Chapter 11

Author's note: Sorry that this story has been languishing for 18 months. I know that I'm now flitting between unfinished stories like a mad, flitty thing but I found this chapter half finished and suddenly got the inspiration to finish it.

Chapter 11

Lee ran his increasingly sweaty palms over his flight suit as his raptor landed on Pegasus. He was greeted by the sounds of celebration as he stepped on to the deck. He could not help a smile from coming to his lips. They really had kicked the Cylons' butts today. His own part in piloting the blackbird and knocking out the FTL drive on the Cylons' so-called resurrection ship had even won praise from Admiral Cain. Although he doubted that he would be getting any similar praise from his father as he had only brought back half the ship in a landing as exhilarating as it was dangerous, and which had left several nasty dents in Galactica's landing bay! He stepped further onto the deck in amongst the crowd of pilots and deck crew. There was a shriek and a flash of blonde beside him before he was hit squarely in the chest by his ecstatic wife. He grabbed her by instinct as she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him thoroughly, obviously still on an adrenaline high from the recent battle.

"Gods I'm so glad you're here: there is no turn on like successful combat and that combat was frakking beautiful. Take me somewhere private and frak me stupid right now, Captain."

He was torn by the raging desire that her words conjured in him and carrying out his all important mission. Mission won but it gave him an idea for some cover. He deliberately returned Kara's kiss with fervour and very loudly carried her off towards their favourite equipment locker. She unwittingly helped with the ruse by screaming gleefully at the deck chief.

"Don't come looking for any spares for the next three hours, Chief, unless you're into really serious porn."

When they reached the equipment locker he put Kara down and she immediately reached for the fastening of his pants.

"We must wipe out half the Cylon fleet more often if this is the reward we get," she panted excitedly as her nimble fingers worked on the zippers. He reluctantly pushed her hands away and did his fly back up.

"We can't Kara." She looked at him as if he had gone mad.

"Why the frak not?"

"Because I'm here to see the Admiral. The old man sent me over to deliver his report."

"Hhhmmph." she crossed her arms over her chest belligerently. He stroked her cheek gently when she would not look at him.

"There's nothing I'd like more right now than to make love to you, Kara, but this is important. It's our chance for some payback."

"What do you mean?" she questioned, her interest sparked.

"The president and the old man want her taken out. I volunteered: figured I'd got more reason than anyone for wanting her dead."

"They ordered you to assassinate Admiral Cain?"

"It's the only way, Kara. I'd bet my last cubit she's got a similar plan for my Dad. She's criminally insane and I for one am not gonna allow her a chance to do to someone else what she did to you and our baby or all those civilians in the Pegasus fleet." She nodded in thoughtful agreement and moved on immediately to practicalities.

"So what's the plan?"

"Well it's kind of a work in progress at the moment. I was assuming that she would go back to her quarters once the clean up had finished. I was going to get in under the premise of giving her Dad's report and then we do it there while she's alone. Afterwards we come back here as quickly and quietly as we can and make it look like we've been screwing each other every which way since we left the hanger deck."

"That's a lame ass plan even for you; although I kinda like the last part," she replied with a smirk.

"Got any better ideas?"

"Nope, not really. I'll cover the corridor outside her quarters while you get in, but then I want to be the one to do it," she said with determination.

"You deserve nothing less, but I'll be right behind you."

He lent forward and kissed her softly but thoroughly. Then he led her back out into the corridor. They started to make their way through the ship as stealthily as possible. The less people that saw them, the less witnesses there were to scupper their "we we're frakking" alibi. It was not as hard as Lee thought it might be because most of the crew seemed to have joined the party in the hanger deck. They were both quiet and the tension in his neck and shoulders seemed to increase with each step. He glanced across at Kara occasionally. She had a sort of concentrated frown on her face but he took that as a preparation for what they were about to do. Otherwise she seemed to be alright so he was somewhat surprised when she grabbed his arm and pulled him in to a secluded area just around the corner from their destination.

"We can't do this," she immediately said to him in a fierce whisper.

"Why ever not? You were all for it a few minutes ago." Kara sighed and seemed to draw herself up to steel herself for the explanation of her abrupt about turn around.

"It was a gut reaction, but now I've had a chance to think about it I realise that I don't want his memory associated with something as sordid and nasty as murder."

"You told me that you wanted revenge, total revenge."

"I thought that I did, but now it comes to it I don't want us to sink to her level in his name."

"Even though I've been ordered to do it by the Commander and the President?"

"Even then. We both know why we want to do this and it has nothing to do with orders. But I know that if we do this we will always associate it with him: I don't want us to remember him in that way. I want to remember him knowing that his death made a positive difference to us in the way in which we moved on and recovered from his loss. I've learnt a lot about myself over the last few months, Lee. I've come to understand my faults as a person and as your partner much better, but I've also learnt to appreciate how those faults are balanced out by my good points. I want to build on those from now on, not slip back into the bad habit of fight first, regret later: that is what this would be if we go ahead."

He stared into her eyes for a few moments then nodded. He brought a hand up to cup her cheek and caressed her face "Gods, I'm so proud of you Kara Adama and if it's even possible I love you even more at this moment than I did before," he said, his voice full of emotion. He pulled her to him and they hugged fiercely for a few moments. "Help me, Kara, help me let go of all the anger," he whispered as he kissed her cheek.

"We'll help each other, Lee: that's what marriage is all about."

They held each other for a few moments more, both deeply affected by their decision. As Lee pulled back he dashed a hand across his face to wipe away the tell tale wetness coating his cheeks.

"I suppose I still have to deliver this report. I hope my father actually wrote something other then "die bitch" otherwise I'm gonna look really stupid," he said with a wry grin, trying to use bravado to cover his emotion.

"I'm sure you'll be able to wing it. It'll be just like a morning briefing with Tigh only without the alcohol fumes."

They moved out from their cover and turned the corner. They were surprised to find the admiral's quarters unlocked. Pushing the door open they gasped in unison at seeing Admiral Cain lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Gods, looks like someone beat us to it." Exchanging glances with Kara, Lee bent down and pressed his fingers to the admiral's throat. "Dead. Not long though by the looks of the blood flow and she's still warm."

Kara pulled her weapon and checked the rest of the quarters but found no one. She came to stand by Lee who had not moved from his spot beside the admiral's body.

"This was meant, Lee," she stated with quiet conviction. "If we hadn't stopped we probably would have been here with her killer and then the Gods only know what would have happened." She shuddered as a number of disturbing possibilities flicked through her mind in vivid technicolor.

"Yeah," he replied thoughtfully as he also drew his weapon and stood up. "Bitch got what she deserved." They looked at each other intently for a few moments then simultaneously aimed their weapons at the admiral's body. The dual retorts of their guns echoed around the room then faded to silence.

"Rest in peace, my son," Lee whispered.

XXXXX

The newly appointed admiral of the fleet made his way to Galactica's sick bay to consult with doc Cottle over the autopsy on Admiral Cain. All hell had broken loose on Pegasus when Lee had reported finding Cain dead at the same time as the marine guard in the brig had been found dead with their weapons and the Cylon prisoner missing. Despite a vigorous search there had been no sign of the Cylon who had obviously been able to slip away under the cover of the victory celebrations. He had taken charge and ordered Cain's body brought to Galactica before the more loyal elements of her crew went crazy and tore the ship apart. He found Cottle wiping his hands on a bloodied cloth.

"Well major, what's the verdict?"

"Cause of death was a single gun shot wound to the head. The bullet that I fished out of her skull matched that used in marine rifles like the one taken by the Cylon."

"So that confirms it."

"Just about, but here's the part I don't understand. There were two more bullets, both right in the heart. Different calibre: compatible with standard issue colonial side arms carried by officers. The blood patterns indicate that they weren't fired until around 5 to 10 minutes post-mortem."

"So they had nothing to do with Cain's actual death?"

"No, but…."

"Then I expect your report to simply cover the cause of her death, major Cottle. Any other information is irrelevant."

Cottle stared at Adama for a long minute.

"Whatever you say Commander, or should I say Admiral." He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "You and I both know where those other bullets came from. Not that I blame them in the slightest, but this is a matter of potential tampering with the investigation into the murder of a flag officer. I've bent the rules for you before and I'm not happy about doing it again."

"I'm not asking you to lie, major; I'm just asking you to provide me with a report on the cause of her death, nothing more, nothing less." His attitude relented slightly. "I can't…. won't put them through anything more, Jack. They've suffered enough through this episode. The sooner we put this investigation to bed and move forward the better for everybody on both Galactica and Pegasus." Cottle at last nodded then stalked off into the bowels of his sickbay leaving the admiral staring in his wake and hoping that he was doing the right thing for his children and the fleet.