Archiving- BSG 2003, Apollo/Starbuck Fan Fic, Fanfiction net, Flesh and Bone, my website, all others please ask
Warnings- Some sexual situations, violence, language, angst

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:-)

Summary part 6d- The Cylons show up to cause more trouble. Many more unexpected things occur. :-)

Author's note: italics indicate characters' thoughts.

-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
101 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

The Life Station was somewhere between dark and light, a kind of in-between haziness permeating every corner as Commander William Adama stepped beyond the many patients in the main section –less now than when Kara Thrace and Karl Agathon had first arrived with the Icarus- and beyond it to a small private room where a president, a woman, lay dying.

"I wondered when you'd come." He heard her say as he walked into the further darkness of her room. The dimness made her seem even more emaciated than she was, accentuating her cheekbones as well as the depth and distance between them and her sunken eyes –indeed, she appeared almost insubstantial. And yet somehow the darkness of her circumstances coupled with that of her room only enhanced the presence of the woman underneath the dying shell, a presence that could be felt the moment one crossed the threshold.

He smiled, a smile full of both irony and sadness. "Yes, well. I thought we needed to talk."

"You mean you wanted to say something to me." She corrected him as she always had, as always not backing down a millimeter before his ire.

He snorted. "It's nice to know some things never change."

"Or, put yet another way, we still get along about as well as oil and water." She pointed out bluntly.

He grimaced. "As strange as it sounds, I didn't come here to argue with you. I wanted to say… I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

She sighed. "Commander, as much as I appreciate the gesture, I have to be honest with you and say that I really don't care to be the recipient of anyone's guilty conscience at the moment. If you're sorry for something you said or did with regards to me, I absolve you. All I ask is for you to just leave me in peace." She said in a quiet, tired voice.

Adama rolled his eyes. "Yes, well… While I won't deny that conscience is a part of it, it isn't the only reason I'm here. I… I ask you to listen, and to try to hear what I have to say."

After a moment's reflection where expressions Adama couldn't quite make out in the pervasive gloom flitted across her face, she spoke.

"All right." She agreed. "I'll listen."

He nodded his thanks, and began a speech he had rehearsed several times to himself. "I wanted to say that I'm old enough to have accumulated a great many regrets in my lifetime, but few are as important as the fact that I never admitted this to you: I was wrong."

"I had no right to use force against you when I did, whether I look at the situation from within a legal or ethical framework. And I was wrong about other things, as well. I was wrong in not trying to settle things between us –wrong for the fleet, and wrong…" He paused, hesitating slightly.

"Wrong for us." He said softly. "And for what will never be."

There was another long silence while many unspoken thoughts flashed through her eyes, including one which he couldn't miss: agreement, and sadness.

"All that happened wasn't your fault." She said softly and sadly, before becoming all business again. "Is that all you wanted to say to me?" She prompted.

"No, it isn't." He replied. "I also wanted to tell you that I'll watch over them. I have made mistakes, and while I can't promise I won't make anymore, I can promise that I'll always put them first –those thousands out there that we've both sacrificed so much for." He finished.

"I know you will." She smiled, a tired and gaunt peace offering. "I never had any doubt of that." She held out her hand and he grasped it for a moment, feeling her life's blood pulse below her skin. "And you should know that there are things I haven't told you-"

He barked a laugh at that, interrupting her. "I'd figured as much."

She found herself laughing in turn, and nodded. "Familiar patterns, I suppose."

He nodded. "Whatever it is, I promise to try and restrain my temper when I do find out."

She nodded in turn. "When you do, please remember that I didn't do it to annoy you, although I do seem to accomplish that rather easily." She continued with a grin.

"It'll be all right." He said, squeezing her hand. "I'll try to keep an open mind, this time."

Releasing her hand, he stepped back from her bed and came to attention, giving a formal salute to his President.

"Thank you." She said with all of her former dignity, and he turned to walk out of her room, leaving her alone to die in peace.

-The Battlestar Galactica
Colonial Fleet
104 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

09:25:15 hours

Kara Thrace had several things on her mind as she walked through Galactica's corridors shortly before her turn at CAP. She had long ago discovered how easy it was to fall back into familiar patterns, and that finding was once again confirmed by the fact that despite talking with Lee she had once again found herself avoiding him. She knew it was cowardly of her, and yet the fear of once again losing someone she cared for was so great that it seemed to overshadow everything else in her heart.

And to add to her fears for the future, President Roslin was dying. The question of what that would mean for all of them was something she tried very hard to put aside, but without much success. Furthermore, a few days ago Commander Adama had informed her of their Cylon prisoner's revelations concerning Galactica having a Cylon agent.

Thankfully despite all her troubles, she was back in the Commander's good graces. Her free time was her own once more, and she was no longer required to do Galactica's scutwork.

She looked up abruptly as alarms blared throughout Galactica's corridors. "Action stations! Action stations! This is not a drill!" came the warning in Lieutenant Gaeta's voice. Kara started running towards the landing bays and her first stop, pilot's quarters. Darting past two other pilots on their way out, she grabbed her flight suit from her locker and hauled it on before setting off again, taking the quickest route to the port flight pod.

As she turned a corner, she halted upon noticing that the door to the main arms locker stood ajar and unguarded. However given their recent history of sabotage and the current threat of a Cylon agent on Galactica, the doors to their weapons supplies were always locked and guarded.

Moving carefully towards the weapons locker, she took a quick look inside and swore. It was deserted now, but someone had obviously taken weapons -a great many weapons, in fact. But why, and to what end? She stood motionless for a moment as she let her tactical instincts take over.

Moving away decisively, she picked up a communications receiver and dialed CIC.

09:31:05 hours

At the same moment, CIC itself was at a frantic level of activity.

"I'm picking up fifty –no, sixty- raiders on approach vectors!" Lieutenant Gaeta said urgently.

"And the basestar?" Commander Adama asked.

"They're holding back for the moment, sir, but-"

"Understood." Adama cut in, turning to Colonel Tigh. "Are all our fighters out there?"

Tigh looked up from his panel and grimaced. "Almost all of them -but Starbuck isn't with them."

"What? Where the hell is she?" Adama asked angrily.

"I don't know sir! I tried to reach her through the Chief of the Deck, but she wasn't even in the landing bay-" Dualla began, but Adama cut her off.

"Tell her I need her to get the hell out there now!" He said tightly before turning his attention back to what was happening outside, just as the first raiders came within firing range of the fleet.

09:32:21 hours

Frak it! Why the hell can't I talk to CIC? Kara thought to herself as she considered her situation and the lack of response from CIC with considerable irritation. She knew damn well she should be out there with her pilots, but something was going on, for frak's sake! Picking up the receiver again, she dialed both the Master at Arms and Major Ramsay, head of Galactica's marine detail, but again she got no reply -whichwasn't all that surprising given the fact everyone was busy dealing with a frakking Cylon incursion, she told herself acerbically.

She sighed.

All right, it was up to her then. If she was an enemy agent who'd just stolen a whole stockpile of weapons and was already on board Galactica, where would she go to do something nasty? Mentally reviewing the plans of Galactica's layout which she'd long ago memorized, she hit upon one likely possibility: one critical section of the ship, the FTL engines, wasn't very much further aft from her location.

Of course, she was going to have to hope that whoever it was wasn't headed towards any of the large number of alternate possibilities. She determinedly shook that thought away.

After making a quick stop at the open arms locker to arm herself with a heavy rifle, she set out at a quick run. Her breath and heartbeat were her only companions as she ran, ducking and weaving through familiar corridors and intersections.

Slowing to a brisk walk just before reaching the engines, she found a hiding place and took her bearings, trying to ignore the sudden shudder that rippled through Galactica as the ship took a hit. Looking into the control room for the FTL engines, she saw nothing but the usual sight of crewmen going about their business. She moved closer to the activity within the room, looking over the maze of control panels as she went.

She paused as a metallic glint coming from something gripping a panel from below caught her eye.

What the frak was that?

Giving in to her sudden hunch that this was part of what she had been looking for, she caught a passing crewman by the arm, pointing in the general direction of the device. "Do you know what that thing is?" She asked brusquely as the man, startled from his usual routine, stared at her with wide eyes, evidently expecting her to begin exhibiting signs of insanity at any moment.

Despite the man's resistance she grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him to the panel to show him the device, watching as his irritation changed to puzzlement once he truly looked at the thing.

"What the…" He muttered as he bent to examine it. She saw him suddenly grow quite pale, before jumping to his feet and running off to warn his fellows.

Kara watched for a few moments as they worked to remove the device. Eventually the crewman she had first spoken to stood and turned towards her.

"Is that what I think it is?" She asked himbluntly.

He nodded, a frightened expression accentuating the worry lines permanentlyetched onto his face. "Yes. It was explosives. If you hadn't warned us-" He shook his head, and didn't finish that thought. "CIC is going to activate the FTL systems anytime now, and if they'd done it and this had gone off at the same time…"

Kara nodded in turn. "I get the picture. I'll contact CIC about this myself. Carry on." She said briskly, and he nodded respectfully to her as she left. As she walked away, heading for her viper, she worried over one fact: there had been much more firepower missing from that arms locker than the relatively small amount of explosives she had seen used to sabotage the FTL drive.

She was still deep in thought when she heard a soft scuffling sound just behind her, and suddenly felt a terrible pain in her head. After that, everything went black and she felt nothing at all.

09:45:23 hours

When she awoke sometime later, it was to feel Galactica shudder as she took another hit.

What am I doing here? She wondered for a few moments, as she realized she was lying on her back on Galactica's deck. She tried to raise her head and winced as it complained, a complaint which felt strangely like having a raptor use her head as a landing platform. Holding her head with one hand and the wall with the other, she dragged herself to her feet as she tried to ignore the blinding pain in her head. She winced once more when shecaught a glimpse of her blood streaked hand.

Leaning her head against the wall, she waited as the pain faded and her memories began to return.

Frak. She thought to herself, once she remembered what had just happened. Someone had just knocked her unconscious, and she was left with the question –why?

Making her way to another communications set, she once again dialed CIC.

09:46:33 hours

In CIC, the time had come for the Galactica to use her FTL engines. Lieutenant Gaeta sent the command through the ship's systems and Galactica fled from its enemies…

…only to fall upon them once more as the fleet found itself in the middle of a morass of enemy fighters.

"I'm reading one –no, two- basestars sir!" Gaeta said with fear in his voice, as Galactica shook with the impact of the enemy's weapons, throwing everything that was not fixed in place to the ground.

"Frak me!" Tigh began, his eyes wide with shock.

"Direct hit on Deck Five, starboard. No casualties, sir!" Dee reported.

Adama didn't reply as he gave the order to scramble fighters who had only just returned to Galactica, then turned to Gaeta. "How much time do you need to calculate new jump coordinates?"

Gaeta frowned as he worked his control panels furiously. "I don't know sir. I'm going as fast as I can!"

"When you've got them, don't wait for an order –just send them on to the fleet. Dee!"

"Yes sir?"

"Tell the fleet that new FTL coordinates will be coming shortly, and that they are to jump immediately upon receipt of those coordinates!"

"Yes sir! And sir…"

"Yes?" He prompted when she seemed to hesitate. "What is it?"

"Sir… I've got Lieutenant Thrace on the line. She never rejoined the other fighters -she's still aboard Galactica- but she says she has something urgent to tell you, sir."

"What?" He asked with some surprise. It wasn't like Kara Thrace to skip out on any action. What the hell was going on?

Putting a set of communication earphones on, he motioned to Dualla to put him through on a private channel. "Kara? What's going on?" He demanded, then listened closely as she explained to him what she had just been through.

"I see. I understand." Adama replied as he finished listening to her quick description of recent events. "Go see to your pilots now, Lieutenant. We'll handle it from here."

Cutting the channel, he turned to Gaeta. "How much longer, Lieutenant?"

"Almost halfway through sir!" He replied without looking up, as Galactica took yet another hit.

"Minimal damage sir! But Chief Archer says we can't take much more of this before our hull integrity becomes seriously compromised!" Dee reported quickly as she monitored her comm channels, and Adama nodded distractedly.

"Tell him to do his best, then get me through to Major Ramsay ASAP –and I don't care what channels you have to override, you got it?" She nodded and worked her panel furiously for a few moments before raising her head again.

"You're online, sir."

Nodding his thanks, he took the message on an open channel. "Major Ramsay?"

"Here sir." The woman's cool, professional tone came through the comm.

Adama realized that that cool would likely become somewhat frayed in a few moments, since her people had somehow missed something big. "Major, time is short so I'll be brief. Currently, at the same time as we find ourselves having to deal with yet another encounter with Cylon forces in space, we have one –or perhaps several- saboteurs on board. There has been a recent theft of weapons in the main weapons locker, and while the exact nature of the missing weapons and explosives has not been determined, it seems to have been considerable. What I need you to do is to post your people to critical ship's sectors to watch for anything suspicious. I will also send a few technical personnel to assist in determining which areas on board ship have been tampered with. Can you handle the details?"

"Yes sir." She said, her voice sounding slightly shaken after his description of the dire nature of their situation. "I'll send my people off at once."

"Thank you, Major Ramsay. And Major?" Adama began, playing a hunch.

"Yes sir?"

"Send some people to the Life Station to check on the Cylon prisoner. Adama out."

Turning to face his XO, Adama noted the curious look on Tigh's face. "What's on your mind?"

"You think they'll go after Valerii?"

Adama grimaced. "Well, it'd make sense for them to remove Valerii -assuming she's genuinely helping us." He noted softly as they both turned to watch the display showing the position of the enemy ships surrounding them, waiting to see whether annihilation or salvation would be their people's final fate.

09:50:55 hours

Kara's head throbbed as she reached the landing bays and ran to her viper. She supposed she should technically have mentioned her injury to someone. It was usually considered a bad idea to tackle the acceleration a viper could throw at you without being in top form, but her pilots needed her and she needed to be there for them. Besides that, she was constitutionally incapable of standing around when people around her were in danger.

Sitting back into her pilot's seat, she waited as the techs finished checking her viper before giving her the all-clear, then braced herself as she sent her craft hurtling out into space. She suddenly found herself surrounded by chaos as the ships defending the fleet fought desperately against an enemy that greatly outnumbered them.

Ahead of her, Kara noted a viper being pursued by no less than four raiders and set her viper after those enemy craft. Once she had a good shot lined up that wouldn't endanger her fellow pilot, she destroyed one of the three raiders behind him, just as the one in front let loose a volley of shots.

Kara gasped, then sighed in relief as the other pilot managed to dodge the worst of the fire with only minor damage to his viper. The pilot was still in a bad way however, since there were still three fighters pursuing and one of them seemed to be lining up a shot. Furthermore, the remaining fighters had accelerated since Kara's destruction of their fellow and were now far from her guns -raiders in general could generate significantly greater acceleration curves than vipers.

And so, being who and what she was, she did the only thing she could and put it all on the line.

Sending her viper into its top acceleration for a few short instants, she felt herself be suddenly flattened against her seat back as a result of her body's own inertia. A moment later she came to a sudden, wrenching stop just in front of the raiders, and paused to momentarily blink away a slight bout of dizziness before slamming her hands down on her firing controls to take out two of the remaining raiders with quick well-aimed shots. It worked, partly because not even Cylons could conceive of someone insane enough to put herself essentially within point-blank range of enemy weapons.

The other pilot, in the meantime, managed to take out the last of the three raiders.

There was a moment's relieved breathing on Kara's comm channel. "Th…Thanks. I… I thought…" Kat's voice came hesitantly through her speakers, and Kara grinned.

"Well, someone has to save all your sorry asses. Now get it in gear –we've got some toasters to fry!" Kara replied, and despite their current dire circumstances Kat suddenly laughed.

"Yes sir!"

10:00:05 hours

"Coordinates calculated and sent to the fleet sir!" Gaeta finally called out, relief in his voice.

"Ready jump engines and prepare to recall fighters!" Colonel Tigh barked out tensely.

Despite the tension, Adama found himself relaxing a very tiny bit. They had survived this long, so perhaps they might have a microscopic chance of making it out of this after all –assuming there were no Cylons at their new coordinates, of course.

He watched as the fleet's civilian ships winked out, one after another. "Recall all fighters, and have us jump when they're aboard." He called out, following their usual pattern, before turning to follow their situation on dradis.

The enemy was swarming around them as they had been since the fleet's arrivalin the system, and he watched as their remaining fighters made quick combat landings, wincing when one pilot almost over flew the landing bay he had intended to land in, mentally picturing the damage to both pilot and viper. He then gripped the panel before him as Galactica jumped away.

"I'm reading… Colonial signals only, sir. No enemy ships on Dradis." Gaeta reported finally, and Adama smiled despite the battle's outcome.

For the outcome, he knew, was grim: Galactica and several other fleet ships had taken heavy damage, the fleet had suffered several casualties, and Galactica had lost two fighter pilots. He knew very well however that the figures could have been much worse if the Cylons' sabotage hadn't been discovered in time, just as he knew very well why they hadn't lost more pilots. He smiled a soft paternal smile tinged with self-derision as he considered his own situation and what he was going to have to say to one Kara Thrace, who had once again saved their collective asses.

He smiled somewhat ruefully at that thought. Damn it, he was going to have to get better at this apologizing business if he was going to have to do it this often.

"Commander!" Adama's head whipped towards Dualla as his mind registered the shock grief in her voice.

"What is it?" He asked tensely. Good Gods, hadn't they been through enough?

There were tears in her eyes. "Sir, I just received a message and…" She took a deep breath. "Sir, the President is dead."

18:00:13 hours

Kara was still feeling the shock of recent events as she brought her viper in to land in one of Galactica's landing bays. After their escape from the Cylons, she had sent herself right back out to fly her regular CAP, spending the next eight hours in her viper.

They had a Cylon agent somewhere on Galactica who was now in possession of an entire stockpile of their weapons, they had just suffered yet more damage and casualties, and the President was dead.

What in the Gods' names would it all mean?

It was a question she pondered as she climbed out of her cockpit before spotting her Commander waiting for her, his expression an odd mixture of fear as well as something else she couldn't name. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair as she mentally catalogued her recent actions, trying to determine what she had done wrong this time.

"Lieutenant." Adama said in a frighteningly expressionless tone.

"Sir." She replied.

"Walk with me, Lieutenant." He ordered. "You need to make a stop at our Life Station to be checked out, and you and I need to have a little chat."

Kara smiled a rather strained smile. "Yes sir." She agreed, knowing she had no choice.

-Colonial One-
Colonial Fleet
105 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica

The President's quarters on Colonial One were quiet and dim as Kara walked through them, trying to find one Lee Adama.

A few hours ago they had once more narrowly escaped annihilation. Kara had to hand it to the Cylons -they certainly weren't stupid. Commander Adama had considered the possibility of more sabotage on Galactica and had ordered several security precautions put in place, including having Major Ramsay step up her patrols in all of Galactica's critical sectors. Despite this, the Cylons had found a way around their defenses. As near as could be determined, a series of false comm signals had been sent both to tie-up Galactica's internal comm systems and to send Ramsay's marines towards a false alarm at one end of Galactica, while the saboteurs were busy at the other sabotaging the FTL engines. As for the skeleton crew of marines left guarding Galactica's main weapons locker, they had somehow disappeared, and no bodies had been recovered thus far.

Her head throbbed as she remembered the recent battle. It seemed thatwhoever was responsible for the sabotage had apparently deemed her presence a nuisance. No permanent damage had been done in that regard however, and Doctor Cottle had concluded that while she did have a minor concussion, she was quite disgustingly healthy.

Thoughts of recent events, however, also brought her back to why she needed to find Lee.

"Kara?" His voice spoke her name softly from behind her, and she turned to face him.

He looked tired. That was the word that came immediately to mind as he stood there, papers in hand. There were deep grooves under his eyes which were set deep within pale skin, and his somewhat shaky demeanor suggested he hadn't slept inquite some time.

"What happened to you?" She asked bluntly, and he shrugged.

"I've had a lot of work to do. With President Roslin gone… Billy's been helping me a lot, but there are a lot of things I have to become familiar with…" He mumbled, and she glared at him.

"Whatever it is you're doing, I'm sure no one expects you to work yourself to death doing it. Lee, you look like hell."

He grinned at her remark, his eyes brightening a bit. "Always with the compliments." He stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "I missed you. I was wondering what I did wrong when you didn't call me after we spoke last time." He said pointedly, and she sighed with irritation as she pulled away from him.

"Yeah well I…" She began, and stopped. His grin grew wider and a glint of humor could be seen in his eyes as she faltered, searching for the right words.

She grimaced. "All right, fine. I chickened out, all right? You happy now?"

He laughed openly for a moment, then sobered. "Kara…" He began, stepping up to her, but she was faster. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him –a deep, lingering thing. They stood silently for a moment, foreheads touching, listening to the other breathe.

"I missed you." She said softly, and pulled back in time to notice as his eyes flew open, a surprised expression on his face. He didn't reply however, not in words. When she felt him kiss her again she smiled despite herself –he was a wise man, sometimes.

His eyes looked at her questioningly when she pulled away, but her only response was a shrug as she began to look around her.

"Come on. You'll have to tell me where it is, but I'm taking you to bed." She said as she took his hand, and smacked his arm when his eyebrows rose and he began to smile. "You need to sleep," she emphasized, "and I'll run interference for you if it comes to that. Let's go."She ordered, pulling him behind her.

"But-" He said, and she glared at him. He sighed. "What about you? Don't you have things to do back on Galactica?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I got a day off. I think the old man said something about my having 'earned it'. If they really need me, they'll call me." She said, and he finally began to follow her lead.

"Hmm. We'll have to talk about that later." He said with deceptive mildness as they made their way to his room.

To be continued in part 6e :-)