Ch 25

When they returned to the Galactica Kara assaulted Lee with questions, "What the frak was going on over there? Why is Lauren acting like she barely knows us and what is up with that frakking asshole? Lee, so help me, if you ever put me in a room with that man again, I'm going to kill him!"

Lee had to drag Kara away from the flight deck because the deck hands were starting to take note of the commotion and there may be crew from the Pegasus around. When they closed themselves in the ready room he tried to calm her down but he knew that when Kara was this worked up it was easier to just let her blow it off. Once she'd stormed around the room several times and growled at him more than once she was calm and taking deep breaths.

"Are you done now?" he teased and she glared at him. "Fine then, I don't know what is going on over there but we really need to find out, something is seriously wrong. Lauren couldn't tell me anything, she said it wasn't safe for her to talk over there. She did say that she'd find a way to get over here and explain everything to us."

"I've never seen her act like that and, well, something is way wrong on that ship. If it's making Lauren act like that then we've got to get her out of there somehow. We should tell the Old Man about it."

"Not yet. I'm sure there's some reason for it but I want to give Lauren a chance to explain before we go dragging my dad into the mix. Remember, Cain out ranks him so she's in charge. If Cain is the cause of all this we may not be able to do anything. Let's just play it by ear for now and see what Lauren can tell us okay?"

Kara agreed and said a few more choice words about Taylor and his pompous attitude which made Lee laugh, then Kara left to fly her patrol.

Lee spoke with his father later that night and the Commander noticed a significant change in his son. When he asked Lee about it all he was told was that Lee had found an old friend alive and well on the Pegasus. After talking about business for a long time the Commander once again asked his son about his ebullient mood and once more he was told it was just an old friend that had turned up. Knowing his son better than that, the Commander imagined it was more than just a friend but was happy for Lee no matter what.

The next day Lee made rounds on the Galactica, stopping first in with the LSO to leave orders to allow Captain Baker permission to dock at any time and a strongly worded request that he be notified immediately when she landed. Chief Tyrol was next and the same request for notification was relayed. Chief Tyrol thought about the request for a moment after the Captain left and made a mental note to also be around when this Captain Baker showed up as it was highly likely that that was the reason for the younger Adama's bouncy mood.

Several other people noticed the change in Lee and commented on his unusual smile. For a while he told people it was because they finally had another ship to protect the fleet.

Lee listed to all of the conversations around him about the crew of the Pegasus that had come to visit. Apparently he was not the only person with an uneasy feeling about them so he made a point to ask Kara to listen in as well. Neither of them heard anything specifically damning but there was a rumor floating around that Pegasus had once had her own civilian fleet. No one could confirm or deny this but it did intrigue them.

Another rumor that they had heard was that the heavyset Colonel that had arrived on the Galactica with the Admiral was not the original XO of the ship. No one could say what had happened to the old XO but the guesses were wild as they flew about. When Lee finally did receive conformation of the story from his father he was shocked at the idea of the Admiral shooting someone on the CIC deck but after some of the rumors he'd heard he didn't entirely count it out.

Lee began growing impatient for Lauren's arrival after a few days, and by the fourth day without seeing her he'd began finding reasons to be in the flight deck more often just in case she showed up. He was even excusing himself from meetings early so he wouldn't miss her but she still hadn't come to the Galactica and Lee was starting to worry.