Part 26

Battlestar Galactica

CIC

+20:35:06

(Adama)

"Have you lost your fucking mind, Adama?!"

Secretary Richards cut the connection between us before I could even begin to formulate an answer. I couldn't say I was entirely shocked by his reaction. Standing there, I couldn't help but begin to doubt the course of action I'd just taken. Then again, it wasn't as if I'd been able to really focus on anything, literally anything, beyond the packet of photos Kara's aide-slash-bodyguard had slipped me before our leaving Olympus.

I'd been on autopilot since then, barely listening to the Terran Commodore's answers to Laura's questions and offering even less myself. I couldn't recall a single word I'd read from the materials Richards had brought over with him. Laura and I had emerged from that Q-and-A completely wrung out; all we could do at that point was pass the photos of Aurora back and forth. We didn't even think of tuning in the wireless to listen to Richards' press conferences, having effectively delegated organizing it and briefing the Senior Committee

I made sure Laura was resting peacefully on my couch. I had no such respite; there were the incoming relief supplies to be distributed after all. Besides, it wouldn't do for both the President and the Admiral to be missing all this time. Appearances needed to be maintained, if nothing else.

I ordered Majors Agathon and Gaeta to coordinate the distribution with the Terrans. Agathon was proving the most level-headed about everything. Whether that was simply his true feelings or a reflection of how he'd had more time to process the bombshell of Kara's return, I couldn't say. Gaeta appeared to know nothing about her re-appearance and I decided to keep it that way for the time being. No doubt, once the novelty of the Terrans played out, someone somewhere would start talking, after which time rumors would fly like pollen in the wind.

That was hours ago, yet I was still no closer to any kind of peace with it than I had been when she'd first introduced me to Aurora. Those memories were nearly enough to drive me to my knees right there in the damned CIC.

Battlestar Olympus

Cabin of Colonel Kara Thrace

+05:45:47

"Admiral Adama?"

Kara's voice was soft, almost shy, yet strong enough to pull me away from further questioning her aide about the circumstances of her appointment; a great deal was left unspoken in what little she'd told me and I was quite ready to demand names at that point. I knew I'd never hear the full details from Kara herself, no matter how much I begged, pleaded or bellowed.

Turning around, my knees nearly gave way under me as my mind briefly rejected the sight before me: Kara was holding a child of at most a year old. There was no question of who her mother was. Kara's distinctive cheeks, chin and smirk werealready in evidence. What caught me was the thick head of dark hair framing those beautiful features. The bright blue eyes there grasping my attention and holding tight with an open mixture of intense scrutiny and complete innocence.

Sadly, this appeared to rob me of both common sense and control of my voice. "Wha...what the frack is that?!" I squeaked in shock.

In reply, the child giggled loudly and tugged on her mother's collar.

Kara herself merely smirked and murmured loudly into her small twin's ear, "I think Granpa 'Dama is being silly." This elicited a carefree laugh, one nearly mirrored by the young woman behind me.

"Wha...how...?" I stuttered, prompting Kara to look at me directly.

"Well, Admiral, when a man really likes a woman, and there's an empty storage locker nearby..."

"Enough! I get it!" I all but roared, not wanting intimate details that were surely coming right then. I actually did get it by then, at least in part and entirely after the fact. At least she hadn't started any kind of finger-puppet 'demonstration'.

Hadn't Athena confirmed for me not ten minutes ago Kara's new 'abdominal scarring' was precisely what it looked like? How in Hades' name had I not been paying attention right then? Where was my head? Back then, my brain had been standing outside in the hallway, the marks I'd left on her neck doubtless still in evidence.

But right then it was held in Kara's arms, smiling and looking all about.

Forget my head. I doubt my heart could take another hit from those eyes. Fortunately for my old ticker, the child was now preoccupied with the buttons on her mother's jacket, much like I recalled Lee and Zak doing with me when they were her age...

That line of thinking nearly sent me to the floor. "Perhaps you should sit down, Admiral," Lieutenant Mahn said as she gently led me to the sofa nearby. I normally would have protested, except I had no pride left to salvage and was certain I'd convinced both her and Kara I was a now nothing but a doddering, silly old man. My starting to hyperventilate probably sealed such a judgment.

It was too much, all too damned much! Kara was alive. Alive! And she had a...a child?!

"Ha...how?" I unconsciously croaked out, somehow looking up to meet Kara's eyes.

Those eyes rolled in trademark fashion and the Colonel asked "How what, Admiral? How did this little one come about?" She lifted her child up slightly to emphasize the point. "How did I get to Earth? How long have I been here? How much have I told them...?"

"HOW..." I started shouting, immediately biting my tongue as the child jumped in her arms, clearly startled by the noise. "How...how about we start with something simple? Like how in the name of the Twelve Lords of Kobol are you still alive?"

"Ah, yeah. That's a good place to start. Here, maybe you'd better hold Aurora." Before I could think, she all but plopped the energetic toddler into my lap. My arms came around her instinctively, cradling her to me firmly enough soshe wouldn't escape.

"Aurora?" I asked, unable to take my eyes from this small miracle.

"Seemed appropriate. I arrived, well, crash-landed on Earth just at dawn one morning, and she decided to pop out at dawn. Plus I gave you your ship's masthead the day I, uh, left." She shrugged, suddenly sounding apologetic about...well, something. "It was, um, Ben's idea."

"Ben?"

"Benjamin Richards, back when he was just the lead linguist on the colony ship they dug up."

"Is...is she...?" I wasn't sure how to ask the obvious question, unsure if I wanted to hear the honest answer.

"Ben's? Lords, no! No, Sir, he's still hung up on his dead wife. No chance of...that..."

I didn't examine too closely why this news was so important to me right then. My relieved breath was just loud enough I felt embarrassed by it. "Okay," I breathed as I carefully adjusting my hold on her, on Aurora. Her grin was infectious, my lips drawing back to mirror her glee.

Without looking up, I repeated my question "How did you survive that storm, Kara?" The unspoken accusation laced my words, one I both regretted and relished.

Her answer instantly drained me any such things. "I don't know."

My head snapped up sharply. "You…don't…know?" I stumbled over each word, believing each of them despite myself; Kara's bleak expression as she sat herself on the coffee table opposite me, left no room for any other thought. It caused the hundreds of preconceptions to come crashing down; I realized I'd been prepared for her to be a Cylon, for Centurions to suddenly appear around every corner, for this to be the last joke upon me and mine by the Titans of old as revenge against the Twelve Lords, and for all of us to die in a hail of nuke-tipped missiles.

Except there weren't any Centurions or nukes to be seen; only the end of an exodus, our finding a place I hadn't believed in, foretold in scriptures I hadn't put any faith in since I was a rook pilot.

There were still thousands of questions to be answered. Naturally I couldn't think of a single one right then.

"I know about Sam," Kara said quietly. When I didn't move in response she added "Athena told me when we were in de-con coming back aboard Olympus from the Nemesis."

I had nothing to say to this. Nothing I dared say aloud and with such young ears nearby, at any rate.

"Have you...have you found the other four skin jobs?" she asked.

"Just one more. Tory Foster."

"The President's press aide?"

"Hmm."

"How did you find her out?"

I cleared my throat to buy myself a few extra seconds. "The Sadeim Nomen tried to...sacrifice...the President about six months after you...after you left."

"You're frakking with me," Kara snorted. "The Sadeim actually survived in the Fleet?"

"Only a few hiding among the Gemmonese. Apparently they decided the Feast of Dioyun would be a good time to try it."

Lieutenant Mahn chose that moment to speak up. "Your pardons, Sirs. Please explain these 'Sah-deem'?"

"Nothing to worry about, Shan," Kara spoke quickly, only to be cut off by the bold Lieutenant.

"My apologies, Colonel. But a sect that would assassinate a Head of State is very much my concern." Her almond eyes fixed on mine like a Battlestar's firing solution. "Admiral?" she prompted a beat later.

Meeting hereyes on head-on, I elaborated "A splinter group from a fundamentalist line amongst the first settlers on Geminon. They believed and practiced ritualistic sacrifice. Their victims were not always...willing."

"I see. And are these 'Nomen' are now extinct?"

"We believe so. Certainly those who participated in the attack on President Roslin are all dead."

"President Roslin survived due to the intervention of her aide, yes?"

"And the quick reaction of her protective detail, yes."

"There was no suggestion their existence prior to this?"

"None I'm afraid. We've been very attentive since then." We had actually been remarkably calm about it all, Laura most of all. She personally appealed to the Fleet to remain calm, even going so far as to publicly dress down any of the Police force who got overzealous. The assassins had been identified easily and the Gemmonese had been almost desperate to clear themselves any possible accusation of collusion.

I didn't see any reason to upset Kara more at that point telling her our investigations afterwards had confirmed that the Nomen had a second target in mind if they'd somehow missed 'The Dying Mater'. They'd have tried for Lee next, based upon his hysterical-sounding claims of seeing her in the Nebula and therefore marking him in their minds as a budding Oracle. I had no idea how to broach that particular subject right then, particularly with the very precious burden in my arms. Kara's not asking about him giving me an excuse to delay there a little longer on that score.

Needing something to redirect the discussion a bit, I stated, "The odd thing about Anders and Foster was they proved very...difficult...to kill."

Lieutenant Mahn frowned. "How so, Sir?" Kara frowned as well, but held her peace.

"They, well, healed incredibly fast."

"How fast, Admiral?"

"Fast enough they both survived injuries that should have terminated them. Several times over each."

"You know this from direct experimentation?" Lieutenant Mahn's voice carried a distinct chill to it, one which actually made me feel offended at my crew's conduct.

"No," I shook my head. "Each time was more accidental than anything." Saul literally beating Anders to death, then the Marines I stationed there going trigger-happy, and finally the guards deciding not to intervene when Anders and Foster made a game of beating each other bloody; it took me months to get my head around it all.

"Then they both must have been born under an ill star indeed to suffer so many accidents." The small lieutenant's professional tone, incredibly, made me feel smaller still. I was just grateful I had Aurora to give me an excuse to avoid her eyes.

"That's enough, Shan," Kara growled. "I'm gonna take you at your word on this Admiral. You understand I'm gonna have to share this with Secretary Richards and Admiral Rice, right?" I nodded again. "All this aside, I'm still not going aboard Galactica."

"I...I understand."

"Hell," she laughed a little hoarsely. "When Ben and Ted hear about all this, I'll be lucky if they let us out of this frakking room just to visit the head." She looked up at her aide with damp eyes. "Looks like you'll finally get your way about keeping me and the kid confined to base, Shan. Congrats!"

I glanced at the Lieutenant, who now looked as anxious as I felt by the change in Kara's tone. I had never seen her this close to outright hysterics before now, and quite honestly,I had no idea what to do.

Instead I opted to blind instinct, leaning forward and gathering her to me with one arm while the other balanced Aurora. She was visibly shaking at this point and it was all I could do to keep hold of both her and the baby. Lieutenant Mahn had beat a retreat to somewhere out of sight; I had no idea where and didn't really care at that point.

"Kara, Kara, Kara," I muttered like a prayer mantra, as much to convince myself fully as to comfort her.

"Frak, Sir," she sniffled, pulling away slightly so she could gaze at her daughter. "Gonna give that little girl a complex..." I had no idea where that came from, so I ignored it. Unfortunately I couldn't think of anything to fill the silence between us right that moment.

"Athena said Lee's still alive," she asked quietly. "Is that true?"

"Yes. He's okay. He, um, handed in his wings..."

Kara quickly interrupted again. "I don't want to know. At least, not right now. I...I, uh, I'm still trying to process this. Okay? Not sure I could take any more shocks right now."

She couldn't take any more shocks? I was ready to knock her flat on her damned ass and start demanding some answers. Except I couldn't even raise my finger against her, given the rather important burden I was carrying. Said burden apparently unhappy it was being ignored and was urgently tugging on my senior pilot wings, hitting me with those inescapable blue eyes of hers and demanding I surrender them to her.

I carefully undid the clasp holding the wings to my jacket, and just as carefully refastened it onto her coveralls. My reward was another wide grin, which was worth more to me than my admiralty could possibly offer.

Kara was no less affected by the gesture, although it was only her gathering Aurora from me and cradling her close with such a stiff set to her shoulders that gave me any clue as to her feelings. "She's beautiful," I stated, realizing I hadn't said anything of the sort before that moment.

"I'm fond of her," Kara murmured. "Right, nugget?"

Aurora looked between us and clapped her hands together once. This could have been a sign of agreement or - given who her mother was - a sign of displeasure. I couldn't immediately tell which and had no inclination to analyze.

"Give me your eyes, Colonel." It was likely the last order I'd ever give her, but I wasn't about to leave without at least a few answers to take back with me. Thank the gods she deigned to follow my order. "You swear to me you don't know how you got to Earth?"

"Before Artemis and Athena, Sir."

"And you haven't made any promises or commitments to Richards or his people binding us to them?"

She gave me a wavering smile. "I didn't think...didn't dream I'd ever see any of you again this side of Styx."

Of course she'd think that. Given what little I'd seen and been told, for her to have hoped otherwise would have been naïve. I flinched as it hit me just how...how isolated she must have been the last two years; another point I would have to raise with Secretary Richards later.

I pressed on despite my growing discomfort. "Are you bound to them in any way?"

She snorted. "They just see me as a decent flight instructor with a fancy title, Sir. If the Secretariat thought for one minute I'd exhausted my use to them, they'd have packed me off to the back end of nowhere."

Knowing her and going by Richards' earlier words, there was a lot more to it than that. I made a mental note to raise this with him later as well, when Kara herself was well out of earshot.

"Okay, Kara. You know I...we...will need to talk to you some more. But that's for later." She was about to protest when I cut her off, passing the now pliant Aurora back to her. "This little one looks like she needs some rest. You both do."

"Rest?" Kara snorted in trademark fashion. "I haven't so much as sat down since Nemesis jumped right on top of me and Greyhound."

I tramped down a flare of emotion at hearing this. "Your new wingman?"

"Hardly. He's the CAG here. I'm just visiting."

"I see," I muttered, thoughts darkening by the second. I desperately needed to find what happened to Saul, and to learn what else had been kept from me about their first contact.

Seeing Aurora was safely back in her mother's arms, I quickly stood and turned to leave. My balance was a bit off and I nearly tripped over her coffee table. Every step was like moving through a pool of tree sap, my heart and soul utterly terrified she would disappear on me if I left. "Is there anything...anyone you want me to tell...?" I struggled with the words.

"That's up to you, Admiral. It's not as if I'm up on who's on the Quorum these days." This nearly had me laughing and spilling to her exactly where Lee was working these days; the seriousness of her tone - making it clear she wasn't joking - killed that thought stone dead.

Instead, I simply nodded and gazed at her one last time, holding her daughter close and shoulders set against the onset of threatening tears. "For all our sakes, both of you get some rest, please." Then I gave her a salute, which was returned with equal sharpness, after which I turned and opened her cabin door.

The ten steps I took to meet Richards were nothing compared to the two it took for me to exit her cabin. I literally jumped when the door shut behind me, but did not break my stride as I returned to the conference room where the others were waiting.

By the time I made it back to our delegation, my plan of action was fully mapped out without my even realizing it. All that was left was to get my tired ass back to Galactica and write out a quick note to a very specific member of the Quorum.

It was so simple, so straightforward; I couldn't see any possible downside to it. What was the worst that could happen?

TBC...

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