The man that had attacked her spent the next five days in the sick bay. Lauren had done quite a number on him and he wouldn't soon be attacking her again. Once he was released from the doctor's not so tender care he was sent to the brig. Lauren had marched directly from the storage room to the Admiral's quarters where she demanded to see Cain immediately. Etiquette flew out the window as Lauren recounted her attack and advised the Admiral that if action was not taken then she would personally castrate the man that attacked her.
The Admiral looked grim and said she'd take the matter in hand and that he would be properly punished. Then Lauren pushed the Admiral to crack down on that sort of behavior and threatened to beat down all of the men on the ship if she had to in order to get it to stop. Cain promised she'd do her best and dismissed her.
Lauren then went searching for Cole to let him know what had happened. The shock on his face was intense but he couldn't help smiling at the idea of Lauren beating this man to a pulp. He apologized profusely for letting the information that had led to the attack slip and he promised to make sure that no one would ever touch her inappropriately again.
Lauren forgave him after a large amount of feather ruffling and some minor bribery. When word got around the next day about how Lauren had beaten off the man that attacked her she found that the pilots in her squadron were treating her with a new respect. Thumper even made his way over from the port side deck to joke around with her about how she'd really earned that call sign he'd graced her with.
Lauren decided that this new found fame could work to her advantage and she began teasing the men in her squadrons mercilessly. They were stunned at first then responded with the enthusiasm she was trying to achieve. Once she got that from them they began to function as a team instead of a leaderless mess and soon their kill ratios were totally eclipsing the port side deck crews.
She was having a meeting with her pilots one day when the action stations alarm blared to life. They all rushed for their Vipers and were in the air before anyone could stop them. However, they were listening intently to the broadcast from CIC as they identified themselves to the Battlestar Galactica whom they had suddenly found. A loud cheer rang through the comm as the pilots rejoiced at the news of more Colonials. When they returned to the flight deck Lauren went off in search of news.
"Cole, is that really the Galactica out there? Did we really find them?"
"Looks that way. Cain requested me joining the landing party so you'll be in charge over here." He looked at her and wondered why her face showed dismay not joy. "What's the matter Lauren?"
"I…um…" she turned and began pacing nervously. "I don't want it to be real. I don't think I can face them."
"Who?"
"The people on Galactica." She paused to see if that meant anything to him. When he realized that it meant that once more she would have to face her loss his face fell. "Yeah, see why I can't face them? I don't think I can take the sense of loss all over again."
Cole wasn't sure what he could say to make her feel better so he just wrapped her in a hug and let her know that he was there for her if she needed him. "Well, I have to go. Is there anything you want me to say or do?"
"No, I'll have to face it eventually. Thanks though. Scope the old girl out for me and find me something pretty will you?" she grinned at him half heartedly as he left her standing on the deck.
The Raptor slid to a halt on the deck of the Galactica in front of what looked like the entire crew of the ship. Cole stepped from the Raptor and moved to one side so that Colonel Fisk and Admiral Cain could alight. He looked around the mass of people in front of him and he wasn't sure he liked what he saw. Admiral Cain stepped down and was welcomed by Commander Adama and the Interim President then she said a few words and the group began milling about.
He'd been eyeing a petite blonde in dress blues that was wearing Viper wings and was quite attractive. He wasn't sure, but he thought she'd been eyeing him so when they all began introducing themselves he went to her and shook her hand. There were so many of them all wanting to say hello and see if he was someone they knew that he lost track of the names almost immediately.
He wandered around the flight deck a bit watching as people began dispersing and a strange black ship on one end of the deck caught his eye. He was looking it over when he heard Thumper's loud voice boom across the room and he looked over to find his pilot walking with a pretty brunette. They stopped by Thumper's Viper and soon the pretty blonde and a man in a flight suit with a Viper patch joined them.
Suddenly the blonde piped up, "Is this a scorecard? You guys put scorecards on the side of your ships?"
Taking offense at the blonde's remark about a practice the Admiral had initiated he strode over and snapped out, "Where's the Galactica CAG?"
The man in the flight suit spoke up, "Right here."
Cole sneered at him, instantly disliking the man for some unknown reason. "Let's hear the run-down on squadron of yours, Captain. I see you don't keep track of your kills. You should start… encourages morale, gets competition going, esprit de corps."
"Well, that's one philosophy."
"It's Admiral Cain's philosophy. That means it's your philosophy now, Captain." Cole snapped back.
This apparently didn't sit well the younger man, "The name of my Commander is Adama, which should be pretty easy to remember, because it's my name."
The implication of that hit Cole and he registered the reason why he disliked the man so much. Cole had worked his way to where he was, kicking and screaming, and he'd earned what he had. This man had been given everything simply because of who his father was, " Yeah, I'll keep that in mind daddy's boy. Let's see your ordnance lists."
As soon as the words left his lips he mentally kicked himself for being such an ass.
Perhaps it would be best if he just stood back and waited to see where the chips would fall. So he was businesslike and not rude to Captain Adama even though he felt an unwarranted malice towards him, which was also being returned by the younger man. When they'd looked over the ordinance lists and spoken for a while about flight tactics and such, Cole had decided that it would be better if he just tried to be civil. So he invited Adama and his second in command over to the Pegasus.
Adama accepted the invitation and Cole headed for his Raptor.
