Ch 21
Lee and Kat were flying the CAP on the far side of the fleet when the call came over the wireless. A large Dradis contact dead ahead of the fleet. Contact was unidentified and Galactica CIC had guessed it was a Cylon basestar. Lee and Kat broke off and streaked across the blackness of space towards the blip. They monitored the frantic calls flying back and forth across CIC while they flew and when Dee confirmed the identity as definitely being the Pegasus, Lee looked over at Kat's Viper and saw her rejoicing and pumping the air with her fist.
He didn't feel quite as much joy until he actually saw the ship ahead of him. Her own Vipers buzzing around her like a swarm of bees around a hive. As he passed by the big Battlestar he noted the heavy damage done to her and thought back to when he'd thought the same of Galactica, so very long ago at her decommissioning ceremony. As he flew past her bulk he wondered if maybe there wasn't some hope for the human race after all. If this ship could survive with out any back up, alone, then why couldn't more ships be about too? He shouldn't get his hopes up though, and he turned his ship back to Galactica when he was recalled.
They gathered in the flight deck, waiting for the Raptor from the Pegasus to arrive. Lee looked around at the people milling in the deck and realized that practically the whole ship had come to see the visitors. He saw his father and the President side by side waiting patiently amid the deck crew. There was Dr. Baltar, sitting on a Raptor's wing to get a better look. He spun his head around looking for Kara in the crowd. Just like her to be late. The he saw her blonde hair bobbing through the crowd as she pushed her way forward arriving at his side just as the Raptor was pulled up in front of them.
The door slid open and Lee realized that everyone on the deck was holding their breath, praying that this was not some elaborate Cylon hoax. When the people aboard began disembarking Lee was surprised to see heavily armed Marines first, then a man in a flight suit who went towards the other side of the deck. Next came another man in a flight suit, this time with a Viper patch on his arm. He stopped right in front of Lee and Kara and Lee noticed Kara looking him up and down.
Finally a heavyset Colonel disembarked and everyone waited for Admiral Cain. Lee frantically tried to remember everything he knew about the woman and came up with little. He knew she was a fast moving go-getter who'd risen through the ranks with a ruthless speed. Other than that little amount he could recall nothing. When she stepped from the Raptor she looked like a tyrant surveying her staff. Lee felt a strange knot grow in his stomach and it continued to swell as she greeted his father and the President.
"On behalf of the officers and the crew of the Pegasus it's a pleasure to see all of you. Welcome back to the Colonial fleet."
The phrasing of that just wasn't right to Lee and he grimaced, apparently quite noticeably because Kara elbowed him sharply. Then the cheering began and everyone surged forward to meet the party. Kara headed towards the man with the Viper patch and he looked at her own wings and introduced himself as Taylor, in a voice that was cold and unfeeling. They mingled for a bit and Lee suddenly pulled Kara aside to talk with her. He'd been feeling more and more apprehensive about the turn of events and the knot of worry in his stomach had grown immensely. He passed his feelings along to Kara and they both agreed to play their cards close to the chest for the time being.