The Better Part of Valour

By Oonagh

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

Author's Note: Set immediately after LDYB 2 and written by a person who has read no spoilers for season three so if this story seems way off base I apologise. But I'm going to post it anyway.

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"Prepare to jump." The words rang ominously through Galactica's CinC, seeming to almost echo in the virtually empty room. The skeleton crew reacted to their Commander's order as quickly as possible, each doing the job of two or three people. Finally, the Officer of the Deck called out,

"Jump prepared, Sir." At almost the same moment the voice of Pegasus's Commander came over the intercom.

"Ready to jump, Admiral." Admiral Adama closed his eyes briefly and issued the order.

"Jump." The OD turned the jump key and the crew all over the ship braced themselves for the uncomfortable, and too familiar, sensation of jumping light-years at a time. AS soon as the jump was completed the Communications Officer checked the Dradis scanner.

"All clear, Sir. Just us and the fleet." The words 'what's left of it' hovered unspoken. Adama merely nodded.

"Stand down from Battle Stations. But keep a close eye, Petty Officer."

"Aye, Sir."

"And ask Commander Adama to join me in my quarters as soon as his ship is secured."

"Aye, Sir." Adama left the command deck, back straight and head held high. He marched through Galactica's corridors to his quarters, seeing virtually no one on his way. Closing his door behind him he sank on to his couch and dropped his head into his hands. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He'd left them all behind. Laura, Starbuck, Saul. And thousands of others. He'd run. Adama reminded himself that he'd had no choice. They were ill-equipped to deal with the cylons. Their undermanned Battlestars wouldn't have lasted five minutes and then the cylons would have been free to attack the planet anyway.

At least now the Battlestars were safe – they had a chance, albeit a minute one, to fight back. But, in his heart, Adama was very afraid that any counterattack would be pointless and would come too late. If the cylons followed the same tactical plan that they had used against the colonies then everybody on New Caprica was already dead. The best he could hope for was that the people he loved had died fast and clean. And pray that Baltar's death had been slow, painful and obscene.

"Damn man. Fracking fool." Adama wasn't sure if the muttered words were directed at Baltar or at himself. Maybe he should have allowed Laura's election plan to go ahead – at least then everyone would still be safe. Surely the quest for democracy was not worth thousands of deaths. Adama snorted. He'd always hated philosophy and had never had any patience with people who used hindsight to secondguess themselves. What was done was done and Adama couldn't change that. He just had to deal with things as they were and start making the decisions that needed to be made.

He had to decide whether to accept that New Caprica was gone, that they should cut their losses and set out again for earth. That way he could probably save what was left – if he could even find earth without Laura and her seemingly supernatural connection to their quest. Their other choice, the only other one that Adama could see, was to come up with some brilliant tactical plan, jump back to New Caprica, defeat the cylons and hope that they could do all of that before everybody on New Caprica died . If, by some miracle, they weren't already dead. He'd have felt more confident about the chances of such a plan succeeding if he had Starbuck on board. Thinking outside the box was her natural talent – no one Adama had ever known could predict enemy reactions the way Starbuck could. Adama snorted again. He was old enough and experienced enough to know the pointlessness of wishing for the impossible. That way lay danger. The sound of a knock on his door, followed by the entry of his son, interrupted Adama's rambling thoughts.

"Reporting as ordered, Sir."

"It's good to see you, son." Commander Adama relaxed, allowing his father to set the tone of the meeting.

"So what now?"

"We have a lot of decisions to make. Hard decisions."

"We can't leave them."

"We might have to. We can't risk the lives of those we have managed to save."

"We can hide the fleet – put them somewhere safe for a while." Lee Adama spoke with hope in his voice but a look of despair on his face. He knew what his father would say to that.

"Hiding doesn't work, Lee. We proved that today. And what happens if we fail and can't get back or worse, are captured and tortured. Someone would give up the fleet. And New Caprica might even be gone already – should we risk capture to save dead men?" Lee Adama sank down on a seat and shook his head.

"Recon?"

"I think that's our best choice at the minute. A small team – brief jumps around the planet. In and out before the cylons can catch them. We need intell. Then we can make those decisions. Put a team together, the best you have. And send Dualla, her comm skills will make sure we get the readings in case anything goes wrong." Adama, watching carefully, saw his son wince at the inclusion of Dualla in the risky mission.

"Yes, Sir. I'll brief them and have them leave within the hour – provided I can rustle up enough deckhands to prepare a raptor that fast. We really need more crew."

"Just make do, Commander. And keep me apprised."

"Yes, Sir." Lee Adama saluted and left his father's quarters. As soon as was certain his son was out of sight Adama resumed his previous position and picked up his thoughts where he had left off. Agreeing to Lee's proposal of recon was purely tokenism on Adama's part. He was convinced that he already knew what the recon team would find. But Lee was young and, despite all that happened, still had some youthful optimism. He would not believe the inevitable unless it was proved. He would not accept that everybody was gone until he had no choice. And Adama almost envied him that. Envied him the hope that they could jump back, play heroes and save the world. Lee saw their departure as a tactical retreat, a temporary withdrawal. Adama saw it for what it really was - an admission of defeat. Which was why he'd been reluctant to leave, why Lee had had to persuade him. Maybe he had done the right thing, maybe any other choice would have been worse but Adama sat in his quarters, head in hands, and felt like a coward.