The Flight of Bellerophon Chap. 5

"Am I interrupting something?"

Bridget Cain whispered something briefly to Lee, then looked over at her obviously seething counterpart and flashed him one of her most engaging smiles.

"Ah, Husher, how about doing us all a favor and step inside and close the door behind you. Unless, of course, you want to broadcast this little liaison to the entire squadron?" she asked calmly, seemingly oblivious to his anger.

Her cool logic did penetrate his chaotic thoughts and he hastily stepped further into the room, closing the door behind him. He glanced at Lee, but the younger man had his face turned away, studiously avoiding eye contact. Although what little of his son's face that Adama could see was a brilliant shade of scarlet. The older man felt a pang of guilt for his son's embarrassment. While he was actually not sorry that he had caught them in the act, as he now understood the situation perfectly without having to ask for an explanation, it had not been his intent to humiliate Lee. And Cain, it appeared, felt neither shame nor embarrassment. By all appearances, she wasn't even flustered, simply amused. But, knowing how the woman loved to perform for an audience, she was probably enjoying this.

Now that he was here, Adama wasn't entirely sure what he should do or say. He had not expected to find the two of them together and, while there were things that he definitely wished to say to each of them, he did not want to say them while they were both in the same room. So, he just stood awkwardly, trying to decide his next course of action.

Seeing that her superior was not going to immediately launch into his lecture, Cain gave an almost bored-sounding sigh, stood up and moved away from the bed to finish dressing. Ignoring Adama's look of shock, she unbuttoned and unzipped her pants so that she could tuck the long tails of her shirt in. Abruptly he realized that she was deliberately baiting him. With some satisfaction, he recognized that he had surprised her. She had done an admirable job of hiding it and, in true Cain fashion, had immediately gone on the offensive, trying to even the playing field by throwing him off balance. A bit more reluctantly, he acknowledged that she was also deliberately keeping his attention focused on her and off of Lee, who had remained silent and very still since his father had entered the room. Had she told him to do so? The thought made him think slightly the better of her, but only slightly.

Now fully dressed and composed, Cain said, "Come, William, let's take this conversation somewhere else."

Stepping up to him, she took his arm and led him out of the room, never giving him a chance to even glance back toward the bed. Once they were in the wide corridor, which was, for the moment, deserted, she turned to face him, her hands on her hips in a blatantly aggressive posture.

Feeling his anger respond to her unspoken challenge, Adama said, "How dare you-?"

"How dare I what?" she interrupted, immediately pouncing. "How dare I enjoy a rare moment of pleasure? Is that what's bothering you? The fact that I choose to embrace what's left of our crumbling lives, rather than live like a monk, like you? Or is it the fact that I enjoyed myself with your son?"

"I object to you manipulating and taking advantage of a subordinate officer, any subordinate officer."

"Mmm, yes, you're a fine one to talk about manipulation. Let's talk about how you manipulated both of your sons their entire lives. You manipulated both of them into the military, then into the Viper Training Program..."

For a moment Adama thought she was going to continue with that thought, but perhaps seeing the warning in his eyes, she wisely changed her tack. "Tell me something, William. Did you ever once even ask them what they wanted to do with their lives?"

Adama had to take a deep breath and several steps away from the woman to give himself the space he needed to calm down. He knew what she was doing. By constantly attacking him with such heavy emotional ammunition, she kept him reeling and he was unable to defend himself or launch an attack of his own. It was a standard military tactic. So, instead of playing her game, he opted for a strategic retreat.

After several minutes, he said, "We are not discussing how I raised my sons. We are discussing your conduct with regards to my CAG."

"It's not really any of your business, William."

"He is an officer under my command, with whom you have acted inappropriately. Not to mention that he is my son. It damn well is my business, Bridget."

"So what is it that bothers you more? The fact that he actually dared to do something that you didn't approve of? Or the fact that you had no idea it was even going on?"

Before he could think of an adequate response to this, Adama heard the sound of someone clearing their throat noisily behind him. Both commanders turned to find a young blond man standing by looking very uncomfortable.

"Lt. Atlan, yes, what can I do for you?" Cain asked the young man.

"Um, I'm terribly sorry to disturb you, sir, but I can't find Lt. Athens anywhere. I've got people looking for her on both ships. No one has seen her for a couple of hours now."

"Wasn't she working in the lab with Dr. Baltar?"

"Well, no one has seen him for a couple of hours either, sir."

Turning back to Adama, Cain gave him an elaborate shrug, her hands spread wide. "Duty calls," she said with a smug smile.

"We will continue this discussion later," he said quietly, but firmly.

"And I shall be looking forward to it," she said. "I'll see you at the pilots' briefing in a couple of hours, William." Turning back to Lt. Atlan, she said, "Come, Lieutenant, let's go and find our errant science officer."

Adama watched the two Pegasus officers for a moment before he turned back toward the pilots' quarters. He stood staring at the closed door for a long time. He and Lee needed to talk, but he had lost the edge to his self- righteous indignation, which was probably good, but it had left him with a splitting headache. He told himself that Lee was probably asleep by now and he would need to be rested and focused for the mission. With a sigh, Adama headed back to his office.

As he approached it, he noticed the door to his office was ajar. He had asked Kara to close it behind her. Had she forgotten? It wasn't like her to be so forgetful. Drawing closer, he heard the sounds of movement from within. He distinctly heard papers being moved and shuffled about. Assuming that it was Tigh looking for some piece of paperwork he needed, Adama was quite surprised when he walked in and found Dr. Baltar rifling through the papers on his desk.

"Is there something I can help you find?" the commander asked.

With a sound that was disturbingly close to a squeal, Baltar whipped around. "Oh! Uh, I... Uh, I-I'm so s-sorry. I knocked, but you weren't in... I'm looking for a... a report that Lt. Athens may have dropped off. It's very important," he stuttered.

Recognizing the name, Adama said, "Athens... There was just someone from the Pegasus looking for her. He was looking for you as well."

"Oh? Yes, well, I imagine they want their report. But Lt. Athens' report is false. You see, she is the Cylon spy. To cover for herself, she wrote a false report, implicating someone else. When I realized that, in fact, she was the spy, I knew I had to get that report back before any action could be taken against an innocent person."

"I see," Adama said, his tone and his expression both neutral.

Baltar had no idea whether the man was buying his story or not. He seemed a bit preoccupied; so perhaps, his mind wasn't really following the conversation very closely, which would suit Baltar just fine.

"You haven't seen the report lying about, have you?" he asked.

"No, I haven't seen anything like that. So, did either of you report any of your findings to Cain or Col. Tolan?"

"Uh, no, I didn't and I don't think Athens did either. You're the one in command, so you were the logical choice to go to first."

"So, there's still a Cylon running around and no one's been alerted?"

"Uh, well, no. I wanted to get that report back and talk to you p- personally. I- I thought you should be the one to decide how to handle this."

"You know, it's all so convenient that the person assigned to work with you turns out to be the Cylon, don't you agree?"

"C-convenient? In-in what way?" Baltar stuttered, his eyes blinking very rapidly.

"Convenient for the Cylons. They were able to spy on your actions without looking at all suspicious."

"Oh... oh, yes, yes, very convenient. I'm sure it's all part of some grand scheme of theirs."

"I assume you have the proof of your findings for me?" Adama said, looking expectantly at the younger man.

"P-proof?"

"It's not for me, of course, but I'm quite sure that Commander Cain will want to see some sort of proof. She seemed to have complete trust in this Athens person."

"Uh, I don't have anything on me at the moment. I left all my work over on the Pegasus, but I'm sure I could have something formal written up for you in a few hours."

"That would be very nice. Commander Cain and I will both meet with you after we've dealt with our Cylon pursuers. In the meantime, I will deal with Lt. Athens."

"Excellent. Well then, I'll just go and prepare that report for you."

There is definitely something not right about that man, Adama thought as he watched the doctor leave the office. With a sigh, he went to his desk and sat down heavily. Sometimes he truly hated his job.

~*~*~*~

Two hours later saw all the pilots of both ships assembled in the Galactica's briefing room. All of the comfortable, leather chairs were occupied and more pilots were standing at the back and side aisles of the room. It was a tight fit, but the room was simply not designed to have this many people in it. Adama and Cain stood together at the front of the room. If Bridget felt any discomfort at standing next to the father of the man she had so recently been caught seducing, she gave no outward sign of it. And Adama had to grudgingly admire the woman's mettle. They were all waiting for Lee to arrive to begin the mission briefing, as he would be leading it. Knowing his son's habitual punctuality, Adama felt certain that Lee's tardiness in this instance was due to a desire to avoid speaking to his father.

In confirmation of this theory, Lee made his entrance, only a few minutes late, and hurried past the two commanders without so much as a glance at either one. He stepped up to the room's large podium and, once he had everyone's attention, immediately began his briefing.

"You've all been informed of the mission, so you all know what's coming. We're going to be attacking a basestar," he said, getting right down to business. "The Pegasus and Commander Cain will be leading the attack, along with all the Vipers. The Galactica will drop back, close to the planet to provide defensive cover for the civilian ships and back up for the Pegasus, as needed. The Galactica will be held in reserve. She will not engage the Cylons unless it proves necessary for her to do so. Hopefully, with all the E.M. interference from the planet, the Cylons won't even know that the Galactica or the fleet are there.

"To further that deception, there will be no direct communications between the Galactica and the Pegasus. We still don't know for sure whether or not the Cylons can monitor our transmissions, so we're not taking any chances. Lt. Valerii, Boomer, and her Raptor, will be acting as messanger between the two ships," he said, gesturing to the dark-haired woman, who was sitting in the front.

"You have all been divided up into two squadrons," he continued. "I will be lead pilot for Red Squadron. Lt. Thrace, Starbuck, will act as lead for Blue Squadron. You should already have your assignments. Now, since we have integrated the squadrons of both battlestars, some of you will be flying with unfamiliar wingmen or unfamiliar leaders. Bear this in mind at all times. Don't expect the other person to anticipate your moves. Keep everything simple and by-the-book. And talk to each other out there. Keep the chatter down, but don't hesitate to communicate your plans. We need to know what each other is doing out there... Okay, any questions?"

A young male pilot standing at the back, whom Lee didn't recognize, raised his hand. The captain gestured to him. "Yes?"

"I assume that since all the Vipers are here on the Galactica, we'll all be launching from here?" the young man asked.

"That's correct. As soon as Commander Cain rejoins the Pegasus, she will move to her offensive position, while the Galactica drops back. At Commander Cain's signal, the Vipers will launch from here to join her... Anything else?"

"Yeah," an anonymous male voice called out from among the chairs. "Do we have any idea where the basestar is or when they're going to show up?"

"Sorry," Lee said, spreading his hands wide in a helpless gesture. "The last word I got from CIC before coming down here, was that both long range and short range scanners show nothing. Sorry, but it looks like we get to wait."

He paused for a moment to see if anyone else spoke up. As he did, he looked around at the assembled faces. Most looked anxious, a few, mostly the younger ones, looked downright scared. He knew he needed to say something to cut through some of the stifling tension in the room.

When it became apparent that there were no more questions, he said, "Alright, I want everyone to take a moment and just breathe. Inhale... exhale..." He smiled when, as a group, they followed his promptings. "Good. Now just try to remember to do that every once in a while when you're out there."

Smiles and a few chuckles greeted this advice. It had not been much, he knew, but it had helped. The tension was eased a little and it was the best he could manage at the moment. He was about to dismiss the pilots, when Commander Cain stepped forward.

"Excuse me, but may I address the pilots, Captain?" she asked.

"Uh, of course, sir," he said, moving aside to give her the podium.

Stepping up to take Lee's place, Cain stood for a moment, staring out at the expectant faces with a sudden, fierce look in her eyes. "I know many of you are rookies and don't have much combat experience. I know you're scared. I'm here to remind all of you just what it is that you're fighting for. You are not simply defending a fleet of ships. A ship is nothing but a soulless hunk of metal. But these hunks of metal are your homes! And you are defending the remains of the entire human race! Never forget that.

"And never forget what you are. We are human beings. We are the ones who created the Cylons. We gave them life. That makes us their gods. We brought them into this world, and like gods, we can take them out!"

A rapturous cheer went up from the pilots and many stood clapping for several minutes. Cain raised a benevolent hand in acknowledgement as she moved to stand beside Adama again and watch the pilots as they filed past out the door.

"Was that display absolutely necessary?" he asked coolly, but quietly.

"Of course. You always have to stir up the troops before sending them into battle."

He rolled his eyes and gave his head a shake as he turned to join the line of pilots filing out.

~*~*~*~

The call came over the ship's loudspeakers, announcing the imminent departure of the final shuttle to the Pegasus. All Pegasus personnel, with the exception of the pilots, were ordered to return to their ship. A similar announcement would be made on board the other ship, ordering any of the Galactica's personnel to return as well.

Lee stood on the starboard hangar deck watching the last of the Pegasus' people board their shuttle. The pilots of his Red Squadron were all lounging around the deck, suited up and ready to go as soon as the signal came. Kara and her Blue Squadron were waiting on the port side hangar.

As Lee watched he saw Commander Cain and a couple of her people heading towards their shuttle. She stopped several times to say a word to or shake hands with some of the pilots, and not just ones from the Pegasus. She looked over at him and their eyes met. She gave him a slight smile and a nod before she turned away to board the shuttle. After a few minutes, the hydraulic platform raised the shuttle up to the landing deck where it would take off, as the shuttles did not launch from the tubes as the Vipers did.

Giving himself a mental shake to throw off the strange, heavy mood that had descended on him, Lee began slowly circulating among the pilots, giving encouraging smiles and generally making himself available to anyone who felt the need to talk to him. As he wandered about the deck, he noticed Chief Tyrol hovering off to the side, watching something intently. Turning to follow the man's gaze, he saw Sharon leaning against her Raptor. She looked very tense. She was hugging her helmet to her chest and staring vaguely at something on the floor of the deck a few feet in front of her. She seemed to be oblivious to the young woman who stood chatting away next to her. Lt. Julia "Mouse" Reynolds, a rookie from the Pegasus, was acting as Sharon's co-pilot.

Lee sincerely hoped there was a damn good story that went along with Lt. Reynolds' rather disappointing call sign. He also hoped that she hadn't gotten it in reference to her physical appearance, which was disconcertingly mouse-like. She was short and very petite, with rather pointed facial features and hair of an indeterminate color that fell somewhere between brown and blonde.

Glancing back at Tyrol, it was obvious from the man's slightly pained expression that he wanted to go to Sharon, to offer her some comfort or encouragement, but he must have felt it was not his place to do so, as he didn't move. Remembering how Cain had spoken to the pilots on her way to the shuttle, Lee thought, no, that's my job. This was not something he was terribly comfortable with. He was fine with any of the pilots coming to him to talk, but it was the idea of having to approach one of them himself that was the trouble. He didn't have a problem addressing them as a group. It was the one on one-thing that made him uncomfortable. But then he realized that if he was having trouble with the thought of approaching one of them, how much more difficult was it for them to come to him?

Sharon's part in the mission was integral. He needed her sharp and focused. He couldn't have her fall apart now. With a sigh, he squared his shoulders and walked over to the Raptor. As he approached, he could hear the incessant chatter of Lt. Reynolds. He wondered if the girl ever stopped to draw breath. She was one of those sunny, perpetually cheerful people, who never let anything get them down, including, it appeared, the possibility of impending death. Quite frankly, Lee found her annoying as hell and he suddenly felt guilty for trapping Sharon in a Raptor with this human chatterbox.

Julia turned to him as he approached, smiled and said brightly, "Hey, Apollo!"

He nodded to her in acknowledgement and said, "Uh, Mouse, do you think you could give me a minute with Boomer in private?"

"Oh, sure, no problem, sir," the girl said and walked off to find someone else to irritate.

As soon as the other woman was out of earshot, Boomer said, "I'm sorry, sir, but if the Cylons don't kill her, I will!"

Lee gave her a wry smile. "Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I owe you one."

"Oh, yeah."

Smiling at her comment, he wondered if perhaps he had simply mistaken her annoyance for nervousness.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"I'm good, sir."

He could hear the tightness in her voice. Nope, he hadn't been mistaken.

"You understand your main role in this mission, right?"

"Well, I understand what I'm supposed to do, but I don't really understand the reason for it."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but I can't give you any more of an explanation than I already have."

"I know, sir. I understand."

Upon successful completion of the mission, the fleet would jump to a new location. With the threat of a missing Cylon spy on board the Pegasus still a factor, it was decided by the commanders that no one on the Pegasus would have the coordinates for the jump until just before the jump was made. If the mission started to go badly and it became necessary for the fleet to jump during the battle, Adama would not risk transmitting the coordinates. So, it was up to Boomer and Mouse, as messengers, to deliver the coordinates to the Pegasus. But only Boomer knew the coordinates. In fact, Mouse knew nothing about this. And Boomer did not know the reason for this precaution, as Adama was still trying to keep the knowledge of possible Cylon spies a secret.

"Good," Lee said, nodding and moving to lean against the Raptor next to her. "Nervous?"

For a moment, she looked as if she was going to deny it, but then said, "Yes, sir, I am. Frankly, I don't think I've ever been so scared. Raptors aren't usually involved in these kinds of combat missions. I'm sorry, sir."

"Don't apologize, Boomer. Everyone gets scared."

"Not Starbuck."

"Don't let her fool you. She gets scared, she just hides it better than most."

"Do you still... get that way, sir?"

"Of course. Hell, I'm scared right now."

"Yeah, but have you ever been so scared that..." her voice trailed off, as if she couldn't seem to find the words to convey how she felt.

"You wanted to puke?" Lee provided for her bluntly.

"Yeah," Sharon said, wrinkling her nose and running a hand across her stomach.

"Been there, done that."

"Oh?"

He looked around them for a moment, as if checking to see if they would be overheard. He paused for a moment, thinking. Ah, what the hell, he decided.

"You and Starbuck are pretty good friends, right?" he asked. When Sharon nodded, he continued, "So, I'm guessing she told you that she and I went through Viper Training together?"

"Yeah, she told me."

"Did you go through the Viper program at all?"

"Uh, no, I didn't bother. I knew I wouldn't cut it," she said self- consciously.

"Okay, well, in order to get your wings, you have to do a flight test, to demonstrate your skills to a panel of instructors. So, they put all of us in this room that's just off the training deck and one by one they call our names. You go out and you have to launch your Viper, go through some specified maneuvers, and then land. The instructors are monitoring you the entire time and they score you. Now, frequently, during these tests, some of the battlestar commanders will drop by and watch. And, of course, for our test there were several commanders there to watch, most of whom were friends of my father. Several of them had been to our house for dinner on occasion, so they knew me. If I messed up, there was no way my father was not going to hear about it. So, yeah, I was terrified."

"Oh, man...," Sharon whispered sympathetically. Being an orphan, she had always envied the captain for his advantageous parentage. It had never occurred to her that there might actually be a downside to being the son of a prominent commander.

"So, there's about 20 of us in this room waiting to be tested," he continued. "And they're calling our names randomly, so you have no idea when your turn is going to be. And if you're not there when they call your name, that's it, you don't get another shot. So, you can't leave the room. You're stuck there, waiting. And of course, Starbuck and I are the last two called. So, it's down to just the two of us. We know that one of us is going to be the next one called.

"Kara was sitting in one of the chairs, looking fairly calm and cool, but I can see that she's bouncing one of her legs up and down like crazy, a sure sign that she's nervous. Anytime she's bouncing a leg or tapping a foot or a hand, she's nervous. But other than bouncing her leg, she seemed to be holding up pretty well. I, on the other hand, was not doing so well. In fact, I knew that I was going to be sick. It was just a question of whether or not I was going to do it in front of all those instructors and commanders. I was hoping for not. But I couldn't leave the room. There was no way I could make it to the nearest bathroom and back before one of us would get called."

"What did you do?" Sharon asked, wide-eyed.

"I started looking around the room for a waste basket or anything, but the room empty. There's just a bunch of chairs and, along one wall, a rack that holds everyone's helmets. Well, by this time, Kara's figured out that something's wrong with me. So, I tell her that I know I'm going to be sick. Quick-thinking woman that she is, she goes over the rack, grabs a helmet, hands it to me and says, 'Here, use this.'"

"No!" Sharon gaped. "You didn't!"

"Oh, yes, I did. Definitely not one of my more stellar moments."

"Well, what did you do then?"

"My name was called next, so I just handed the helmet back to Kara and went to do my flight test."

"Well, what did she do with it?"

"You know, I never asked. I don't think I really wanted to know, because, knowing Kara, she probably just put it back on the rack. I mean, I don't really know what else she could have done."

"Oh, that's terrible," Sharon said, although, by now, she was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Yeah," Lee agreed, chuckling along with her. "I can just imagine the look on the face of the next person that went to use that helmet."

Wiping her face with the back of her hand, Sharon asked, "So, how did you do on the fight test?"

"Oh, I did fine. Not as good as Kara, of course, but I did alright... So, what have we learned from this story?"

"Um, everyone gets nervous?"

"No, no. Always check your helmet before you put it on!"

"Oh, right!" Sharon said, laughing.

"Feel better?" he asked. "Please, say yes. Please, tell me that I didn't just relate the story of the most humiliating moment of my life for no reason."

"Yes, sir, I feel better," she said, still chuckling.

"Good, glad to hear it," he said, straightening up.

"And thank you, sir."

"No problem. Any time." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze as he turned to walk away.

As he was moving away from her, he caught sight of Tyrol still standing off to the side. The two men looked at each other for a moment and exchanged brief nods before each returned to his respective duties. In Lee's case, reassuring his agitated pilots. Oddly, he found that he was feeling better, less nervous than he had a few minutes ago. Evidently, in trying to distract and reassure Sharon, he had calmed himself as well.

"Lee?"

Turning toward the sound of the voice addressing him, he found Kara standing a few meters away. Seeing her unusually serious expression, he moved quickly to her side.

"Kara, what is it? Why aren't you with your squadron?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I just needed to talk to you for a minute."

"What, you've got another pre-mission confession to make?" he joked, hoping to lighten her mood. When her frown only deepened, his own spirits dropped. "Now what?" he asked flatly.

"I- I accidentally told your father about your affair with Commander Cain."

"What do you mean, 'accidentally'?"

"We were just talking and, I don't know, it just came out. I'm sorry."

Well, that explained his father's ill-timed visit a few of hours ago, Lee thought, irritated. With an exasperated sigh, he turned away from her.

"Lee, I'm sorry, really, but... maybe it's better that he knows..."

He whirled around to face her, his blue eyes electric with his anger. But before he could say anything, the emergency lights in the hangar deck began flashing.

A loud pulsing buzz and a voice came over the loud speakers. "Action stations! Action stations! Enemy scout ship sighted!"

"Get back to your squadron and get them ready!" he snapped to Kara and turning away, immediately dismissed her from his mind. Addressing his own squadron, he yelled, "Get to your Vipers. I want everyone ready to launch the second the signal comes!"

To be continued...

*Author's note: Yes, the puke in the helmet story was inspired by CrysWimmer's story "Unexpected Consequences" and, therefore, indirectly, Kylen. So, thank you all.