Notes on Chapters One and Two:

For those who guessed that the three pilots, Shane, Nathan, and Cooper, were named after the three main pilot characters from Space Above and Beyond, you are correct.

Now, let's see who won the competition. Placing bets, anyone?

Chapter Three:

Lee Adama stepped down from the Viper, and saw the cheering crowd gathering on the tarmac. The look on his face was grim because the crowd wasn't gathering for him. They gathered around another Viper, where Kara Thrace was getting out, a look of triumph on her face. She lit a cigar as she sat in her Viper's seat, and stepped down from the ship with the lit cigar in her mouth.

Lee walked over to Kara's ship and the gathered crowd, the latter filled with people shouting their congratulations to Kara. He was dreading this moment ever since he lost the competition in the air with Starbuck. He almost won, but she pulled a hair raising maneuver that he thought no sane pilot would try, and managed to beat him to the finish.

The crowd parted for Lee Adama, with a few pats on the back and "nice tries" from the pilots. He faced Kara, who held a look of victory on her face and cockiness exuding from her every move.

"Well, Apollo," said Kara. "Here to pay up?"

The crowd got quiet, observing the moment with almost reverent silence. Lee slowly removed his flight wings from his jacket, and held them in his hand for a moment. Kara observed a look of genuine sadness pass over Lee's face, and almost told him to forget about it. For some reason, these wings seemed to mean a lot to him.

But Lee handed them to Kara. "Your prize," he said. "You earned them. That was a hell of a piece of flying. I've never seen anything like it."

Kara reached out her hand, and Lee took it. "Don't feel so bad," said Kara. "You almost kicked my ass out there. I'd fly with you anytime."

"Hey Starbuck," said Artemis. "Drinks at the O club to celebrate your triumph, after you've showered and changed."

"Apollo," said Razor. "You're welcome to join us."

"You bet," said Lee. "First rounds on me."

An hour later, the instructors at the Colonial Fleet's Flight School were lifting their cups in celebration at the Officer's Club. One of their own had been challenged by an upstart visitor, and the former had cleaned his clock. If ever a reason to celebrate, the gathered crowd felt this was definitely a good one.

As Kara accepted the kudos of her peers, she saw Lee Adama sitting alone at the bar, quietly drinking ambrosia. He looked genuinely depressed, a stark contrast to his bravado of the night before. "Gee, I must have busted up his ego pretty good," thought Kara. "He didn't strike me as the sore looser type."

She made her way over to the bar, and ordered a drink. Sitting beside Lee, Kara smirked. "So," she said. "Not feeling like celebrating with the rest of us, huh?"

"I lost, remember," said Lee. "What do I have to celebrate?"

Kara sighed, taking a drink from the glass given to her by the bartender. "I can't believe you are being such a sore looser. You look just like Zak does when he fraks up. You've got the Adama pout."

"I'm not a sore looser," said Lee, smiling at Kara. "You are an amazing pilot, and you earned your victory. I'm just pissed at myself."

"Why?" asked Kara. "Because you lost?" As Lee looked away, Kara let out a thought that was irritating her. "Or is it because you lost to a woman?"

Lee looked at Kara with surprise. "Frak no," said Lee. "Neither of those two, especially the latter."

"Then what is it?" asked Kara.

Lee looked down at her uniform blouse. Kara followed his gaze, then looked up at him with a smirk. "You're seriously trying to gawk at my breasts, aren't you?"

Lee looked away quickly. "No, I wasn't looking at that…them…uh…"

Kara chuckled. "Then what were you looking at?"

She looked down at her uniform, then realized what he was looking at. "Yes, I'm wearing my trophy," she said, fingering the flight wings she won from Lee. "Does it really bother you that much that you lost a pair of wings to me? Don't you have extras?"

"Sure, but I never wear them," said Lee.

"What makes these so special?" asked Kara.

Lee was quiet for a moment, not sure whether he wanted to share his feelings with her. After a few moments of silence, Kara began to get irritated with the closed off Lee Adama. "Fine," said Kara. She took the wings off, and put them on the bar. "Take 'em back."

Before she could step away from the bar, Lee grabbed her arm. "Wait," said Lee. "I'll explain."

Kara stood there and waited, as Lee looked at the wings on the bar. "These wings belonged to my father," said Lee. "They were his first pair."

Kara looked at him in shock. "You…you gambled away your father's wings," she said. "Frak, Lee, that was stupid!"

Lee looked at her pointedly. "No kidding," he said. "I've been kicking myself ever since I saw you win that little sporting match of ours. Now…I've got to find a way to tell him, and to live with having lost something that was so important to me."

Lee turned back to his drink, while Kara looked away at her friends, all drinking and laughing. "Don't worry about it, Kara," said Lee. "It's my frak up, not yours."

Kara looked at the wings, then looked at Lee for a long moment. "Here," she said, pushing the wings over to Lee. "I don't need your father's wings to prove I kicked your ass. Everyone knows. That's enough."

Lee pushed them back to Kara. "No, you keep them, you earned them…"

"I won, remember," she said. "A winner always has the right to refuse the honor she's won. Besides, this was a battle of flying skill, remember? I think I showed who was the better pilot, don't you?"

"Or the luckier pilot," said Lee.

"Don't make me regret giving those wings back, Adama," she said.

Lee smiled, then picked up the wings. "Thanks, Kara," he said. "I…I owe you."

"I guess you do," said Kara. "Don't worry, I'll find a way for you to pay me back."

Kara was about to rejoin the others, when Lee stopped her. "Hey, Kara," said Lee.

"Yeah," she said, turning to face him.

"You know that Zack has to study tomorrow night for his mechanics exam," said Lee.

"Yeah, and it's a bitch of a test as you and I both know," said Kara. "So?"

"Well, tomorrow is my last night here before I have to return to the Columbia," said Lee. "What do you say I buy you dinner tomorrow night?"

Kara looked at him with an incredulous expression. "Dinner?"

"Yeah, a nice restaurant but nothing too fancy," said Lee. "I think the Orion Grille is still open, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Kara. Her face broke into a grin that started to grow larger in size. "Did you just ask me out on a date?"

Lee turned and looked at her with an expression of a deer caught in headlights. "No, I um…"

"Lee Adama wants to date me!" she said, with a self-assured, but playful tone.

"No, I thought it would be a good way to pay you back for…the wings…the bet," Lee stammered.

"Maybe you were staring at my breasts after all, huh," said Kara, with an even more playful tone. "Think you're going to get to see 'em in the flesh if you feed me first?"

"Kara, all I wanted to do was buy you a meal as a way of saying thank you for the wings, and as a way of clearing my debt with you," said Lee. "But, if you're not interested…"

"Yes," said Kara, quickly replying. "Yes, you can take me out tomorrow night. You have a car?"

"I'll borrow Zak's," said Lee.

"Pick me up at 18:00," said Kara. "Officer's quarters building 9, apartment 421."

Kara turned and walked towards the door of the Officer's Club, apparently deciding not to rejoin the party. As she did, Lee looked at her retreating form, and decided he wanted to play with fire one more time. He was curious about the reaction.

"You know, Starbuck," said Lee, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Good thing you won, because if I had beat you, I don't think you would have ponyed up your prize."

Kara stopped, and turned around, a look of irritation on her face. "You sayin I'd welch on my bet?"

"No," said Lee. "But I'd bet you wouldn't have the guts to drop trou in front of all these people. So how could you have given me my trophy?"

Kara smiled, knowing Lee was daring her, then reached down to open her fly. Kara stripped off her pants one leg at a time, over her shoes, while the crowd watched in shocked silence. She then threw the pants at Artemis.

"You'd loose that bet," she said to Lee. "Artemis, bring those back to me later, huh?"

Lee watched her go out the door in all of her de-pants glory, as the crowd began to laugh and cheer. "Oh, baby," he said quietly to himself. Lee Adama had never been so turned on by a woman as he was in that moment by Kara Thrace.