Chapter 7
Starbuck and Apollo were credited for single-handedly saving their cadet and destroying a Base Star in the process. Somehow, everything that Kara did to help seemed to have washed over deaf ears as the rumors placed her as a damsel in distress. It took three ace pilots, flying what should been a suicide mission, to stop the Base Star from attacking the rag-tag fleet but somehow the feat was completed by two heroes and one cadet who apparently could barely fly.
Kara was called into Adama's office after he was debriefed by Apollo and Starbuck on what transpired. She assumed the pair had downplayed her part and fully expected to be reprimanded for recklessness. She stood at Adama's door and took a deep breath before entering.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she walked in and came to attention before him.
Adama looked up from his report and smiled at her, "I did!" He leaned back in his chair, "Apollo and Starbuck told me what you did out there today."
She winced, "They did?" She figured the rumors must have been started by the pair for Starbuck seemed to exaggerate in his stories. Though in reality the fighter pilots simply assumed that the pair had saved her after finding she had lost the main engine.
"Yes they did," he nodded. He gave a stern look that was nearly comical, "You realize you broke a lot of rules out there. You nearly got yourself killed. You placed the Viper into a maneuver that no one has ever done before. And you took on what could only be described as a suicide mission."
She agreed while remaining at attention, "Yes sir."
He asked, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
She pondered for a minute but there nothing she could say, "No sir."
Adama added, "By all accounts you should be dead. You do realize that?"
"Yes sir," she nodded for it was true.
He teased, "What do you think the best course of punishment should be?"
She cocked an eye, "Sir?"
He played the game and asked, "What should I do with you? You demonstrated an uncanny ability to fly out there. You are the only female pilot on this ship who can fly as good as my son and as good as Starbuck. What should I do with you, Lieutenant Thrace?"
She stood baffled, "Did you just call me 'lieutenant'?"
"I did," he smiled at her. "I will be placing you under my son's command. You will be flying with his squadron." He sat forward in the chair and asked, "How did you do that maneuver when you flipped the Viper one hundred and eighty degrees? I'm a Viper pilot myself and I'm trying to figure what you did in that cockpit."
"I cut the engines and used the auxiliary stabilizers on the side to flip it," she explained.
"That's a maneuver that was never taught in the Academy. I want you to teach that to Apollo and Starbuck. They will teach it to the rest. How did you figure that maneuver out so fast?"
"It's similar to my shuttle," she explained. "I have a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. I design planes. The Vipers are brick on a stick. It's a simple case of physics."
Adama placed his hand to his lip in thought. He had an aeronautical engineer who was also an ace fighter pilot at his disposal and he couldn't let that go to waste. "I want you to take a Viper out and see what other unorthodox maneuvers you can come up with. The Cylons have learned most of our maneuvers. I need you to come up with new ones…Maneuvers the Cylons have never seen before."
Surprised she replied, "Yes sir. I'm not being punished?"
Adama explained, "We are all that's left of twelve civilizations. We don't need to punish those who can teach us something new."
She stood flabbergasted, "Wow…Thank you."
He gave a warm smile, "Thank you! Finding that Base Star proved that the transmission we intercepted and decoded was a trap designed to lure us into danger. I have since changed course."
She wondered, "You will be taking me home then?"
"I wish I could," he sighed. "But the fleet has to move as one and everyone has to agree to take you home."
Her shoulders slunk, "So I will never go home."
He tried to give her hope and suggested, "We will find a new home for everyone."
"But my home wasn't destroyed," she countered. "It's still there! This wonderful little blue planet...The third rock from the sun...Full of life and…"
"We're all homesick," he told her.
She closed her eyes for a moment and gathered her thoughts. She didn't want to sound selfish but she couldn't help it, "But we don't have to be homesick. We can just go to Earth and that will be everyone's home."
"We're trying to find it," Adama replied. He was bit baffled on why she suddenly brought up Earth when she talking about America.
She gave a cocked eyed look, "What?"
"We are looking for the thirteenth colony," he reminded.
Kara stood puzzled, "You just said you are looking for Earth."
He nodded, "Right."
She seemed confused, "But what about this mythical thirteenth colony everyone keeps talking about?"
He replied, "It's on a planet called Earth. You have heard about Earth on America?" He noticed the very confused look upon her face and wondered why she was so confused.
She asked, "Do you think America is a planet?"
He became confused himself, "Is it not?"
She shook her head, "We have countries. America is name of my country. The name of my planet is Earth."
Adama's jaw dropped, "You're from Earth!"
She nodded wide-eyed, "Yeah!"
He gasped, "You're from the thirteenth colony."
Kara held up her hands, "I don't know anything about a thirteenth colony."
He suddenly understood the miscommunication, "The name of your planet is Earth and the United States of America is your country. We have not used countries or states in eons. When you told my son you from America we assumed it was the name of your planet."
She gasped, "You guys are looking for my planet!"
He added, "And you know how to find it."
She stated, "It will takes months and we have those damn homicidal machines to worry about."
Adama promised her, "Kara…We are going to take you home."
She was still baffled, "But doesn't the Council of Twelve have to okay that?"
He smiled, "I will explain the miscommunication. But crossing that void will be tedious and many ships will not make it unless we can find another way."
She pondered, "The only other way to get back to my galaxy is on a cosmic string and you guys don't have that technology."
"Could you duplicate the technology?" he wondered.
"I have no idea," she winced. "I was part of a team…I didn't make that shuttle all by myself."
"At least now we know where Earth is and it will be a long journey to get there," he told her. "We will need time to ready the fleet for the journey and gather supplies and fuel. We will also have to consolidate space to store that extra food, water and fuel we will need."
She gulped, "And do all that while avoiding the Cylons."
"Yes," he confirmed.
She winced at the daunting task, "Maybe we can find a shortcut?"
"Let's hope so," he agreed and made a request, "One thing worries me. That transmission we decoded made references to the thirteenth colony and Earth. The Cylons know we are looking for it and the only way they could know that is if there is a traitor in our midst. I don't want you to tell anyone you from Earth just yet. Let them think the name of your planet is America."
"You want me to lie?" she asked baffled.
"If the Cylons find out that you are from Earth and find out where it is, they will attack your home world. We can't place your world in danger. We have to find a way to Earth but do so in a way that the Cylons will never find it," He explained.
"If we hop on a cosmic string it will be like a line drawn right to it in space," she gulped. "The Cylons could be there in months."
"Which is why we must keep this a secret, Kara. It's the only way we can protect your world."
"Things just got complicated," she winced.
He assured her, "Just make sure you don't mention the name of your planet. Let everyone think your planet is named America. No one needs to know it's a country. America is not in any ancient text. Your country might just save us and your planet from the Cylons."
She sighed, "Don't let them take credit for something they didn't do. Trust me, DC will eat that up."
"DC?" he asked curiously.
"That's our version of the Council of Twelve…But it's a lot more than twelve…" she miffed.
"I find your world more and fascinating every time you speak of it," he assured her.
"DC will fascinate ya all right," she muttered.
He insisted, "You will have to tell me all about it."
"Sure," she agreed. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," he smiled.
"What does 'frack' mean?" she asked. "I keep hearing the guys say it but I have no idea what it means."
He calmly replied, "It a curse word! It's an obscenity in our culture. I'm sure Earth has curse words as well."
She nodded, "Plenty of them. I didn't mean to say the word if it's a curse word."
"You should tell me what to expect on Earth. What curse words does your culture have?"
She asked, "You mean the really bad ones or the mild curse words?"
He cocked an eye, "You have different levels of curse words?"
She grinned, "We even acronyms for curse words. When it comes to swearing Earth has a whole new level of ingenious include gestures and hand signals."
Adama sat rather baffled, "You use hand signals for obscenities? Can you show me?"
She blushed, "I'm too embarrassed to. You guys are really sweet and kind here. The guys are all so gentlemen like….Except for Starbuck. He would kind of fit right in on Earth. We're basically an entire planet full of Starbucks."
Adama's imagination conjured up a planet full of men and women who acted just like Starbuck. He suddenly shivered.
She asked, "You okay? You seemed to have gone a little pale there."
"I'll be fine," he assured her trying to shake the image from his mind.
