IX

Two Weeks Later

Saul Tigh had just left the Old Man's quarters a few hours ago in a bit of a daze, and wandered into CIC. He had gone over some of the items that the Admiral wanted accomplished in the next few days, then called a meeting with all the major military players, which included Helo, Starbuck, Hot Dog, Kat (coming off maternity leave), Dee, and Louis Hoshi in the pilot briefing room. From there, the word would go to the civilian leadership.

Saul Tigh was never very sentimental, but with Bill Adama's marching orders, he knew he'd be doing a lot of walking down Sentimental Lane as they carried out the Admiral's orders.

'OK people, I have new orders from the Old Man.", Tigh said in his no-nonsense voice, driving any emotion away as he spoke. Helo and Kara were standing, and not in a seat. Tigh arched his eye at them. "If I were you two kids, I'd sit down. You don't wanna be standing when I tell you this..."

Laura Adama was in her office on Galactica after she and Kara had dropped off their kids at daycare and school, respectively, going over with the last meeting of the Quorum, which had been a doozy, as representatives were trying to pre-emptively gobble up Galactica's parts for themselves. Her Vice-President, Lee Adama, had quashed that talk, making it crystal clear that nothing happens until the Admiral says it can happen. Laura knew their Flagship was starting to give out, but she felt they had time.

She wasn't expecting to see her young wife until after she picked up the kids that afternoon, but here, at around 1200 hours, Kara entered her office, Laura looking mildly surprised.

"Well hello, Commander Roslin", Laura said with a grin, getting up and giving her wife a sweet kiss and hug. "They let you out of playtime early?"

"I wish, babe, but we need to talk, right now."

"What's going on, honey?"

"Take a seat, Madam President", Kara said with a frown. When they both were seated, Kara pulled out the information that Saul Tigh had typed up, concerning the Admiral's orders, and slid it over to her wife.

Laura looked at Kara first, with a cocked head, wondering what this was about. Then she read the first two lines.

"Oh, my gods..."

Kara gave a humorless laugh. "Yeah, that about sums it up, doesn't it?"

Over on the Cylon Rebel Baseship, Sonja Garrett was meeting with Natalie, and two of the Leoben's on their search for The Colony. Over the weekend, she had flown over to Galactica, to inform Admiral Adama, and President Roslin, that Cavil had apparently moved The Colony a few months ago, and they'd lost the trial of the monstrous ships. She had recommended to Adama that a combination of Heavy Raiders, regular Raiders, and Raptors, be sent out in search of where Cavil was holding Hera Agathon. Bill Adama had not yet given the go-ahead for any attempt to rescue the Human/Cylon hybrid, and Sonja knew that they'd only be able to persuade the C-in-C of The Fleet if they found The Colony, and quickly.

As they were discussing the situation, a Sharon entered the room they were using, a concerned look on her face.

"What is it, Sharon? You don't look too happy", one of the Leoben's said half-seriously.

"We just received a major notice from Admiral Adama, guys."

Sonja looked around at her brothers and sisters uneasily. "What's...going on."

Sharon gave them each a copy of what Adama and Tigh was sending throughout The Fleet.

After the first two sentences, and without looking up, Sonja gave her opinion.

"Holy God", she said softly.

Two Days Later

It would have been comical if it wasn't so devastatingly said, as crew members all over Galactica were carrying boxes, and moving large equipment, some to be jettisoned into space, some to be moved to other ships in The Fleet, and some over to what looked like would be their new Flagship-the Cylon Baseship.

Bill Adama had finally let the reality sink in that, despite the best efforts of Chief Tyrol, the Cylon workers, and the Human workers, they couldn't save the once-majestic Battlestar. Lee had informed him, after talking to The Chief, that had Boomer not jumped so close to Galactica, they would have had months, perhaps, before she was no longer serviceable. The Raptor jump had staggered the old ship, like a boxer who had just delivered a combination to the body, then landed an uppercut to the jaw.

She was nearing her last leg.

Sonja had not pressed Admiral Adama about going after Hera, but she was getting impatient with the Commander-in-Chief that they had sworn loyalty to. They knew the value of Hera Agathon, and so obviously did President Roslin and Commander Roslin.

Sonja was meeting with the two women, along with Caprica, on Colonial One this day.

"I honestly don't know what else I can do to impress upon him the importance of finding Hera", Sonja said dejectedly. "I understand that, in part, it has to do with the deteriorating condition of Galactica, I get that. But Hera is bigger than all of us."

"I agree", Laura Roslin said, glancing at the other three. "Those visions that Caprica, Athena, and I have had-those can't be coincidence. Something is driving this entire thing. Hera is the key to that."

Starbuck looked over at her wife. "Do you want me to talk to the Old Man, Laura?"

Laura shook her head. "I just feel that leaning on him will be counter-productive, Kara. He's going to have to figure this out himself."

"What if he doesn't?" Caprica had protected Hera during the aborted uprising, and loved the little girl almost as much as Athena did. "We have to get her, even if it's on the Baseship going to The Colony."

"She's right", Starbuck said quickly. "All I know is that little girl is right in the middle of all t his. And beyond that, as a mother myself, I can't imagine us leaving one of our own behind-and she is one of our own."

Laura had poured them all some wine when they started their meeting. Now the four women sipped at their drink, trying to contemplate how to make this happen.

Bill Adama was silently walking through the corridors of Galactica. His ship, at one time, had been the crown jewel of The Colonial Fleet. But that was some seventy-five years ago, when she was state-of-the-art. When Adama had been given Galactica, it was meant to be a slap in the face, given to him by the very men who ordered him to send Bulldog over the Armistice Line.

The irony of the fact that Galactica, who was set to retire, was now the only surviving, Battlestar, and the other Battlestars, those that had "rewarded" him with Galactica, and Bulldog, the man that he had sent on that mission, were all dead and gone.

As he wandered, he saw the people moving about, still moving boxes and items, with pieces of paper and other small, discarded items littering the floor. As he came around a corner he was in the Memorial Hallway, that place that had become almost sacred on Galactica, where people had put photographs of loved ones lost in The Holocaust, or during the flight across the stars, as a reminder of the price paid for their struggle. Even the Rebel Cylons who had worked on Galactica, had left photos of their numbers that had been lost. Most of the photos had been taken down in anticipation of abandoning the Old Lady, but some remained.

One photo caught his eye as he was looking at some of the remaining photographs. He gave a small smile upon seeing the image of Athena Agathon, holding her daughter, Hera, a huge smile on the Cylon woman's face. It had taken Bill Adama a long time to separate who Boomer was, and who Athena was. He, and most everyone else on Galactica, being in close proximity with many of the Rebel Cylons, and come to realize they weren't all the same, weren't all cookie-cutter models. They had individual personalities, hopes, fears, hairstyles. Many had found friends among their Human counterparts. They had truly become part of The Fleet, in just about every way possible. Thanks to Athena, Natalie, Sonja, and Caprica, the Humans in The Fleet began to realize that, at the most basic level, they and their Cylon counterparts in The Fleet were all the same.

Adama turned to walk away. He got to a T in the corridors, when he stopped cold, a few people shuffling by him in the hallway to his immediate front. He pondered what he had just been thinking about. He pondered the fact of that equality among all of them, Cylon and Human.

He turned around suddenly and decisively, returning to that very photo he had been contemplating. He took it from it's place on the Memorial wall, put it in his shirt pocket, and with a determined look, strode toward his quarters.

Galactica would have one last, great battle after all.

Later That Afternoon

Kara had picked up Kacey and Sammy from school and daycare immediately after her CAP debrief, taking them home while Laura finished up a meeting with representatives from a few of the ships, getting an update on conditions, food supply, morale, and a continued accounting of how many pregnancies were showing up.

At 1700, Laura came into their home, which was very early for her arrival, but at the moment, with everything up in the air regarding The Fleet, there actually wasn't much to do.

"How'd the rest of the day go?" Kara greeted Laura with a warm, deep kiss and a loving hug.

"Mommy!" Kacey ran up to Laura, the President picking up her daughter and hugging her tightly. "I had a wonderful day!"

"That's what I like to hear, Kace!" Laura give her a kiss on the cheek.

Kara walked over to Sammy's crib, where he had been quietly fussing, picked him up, and brought him over to her wife.

"Well hello there, big guy", Laura said with a huge grin. "How's my champ today?"

"He had two bottles after we got home. I think whoever the biological father is must have been a construction worker or something. I think this kid is gonna be huge."

Laura laughed delightedly at the look on her wife's face. "That would be great, because then he could watch out for his sister when they get older."

"Good point", Kara said with her own laugh.

The family was just settling in on the couch, when there was a knock on the door. One of the two Marines guarding their quarters opened it.

"Excuse me, ladies, but the Admiral is here."

Laura and Kara looked at each other. "Were you expecting him, babe?"

Laura shook her head. "Nope, didn't know he was coming over."

Moment later, Admiral Adama was in the room. His face lit up, looking at who he considered his two grandchildren.

"Granddad Adama!" Kacey flew into his arms, Bill Adama picking her up and kissing her on the cheek. "How's my granddaughter?"

"Wonderful", she said dramatically, making the Admiral laugh.

"Can't get better than wonderful, can you?"

"Nope!"

He carried her over to the couch, where he put her down. Laura stood up with Sammy.

"Sammy boy", Bill said, cradling the still-young child, kissing him softly on the forehead. "You get bigger every time I see you."

"We were just observing that we think the biological father must have been a construction worker or something, as we think he's gonna be a big boy", Laura informed him.

"I think you're right. He's gonna be carrying me before long." They all laughed.

"What brings you here, Admiral?" Kara arched her eyebrows at the Military Boss.

He pulled up a chair from the nearby table, sitting across from the two women and their children. His face turned deadly serious. "I was doing some walking around the ship today, just to see the activity going on." The tone of his voice made them both sad. "I was in Memorial Hall-you know most of the photos are gone?"

Laura didn't know that, but Kara did. "Yeah", Starbuck said, "I took Sam's photo down the other day. Galen grabbed the photo of Duck."

Bill nodded, then reached into his shirt pocket. "This was one of the photos left." He pulled it out and handed it to President Roslin.

"Hera".

"You two, Caprica, and Sonja are right, and I've made up my mind: we're going after Hera."