TITLE: All She Wanted
AUTHOR: DramaLexy
DISCLAIMER: Oh, man, if they were mine...(for starters, the rest of season two would begin next month, not next year) But they're not, so don't sue.
SUMMARY: An impossible promise leads to an unexpected challenge. Kara-centric, but everyone else makes appearances. Season 2, post-"Final Cut", but ignores all the episodes that came after.
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, if you want it. Just let me know where.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first fic of length that I've done in recent memory that wasn't a shippy thing, so I'm not exactly sure how it came out. Feedback would be much appreciated; I'll attempt to incorporate suggestions that are made.
It had been an impossible promise when Kara made it, and both she and Anders knew it – she was in no position to decide whether or not a return mission to Caprica would be made, especially considering the fact that she was AWOL when she gave the former C-Buck her word. And yet, because of political motives in the fleet, she was going to be able to keep her promise.
After the documentary on Galactica began being shown in the fleet, approval ratings for President Roslin and Commander Adama began to go back up again. Not everyone in the fleet was happy, though, and one Quorum member decided to stir things up with a bit of knowledge that he'd overheard on Kobol – there were survivors on Caprica and possibly the other colonies that had been left behind. Suddenly the fleet was in an uproar and Galactica was planning a mission back to Caprica. If it was a success, efforts to find resisters on other worlds would be made.
"This isn't a rescue mission," Kara snapped at Tigh as they, Lee, Adama, and Helo stood around planning board. "Some of the people may want out, but for a lot of them…fighting back, defending their homes, and disrupting the Cylons' plans are what they're all about. They're not looking to be 'rescued' from Caprica; they just need a little bit of help."
"Their efforts are nothing more than a pinprick to the Cylons," Tigh shot back.
"A pinprick can still make you bleed."
"They've managed this long," Adama broke in, ending their bickering with a sharp look to both his XO and pilot. "We can't supply them with more people, but we need to do whatever we can as far as weapons, medicines, and food. We will also offer the opportunity to get off the planet that they did not have during the attack…and we'll make sure they know that what we fight for is the survival of our race, not for the places that used to be our homes."
Lee wasn't too surprised when Kara volunteered to lead the mission to back Caprica. It was a bit more of a shock that Helo wanted to return to the wasteland of a planet, and the CAG was almost automatically suspicious when their 'pet Cylon' offered to go as well. Ignoring the fact that Sharon was a potentially very valuable asset, she was only a few days beyond her release from the medical station for a near-miscarriage. Lee didn't understand why she would put herself and her child back in the dangerous situation on Caprica unless she had an ulterior motive.
"Maybe she just realizes, like the rest of us, that the knowledge she has and we don't could be of use to the mission," Kara told Lee as they worked out together.
"Or the knowledge she has and we don't could screw us over."
"Hey, as long as Helo is on the mission along with her, she's not going to let anything happen to him, and as an extension of that, to the rest of the team."
"You've got a lot of faith considering she's a Cylon." Kara shrugged.
"Yeah, well, she's proven herself somewhat helpful so far."
"Mmm…I denied your request to be leader of the expedition to Caprica," Le switched gears. Kara sat straight up, her eyes flashing.
"Me and Helo are the only officers you've got that know what it's like on that planet!"
"I know."
"Right, but you're still saying no? Who the frak is going to lead it instead? No one else even knows how to pilot the Heavy Raider."
"Oh, you'll be piloting, but you won't be in charge. I will." Kara's mouth opened, but no sound came out. "I don't ever think I've heard you speechless, Starbuck."
"Y-you're leading the expedition? The Old Man actually okayed that?"
"More or less."
"He's letting his senior most pilots go on one fairly suicidal op together?"
"Yeah…so I guess we better not get ourselves killed."
The plan was pretty straightforward: get back to Caprica, get past Cylon defenses and land at the resistance base, offload supplies, provide assistance as needed, and retrieve anyone who wanted to join the fleet, and then head home. Not simple, most likely not easy, but straightforward. Kara, Lee, Helo, Sharon, and a few marines loaded into the Heavy Raider, cleared the fleet, and made the long jump away to enemy territory – and what used to be home.
The first sign they got that things probably wouldn't have a happy ending was the cloud of smoke in the sky as Kara brought the ship into an approach path for the old high school that served as a base for the resistance. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was most likely on fire.
They didn't land outside of the base; they landed outside of a smoking pile of debris. A few bodies were littered around outside and once the team was sure the perimeter was secure, they began checking to see if any of them were actually still alive.
"Starbuck!" Helo called across the courtyard from his spot kneeling beside one of the casualties. Satisfied that she woman she'd found had no pulse, Kara headed over to her friend and her eyes welled as she realized whom he had found.
"H-hey," Anders barely managed to croak as she dropped to his side. "Y-you came back."
"I promised I would, didn't I?"
"Y-yeah." A shaking hand reached for the chain around his neck and revealed that he still had her dog tag. Lee watched them from a few meters away, sufficiently able to read into Kara clutching this unknown man's hand between hers and her tears that were about to spill.
"What happened here?" she asked, flinching slightly when Anders coughed and a little stream of blood begin trickling from his mouth.
"Guess th-they weren't too happy about that farm we blew last week."
"Did anyone survive? Did anybody get away?" Anders shook his head, starting to cough again.
A noise suddenly came from somewhere in the wreckage, a low whimpering cry, and the Marines were instantly off trying to determine the source. Kara noticed as the look on Anders' face changed, even as he began to lose his fight for survival. Surprise, confusion, and something else that she couldn't pinpoint.
"Th-the girls…" he whispered to no one in particular before drawing in a final breath. Kara gently closed his eyes and took a moment to collect herself before taking her tag back from around his neck and getting up.
"You okay?" Helo asked her, starting to put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off.
"I'm fine."
"Captain!" One of the marines called, and the whole group made their way over to where they were standing. "There's something here." In the silence that followed that statement, they could all hear the noise from before coming from under the rubble. Without hesitation, Sharon stepped forward and started moving pieces away. Helo grabbed her.
"Are you nuts?" he asked her.
"It would take three of you to carry the same weight," she matter-of-factly told him.
"You're a week out of the Life Station! Humor me and pretend to just be human; you used to be really good at it." Sharon smiled at that little barb, knowing it had been said in teasing, not malice.
She hadn't been exaggerating; it took three or four of the marines to move the other pieces of wall. They uncovered what had been a stairwell to the basement and when Kara and Lee shone flashlights down into it, they discovered two figures at the bottom. "Leave us alone!" a little girl, who had to be about six or seven, cried. She was protectively holding a baby of about a year's age. "We didn't do anything to you!"
"We're here to help you," Lee tried to tell her. "We're from the Colonial Fleet; we're military officers."
There was a moment of pause, then, "You promise?" her little voice asked. Inside, Kara had a moment of anger over the fact that the Cylons were impersonating officers on the planet; the trust the child was placing in their titles could have easily been unfounded.
"Promise," she told the little girl. "You can come out. We've got food, and we can fix you up if you're hurt." That offer was considered, and the child began climbing up the stairs with her baby sibling. A second before Kara could have touched her something happened that no one had predicted: the little girl saw Sharon. And freaked.
"You ARE Cylons! You lied!" she cried, pulling back away and retreating into her hiding space. "Go away! Leave us alone!" Kara followed her, getting a grip on her shoulders and stopping her.
"Hey, hey, listen to me! First thing you have to realize about life nowadays is that most things aren't the way that they appear. You've seen other Cylons that look like her?" The girl nodded. "They attacked here?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, and just now, she was trying to help us rescue you. She is a Cylon, but she's not like other Cylons. I know how you feel, because I've been tricked into thinking that other Cylons were humans, but let me tell you something, okay?"
"Okay."
"If we were Cylons, we'd probably be here to make sure everyone at this base really was taken out. There would be a couple Centurions up there that more than likely would have killed you by now. So can you trust me based on the fact that we're still standing here talking with each other?" She nodded. "All right. What's your name?"
"Erin."
"How about her?" Kara asked, indicating the baby.
"Lachel."
"My name's Kara; that's Lee and that's Helo," she pointed. "They're my friends. Are you guys hungry?"
"Yeah."
TBC...
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