Dark Days

Chapter Three

The small tent was quickly becoming overcrowded. While Kara did appreciate the warmth that the proximity of the extra bodies was providing, she wished they would all just shut up for 10 seconds and let her think for a frakkin minute. When Tigh and Ellen had shown up at her tent earlier that evening, she had been grateful for the company. She was not a sit around and wait kind of girl, and that was the only option being presented at this time. Tyrol and Cally had not been far behind them, Gaeta in tow. A few minutes ago, Hot Dog , Racetrack and a few of the other nuggets had strolled in as well...nuggets no longer, Kara realized with a start...in this new reality they were seasoned pros. Not that any of it mattered, as they were all stuck on New Caprica, just like her.

Kara had left the assembly earlier that day and had searched for Sam, to no avail. She had checked back at the tent repeatedly but he did not show up there either. She had checked with all of their friends, had stopped at the make shift hospital, but it was like he had just disappeared. Vanished. Nobody had seen him since before the Cylon arrival, and Kara had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Now she needed time to gather her thoughts and think of a plan. That was the topic of conversation in the tent now. Finding a plan. They had all seen the barriers going up around the city. Not even barriers really, more like metal pylons being placed like fence posts encircling the city. The metallics walked the line of the barrier, and although it seemed like a much lighter patrol than they had expected, it would still be hard to evade. There were no trees, no cover, just open space. At any given moment you could be spotted by any number of Cylons on the patrol. Then again, Kara thought, there was no real need for them to patrol the border. There was no place to run to. Just a big wide open nothingness.

Tigh was speaking. Kara watched him with interest, thinking how quickly things changed. A year and a half ago, if you had asked her if Tigh could ever be a good leader, she would have laughed hysterically. Frakkin drunk leading anyone anywhere but to a bar...doubtful. But the past year had changed everyone, Tigh for the better. The grudging respect they had begun to develop for each other had grown, and when Kara had announced she was leaving the fleet 6 months ago, Tigh had been her only supporter. Not because he wanted her gone, either, but because he alone seemed to understand her need to be with her husband. The presidential order to colonize had forced all civilians off the ships, regardless of their marital status. Her choice had been to stay and be separated from him, or go and be grounded. It had been an agonizing decision, but she had not regretted it...until today.

Lee had taken her leaving harder than she had expected. The Old Man had been unhappy to lose his best pilot, and had lobbied for her to stay, but Lee had taken the defection personally. Their relationship had already been strained, because of Anders, because of her behaviour the day they had returned from Caprica, and because of Dualla. Lee had pulled back from their friendship, spending more and more of his spare time with Dee, and seemingly avoiding Kara at all costs. But when he had found out she was leaving he had flown into her, literally. He called her a traitor, a quitter. He had mocked her for becoming a 'good little wife', and she had snapped. They had both said things that day that could not be taken back. And when she packed up and left, he had turned his back on her, refusing to say goodbye, refusing to acknowledge her at all. She knew leaving the fleet was something Lee viewed as a betrayal of all that they had been through together. Gods, if she could just have one minute with Lee right now, a moment to make everything OK again, to apologize and tell him how she felt, how much he meant to her. He was her family, and she had left him behind.

She felt so useless here in the tent. All of the ideas being thrown around were crap. There was nothing they could do, not from this position. They had no real weapons, no back up. Sure they had trained military personnel., but they were more than outnumbered, they were overrun. Now someone was suggesting sneaking on board Colonial One and assassinating the cylon "leaders".

Tigh shook his head, "Wouldn't work. Even if we could get on board, and even if we could get to the frakkers, we have no follow through, no fall back position. Two, maybe three Cylons would be dead, but thousands more would simply be waiting for us outside. It would only make things worse for us at this point. We have to sit tight, I know it is hard, but Admiral Adama is out there somewhere, and he will make a move. We have to organize ourselves and watch for it. We have to be ready to move when he does. It is our only chance. Chief Tyrol, can you get the word out to your union members to start hoarding anything and everything they can get their hands on that we can use as a weapon? Explosives, heavy metals, anything. We need to compile our resources, while appearing to go about business as usual."

"Sure thing, sir." Tyrol looked edgy, pregnant Cally at his side looked downright sick.

"Don't put everything in one place, though, spread it out and get me a record of what it is and where it is. We don't want to be caught with a stockpile, and small caches will be easier to pawn off as regular stock. The most important thing is to find a way to cease any work that will expend these resources unnecessarily." Tigh stared at Tyrol. "How much more time can you buy us with the strike talks?"

"I'll know more tomorrow, at the union meeting." Tyrol took his glasses off, giving them a wipe with the tails of his shirt. "It might be hard to get them organized again, what with all that is going on, but I'll work it out somehow."

Kara piped up, finally, "Be as discreet as possible Chief...all of you. Tigh is right, we need to form a resistance and be ready for the return of the fleet, but we can't afford the possibility of a leak to the Cylons. Tell your men we need to conserve our supplies; that we are hiding them from the Cylons so that they won't be taken away from us. Don't mention weapons, don't mention resistance, not yet. If you hear people talking resistance, talk them down...for now." Tigh caught her eye, approvingly. She continued, "Don't bring anyone into this that you don't trust with your own life, because that is exactly what is at stake here."

Murmurs of assent filled the room, and Kara drifted back into her own mind. Frak! Where was Sam? Everyone kept telling her to wait at home, as that was the most likely place he'd be coming to find her. But she couldn't get the image of the upturned bed out of her head. If he was delirious, he might have done that on his own, but what if...what if.

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Lee did not have time to back to Pegasus. Kat had been briefed on the mission specs, and had been left in charge of the ship for the time being. He'd had a few words with Dee, promising her he'd be careful, promising her he'd be back, but he'd felt the distance between them. He was disconnected, had been for some time, from her, from the fleet, from everything. Life in orbit had been suspended, like everything was just put on hold. Pilots had left, good pilots, people he could not have imagined could have walked away from the fleet...Starbuck. Kara. She had left him and he had stayed, and had become the outsider...again.

He finished dressing. It was going to feel good to fly again. He was reminded of the days, just after the first Cylon attack, when all he knew was flying. It had given him something to hold onto, something to contribute. He had always looked to the military and to flying as more than just a duty, more than just what his father had wanted for him. This was his life, as much a part of him as his heart or his soul. He had lost touch with that for a time, while they were circling New Caprica. But he could feel it waking inside of him again.

While he was still somewhat uneasy about where Sharon Valerii's loyalties lay, they had all been relieved when she had finally consented to go. They needed her to get him onto the surface of the planet. If needs be, he could take it from there. His father had been right, she had resisted at first. They appeared to have no leverage. Even Helo had started to look defeated. Finally the Old Man had sat down in front of Sharon, his voice very soft, his eyes holding hers, "Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. You go, you bring my son back to me alive, and you help us find what is left of our people, and I will give you whatever you want. No tricks. There has to be something left that you want."

She hadn't even blinked. "How can I trust you, after all that has happened?" she asked, her voice flat.

"The same way that I will have to trust you. This is it, Sharon, endgame. We don't do this and those people will die, if they aren't dead already. Tigh, Kara, Cally, Tyrol. All of them are down there. I have nothing to gain from you by lying to you now. Anything you want, if it is in my power to do so, I will see that you have it."

Sharon had turned and stared at Helo for what seemed to be an eternity, studying his face. Finally she looked back at Adama, "I'll do it, but my terms are not negotiable. I'll go, I'll do everything in my power to carry out what you want done on this mission, and I will come back. But once I'm back, I'm done. You will let me go. I want a fully supplied Raptor waiting for me on the Hanger deck, and I want you to let me fly it out of here, alone, with no interference, nobody following me. Those are my terms. Your people for my freedom."

Helo's face had fallen, he reached out to her but she had shrugged him off, refusing to meet his eyes.

Without faltering, Adama simply stated, "done."

Lee met his father on the Hangar deck. Sharon was already climbing into the Heavy Raider, Helo stood solemnly by the door. Adama looked at Lee, concern in his eyes. "You come back to me in one piece, son. I want your word on that."

"I'll do my best, Sir." Once again the two men embraced, quickly. Stepping back, Lee asked "do you really think that we can trust her? Once we get there she might decide that is freedom enough for her. She'll have no reason to come back."

"I really don't know. I was expecting her to ask for that, actually, to be left behind. I was prepared to grant it, but she has given us her word that she will bring you back. I have to trust in that."

Lee's eyes flickered, his jaw tight. "How do we know we can trust her to keep her word?"

"We don't. But we have no choice."