Dark Days

Chapter Two

"Natasi?" Gaius whispered, finally alone with the striking blond that had haunted his thoughts. "is it...are you really, I mean are you my...?" He stared at her, unable to tear his eyes away even for a moment. He had thought her to be in his head when the Cylons walked through his door, but then she had spoken. She was real, flesh and blood, tangible, but was she his Six? He sank down onto the sofa, head and heart pounding in unison. So much had happened today, was still happening today, and he needed to wrap his mind around it, take a moment to decide how he felt about it. But he needed to find out about her, first.

"Hush, Gaius. We have a lot to talk about, and we have plenty of time to do it, no need to rush." CapricaSix gave him a hesitant, yet still seductive, smile. "Actually, I have a lot to thank you for, as well. You have helped us in more ways than even you realize. We had anticipated some initial resistance, from your military and from your President. Imagine my surprise, and relief, to find that the President is you. I am called Caprica now, Gaius. The others like me are called Six, but I am Caprica, and you may call me that."

Gaius studied Caprica's face, trying to read her thoughts. "You said that you knew me, Caprica...is that only because you know about the copy that was with me back on the real Caprica, or do you have memories of me from that time?" He watched her as she slowly circled his desk, what had been his desk, and sat in his chair. She smiled again, and he flashed for a moment on the vision of her he had seen that morning, sitting in that same chair, smiling that same smile. He had seen less and less of her in the months following the election, though she had not left him entirely. She had come to him mainly in the times that he felt most vulnerable in his position as President, during those times that he began to question the decisions he had made. She would come then, and whisper in his ear, rub his neck or his shoulders and reiterate that he was exactly where he was supposed to be...that the people were exactly where they were supposed to be. Enigmatic as always, she never gave him the details he begged for about why they were there, what the plan was for them. "God has a plan for you, Gaius, that is all you need to know." That had become her patent answer.

"I remember you Gaius, I know you." Caprica leaned back in the chair, eyes locked with his.

"Yes, but are you her? When I met you...I mean Gina, the Six copy on the Pegasus, she didn't know me, she didn't remember me from before, not the way that the Sharon Valerii from Caprica remembered Boomer's life. How does it work? Do you share collective memories?" Gaius knew that there were so many other pressing matters that he should be asking her about, but he could not get past the look of recognition he had seen in her eyes. He had been so desperate for her, for a flesh and blood version of her, for so long now, and now here she was.

Caprica's smile faded, and a far away look came into her eyes. "Why, Gaius? Would it make a difference to you if I told you I was her. Your number Six?" He gave her an almost imperceptible nod, and she continued, her voice quiet, "I remember you Gaius. When she died her memories were absorbed, became accessible to all active Cylon Sixes ... but her consciousness, her feelings, her soul...yes, Gaius, her soul was downloaded into this body. I remember you not only because I can access the memories, but because I was there with you. Do you see the difference, what sets me apart from the others?"

He did.

"I loved you then, Gaius, I still love you now...it is partly because of you that the Cylons retreated from the colonies, because of your influence on me, the way you stayed in my head during those long months after I downloaded. My love for you changed me, changed what I wanted and helped me to change the course of what we, the Cylons, wanted. God put us together for that reason, I know that now. And he has brought us back together for a reason, too. It is not a coincidence that we have found each other again." She paused, watching his face for a reaction. " Did you love me then, Gaius? Do you love me?"

Gaius watched her as she stood up from behind the desk, slowly walking towards him. He was lost, he felt it, felt the bottom dropping out of his world. She had been a part of him for so long now, in his head, in his dreams, in his life. He had forgotten what it was like to touch her. Touching Gina should have been the same, but it was not, it had just felt wrong. Now here she was, Caprica, bright and golden and real. His Caprica. Love? Did he have an answer for her this time? "Yes...yes I love you. You asked me that before, on Caprica...I didn't understand it then, but you are a part of me now. I can't help loving you." Tears began running down his face, his breath catching in his throat as she sank down beside him on the sofa.

Caprica's eyes softened, "I thought you were dead Gaius, thought you had died and would never say those words to me." A smile flashed in her eyes as she leaned towards him, her lips brushing his, gently at first. "I have you back now, and we have so much to catch up on..."

The kiss deepened, and Caprica's hands slid down Gaius' shirt, opening it slowly. He let himself go in that kiss, but in the moments before he lost himself completely, a cold chill ran down his spine and he wondered what exactly he had gotten himself, and New Caprica, into. As her hands explored his body further, though, catching up on missed time, he pushed the doubt from his mind and gave into their love. Reaching one hand up to her golden hair, he reached the other around her waist and pulled her against him, and he was gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It will work, I know it will!" Helo clenched his fists. "Listen, I know you will never fully trust Sharon, but she really is our best and only option at this point. She is the only one that can pull this off, for more reasons than one!"

Adama sat behind his desk, holding his head in his hands. He looked up at Helo, then over to Apollo. They had been in the office for hours, banging heads over what the best next course of action would be. Actually, all three men were pretty much on the same page about certain aspects of their plan, but they kept running into this one, big snag. Sharon. Try as he might, Adama was having trouble getting past his gut feeling that she would betray them again. And to put so much of what little they had in her hands, at her mercy...it was too much to ask. "How do we know she will even agree to this, Helo? She has barely spoken to you in the past year, let alone the rest of us. How can I justify trusting her now when she has no good reason to help us? The baby is gone, she has shut you out and as far as I can tell her will to live is as good as gone as well."

"Let me at least try and talk to her, Sir. I know in my heart that she can do this, that she will do this." Helo's face was intense, his trust in Sharon had not waivered. It had been a year since Hera had died, since she had shut him out of her life, but he still visited her daily, talked to her and stayed with her. Some days she responded, some days she did not. He was determined to stay true to her, to show her that his love had not waivered. In his heart he felt that hers had not waivered either, but was being blocked by the circumstances. She had lived in that small cell for so long...hell, anyone would disconnect in that same situation.

Lee shifted in his seat, his father looked over to him. "What do you think, son?"

Lee sat quietly for a few moments. "It has the makings of a good plan, Sir. It could work if..." If. So much hung on the Cylon. He smiled suddenly, feeling nostalgic, "you know who could have made this work...Starbuck. Gods if we still had her..." his smile faded again. His father caught his eye and nodded his agreement. Lee continued, "If we do this, we can't send Sharon alone. That would be non-negotiable. We'd need to send our best pilot with her, someone who could take up the mission if she fraks it up."

Adama looked him dead in the eye, "Our best pilot is not available. Period."

"You need me on this, Sir. Kat is good, but she doesn't have enough experience for this yet. She can take my place here with the Pegasus, she has been following me around enough over the past 6 months to know what to do. If this mission is going forward, then I'm going to be on it, and if we are going to make it work, we have to go now, while we still have the advantage."

Adama let out a long, slow breath. "Advantage? That remains to be seen. Let's go over this again, I want all the details in place before Helo talks to the Cylon."

They had quickly taken stock of their assets, the cylon Heavy Raider among them, capable of carrying passengers and making long jumps. They would pool the resources of the remaining fleet, concentrating them on Galactica and Pegasus. All the resources, people included. They would jump the fleet once more to a new location, and leave it there, taking all that they could carry on the Battlestars. None of the men wanted to lose the ships, but if this plan was going to work, if they were going to survive at all, then they couldn't spread their people out. They could hold out the hope of jumping back if and when this ordeal passed and retrieving the empty vessels. If they failed, they wouldn't need the ships.

Sharon was the key. They didn't know what was happening on New Caprica, all they knew was that the Cylons were there. Sharon was a Cylon, and they could send her back in a Cylon ship. Sharon could land in New Caprica City and walk around and she would fit in. Nobody else in the fleet had that advantage. For anyone else this could end up being a suicide mission. They needed recon, and she could provide this.

They would send her back to gather as much information as she could, take pictures, take stock. Then she could jump to a designated set of coordinates to rendezvous with the Battlestars. They didn't have to tell her where they were leaving the ships. If she betrayed them, they weren't risking the entire fleet, just the raider...and now Lee. Lee was their guarantee that she would come back, and if she didn't then he had the best chance of piloting the raider back on his own. He was right, Starbuck would have been a better choice, but he could do it, if he had to. It wasn't a rescue mission, not yet, if there was even anyone left to rescue, but they all held out hope that they might be able to round up some of the crew that had been left on the planet. Preferably the pilots.

Finally, Adama looked up again, determination fueling his next words. "Helo, go get the Cylon. Bring her here, I want to see her face when you talk to her. Lee, go to the hanger and have the crew prep the raider. Then you are to go to my quarters and sleep. I'll have a meal ready for you when you wake up. You are going to need it. And yes, that is an order."