Kara glared at the two Marines holding her arms tightly. There was a third man behind her with a gun pointed squarely into her back. She figured she could take them out in under five seconds. It wouldn't be that hard, and she wouldn't have thought twice about doing it if she wasn't so damn curious. She had been locked up with Lee in that cell for a pretty long time. She wasn't sure how long exactly. There was no mention of shift changes to the prisoners. It had to have been at least a week, maybe two. The swelling in Lee's hands had gone down considerably. She had just been checking over his injuries when the Marines marched into the brig and dragged her away, kicking and swearing.

The Marines stopped in front of a closed hatch, and Kara did her best to pretend to be confused even though she knew this is where she was being led. Nobody short of Admiral Cain herself could have torn Kara away from Lee.

The hatch slid open while the Marines were taking off her handcuffs. They shoved Kara inside, and she did her best to take in her surroundings quickly. Cain's office hadn't changed. That included the Admiral standing ominously behind her table. It really irritated Kara that there were no chairs in this place. Cain was stupid to think it would intimidate her.

"Lieutenant Thrace, I'm glad you could join me," Cain said slowly.

"Well, my schedule was pretty open, and I was bored. I wouldn't feel too honored." Kara decided she hated Cain's crisp tone, too. After all she had done to Kara, didn't this woman know enough to be scared of what was to come?

"I've brought you here to make a proposition."

Kara raised an eyebrow in interest but didn't respond.

"There was an encounter with the Cylons yesterday. The Fleet sustained some losses in key personnel." Cain cleared her throat. "Pegasus is short a CAG, Lieutenant."

Kara's eyes widened at the implications of that statement. "Are you offering me the job, Admiral?"

"You remind me of myself when I first joined the Fleet, Kara." Kara tried not to laugh at Cain's awkward attempt to make the conversation personal. "I was ambitious and hotheaded just like you. Then, my commander gave me a little bit of responsibility. It straightened me right out."

"And you think making me CAG will do the same for me?" Kara shook her head. "You really are crazy."

"Lieutenant, I would watch what you say. You are treading on awfully thin ground." Cain sent her a smile that made Kara's spine tingle. "The charges on both you and Captain Adama have been placed on the back burner due to more pressing matters I had to attend to. They have not been forgotten."

Kara narrowed her eyes. "I don't cave in to threats."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Cain pushed away from the table and moved to stand beside Kara. "This is something we could both profit from, Kara. I need a CAG, and you need leverage to keep yourself safe on this ship."

"I don't care about keeping myself safe."

Cain tilted her head to the side and stared at Kara for a moment before smiling. "That's right. My men have informed me that the only concern you seem to have is for Captain Adama."

"Apollo is an old friend."

"Oh, I think he's much more than that." Cain smiled. "You never thanked me for keeping you two together. Honestly, I expected to hear your gratitude within the first few days of being on my ship. After all, it was my decision to bring you both over here."

"There is nothing about what you have done to us that warrants thanks," Kara hissed.

Cain ignored her. "You know what surprises me even more than you're not thanking me?" She waited for an answer and when Kara remained silent, she laughed. "The reports on you said you carried your guilt on your sleeve. I anticipated that guilt to kick in by now."

"What do I have to feel guilty about?"

"You, Lieutenant, are the only reason Captain Adama was reassigned." Cain had to hold back a smile of triumph when she saw Kara's face go white. "I could have cared less about Commander Adama having his own son as CAG. It was against military policy, but there are worse crimes being committed. I brought Adama's son here because I needed you. The Commander would have objected to your transfer if he hadn't been distracted by his son."

Kara shook her head. None of this made sense. Admiral Cain kept volunteering more information. This was a woman who gave away nothing for free. She was working towards some goal, and Kara had no clue what that was. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Again, Cain ignored her. "I'm willing to bargain here. If you step up as CAG, I will keep Apollo safe."

Kara tried to focus. Cain was scrambling for something here. She needed to figure out what it was before this little charade went too far. Cain wanted to ignore her? Fine. Two could play that game. "Anybody on this ship would know that Lee Adama and I are important to one another. All the pilots in my squadron know I've been breaking fraternization regs with him since we got onboard Pegasus." Kara smirked. "I will thank you for that. We couldn't have done it if you didn't have him demoted from being my CAG."

"You're willing to openly admit to breaking regulations?"

Kara had to hold in her pride at goading Cain into giving her the power in the conversation. "What are you going to do? Throw me in the brig?"

"I could send you to another cell," Cain pointed out.

"That's another thing. Any one of those Marines could have told you how close Lee and I had gotten in our cell. There are a hundred people on Pegasus who could have told you about Lee and I. I refuse to let you goad me into feeling guilty about his presence here if you're going to base it on information that everyone on this ship has."

"You would feel a lot better if that was true."

Kara found herself locked in a stare down with Cain. There was definitely something spooky her. "If I take this CAG position, I won't have access to Apollo."

"You could see him whenever you wanted."

Kara shook her head. "That's not good enough. I want total access to him. I want to be able to monitor his progress. I want you to stop treating him like a prisoner of war. He is a Captain in the Colonial Fleet and probably the best example of your failure at doing your job. He needs medical treatment, but I don't want it to be on Pegasus."

Cain let out an insulted laugh. "Are you asking me to send him back to Galactica?"

"If you want me as CAG so badly, that's the least you can do. You can make up some ridiculous story about how he got hurt. I'll back you up."

"You really would do anything for him."

Kara could tell by the mixture of awe and disgust in Cain's voice that the Admiral was finally getting the point. "He's in bad shape. Your pilots have pretty much guaranteed he'll never fly again. At least, he won't fly Viper. He's no use for you here."

"He's a good bargaining chip."

"He won't be for long. His condition is getting worse. If he doesn't get medical help, he's going to die. I might not have known about Taylor, but I do know your ship lost the last of its medics weeks before you stumbled upon us." Kara gave Cain the sweetest smile she could muster. "Your people have a bad habit of opening their mouths when they shouldn't, sir."

Cain stared her down for a few seconds. "You will be obedient. As CAG, you will not question my orders. You will integrate yourself into this ship and train my pilots to know every weakness Galactica has. There will be no further talk of you leaving this ship. You are here for the duration, and you will be compliant."

"You sound as if we're on the verge of civil war."

"Do we have a deal, Lieutenant?"

"You would be willing to let Captain Adama go." Cain gave her a small nod, and Kara had to ball her hands into fists to keep them under control. There was no way Cain was just going to let Lee go even if she had only transferred him so she could get her hands on Kara.

Kara wasn't sure what to do with that revelation. She stared down at the table as the options ran through her head. There was really only one thing she could do. She looked up at Cain and smiled. "Good to know. Can I be taken back to the brig now?"

Cain's bottom lip tightened as she tried to hold back her fury. "This is all a game to you."

"Guess you read me wrong. I'm more hotheaded than ambitious at this point in my life, Admiral."

Cain stared at her a moment longer before moving to open the hatch. "Escort Lieutenant Thrace back to her brig cell."

Kara moved towards the hatch, only pausing briefly to whisper, "That better be the same cell as Apollo if you don't want the Commander to kill you when I tell him what you did to his son." She held out her hands to be handcuffed again.

Cain stared at her a moment before turning back to the armed men. "Make sure it's the same cell you took her from."

Even though she had no idea how she had done it, Kara let the joy of outsmarting Cain carry her all the way back to hack. The fact that she still didn't know what Cain was hiding didn't faze her. With Lee's help, she was sure she could figure it out.

Admiral Cain stared down at the papers in front of her until her rage had subsided. It had been years since someone had gotten under her skin as much as this Lieutenant Thrace had. She had lost control of their conversation.

She had been right to say Thrace was the spitting image of herself when she was younger. There was only one small difference. Cain took opportunities when they came to her. They fueled her desire to show everyone in her past that she was not a waste of air. Cain shuddered. She couldn't imagine how horrible a past Kara Thrace had if she was too screwed-up to take the CAG promotion.

Cain bit her bottom lip in determination. She needed that stupid girl to wise up and take herself to the next level. It is only there that Kara Thrace can truly learn the meaning of failure. A woman like her, without her determination to push herself higher, would crash and burn in a position of leadership. Plus, Cain had left her whole support system lying bleeding in a brig cell.

Her eyes locked on the intelligence report that had been submitted by her men on Galactica. Adama was getting suspicious. He had lost contact with both his son and Thrace. Then there was that damn Cylon in the brig. She should never have brought that idiot Gaius Baltar onto her ship.

Cain reached up to kneed the bridge of her nose. This situation was starting to give her a headache, and when she got headaches, she tended to get reckless.