the unknown?" Colonel Tigh asked his Commander as they made their way to Galactica's briefing room.

Adama snorted. "Well, it wasn't much of an adventure, and there really wasn't much death-defying going on. To tell you the truth, I was a bit disappointed."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Adama grinned wolfishly. "I was rather looking forward to proving I'm not completely fossilized."

Tigh rolled his eyes, but declined to say more as they entered the briefing room, where Roslin and her aide Billy Keikeya were waiting for them.

"So, Madam President," Adama said without preamble, "what the hell do you want now?" She showed no reaction to his manner, but her aide winced.

"I want to move the fleet to our previous coordinates, so that we can be there to meet Lieutenant Thrace when she returns from Caprica."

"It's been almost six months. What makes you think she'll come back at all?" Adama asked bluntly.

She only shrugged.

"Besides," He continued as he walked over to the table, "I seem to recall that you yourself, a mere few months ago, told me that one person wasn't more important than the entire fleet."

"This isn't a case of just one person." She said earnestly. "This *is* for the good of the entire fleet. We *must* find the way to earth -what else are we supposed to do? Jump endlessly until our ships fall apart around us?"

"The Cylons followed us to Kobol. What makes you think they won't follow us any farther?"

"Because I have faith, Commander. I know this is something that is rather difficult for you to grasp, but I *know* we will find the way to our salvation. If you will only agree to having the fleet return to the previous coordinates so we can find out *what* that way is, that is!" She paused. "I can give you another order, Commander, if you'd prefer."

"And I could see to it the members of the Quorum of Twelve are informed of the reasoning behind your decision -I'm sure they'd appreciate learning that you're gambling our collective safety on your personal religious belief. For that matter, I wonder what your Vice President would have to say about it?" He replied.

She sighed. "It would probably affect my chances for reelection, but until I am replaced, the Quorum -and the Vice President- don't decide policy. I do. Therefore I am fully empowered to order you to comply in moving the fleet to our previous location."

The silence, after she finished speaking, was uncomfortable.

"I'll call you tomorrow, Commander. I'll expect to see that you have taken the necessary steps. Good day." She said, ending the discussion.

Adama and Colonel Tigh watched as she and her aide left the room.

"You're not really going to do this?" Tigh asked.

"I don't really have a choice." Adama pointed out. "I've already faced a mutiny that involved a substantial proportion of our personnel and tied up our defenses. And from what the reporters tell us, there seem to be a good proportion of the civilians who think Roslin's some kind of damned religious icon. If I put us against her again, I don't really want to think how this will all end." He paused, then found himself smiling.

"But think of it this way, old friend. We may just prove her wrong."

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
185 days after attempted assassination

After reluctantly obeying Roslin's orders and returning to their previous coordinates, Adama had put in place every additional precaution he could think of. However despite his earlier fears, roughly three utterly uneventful weeks had gone by.

Of course, Adama told himself as he considered their situation, that also meant that the Cylons hadn't shown up, and that he was about to prove the blasted woman wrong. He made himself put aside the deep pang he felt at the thought of Kara Thrace being lost. He had other things to think about.

"Commander!" Commander William Adama looked up as Petty Officer Dualla spoke. "Picking up an unknown on an approach vector, sir!"

"Identification?" He demanded. She began to smile, and put a message on the loudspeaker.

"...peat. This is Lieutenant Karl S. Agathon on the Icarus. I have seventy-two refugee civilians from Caprica on board..." Dualla was smiling widely as a cheer made its way around CIC. Smiling, Adama gestured to Dualla and waited as she connected him to the transport.

"...Request permission to join the fleet."

"This is Commander Adama on the Galactica. Request granted." He chuckled. "It sounds like you'll have quite a few stories to tell, Lieutenant."

"Yes sir." Came the reply. "And sir..."

"Yes lieutenant?"

There was a slight hesitation on the other end. "Have you heard from Starbuck, sir?"

***

She had come back.

The meaning of those words seemed to echo through Lee as he watched them carry her away from her raider.

*Her pitted, scored, and blasted raider.* He told himself. It had been yet another close call in a lifelong series of close calls. He shook his head, trying to shake away that thought. As he did, he noticed several of the deckhands staring at him. He cleared his throat.

"Carry on." He said, then realized he was now for all intents and purposes a civilian. "Um, I'm uh...sorry..." He mumbled self-consciously, before deciding he was better off quitting when he was already behind, and left for the Life Station.

When he had heard that she had returned he had called in every last favor he was owed and made sure he was there on the Galactica to greet her. He walked into the Life Station, and waited until he was allowed to see her. Once by her bedside however, he found that he didn't know what to say.

"Hey." She said softly, as she noticed him standing there.

He smiled. "Hey."

"So... What are you doing out of uniform anyway?" She asked. "I mean, the sight of Lee Adama not wearing his military colors happens to me -well, practically never."

He raised an eyebrow -falling back, as she had, on their usual safe patterns and ignoring what had happened between them in the hangar bay. "Oh, I beg to differ. You've seen me in the buff, as I recall. One of the hazards of military service, or so I hear."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, that's not what I meant. What the hell is going on, Lee? Talk to me."

"It's a long story." He said, not quite sure how to explain it all. "And you haven't told me what happened to you."

"I asked first." She pointed out.

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Right. Well, since you asked so very politely... I'm actually not supposed to be here since I'm going to be court-martialed out of the service. Well -assuming they ever decide to get to it anyway."

She was silent for a moment after that revelation. "Okay, I didn't expect that one. What the frak did you do to make them that unhappy with you anyway?"

He grimaced. "It's not just them, actually. I don't think anyone's all that happy with me right now, although President Roslin has at least kept me on as her advisor." He shrugged. "I figured it was probably because she's enough of a politician to have decided she can still make use of me."

Kara's eyebrows made a rather perilous journey up into her forehead. "The President? You managed to piss her off too? What the hell did you do, anyway?"

"I... Well, there was a mutiny, and since I had something to do with it and I had just gotten her released, I was able to prod her into apologizing for... Well uh... It's kind of complicated." He replied, not really wanting to elaborate on that just now.

She groaned. "Okay, fine, Mr. Complicated. Did I mention I brought back a whole pile of survivors, after getting them to build a ship from scratch? Oh, and we actually blew up some toasters while we were down there. Don't start thinking you're the only one who gets to have any fun." She said, as she shook her finger at him. He laughed.

"I really missed you, you know that?" He said more seriously, and watched as she froze.

"Why? Didn't you have enough aggravation in your life when I was gone?" Once spoken, she waved away any answer he might have made to her question. "Never mind."

He shrugged, and turned to walk away as he noticed that two marines were now standing in the doorway, waiting to escort him. He paused as he made a decision. After everything that had happened...

Frak the usual safe patterns.

He turned back to her and grasped her hand. "Just so you know, it wasn't the same here without you. Not for me." He paused. "I missed you every minute of every day." He said softly, before gently kissing her lips.

"And I always will."
***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
6 hours since arrival of survivors from Caprica

"Watch it! Coming through!"

"Her vitals are good, but..."

"Calm down, sir! We've got you -you're safe now..."

Galactica's Life Station was at a frantic level of activity when Commander Adama walked in. Sick and injured people lay everywhere, some moaning, some screaming, and some lying utterly quiet, with only their breathing to reassure a casual observer as to their being alive.

They had requested medical personnel from several other ships to help tend to the many sick and wounded, and several of the lighter cases had been housed elsewhere on-board Galactica while they received medical care. Despite those efforts, Galactica's Life Station overflowed.

Turning around, he found the two people he was looking for -Kara Thrace was lying in a bed, and Lieutenant Karl Agathon was standing by her side. Both were silent, gazing toward another corner of the Life Station -the one corner which was empty, save for one woman and a heavily-armed marine guard detail. Adama walked over to the two of them.

"Commander." Lieutenant Agathon greeted him.

"Lieutenant." He replied, before turning to gaze down at Lieutenant Thrace. "I'm going to need to debrief both of you, as well as the people you brought back. We'll also need to get personal information from everybody."

"We can provide you with that, sir-" Lieutenant Agathon began.

Adama shook his head. "I'm going to need more than that, Lieutenant." He sighed. "I can see these people have had a hard time, but we need to get this directly from the source."

"And you, Lieutenant? What's your status?" Adama asked abruptly, turning to Lieutenant Thrace, who shrugged.

"I'm not completely sure, sir." She said quietly. "They told me the burns on my leg aren't too bad, but they've got people much worse off right now, so they haven't had much time to come talk to me beyond that." She leaned back in bed, and closed her eyes. Adama frowned.

Deciding to change the subject, he turned to Agathon. "I do have news for you, Lieutenant."

"Oh?" The man asked.

"Yes." Adama paused, trying to decide how to phrase what he needed to say next. "I just had a talk with Doctor Cottle -because of security concerns I've ordered him to inform me of any developments in the case of the copy of Valerii you brought back."

He sighed. "He did have some people run some tests on her and he confirms that she is indeed pregnant. He doesn't know anything beyond that at this point, but he has recommended keeping her -it- under observation. He'll run more tests once things have calmed down a bit." He concluded, gesturing to the chaos surrounding them.

Agathon nodded back mutely. Turning back to Lieutenant Thrace, Adama watched her for a moment as she seemed to willfully ignore his presence.

Deciding it was probably best to leave certain things for later, he nodded to Lieutenant Agathon and left.

Helo watched him go. "You should have talked to him, Kara." He said.

Kara shrugged. "I guess..." She began, then paused and opened her eyes. A tear fell down her cheek. "I guess I just don't know how." She said softly, before wiping her eyes and lying back down again.

Helo frowned, then decided to try and change the subject. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to him. When he did speak, he found himself engaging on a topic which was a considerable source of discomfort to him.

"You know something?" He asked.

"No, what?" She replied without opening her eyes.

"D'you know that I actually never even considered that Sh- that she might not really be pregnant. I guess I just believed her. Stupid, huh?"

Kara snorted and laughed at that, keeping her eyes closed. "Helo, you're a guy. Being stupid comes with the extra equipment."

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
One week since arrival of survivors from Caprica

A week later, Lieutenants Thrace and Agathon found themselves facing their Commander across Galactica's briefing room table.

"And so... We agreed that Lieutenant Agathon would pilot the Icarus, and that I would create a diversion with the raider..." Starbuck was saying.

Adama nodded as they related the details of their escape -elaborating on what he already knew thanks to their written reports. When Lieutenant Thrace finished her narration, he spoke.

"Thank you. Your reports were quite complete, but there are one or two other things I need to know. For one, did you note any suspicious behavior on the part of the civilians you brought back?"

They both shook their heads. "No sir." Lieutenant Agathon said. "They just seemed to be eager -desperate even- to leave, to find someplace safe."

"And what about these rumors of imprisoned survivors?" Adama continued.

Thrace shrugged. "I don't know sir. Like I said sir, all we got were those rumors. Some of the survivors we brought back might know more though."

Adama sighed. "All right. You're free to go." He watched as they stood to leave -Lieutenant Thrace leaning on a cane.

"Sir, may I ask what you're going to do with the Cylon?" It was Lieutenant Agathon.

Adama's face tightened unwillingly in memory, before he replied. "I've decided to keep it in medical under observation -and heavy guard- for now. I found your reports of the Cylon interest in the pregnancy quite interesting. We need to know more. So I will let you know if anything changes -and when I make a decision regarding the deal it offered to make with us." He looked at them both. "Dismissed."

Nodding, Lieutenant Agathon left, but Thrace stayed behind. "Was there something you wanted, Lieutenant?" He asked.

"Yes sir. Sir, I know you're still busy determining what you're going to do with all the civilians we brought back but... I wanted to ask what you plan on doing with me, sir?" She asked quietly.

He paused for a moment as he considered his words, watching as she leaned on her cane, trying to hide her discomfort. Finally, he spoke.

"To be honest, I haven't quite decided yet, Lieutenant." He replied. "I'm not certain that the letter of military law would allow me to try you for anything."

He paused once more. "In truth, I find that unfortunate. The fact is that you, a key member of this ship's command structure, defied my orders and my authority. The letter of the law only goes so far, however, so I can't remove you from your post. But there is a spirit to any law, and in that spirit I intend to see to it that you pay a price for your actions. Is that clear?" He asked as he finished.

She nodded, and turned to go. "Sir." She said, and stopped, keeping her back to him. "I... I'm sorry, sir. And I'm really sorry... I wasn't here." She said, before leaving as quickly as her injured leg would permit.

Adama shook his head. Had he been too harsh? He didn't know -all he knew was that in order to stand, the military needed discipline. That was the way it had always been. And despite all that had happened, he needed to maintain order and he would continue to do so -come what may.

As he rose, gathered the reports before him and left, he considered their situation.

When the refugees had shown up, Adama had immediately had those who needed it transported to the Galactica's medical facilities, and he had sent some of the Galactica's people over to the Icarus to verify that the ship would be able to go through another jump. Once that had been accomplished, he had had the fleet jump to new coordinates -and had felt himself breathe more easily ever since.

The President had shown up on Galactica within a few hours of Starbuck's rescue to collect the Arrow of Apollo. Roslin had publicly revealed the significance of the Arrow, and from what Adama understood, there was now considerable heated discussion among the civilians as to what should be done next.

Those refugees that were not in the Life Station had been brought to the Galactica, and Adama had assigned several of his people the task of debriefing them and collecting every possible shred of information. Although he didn't expect it to help them find Cylons -and with Doctor Baltar's Cylon detector still backed up with testing the fleet, there was no practical way to be sure the new arrivals were who they said they were- it had been his experience long ago that there was no such thing as too much information.

Then again, there wasn't much certainty as to who anyone was, these days.

Adama shook that thought away, only to find himself pondering what he was going to do with his mutineers -including, notably, his own son. He smiled with grim, dark humor.

Whoever had come up with the understatement that life was never easy deserved to spaced.

***

-The Rising Star-
Colonial Fleet
Nine days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Lee paused just after entering the bar on the Rising Star, taking in the noise, and sighed. He hadn't really wanted to leave Colonial One, since he had felt he might be needed. President Roslin, however, had insisted -and he was sure he had overheard her muttering something about him not being in the military anymore and needing to learn how to unwind. Therefore, not knowing where to go, he had ended up here because he had heard there was a show of some kind somewhere on the Rising Star.

After having wandered aimlessly for some time, he now found himself surrounded by drinking and partying civilians, feeling out of place and trying to remember what it felt like to be on leave. It had certainly been a while.

Sighing once more, he walked towards the bar and ordered some ambrosia. Holding his drink, he turned around in his seat to gaze at the people surrounding him, considering his lot.

He still didn't know how his military career was going to end, not having heard anything from his father, although he was fairly certain that it wasn't going to go anywhere further after leading the recent mutiny.

And he still hadn't heard or seen anything from Kara Thrace. He had sent her several messages since her return, which had been met with silence. He pursed his lips as he considered that -Kara did tend to be skittish when it came to certain things. However, he hadn't even gotten the chance to apologize for acting like an ass before her departure for Caprica. And despite having been justifiably hurt and angry at the time, he *needed* to apologize -and he certainly wouldn't blame her if she felt an urge to space his ass for what he'd said to her back then.

"Hello there, handsome." He heard a female voice say from his left. Turning his head, he discovered that a leggy long-haired blonde in a slinky red dress had taken up residence on the barstool next to him while he had been immersed in his thoughts. She smiled.

"Yeah, I know, that's original." She continued when she saw that she had his attention, and shrugged. "But what can I say? I don't usually have to resort to lines, you know. But I was getting desperate. You were pretty deep in thought there."

He shrugged in turn. "I've... got a lot of things on my mind." He put his drink on the counter behind him. This wasn't working out for him.

He looked up as she held out her hand. "I'm Lily. Lily James."

Not wanting to appear rude, he shook her hand. "Lee Adama." He said in return, looking out at the scene surrounding him once more. Because he did so, he failed to notice her sudden silence. He did look back at her, though, when she spoke.

"Wait a minute. You... You were on the Galactica, weren't you? You had the President reinstated..." She said, her voice sounding strange -almost awed- to his ears. When he hesitated, she continued, "Didn't you? That *was* you, wasn't it?" She asked earnestly.

He finally nodded. "Yes, but..." He cut himself off. He didn't want to talk about it, and certainly not to some woman he'd just met. He stood, preparing to leave, and halted when she put a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry..." She said softly, "I didn't mean to scare you away. I won't tell anyone -I promise." She smiled a soft smile at him, full of promise. "Won't you stay and talk?"

Feeling suddenly guilty for hurting her feelings, he shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry." He said honestly. "There's nothing wrong with you. I'm just not... interested." Not knowing what else to do, he patted her hand before walking away and leaving the bar and his drink behind. Yes, no doubt about it, that probably qualified as one of the least tactful or smooth exits in modern history, he thought to himself ruefully. But there had simply been no way to tell her the truth.

How was he supposed to tell her that her eyes were the wrong color, and that her hair was too dark, and too long? That her clothes were all wrong and that she should have been telling him off, instead of trying to entice him?

He laughed bitterly at himself. He might as well admit it -he had it bad.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
Sixteen days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Commander Adama sat in the Galactica's briefing room, gazing down at the sheet of paper before him with considerable distaste. He looked up as his XO and erstwhile CAG entered the room.

Tigh sat down beside Adama as Lee took a seat across from them. Adama was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then, "As you might have guessed, I've asked you here to discuss the possibility of your court-martial under the Articles of War."

Lee nodded back calmly.

"On that subject, I have just received a communication from the President, which has also been signed by the entire Quorum of Twelve." Adama drew in a breath. "They have ordered me to discontinue any court-martial proceedings against yourself or any member of the military which aided in your... collective attempt to reinstall the President. They made several points, including several concerning the *legality* of my actions at the time which I will not bother to relate to you. The main point at the moment however is that I cannot, by law, act as both the authority convening such a trial and as your accuser. They point out that military law states, 'if the commanding officer is an accuser, the court shall be convened by superior competent authority, and may in any case be convened by such authority if considered desirable by him or her'. Given the state of our fleet, the only 'superior authority', as they have pointed out, would be the Quorum or the President herself, and as they have refused to convene such proceedings..." He paused. "I can't court-martial you."

Lee was silent for a moment. "I can't imagine you'd still want me under your command though, sir." He said, finally.

Adama nodded. "You're right. I don't. So I'm going to offer you a deal." He paused once more. "I want you to voluntarily resign your commission as a member of the Colonial Military. In exchange for this, I will... ignore the fact that you had a great many accomplices in this particular venture. And we both know that even though I can't try them anymore than I can you, I *could* make their lives very difficult if I chose to."

"The bottom line is that as long as I'm commander of this ship and fleet, proper military discipline *will* be observed. It is the only way to maintain the cohesiveness of our forces in the face of the enemy. And for that, I need you gone." He concluded.

Lee was again silent as he considered what he had just heard. "I understand." He said after several moments. "And... I accept."

"You'll have my written resignation in a few hours." He said, standing, and left the room.

Once outside, he found himself staring at familiar walls which weren't home anymore. He smiled at that thought. Was there anywhere that was home, anymore? Forcing himself to put such dark thoughts away, he began to consider what had just happened. In truth, he had accepted his father's offer because he knew him -he knew that if his father made a promise he would keep it. It was one of the things he admired about the man.

He sighed as he began to head towards the hangar bay and his shuttle. The truth was that despite the fact that he'd agreed to this, and despite the fact that he'd strongly considered leaving the military before the Cylons attacked the Colonies, there were several things he would miss. Like the feeling of being useful, and the fact that certain aspects of military life had channeled certain parts of him -like his temper. And he knew he would dearly miss the wild joy one could only feel whenever there was nothing between you and space but the thin skin of a viper cockpit.

Looking up and ahead of him, he noticed a blonde head about to turn a corner. "Kara!" He called out -she seemed to be as deep in thought as he was. He watched as she stopped and waited, before turning to face him.
***
Kara had had a truly awful day so far -one of those days where if you said to yourself, 'I wonder what could happen next to crap my day out even more', the Gods somehow obliged by making whatever it was happen.

Doctor Cottle had refused to put her back on full duty and left her to languish with no viper 'privileges' for at least another week. She then found she had miscalculated -somehow- and the hot water rations she had thought were sufficient for one last hot shower were... not there anymore when she had been ready to take it. The frakking rooks who had been in the showers at the time were still laughing over that incident -when they thought she wasn't around to hear about it, of course. And instead of flying, she'd once again found herself being drafted for more debriefing of the refugees, which meant repeating the same frakking things over and over and over again...

No, it had not been a good day.

And when she heard his voice calling out to her, she realized her awful day was truly complete. She slowly turned to face him, bowing to the inevitable.

"Hey, Lee. How's it going?" She asked. She didn't look at him as she waited for his reply. She admitted it -she'd been avoiding him. The truth of it was that she just couldn't face...whatever was going on there, for so many reasons.

When the expected reply didn't come, she made the mistake of looking up into the sweet fire of his eyes and remembered yet another reason she didn't want to see him.

She wasn't good enough. She didn't deserve to be happy.

She put her thoughts aside, telling herself she was going to get through this. Heck, she'd survived everything else the Gods had thrown at her, right? "What's up, Lee?" She asked, putting a brave face on it.

He sighed. "I was just wondering why you're not returning my calls or replying to my messages, I guess. Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I've just been busy, you know? I really meant to call, but..."

Lee cut her off. "Bullshit." He said angrily.

Her eyes narrowed, and she turned away from him. "Well frak you, then. I've got work to do."

He caught her arm. "Kara... Gods, that didn't come out right. Look... I'm sorry for jumping off the handle there, all right?" He paused. "That wasn't what I wanted to say to you."

She shook his hand off. "So what did you want to say -and I really do have to go. I've got several things I needed to get done for yesterday."

He sighed again, and seemed to shuffle around a bit, which wasn't like him. "I just... I wanted to apologize." He said finally.

"For what?"

"For what I said to you before you left. I-"

She snorted at that. "Which part, Lee?"

He winced. "Well, all of it, but mostly the part where I said... I didn't mean... I didn't mean it when I said that stuff about you not being able to keep your pants on. I was... I was full of it, and I was hurt, all right?" He paused and shook his head.

"I was just really hurt, and I didn't mean it. Anyways, I just... wanted you to know that."

"Yeah, well..." She shrugged. "Lee... Believe it or not, it didn't offend me. I... understood where you were coming from, okay? But I've really got to go now, Lee." As she began to back away, he reached out to hold her by the shoulders. She tried to ignore the thrill that fairly casual touch caused.

"Kara, wait. I-"

She shook him off. "I'm sorry. I have to go." She left, ignoring the fact that she could feel his eyes follow her as she did so.

***

-Colonial One-
Colonial Fleet
36 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

President Roslin's suite on Colonial One was quiet, save for the tapping of Vice-President Baltar's foot against the deck.

"Do you mind?" Lee Adama asked him testily, interrupting his discussion with the President.

The foot stopped tapping.

"I think he's annoyed with you, Gaius." An amused voice said in his ear. He shrugged, to indicate he didn't care.

"I don't think he cares for you much." Six said, turning to look over at the ex-Captain.

"Well, I don't..." He began as he stood...

Only to find himself the focus of three sets of startled eyes. "What I meant..." He began. "What I meant was that I don't think I should be sitting here like this without contributing anything. I... apologize for my lack of participation."

Roslin gave him a puzzled look as she sat with Apollo and Billy. "Yes, thank you doctor." She said, obviously humoring him, before resuming her conversation.

"We're watching, you know." He turned around to face her.

"Watching what?" He whispered.

She smiled. "We know they'll be coming. And when they do, we'll be waiting."

"...don't care what they think, Captain. We've already sent a ship to survey the area, as you know, and they reported the Kobol system as being free of any Cylon presence. We *must* go to Kobol, and use the Arrow of Apollo. It is the only way that we will find the way to Earth -and accomplish the prophecies." Roslin was saying.

Lee sighed. She'd already made up her mind, so there was obviously no point arguing the matter. The Quorum's debate of the question had only lasted as long as it had because she was conscious of the strained relations between herself and the military. She had wanted, for diplomacy's sake, to allow time for the Galactica to determine what they wanted to do with the fleet's new refugees before publicly announcing her intentions.

He watched as the President turned to Billy and began to relay instructions for organizing the trip to the surface of Kobol.

"Madam President."

"Yes, Captain?" For some reason, despite his resignation from the military now being official, she persisted in referring to him by his former rank.

"Do you need me for anything?"

She smiled. "No. Thank you, Captain." He continued to watch as she turned back to Billy and finished relaying her instructions. Standing, he walked around Baltar and over to the other end of the room, looking out through a window at the space surrounding them.

When Billy had left and Baltar had found some excuse to do the same, he turned back to Roslin. "Madam President, can I ask you something?"

She nodded, not looking up as she sifted through piles of documents on her desk.

"What am I doing here?" He asked bluntly, and watched as she sat up straighter.

"What do you mean, Captain?"

"Well ma'am..." He replied, "It's become rather evident to me that you don't really need me. Most of the time I'm simply waiting around here -you haven't exactly needed my advice all that much. I don't see that changing anytime soon, especially with my resignation from the military. I'm not part of the command structure of the Galactica anymore, so I won't even be able to keep you up to date as to what is going on there -or act as your liaison with the Commander. My... advice doesn't seem to be of much use to you either. So why do you keep me here?"

She sighed. "Captain, you are useful to me. I wouldn't keep you on if you weren't. Isn't that enough of an answer for you?" She asked.

"No, ma'am, it's not. I'm sorry if this is an inconvenient time or an inconvenient question, but... I... I can't just stand around, ma'am. I don't think I'm very good at it -and to be honest I think one of the things I'm already missing about the military is the fact that there was always a way I could make myself useful."

She smiled at that. "Believe it or not, Captain, I understand -and I sympathize. But you *are* useful to me, and I do need you to stay and continue working with me. If you don't mind, that is."

Lee sighed in turn, noting that she hadn't really answered his question. "All right. Is there anything you need me to do for the moment?"

She nodded. "Yes. I need you to prepare to go to Kobol -I'm taking you with me. I'll be taking Elosha as well. Billy will stay behind to deal with some matters in the fleet for me, using instructions I will leave behind." She smiled at him again, before returning to her work.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
40 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

After arriving on board Galactica for the first time since the restrictions on his travelling there -as a civilian- had been lifted, Lee found that he had to simply wait for everyone to be ready before leaving for Kobol. He had therefore decided to take a quick walk down familiar corridors -he hated having nothing to do, and a few weeks ago he would have been busily involved in the process of getting everyone ready for a mission like this.

As he walked back to the hangar bay, he considered his feelings. He didn't know what he'd expected when he visited the Galactica for the first time since resigning his commission, but it was a little disconcerting to see that everything was back to normal despite the fact that he was no longer there to make it so.

But then, they'd picked a damn fine CAG to replace him.

As he turned the last corner before the port landing bay, he paused. His replacement stood there in her flight suit.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he walked up to her.

Kara grimaced. "Hello to you too, Lee."

He sighed. "I didn't mean... I just thought you were still on limited duty? What are you doing flying?"

"I actually am on limited duty..." She replied. "But the Quorum ordered us to send our most experienced pilots on this mission. That apparently includes me, even wounded. Particularly since regs won't allow you to pilot one of our birds. And particularly since the Powers That Be decided to make me CAG..." She shrugged, an unhappy look on her face. "But just to make sure, I'll be flying the second raptor -the one without the President."

Lee nodded, then moved aside as a crewman hurried up to speak with her. After a few moments spent feeling utterly superfluous, he turned to head back to the President who seemed to be deep in discussion with both Elosha and the other pilot.

Lee turned back to Kara. "Lieutenant," He began, "would it be all right if I went down with you?"

She gave him a look that managed to look both puzzled and wary. "That's fine, I guess." She said, shrugging.

***

The stars looked the same as they ever had as they surrounded the raptor. Looking over at the bright unchanging vista around them, Lee leaned his head back against the back of his seat. He had decided to fly down with Kara, despite guessing that she probably would have preferred he ride in the other ship. Unfortunately for her, he had urgently wanted to get away from politics and politicians.

And there was the fact that he just... *needed* to see her, once in a while.

He sat up and turned around, smiling as Master Sergeant Jenkins nodded to him from the back of the ship. She was helping to head up the contingent of marines sent to guard the President during the trip -a useful precaution, in Lee's estimation, despite President Roslin's confidence in its outcome.

"Raptor Five to Galactica." Kara was saying. "Requesting departure clearance."

"Roger that, Raptor Five." Dee's voice replied through the communications channel. "You have clearance. Departure vector six-oh-one."

"Thanks, Galactica. Catch you guys later." Kara said, cutting the channel.

They took off and moved away from the Galactica, staying close to the raptor carrying the President.

"We're ready to jump, Raptor Six." Kara said to them.

"So are we, Raptor Five." The other pilot replied. "See you on the other side."

Cutting the communication, Kara waited a moment, then activated the raptor's jump engines. There was the indescribable feeling which always accompanied a jump, and they were in the Kobol system.

Only to find themselves surrounded by a swarm of Cylon raiders, next to a Cylon basestar.

"Holy frak!" Kara yelled as she sent the raptor into evasive maneuvers. "I thought you guys told me you destroyed one of those things a while back!"

"They must have sent reinforcements!" Lee yelled back.

Raptor Six lay just ahead of them, a trail of something leaking out its rear. Reaching for the communications panel, Kara flipped a switch. "Raptor Six, this is Raptor Five. Can you still jump?"

"Negative, Raptor Five." The reply came in a frightened voice.

"Then you need to land on the planet." Kara replied, making her voice sound calm. "How's your sublight capacity?"

"We're not one hundred percent there either." The other said grimly.

Kara groaned. "All right, fine. You land, I'll cover you."

"Aye sir."

Turning the raptor around, she came to face their pursuers, flying right into a particularly dense patch. Once there, she released one of her bombs.

*And aren't I glad I've got those along for the ride, this time.* She thought to herself as she sent the raptor back towards the ship carrying the President.

She followed them for a moment more, then dropped another bomb in their pursuers' path as the other raptor entered the planet's atmosphere. She sent her ship after them.

As she did so, she suddenly felt the raptor shake as they took a hit, then begin to buck and roll wildly as she lost control of the ship.

"Frak! They've must've taken out some essential nodes in the electronics... I've lost control of the engines!" She yelled as she coughed, choking on fumes as they fell through the atmosphere, drawn by the planet's gravity.

"Brace for impact!" She cried out as she brought her arms up to shield her head.

Then she blacked out.

***

She awoke to feel someone shaking her.

"Kara? Kara!!!" A voice was saying desperately.

She opened her eyes. "Lee?" She whispered. She felt a tear drop onto her face, then another.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you all right? How are you feeling?" He asked, as he wiped his eyes.

She sat up. "I think I feel fine... A bit bruised though." She brought a hand to her head. "I guess I got knocked out there for a minute -I feel fine now though."

As he helped her up, she looked around her at what remained of the raptor. And at...

"Oh Gods." She gasped in horror.

Lee nodded grimly. "Yeah. I know. I... I checked -they're all dead. I guess we got lucky by being right at the front of the ship." He said, and she realized he was right. Somehow the raptor's wild careening tumble had caused it to crash rear first.

"I guess... I guess we'd better leave then. For sure it won't take long for the toasters to get here." She said as she swallowed her tears, and Lee nodded.

"And we should find out what happened to the other raptor." He added.

"Yeah." She said, and began to climb towards the hatch. "Frak!" She yelled, when it became obvious that it was going to take some work to get it to open.

After several minutes of furiously working the thing, she managed to get it working, and turned towards Lee, wiping the sweat off her face.

He had apparently been searching through the wreckage, recovering supplies and stuffing them into two packs. He handed one over to her. "Thanks." She said, and threw it out before her, before clambering up through the hatch and twisting around to reach the ground. Lee followed her a moment later.

"So... Where to now?" She asked, and Lee shrugged.

"Beats me -unless you managed to get a fix on where Raptor Six landed?" She shook her head.

"D'you have any idea where they are?" He asked.

"Um... Well... Somewhere north of here -I think." She replied. He glared at her.

"I was busy, all right? I kinda had my hands full dodging all those cute little toasters flying up in the sky there, you know..."

He rolled his eyes. "Right. North it is, then."

They set out.

***

The stars were bright in the night sky when they finally stopped to rest. They were surrounded by sparse, mysterious tree shapes and tall grass, waving in the night wind. Insects accompanied the wind's gentle chorus, making peaceful sounds. Their thoughts, however, were anything but peaceful as they began to make camp.

Sighing, Kara reached into her pack dig out their supplies, and hissed in sudden pain as one of her fingers caught in the fastenings. Pausing for a moment, she waved her finger in the air before doggedly continuing to pull at them. Her hand suddenly slipped, the momentum causing a deep cut in her arm as it slipped along a metal edge on the side of a clasp.

"Frak!" She held her hand, watching as it bled. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and wiped them away furiously -only to have more rise up, threatening to spill over. She'd had much worse wounds than this before, dammit. Why did she feel like she couldn't control her own eyes, for frak's sake?

"Here. Let me help." She heard Lee say as he knelt down beside her, taking the pack from her and working it open.

"Thanks." She said as he handed it back to her.

"Are you all right?" He asked softly.

She shrugged. "As good as always, I guess." She said sarcastically, before turning away.

"Here, let me have a look at that." He said as he took her hand. Reaching into their supplies, he bandaged her wound carefully as she sat cross-legged on the ground, facing him.

"Thanks." She said, trying to draw her hand back. He didn't let it go.

"You don't look all right."

"Yeah, well..." She began, stopping abruptly as he ran a gentle hand down her cheek.

"This is me, Kara. And I'm not buying it, you know. Hell -I'm not all right either."

She shook her head -was she trying to erase the imprint left by his touch? "I've got to..." She said, trying to remember what she was supposed to be doing.

"Talk to me, Kara." He insisted. And at that point, there seemed to be really only one way to shut him up.

She kissed him.

As she pulled back a few seconds later, it was with some satisfaction at the shocked expression on his face.

"Kara this-" He began again, and she kissed him again.

This time however, it was no simple meeting of lips, but something quite different. Suddenly forgetting what he had meant to say, he reached for her and gathered her into his arms, pressing her to him. Moving up onto her knees she reached up, inching her arms around his neck as their kiss deepened yet again, their mouths locked together and tongues meeting in wild exploration.

When breathing became an issue, they slowed but didn't stop, gasping for air as his hands traveled up and down her back to finally settle at her waist. He pulled away.

"You didn't answer my question, you know."

She nodded. They knelt facing each other with only an inch or two separating them, and her previous thoughts began to return. That was something she didn't want -so why not indulge in something she did?

She'd deal with the consequences later.

Having made her decision, she moved closer and kissed him again. This time they didn't stop, as if they'd run out of strength to fight something that was inevitable. There was direction and method to their movements now -their sole aim being the fulfillment of what had too long been denied.

As they shared a succession of quick kisses, Kara suddenly found herself on her back, gazing up at the stars. And with something seriously poking her.

"Um... wait a minute." She said as she arched her back in order to reach below her. When she had disposed of the offending object -a rock- and looked back up at him, he was looking down at her with a serious expression on his face.

"Um... Are you... okay with this?"

She laughed. "Lee, something was hurting my back. And I kissed you, so what do you think?" She said, rolling her eyes. "You think too much..." She said softly and he smiled, and bent down to her again. Reaching out, he felt his hands tremble as he felt for the fastenings of her flight suit.

It was so much easier to frak everything up when it was someone you loved.

As he reached into her suit to caress a breast through her tanks, she arched up, offering herself to him. "Lee..." She breathed in wonder, surprised that so simple a touch from him could make her feel so much.

Reaching up, she tried to unfasten his shirt, and laughed again as she realized she didn't know what was where so well since he was now wearing civilian clothing. He laughed when he saw her dilemma, and she joined him.

Sitting up, he took off his boots then slowly freed the fastenings of his shirt as she watched, tossing the boots aside. He watched in turn as she obliged him by standing to pull off her boots, socks and the bottom of her 'suit -which left her only her tanks, underwear, and a smile. Shrugging off his shirt, he reached out and brought her down to him, taking her in his arms.

She felt so right to him, tough yet soft in all the right places, that he groaned, burying his face in her neck. He felt her hands run down his back, then down, unfastening his pants.

He kissed his way from her neck up to her jaw, then reached her mouth. Their kiss took on a strong silent fury as they laid back down on the ground. Shifting himself slightly, Lee left her mouth, smiling at her soft complaint as he began to kiss his way back down her neck, inching her tanks up as he went. Obviously feeling the pace was too slow, she sat up just enough to quickly drag them and her bra off before pulling him back down to her. Her hands slid down his back to squeeze his ass through his pants, and she grinned.

She'd always wanted to do that.

Laughing, he brought his mouth down to her breast, and she pressed him to her there, near her heart. Near where it fluttered as he touched her, caressed her, suckled her, sending pleasurable pulses through her body. She felt him reach a hand down, slipping inside her panties, sliding into wetness. She gasped into his mouth as he came back to kiss her once more. She made a sound of protest as he moved away, sitting up, but paused when she saw him smile a truly wicked smile.

With one hand still caught in her depths, he brought the other up to slide off her underwear, then smiled again as he worked his first hand against her. She gasped -he'd found a particular spot. She also realized he must have been paying attention when he brought his head down and kissed her nearby before returning his hand to the place he'd just found... Working hand, lips and tongue he watched as she slowly rose, then shattered. She heard herself gasp out his name as she came, "Lee!..."

He grinned as he watched her slowly come down. He'd always wanted to do that.

Lying down beside her, he watched as her breathing gradually slowed down, running a hand down her side. Loving her was even sweeter than he'd imagined. As he waited, she opened her eyes and turned on her side to face him, twining her fingers with his.

"That was...um... nice..." She said in a breathy voice, and he chuckled.

"Glad you liked." He said smugly, and she smacked him lightly on the arm.

"Yeah well, don't get too cocky, pal. Besides..." She continued as she sat up and straddled him. "I'm not done with you yet."

She brought a hand down and took his cock in hand, smiling as he gasped in turn. "I haven't even begun..." She said softly as she bent down to kiss him, moving her hand up and down, pumping him slowly, surely -and laughed when he stopped breathing.

His pants were in the way, and she took a moment to try to shove them and his underwear down. He raised his hips, then sat up to help her. Lying back down, he let her look her fill.

"You're so beautiful." She said softly.

"So are you." He said reverently, looking up into her eyes.

Smiling tenderly, straddled him again, then bent down to kiss him. It was so tender that when they broke apart, Lee had tears in his eyes.

"I-" He began, but she cut him off with another -rougher- kiss, before sliding a hand down his body and picking up where she had left off. He swept a hand through her hair, tucking a strand gently back behind one ear, and brought his hands down, cupping her breasts. She smiled and brought her other hand to touch his balls, cupping them. Her smile grew wider as he squirmed slightly.

Deciding to turn up the pressure, she slid down his body, and bringing her head down, took him in her mouth. She chuckled mentally as he gasped and moaned softly. She was surprised a few moments later though, when he suddenly surged up and brought a hand to her head to stop her movements.

"No." He whispered. "I want -I need to be inside you."

She didn't resist as he raised her and kissed her mouth again. The urgency was back in her blood and she ran her hands down his back to his rear as they knelt facing one another, feeling his hands run through her hair. Pushing him to sit, she sat over him and, taking him in her hand, positioning herself, quickly and without further discussion sank down on him.

They both gasped as she did so, and she threw her head back, gazing up at the stars winking down at them. Sliding her arms around his neck, she began to move.

He moaned as he felt her moist heat around him, and waited as she found a rhythm that suited her, a motion that stroked the sensitive places inside her. Thrusting upwards and into her, he matched it, emulated it -completed it, and she gasped.

He felt the same way -being inside her was truly wondrous.

As they moved together, the night surrounding them seemed to be silent save for them -their sounds, their bodies, slick, sliding on one another. Lee wrapped her in his arms and then reached a hand down, fingers slick with her wetness as he gently touched her clitoris.

"Yes." She moaned as she gripped him, one hand fisted in his hair.

"Yes!" He gasped as she moved over him, slippery-wet heaven.

He watched through half-closed eyes as she came, arching her back and clenching his cock. Groaning, he continued to thrust as she rode him wildly, spasming around him.

He came shortly after, shooting into her, and seeing more stars behind his eyes as the universe stood still.

When he came back to his body, he realized they were still together, clasping each other as if never wanting to let go. He tightened his grip around her.

"I love you Kara." He said softly, as he held her close. "I always will..." Smiling shakily, she didn't respond as she stood, walking over to their packs.

When she turned around, she was holding up blankets. "I thought we could... make a bed." She said softly, and he smiled, before rising to help her.

***

When he awoke later, the sun was high in the sky and the wind had quieted down to a gentle breeze. It looked to be a quiet day -weather-wise- on Kobol.

He smiled as he rose up on an elbow to look down at the sleeping form cuddled against him. Running a gentle hand through her hair, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. The motion caused her to wake.

He smiled as her eyes fluttered open. "Hey." He said softly, joyously.

His smile faded as she pulled away from him abruptly and stood, not meeting his eyes.

"I... think we'd better go. We're supposed to find the others, right?" She asked as she began to dig around the campsite for her clothes.

"Yes, but..." He stood and grabbed her arms as she moved around rather frantically. "Kara, what's going on? What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

He shook her. "It's not nothing, I can see that. Kara, this is me, and you're avoiding even looking at me. Something's going on."

She looked up at him. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." She replied. "It was a mistake, Lee."

"What? I don't-"

She shook her head firmly, and spoke words that broke his heart. "You said you loved me, but I don't love you... And I never will." He watched as she quickly dressed.

"We need to find the others."

***
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
45 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Helo smiled as he took in the card that had just been dealt to him as another round of betting began. Next to him, Gaeta matched and raised the bet, and it was Helo's turn. He didn't hesitate.

"I'll call it," Helo said as he threw a brand new nail clipper into the pot and laid down his cards.

"Frak!" Someone at the table cried out. Helo had won yet again.

Helo smiled. He was having a nice lucky streak at the triad table today. He began to hum a little ditty and reached out to gather his winnings.

"Well frak this." He heard Crashdown say, and he raised his head briefly to watch as the other man threw down his cards and stood to leave.

"There's no way I sticking around to lose to some frakking toaster-lover. Or to some asshole who fraks around with toasters. Same thing, really." He said, as he grabbed his uniform jacket from the back of his chair.

Silence suddenly descended on the rec room.

Helo stood. "What did you say?" He asked softly.

Crashdown turned to face him. "You heard me. Didn't think you were deaf on top of everything else."

"You got some kind of problem?" Helo asked him.

"Yeah, I do, actually." The other man replied, "I-" He was interrupted by a voice coming from behind Crashdown.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you..." Chief Tyrol began. Crashdown turned towards him.

"What?" He snarled.

"We need your help down on deck, sir. Seems there's something with raptor two's electronics panels that seems to be affecting the communications, and we were wondering if you could give us a hand figuring what the problem is -it'd be a lot easier to nail it down with someone actually using the equipment, sir."

"And this couldn't wait until later?" Crashdown asked rudely.

Tyrol shook his head. "No sir, not really. And since you'll be on duty in an hour, we thought it'd be best to ask you."

Crashdown rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

"Thanks sir." Tyrol said calmly. "Just tell Cally I sent you -she's taking care of it."

"Yeah, fine." Crash said, giving Helo one last dirty look before leaving. Turning on his heel, Tyrol followed him out.

Obeying an impulse he couldn't explain Helo ran after him, catching up to him in the corridor. "Hey, Chief!" Tyrol stopped but didn't turn towards him.

"Yes sir?" He asked.

"I just wanted to ask if... I mean... Is Cally really waiting for him?"

Tyrol shrugged, not replying to his question, which was answer enough for Helo. "I just came over to pass on a message to you, sir."

Helo frowned, puzzled. "So why didn't you? Pass it along, I mean." He asked.

"She's asked to see you." Tyrol replied quietly.

There was a sudden, awkward silence before Tyrol began to speak once again.

"Anyways, about the LT... I know I could be buying myself all kinds of trouble by saying this... But the fact is that he hasn't seemed all right since we came back from Kobol."

Shrugging once more, he turned to leave. Helo watched him walk away.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
47 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Aside from the occasional medical emergency, one could have said there was a certain routine to life in the Galactica's Life Station. Patients were bandaged, fed, washed and assessed at routine intervals. Medications were administered, and personnel relieved one another in a never-ending series of shifts.

Someone who was not Sharon Valerii, after remaining for some time in the Life Station, could have expanded at length on these patterns. In her case however, despite nominally being in the Life Station, she was set apart from the rest in her isolated 'room' -a structure that had been created as a separate unit containing a small number of beds near the Life Station, built to avoid contagion and to otherwise isolate those who presented a danger to the rest of the ship. Aside from a separate air filtration and recycling system, her cell was delimited by reinforced transparent walls, and the only entrance was a single fortified door, the key to which was in the hands of a heavily armed guard -part of a contingent posted to keep watch on her at all times. Her guards and her cell were separated from the main part of the Life Station by a set of curtains which in other circumstances would have been used for patient privacy, and which were almost always closed.

The only activity other than the rotation of the guards assigned to her cell was that of the Life Station, which she occasionally glimpsed despite the walls and curtains surrounding her. In fact, the only exception to the routine and uselessness of her life in this place was when she was taken for yet another round of tests -also the only time when she wasn't utterly alone.

She shook her head, lying back down on her bed under the watchful eyes of her captors, and closed her eyes. She opened them upon hearing a knock on the door of her cell.

To her surprise it was Rosalie, a young orphaned girl of some sixteen years who was one of the recent refugees from Caprica. Sharon knew she was still spending her time in the Life Station because of a relatively minor case of the radiation poisoning that had affected many of the refugees to varying degrees -not everyone had had access to anti-radiation meds before joining Denn's group, and some people had been more exposed to the planetwide radiation than the others. Despite having wanted to keep to herself, Sharon had ended up talking to the girl a few times before they left Caprica -Rosalie had been very talkative, and there hadn't been anyone else around who seemed to have much time for her.

One of the marines stepped up to open the door to Sharon's cell, and the girl stepped into Sharon's room. She looked around, and after shuffling around a bit her eyes came to rest on Sharon.

"They say you're a Cylon." The girl said bluntly. "Is that true?"

Sharon shrugged. "Is that why you came here? To ask me that?"

Rosalie shook her head. "I did want to ask you, but I guess I already knew from what everyone was telling me." She moved towards Sharon, who suddenly noticed the glint of a sharp piece of metal coming from within the folds of the girl's skirt.

***

Corporal Stanton and his fellow guards had turned their attention away from the prisoner for mere seconds when they heard a series of scuffling sounds, and turned to see the harmless-looking girl who had just entered the prisoner's cell was now attacking it with a knife.

"Open the door!" Stanton yelled to Private First Class Hoffman, who held the keys to the prisoner's cell. Rushing inside, Stanton picked up the knife which had just clattered to the floor. The Cylon was holding the girl by the arms, yelling at her as she writhed in an attempt to get away.

"Look, stop it! Calm down! I don't want to hurt you!" It was saying.

Two more marines stepped up to grab the girl, then backed carefully away from the prisoner. Dragging the girl outside, they locked the cell behind them as the girl collapsed and fell to floor in a sobbing heap.

Looking back towards the cell, Stanton noticed that the prisoner was leaning her forehead against one of the cell walls. He was shocked to see tears in its eyes.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
48 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Commander Adama was having a bad day.

Despite President Roslin's ship being overdue back from Kobol, there was still a sizeable proportion of people in the fleet who were of the opinion that her trip to Kobol was the product of true prophecy, and that the mission to Kobol had to be completed. The rest, on the other hand, believed her mission was the result of a mad delusion. With the Quorum of Twelve split along the same lines Adama had found himself caught squarely in the middle -it seemed as though half the fleet wanted him to send a rescue mission to Kobol, while the other half was adamant that such a venture was not to be attempted.

During the past day it seemed the arguments on both sides had only grown more forceful and virulent, and it was for that reason that he now found himself heading for the Life Station. He intended to conclude a bit of business he had been putting off for quite some time, but that he needed to conclude now in order to obtain the information he needed if he was to attempt to deal with the situation and recommend a course of action to the Quorum.

The marines guarding the Cylon's cell quickly snapped to attention as he walked into their corner of the Life Station.

"At ease." He told them, gazing at the prisoner. "I want to speak with the prisoner. Alone."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, sir?" One of them asked.

Adama waved that comment away. "I won't be going into the cell, if that's what you're worried about. Just patch me through to it -and leave us alone." He ordered, and watched as they complied. He waited until they stepped beyond the curtains surrounding this part of the Life Station.

Her expression was wary as she stood to face him through the walls of her cell and became more so as they stood, facing each other silently.

"What can I do for you, sir?" She finally asked.

"I've decided to accept your offer of a deal." He began reluctantly.

"Oh?"

"Yes." He replied abruptly. "Is the offer still open?"

She nodded.

"Good. Then there's something I need to know now." He watched as she hesitated, and leaned forward. "I know that there's a part of you that's the same as the Sharon Valerii that lived here, served here, and who..." He hesitated.

"Shot you." She finished for him.

He nodded, then continued on determinedly. "That part is the one I'm referring to at the moment." He paused. "That part knows that when I make a promise, I keep it. Therefore, for the good of this ship and this fleet I promise you that if you do help us I will keep *my* word and let you see your child."

She took a deep breath. "All right." She agreed. "What do you want to know?"

"I need to know what's happening on Kobol. Can you tell me that -is that knowledge you have access to?"

She walked back to her bed and sat down, facing him. "Yes, I can tell you that." She finally replied. He waited as she seemed to gather her thoughts.

"We knew you were coming with the Arrow of Apollo. We had... expected it, even before the decision was made on your end."

"How? From the Cylon agents within the fleet?" He asked, somewhat puzzled.

She shook her head. "That I don't know. I don't have the entire picture. But I do know that what I just said is true. They knew you were coming, and they were waiting."

He sighed. "All right. Do you know what's happened to the people we sent down there?"

She shook her head. "No. But I think... I think the others must know by now that I've offered to help you. Or that I'm here somewhat willingly, at least."

Adama nodded pensively. "And is there anything else you can tell me?"

She shrugged. "Not about the mission to Kobol."

He nodded again cautiously -one thing at a time, then. "All right. I need to think about this. I'll come back to speak with you again later." He turned to leave, then stopped.

"I heard about the attempted attack on you." He finally said, keeping his back to her. "I changed the security procedures so that it won't happen again." At that he left, sending the guards back in.

***

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
50 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Sharon was silent as Helo was searched, then accompanied into her cell by one of her guards.

"I heard you wanted to see me." He said without preamble.

She grunted. "Yeah, about a week ago."

"I had... things to do."

She shook her head doubtfully at that, but continued. "I just wanted to see how you were doing Helo, all right? I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." He replied.

She nodded. "I can see that now."

They were silent for a few moments.

"Are... Are you all right?" Helo finally asked, awkwardly.

She shrugged. "I guess. That's what the doctor tells me anyway -though there's not all that much in the way of entertainment in here, you know."

He nodded, and there was another silence.

"I hear the Commander made a deal with you?" She nodded.

More silence.

"So the Chief came to see you, huh?" He asked.

"He wanted to see if I was okay, I guess." She hesitated. "Well, that and he wanted to convince himself of -something, I guess. Or to find out something." She shrugged. "I don't know what. I just asked him if I could see you."

Yet another silence stretched out.

"Well, I'll see you later, I guess." He said, then left. She watched him go, a sad expression on her face.

***

-Surface of Kobol-
55 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

North. They always headed north.

It was getting colder on Kobol as the days passed and the weather quickly changed from unseasonably warm to what was typical for the winter season on this part of Kobol. The first indication of this had been an increasingly strong wind, which had been followed by progressively cold temperatures.

And now, as Lee Adama and Kara Thrace continued onward and struggled to keep warm, the first snowfall was making its way onto the ground.

"Frakking weather." Kara said under her breath, as yet another burst of cold air and snowflakes made its way under her makeshift scarf. Lee didn't reply.

Kara sighed -Lee didn't reply to much of anything she said these days, other than when it was absolutely required.

Of course, she couldn't blame him for that.

And she slept alone. But that was what she'd wanted, wasn't it? What had happened between them had been a spur of the moment thing, caused by what they'd just been through stacked right onto the horror of everything they'd experienced in the last nightmarish year. Heck, it had even caused them to let their guard down and forget all about the Cylons that should have been hot on their trail for a while, because life was just too hard to live when it consisted of nothing more than fighting for that same life to continue.

No, what had happened was sex, and it hadn't wiped away all the things that kept them apart. It hadn't erased the fact that she'd frakked the man who should have been her brother-in-law, and it certainly hadn't erased the knowledge that she didn't *want* a 'relationship'. That putting a down payment on a house, picking placemats that matched their tablecloths, and planning the number of babies they wanted to have just wasn't Kara Thrace's thing and never would be.

But damn it all, she had to admit that she did want *him*.

The last fifteen days since that night had been a succession of long days spent hiking over rough terrain, followed by longer nights where they split sentry duty between the two of them. Thus far, they had seen Cylons only once in the distance -five centurions who had been heading away from their position at high speed as Lee and Kara watched. Since then, there had been nothing.

Kara abruptly stopped in her tracks when Lee turned and grabbed her arm. Pressing a finger to his lips, he pointed ahead of them where approximately five centurions seemed to be slowly but systematically knocking down a large stone structure which stood on the flank of a nearby mountain.

Leaving their packs behind, they dropped silently to the ground and began to inch forward up the incline of the mountain. After observing the systematic demolition for a few minutes, they moved back to their original positions, picked up their packs, and began to move away.

"What do you think they're doing?" Lee asked after they had put a fair distance between them and the Cylons.

Kara shrugged. "With those columns and the markings on the walls of that thing? You've got to be thinking what I'm thinking."

Lee nodded. "It certainly looks like what we came here for -the Temple of Athena. And if they're destroying it..."

Kara nodded in turn, and continued that thought. "Then it means that they know what we came here for. And that maybe... They were waiting for us before we even got here."

"And it would explain why they haven't been all that diligent in searching for us after the raptor crash." Lee finished.

They looked at each other, again thinking the same thing.

What in Hades did they do now?

***

-Surface of Kobol-
57 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Lieutenant Raymonds turned to Captain Haynes and waited as she finished her survey of the cold, rocky landscape stretching out on all sides. "What do you think?" He asked.

"I think we should keep moving until we find a better site to stop at. This is a pretty exposed location." She pointed out, and they both turned to look at President Roslin and Mother Elosha who were standing silently off to one side. Seven other marines stood near the President, while the two techs who had accompanied them down to the surface waited quietly for a decision to be made.

"We need to keep going, ma'am." Raymonds called out to the President, waving to the marines to pick up their gear.

With a slight sigh, Roslin pulled herself up and began walking, doing her utmost to ignore the fatigue and the pain she was feeling.

"Are you all right?" Elosha asked softly -not for the first time.

Roslin hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "No." She admitted softly. "But I don't see that telling the others would help at this point. As the Captain said, we need to keep going."

Elosha eyes seemed worried, but she said nothing further as Roslin continued to struggle along. Fortunately she seemed to be the only one who had noticed her growing weakness, since the increasingly cold and inhospitable conditions they now found themselves in made things more difficult for all.

They had had to leave the damaged raptor behind a few days ago in order to escape the Cylons, which had been unfortunate since the techs could easily have repaired the damage with the spare parts they had brought. As things stood now, they could only hope the Cylons would not find the raptor or that they would eventually be rescued, which was not the most reassuring thought.

The sun rose to fill the sky as they trudged along, trying to make as little noise as possible despite the carpet of dead leaves underfoot, crisped with frost.

Raymonds and Haynes suddenly waved everyone to a stop -gesturing to them to find cover. Ducking down, they soon heard the sound of footfalls in the distance.

Raymonds and the marines raised their sidearms in anticipation, then lowered them with a grin as they caught sight of the new arrivals.

"I don't suppose any of you lovely people'd have an extra sweater, would you?" Kara Thrace wisecracked as she stepped into view, smirking as she held up her hands in the universal language for 'don't shoot me'. Lee Adama came into view behind her.

"What happened on your end?" Kara Thrace immediately asked Raymonds, who winced.

"Well, we had to abandon the raptor, but we made it out otherwise. How about you, sir? Where are the others?" Raymonds asked, glancing behind them.

Kara shook her head grimly, and someone gasped in response.

Lee quickly broke into their sad thoughts. "I'm sorry to rush you all," he said, "but there's something else we need to tell you." He turned to Roslin.

"Yes, Captain?" She asked.

"We ran into some centurions two days ago at what we think was the temple of Athena ma'am, and... It looked like they were destroying it." He sighed. "The short version of it is, Madam President, that they must have known we were coming. There's just no other explanation for what we've seen."

Roslin nodded, and she was silent for a time as she contemplated their news -the latest in a series of setbacks in a year filled with catastrophes and pain. Finally, she straightened her spine and spoke in a firm tone.

"Then I suppose we should hurry, and make sure we get there as soon as possible." She smiled. "Thank you both."

***

-Surface of Kobol-
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

It was a dark early morning, the sun not having risen yet, the ground blanketed with snow and whipped by the wind. Kara Thrace shivered as she crawled silently up the flank of the mountain. When she had reached a suitable location, she observed the toasters above her for a time before slowly backing away. After a few more minutes of slow and careful movement, she stopped as the land angled beneath her feet into the beginnings of a shallow valley, and stood to head east. After a short walk followed by a short wait, she was joined by Lieutenant Raymonds.

"I see three metalheads near the Western part of the thing... Well, it's more like a pile of rocks on that side, actually." She told him.

Raymonds nodded. "I've got six to the east, and there's not much left there either. And there're two more up ahead of us on the northern side."

Kara grimaced. "Yeah. It looks like they did a good job on the place, doesn't it?" She turned and watched as Lee jogged up to meet them.

"I've got two on the south side." He reported.

"Do we have any ideas where the actual tomb is?" Kara asked.

Lee nodded. "Mother Elosha's been looking through various scrolls since before we left the fleet, and she seems to think it would most probably be on the east side of the temple. Something about the religious significance of being on the same side as the rising sun every morning. She did also say something about a possible passage there but she didn't seem clear on that though-"

"I remember." Kara cut in. "All right then," she went on, looking at Lee as he nodded in agreement, anticipating her, "they'll probably be expecting us to want to draw them away from there."

"I guess we shouldn't disappoint them, then." She said brightly, as they left to rejoin the President.

***
-Surface of Kobol-
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

Captain Roseanna Haynes raised her weapon and aimed at one of the centurions standing guard just above her. She and two of her marines had hidden themselves as best they could, and were now looking up towards the western side of the temple of Athena as they waited to draw attention to themselves.

They waited until the two centurions were right ahead of them before opening fire with their weapons. Amidst a succession of shots one of the two fell while the other began to rush towards them, shooting, before falling to their fire as well.

"Cease fire!" She ordered, and waited. Nothing happened -all was silent. It seemed that their false diversion hadn't worked and that they had read the Cylons right.

***

At the same moment Lee Adama, Kara Thrace, and Lieutenant Raymonds were creeping towards the eastern side of the rocky ruin that was the temple of Athena, under the watchful eyes of two marine snipers -one off to each side of their slow advance.

Kara threw herself to the ground as they suddenly found themselves in the midst of a storm of gunfire. Raising her head briefly, she let fly a shot into the trees ahead of her. There was no answering fire from the snipers as several centurions materialized out of the forest.

"Frak!" She yelled. Apparently, as they had expected, the Cylons knew the location of the tomb and had been waiting for them. And they had taken out the marines who should have been covering them.

"Fall back!" She called out to the others, and began to work her way back. After a short crawl she reached the cover of some trees and turned towards the forest, keeping low.

"Let's go!" She ordered, and they began to run, slipping down the icy incline and weaving through trees. She threw herself to the ground as a shot whizzed by her, and heard a scream as another of the fiery bolts hit Raymonds in the chest. His scream was cut off abruptly as another shattered his skull.

Kara gasped in horror and her eyes snapped to Lee, who wore a similar expression on his face. They stared into each other's eyes for an endless desperate instant, each wordlessly repeating one thing to the other.

*I love you. I always will. No matter what happens.*

Picking themselves up, they ran.

***

President Roslin, Mother Elosha and the rest of the group stood on the north side of the ruins, gazing up at the icy slope of the mountain ahead of them.

"Do you have any idea where the passage could be?" Roslin asked Elosha.

"Well..." The woman replied, "I'm not sure, but the scriptures do speak of 'the Arrow of the Gods' in relation to this..." Her voice trailed off thoughtfully.

"You mean the Arrow of Apollo?" Roslin prompted.

Elosha shook her head. "Not... Not necessarily, ma'am." She sighed. "You see, the scrolls do speak about what truly does seem to be the Arrow of Apollo, but they also speak of what appears to be something else which is referred to as 'the Arrow of the Gods'. There's actually a passage in one of the sacred texts which states that 'the Arrow of the Gods shall come down from the sky with the new morn, to pierce the ground and show The People the way'." She sighed. "But I have no idea what it means."

"I see." Roslin murmured as she turned, looking around her and trying to remember all the scripture she had read as a child -and which she had reread recently. She stopped when she found herself looking at the chain of mountains off to one side in the distance. She smiled, and raised her arm to point at them. "Could it be that the Twin Mountains of the Gods are the answer?" She asked, and Elosha turned, then smiled herself as she saw what Roslin was talking about.

The sun, rising up into the sky from the east, shone straight through the gap between two mountains and shot an arrow of sunlight... to fall to the ground twenty meters ahead and to their right.

They walked there carefully, and Roslin pointed down. If they hadn't been looking, they would never have noticed it -a small hole in the ground, half-covered by frosted leaves and snowfall, visible mostly as a thinning of the leaves and other substances carpeting the ground.

Elosha nodded, agreeing. "That would be the passage." She said.

"Please, just wait a moment, ma'am." One of the marines, Sergeant Ross, called out to them as Elosha and the President moved the branches covering the entrance aside and moved to step down into the passage. Nodding, Roslin moved aside and waited as Ross explored the passage. After a few short moments, Ross poked her head out.

"There's no sign of Cylon presence, Madam President." The woman said quietly as she gestured towards Roslin and Elosha, who stepped into the passage after her -the other two marines and the techs following behind them.

It was dark and cold inside the passage, though the cold was not as pronounced as it was outside. Rocky debris lay everywhere and made negotiating the passage difficult. Their lights shone eerily into the darkness as they walked, illuminating the trail of rocks and shattered rubble. They continued as the passage turned to the left, then stopped a short time later when the passage ended in front of a closed door.

"Could this be it?" Roslin asked as they looked at the door and Elosha bent closer, trying to examine the markings engraved upon it. They consisted of various items that could not be made out in some cases, and which seemed incomprehensible in others.

Elosha nodded as she moved away from the markings. "It looks like it might be... I'm no architect but it seems to me that the temple should just about be above us here." She said reverently.

Roslin turned, gesturing to the marines behind them, who threw their weight against the door, trying to get it open. For a few tense moments nothing happened, and it seemed as if the massive door could not be budged. Then it began moving, and swung back to reveal another darkened corridor with a series of steps moving upward at the end of it. The marines stepped in, followed by Roslin and Elosha. Upon climbing the steps, they found a room containing yet more rubble.

Roslin couldn't help feeling somewhat disappointed -was this the famed tomb? The sacred resting place of one of their Gods? She shook her head.

"Is this it?" She asked, turning to Elosha.

"It could be-" Elosha began, before cutting herself off as they came to face the far wall in the room. On it was a relief of a woman in ancient armor, bearing a shield.

"I think... This must be it." She finished reverently, bowing her head for a moment as the marines clustered around them.

Roslin bent to examine the shield. It bore the image of a sharp-toothed female face, with hair made of serpents. She leaned closer, examining the markings near each serpent's head.

Twelve serpents, with twelve heads.

"For the twelve colonies?" She whispered, looking at Elosha, who nodded.

"And it shall come down from the sky to show the People the Way." One of the marines said reverently.

"Could these be the coordinates?" Another marine asked as he pointed to the symbols on the shield -three of which were numbers, while the rest seemed incomprehensible.

"It looks like it could be." One of the techs said as he examined the numbers. "But what's the rest of it?" He asked. "And if these are coordinates, we're missing one number." He pointed out, straightening up to face Roslin.

"Oh?" She asked, prompting him to continue.

"Yes ma'am. If these are coordinates, we're missing an origin. A zero point, if you will. And if these are coordinates, how do we compensate for factors that would alter the coordinates -like the expansion of the universe? We don't know how long this has been here -"

Roslin cut him off. "I suppose we must simply *believe* that the information we find here is valid and complete. We must have faith in the Gods to take care of us. Assuming these are indeed what we've been looking for." She said firmly.

"What about the Arrow of Apollo?" Elosha asked. "The prophecies do say that it will 'open the tomb of Athena'. Could it give us the information we're lacking?"

Roslin turned and waved to one of the guards, who brought the Arrow over to them. Grasping it, she examined it. "There don't seem to be any markings on it..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up at the representation of the Goddess before them.

"Could it be that..." Leaning over, she touched the Arrow to the figure's empty but grasping left hand, and a loud click was heard. The Arrow fit into the figure's hand like a key into a lock.

Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then, the figure began to move.

Its left arm extended slowly, until the arrow pointed to the wall off to their right. A lengthy series of symbols was suddenly visible along the walls, appearing first to their right, then successively all around the room. Symbols written in light.

"Holy Gods." Someone said reverently as the sweet gentle light shaped as numbers and various other symbols shone at them from all around the room.

***

-The Rising Star-
Colonial Fleet
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

The room was a large one, and yet the shouting match going on inside shrunk it somehow. Indeed, each Colonial Representative to the Quorum of the Twelve was present along with various assorted aides and other support personnel, and each delegate seemed to be determined to establish the proper functioning of their vocal chords.

Billy sighed. During the President's absence he was Chair of the Quorum meetings, representing the President in her absence -unfortunately, he had found that his temporary title did not command much respect.

It had already been yet another long day dominated by various arguments concerning President Roslin's trip to Kobol, and it didn't seem about to end. Half the delegates were determined to send a rescue mission to Kobol while the other believed such a venture to be the height of foolishness, and both sides had not budged a millimeter since the debate had begun hours before.

That fact however did not surprise Billy -the debate had remained the same since shortly after President Roslin's departure.

He took a deep breath, and decided he'd had enough. Walking over to the center of the room, he waited. When no one paid any attention to him, he headed over to one of the heavy tables surrounding him and tipped it over.

A sudden silence fell over the room as papers, books and other materials crashed to the floor along with the table.

"Well, it's nice to know that there *are* ways to get your attention." He said with considerable sarcasm as he stared at the many people surrounding him, all of whom bore dumbstruck expressions. He sighed, and changed to a slightly more polite tone before continuing.

"I would respectfully propose that we adjourn and reconvene tomorrow." Some voices began to raise a protest. "With all due respect, I have stood here all day for the last *several* days listening to you debate. Your positions have not changed in that time. Therefore I believe we should resume discussing this issue when we are all rested -or perhaps even move on to something on which we *can* reach a consensus."

Without waiting for an answer he turned on his heel and walked out of the room. He was, however, somewhat surprised when the others began to file out after him -he had given them his opinion, but he hadn't exactly expected them to listen. They certainly never had before.

Samuel Goldmann, a short, balding man who was the elected representative for Virgon, hurried his pace to walk alongside him. "Would you have a moment, Mr. Keikeya?" The man asked him.

"Um, of course, sir." Billy said, somewhat confused.

Goldmann gestured towards a deserted passage behind Billy. "Shall we?" He asked. Nodding, Billy acquiesced.

"What's on your mind, sir?" Billy asked when they were out of earshot of the other delegates.

Goldmann smiled impishly. "At the risk of annoying you even further, I wanted to ask you what *your* views are on the idea of sending a search party to Kobol."

Billy couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you know, sir, that no one has even asked me that yet?" He shook his head.

"Well... To answer your question sir, the truth is that I don't know." He sighed. "I can understand why so many people don't think a rescue attempt is a good idea. Several people on board Galactica have pointed out to me that the most likely possibility is that there are Cylons in the Kobol system, and that in all likelihood any rescue attempt would meet with the same fate as the original mission."

He paused. "I understand what they're saying. I truly do. And I agree that sending another raptor, or more than one raptor, wouldn't be justified given the loss of life that venture might entail. However..."

"However... You'd like to have them attempt *something*, wouldn't you?" Goldmann interjected in a conspiratorial tone.

Billy looked over at the man. "What are you suggesting?" He asked with considerable curiosity.

The other's face lit up with a wide smile, and he reached up to put a fatherly arm around Billy's shoulders. "I think I've just had an idea, son. But why don't we go to my office where we can discuss it over dinner?"

Billy smiled cautiously, considering, then finally nodded and let Goldmann steer him away.

"All right."

***

-Surface of Kobol-
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

After recording the symbols on the walls the group made its way outside the tomb, all of them blinking as they stepped into midday sun reflected off the snow.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, and one of the marines fell to the ground, clutching his leg. It was quickly followed by a second, and Laura Roslin was deeply shocked as she felt fire eat its way up her arm. She looked down, only to have her shock deepen as she saw blood seeping through her clothing.

"Get down!" Someone shouted, and she felt the weight of someone's body as she was thrown to the ground, as yet more shots were fired.

After several exchanges of weapons fire, there was silence, punctuated by the harsh breathing of the people around her. She felt the weight over her ease as a nervous male voice spoke, "I think it's all right now, ma'am. I think we got them -we got lucky I think, there seems to have been only two of them..."

Roslin cut the man off, sitting up. "Thank you for your assistance, Corporal." She paused to look around her. "Perhaps we should be on our way to the rendezvous point before more of them turn up." She saw him glance at her arm. "I'm fine. It's only a flesh wound, I think. And this probably isn't the best time or place to assess it, wouldn't you say?" The man nodded, and they quickly set out.

Everything around them remained quiet as they carefully made their way down the mountain and into the thick forest of trees to the north of the temple. The silence surrounding them grew deeper as they made their way deeper into the forest of frost covered trees.

As they walked, Roslin held her wounded arm, trying to keep it from being jarred by her movement, and pondered what they had found. There had been numbers which appeared to be coordinates including an origin which seemed to be Kobol itself, and many symbols which Elosha believed were an ancient form of writing, but which they had not been able to decipher. Hopefully they would be able to do so once they got back to the fleet.

Assuming they could return to the fleet.

She raised her head and steeled her spine. As she had told her people, they all needed to have faith. And she needed to take her own advice.

***

Lee Adama and Kara Thrace had run for what seemed to be an endless period of time, trying to take any Cylons following them as far away from the others as they could. They had run until they couldn't run anymore and were forced to stop for a moment, both of them panting and catching their breath.

As their breathing evened out, the silence around them became heavier.

"D'you think we lost them?" Kara asked, trying to break it.

Lee shrugged. "It looks like it at this point, but who knows." He stood up straighter and began to look around them.

"Lee..." Kara began, not sure what she was going to say. His back stiffened, but he didn't turn to face her.

She stood and walked over to him, reaching out to take his hand. "I... I'm really sorry." She said softly.

He pulled his hand back. "We'd better get to the rendezvous point and find the others." He said in a flat voice, walking away.

Her eyes filled with tears as she watched him go. When he saw she wasn't following him he stopped and turned, waiting for her silently. She walked up to him, wiping her eyes and steeling her spine.

"Let's go." She said firmly as she reached him, and they set out.

***

-The Rising Star-
Colonial Fleet
78 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

"And in conclusion... I vote to amend the Representative of Geminon's motion to vote on sending a rescue mission to Kobol in order that the motion read 'if it can be shown that there is no danger associated with said mission'..."

Billy fought to keep his head from crashing onto the table before him as he listened to yet another run-through of the debate concerning President Roslin's overdue mission to Kobol. The present debate was identical to that which had been held for the last eighteen days, and no one's position had budged. Those who believed in the Prophecies and those who didn't were essentially split down the middle, so that while the Quorum was able to deal with the other issues relevant to its mandate, it was deadlocked on this one.

But then, Billy had known that to be the case for some time now.

Keeping the smile off his face at that thought, he watched and played his part as the aforementioned debate ended for yet another day, with neither side the victor. Following the delegates, he ambled out of the meeting hall, and strolled into one of the luxuriously furnished lounge areas adjoining it. This was a place where delegates often met with one another outside the official setting of the hall -one of many locations where good old-fashioned wheeling and dealing went on behind a façade of comfort and relaxation.

Sitting in a comfortable cushioned armchair, Billy ordered a drink from one of the hovering waiters. When it arrived he nodded in thanks, and surveyed the room. There was much less activity here today than was usual, owing to the fact that today was Workers' Day, which was a well-known civic holiday -it had been tradition in the colonies for government workers to take a long weekend's vacation on this date. That tradition did not appear to have suffered greatly from the destruction of the Colonies, and Billy watched as the room slowly emptied, with many leaving to return to their ships. Finally he stood and set aside his drink, and walked back to the meeting hall -which was far from empty.

"Ah! Mister Keikeya! So nice of you to join us!" Representative Goldmann said loudly. The others present nodded in agreement. "Shall we reconvene?" The man asked, only to be interrupted loudly by the Representative for Saggitaron.

"I protest!" Tom Zarek put in immediately. "Many Quorum members are not present -we are in fact missing many key members-"

Goldmann interrupted him in return. "With all due respect, I would point out to my fellow representative that the Colonial Parliamentary Rules *do* allow the Quorum to reconvene with a minimum of *half* the delegates present, if the President of the Colonies or the person designated in the President's stead to Chair the Assembly allows it. I would point out to my esteemed colleague that that particular stipulation has been fulfilled."

Zarek looked around at the other delegates. "This is outrageous! It's evident to me -as it should be to anyone with any semblance of intelligence- that this is a blatant attempt to sway the vote on the crucial question of sending a rescue mission to Kobol. I truly doubt that it is a coincidence that all delegates present save myself are in favor of such a venture -as is our young Mister Keikeya. It is quite evident that only delegates in your personal pocket have been informed of this little meeting." He sputtered.

Goldmann smiled mischievously. "Why Mister Zarek, I'm shocked. Truly shocked that you would even *suggest* that anyone might stoop so low as to use undemocratic means to arrive to their ends." His smile turned wolfish. "And unlike your means, Mister Zarek, *mine* are both legal and nonviolent."

The hall was silent for a moment as Tom Zarek struggled to find an argument in his favor -or a way of catching up with the absent delegates. Before he could say anything else however, Goldmann stepped forward.

"Shall we, Mister Speaker?" He asked happily.

***

-Surface of Kobol-
80 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

It was always colder when it didn't snow than when it did snow, Kara reflected as she gazed around her. And since it wasn't snowing presently, the cold was colder than it usually was.

*Yep, that did make a whole lot of sense.* She commented to herself sarcastically as she readjusted the scarf covering her face -an unpleasant but necessary way to avoid having her face fall off because of the constant blasting wind.

Lee was walking ahead of her -or rather making his way forward by a less than graceful combination of climbing, slipping and sliding interspersed with walking, which had become their only way of progressing as the ground beneath their feet had progressively grown more icy.

They had reached the rendezvous point days ago, only to find that the others had already come and gone, taking most of the supplies with them. That had not been completely unexpected however, as the three groups heading for the temple of Athena had agreed that they would wait only a short time at the rendezvous point for the others before moving onward to the raptor hidden to the north -due to the Cylon presence at the temple.

And so Lee and Kara has begun to make their way north. After roughly twenty days of hiking through icy, rough terrain, they had agreed that they should be nearing Raptor Six's landing site.

Or so they hoped.

Shoving that thought aside for when she really wanted to be depressed, Kara hurried to rejoin Lee just as he reached the top of a small rise. Reaching down to help her up as she began to slip, he pointed downward.

Raptor Six was there, waiting for them. A few of their people were visible around it as well, obviously working on some repairs.

"It looks like they've got it up and running." Lee pointed out as they waved towards the others and began to slide down the hill.

Kara nodded. "Looks like. And I guess we got lucky in that the toasters didn't find it before we did..." She said thoughtfully.

"What's our status?" She called out as they neared the raptor.

"You're right on time -we're almost ready to get underway, Lieutenant." Williams, one of the techs, replied. She nodded.

"Right. I'll start a preflight check, then."

Making her way to the pilot's seat and nodding to both Roslin and Elosha, she put everything else aside and buried herself in the work. She looked up when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lee asked quietly. She turned to look up at him.

She frowned distractedly. He knew perfectly well there wasn't anything to do. Why in the Gods' name was he asking such a question? Then she got a good look at his face.

She couldn't imagine what it would feel like to be in this situation and to feel useless besides.

"You can help me with the pre-flight." She replied, and scooted over to give him some room to squeeze into the small amount of standing room near her consoles. They finished the preflight checks in record time.

"We're ready to go over here." She said somewhat unnecessarily as he looked over at her and nodded.

"Right." He said, strapping himself into the seat beside her. She looked at him for a moment, then shook herself.

"Everyone set?" Kara asked the others -just as the techs were coming back in.

"Everything's ready on this end." Williams replied.

Kara smirked. "Well, I guess things do come out all nicely synchronized sometimes." She said, and waited as everyone strapped themselves in.

"I guess there's no time like the present..." She said to herself as she set the ship aloft.

*Of course, we still have to dodge a whole lot of toasters before we can get home.* She thought absently as she kept an eye on the raptor's sensors. There were no Cylons to be seen as she took the ship into the outer atmosphere then, taking a deep bracing breath, into the darkness of space.

"I've got multiple enemy contacts on our sensors, sir!" One of the techs called out immediately as she did so.

Frak. She'd really been hoping the frakking toasters would have found something *useful* to do with their time.

*But no...* She thought angrily as she began to dodge incoming weapons fire from a great many raiders. Despite her throwing the raptor into a series of intricate evasive maneuvers, one of the shots grazed the ship's hull.

"Frak!" She yelled. She pitched her voice louder so it would carry over the noise of the engines. "Anytime one of you guys wants to come up with a jump coordinate solution is fine by me, by the way!" She said to the tech manning the ECO station.

"We've inputted the parameters! The computer'll need a few more minutes to finish calculating though, and we need to clear the planet's influence..." He replied. She rolled her eyes. Right.

As usual, it was up to her to keep them all from being blown to bits.

"Lieutenant!" Williams called out from the ECO station.

"What?" She asked testily. "Kinda busy at the moment, can it wait 'till later?"

"No sir!" He yelled back. "We've got company -the good kind!"

She looked down at her sensors, only to make out the looming presence of Galactica straight ahead of them.

"Yes!" She yelled out, laughing, as she brought them home.

***

To be continued in part 6c :-)

NB: The political tactics used by Goldmann and co. were actually modeled on Canadian politics... Recently, the gay marriage act here was actually passed through Parliament using a somewhat similar maneuver.

 

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