Title- Future (Part 5/6)
Author- Bea
Pairing- Lee/Kara
Archiving- BSG 2003, Apollo/Starbuck Fan Fic, Fanfiction net, my website, all others please ask!
Warnings- Some sexual situations, violence, language, angst
Spoilers- Seasons 1 and 2 (however, the spoilers are interspersed with lots stuff from my brain so… ;-)
Disclaimers- I don't own these characters and I am not making any profit off them. I'm just borrowing them for fun (well, maybe not the poor characters'...). ;)
Many thanks go to Audrey for the great beta:-)
NB: As a note, I would like to send many thanks and give credit to Audrey, 'cause I'm using one of her ideas later on in this part. :-)
Second NB: Italics indicate characters' thoughts.
Summary part 5- What happens to Lee and Kara now that she's back.
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
6 hours since arrival of survivors from Caprica
"Watch it! Coming through!"
"Her vitals are good, but…"
"Calm down, sir! We've got you –you're safe now…"
Galactica's Life Station was at a frantic level of activity when Commander Adama walked in. Sick and injured people lay everywhere, some moaning, some screaming, and some lying utterly quiet, with only their breathing to reassure a casual observer as to their being alive.
They had requested medical personnel from several other ships to help tend to the many sick and wounded, and several of the lighter cases had been housed elsewhere on-board Galactica while they received medical care. Despite those efforts, Galactica's Life Station overflowed.
Turning around, he found the two people he was looking for –Kara Thrace was lying in a bed, and Lieutenant Karl Agathon was standing by her side. Both were silent, gazing toward another corner of the Life Station –the one corner which was empty, save for one woman and a heavily-armed marine guard detail. Adama walked over to the two of them.
"Commander." Lieutenant Agathon greeted him.
"Lieutenant." He replied, before turning to gaze down at Lieutenant Thrace. "I'm going to need to debrief both of you, as well as the people you brought back. We'll also need to get personal information from everybody."
"We can provide you with that, sir-" Lieutenant Agathon began.
Adama shook his head. "I'm going to need more than that, Lieutenant." He sighed. "I can see these people have had a hard time, but we need to get this directly from the source."
"And you, Lieutenant? What's your status?" Adama asked abruptly, turning to Lieutenant Thrace, who shrugged.
"I'm not completely sure, sir." She said quietly. "They told me the burns on my leg aren't too bad, but they've got people much worse off right now, so they haven't had much time to come talk to me beyond that." She leaned back in bed, and closed her eyes. Adama frowned.
Deciding to change the subject, he turned to Agathon. "I do have news for you, Lieutenant."
"Oh?" The man asked.
"Yes." Adama paused, trying to decide how to phrase what he needed to say next. "I just had a talk with Doctor Cottle –because of security concerns I've ordered him to inform me of any developments in the case of the copy of Valerii you brought back."
He sighed. "He did have some people run some tests on her and he confirms that she is indeed pregnant. He doesn't know anything beyond that at this point, but he has recommended keeping her –it- under observation. He'll run more tests once things have calmed down a bit." He concluded, gesturing to the chaos surrounding them.
Agathon nodded back mutely. Turning back to Lieutenant Thrace, Adama watched her for a moment as she seemed to willfully ignore his presence.
Deciding it was probably best to leave certain things for later, he nodded to Lieutenant Agathon and left.
Helo watched him go. "You should have talked to him, Kara." He said.
Kara shrugged. "I guess…" She began, then paused and opened her eyes. A tear fell down her cheek. "I guess I just don't know how." She said softly, before wiping her eyes and lying back down again.
Helo frowned, then decided to try and change the subject. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to him. When he did speak, he found himself engaging on a topic which was a considerable source of discomfort to him.
"You know something?" He asked.
"No, what?" She replied without opening her eyes.
"D'you know that I actually never even considered that Sh- that she might not really be pregnant. I guess I just believed her. Stupid, huh?"
Kara snorted and laughed at that, keeping her eyes closed. "Helo, you're a guy. Being stupid comes with the extra equipment."
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
One week since arrival of survivors from Caprica
A week later, Lieutenants Thrace and Agathon found themselves facing their Commander across Galactica's briefing room table.
"And so… We agreed that Lieutenant Agathon would pilot the Icarus, and that I would create a diversion with the raider…" Starbuck was saying.
Adama nodded as they related the details of their escape –elaborating on what he already knew thanks to their written reports. When Lieutenant Thrace finished her narration, he spoke.
"Thank you. Your reports were quite complete, but there are one or two other things I need to know. For one, did you note any suspicious behavior on the part of the civilians you brought back?"
They both shook their heads. "No sir." Lieutenant Agathon said. "They just seemed to be eager –desperate even- to leave, to find someplace safe."
"And what about these rumors of imprisoned survivors?" Adama continued.
Thrace shrugged. "I don't know sir. Like I said sir, all we got were those rumors. Some of the survivors we brought back might know more though."
Adama sighed. "All right. You're free to go." He watched as they stood to leave –Lieutenant Thrace leaning on a cane.
"Sir, may I ask what you're going to do with the Cylon?" It was Lieutenant Agathon.
Adama's face tightened unwillingly in memory, before he replied. "I've decided to keep it in medical under observation –and heavy guard- for now. I found your reports of the Cylon interest in the pregnancy quite interesting. We need to know more. So I will let you know if anything changes –and when I make a decision regarding the deal it offered to make with us." He looked at them both. "Dismissed."
Nodding, Lieutenant Agathon left, but Thrace stayed behind. "Was there something you wanted, Lieutenant?" He asked.
"Yes sir. Sir, I know you're still busy determining what you're going to do with all the civilians we brought back but… I wanted to ask what you plan on doing with me, sir?" She asked quietly.
He paused for a moment as he considered his words, watching as she leaned on her cane, trying to hide her discomfort. Finally, he spoke.
"To be honest, I haven't quite decided yet, Lieutenant." He replied. "I'm not certain that the letter of military law would allow me to try you for anything."
He paused once more. "In truth, I find that unfortunate. The fact is that you, a key member of this ship's command structure, defied my orders and my authority. The letter of the law only goes so far, however, so I can't remove you from your post. But there is a spirit to any law, and in that spirit I intend to see to it that you pay a price for your actions. Is that clear?" He asked as he finished.
She nodded, and turned to go. "Sir." She said, and stopped, keeping her back to him. "I… I'm sorry, sir. And I'm really sorry… I wasn't here." She said, before leaving as quickly as her injured leg would permit.
Adama shook his head. Had he been too harsh? He didn't know –all he knew was that in order to stand, the military needed discipline. That was the way it had always been. And despite all that had happened, he needed to maintain order and he would continue to do so –come what may.
As he rose, gathered the reports before him and left, he considered their situation.
When the refugees had shown up, Adama had immediately had those who needed it transported to the Galactica's medical facilities, and he had sent some of the Galactica's people over to the Icarus to verify that the ship would be able to go through another jump. Once that had been accomplished, he had had the fleet jump to new coordinates –and had felt himself breathe more easily ever since.
The President had shown up on Galactica within a few hours of Starbuck's rescue to collect the Arrow of Apollo. Roslin had publicly revealed the significance of the Arrow, and from what Adama understood, there was now considerable heated discussion among the civilians as to what should be done next.
Those refugees that were not in the Life Station had been brought to the Galactica, and Adama had assigned several of his people the task of debriefing them and collecting every possible shred of information. Although he didn't expect it to help them find Cylons -and with Doctor Baltar's Cylon detector still backed up with testing the fleet, there was no practical way to be sure the new arrivals were who they said they were- it had been his experience long ago that there was no such thing as too much information.
Then again, there wasn't much certainty as to who anyone was, these days.
Adama shook that thought away, only to find himself pondering what he was going to do with his mutineers –including, notably, his own son. He smiled with grim, dark humor.
Whoever had come up with the understatement that life was never easy deserved to spaced.
-The Rising Star-
Colonial Fleet
Nine days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Lee paused just after entering the bar on the Rising Star, taking in the noise, and sighed. He hadn't really wanted to leave Colonial One, since he had felt he might be needed. President Roslin, however, had insisted –and he was sure he had overheard her muttering something about him not being in the military anymore and needing to learn how to unwind. Therefore, not knowing where to go, he had ended up here because he had heard there was a show of some kind somewhere on the Rising Star.
After having wandered aimlessly for some time, he now found himself surrounded by drinking and partying civilians, feeling out of place and trying to remember what it felt like to be on leave. It had certainly been a while.
Sighing once more, he walked towards the bar and ordered some ambrosia. Holding his drink, he turned around in his seat to gaze at the people surrounding him, considering his lot.
He still didn't know how his military career was going to end, not having heard anything from his father, although he was fairly certain that it wasn't going to go anywhere further after leading the recent mutiny.
And he still hadn't heard or seen anything from Kara Thrace. He had sent her several messages since her return, which had been met with silence. He pursed his lips as he considered that –Kara did tend to be skittish when it came to certain things. However, he hadn't even gotten the chance to apologize for acting like an ass before her departure for Caprica. And despite having been justifiably hurt and angry at the time, he needed to apologize –and he certainly wouldn't blame her if she felt an urge to space his ass for what he'd said to her back then.
"Hello there, handsome." He heard a female voice say from his left. Turning his head, he discovered that a leggy long-haired blonde in a slinky red dress had taken up residence on the barstool next to him while he had been immersed in his thoughts. She smiled.
"Yeah, I know, that's original." She continued when she saw that she had his attention, and shrugged. "But what can I say? I don't usually have to resort to lines, you know. But I was getting desperate. You were pretty deep in thought there."
He shrugged in turn. "I've… got a lot of things on my mind." He put his drink on the counter behind him. This wasn't working out for him.
He looked up as she held out her hand. "I'm Lily. Lily James."
Not wanting to appear rude, he shook her hand. "Lee Adama." He said in return, looking out at the scene surrounding him once more. Because he did so, he failed to notice her sudden silence. He did look back at her, though, when she spoke.
"Wait a minute. You… You were on the Galactica, weren't you? You had the President reinstated…" She said, her voice sounding strange –almost awed- to his ears. When he hesitated, she continued, "Didn't you? That was you, wasn't it?" She asked earnestly.
He finally nodded. "Yes, but…" He cut himself off. He didn't want to talk about it, and certainly not to some woman he'd just met. He stood, preparing to leave, and halted when she put a hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry…" She said softly, "I didn't mean to scare you away. I won't tell anyone –I promise." She smiled a soft smile at him, full of promise. "Won't you stay and talk?"
Feeling suddenly guilty for hurting her feelings, he shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry." He said honestly. "There's nothing wrong with you. I'm just not… interested." Not knowing what else to do, he patted her hand before walking away and leaving the bar and his drink behind. Yes, no doubt about it, that probably qualified as one of the least tactful or smooth exits in modern history, he thought to himself ruefully. But there had simply been no way to tell her the truth.
How was he supposed to tell her that her eyes were the wrong color, and that her hair was too dark, and too long? That her clothes were all wrong and that she should have been telling him off, instead of trying to entice him?
He laughed bitterly at himself. He might as well admit it -he had it bad.
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
Sixteen days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Commander Adama sat in the Galactica's briefing room, gazing down at the sheet of paper before him with considerable distaste. He looked up as his XO and erstwhile CAG entered the room.
Tigh sat down beside Adama as Lee took a seat across from them. Adama was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then, "As you might have guessed, I've asked you here to discuss the possibility of your court-martial under the Articles of War."
Lee nodded back calmly.
"On that subject, I have just received a communication from the President, which has also been signed by the entire Quorum of Twelve." Adama drew in a breath. "They have ordered me to discontinue any court-martial proceedings against yourself or any member of the military which aided in your… collective attempt to reinstall the President. They made several points, including several concerning the legality of my actions at the time which I will not bother to relate to you. The main point at the moment however is that I cannot, by law, act as both the authority convening such a trial and as your accuser. They point out that military law states, 'if the commanding officer is an accuser, the court shall be convened by superior competent authority, and may in any case be convened by such authority if considered desirable by him or her'. Given the state of our fleet, the only 'superior authority', as they have pointed out, would be the Quorum or the President herself, and as they have refused to convene such proceedings…" He paused. "I can't court-martial you."
Lee was silent for a moment. "I can't imagine you'd still want me under your command though, sir." He said, finally.
Adama nodded. "You're right. I don't. So I'm going to offer you a deal." He paused once more. "I want you to voluntarily resign your commission as a member of the Colonial Military. In exchange for this, I will… ignore the fact that you had a great many accomplices in this particular venture. And we both know that even though I can't try them anymore than I can you, I could make their lives very difficult if I chose to."
"The bottom line is that as long as I'm commander of this ship and fleet, proper military discipline will be observed. It is the only way to maintain the cohesiveness of our forces in the face of the enemy. And for that, I need you gone." He concluded.
Lee was again silent as he considered what he had just heard. "I understand." He said after several moments. "And… I accept."
"You'll have my written resignation in a few hours." He said, standing, and left the room.
Once outside, he found himself staring at familiar walls which weren't home anymore. He smiled at that thought. Was there anywhere that was home, anymore? Forcing himself to put such dark thoughts away, he began to consider what had just happened. In truth, he had accepted his father's offer because he knew him –he knew that if his father made a promise he would keep it. It was one of the things he admired about the man.
He sighed as he began to head towards the hangar bay and his shuttle. The truth was that despite the fact that he'd agreed to this, and despite the fact that he'd strongly considered leaving the military before the Cylons attacked the Colonies, there were several things he would miss. Like the feeling of being useful, and the fact that certain aspects of military life had channeled certain parts of him -like his temper. And he knew he would dearly miss the wild joy one could only feel whenever there was nothing between you and space but the thin skin of a viper cockpit.
Looking up and ahead of him, he noticed a blonde head about to turn a corner. "Kara!" He called out –she seemed to be as deep in thought as he was. He watched as she stopped and waited, before turning to face him.
Kara had had a truly awful day so far –one of those days where if you said to yourself, 'I wonder what could happen next to crap my day out even more', the Gods somehow obliged by making whatever it was happen.
Doctor Cottle had refused to put her back on full duty and left her to languish with no viper 'privileges' for at least another week. She then found she had miscalculated –somehow- and the hot water rations she had thought were sufficient for one last hot shower were… not there anymore when she had been ready to take it. The frakking rooks who had been in the showers at the time were still laughing over that incident –when they thought she wasn't around to hear about it, of course. And instead of flying, she'd once again found herself being drafted for more debriefing of the refugees, which meant repeating the same frakking things over and over and over again…
No, it had not been a good day.
And when she heard his voice calling out to her, she realized her awful day was truly complete. She slowly turned to face him, bowing to the inevitable.
"Hey, Lee. How's it going?" She asked. She didn't look at him as she waited for his reply. She admitted it -she'd been avoiding him. The truth of it was that she just couldn't face…whatever was going on there, for so many reasons.
When the expected reply didn't come, she made the mistake of looking up into the sweet fire of his eyes and remembered yet another reason she didn't want to see him.
She wasn't good enough. She didn't deserve to be happy.
She put her thoughts aside, telling herself she was going to get through this. Heck, she'd survived everything else the Gods had thrown at her, right? "What's up, Lee?" She asked, putting a brave face on it.
He sighed. "I was just wondering why you're not returning my calls or replying to my messages, I guess. Is something wrong?"
She shook her head. "Nope. I've just been busy, you know? I really meant to call, but…"
Lee cut her off. "Bullshit." He said angrily.
Her eyes narrowed, and she turned away from him. "Well frak you, then. I've got work to do."
He caught her arm. "Kara… Gods, that didn't come out right. Look… I'm sorry for jumping off the handle there, all right?" He paused. "That wasn't what I wanted to say to you."
She shook his hand off. "So what did you want to say –and I really do have to go. I've got several things I needed to get done for yesterday."
He sighed again, and seemed to shuffle around a bit, which wasn't like him. "I just… I wanted to apologize." He said finally.
"For what?"
"For what I said to you before you left. I-"
She snorted at that. "Which part, Lee?"
He winced. "Well, all of it, but mostly the part where I said… I didn't mean… I didn't mean it when I said that stuff about you not being able to keep your pants on. I was… I was full of it, and I was hurt, all right?" He paused and shook his head.
"I was just really hurt, and I didn't mean it. Anyways, I just… wanted you to know that."
"Yeah, well…" She shrugged. "Lee… Believe it or not, it didn't offend me. I… understood where you were coming from, okay? But I've really got to go now, Lee." As she began to back away, he reached out to hold her by the shoulders. She tried to ignore the thrill that fairly casual touch caused.
"Kara, wait. I-"
She shook him off. "I'm sorry. I have to go." She left, ignoring the fact that she could feel his eyes follow her as she did so.
-Colonial One-
Colonial Fleet
36 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
President Roslin's suite on Colonial One was quiet, save for the tapping of Vice-President Baltar's foot against the deck.
"Do you mind?" Lee Adama asked him testily, interrupting his discussion with the President.
The foot stopped tapping.
"I think he's annoyed with you, Gaius." An amused voice said in his ear. He shrugged, to indicate he didn't care.
"I don't think he cares for you much." Six said, turning to look over at the ex-Captain.
"Well, I don't…" He began as he stood…
Only to find himself the focus of three sets of startled eyes. "What I meant…" He began. "What I meant was that I don't think I should be sitting here like this without contributing anything. I… apologize for my lack of participation."
Roslin gave him a puzzled look as she sat with Apollo and Billy. "Yes, thank you doctor." She said, obviously humoring him, before resuming her conversation.
"We're watching, you know." He turned around to face her.
"Watching what?" He whispered.
She smiled. "We know they'll be coming. And when they do, we'll be waiting."
"...don't care what they think, Captain. We've already sent a ship to survey the area, as you know, and they reported the Kobol system as being free of any Cylon presence. We must go to Kobol, and use the Arrow of Apollo. It is the only way that we will find the way to Earth –and accomplish the prophecies." Roslin was saying.
Lee sighed. She'd already made up her mind, so there was obviously no point arguing the matter. The Quorum's debate of the question had only lasted as long as it had because she was conscious of the strained relations between herself and the military. She had wanted, for diplomacy's sake, to allow time for the Galactica to determine what they wanted to do with the fleet's new refugees before publicly announcing her intentions.
He watched as the President turned to Billy and began to relay instructions for organizing the trip to the surface of Kobol.
"Madam President."
"Yes, Captain?" For some reason, despite his resignation from the military now being official, she persisted in referring to him by his former rank.
"Do you need me for anything?"
She smiled. "No. Thank you, Captain." He continued to watch as she turned back to Billy and finished relaying her instructions. Standing, he walked around Baltar and over to the other end of the room, looking out through a window at the space surrounding them.
When Billy had left and Baltar had found some excuse to do the same, he turned back to Roslin. "Madam President, can I ask you something?"
She nodded, not looking up as she sifted through piles of documents on her desk.
"What am I doing here?" He asked bluntly, and watched as she sat up straighter.
"What do you mean, Captain?"
"Well ma'am…" He replied, "It's become rather evident to me that you don't really need me. Most of the time I'm simply waiting around here –you haven't exactly needed my advice all that much. I don't see that changing anytime soon, especially with my resignation from the military. I'm not part of the command structure of the Galactica anymore, so I won't even be able to keep you up to date as to what is going on there –or act as your liaison with the Commander. My… advice doesn't seem to be of much use to you either. So why do you keep me here?"
She sighed. "Captain, you are useful to me. I wouldn't keep you on if you weren't. Isn't that enough of an answer for you?" She asked.
"No, ma'am, it's not. I'm sorry if this is an inconvenient time or an inconvenient question, but… I… I can't just stand around, ma'am. I don't think I'm very good at it –and to be honest I think one of the things I'm already missing about the military is the fact that there was always a way I could make myself useful."
She smiled at that. "Believe it or not, Captain, I understand –and I sympathize. But you are useful to me, and I do need you to stay and continue working with me. If you don't mind, that is."
Lee sighed in turn, noting that she hadn't really answered his question. "All right. Is there anything you need me to do for the moment?"
She nodded. "Yes. I need you to prepare to go to Kobol –I'm taking you with me. I'll be taking Elosha as well. Billy will stay behind to deal with some matters in the fleet for me, using instructions I will leave behind." She smiled at him again, before returning to her work.
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
40 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
After arriving on board Galactica for the first time since the restrictions on his travelling there –as a civilian- had been lifted, Lee found that he had to simply wait for everyone to be ready before leaving for Kobol. He had therefore decided to take a quick walk down familiar corridors -he hated having nothing to do, and a few weeks ago he would have been busily involved in the process of getting everyone ready for a mission like this.
As he walked back to the hangar bay, he considered his feelings. He didn't know what he'd expected when he visited the Galactica for the first time since resigning his commission, but it was a little disconcerting to see that everything was back to normal despite the fact that he was no longer there to make it so.
But then, they'd picked a damn fine CAG to replace him.
As he turned the last corner before the port landing bay, he paused. His replacement stood there in her flight suit.
"What are you doing here?" He asked as he walked up to her.
Kara grimaced. "Hello to you too, Lee."
He sighed. "I didn't mean… I just thought you were still on limited duty? What are you doing flying?"
"I actually am on limited duty..." She replied. "But the Quorum ordered us to send our most experienced pilots on this mission. That apparently includes me, even wounded. Particularly since regs won't allow you to pilot one of our birds. And particularly since the Powers That Be decided to make me CAG…" She shrugged, an unhappy look on her face. "But just to make sure, I'll be flying the second raptor –the one without the President."
Lee nodded, then moved aside as a crewman hurried up to speak with her. After a few moments spent feeling utterly superfluous, he turned to head back to the President who seemed to be deep in discussion with both Elosha and the other pilot.
Lee turned back to Kara. "Lieutenant," He began, "would it be all right if I went down with you?"
She gave him a look that managed to look both puzzled and wary. "That's fine, I guess." She said, shrugging.
The stars looked the same as they ever had as they surrounded the raptor. Looking over at the bright unchanging vista around them, Lee leaned his head back against the back of his seat. He had decided to fly down with Kara, despite guessing that she probably would have preferred he ride in the other ship. Unfortunately for her, he had urgently wanted to get away from politics and politicians.
And there was the fact that he just… needed to see her, once in a while.
He sat up and turned around, smiling as Master Sergeant Jenkins nodded to him from the back of the ship. She was helping to head up the contingent of marines sent to guard the President during the trip –a useful precaution, in Lee's estimation, despite President Roslin's confidence in its outcome.
"Raptor Five to Galactica." Kara was saying. "Requesting departure clearance."
"Roger that, Raptor Five." Dee's voice replied through the communications channel. "You have clearance. Departure vector six-oh-one."
"Thanks, Galactica. Catch you guys later." Kara said, cutting the channel.
They took off and moved away from the Galactica, staying close to the raptor carrying the President.
"We're ready to jump, Raptor Six." Kara said to them.
"So are we, Raptor Five." The other pilot replied. "See you on the other side."
Cutting the communication, Kara waited a moment, then activated the raptor's jump engines. There was the indescribable feeling which always accompanied a jump, and they were in the Kobol system.
Only to find themselves surrounded by a swarm of Cylon raiders, next to a Cylon basestar.
"Holy frak!" Kara yelled as she sent the raptor into evasive maneuvers. "I thought you guys told me you destroyed one of those things a while back!"
"They must have sent reinforcements!" Lee yelled back.
Raptor Six lay just ahead of them, a trail of something leaking out its rear. Reaching for the communications panel, Kara flipped a switch. "Raptor Six, this is Raptor Five. Can you still jump?"
"Negative, Raptor Five." The reply came in a frightened voice.
"Then you need to land on the planet." Kara replied, making her voice sound calm. "How's your sublight capacity?"
"We're not one hundred percent there either." The other said grimly.
Kara groaned. "All right, fine. You land, I'll cover you."
"Aye sir."
Turning the raptor around, she came to face their pursuers, flying right into a particularly dense patch. Once there, she released one of her bombs.
And aren't I glad I've got those along for the ride, this time. She thought to herself as she sent the raptor back towards the ship carrying the President.
She followed them for a moment more, then dropped another bomb in their pursuers' path as the other raptor entered the planet's atmosphere. She sent her ship after them.
As she did so, she suddenly felt the raptor shake as they took a hit, then begin to buck and roll wildly as she lost control of the ship.
"Frak! They've must've taken out some essential nodes in the electronics… I've lost control of the engines!" She yelled as she coughed, choking on fumes as they fell through the atmosphere, drawn by the planet's gravity.
"Brace for impact!" She cried out as she brought her arms up to shield her head.
Then she blacked out.
She awoke to feel someone shaking her.
"Kara? Kara!" A voice was saying desperately.
She opened her eyes. "Lee?" She whispered. She felt a tear drop onto her face, then another.
"Yeah, it's me. Are you all right? How are you feeling?" He asked, as he wiped his eyes.
She sat up. "I think I feel fine… A bit bruised though." She brought a hand to her head. "I guess I got knocked out there for a minute –I feel fine now though."
As he helped her up, she looked around her at what remained of the raptor. And at…
"Oh Gods." She gasped in horror.
Lee nodded grimly. "Yeah. I know. I… I checked –they're all dead. I guess we got lucky by being right at the front of the ship." He said, and she realized he was right. Somehow the raptor's wild careening tumble had caused it to crash rear first.
"I guess… I guess we'd better leave then. For sure it won't take long for the toasters to get here." She said as she swallowed her tears, and Lee nodded.
"And we should find out what happened to the other raptor." He added.
"Yeah." She said, and began to climb towards the hatch. "Frak!" She yelled, when it became obvious that it was going to take some work to get it to open.
After several minutes of furiously working the thing, she managed to get it working, and turned towards Lee, wiping the sweat off her face.
He had apparently been searching through the wreckage, recovering supplies and stuffing them into two packs. He handed one over to her. "Thanks." She said, and threw it out before her, before clambering up through the hatch and twisting around to reach the ground. Lee followed her a moment later.
"So… Where to now?" She asked, and Lee shrugged.
"Beats me –unless you managed to get a fix on where Raptor Six landed?" She shook her head.
"D'you have any idea where they are?" He asked.
"Um… Well… Somewhere north of here –I think." She replied. He glared at her.
"I was busy, all right? I kinda had my hands full dodging all those cute little toasters flying up in the sky there, you know…"
He rolled his eyes. "Right. North it is, then."
They set out.
The stars were bright in the night sky when they finally stopped to rest. They were surrounded by sparse, mysterious tree shapes and tall grass, waving in the night wind. Insects accompanied the wind's gentle chorus, making peaceful sounds. Their thoughts, however, were anything but peaceful as they began to make camp.
Sighing, Kara reached into her pack dig out their supplies, and hissed in sudden pain as one of her fingers caught in the fastenings. Pausing for a moment, she waved her finger in the air before doggedly continuing to pull at them. Her hand suddenly slipped, the momentum causing a deep cut in her arm as it slipped along a metal edge on the side of a clasp.
"Frak!" She held her hand, watching as it bled. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and wiped them away furiously –only to have more rise up, threatening to spill over. She'd had much worse wounds than this before, dammit. Why did she feel like she couldn't control her own eyes, for frak's sake?
"Here. Let me help." She heard Lee say as he knelt down beside her, taking the pack from her and working it open.
"Thanks." She said as he handed it back to her.
"Are you all right?" He asked softly.
She shrugged. "As good as always, I guess." She said sarcastically, before turning away.
"Here, let me have a look at that." He said as he took her hand. Reaching into their supplies, he bandaged her wound carefully as she sat cross-legged on the ground, facing him.
"Thanks." She said, trying to draw her hand back. He didn't let it go.
"You don't look all right."
"Yeah, well…" She began, stopping abruptly as he ran a gentle hand down her cheek.
"This is me, Kara. And I'm not buying it, you know. Hell –I'm not all right either."
She shook her head –was she trying to erase the imprint left by his touch? "I've got to…" She said, trying to remember what she was supposed to be doing.
"Talk to me, Kara." He insisted. And at that point, there seemed to be really only one way to shut him up.
She kissed him.
As she pulled back a few seconds later, it was with some satisfaction at the shocked expression on his face.
"Kara this-" He began again, and she kissed him again.
This time however, it was no simple meeting of lips, but something quite different. Suddenly forgetting what he had meant to say, he reached for her and gathered her into his arms. Moving up onto her knees she reached up, inching her arms around his neck as their kiss deepened yet again.
When breathing became an issue, he pulled away.
"You didn't answer my question, you know."
She nodded. They knelt facing each other with only an inch or two separating them, and her previous thoughts began to return. That was something she didn't want –so why not indulge in something she did?
She'd deal with the consequences later.
Having made her decision, she moved closer and kissed him again. This time they didn't stop, as if they'd run out of strength to fight something that was inevitable. There was direction and method to their movements now –their sole aim being the fulfillment of what had too long been denied.
When Lee awoke later, the sun was high in the sky and the wind had quieted down to a gentle breeze. It looked to be a quiet day –weather-wise- on Kobol.
He smiled as he rose up on an elbow to look down at the sleeping form cuddled against him. Running a gentle hand through her hair, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. The motion caused her to wake.
He smiled as her eyes fluttered open. "Hey." He said softly, joyously.
His smile faded as she pulled away from him abruptly and stood, not meeting his eyes.
"I… think we'd better go. We're supposed to find the others, right?" She asked as she began to dig around the campsite for her clothes.
"Yes, but…" He stood and grabbed her arms as she moved around rather frantically. "Kara, what's going on? What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "Nothing."
He shook her. "It's not nothing, I can see that. Kara, this is me, and you're avoiding even looking at me. Something's going on."
She looked up at him. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." She replied. "It was a mistake, Lee."
"What? I don't-"
She shook her head firmly, and spoke words that broke his heart. "You said you loved me, but I don't love you… And I never will." He watched as she quickly dressed.
"We need to find the others."
Continued in part 6 :-)
NB: The quote from Colonial military law that Commander Adama was reading is actually from US military law and a link for this can be found at on the PG-13 and NC-17 versions of this story on my website. For some reason Fanfiction net (damn piece of...) wouldn't let me post it here.