Kara stepped off the Raptor that had shuttled her over from the Rising Star, her home of the past couple weeks, and took a good look at her new home. It was as rusty and worn-down as everyone said. She had to admit that was part of the attraction.

She hadn't hesitated to submit her name when the rumor of Galactica's desperate need for pilots reached her ears. Living on that luxury liner while people were out there dying to keep the remnants of humanity safe just didn't seem fair. Plus, Kara had never been the type of girl to just sit back and let others do the dirty work. Anyway, it wasn't like her old job was going to be taking her places anymore.

Kara's eyes landed on a Viper Mark VII and sighed. For the only time in her life, being her mother's daughter had come in handy. She was pretty sure without the basic knowledge she had of these birds and how to fly them, her application wouldn't have been accepted. She glanced over at the two other nuggets who had rode over to the Big Ship with her. They looked like they were starting their first day of primary school. "Don't act like you're scared shitless," Kara hissed, offering them advice they didn't ask for. The two young kids nodded, but their demeanor didn't change. Kara shut her eyes and prayed to the gods that the rest of the new class of pilots wasn't as hopeless.

Her silent devotion was interrupted by a sudden exclamation. "Holy frak!" The words echoed through the busy hangar bay, and Kara looked around to see if something had blown up.

A deckhand, obviously the one who had screamed, stumbled over to her side. "You're fraking Kara Thrace."

"Yeah, I am," Kara said. She should probably be used to this by now. "I'd offer to sign your hand or something, but my autograph isn't worth shit since the world ended."

"You're Kara Thrace," the deckhand repeated.

"Have been for twenty-eight years," Kara smirked.

"The Kara Thrace?"

"Is there another?" The deckhand kept looking at her, and she could feel herself grow uncomfortable. The rest of the hangar bay personnel were starting to stare. "Is there something I can do for you…" Her voice trailed off as she realized she had no fraking clue who this guy was.

"Zak." He thrust his hand into hers and started shaking it vigorously. "Oh frak. I cannot believe I'm talking to the Kara Thrace. You are the best pyramid player to come out of Caprica in over five hundred years."

"That was just some stupid blurb in Caprican Life," Kara insisted.

"You scored seven goals in your playoff against Aerelon this year."

"I had a good day. Plus their defense is pure shit."

Zak finally let go of her hand and shook his head. "What the frak are you doing on Galactica?"

"I'm training to be a pilot," Kara informed him. She looked around to see her fellow nuggets had disappeared and sighed. "Would you be so kind as to tell me how I could get the Briefing Room? I think I'm late."

Zak's eyes went wide. Motioning Kara to follow him, he took off in a walking sprint. "My brother is going to kill you if you're late on the first day."

"Your brother?"

"He's the one assigned to teach you how to fly, and he does not like people who are late."

Kara rolled her eyes as she continued to rush after this Zak guy. It sounded like her instructor was going to be some tight ass pilot who wouldn't know the word fun if it bit him on the ass. Maybe she had been wrong to step up and do her part for humanity.

Zak paused at an open hatch and winced. He could already hear Lee lecturing. "Listen, Kara. There's a triad game in one of the break rooms later tonight. Come down to the hangar and find me if you want to join in. Maybe I can help you drown your sorrows from the dressing down you're about to get."

Kara gave him a smile. "Thanks, Zak."

"Anything for Kara Thrace."

Kara rolled her eyes and stepped into the room. She was just noticing that the voice lecturing sounded awfully familiar when the whole room turned to stare at her. "Sorry, I'm late," she said, taking one of the open seats in the front. She wasn't about to offer more explanation than that. "Carry o-"

Her voice cut off as she locked eyes with the man in charge of teaching her how to be a Viper pilot. To his credit, Lee Adama only flinched for a moment. "Glad you could join us, Thrace."

Kara gave him a small nod, which was all she could really manage.

Halfway through Lee's opening lecture, Kara had decided it made sense. She had the bad habit of making a fraking fool out of herself. Going at it with your flight instructor on top of a bar was pretty much her style. Though, to be honest, she was pretty sure every female nugget in the room was thinking about doing the exact same thing. The only problem was she had actually done it in real life, and that was going to make it oh so hard to quit.

Kara was amazed that she had only caught Lee staring at her a few times during his lecture, and even then, a quick wink got him to turn away. It was almost like he had been prepared to see her. She didn't even want to think about the all kinds of wrong their little encounter took on if Lee knew she was going to be one of his students.

They went through most of the basic flight maneuvers, and Kara was shocked that she was the only student in the room who actually knew what they was doing. The rest were still stuck on the four basics of flight. She was surprised that these Academy washouts and frak-ups weren't working harder at their second chance.

"McCrathy and Patchett, you'll report to the hangar tomorrow morning to start your Raptor training. Perry, Katraine, Constanza, Thrace, Fox, Saunders, you're on Vipers."

"Who's going to be teaching us?" the young guy next to Kara asked.

"Who's going to be teaching us, sir," Lee corrected. He had to hold back a laugh as Kara rolled her eyes. "That would be me. We don't have simulators on Galactica so tomorrow you all will be flying hot for the first time. If this scares you shitless, you have sixteen hours to get over it. Dismissed."

Kara was picking up her bag in order to get ready to search for her designated bunkroom when she heard Lee call out. "Thrace, hang back. I need to talk with you." She dropped her bag and slouched down into the seat again. This should be good.

As the last nugget in her row pushed past, she leaned over to hiss, "You already made the CAG mad. That has to be some kind of record."

Kara searched her mind until she came up with the name Katraine. If they were on the pyramid pitch, little miss Katraine there would be on a stretcher with a broken nose and two black eyes by now. Kara had been infamous for the issues she had holding on to a pyramid ball when she was angry. She couldn't help it if the loose ball tended to break appendages of the other team. Luckily for Katraine, this was her first day and there were no pyramid balls in sight.

Lee walked to the back of the briefing room and shut the hatch door once all the other nuggets were gone. Kara watched him settle into place in front of the chair she was slouched in and realized he was giving her his 'I mean business' face.

He watched her in silence a few more seconds before sighing. "If you're serious about being a pilot, you can't be late like that, Thrace."

Her vision blurred red as his unexpected words cut her to the core. She had expected a lecture on why they could never talk about what happened on the Rising Star. She had not expected that. Kara leaped out of the seat, immediately putting herself into his face. "Wait a fraking second! Who ever said I wasn't serious?"

"The Colonial Military is not some little past time for you to pick up because you're bored. We have a structure here that we follow because it keeps people safe. If you're not prepared to commit to that, I can get you a Raptor shuttle right back to where you came from."

Kara narrowed her eyes at him. "Permission to speak freely, Captain?"

Lee was taken aback by her sudden use of the standard military protocol for a discussion with a superior officer, but he managed a small nod anyway. "Permission granted."

"You're being an asshole." Kara's whole face lit up into a wide grin when she saw Lee's jaw drop open and his eyes go wide in surprise. "I have been on this ship for maybe an hour and a half, and you've already decided that this is just a whim for me. I bet you didn't even think twice about the reason I decided to enlist. You just chose to judge me on the spot, and frak everything else. I understand where you're coming from, but that doesn't mean you have a right to treat me like shit."

Lee clenched his teeth until he felt the anger subside a little. "I am just trying to get you accustomed to the way you have to live now. Things aren't as glamorous and fun as you're probably used to on the Rising Star."

"The Rising Star wasn't that great," Kara hissed. "Besides, I'm not some prissy, rich girl that was on a family-paid vacation when the Cylons attacked, and I wasn't sitting around in luxury while we were running for our lives. There were things that needed to be done even if you're not on this ship, basic survival things. The Galactica might protect us, but she does not keep this Fleet running all on her own. So don't start trying to shove me into some little stereotype you've cooked up because I can tell you right now, it won't fraking fit."

"That's an interesting theory, you have," Lee growled.

"It's about as interesting as your little theory that this is all a game to me."

"You've done nothing to prove otherwise."

Kara crossed her arms in front of her body and gave Lee the sweetest smile she could muster. "I've only had ninety minutes, sir. Maybe you should give me a little time before deciding I'm a frak-up that you need to wash out."

"Who's talking about washing you out?" Lee demanded.

"You will be in the next couple days. It's a logical progression. First, you discredit my reasons for being here. Then you attack my flying skills. Finally, you convince everyone that I don't have the chops to be protecting the Fleet. I'm washed out and you have one less problem to deal with."

"Now who's stereotyping?"

They stood in silence, glaring at one another, for a few minutes before Kara recognized she was going about this all wrong. She took a deep breath and tried again. "You know, I could have lived a rather decent life on the Rising Star. I could have been comfortable up until the moment we made the wrong move and the Cylons caught up to us." Kara hardened her gaze as she continued to stare Lee down. "I chose not to. I gave up the promise of not having to worry about one fraking thing to come on this ship and take on the burden of all the worries left in this world. I chose to do that not because I had something to prove to myself or to anyone else. I'm here because it's the right thing to do. I was late today, and I apologize for that, but I need you to know that I am committed to doing this. This," she gestured wildly, "is pretty much all I have left."

Lee regarded her for a moment in wonder before shaking his head and taking one of the seats in the front row. He had a feeling he was taking on a handful of trouble that he didn't need right now, but somehow he didn't doubt she was sincere. If this was really what she wanted to do, it was his job to make it happen for her. "So why were you late, anyways?"

"I was talking to a deckhand in the hangar bay." Something Zak said suddenly popped into Kara's head, and she smiled. "I believe he was your brother, sir." The look on Lee's face as he groaned said it all. "I take it Zak is your younger brother?"

"How'd you guess?" Lee said as he rubbed his forehead where a headache was already starting to pop up.

"That was the groan of a man who's had to look after someone for years." Kara slid into the seat next to Lee. "So, tell me, Captain Adama, how did two brothers get stationed on the same ship? I thought that was a big no-no in the military."

"Zak and I weren't members of Galactica before the Cylons attacked. I was stationed on Atlantia, and he was on Solaria."

"So how the frak did you end up here?"

"There was a decommissioning ceremony that we were required to attend."

"I remember hearing about that," Kara said, nodding. "So why were you two given the honor of attending?"

"Well, when your father is the Commander of the ship being retired, it's more a requirement than an honor."

Kara let out a laugh at how dense she was. She knew the Commander's name was William Adama, but she had never put two and two together to wonder if maybe he had some connection to the man she had met at a ritzy bar in the sky. "So you two got pulled into the ceremony because of the Old Man and now you're stuck here? That sucks."

Lee was about to tell her how much it really did suck when he realized how completely inappropriate this conversation was. Kara was one of the nuggets he was in charge of training. She wasn't some girl in a bar who had bought him a couple drinks. He shouldn't be talking about this personal life with her. Clearing his throat, he stood up and walked to the podium. "I think that will be all, Thrace. You're dismissed."

The insult of being abruptly pushed aside without another thought made Kara want to lash out again. Knowing that would not be the best idea, she tightened her fists and stalked over to the hatchway. She was about to open the door when something occurred to her, and she walked over to the podium. "So we're not going to talk about what happened on the Rising Star?"

Lee looked up from his reports and shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, it never happened."

Kara narrowed her eyes and looked him over for a moment. "Good."

"Good," he said, returning to his reports.

Kara made it almost to the hatchway before he called out, "Don't forget that you have training runs in the morning." She decided if he told her not to be late, she was definitely going to end up punching him.

Luckily, Lee stayed silent and Kara walked out into the corridor. As she made her way to the general area where the bunkrooms were located, she did her best not to dwell on the fact that she was extremely pissed off at her CAG for brushing her aside like that. She had figured Lee would want to talk about what happened between them the day before, maybe even going as far as to point out all the reasons why it was wrong. She had never expected him to just pretend like it never happened.

She didn't even want to start wondering why it made her so angry. That was not a place she needed to be going, not on her first day.