Author's note: I know that I said I was going to update both of the versions of this story simultaneously but my eyes were obviously bigger than my stomach because that is proving quite a challenge. I thought that, since they are now on quite different paths and this chapter was finished, I would at least give you the next instalment of this version. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 8

"Thanks for coming Zarek."

Cain raised an eyebrow at Kara as Zarek joined them in the planning room where various models were arranged on the operation board.

"The participation of the Astral Queen is essential to my plan, sir. Thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and brief you together." She shrugged in apology as Cain gave her a hard stare, clearly not liking Zarek's presence.

"Alright. Go ahead, lieutenant."

"OK, so the plan is to take this tyllium ore refinery ship away from the Cylons. Our latest intell shows that the basestar is maintaining orbit around the ship here." She moved the model of the basestar onto the board. "Astral Queen will jump in here, pretending to be a mercenary pirate ship trying to steel the tyllium." Zarek smirked. "I thought you'd like that touch! The aim will be for the Astral Queen to draw the basestar away from the refinery ship. Once the basestar has moved a sufficient distance then Pegasus will jump in here between the basestar and the refinery ship."

"That requires a very precise jump, lieutenant."

"Yes sir, but it is essential. It puts us in the driving seat in the engagement. If we jumped in to a conventional attack position, say here for instance, then we'd have to destroy the basestar to get to the refinery ship. If we jumped in on the other side then the basestar could easily just destroy the refinery ship to avoid us capturing it and the explosion could take out even a ship of Pegasus' size. Once we are in position between the two ships then we can protect it, attack the basestar and launch our viper squadrons to protect the Astral Queen. The ideal outcome is that the basestar, having lost the advantage, will jump away, but if not then we will be close enough, and hopefully have enough of the element of surprise, to nuke it."

"Won't a nuclear explosion affect the tyllium ore?"

"Even if the ship doesn't have shielding, Pegasus' position should protect it."

"What is your estimate of casualties, Starbuck?" asked Zarek.

"The Queen's gonna get hit pretty hard. How hard depends on how fast you can get that basestar to move." Kara was impressed with how he reacted to this statement; he didn't flinch, didn't argue; he just looked at Cain with a distinct challenge in his eye.

"Well admiral? If you want to do it then we'll certainly do all we can to help."

"Thank you Mr Zarek. Lieutenant, an ingenious plan. Let's hope it works. Full executive staff briefing at 1800 hours." With that Cain left. Kara blew her cheeks out in relief: from what she had seen of how the admiral operated that seemed to be a fairly positive reaction.

"Everything alright, Starbuck?"

"Yeah, Its just it's not like dealing with the Old Man. I'm not sure how to read her yet."

"No, me neither and I can't say that I entirely trust her." Kara smirked at him.

"But then that's nothing new with you and the military is it Zarek?" He smiled in return.

"No, you're right, but somehow I seem to be placing a lot of trust in you, Starbuck. I haven't thanked you by the way. I have a feeling that if you hadn't been there I probably would have been back in my cell by now. We're all grateful. I had a long line of people asking me to give you their regards."

"Say hello to them for me and let's hope that this plan works and then we can get on with finding the fleet."

Kara joined Cain and the XO, Colonel Blake, in CIC as the operation began.

"I hate this part," she murmured.

"I thought you viper pilots loved the anticipation of a mission," asked Cain.

"Being in a viper I can handle. I meant the hanging around in CIC relying on other people to pull your plan off. The first time I ever had to do it was that operation at the tyllium asteroid I told you about. I came up with this completely crazy plan, but I'd injured my knee and couldn't fly, so Apollo led the mission: pulled it off with one of the most frakking amazing stunts I've ever seen in a viper, the mad SOB." She smiled at the memory. Before the admiral could ask her any more questions about it though they were interrupted by the announcement that the Astral Queen had jumped into position.

The next few minutes were very tense as they just had to listen as the basestar launched its raiders to attack the Astral Queen. Zarek seemed to be enjoying his role as a pirate and the Queen gave back as good as she got, her guns taking out any number of raiders, but it was obvious that she was taking heavy fire in return. The basestar was gradually edging further and further away from the refinery ship. As soon as it had reached a distance which they had pre-determined the Astral Queen signalled Pegasus and Cain ordered the jump. Despite the admiral's misgivings, her crew delivered on the jump position, meeting Kara's plan exactly. After that it was all relatively simple. Pegasus was able to use its surprise arrival to launch a direct attack on the basestar and soon they were celebrating the victory. Cain immediately turned to Kara.

"Very well done, lieutenant. I have to say that I'm impressed by your vision and ingenuity."

"Thank you, sir. I'm sure that's just a nice way of saying that I'm crazy but thanks all the same!"

"Well if that's how your particular brand of crazy turns out then its fine with me." She turned back to her XO. "Colonel, I want damage reports from all division officers."

"Yes sir. We have the Astral Queen on the line. It seems that they have sustained heavy damage and have a fire on board which they can't get under control. They may have to abandon ship." Kara held her breath waiting for Cain's reaction to this news.

"Pity; they did an excellent job for a non-military vessel. Send over a team of engineers and raptors to bring the survivors to Pegasus if the ship can't be saved." Kara looked at her in surprise. "Do you have a problem, lieutenant?"

"No sir, it's just…I'm a bit surprised that you're bothering….I mean I don't want to discourage it. It's just before….I didn't think….." Kara shut up, realising that she was rambling.

"I give praise where praise is due, lieutenant and I recognise outstanding effort. Whoever they are, that crew deserves the attention. And I've realised that you were right: we can't afford to waste anyone from what's left of humanity."

It didn't turn out to be possible to save the Astral Queen. A lot of people were lost but just over 200 were rescued and brought aboard Pegasus, including Sam and all the survivors from Caprica. With the refinery ship now in tow securing an abundant supply of fuel, they continued to jump and pick up Apollo's messages. Kara's heart was warmed by the fact that he obviously hadn't given up hope. She was convinced that they would find the fleet eventually and that they were getting closer with each jump. She would have pushed to get there quicker but supplies were needed and Cain wanted the Cylon fleet tracked as well so time marched on.

The refugees from the Astral Queen were surprisingly well accepted by the crew of Pegasus. The job they did on the tyllium operation was fully appreciated by the military personnel. Zarek made sure that his people made themselves useful and also kept the more unruly elements of his former crew under tight rein. With the admiral's agreement, they had also prepared a pyramid court in Pegasus' vast gym and Sam and his friends were giving exhibitions and organising games.

Kara also continued to establish herself with Cain and her crew. The admiral had shown her their Cylon prisoner. Kara had confirmed that she had seen that particular model on Caprica, not that it was easy to recognise her after the working over she had obviously been given by Cain's interrogators.

"We haven't gotten any useful information out of it at all," the admiral complained.

"Yeah, we haven't found interrogation useful, either. Commander Adama had me interrogate the first Cylon we captured and I got nowhere with it, but the one we have on Galactica now has been really useful, even helped us escape from the Cylons on a couple of occasions."

"Why in the name of the Gods would it do that?"

"Well…um…you see…she…um…fell in love with one of our raptor pilots." Cain seemed amused by this idea.

"I somehow don't think this one is likely to fall in love with lieutenant Thorn. May be I'll get him to send in some handsome young ensign and see if that gets us anywhere!"

Over the weeks, Kara found herself spending a fair amount of time with the admiral and they gradually developed quite a rapport. She didn't agree with everything Cain did but she did come to respect her. The admiral wanted to know as much as possible about what had happened to the Galactica and its fleet since the attacks. Kara found some of these conversations rather stressful to say the least, as she didn't want to say anything that would drop Adama in the shit with his superior, but at the same time she could hardly lie to the admiral. She just decided that there were some things that the admiral really didn't need to know!

She continued to miss Lee with an intensity that she hadn't expected. She had all but forgotten their last harsh words to each other and only dwelt on the good times they had together. Her longing only seemed to get worse as time went on, not better, and was especially acute at moments that she knew they should have shared together. The worst was the first time she felt the baby move. She was so elated yet at the same time so sad that she couldn't share it with Lee that it was like an actual physical pain. The only good thing to come out of their continued separation was that it was helping her to establish a feeling for their child. She had been at best ambivalent about having a baby, but now she was lavishing all the love she normally gave to Lee onto his child. Since it had started moving, the baby had become much more real to her and she was now rather proud of her nicely developing rounded 'bump': no one on Pegasus could be in any doubt any more as to why she wasn't flying. Thankfully, her morning sickness had also abated and she was able to restart her early morning run, although it was more of a leisurely jog now after the doc had told her to take it easier. One particular morning she was just coming to the corridor where the executive staff quarters were located when she spotted a familiar figure surreptitiously closing one of the hatches.

"Samuel T Anders what do you think you're doing?" Sam turned in surprise at her voice and put a finger to his lips to shush her. He grabbed her elbow and dragged her down the corridor and around the corner.

"Could you be any more loud, Kara? It's five thirty in the morning for frak sake," he hissed at her.

"Yeah, so what are you doing coming out of the admiral's quarters at this hour?" she whispered back. He raised a suggestive eyebrow at her. Her eyes went wide. "You slept with Admiral Cain?"

"Well she looked like she could do with a good frak." Kara let out an incredulous laugh.

"Oh sweet Lords, you frakked the admiral!" Her surprise made her forget to keep quiet.

"Shhhhhh, I don't really want the whole frakking ship to know. Think about it, Kara; every single guy on this ship is off limits to her because she has to uphold the military regs. There's no one that she can use to relieve any….tension. That doesn't apply to me: I don't work for her. Think of it as my service to the ship. Happy admiral equals happy crew."

"Yeah, I bet you were just thinking about their welfare: you're all heart, Sam. Gods, she must be years older than you."

"Not that much and that doesn't really matter to me. She's got a great body under that uniform." He gave an exaggerated yawn. "And frak me, has that woman got some stamina." Kara put her hands over her ears and screwed her eyes shut.

"Oh no, I didn't need to hear that." She opened her eyes wide again. "Oh Gods, I can't believe I'm going to have to see her in CIC in a few hours knowing that you... that she…." She shook her head to clear the mental image.

"Yeah, may be you can compare notes," he grinned lasciviously. She slapped him on the arm but couldn't maintain a serious expression as her appreciation of the ridiculous won her over and she started to really giggle.

"How long has this been going on?" she asked when she eventually got herself under control.

"Umm, since not long after we got here." He admitted, almost blushing. "Seems that she does do charm after all." Kara just snorted. "You know that my heart belongs to you, Kara, but man cannot live by pining alone." He gave her a mock-pathetic look.

"Pining my ass! I can't believe that you're frakking the admiral. That's kind of a leap from a lowly lieutenant. Way to go, Sam!" He grinned back at her.

"Yeah, Zarek's gonna be pissed if he ever finds out. I reckon he was up for a crack at her. Glad I got there first."

"Well she's got good taste, I'll give her that."

"Thanks. Now I'm going to catch up on my sleep." He winked at her and strolled nonchalantly down the corridor.

When Kara went on duty in CIC she was sure that she blushed the first time she saw Cain, but the normal routine in CIC soon made her get over it. She was on watch with the XO. She liked Robert Blake; he was a great foil for Cain's rather abrasive personality and Cain seemed to listen to him. He was also a very hard worker and followed a punishing schedule that was obviously catching up with him as he tried to cover a yawn.

"Are we keeping you awake, Robert?" asked the admiral.

"Sorry, sir. I didn't sleep very well last night."

"No I didn't get much sleep either," Cain replied, massaging a knot in her neck. Kara made a sort of strangled cough sound making both of them look at her.

"Are you alright lieutenant Thrace?"

"Fine, sir. Just got something in my throat."

I'm gonna kill him, she thought. I'm so gonna kill him!

Kara's thoughts of murdering Sam were broken by the announcement that they were ready for their next jump. She held on to the console as the jump started. Once it was complete she raised her eyes to the dradis screen, ever hopeful that she would see the fleet appear. This time her prayers seemed to have been answered and she was rewarded by a large number of blips popping up on the screen. Suddenly Dee's familiar voice came over the wireless.

"This is the battlestar Galactica………"