AN: apologies that this chapter took me a while, the writing gremlins caught me.

Chapter 65 – A Glimpse of the In-between

Pegasus

Day One

Fisk braced himself against the panel in front of him as the ship jolted violently and cursed as he looked up at the dradis. "Any sign of the Raptors?!" he shouted over to Shaw as the ship jolted violently again.

"Raptor One is away," replied Shaw, "no word on Racetrack's bird."

"Frak!" exclaimed Fisk as the ship lurched violently again, "where the frak are they! This thing is set to light up any minute!"

Shaw glanced up at the dradis, her expression unfaltering, "Raptor One has jumped, all squadrons are backing away from the hub, still no word on raptor two."

"Can you get through to Racetrack?"

"Negative, too much interference."

"Godsdammit," exclaimed Fisk, his fists clenching around the panel as the ship shook again. "Recall all vipers and order the raptors to jump to the rendezvous coordinates."

"Yes sir," replied Shaw as she picked up the comm.

Fisk stared up at the dradis as the green blips headed for home, the Pegasus' firing solution providing them cover. He already knew that their losses were going to be high, and now he was afraid that he was about to lose some of his best officers. Fisk was uncertain whether the prize of destroying the cylon's immortality was enough.

"Hang on," said Shaw as she examined the panel in front of her, "I've got raptor two, it's leaving the hub now, Racetrack reports that she has Thrace, Adama and the Agathons."

"About frakking time," replied Fisk checking his watch. He picked up the comm system, "all hands brace for impact." A few moments later a deep rumble echoed around the ship followed by silence.

"Hub destroyed Sir," said Shaw, the pitch of her voice slightly higher.

Fisk banged his fist on the panel in front and nodded his head in silent triumph, "raptor two?"

"Still here, but there's too much interference to get through to them, they've got raiders on their tail."

Fisk shouted out orders to others in the CIC, demanding them to cover the ship, even though they were out of range of their firing solution.

"I'm getting a message through, raptor two has jumped away sir," said Shaw.

"Then get us the frak out of here!"

"Yes sir," replied Shaw engaging the FTL. The ship compressed inwards and then suddenly expanded again, the noise of battle finally abating.

"All hands damage report," said Fisk after a moment, "I want all raptors and vipers accounted for, let's see what this mission has cost us."

1800 hours

When Fisk had finally left the CIC a few hours before, the corridors were still chaotic as the crew carried out repairs. Various crew members had stopped to salute the Commander, a few stating their pleasure at having dealt a critical blow to their enemy. Fisk had sought the comfort of his quarters to get away from the noise and focus on his undone paperwork.

It was now 1800 hours and Fisk sighed as he leant back heavily onto his sofa, unfastened the buttons on his tunic, and then took a large gulp full of ambrosia from the glass he had poured when he had awoken that morning. At least he would have some good news to set out in his log, if they had in fact destroyed the cylon's ability to download. He was about to start writing when there was a knock on the hatch.

"Come in," he said and then took another mouthful of ambrosia as the hatch door opened. He was unsurprised to see Shaw enter with papers in her hand.

"What's the word" he asked, knowing that she had come to give him the damage report. "How many did we lose?"

Shaw paused as she stood to attention before him and then placed the report on Fisk's table. "We lost two squads of marines," she said with little emotion.

"Frak me," said Fisk and poured out more ambrosia before taking a long drink, not caring who was watching. "That doesn't leave us with enough marines to protect this frakking ship, godsdammit."

"Yes Sir, I can start preparing some alternative plans to ensure the ship is protected in case of a boarding."

Fisk nodded, "what else?"

"Our pilot loses were light, only three with two punch outs. All decks report normal running, we sustained some minor damage to the outer hull, but repairs are in hand."

"Is that everything?"

"No Sir," replied Shaw shifting slightly. "Raptor two didn't make the rendezvous coordinates."

"I thought you said Racetrack jumped."

"She did, but not to the correct coordinates. I've just decoded a digital communication that was sent from the raptor just before she jumped, their FTL had reset and they sent their new coordinates."

"I assume you've already sent a raptor to meet them?"

"No sir…"

"Then get one out there," interrupted Fisk gruffly.

"I can't sir…" replied Shaw.

"Why the frak not?"

"They jumped way beyond the red line sir, so far beyond that I'm not even sure where they've gone."

Fisk abruptly stood up and walked around the room, obviously irritated, "of all the frakking incompetency, doesn't Racetrack and Skulls know how to work a simple FTL drive." It wasn't a question, rather a statement of anger. "Can you work out where they went?"

"Yes, but it will take me some time."

"Get on it, hopefully in the meantime they will get their asses in gear and work their way back to us, you're dismissed."

"Yes Sir," replied Shaw, she saluted and then abruptly left the room without another word.

Fisk muttered and then fully removed his jacket, flinging it over onto his bunk. He sat down again and picking up his pen started to write his log again. He would start with the good news first and then move onto logging that they had a missing raptor.

Day Three

"Tell me you have some good news," said Fisk as he entered the back room of the CIC where Shaw was stood surrounded by star charts. "It's been three days. We can only risk to stay one more day."

"It's impossible to pinpoint their exact co-ordinates Sir," replied Shaw. "But I have been able to calculate the possible quadrant."

"That's still a lot of space to search."

"I should be able to work out their precise location if we get closer to the quadrant," Shaw fidgeted for a moment.

"What is it? Have you found something?"

"Maybe sir," replied Shaw. She took the nearest star chart and placed it before Fisk and pointed to a star towards the edge. "This is the quadrant that I believe they jumped to. The raptor didn't just go beyond the red line, it obliterated it. No-one in Colonial history has made such a jump, I doubt even the cylons could do it."

"So, you think the ship was destroyed or the crew were killed?"

"I really don't know, maybe, but…"

"But what? There is one thing that I can rely on with you Shaw, and that is that you are always direct, what is it?"

"There are eight planets orbiting this star. Most of them are unremarkable but the third planet from the sun orbits at a distance known as the 'optimum line' meaning that it may be capable of sustaining life."

"This isn't the only planet we've found like that, but we've yet to meet anyone."

"I know sir, but I had another look at the digital transmission from raptor two. It didn't come from either Skulls or Racetrack." Fisk looked up at Shaw, taking his eyes away from the chart. "The digital signature belonged to Starbuck sir."

Fisk exhaled a quick breath, "of course it did." He rubbed his fingers against his temples.

"Permission to speak freely sir."

"Granted."

"Considering it was Thrace who made the jump…"

"I didn't take you for a believer."

"I'm not, in general, but Thrace knows how to program an FTL…If it was anyone but her, I would be recommending we write off that raptor."

Fisk nodded his head and looked back down at the star chart. His stomach clenched as he stared at the star and the third planet. It looked completely innocuous, but it could be the answer to everything. Over the months, Fisk's faith in the existence of Earth had grown and he was not going to back down now. "Start plotting the jumps, we set off tomorrow at 1200hours."

Earth

The first thing they saw when they opened their eyes were the white lights blazing down on them from the ceiling. Soft restraints pinned them to their beds. Faint murmurings surrounded them that they could not comprehend. It was also cold, very cold, their nakedness exposing them to the crisp air-conditioned room.

Their thoughts were all stopped however by the sound of more instruments and murmurings as they drifted off into an induced slumber. The flash of cameras spotting their vision as all faded to black. The sensation of their beds being lowered and moved down a long and even colder corridor was the last thing they felt.

ooooo

Pegasus

Day Four

Fisk straightened his duty blues jacket as he walked down the corridor which led to the family quarters. He agreed with Cain that a Battlestar was no place to house children, but he had allowed them on board. Bit by bit they had taken over the family quarters, which had normally been reserved as billets for married officers or non-military guests, and now pictures drawn by the children were scattered over the walls. Fisk peered at two pictures which contained splashes of red, white and blue with scattered star-like shapes dotted about, it was almost mesmerising.

His attention was brought back to his task when he heard the sound of children laughing. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the hatch door next to the pictures.

The door was opened by Megan who smiled as Fisk entered. Inside Joseph and Lena were running about with Hera who was laughing and clapping.

"Kids," said Megan, "Look who's come to see you."

Fisk tried his most welcoming smile as the children stopped and stared at him. "Do you know who I am?" he said warmly.

"Fis," said Lena.

"Fwakin Fis," said Joseph with a grin.

"Seph," warned Megan, "Come and sit down, Commander Fisk has something important to talk to you about."

Obediently they sat down with Hera, cross legged on the floor in front of Fisk who took a seat on a small sofa. He felt uncomfortable as he looked into their eager eyes. "I've come to talk to you about your parents," he began.

"Where's momma?" asked Lena.

"Your parents had to go away for a while on a mission which is far away, and we're going to go and meet them." The kids didn't respond but stared intently at him. "Megan here is going to look after you for a while."

"Where's momma and dada?" repeated Lena.

"They've gone looking for a planet."

"Star," said Joseph.

"It's quite far from here, so they may be gone for a little while, but I will try to bring them back to you soon." Hera started to cry and got up, running into Megan's arms. Fisk took that as his cue to leave, he stood abruptly making Lena and Joseph jump slightly. "Whoa, it's okay kiddoes, I'll bring them back to you."

Lena suddenly leapt forward and hugged her arms around Fisk's leg, making him freeze to the spot. He looked down at the small child, not knowing what to say and then looked up at Megan with half pleading eyes.

Megan smiled and placed Hera down and then walked over and extricated Lena who snuggled into the women's arms, "Sorry Sir," she said.

"Thank you, Megan," Fisk straightened his jacket and then walked out of the room as quickly as he could.

Cain was definitely right not to have children on board.

ooooo

Day Eight

The crew of the Pegasus stood still as the pull of the FTL compressed them inwards before materialising again, followed by the agonising wait for confirmation over the comm that they had jumped clear and there were no signs of toasters.

In the Ready room, Stinger looked haggard as he stared over at the faces of the other pilots as Shaw's voice came over the comm giving them the all-clear. It had been the same for the past four days and, so far, they had seen nothing of the cylons.

Stinger checked his watch, "you guys know the drill, standard caps until the next jump." The rest of the room stared back at him with blank, unenthusiastic faces. He could feel their mistrust in him, knew that they thought it should be Starbuck standing in front of the room instead of him. "Dismissed."

He turned away as the room quickly emptied and stared at the pilot's board ahead of him. He grasped his marker tightly, making his knuckles whiten as he tried to push out the dark thoughts that ran through his head. Ever since the mission to destroy the hub, the guilt of those that they had lost ate at him. He gripped the marker tighter, then suddenly threw out a strong punch into the board, the pain searing through his hand immediately, "frak!" he yelled before turning and throwing the marker across the room.

"Major," said Fisk strongly.

"Sir," replied Stinger, his surprise evident. He pulled himself to attention and saluted sharply.

"At ease," replied Fisk. He pulled out a sheet of paper from his jacket and raised it up slightly. "You request to step down as CAG, care to tell me why?"

"You know why Sir."

Fisk paused for a moment, "the hub mission…you've been walking about like the living dead ever since. What I don't understand is why you no longer see yourself as fit to be the CAG."

"We lost two squads of marines sir, that was down to me, no-one else."

"The crew is my responsibility."

"It was my mission sir, my plan," replied Stinger, his voice faltering slightly. "I think we both know that Starbuck wouldn't have made the same mistake."

"There's no way to know that."

"I do, Sir."

"You've been the CAG on this ship for more years than Thrace," replied Fisk, his voice lowering slightly.

"And if you recall, Cain had me replaced as I had no guts, and she was right. I never wanted this post, it was forced on me when we lost our original CAG."

Fisk took a step backwards, "I don't recall you putting up much of a complaint at the time."

"I've been treading water for a long time," replied Stinger, his voice cracking. "I've been thinking about my wife and kid…"

Fisk nodded his head and paced around the room for a moment before saying, "at this point I have no idea if and when we will see Starbuck again, until we do you're the highest ranked pilot."

"Then demote me, and I'll work with Showboat until we find Starbuck."

"If Cain was still in charge she would've had you thrown out of an airlock for backing down like this."

Stinger sighed, "there's a lot of things that would be different if Cain were still in charge, for one we wouldn't be all the way out here."

"We'd all be dead if it wasn't for her."

"And we all have to live with what we did when she was in charge."

"Look Captain, I don't have the luxury of having a psychiatrist on board, you need to pull yourself together. You and Showboat will share the CAG role for now, and Thrace will take over when she returns."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Don't thank me Captain, my concern is about the crew and ensuring that they have a leader that can hack it."

Stinger didn't respond but instead saluted sharply and stood to attention until Fisk walked out of the room. After a few moments he walked calmly over to retrieve his marker before returning to the pilot's board, the burden on his shoulders lifting slightly.

Earth

In her partially conscious state, Kara could barely open her eyes due to the blinding light that beat down on her face. She felt exposed and vulnerable, a feeling that she hated. Anger started to rumble through her, but she was too weak to lash out and attack her captors.

She futilely pushed against her restraints, trying to gather as much strength as possible. But then she froze when she heard the sudden sounds of metal objects falling onto the ground, followed by various shouts in a language she could not comprehend.

The voice of Sharon broke through, shouting to be set free. Her shouts were then muffled until the room was silent except for the quiet murmurings that Kara could not understand. She suddenly felt a presence next to her and then a cold sensation flowed up her arm before everything turned to black.

ooooo

Pegasus

Day Twelve

There was a hum of activity around the deck as the crew prepared for its penultimate jump. Kat examined the blackbird in front of her, stroking a hand over the dark composite.

"You ready for this Kat?" asked Showboat.

"Make a jump, check out the planet and take some pretty pictures, then jump back. Simple."

"Don't take any risks, we just need to confirm if this really is Earth and see if we can find our raptor."

"Do you really believe it?" asked Kat, her focus still on the ship.

"What?" asked Showboat.

"That we've found Earth, my cubits are on Starbuck having frakking up the FTL jump."

"I believe that Starbuck knows her way around an FTL drive better than you, she actually made it through the academy rather than hitching a ride when the fleet was desperate for someone who can fly straight."

Kat turned towards Showboat suddenly, pushing down the anger that was starting to bubble inside of her. "I'll jump in, take the pictures, look for the raptor and see if there's any signs of life down there."

Showboat pulled a small grin, "well done Lieutenant."

They both waited in awkward silence as the crew prepared the Blackbird, towing it slowly towards a launch tube. Kat breathed deeply, preparing herself for the mission as the normal voice of Shaw warned of the impending jump, and then the usual tug pulled at her insides, followed by the normal pause as they awaited the all-clear.

As soon as Shaw's voice came over the comm, Kat grinned and pulled on her helmet and then made quick work of jumping into the blackbird. The usual adrenalin pumped through her veins as she was towed into the launch tube and was then shot out into space.

"Pegasus, this is Kat, preparing the Blackbird for jump."

"Copy that Kat," replied Shaw.

Fisk's voice then cut through, "don't take any risks Lieutenant, you're only to gather intel, nothing more."

"Yes Sir," replied Kat, slightly annoyed that everyone seemed to think that she was incapable of following a simple order. The thought of Earth both exhilarated and terrified her at the same time, there was no way that she was going to take any risks. She was also not convinced about what she was about to find. The FTL co-ordinates were already programmed into her bird, so all she had to do was tentatively press the engage button, "here goes frakking nothing."

The Blackbird vanished and then re-appeared. The Pegasus no-longer loomed next to her, but out in front she could see nothing but the stars. Kat cursed under her breath, and pushed over on the stick, flipping the Blackbird end on end. She exhaled sharply as the she saw the planet that loomed ahead. She engaged her thrusters and headed towards it, the oceans and land becoming clearer as she neared. Kat kept taking photographs and then started a long orbit of the planet until she suddenly saw the outline of some sort of ship ahead.

Kat laughed to herself as it came closer, "frakking Starbuck, of course you frakking did it."

Back on the Pegasus, Fisk waited impatiently, glancing up at the dradis every few moments. He had been about to start shouting orders at Shaw to double-check her jump co-ordinates, when finally, they heard the voice of Kat over the comm.

"Pegasus, this is Kat do you copy?"

"Kat, this is Pegasus, what did you find?" replied Fisk.

"It's frakking Earth Sir!" shouted Kat with a whoop. "Transmitting photographs to you now."

Fisk looked up at Shaw, who betrayed slight elation in her face and then turned to the monitor above him. The photographs started to display up on the screen after a few moments, showing numerous shots of the beautiful planet, followed by shots of a rudimentary looking ship. The final picture was a close-up of the ship. "Frak me," said Fisk as he could just make out a figure floating up by the window. "That ship looks old, was there a fleet?"

"Not that I could see Sir," replied Kat. "There were other satellites orbiting the planet but nothing like the Colonies."

"Did you find the raptor?"

"No Sir," replied Kat. "There were various communication signals bouncing around out there, but nothing Colonial. The computer on the Blackbird isn't powerful enough to scan the surface of the planet."

"Copy that Kat, come on in." Fisk looked up at Shaw, "any chance the Pegasus could pick up the raptor's signal?"

"Depends on whether it's been activated," replied Shaw. "Raptors in distress can emit signals well beyond a planet's surface. We would need to jump the Pegasus within transmitter range."

Fisk nodded, "but we have no idea if the planet will detect us and try to blow us up."

"If they have enough tech to have a ship in orbit then they'll probably detect us, but there's no way they could put a dent in this ship."

"I'm not going to take any chances, we'll jump in, search, and then jump straight back out. Start making the preparations."

"Yes sir."

Fisk knew it was a risk to test the Earth's defences like this, but it was the only chance they had to find the raptor. It would certainly lessen the impact of their successful homecoming if he failed to bring back Lee Adama. Now he just had to hope that the Earth's defences were not advanced enough to launch an attack on them. Fisk shook his head, wishing that first contact with a new species had been a subject at the Colonial academy, knowing that the next couple of months was not going to be easy.

Earth

One day the coldness didn't grip any longer and all Lee could feel was the warmth clenched around him. It was a strange but welcoming sensation and felt oddly safe. He hadn't felt this comfortable since the last time he had slept in his bed back home on Caprica. The beds on a Battlestar had not been built for comfort, even the larger beds in the billets were hard.

But as comfortable as he was, Lee longed to feel the small weight of Kara on his chest, or his children climbing on top of him in the morning, their infectious giggling warming his heart.

It took him a few minutes to open his eyes. He squinted as he took in the brightness of the white room and began to stretch out his arms and legs. Everything seemed to be intact, except he had a slight ache in his arm. He drew it out and pulled up his sleeve, seeing a bruise on his arm that was starting to yellow, he stroked his thumb over the marred skin, frowning at the many needle marks. Suddenly the warmth of the duvet felt oppressive, he kicked it off and sat up abruptly. He saw a television opposite the bed, the sound muted, a cup of what looked like water and two round objects that appeared to be some kind of food.

Lee glanced over at what looked to be a window, but he could only see his reflection looking back. He knew immediately that he was being watched, studied. He bit back the urge to react, knowing that he had to keep calm. What he needed to do was collect as much intel as he could, knowing that knowledge was the best way to get out. He grabbed the controller next to the television and started to press the arrows, changing the channel until he came to what looked to be news reports. He turned up the volume but couldn't understand what was being said so he muted it again. Lee frowned as he tried to take in what was happening on the screen, noting that Earth was not quite the haven that they had foolishly hoped for.

Lee absorbed as much as he could, but his mind wandered to Kara. He wanted to know where she was, whether she was a similar room as he was. She didn't take to incarceration well, and he feared how she might react.

ooooo

Pegasus

Day Fourteen

Megan held Lena and Joseph's hands tightly as they entered the CIC. She crouched down and said softly, "you have to be on your best behaviour here, this is the most important place on the ship."

The twins looked about the room, their eyes wide with curiosity.

Joseph tried to pull away from Megan's grasp so they could explore further but she leant down and picked him up, holding him against her hip as she kept hold of Lena's hand. Joseph gave a squeal of protest which made all the eyes in the room look their way.

Fisk motioned them over from a back room and Megan quickly complied. Despite how uncomfortable Fisk looked at being confronted with the children, he put on his most welcoming face and then one by one sat the twins on the edge of the table that was covered in pictures of Earth.

Fisk pointed at one of them, "we've found your mom and dad, there here on a planet called Earth."

"Err," said Lena.

"That's right, Earth," repeated Fisk.

"Are we sure they landed?" asked Megan timidly.

"We managed to pick up some transmissions, we know the raptor landed and they're down their somewhere."

"Want momma," said Joseph.

"We'll do everything we can to get them home," replied Fisk with a small smile. "But it may take a while."

Lena and Joseph looked down sadly.

"Here, take a photograph of the planet," said Fisk handing it to Lena who looked down at it with wide eyes.

Fisk nodded to Megan who helped the twins down and led them swiftly out of the CIC. Once they had gone Fisk let out a sigh of relief. He had made the promise to get their parents home, now he had to work out how, and that wasn't going to be easy.