XII

When Kara arrived in the pilots briefing room, Dee was laying out the material she had requested. Kara thought about turning around and leaving until Dee had finished, but that was the old Kara. Starbuck knew she needed to change some old, bad habits. Avoiding an awkward situation was how she used to handle things, especially if she was the one who had made thing awkward. She needed to face up to her sins.

Dee didn't hear her come in, so Kara took the initiative.

"Hi Dee", she said, with a small smile, and no overt hostility.

"Gods, you startled me", Lee's wife said, with no overt hostility of her own.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that", Kara said apologetically. "I didn't mean to."

"Welcome home, Starbuck", Dee said neutrally. "I heard you had some rough times down there."

Kara could feel Dee's discomfort, but she wanted to get them both through it.

"It isn't a time I will remember too fondly, that's for sure."

Dee saw the sudden pall over Starbuck's feature. Lee had told Dee what little he knew about what the pilot had gone through on New Caprica.

Dee sighed, and looked down. "I'm sorry that came out the way it did, Kara", Dee said contritely. "I know what you went down there was a living hell. I'm sorry."

"No", Kara said with a small smile. "Coming from you, with my history with Lee, I deserve that, Dee", she said honestly, surprising Dualla. "Losing a husband; being held prisoner twice, almost losing your sanity and your life...it's a reality check."

"I bet", Dee agreed, spreading some photographs out on a desk. "You did find something down there, however?"

"Amazing, isn't it?" Kara went around the desk, shuffling absently through the images, not paying attention to it yet. "I lose a husband, lose my mind, gain a daughter, gain a wife. You can't make such shit up." Kara paused. "I will let you know I visited Lee a little earlier." Kara could see Dee stiffen, a look beginning to form on her face. "You don't have to worry about me any longer, Dee", Kara said softly. "I will have to prove it to you, I know that, but I'm not the same person I was when we landed on New Caprica."

"Yes, you will have to prove it", Dee said, but not as coldly as she might once have. A small smirk formed on the darker woman's face. "I imagine cheating on the President would carry a one-way out a airlock?"

Kara did laugh at that. "Exactly", she agreed. "But that's not why I'm not tempted any longer, Dee. I'm sure you'll get to meet my daughter soon enough. Kacey changed my life, kept me sane when Leoben had me in his fantasy world. Laura made me realize that I was worth something beyond a misfit. I can't, and I won't, ruin that." She looked directly at Dee. "Lee loves you very much. And that's the way it should be. You two belong together."

"You have changed", Dee said with surprise. "I can't wash away three years of distrust in one stroke, Starbuck, but...I am glad that you got off that planet. I am very, sincerely sorry for what happened to Sam. He was a good man. And I'm glad you found a family as well."

"Thank you, Dee", Kara said, getting a little emotional. "I want you to hold my feet to the fire if I frak up. I mean that. But I won't. Like you said, you don't go cheating on the President. Things aren't perfect-I'm sure you know I'm seeing shrink. I can't get into what that's about-it's very painful, but I still have some issues to get through."

"You've got a lot of friends on here, Kara-more than I think you realize. Let your daughter and your wife keep you centered."

"I'm doing my best, Dee", Kara assured him. "Laura has been so patient with me. I still don't think I deserve either Kacey or Laura...but I'm glad I have them."

Dee actually gave Kara a real smile that time. "You're as tough as anyone I know, Starbuck. I think you'll make it." Dee gave her a smile, and departed the room, Kara thinking that, just maybe, she had started to mend a fence.

Danny Novacek was visiting his old friend, Saul Tigh, in Saul's quarters onboard the Flagship. Tigh and Bulldog served on the Valkyrie under Bill Adama. Saul, like the Admiral, knew the truth of the mission that had put Bulldog in a Cylon prison for three years. Saul had encouraged Adama to confess it to Danny, before the man found some other. Bill had led Saul to believe that he would take care of it. Saul assumed Bill had taken care of it.

When Bulldog was seated, Saul gave them both a small glass of booze. Bulldog didn't waste time.

"Let me ask you something", the veteran pilot said to Tigh. "How did you and the Admiral wind up on this Old Bucket anyway? What happened to the Valkyrie?"

Tigh also had a cigarette with him, and took a drag. "Well, let's just say that last mission wasn't exactly a boon to the Old Man's career. Galactica was his graceful retirement, or so we thought, until the attack on The Colonies."

"Heard things have been a little up tight between you and the old man for a while?" He paused and gave Tigh a grin. "What's wrong? He won't cover your ass day and night like he used to?"

"Oh, no", Tigh said with wry humor, "he still does his share of ass-covering. Problem is", he continued with some bitterness, "it's his main function now. Of course, considering how you wound up being captured in the first place, I guess you found that out the hard way yourself, didn't you?"

Bulldog's demeanor suddenly changed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Now Saul's demeanor changed, and he felt a cold pit in his stomach. "My gods", the XO breathed, "he didn't tell you...did he?"

Confusion sluiced over Novacek's face.

Tigh couldn't believe it. "Did he?"

Bulldog still didn't get it. "Tell me what?"

Tigh looked away from Bulldog, closing his eyes in anger. "That son-of-a-bitch!"

At that juncture, Tigh had no alternative but to fill Danny in.

Kara looked over the video, the voice recordings, and the stills of Bulldog bringing the Raider into Galactica, and the chase the other two Raiders had given.

At first, Kara was simply intrigued that someone else had flown a Cylon Raider like she had done-she wanted to talk to Novacek about his experience. She first listened to the audio that had been recorded from Kat, Hot Dog, onboard Galactica, and from Novacek. It seemed pretty straight forward.

Next she looked at the stills that had been taken off of video that was recorded from outside of Galactica's hull, and angles from other ships in The Fleet as well.

Something's not right here, Starbuck thought, but still not putting it together. The still showed all three Raiders, the rear two shooting at the third one. The pursuing Raiders couldn't have been more than fifteen thousand meters behind Bulldog's Raider, but...

Kara quickly ran the video recording. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Those Raiders had Novacek dead to rights-a clean shot! He was just trying to fly the fraking thing, just like I had tried. No way could he do any fancy maneuvers. They should have blown him out of the sky...

Alarm bells went off in Kara's head. She needed to talk to someone. But she wasn't sure who, at the moment. She gathered everything up, including the video disk, and put them in a duffel bag she had brought with her. She needed to study the information more.

Later That Evening

Danny Novacek was doing what he had done for three years when in that Cylon prison: he did push-ups, focusing his mind and body on a world that didn't exist any longer. It was one of the few things that kept him sane after his captivity.

What he had just found out made his captivity even more mind-bending.

The Old Man...he shot me down? He shot me down, to save the mission? His eyes were unblinking as he grew angrier and angrier. And then he left me there to die! He left me to be tortured by The Cylons! That frakin' bastard!

His pace quickened as the thoughts of the mission, his captivity, and his betrayal swirled into a monstrous hatred-for everything, and everyone, not just Bill Adama, but the Fleet brass who sent them on that mission, for The Cylons for torturing his mind for three years, for Saul for telling him the truth. The hatred was eating him up.

And one person would have to pay a price for that.