Title: The Reality of the Dream part one of four

Author: Angelwings9

Fandom: Battlestar Galactica

Set during: season 2 – after Pegasus before the end of Resurrection ship part 2

Characters: Lee 'Apollo' Adama/William Adama/ Kara 'Starbuck' Thrase/Admiral Cain

Pairing: multiple

Warnings: Whump, non-con, rape, dark, may-squark, graphic scenes etc.

"Commander I don't know what to say, it's a miracle," Cain said, her voice strong and steady her eyes hard, her mouth set in a tight line. If Adama heard any misgivings in her voice he hid it well,

"Took the words right out of my mouth," he replied over the comm. The static of the Vipers on the radio was buzzing in the background in CIC when his son's voice, breathless with shock rang, loud and clear throughout the room,

"You are not going to believe what I'm seeing, it's like a dream," William agreed with lee,

"It is a dream," he whispered to no one in particular.

It would be another two days until Commander Adama realised the true nature of the dream; a dream that would haunt his people for months to come and nearly costing him a life, too precious to lose.

Lee stalked angrily in the bunkroom he shared with Kara and a few other officers, "This is Fracking wrong!" he shouted, hurling his jacket off and across the room. Helo, who had been attempting to talk to Starbuck while she threw her stuff out of her locker with venom and into a bag on the floor, looked up in surprise. While it was common knowledge that Kara had a short and explosive fuse, it was a rarity to see the CAG display anything other than calm. "She has no right, no right to do this, this is our Fracking home!"

Apollo flung himself down onto his bunk and yanked the curtains shut, effectively hiding himself away. It was unthinkable to open the curtain on someone's bunk; on a Battlestar that was the only privacy anyone ever got and it was treated with upmost respect. Tears of frustration stung his eyes and he wiped the back of his hand across his face before leaving his forearm over his eyes, blocking all the light out. He knew he had to follow her orders, and he would, but Lee could not stop the thoughts in his head. He had only just got his father back, only just found Kara again, he couldn't lose his family. He would not lose his family. His pilots respected him; it had taken weeks to build that up. On Pegasus he knew where he'd be. His new CAG had already told him; he'd be back to 'Daddy's boy'. The same as he was on Atlantia before proving his worth. He hated the fact that wherever he was posted it was always the same story. He was known as his father's son until he managed to prove that Lee Adama was a person in his own right – usually by risking his life. He could feel his lower lip quivering and insisted to his mind to quash the sobs and to kill the pain. He visualised his emotions being pushed down, controlled, into his gut. Once his breathing was back to normal and he could think straight again Lee open the curtain, got up and began carefully folding his clothing and putting them neatly into a bag.

Kara and Helo were sat on her bunk talking quietly, both giving him odd looks as he moved around the bunkroom with purpose. When he was finished he took the half empty bottle of liquor from his locker, and poured three good measures into the cups on the table in the middle of the room. Indicating Starbuck and Helo, Apollo raised his glass, said a quiet prayer to the Gods and downed his shot in one. Kara nodded her eyes slightly puffy and rheumy, took her glass and drank it straight. Helo followed suit adding his own prayer for their wellbeing and safe hunting. The three of them sat in quiet companionship for a few minutes more before Lee got up, grabbed his bag and said, "We have a transport to catch. Helo, it's been a pleasure." Before walking calmly out of the room, not waiting for a reply, knowing Kara was following him.

The briefing on Pegasus was a joke in Lee's opinion. The CAG may as well never been to War College for all the tactics and original ideas he had. The plan was beyond basic; any civilian who plays triad could have come up with a better one. 'And we have to follow this guy into battle with the Cylons? Yeah right.' He thought viciously. Deciding to try and offer his opinion Lee spoke up, suggesting the use of Kara and the Blackbird, only to be shot down for his efforts. Simmering with embarrassment and frustration, Lee made the decision to go against orders and send Kara and Blackbird anyway. It was folly to risk so many lives on a simple re-con mission. They were the last of the Human race; life was officially the most important thing they had. Taking a camera he hastily gave it and his instructions to Starbuck. Naturally she agreed with him and ran off to complete the mission. Smiling indulgently Lee heading off with the other pilots to man the vipers,

"Captain Adama, a word if you please," his new CAG stopped him, flanked by four marines, two on either side, closing in around Lee.

"Er, sir what is the meaning of this? I have to get ready for pre-flight, sir." He stood his ground, suspicion filtering into his mind.

"I want to know what you gave Thrace, Daddy's boy. I want to know now or I'll put you in Hack." Lee continued to stand there glaring at his superior officer. He needed to buy Kara time, if she didn't make it to the Blackbird then half the Air Squad would die in the foolish plan.

"I was just wishing her well sir, no harm in that." He spoke boldly, keeping his chin held high and his eyes dead ahead.

"Is that right? Take him away. Put him with the other 'guests' let him see what happens to those who disobey orders around here!" the two marines nearest him clamped their hand around the top of his arms while the other two came forward. One punched him in the gut making him double over in pain; Lee would have fallen if it weren't for their friends holding him,

"That's nice," he wheezed desperately trying to regulate his breathing. He was reward with a blow to the head this time with the butt of a gun. His vision whited for a few moment his eyes screwed tight shut against the pounding headache. A thin trickle of blood slowly made its way down from his hairline, across his angular cheek bone before dripping off and onto his collar. "Yeah, you guys sure know how to party." His voice wavered, laced with sarcasm and anger. He had sent Kara off on a mission but it hardly warranted being beaten; put in hack maybe but not this.

The marine guards frog marched him away from the more populated areas of Pegasus, areas where the lights didn't seem to all work, where repairs were needed on bulkheads and wire hung down from the ceiling. There was evidence of fire damage along many of the corridors here and Apollo guessed that this part of the ship had been severely damaged at some point and left to rot. It was a perfect place to keep people who were insubordinate or a larger group of prisoners than the brig could contain. Knowing that Kara must have gotten away and was in all likelihood taking photos at that very moment, Lee's mind worked in overdrive to understand how he had gotten into this situation and where about on the Fracking ship he was.

Why would Admiral Cain need a larger holding cell for prisoners? Who were these 'others' he was being taken to? Lee assumed that the crew was at a diminished capacity due to the war but now a dark thought penetrated him mind, that perhaps the crew were not at full capacity because some of them had disagreed or angered the captain in some way? But what could the captain have done to force her to imprison such a large number of her own crew? Why hadn't this portion of the ship been repaired?

His guards halted outside a filthy and blacken bulkhead door. The two holding his arms let go abruptly and although Lee had been walking under his own steam the sudden loss of their support and the pounding in his head conspired and he slumped forward onto one knee. Swearing he pulled himself up with a grunt. The door swung open easily enough despite the fire damage and into a balcony above a cluttered hanger bay. Lee was 'encouraged' to step inside and the moment his feet were clear of the doorway it slammed shut with brutal finality. Spinning Lee reached for the door to open it only to find that the inside seal had been removed. He was trapped. "Frack me! This is just great. Just fantastic Lee," he cursed himself and in a momentary loss of control punched the door hard. "Shit, Shit, argh, fantastic!"

The skin across his right knuckled had split sending sharp spikes of pain radiated up his hand and into his arm, sighing he held his hand out as flat as he could to access the damage. His hand was shaking and he could not straighten all of his fingers. Determining that he'd broken something he reached into a pocket on his flight suit to locate a bandage. It wasn't much use but he wrapped it as best he could around his bruised fist to give the break some support and to keep the bleeding down. Gingerly he pulled his gun from the holster on his leg. He was surprised that the guards had left him with it but reasoned that it was not standard to wear a weapon for briefing, even though on Galactica they all did. With caution he moved forward to take a look over the balcony and down into the bay. Again he saw a lot of evidence of fires, explosions and other damage to the equipment and structure of the room. There were small patched all across the far wall sealing the air in. the entire room was at risk of decompression and Lee did not fancy dying of asphyxiation anytime soon. Oddly there were large crates dotted around the large area with clothes hanging and draped from wires strung between them. He couldn't see any people around but he could hear the quite talk of women. Their high voices frightened and low, "Hello? I'm not here to hurt anyone; my name is Lee, Lee Adama. Can someone tell me what is going on here please?" he called out hopefully.

The voices disappeared altogether in abject terror. Creeping down the stairs and onto the hanger bay Lee saw with dismay large pools of dried blood along the floor, some with streaks leading away nearly all with bloodied boot prints near them. "What the hell has been happening here?" the room though large was not big enough to dissipate the smell. Thick and cloying; the stench of human sweat and blood, it overpowered Lee and he gaged, retched and lost the contents of his stomach. Bent over a burnt cable with splattered dried blood he added vomit and stomach acid to the odour. Groaning, a new level of vileness penetrated his senses, the smell of old urine, human waste, rotting flesh and he retched again, dry heaving and panting now.

Steeling his nerves and strength Lee stood up straight, his gun still out but held loosely at his side. Blinking back tears from the pain of retching and the depravity of the smell, he walked toward the nearest crate and poked his head inside. A stunned gasp escaped him at the sight within. Eight pairs of frightened eyes stared back at him, each belonging to a young woman or girl. The eldest could not have been more than twenty two the youngest perhaps fourteen years of age. Their hair matted with dried sweat hung in clumps around their pale, gaunt faces. They were huddled together and clinging to one another, nails digging into skin unnoticed. Lee critical eye travelled down from their faces and he noticed the tears in their clothing, the black, red, blue, purple and yellow bruise mottled skin of some, the cuts and dried blood on others.

Expecting to see hollowed bellies, Lee was staggered to see distended pregnant stomachs on half the girls, "What the Fracking hell is going on here?" he whispered, the girls shifted uneasily and he tried to reassure them,

"It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you. Er, how about we get to know each other huh?" receiving blank stared Lee soldiered on trying to gain some trust, "I'm Lee and well, I'm a viper pilot. I'm from Caprica and my ship found this ship a few days ago and I was ordered to come here. Er, I guess I didn't make a very good first impression because my CAG had me punched around a little and sent here with you girls. So I was wondering if one of you might tell me what this place is for, maybe why you're here, and escape routes you know of?" he added optimistically.

Getting nothing but more wide eyed fear Lee stood up and was about to move on to see if he might have more luck with a different crate when one of the older girls spoke up, "there's no way out of here. They come and take us every few hours until we get pregnant. Then they leave us alone."

Bewildered lee replied, "Who takes you? Where are all the babies then?"

"You don't come back when its time. We never see the babies." She whimpered, tears rolling down her face.

"How many of you are there? How long have you been here?" a sickening horror was unfolding before him, there were no babies on Pegasus's crew manifest.

"There were a lot of us; I don't know exactly, probably fifty I think. Our ship didn't have FTL; the Admiral said we could stay if we were useful." She shook slightly, a lingering fury clear in her hazel eyes.

"Useful? By being raped and made to have children?" Lee shook his head in disgust, what reason could Cain have for pregnant women? "How many are left?"

"Just us."