Laura Roslin may be hiding more than he thought.
She was standing in the back corner of the briefing room for pilots as Kara told the pilots what their mission was that day – take out a raiding party, and try to get pictures of their newest ship for inspection. Everyone in the room knew what their job was – hold off the raiders long enough for Kara to get the pictures.
After the briefing, Adama returns to the CIC to make sure things run smoothly during the mission. He's a bit surprised to find Laura isn't there, but he doesn't say anything, knowing she probably went back to her own guest quarters for the time being. Lee joins him moments later – he's not going this time, choosing to remain behind. But there's something funny – he's got a bit of a smirk across his face as he continually glances at his father. Adama knows something's up.
"This is Starbuck, all pilots ready for take-off." Kara's voice echoes through the radio.
"Galactica to Starbuck – all clear."
Soon the ships began to appear across the DRADIS, flying east, toward the party that had been sighted. All eighteen ships are accounted for – the seventeen Vipers and the stealth ship that Kara was – supposed – to be flying.
"Make sure the other pilots are on stand-by." Adama ordered. "Just in case."
"It's only to get pictures, dad. And the party is only about ten raiders."
"I don't trust them. A base star could be on us before we know it."
The raiders appeared within shooting range not moments later, and Adama gave the order for open fire. He had no way of knowing if the stealth ship had already jumped away because it didn't appear on the DRADIS, but he hoped to the Gods that it had, and was already snapping those frakken photos. They couldn't waste much more time.
"Tell the fleet to begin jumps." Adama ordered after another long moment of pilot voices crackling through, orders on where to fly and how many cylons were being hit. Dee nodded.
"Galactica to fleet, proceed with jump. I repeat, Galactica to fleet, proceed to jump."
More voices crackled through the radio, as suddenly several more blips on the radar appeared.
"Sir, more cylon raiders just jumped in." Gaeta reported. Adama nodded.
"How many?"
"A dozen."
He glanced up at the screens above for a moment, frowning slightly as he watched the blips.
"Galactica this is Starbuck. Mission accomplished."
"Recall all Vipers and prepare to jump." Adama ordered. People began to hurry around CIC to fill those orders as the Vipers began to fall back, landing back on board the ship.
"Last Viper is on board sir."
"Jump!"
With the familiar feeling of being squished, the ship jumped, catching up with the fleet. Adama let out a sigh, and headed toward the hangar.
Pilots were climbing out one by one, being helped by the workers. They were high-fiving and cheering, grinning from ear to ear. The black stealth ship was the last to be unloaded, but something was off. Starbuck, the one who was supposed to be piloting the ship, was already walking along the hangar, meeting up with Lee, both of them with a grin on their faces as they glanced at Adama. Who in the world was piloting the stealth ship?
As the unknown pilot stepped down and removed the helmet, Adama caught a glimpse of dark red hair.
There was definitely more to Laura Roslin than she liked to tell.
"I do believe you wanted these." She stated, approaching him as she tried to hide the smile, handing him several photographs from the camera. It was rather hard not to smile at the rather stunned look on Adama's face – nothing ever made him speechless, up until now. "Something wrong Bill?"
"Of course not Madame President." He managed to get out, taking the photos. She finally let the grin sneak onto her face. Starbuck and Lee were near tears in their laughing a few feet away – there were in for it, as Adama knew it'd been their doing. Laura just stood there, smiling, the helmet dangling from loose gloved fingers.
"I'll be in my quarters if you need me." She said, and without another word, left the hangar deck.
Bill was determined to find out if there was anything else she had to hide.