Chapter 13

Kara let out a huge sigh as she sat back from her work, rubbing at the spot where her son had just placed a well aimed kick. The baby was due in just over a week and she felt huge, no, scratch that, she was huge! Her ankles were swollen, her back ached and she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a decent nights sleep. She seemed to have permanent indigestion and all other manner of revolting digestive complaints and things had gotten to the embarrassing point of having to get Lee to help her put her pants on in the morning. She hadn't seen the inside of any ship other than the Galactica for three months and there had been no stogies or ambrosia for months before that. Yet she was happy: Happier than she'd ever been, in fact. It just didn't make any sense, but she wasn't going to argue with it. She had never expected to feel this way, but if the Lords had decided that she deserved this at the moment she wasn't about to question their judgement. She knew that it could all so easily be taken away.

It hadn't all been plain sailing. She and Lee had argued like all couples do, but underneath it all they had come to love each other very deeply. They had also been friends before they were ever lovers so they always had that friendship base to their relationship to fall back on when things got tough. She knew that she hadn't been the easiest person to live with over the last few months as all her favourite hobbies and pastimes started to become impossible. Lee had taken it all with a stoicism that made her want to hit him. In fact he had let her hit him on several occasions, but because he didn't seem to mind she hadn't gotten half the pleasure from it that she had hoped for!

She went back to analysing the piles of readouts in front of her. When she had finally had to stop flying altogether Lee had had the inspired idea of having her give lectures in advanced combat tactics to all of the pilots, rather than just the nuggets. Things had been pretty quiet since Battle Horizon (as it had become known) and so it was possible to take out time for continued training of the pilots. Kara had been using the huge amounts of flight information that was stored in Galactica's computers to provide her teaching materials. She endlessly analysed each pilot's data to find the best and worst examples to use as teaching aids. She wasn't usually one for the theories of flying; when you flew by natural instinct theory didn't mean much, but this was about as close as she could get to being in a viper right now. When she had first started giving the talks there had been the usual grumbles about back seat drivers, but she always delivered her advice in such a fun way that no one could be offended. So the pilots actually listened to what Kara had to say and they realised how useful it was. The CAG thought all their techniques were improving as a result.

She was just finishing up the preparation for today's session when Lee came in to their quarters. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"How'ya doin'?" He had been treating her like she might give birth on him any minute ever since her last appointment with the doc a week ago when he had said that the baby had turned round into the right position for the birth: it was driving her insane.

"I'm fine Lee, just finishing up the prep for today's lesson."

"You know you don't have to keep doing this now."

"And what am I going to do if I don't? I can't just sit around here like some enormous beached whale waiting for everything to happen. I'd go nuts."

"I know, I know. I just wish you'd put your feet up a bit more that's all. And you look nothing like a beached whale, you look beautiful." She gave him a 'who are you trying to kid' look.

"Face it Lee, I can't do it, it's just not in my nature, and if you don't get off my case I'm going to frakking deck you so drop it already! What are you doing back here anyway?" Lee knew when it was time to drop a subject with his wife if one didn't want to have to walk into CIC with a black eye!

"A Raptor patrol that just came in reported seeing something unusual on one of the planets in this system. I have to go discuss it with dad and Tigh in CIC so I need to get out of this flight suit."

For the last six months the fleet had been travelling under normal power in systems beyond the scope of their maps. Everyone was getting restless about finding an appropriate planet to stop at but no one, especially the commander, was convinced that the Cylons were gone forever. Until they could find a planet able to sustain human life that also offered some sort of natural defence from attack they forged onwards. There had been some unrest amongst the civilians, especially those on the smaller ships who were going stir crazy after so long in space, but the president had been able to deal with much of it without the need for military intervention.

Lee came back changed into his duty uniform. Kara reached up and caressed his major's insignia. They had finally made him a major, the usual rank for the CAG of a battlestar, a couple of months ago. She was incredibly proud of him, especially the fact that he was the youngest major in almost forty years, but then, she reflected, war had a habit of identifying the leaders amongst men, irrespective of their age. He had certainly risen to all the challenges that had been thrown at him almost constantly since the day he had stepped onto the Galactica. She thought that he was now hardly recognisable as that aloof and angry young man. She still ribbed him about being a big dipstick but she knew that she couldn't have done his job and stayed sane. There were just waiting for his dad to be made admiral now. That, however, was a political appointment which was probably why it seemed to be taking so long when everyone knew that he deserved it.

He bent down to kiss her before he left for CIC. He was about to say something but she stopped him.

"No don't say it! I promise I won't over-exert myself; it's physically impossible anyway. Now go off and be CAG!"

Lee entered the ready room and stood watching Kara teach for a few moments.

"Now see this turn, Kat?" she was saying, pointing to the reconstruction of the viper move on the screen. "You put yourself right in the enemy's line of fire. You were lucky to get away with it." She pulled up another screen. "Now, if we look at this example, here the pilot doesn't turn, but banks the viper at 45 degrees and drops the tail sharply, bringing the ship around to a position which allowed the enemy to be engaged immediately." There was a gasp of appreciation around the room at the deceptive simplicity of what was obviously a very difficult move. Lee grinned at the looks of enlightenment on the faces of the pilots.

"Attention on deck," was called as someone spotted him at the back of the room.

"At ease. Lieutenant Thrace you're needed in the commander's briefing room."

"Take a break guys. We'll resume at 1500," she said as she followed her husband out of the room.

"What's up?"

"Looks like what the raptor spotted may be some sort of Cylon base. The commander wants to discuss tactical options and requested your free-thinking presence."

"Glad to know I can still be useful for something!" He chose to ignore this comment.

"That was a nice move you were showing them. One of yours?"

"No. One of yours actually." He looked at her in surprise and she went on "you were always an incredibly precise and efficient pilot, Lee, but I've been observing you over the last few months and you've added something extra, a certain elegant flair to your technique. It's quite beautiful to watch."

Only Kara would find combat moves in a viper beautiful, but this was high praise indeed coming from her. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"You must be rubbing off on me!"

As they entered the briefing room, Kara looked around and saw that all the usual suspects were gathered. Lieutenant Gaeta was fixing the projector so that some aerial photographs taken by the raptor were displayed on the big screen.

"As you can see, commander, the ships parked here and here are definitely raiders, indicating that there is a Cylon presence on this planet."

"Noted, Lieutenant. The small size of the facility and the fact that the raiders are parked out in the open would seem to indicate that this is an isolated outpost. Would you agree Mr Gaeta?"

"Yes sir. There doesn't seem to be room to house a large force and the huge telescopes and antennae would indicate a listening post."

"So gentlemen, Kara, suggestions for our next move?"

"Can't we just give it a wide berth and fly around it?"

"That would be the best option, Saul, but we don't know the range of their tracking equipment. They could have picked up the raptor, even the fleet itself; even now they could be transmitting our position to the Cylon fleet. We can't take that risk. This base must be destroyed."

"Won't that give the Cylons a pretty clear indication that we've been here?" Asked Lee.

"Yes it would major, but if we can get in and out quickly and then jump away they shouldn't have any means of tracking us. Lieutenant Gaeta, how are the calculations going for a jump from this system."

"They're coming on sir. I can't guarantee that it will be safe to jump very far."

"Any reasonable jump will do, Lieutenant."

Kara had been studying the photographs carefully while all of this had been going on. She spoke up at last.

"How do we know that this is it, sir? Did the raptor survey the whole planet? There could be a frakking great base full of Cylons on the other side."

"Good point, Lieutenant." He looked at Lee who shook his head.

"They got out of there as soon as they saw the base. I'll organise another survey patrol right away, sir."

"No, let's wait until we're ready to go. If it comes back clear then we send the vipers straight in. No point in giving them too much time to get prepared. What sort of firepower do you think you'll need to destroy it, major?"

"Ten vipers sir. Even with only conventional warheads that should do it. The rest of the squadron can patrol the fleet just in case more Cylons do arrive." He glanced at Kara, almost for corroboration of his opinion. She nodded in agreement.

"You'll have to fly in low. They're not unprotected." She pointed to the pictures "see? Ground to air defences here and here, but it looks like they're set up for a direct attack, not one coming in through this valley. That's the entry route I'd take."

"All right, you know the drill people. Do your jobs and hopefully this will be the last we see of the bastards for a while."

Kara awoke and realised that the other side of the bed was empty. Glancing at the clock told her that it was 2am. The op began at 7am and she knew that Lee really needed to sleep before then. She levered herself out of the bed and went in search of her husband. She found him on the hanger deck staring at his viper.

"Hey there Adama. Thought I'd find you here."

"Hey yourself, what are you doing up? I thought I'd managed to get out without waking you."

"You did, but your son had other ideas! Have you satisfied yourself that your viper is still here Lee? What's up? This is a pretty sane plan for once."

"Yeah I know, but I just have this bad feeling about it. I don't know why; may be it's just the middle of the night before an op jitters." He took her hand in his "I really wish you were coming with us. I'd feel so much better if you were in the viper next to me."

"Yeah, well remember that the next time you have an emotional melt down and get horny." That made him laugh, but it was a bit half-hearted.

"Why do we keep doing it, Kara? Why? Our whole universe has collapsed around us yet we keep fighting it."

She took his hand and placed it on her belly where the baby had just kicked. "That's why Lee. For our children; so that they have a chance to grow up knowing the same kind of freedom that we did. Hopefully, if we succeed tomorrow we'll have a real chance of that."

He lowered his head and rested his cheek on the top of her belly so that he could hear her heartbeat and feel the strong movements of their son within her. She stroked his hair with a gentle hand and hoped that he was ready to get some rest.

Above them, the commander watched the scene below him with a smile. He walked quietly away, happy that his son now had someone else to get him through the sleeplessness of the pre-op night. He would give him the lucky lighter in the morning.

Kara was getting ready to go to CIC the next morning when she felt the first pain. She ignored it, assuming it was another one of the false contractions she had been having on and off for the last few days. Lee had already gone to do the pre-flight briefing and she needed to get to her station to make sure that they were collecting all the relevant data on the mission. By the time that she was seated behind her console in CIC the same thing had happened twice more and she was starting to wonder whether this might actually be the real thing.

"Well little one, you do pick your moments. Obviously in a hurry to help mommy and daddy fight the Cylons!"

She surreptitiously watched the clock to time the contractions and did her best not to show her discomfort. She was doing a pretty good at hiding it from everyone but her father-in-law. His eagle eye picked up her glances at the clock and suppressed grimaces. He went over to speak to her.

"Everything all right lieutenant?"

"Fine sir."

"Don't try and fool me, Kara. How long?" He asked quietly.

"Only about an hour. It's not bad yet; I'm fine. If you don't mind sir I'd like to stay here and keep busy. I'd go nuts down in sickbay wondering what was going on, not knowing if…if he was coming back or not." She said, remembering Lee's unaccountable fears last night. He nodded in acceptance.

"I'm relying on your judgement. I don't want anyone's concentration around here disrupted. Nor do I want you to put yourself or the baby at risk. Understand?"

"Perfectly, sir!" she replied with a salute. He rested his hand on hers for a moment.

"And lieutenant, he is coming back," he said with an assurance that she hoped that he felt.

They were interrupted by Crashdown's voice coming over the radio.

"Galactica, this is raptor 324 reporting. Nothing on that planet but the base we saw before."

"Roger that Crashdown, message acknowledged," replied Dee. Colonel Tigh looked to the commander who nodded in return. He picked up the microphone.

"Launch vipers."

The formation of ten vipers left the Galactica behind and sped towards the Cylon base. They were all armed with two missiles from Galactica's precious, dwindling stores. As they approached the planet, Apollo split the team into three: two attack groups of four and a back up team just in case they needed some extra fire power to finish the job off. He took charge of the first attack run whilst the others ran cover for them. As Kara had predicted, the ground to air defence guns had started firing as soon as the vipers got near. He swung his viper round and headed down into the valley below the base, the rest of his team following in close formation. As they got closer in to the base Apollo dropped his ship down below the flak. The four raiders which had been parked by the base had taken off and were heading towards them on an intercept course. His second squad were coming round to engage them. Knowing they would keep him clear, he focused on the target. However his focus was somewhat distracted when the supposed landing strip that the raiders had been parked on pulled back and more raiders started to pour out.

"Uh, Galactica this is Apollo. We're going to need you to send the cavalry. We've got a full squadron of raiders here."

"Roger that Apollo. Cavalry on its way." The atmosphere in CIC tensed a few notches with Apollo's announcement.

"OK people pull in tight to me. We need to do it and we need to do it fast before those guys can catch up with us. I don't want to see any missiles not hitting their target."

"Frak!"

"What's up Hotdog?"

"Fuselage took a hit. Frakking bit of shrapnel got me in the leg."

"Are you OK to continue?"

"Course boss, wouldn't miss a chance to blow up a Cylon base because of a little bit of shrapnel!"

The vipers dipped down over the target, firing their missiles into their designated buildings. Apollo took out the antennae and Hotdog the telescopes. Striker and Kat got the first hit on the actual base.

"Nice shooting guys. Ace, you and your team go next and finish it off. We'll cover you."

After the second run the entire base was a blazing ruin, but they had lost two vipers and still had the raiders to contend with. Even with the rest of the squadron arriving they were outnumbered two to one, but Kara's training was definitely paying off.

"Galactica, Apollo, target destroyed. Engaging Cylon raiders."

The atmosphere in CIC had lightened considerably since Apollo's last message, but everyone stuck to their tasks as the fight continued. The tinny voices of the pilots drifted around the CIC.

"Nice shooting, Apollo, thanks!"

"Any time, Striker. Now let's finish these guys off and get out of here."

"With you there boss."

"Watch out Ace, there's one on your tail!"

"Concentrate on your own tail Kat, and I'll worry about mine."

"Anyone got any ammo left? I'm just about out."

"Those of you low on fuel and ammo head back to Galactica. Job's just about done."

"Roger that CAG."

More general chit chat flowed back and forth, and then a calm voice the commander instantly recognised caught his attention.

"I'm hit."

"Can you make it back Apollo?" Came the concerned voice of another pilot.

"Negative. I've lost the starboard engine and both thrusters. You guys get back to Galactica and tell the chief that I'm going to have quite a bit of work for him." His voice was still calm despite the obvious seriousness of his situation. Kara, who had come to stand by the commander's side, made a small whimpering noise which he knew wasn't from the pain of any contraction. He quietly slipped his hand over hers where they were gripping the console, knuckles already white.

"Frak that, Apollo we can't leave you!"

"Get back to the ship, that's an order. You're too far away from me and we can't risk loosing any more vipers. Galactica, Apollo, my ship is disabled. Requesting retrieval by raptor once the area is secure."

"Roger that, Apollo. We'll be with you as soon as we can." Dee's voice sounded a little more concerned than usual.

"Oh shit! Where did they come from?"

Two more raiders appeared. They were heading directly for Apollo's stranded ship. Everyone in CIC watched the screen in horror, knowing what was about to happen. The commander's arm went around Kara, willing her to be strong. They could do nothing but watch the screen and listen to the interplay of the pilot's comms.

"Apollo, get the hell out of there."

"I only wish I could."

Author's note: How wicked of me is that? I promise not to leave you in suspense too long. Decided to split the chapter after all. Next one will definitely be the last one!