Adama watched Kacey for a little while longer while Kara spoke with Tigh. Once he was finished, she then had to find Kat. They needed to hold a briefing for all of their pilots so that everyone would know the new lay of the land. As they went over the squadron manifest, Kara quickly became painfully aware of how many people would probably need refreshers before they could be deemed combat ready.
"Those of us who stayed with the ship are good to go," Kat told her a bit frostily. Kara glanced up from the log she was holding.
"Don't even try that, Katraine; I'm currently reading your training reports. Everyone got out of practice in the year this ship was in orbit, and the hodge-podge squad you put together is decent, but nobody's 'good to go' yet."
"That include you, Sir?" Kat couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah," Kara fired back. "I wouldn't mind taking a few turns through a training course before getting everybody else out there."
"Captain Thrace?" she heard a voice ask, and turned to see one of the ship's Petty Officers entering the pilots' ready room and holding Kacey. "The Admiral was needed in the CIC, Sir. He said to bring her to you."
Kara reached for the toddler. "Thanks. Did you wear Grandpa out?" she asked Kacey, who silently sucked on her fingers, the picture of innocence. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway," she turned back to Kat, "We need to come up with a training schedule that'll still let us keep the best possible CAP in the air at the same time."
Kat wasn't paying attention to the roster anymore. Her eyes were fixed on the image of the infamous Starbuck with a child on her hip. "Holy frak," she finally muttered. "A couple of the pilots said they saw you on deck, but…holy frak."
Kara rolled her eyes. "I've got to finish up a meeting, okay, honey?" she told Kacey, walking over to the first row of seats and depositing her into one. "And some people are easily distracted. You still got your panther?" She shook her head. Kara looked around the room quickly before noticing one of the Viper models that was normally used for planning combat tactics. "Here," she told the little girl, handing it to her. "If you play with this and let me and Kat get done, I'll go show you one of the real ones afterward, okay?"
"Okay."
Kat managed to pull her stare away as Kara rejoined her at the table. "I-is she yours?" the younger pilot asked.
"Yeah. Got plucked out of a cabbage patch back home and sent by Cylon air-mail to New Caprica. Can we get back to work now?"
Kara had known that the ship grapevine would be buzzing once she returned to the ship, but hadn't really wanted to think about it. She had enough to worry about without everybody else's opinions factoring in.
Once she and Kat had a schedule put together for the next week, Kara kept her promise and took Kacey over to her Viper. Tyrol was in charge of the deck crew again, although Cally had chosen to remain with Nicholas for the time being and return to work later.
"This is definitely something I've missed," Kara commented to the Chief as he walked over to her, running her hand along the nose of her Viper.
"Same here," he replied with a grin. "Most of the Mark Twos got mothballed again while the ship was in orbit; they're going to take a little bit of work. We'll get them all up and running again, though."
Kara nodded. "I'm not flying today, Chief. Just wanted to show a possible future Cadet around our little playground."
Tyrol's eyes met Kacey's, and the little girl offered an adorable grin he couldn't help but return. "I understand, Sir," he told Kara. "I'm trying to sneak wrenches into Nick's crib whenever his mom's not looking. Have fun."
Kacey normally wasn't a fan of naps, but it had been a long night, and a busy day. Once they had grabbed some lunch in the mess hall, Kara took her daughter to go see what Adama had managed to get together as far as quarters for them. Their room was supposed to be temporary housing, for when senior military officers or political personnel visited the ship, but these days, the only visitor they had to worry about was Laura Roslin, and her room practically had her name written on the door.
"What do you think, Kace?" Kara asked her as she shut the door and they looked around their new home. It was definitely smaller than the apartment on New Caprica, but luxurious for life on a Battlestar. A desk and couch were on one side of the room, with a small bed in the corner. A larger bed was on the opposite wall, and they even had a private bathroom. Kara smiled when she noticed that Adama's panther mascot was sitting on Kacey's bed. "Look what Grandpa gave you," she told the child.
Once Kacey was settled down for her nap, Kara kept looking around. Paperwork on schedules and training plans had been brought up from the pilots' ready room. Captain's pips for her dress uniform were sitting on the desk, and Kara just fingered them for a moment.
She'd wrestled long and hard with the decision to leave Galactica a year earlier and make a 'normal' life on New Caprica with Sam. She'd seen how much he'd missed things from home. Samuel Anders was the kind of person that needed a battle to fight on a daily basis, be it against the Cylons or on a pyramid court. Life within the slowly dying fleet wasn't enough for him. So Kara had left the place that had been her home for three years, left the military behind, and separated herself from the people that had been her family. Leaving 'the Old Man' had been especially hard, but he'd told her he understood and wished her well. Lee had been…himself, which had led to yelling and punches, and things only went downhill from there.
Kara turned away from the desk when she heard a knock on the hatch. Glancing over to make sure that Kacey was still asleep, she went to open it, expecting to find one of her pilots with a question, or the Old Man just checking up on her. She definitely did not anticipate finding Commander Lee Adama standing in the hallway.
"What are you doing here?" she asked before she could stop herself. "I mean – "
Lee just held up a hand. "It's all right. I had a meeting with my father, and he mentioned that you were back and would be taking over command of the Air Group."
"I think he's supposed to be sending Kat to you. I'll be coordinating with her; she can keep you up to date on our status."
Lee nodded briskly, obviously uncomfortable and debating whether or not he should make the comment that was on the tip of his tongue. "I assume that Anders returned with you as well?" he asked, barely civil. Kara rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, he's down in the Life Station at the moment, but I'll let him know that you were concerned for his welfare."
Lee scoffed. "Right. And I'll tell Dee the same of you."
A scathing reply was already on its way out of Kara's mouth when another voice broke in. "Mommy?" Kacey asked, having gotten out of bed and made her way over to the door. Lee stared at her in shock. He couldn't think of any kind of math calculation that would allow for Kara to have had a child that was that old, and yet a miniature Starbuck was looking back at him. "Who's that?" she asked Kara.
She looked to Lee, eyes cold. "No one, honey. I'm sorry we woke you up."
Kacey wasn't concerned with sleeping anymore. "See my cat?" she asked Lee, holding up her panther. Before she could get close enough to him, Kara picked Kacey up off the ground, holding her on her hip – and away from Lee.
"I need to put her back to bed," she told her ex-best friend.
"She called you Mommy," Lee pointed out.
"Good observation skills."
"But you're not, right? I mean…"
"Go back to your ship, Sir."
"Kara – "
But she wasn't going to have this conversation. Not now. Kara closed the door without another word, and took Kacey back to her bed.
TBC...
