Kara moved both of the bodies and found a blanket to cover them with so Kacey wouldn't have to see. The little girl had amazingly slept through everything, only stirring briefly at each of the gunshots. Kara had no idea how any child of hers could be so easy-going.
Boomer had programmed the ship to take them back to where the fleet currently was supposed to be, and set a timer in case Kara couldn't work up the courage to execute the jump herself. If she didn't leave soon, the fleet might jump away and then she'd never find them. But for some reason, Kara couldn't make herself hit the button early. Her brain felt like it was on overload.
She expected that at any moment Leoben would suddenly shrug off the cover she'd put over him, tell her that her latest escape attempt had failed, and take her back to New Caprica. It was inconceivable after all this time that she might actually be free. Surely it was a trick – a test – and she had to figure out how to pass.
"Mommy?" a little voice asked, and she realized that not only had Kacey awakened, but she'd gotten up and made her way over to Kara's seat without her even noticing. "Mommy, where are we?"
Kara picked her up, pulling the little girl onto her lap. "We're out in space, baby. This…this used to be my favorite place in the universe."
"Where's Daddy?" the child inquired.
A small smile crossed Kara's face. "It's just you and me now, Kace."
She could hear the systems within the ship begin to activate as it prepared for the jump. Part of her wanted to reach over to the console and stop it. She had to pass the test. Maybe it had all been lies and Boomer and Leoben were watching right now to see where her loyalties laid. Maybe they would actually end up in the middle of a sun if she allowed the ship to go to the coordinates Boomer had set. She almost reached out and canceled the jump, but decided that perhaps the center of a sun would be an okay option. At least then things would be over for good.
"Where are we going?" Kacey asked, also hearing the ship spin up. Kara didn't get a chance to answer before reality warped and the ship moved faster than light to its destination. She sat, frozen, and stared at the sight before her. The Colonial Fleet.
"Home," was her whispered reply.
Helo was on shift in CIC when Dradis registered an unknown contact. Confusingly, the ship's signal was definitely Cylon, but it was broadcasting a Colonial identification code. Attempts to contact the ship went unanswered.
"Sitrep," Adama called as he walked into the room. "As you were," he added for anyone that had instantly come to attention.
"Unknown bogey," Helo told his CO, pointing it out on the screen. "System has confirmed it is a Cylon Heavy Raider, but it's got a Colonial transponder. CAP is on their way to intercept. So far it looks like its just dead in space."
"Something got it here," Adama replied. "Tell the rest of the fleet to spin up their FTLs. If this is the scout for a Basestar, we need to be ready to jump on a moment's notice."
Lee was out on CAP with a relatively new Viper pilot, plus Racetrack and Sharon in a Raptor. All three ships carefully approached the menacing-looking Raider that indeed seemed to be completely dead. They'd had little contact with the Cylons over the past several months; if this was a trick, it was looking like a good one.
"Galactica, Apollo; we still have no activity from the Raider. Request instructions." There was a long pause without an answer. "Hey, Athena," he called to Sharon. "How close can you guys get? We'll cover you."
"Copy that, Apollo." She skillfully navigated her Raptor until it was frighteningly close to the Raider. Both she and Racetrack could look into the cockpit. The window on the Raider was small, but Sharon thought that she saw something… "Apollo, Athena; I think there's someone inside."
Lee frowned. "You mean a skinjob?"
It was a callous term, but Sharon had gotten used to it a long time ago. If it was said in front of her, it meant that people had actually momentarily forgotten that she WAS a 'skinjob,' and she could live with that. "No," she clarified. "I mean a person. I don't see any centurions and I'm pretty sure that's not a bio-Cylon." Racetrack was at Sharon's shoulder, also staring through their forward canopy. She nodded to her pilot; Sharon's observation seemed correct.
"Raptor 265, Galactica; can you hook up for a tow?" came over the wireless.
Racetrack smiled. "Just when I thought this was going to be a boring day…"
"Roger, Galactica," Sharon replied. "Will connect tow lines."
There still hadn't been a peep out of the Heavy Raider by the time that it had been dragged back to Galactica's landing pod, lowered onto the lift to the hanger, and secured inside the ship. Just about every marine onboard the battlestar converged on the hanger bay, guns cocked and ready, while Lee and Sharon carefully moved forward to open the hatch. The first thing they noticed was the draped bodies in the back of the craft. Lifting up the edge of the blanket, Sharon fought the urge to be sick when she saw a copy of herself with a hole in her forehead.
Lee realized that someone was in the seat in the cockpit, although they had their back turned. Still keeping a firm grip on his sidearm, he moved forward. "Hello?" he quietly called out, but was met with silence. Nothing prepared him for what he saw when he reached the pilot's seat and turned it around – a very not-dead Kara Thrace with a small child in her arms. "Holy frak," he couldn't help but whisper. "Kara?"
She didn't move. This couldn't really have been Galactica because there was no way that she'd actually escaped. There was no way that Lee Adama was really standing in front of her. And yet…his hand felt damn real when it landed on her shoulder.
"Kara, look at me," he told her, and his breath caught when her hazel eyes lifted to meet his blue ones. Fear came off of her in waves – this wasn't the woman he used to know.
Kacey got their attention as she buried herself against Kara with a whimper, frightened by the new face. Lee quickly realized he still had his gun and holstered it. "Stand down," he called out of the ship to the marines. The last thing they needed was for some little snot to get trigger-happy.
Sharon joined Lee at Kara's side, also awed by the sight of the blonde pilot that they'd believed dead for so long. Something about seeing Sharon seemed to connect better than seeing Lee. "Is it over?" Kara asked the bio-Cylon.
Sharon had no idea what she was referring to, but knew better than to say that out loud. "Yeah, Kara," she gently told her. "It's over. You're home."
TBC...
