„Apollo, wake up!"
Lee startled from his sleep. His eyes flew open and his head jerked up quickly. When his eyes had accustomed to the light around him he could see Starbuck standing right in front of him, arms crossed.
"I'm awake." He said in a still sleepy voice. He ran his hands through his hair and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Then he checked his watch. "Frak."
"Right. Come on, we launch in 5 Minutes." Starbuck told him.
Apollo quickly got out of his chair when his eyes fell on the papers in front of him. "Frak, I didn't finish the report."
"That will just have to wait for the next cycle. Now come on!" Starbuck said impatiently, then she turned around and left his office.
Apollo glanced one last time at the papers on his desk before he quickly followed her out.
A few minutes later he sat in his Viper outside Galactica watching the clock intently.
"And one minute to mark." He told the other pilots who had launched with him to protect the fleet from the Cylons who would surely appear the next minute. Exactly like they had the last 236 times before. Every 33 minutes. He desperately tried to stay awake. He had barely closed his eyes for more then five minutes these last five days. And the Cylons just kept coming and coming, no matter what they did. He had no idea how they could find them every time. He assumed there must be more Cylon spies in the fleet. Or they were tracking one of the ships.
"Hey Apollo, what number is this, did we pass 200 yet?" Starbuck asked over the comm.
"Try 237." Apollo replied.
Kara chuckled. "You're telling me I missed 200?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you." Apollo had to smile. He could practically hear her grin over the comm. "What? Where you planning something special?"
"No, I just like to keep track of things like this. I mean, 200 was just a nice round number and now I'm gonna have to wait for 300." Starbuck replied grinning.
"Don't even joke about it."
Suddenly his clock started to beep. Another 33 minutes had passed. And the Cylons were right on time. A Basestar appeared and immediately launched his Raiders towards Galactica and the waiting Vipers.
"All right, you know the drill, people. Scatter formation. Keep them off the civvies and don't stray beyond the recovery line!" Apollo ordered the pilots.
A few minutes and one fierce battle later all civilian ships had jumped away and the Vipers were called back to Galactica.
"Combat landings." Apollo called out.
They were getting slower. More and more ships were reporting troubles with their FTL-Drives. The Galactica had already taken some hits before all Vipers had landed safely. Fortunately they were able to jump away before the first Cylon Raider had reached the Galactica and further damage had been prevented.
"Jump 237 complete." Gaeta reported.
"All civilian ships present and accounted for, Sir." Dualla said like she had done 236 times before. So far they hadn't lost one ship. She hoped it would stay like this until they had found a way to finally escape the Cylons.
"Start the clock. And let's start prepping for the next jump." Tigh ordered.
All three looked like they could hardly keep their eyes open. Gaeta picked up the microphone. "Clock is running. 33 minutes ... mark." He announced fleet wide.
"You've got 32 minutes, people." Apollo could hear Chief Tyrol call out to his crew. Tired he stayed in his Viper for a few moments longer than necessary. He finally forced himself to get out. He was afraid he would fall asleep again. And he really didn't have the time for that. There was the pilots briefing, then he had his reports to finish, look after his family and if there was still time he should get something to eat. The last time he ate something was about 24 hours ago.
Kara accompanied him on his way to the briefing room.
"Did you hear that the Cylons look like us now?" She asked. She figured if she just kept talking she would at least not fall asleep.
But Lee just kept walking next to her without saying a word.
"Oh come on, you can tell me. It's not fair that only superior officers get informed of this. We all deserve to know. And I bet you told Alicia. I mean, you're not supposed to have secrets from your wife, right? But if you told her, what difference does it make if you tell your best friend? And since I have been your best friend since ..." Starbuck went on, oblivious to the annoyed looks Apollo send her way throughout her speech.
"What I tell my wife is none of your business, Lt. And if I receive classified information they are classified for a reason." He snapped at Starbuck.
Kara felt taken aback. She hadn't meant to start a fight with Lee. She had just tried to keep up a conversation. She was about to snap something back into his face when they reached the briefing room.
Lee quickened his steps and went straight for the podium. He was angry at himself. There really had been no reason to be so harsh to Kara. She just wanted to know what everyone else was asking. If the Cylons really looked like humans now. And he did agree with her. They all deserved to know the truth. This couldn't stay hidden for long anyway. But it was still classified information and he was simply too exhausted to discuss this with her now.
Tired he looked at the pilots in front of him.
"Okay people. Combat landings expected again to be the order of the day, so ... double check your undercarriage before ..." He looked down at the pilots who looked just as tired as he was. "Look, you've all done this ... 237 times. You know what to do. No mistakes and lets make it to 238. And good luck and be careful out there." He practically had to force the words to come out of his mouth. He felt too tired to even speak.
One after the other the Pilots left the briefing room. Lee noticed how Kara shot him an angry look before she left too. He guessed he deserved that after he had snapped at her before without reason. He would apologize to her later. Now he had to finish his reports. On his way to his office he ran into Colonel Tigh.
"Captain, wait a minute." He called out to Apollo. "New orders from the Old Man. Every pilot has to take stims from now on." When he saw Apollo's annoyed look he went on. "We just had too many cases of exhaustion breakdowns. We can't afford any more. Especially not with the pilots."
"Yes, Sir." Apollo sighed. He didn't like to take stims but Tigh was right. They couldn't go on like this forever.
"Report to sickbay for further instructions. I'll put a note about this in the ready room." Tigh said before he left.
Sighing Apollo started his way to sickbay to pick up the stims for the pilots. He would never get finished with his reports before the Cylons came again. Well, he would just have to postpone lunch to some other time. That would safe him some more minutes. He decided to check on this family on his way to sickbay. Their quarter lay on the way so it wouldn't take much time. He just wanted to hold his daughter for a second and see after Alicia.
When he entered his quarter he found his wife playing with their daughter.
"Lee." She called out surprised when she saw her husband stepping in. He gave her a quick kiss then he reached for his daughter.
"Hey Pumpkin, miss me?" He smiled at her lovingly.
"Yes." Nia quickly nodded and laughed at him.
"I just have a few minutes. How are you holding up?" Lee asked his wife.
"Tired, as is everyone else. Other than that we're doing fine." She looked at her daughter and smiled. "Nia is probably the only one that gets enough sleep. The alarms and jumps doesn't seem to disturb her anymore. She sleeps right through them." She told him.
"That's my girl." Lee laughed at his daughter. Then his eyes fell on an almost empty pill box on the table. Puzzled he looked at his wife.
"You said you still had enough pills for weeks." He said to her.
"Well, uhm, yeah, I didn't want to worry you." Alicia looked down on the floor. "And it's not like I can go to the next pharmacy and get some new ones." She suddenly turned defensively.
"Then what were you gonna do? Just take nothing? You know you can't do that." Lee was starting to get angry. How could she just ignore this?
"And what am I supposed to do? What .. you think they have Valproat on a battlestar?" Alicia hissed at him. She was now as angry as Lee.
Lee let out a frustrated sigh. He forced himself to calm down. "I have to talk to Doc Cottle anyway. I'll asked him for something." He looked at his wife for a few seconds. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get angry. I just ..." He sighed again.
"No, I'm sorry. I should have told you. No secrets, right?" Alicia smiled sadly at Lee.
"Right. ... I have to go. I'm already running late. I love you." He kissed her again. Then he put Nia back on the floor, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and left. He quickly went on to sickbay.
"Just give each of your pilots 2 of these pills and they should be fine for the next hours. You can repeat that for about 2, maybe 3 days. But I don't recommend to go on stims longer then that. The risk of addiction gets too big after that time." Cottle explained to Lee.
"Tell that to the Cylons." Lee stated dryly. "Thanks Doc." He took in a deep breath. "Uhm, Doc, there's one more thing I'd like to talk to you about."
"Sure, what's up?" Cottle asked.
"It's ... It's about my wife. She ...uhm She suffers from ... from some form of ... manic depressions. She's taken Valproat so far, but she's running out of them soon. I thought that maybe, uhm, you might have something similar ..." Lee looked hopeful at Cottle.
Cottle thought about what Lee had just told him for a moment. "Hmm, that's difficult. We don't have Valproat here since people with this disease usually don't get to work on a battlestar." He looked thoughtfully at Lee for another moment. "How long will her pills last?" He wanted to know.
"For about 2 days." Lee replied.
"Okay, I'll think about it. I'll let you know if I have something." Cottle assured Lee.
Gratefully Lee looked at Cottle. "Thanks Doc."
Lee ordered one of the more older pilots, Frosty, to hand out the stims to the first pilots. He only had 15 minutes left and wanted to finish at least the last cycle's report before he had to go out again. When he was almost done someone knocked on the hatch to his office.
"Cone on in." He said tired. When the hatch opened he saw Frosty stepping into the room.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir, but ..." Frosty stopped hesitantly.
"What is it, Lt.?" Lee questioned.
"Uhm, it's Starbuck, Sir. She said she won't take the stims, Sir." Apollo let out a frustrated groan as he heard that. Angrily he got up, grabbed the pills out of Frosty's hand and went to find Starbuck.
He found her in the hangar bay inspecting her Viper. On his way down he had decided that it wouldn't make much sense to start yelling at her so he would try the friendly way first. They could always hit each other later.
"Hey, you, uhm, you see the note from the XO?" He said to her.
"Yeah, I saw it. No way." Starbuck replied stubbornly.
"Kara, everyone else ..." Lee tried again.
"I don't fly with stims. They blunt your reflexes, your reaction time." She interrupted him and continued checking her Viper.
Lee let out an exhausted sigh. Why couldn't she just take her orders like anyone else on this ship. He really was too tired for this. "Come on, Kara, give me a break. Just ..."
"Why are we arguing about this?" Kara asked him angrily.
"I have no idea." Apollo shook his head in confusion. What was her problem now?
"Neither do I. You're the CAG – act like one." Kara yelled at him.
"What the hell does that mean?" He yelled back. He was starting to get angry now too.
"It means that you're still acting like you're everyone's best friend. We're not friends; you're the CAG! 'Be careful out there?' Our job isn't to be careful, it's to shoot Cylons out of the frakking sky! 'Good hunting' is what you say. And now one of your idiot pilots is acting like a child and refusing to take her pills. So she either says 'Yes, Sir' and obeys a direct order or you smack her in the mouth and you drag her sorry ass down to sickbay and you make her take those pills!" Kara shouted at Lee while she walked up to him until she stood directly in front of him.
They both stared at each other furiously for some time before they both broke out into a laughter.
"Well, I'm glad I'm not working for you." Lee said grinning.
"You're damn right your glad." Starbuck replied still laughing.
He looked at her for a second. "So, do I have to smack you in the mouth, Lieutenant?" He asked quietly.
"No, Sir. I'll take my pills." She replied. Then she saw him holding out the pill box. "Oh, perfect." Sighing she held out her hand and he let the pills fall down on it.
"Carry on." He told her.
"Yes, Sir." Reluctantly Kara swallowed down her pills.
Satisfied Lee turned around and went to his Viper. Kara watched him leaving shaking her head. Then she noticed Tyrol watching her with an astounded look on his face.
"What?" She asked angry.
Tyrol just arched an eyebrow and slowly turned away. He didn't get these two. One minute they're fighting, the next minute they're best friends again. The way they were acting one could think they were lovers or something. But since the CAG was married that couldn't be it. Maybe they were both just plain crazy.
Again Lee sat in his Viper waiting for the Cylons to come. Only two minutes to go. He found it much easier this time to stay awake thanks to the stims. But they also gave him an edgy feeling like he couldn't sit still for a second. Which wasn't really a comfortable feeling when you are stuck in a Viper.
"Hey, Apollo, do you also feel like running around the Galactica for 10 rounds would be a great thing to do right now?" He could hear Starbuck over the comm.
"Yep, absolutely. But I guess we have to settle with shooting down Cylons for now." He replied. He could hear Starbuck laughing over the comm and had to smile at that.
"One minute to mark." He announced a few seconds later.
And again the Cylons came right on time. Exactly after 33 minutes a Basestar appeared and launched it's Raiders. This time the Colonials weren't so lucky. More and more civilian ships had reported problems with their FTL-Drive so it took a couple of minutes too long before all ships had jumped into safety. By this time the first Raiders had reached the Vipers and it came to a pretty fierce battle. Fortunately they didn't loose any pilots and all returned safe back to Galactica. Safe, but only for the next 33 minutes, Apollo thought bitter.
"Jump 238 complete." Gaeta reported.
"Start the clock." Tigh ordered. He felt like he could already repeat these words in his sleep. If he would get any sleep at all.
"33 minutes ... mark." Gaeta announced again fleet wide.
"All civilian ships present and ..." Dualla started do report as usual but then her eyes widened in horror. "Strike my last. One civilian ship missing and unaccounted for, Sir."
"Which one?" Tigh asked alerted as he quickly went over to Dualla's console.
"The Olympic Carrier. Commercial passenger vessel." Dualla reported still slightly shocked. She had been afraid something like this would happen ever since the Cylons had attacked the first time after their jump into presumed safety.
"Were they left behind?" Adama asked concerned.
"I think I accounted for all civilian ships before we left, Sir." Dualla replied hesitantly.
"You think? Did you or did you not?" Tigh yelled at her angrily.
"They're ... they're not logged in, Sir. I think they may have been left behind." Dualla was forcing down the tears welling up in her eyes.
"How many people aboard the ship?" Adama asked quietly.
"1.345 souls, sir." Dualla whispered.
"You're telling me we left over 1.300 people to die at the hand of the Cylons?" Tigh asked her angrily. This shouldn't have happened.
"It may not have been her fault, Sir." Gaeta cut in. He felt sorry for Dualla. He could see she was near crying already. "It may have simply been a navigational error and they jumped to the wrong coordinates. Or the Cylons may have destroyed the ship before they jumped ..."
"Or fifty other things may have happened. The point is, we don't know what the hell did happen." Tigh looked angry at the people standing around him. "Yes, we're tired. Yes, there's no relief. Yes, the Cylons keep coming at us, time after time after time. And yes, we are still expected to do our jobs!" He shouted.
Adama looked around him, sadness visibly in his eyes. "We make mistakes, people die. There aren't many of us left. ...Carry on." He said quietly.
A few minutes later on Colonial 1 the number on the white board showing the last survivors of humanity were corrected down to 47.972.
Lee sat back in his office. He ran his hands through his hair as he tried to concentrate on his reports. Thanks to the stims just sitting around still wasn't the most easiest thing to do right know. He imagined Starbuck running around the Galactica letting of some steam. Or taking a long, hot shower. Or getting something to eat. No matter what she did right now he wished he could join her instead of sitting around in his office.
So far he had at least managed to finally finish the report from two cycles before. There were only two more to go. But he found it harder with every passing minute to concentrate on what he was writing down. Despite the stims he still felt tired and hungry. He closed his eyes for a second. Shouldn't these frakking stims make him more wakeful? All they did was make him feel on the edge. Starbuck was right. These frakking pills were playing with one's head.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come on in." He called out. He hoped there hadn't been another problem with one of the pilots again. He smiled when he saw Alicia and Nia walking in.
"We thought you could use something to eat so we brought you something from the mess." Alicia told him, smiling warmly at him. She looked just as tired and exhausted as Lee felt.
"You're an angel. I'm starving." Lee called out thankfully. While Alicia put the food on his desk his daughter crawled on his lap.
"Hi Daddy." She gave him one of her favorite smiles.
"Hey pumpkin." He gave her a kiss on her forehead. The reports were forgotten for the moment. He quickly began to eat, sharing with his daughter from time to time. He was determined to eat up all the food Alicia had brought before he had to get back into his Viper. Who knew when he would get another chance to eat?
Suddenly the hatch opened again and Kara entered the room.
"Oh food." She called out gladly and quickly took a seat next to Lee's desk. "You don't mind, do you?" She had already started taking some of the food. The way she looked she really had just enjoyed a shower. Lee already envied her for that.
Nevertheless he grinned at her shaking his head. "Well, since you're already eating ..."
"I would have brought more if I had known you were coming." Alicia said. It was bugging her that Kara ate the food that had been intended to be for Lee. She had no idea why but she was a bit jealous of Kara. Maybe it was just because she got to spend so much more time with Lee since they were both pilots. But there was something in the way they were looking at each other sometimes that worried her slightly.
"Oh, that's okay. Lee doesn't mind to share, right, Lee?" Kara grinned at her friend.
"Yeah, right." He laughed at her and they both looked at each other for a moment with glistening eyes. "Can you imagine what I had to endure during flight school?" He turned to his wife laughing.
"Oh yeah ..." Alicia forced herself to laugh back.
"So, Alicia, have you heard that the Cylons look like us now?" Kara asked after a few moments with a big smirk on her face.
"Kara!" Lee warned her.
"What?" Kara answered with a full mouth, still grinning mischievously. Then she looked questioningly back at Alicia.
"Uhm, I heard two marines talking about it in the mess, but I'm not sure if it's true." Alicia answered, not sure what to think of this question.
"So, you haven't heard anything from ... let's say ... higher sources?" Kara kept asking innocently.
"That's it. Out! Now! I meet you on the Hangar Deck in 5 minutes." Lee tried to look angry while he desperately tried not to laugh out loud. Kara was probably the most annoying person in his life but he had missed that usual banter between them the last two years.
"Aye, aye, Sir." Kara smugly saluted to him, waved shortly at Nia, grabbed some more food for the way and thanked Alicia for the meal. Then she quickly disappeared into the corridor.
Lee shook his head smiling while he watched the hatch closing behind Kara.
"I really can't understand how you could be friends with her for so long. You two are so different." Alicia asked in disbelieve. She had never understood the relationship between Lee and Kara.
"That's what makes it so interesting, I guess. ... And I think deep down we're not so different at all." He replied thoughtfully, still staring at the closed hatch.
Alicia wasn't sure if he had even meant to say that last part aloud.
A few minutes later Starbuck and Apollo found themselves back in their Vipers again, waiting for the Cylons to show up. But when the 33 minutes were over, nothing happened. No Basestar appeared.
"Hey Apollo, what do you think this means? Did we escape them?" Starbuck asked after a few minutes.
"I don't know. Maybe ..." Apollo replied doubtful. He thought about the ship they had lost the last time they had jumped. The Olympic Carrier. It couldn't be a coincidence that the Cylons didn't show up right after that.
"Apollo, Galactica. You are ordered to set up a combat patrol around the fleet. The rest of the pilots are to land immediately." Apollo could hear Dee over the comm a few minutes later.
"All right, people, you heard the order. Boomer, Starbuck, warm up with me. We'll fly the first CAP. I want everyone else back on Galactica and in their racks. Three hour rotation." He ordered.
"Hey Apollo, not that I'm not honored to be chosen to sit out in my cockpit for the next three hours, but uh ..." Starbuck said, slightly complaining.
"But why you?" Apollo asked grinning. "Take a guess."
"Cause I'm on drugs?" Starbuck smirked. She would make Lee pay for this, that was for sure.
"You got it. This patrol is 100 stimulated." He laughed quietly as he imagined Kara's face right now.
"Someone else feel like they have ants crawling behind their frakking eyeballs?" Crashdown, the Raptor's ECO, cut in for the first time.
Silently Apollo had to agree. He hoped he would never have to take stims again in his life. "Hey, how about you, Boomer? Doc tells me, you're holding up better than anybody in the squadron."
"I'm tired like everybody else." Boomer replied.
"You never seem it." Apollo went on. In fact he had already wondered how she held up so good. She looked like she had just slept 10 hours in a row.
"That's cause she's a Cylon." Starbuck called out jokingly.
"You're just gonna make me come over there and kick your ass, aren't you?" Boomer called back. She hated jokes like that. They always send shivers down her spine for some reason.
"Okay, okay, let's set up a patrol here, before somebody gets hurt. Follow me." Apollo ordered, fully back to being the CAG.
"Copy that, Apollo." Starbuck replied.
Almost three hours had passed and still no sign of the Cylons. Everyone had just started to hope that maybe this time they had finally managed to escape when suddenly the alarms went off.
"Dradis contact." Gaeta called out. "Bearing 3-4-8, carom 1-2-0. One ship. ... Getting recognition signal ... It's the Olympic Carrier, Sir." Relieved Gaeta looked up from his console.
"Is that confirmed?" Tigh asked stunned.
"It's confirmed, Sir." Dualla reported.
"Thank the gods." Relieved Tigh looked up at the Dradis console.
"Action stations." Adama suddenly ordered after staring at the Dradis for several seconds. Tigh looked at him stunned. "Put the fleet into Condition 1. I want all Vipers manned and ready, but keep them in the tubes." Adama went on while everyone in CIC stared at him in confusion for a second.
"Mr. Gaeta?" Adama went on.
"Sir?"
"Restart the clock. 33 minutes." He said determinedly. Just like Lee Adama didn't think that it was a coincidence that the Cylons stopped coming right after the Olympic Carrier had disappeared.
"I hope you're wrong." Tigh said quietly to Adama.
"So do I. ... So do I." Adama sighed. He had really hoped this nightmare was finally over.
Anxiously Apollo sat in his Viper and watched the Olympic Carrier approaching the fleet. He listened to Boomer contacting the ship's pilot.
"Olympic Carrier, Olympic Carrier. This is Raptor 478, Callsign Boomer. I have you in visual contact. Please respond on this channel, over."
"Raptor 478, this is the Olympic Carrier. We have you in visual contact. Thank the Lords of Kobol. You don't know how relieved we are to see you." The Pilot of the Olympic Carrier replied. Boomer smiled relieved at hearing the Pilot's voice.
"Roger that, Olympic Carrier. Can I ask about you whereabouts?" She questioned.
"We had trouble with our FTL-Drive. Took us almost three hours to fix." The Pilot answered while his ship quickly went on approaching the fleet.
"Boomer, Galactica." Dualla cut in from CIC. "Galactica Actual wants you to ask them how they escaped the Cylons."
"You got me." The Pilot answered after Boomer had passed on the question. "They were closing in on us when the rest of you were jumping. I thought we were goners, then they just broke off. Someone must have been watching out for us."
"Roger that." Boomer looked at Crashdown wondering. Why would the Cylons just let them go?
"One other thing, Boomer." The Pilot went on. "I've got a Dr. Amarak on board, he claims he has an urgent matter to discuss with the President. He's been driving me crazy."
"Olympic Carrier, can you be more specific?" Boomer asked.
"I'm afraid I can't. He says he knows something about a traitor in our midst and he's unwilling to share more than that." The Pilot replied.
Boomer suddenly felt nervous as she listened to the Pilot's last words. For some reason she wished the Olympic Carrier had never appeared again. But that was ridiculous. There were over 1.300 people on board that ship. She had been as shocked as everyone else when she heard they had been lost. And know she wished for them to stay lost? She shook her head to get a clear mind again. Of course she wasglad they were all alive and safe. It was probably just that talk about a traitor within the fleet that had made her nervous.
"Boomer, Galactica." Dee interrupted her thoughts. "Your orders are to jam all transmissions from the Olympic Carrier. No further voice contact is authorized."
"Roger that, Galactica." Boomer replied confused. She got even more confused when she got ordered to send a message to the Olympic Carrier by signal light that they should maintain their present position and were not allowed to approach the fleet until further notice. Boomer send the signals as she had been ordered but the Olympic Carrier just carried on approaching the fleet.
"I don't think they got the message, Apollo." Starbuck said over the comm. She had a bad feeling about this. They had both been listening to the transmissions between Boomer and the Olympic Carrier. And something just didn't seem right.
"Yeah, I see it. Boomer, break wireless silence on my authority. Warn them to stop their engines immediately." Apollo ordered. He shared Starbucks feelings about this situation. Something was definitely not right.
"Apollo, they're not responding." Boomer called out after she had unsuccessfully tried to contact the Olympic Carrier again.
"Are you using the same channel?" Apollo asked.
"Yeah, but suddenly nobody's home." Boomer replied worried.
Apollo thought for a moment what they could do to make the Pilot of the Olympic Carrier understand the seriousness of the situation. "Starbuck, fire a burst across their bow." He finally ordered.
"Copy that." Starbuck replied, grinning mischievously. Then she turned her Viper around and fired a few shots. The Olympic Carrier didn't even slow down, let alone stop.
'Frak!' Apollo thought. "Boomer. Let Galactica know we have a problem out here." He had a feeling this would come to a bad end if the Olympic Carrier didn't start to follow their orders soon. A few moments later – exactly 33 minutes after the Olympic Carrier had appeared again - he noticed several Cylon Raiders appearing on his Dradis. "Frak." He called out.
"I'm right there with you, Apollo. What are we gonna do know?" Starbuck wanted to know. She had hoped they had seen the last of the Cylons 3 hours ago.
"Cylons, on intercept course. They'll be in weapons range within two minutes." Crashdown announced. Suddenly his console starting beeping. "Frak me! Radiological alarm!" He called out. Terrified he looked on his screen. The radiological alarm came directly from the Olympic Carrier. How was that even possible?
"We have new orders." Boomer transmitted to Apollo and Starbuck after a few moments. "We are directed to ... destroy the Olympic Carrier and return to Galactica." Shocked she turned around to Crashdown. But suddenly she felt a wave of relief flash over her. The traitor, the Pilot had spoken of before, would stay undetected. And then she was even more shocked over her own feelings than over the orders she had just passed on. What was wrong with her?
"It's a civilian ship!" Starbuck called out in disbelief.
"Yeah, a civilian ship with nukes." Apollo sighed frustrated.
He kept flying around the Olympic Carrier, trying to look inside through the windows. He couldn't see anyone inside the ship. He took a few deep breaths before he started speaking. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. "The Cylons will be here any second. If we're gonna do this, then just do it. Starbuck, form up with me. We'll make one pass from astern." He ordered. He hoped that just this once Starbuck would follow her orders without to object against them.
Both Vipers flew behind the Olympic carrier, ready to fire at every moment.
"Lee, what if you're wrong?" Starbuck desperately asked. She didn't think she could just fire at a ship if there still might be over 1.300 innocent people on it. "Lee, come on. Lee!"
Apollo took another deep breath and tried to swallow down the bile that was starting to rise in his throat. He suddenly had the same feeling as when he was sitting in Colonial 1's cockpit, leaving thousands of people on their sublight ships behind as the Cylons attacked that first day of war.
"Okay, fire on my mark." He ordered.
"No frakking way, Lee. Lee! Come on!" Starbuck shouted over the comm.
This was worse than on Colonial 1. This time it would be him pulling the trigger, not the Cylons. He swallowed again.
"Mark." He finally pressed out, hardly audible. Then he immediately started firing on the Olympic Carrier. Starbuck followed him only seconds later. They both kept firing until the ship exploded. Then they sat silently in their Vipers for a few moments, watching in horror the destroyed ship in front of them, before they returned to Galactica. They landed just in time. The Galactica jumped away as the first Cylon Raider came in weapon's range to the Galactica.
After Lee had returned to Galactica he felt like he was in a daze. He handed his helmet to some deckhand and climbed out of his Viper without really realizing what he was doing. Somehow he found his way to the briefing room. Before he entered he took a few deep breaths and tried to regain his composure. He would have to get up there in front of the pilots and act like nothing had happened. As if he hadn't just maybe killed over 1.300 people. He felt the bile starting to rise in his throat again. Just when he wanted to turn around he saw Kara standing next to him.
"I'd like a transfer, Sir." She told him in a tired voice. She looked as bad as Lee felt.
"All transfers in writing please." Lee said quietly.
"I'll go find a pen." She replied. She looked at him intensely and in her eyes he saw the same desperation he felt inside of him. They looked at each other for a short moment without saying another word. They didn't have to. Somehow with bringing up this usual banter between them Kara had given him some of his strength back, at least for now. He wasn't alone in this. He nodded at her shortly and together they stepped into the briefing room.
Kara watched Lee as he talked to the pilots. His all too familiar mask had slipped over his face again and he didn't show any emotions at all. He acted as if nothing had happened. The great CAG who could get shocked by nothing. She could see the pilots were falling for this act and it gave them comfort. If the CAG was all right with what happened then they didn't need to worry about it. But she had seen the desperation in Lee's eyes a few minutes ago. She knew that he wasn't okay. Just like she wasn't.
After the briefing was over Kara stayed behind and waited for the pilots to leave. Then she turned to Lee.
"Did we do the right thing?"
Lee knew exactly what she meant but he couldn't talk about this now, not even with her.
"We're both tired and exhausted. Take a shower and get some sleep." He replied without looking up from the papers in his hands. When he noticed that she was still standing in front of him, frozen in her tracks as it seemed to him, he finally looked up at her. The sad and desperate look on her face almost broke his heart. Kara seldom showed this vulnerable side of her but this time it seemed she couldn't hide it any longer. He wished he could help her with this.
"You can take the showers in my quarter if you want." He told her. "I still have to finish the roster for the next few days so you can take your time." This was all he could give her. He knew it wasn't enough to make the sick feeling go away, but right now he couldn't do much more for her.
"Just leave me some warm water, okay?" He forced himself to smile at her before turning back to his papers.
Kara let out a deep sigh she had been holding these last few seconds while Lee was talking. She knew he was just offering this to her so she would let go of it. For a moment she considered to ignore his offer and try to talk to him. But the thought of a hot shower all for herself was just too tempting. She sighed. She was such a weak person.
"Thanks." She said. Then she turned around and left the briefing room.
On her way to Lee's quarter she suddenly realized that she would meet Alicia again. She stopped in her tracks. For a moment she considered turning around and using the general showers after all. But then she would run into several pilots who would all want to know what really happened with the Olympic Carrier. If she went to Lee's quarter she would just have to change a few nice words with Alicia and then she would have the shower all for herself. And maybe Lee would be back already when she got out. Kara finally decided to go with the latter alternative and went on to Lee's quarter.
About an hour after Kara left Lee had finally finished the new pilot roster. While he was writing the roster down on the board he noticed the Commander walking into the room.
"Sir." Lee said quietly without looking at his father.
"Son." Adama replied while stepping closer. He looked at Lee for a few moments. He could see that Lee was having trouble coping with what had happened today. "I gave the order. It was my responsibility." He said. He wanted to take some of the blame that his son was feeling of his shoulders.
Raising an eyebrow Lee looked at his father. "I pulled the trigger. That's mine." Then he turned his attention back on the board in front of him. Sadly Adama looked at his son. He wanted to help him but he just couldn't find the right words. Somehow he never could when it came to Lee.
Hours after the destruction of the Olympic Carrier Lee finally went back to his quarters. He was relieved to find his wife and daughter both deep asleep. Exhausted he took of his uniform and quietly got into bed, careful not to wake his sleeping wife.
"Lee ..." Alicia asked in a sleepy voice. She had woken up the second she felt Lee lie down next to her.
"Hey. Get back to sleep. It's already late." Lee told her quietly, hoping that she didn't want to talk to him right now. It would be understandable if she would want to, after all, they had hardly seen each other the past few days. But he was too exhausted to talk now.
"Are you all right? I heard a civilian ship got destroyed ..." Alicia began.
"Let's talk about that some other time, okay? I'm really tired." Lee interrupted her in a harsh voice. He immediately regretted his harsh words but the Olympic Carrier wasn't something he wanted to discuss now. Without another word he turned around, away from Alicia. He stared into the darkness around him for a few minutes before he finally closed his eyes. Immediately images of the exploding ship appeared in front of his eyes. He groaned slightly.
"Lee?" Alicia asked again worried.
He didn't respond and pretended to be asleep already. He knew she could tell he was still awake. For some reason she always knew these things. He hated to act like this towards her but he was relieved when she didn't try to talk to him again that night.
Eventually Lee fell into an uneasy sleep. He dreamt of the Olympic Carrier. In his dreams he pulled the trigger again and again and watched the ship explode while he listened to the screams and pleadings of the people inside the ship. He finally woke up, shivering all over. Alicia also woke up when she noticed Lee shivering next to her. This time she didn't try to get him to talk. She just put her arms around him silently and pulled him a little closer to her. She held him tightly to her until the shivers stopped and he fell back to sleep.
TBC
AN: First of all, sorry for the long delay. And second, thanks for all the great reviews. They're really encouraging and helpful. I'm glad you all liked it so far and I hope you like this chapter too. Yannik, I hope you're not too disappointed about Alicia but I think her manic depression it a lot different from Lee's depression. Again thanks to everyone. Please keep reading and reviewing.