As the two Celestes left the conference room, Commander Celeste turned to Lt. Celeste, "All right, I know that look."
"What look?" Lt. Celeste blinked innocently.
"The look you've been wearing since I got here. Go ahead and ask, I know you're curious, and I suppose it's okay to tell you." Commander Celeste folded her arms and smiled.
Lt. Celeste smiled back sheepishly, "I've just been wondering what's happened to everyone in your reality. I saw that Zac and Boxey were pilots."
"Yes," Commander Celeste nodded, "Zac is captain of Blue Squadron, taking after his brother, and Boxey's trying to take after his father. They're both exceptional pilots."
Grinning, Lt. Celeste shook her head, "I'll bet they are, though I was a bit surprised that Muffit wasn't in the cockpit with Boxey."
Commander Celeste laughed, "No, but Muffit Three is back on the Galactica, looking after Nausicaa and the baby."
"Nausicaa and Boxey?" Celeste raised her eyebrows, "Kobal."
Commander Celeste coughed, "Yeah, unfortunately they named their kid Celeste."
"Uh oh!" Lt. Celeste chuckled, "That's asking for trouble."
"I thought so, too," Commander Celeste laughed, "Anyway, let's see…Adama and Tigh retired of course, and it was about time. Apollo and I never thought they'd get off the bridge. Course, we never thought I'd get on it."
"You and Apollo got sealed?" Lt. Celeste asked, but not surprised.
"Yep," Commander Celeste replied, "And Zac and Rigel, Boomer and Qasha…who else…oh, Jolly and some girl named Theya."
"What about Starbuck? Did he ever settle down with someone?"
Commander Celeste shook her head, "Nope, same old Starbuck! Athena and a bridge officer…Omega if I remember right…have been going out for yahrens, but she won't say yes. I think she's still in love with Starbuck. Then Cassiopeia's still waiting as well."
"Oh, Starbuck, Starbuck, Starbuck," Celeste shook her head, "I imagine he'd probably have done the same in my reality…" she trailed off.
Commander Celeste changed the subject, seeing the other Celeste's mood darken again, "Apollo's teaching Advanced Flight on the Academy ship, Starbuck's taken over Red squadron as the leader since Ajax made it to Colonel. Jolly's now flying the Rising Star and overseeing several of the chancery rooms…" She could see Lt. Celeste's interest fading as the younger Celeste got lost in memories of her own reality, "Lieutenant? Maybe you should get some rest."
"Yeah," Lt. Celeste nodded, "I do feel kinda tired. But thanks for the chat."
Commander Celeste saluted, "No problem, take care of yourself." She smiled, "I'll be seeing you."
Lt. Celeste tried to smile back, "Back at ya."
"Commander, there's another battlestar on the scope!" Colonel Jaelon announced as Cain stepped back onto the bridge. He'd just seen Commander Celeste off in her shuttle, and was ready for some action after all that sitting.
"Mark its position and get them on comm.!"
Cain got through explaining the situation to the other Pegasus (under the command of Commander Bojay) just in time for a new Pegasus to appear.
"Get Lt. Celeste up here!" Cain ordered, trying to get a report typed up that he could start transmitting as soon as each battlestar appeared. "And send reports to the fleet ships, they're starting to ask what's going on!"
"Yes sir!"
By the time Celeste reached the bridge, there were 5 new Pegasuses and 3 Galacticas. She blinked at the scanner screen; "I don't think there's been this many battlestars in one place since the battle of Cimtar."
"How very historic," Colonel Jaelon remarked sarcastically, "but what do we do about it?"
"Transmit a message to all ships," Commander Cain ordered, "Send them the coordinates and instruct them to fly into it."
"They're going to have to go one at a time," Celeste warned.
"Put that in as well," Cain told the comm. officer.
Celeste looked out the front viewglass at the several battlestars in front of the Pegasus. She couldn't help wondering how many of them had Apollos and Starbucks.
I miss them, she thought, I wish I could go find some of them and talk to them. Just once more. There's no guarantee that our Galactica will come back. If it was used as the power source for the blast, it probably exploded in our reality. But I can't give up hope. They could be out there, right now, somewhere.
"Lieutenant!" Cain shouted. Celeste hadn't heard him the first times. She jerked up and looked at him.
Cain gave her a sharp glare, "You're here to advise, not daydream!"
"And?" Celeste asked.
Cain blinked, "Look at the scanner, Lieutenant!"
She looked. She saw a Cylon basestar emerging from the same spot as the battlestars.
"Frack!" She blinked at it.
A bridge officer turned around, "Base ship is firing on one of the Pegasuses, Sir! She's taking heavy damage, casualties reported."
"I thought you said we couldn't die!" Cain rounded on Celeste, "You said that the ancient lords of Kobal said that."
"Well, look where that got them," Celeste replied uncertainly.
Cain turned around, "Order all ships to open fire!"
The battlestars released a volley of laser fire, making short work of the base ship.
Celeste winced, "Hope that doesn't come back to haunt us."
"What do you mean?" Cain demanded.
Celeste gave him an honest stare, "I mean, that we don't really know anything about where we are, or what will happen when we try to go back to our dimension."
"Yes," Cain looked back at his bridge, "Why haven't we started sending ships back through?"
"We have, Sir," an officer replied, "but more are coming out each centon."
Celeste closed her eyes, "I was afraid of that! The hole's gotten bigger. It's sucking more battlestars in. And it's only going to get worse."
Cain made a decision, "We're going to all have to fly through at once, leaving a signal beacon for any that fly in while we're flying out."
"That's a crazy plan," Celeste said matter-of-factly, "I like it. Except that I think we also have to close the door behind us."
Cain leaned down, "And how do you propose we do that?"
Celeste bit her lip, "Same way we opened it. Fire the weapon, hit a power source, close the rift in space."
"Good, carry out the plan," Cain nodded approvingly.
"Two problems," Celeste pointed out, "One, we would have to stay behind to fire the weapon, and two, we would have to use the Pegasus itself as the power source to make the wave strong enough. We'd explode."
"Send the civilian fleet through then," Cain ordered, "and all the battlestars next."
Celeste glanced down as she realized what he was planning, but looked back up and gazed out the viewglass at the battlestars disappearing into space. Hades halls, Erebus was right all along. This isn't one of the realities where I didn't die young. But there are other Celestes that can be saved. Other battlestars. Other Starbucks and Apollos. There's not much for me in my reality, but they can go on and live their lives.
She watched as several new battlestars appeared, then turned around and disappeared again, clearly receiving the message that Cain had broadcast.
Have good lives, she thought sincerely.
Just then, her face appeared on the comm. screen. It was Commander Celeste.
"Cain, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
Cain stood straight and tall as he answered her, "We caused the problem, and we are going to fix it."
Commander Celeste shook her head, "Do you even know how?"
"Your counterpart has provided the solution," Cain replied evenly.
The commander version of Celeste nodded slowly, and Lt. Celeste knew the other woman had worked it out as well.
"Good luck, Cain," Commander Celeste said gravely, "My prayers are with you and your crew."
Lt. Celeste stepped up, "Commander."
Commander Celeste looked her younger self in the eyes, "Lieutenant, I'm sorry."
"Ah," Lt. Celeste waved her hand, "how you die doesn't really matter."
Commander Celeste's mouth twitched and her eyes opened a little in recognition. "No," She nodded again and half-smiled, "It's what you did with your second chances. And you've done well, Lieutenant. I know that for a fact."
"Pssh," Lt. Celeste realized that this version of herself probably had a very similar life to her own. She grinned back, "Be seeing you."
Commander Celeste smiled, "In all my memories."
The commander's face disappeared as the screen went black, and the final Galactica flew through the rift.