DISCLAIMER: The character's and the universe of the Battlestar Galactica do not belong to me.

NOTE: It's time to rescue humans from New Caprica. And there are better fanfics, and authors who are more capable of dealing with all those multi-character issues (yes, Diana Belmont, if you're reading this, I'm referring to you and your story "Dark Days" which BTW I recommend), so I'm not going to make a serious attempt at that. Instead I'll stick to my plot, with just some vague hints…
And I hope my "reading audience" enjoys it nonetheless.

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HYBRID by -yannik-

Chapter Four - RESCUED

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It was more and more obvious, that Kara was not pregnant. But there was always a possibility that she could get ptregnant at some point, and that the baby's father – Samuel Anders – could be a cylon. Why not?

Or there was a possibility that someone else she knew was having a baby... say Cally and Tyrol. One of them could be a cylon. Why not?

Kara knew she was getting paranoid. But luckily for her, she had lots of other things to keep her mind occupied. Organizing the resistance soon changed into planning the escape from the planet in as much group as possible, without drawing cylons' attention. Impossible? Not for Kara Thrace and her band.

Once the communication with the Fleet was established, and brains were buzzing on both sides of the FTL raptor connection, it was just a matter of time, before the cylons would be history. Kara was so busy days and nights, that even in the deepest dark Leoben's face wasn't hauting her anymore. She nearly forgot. Impossible happened.

"You should come with us" she pleaded with Sam for thousandth time. Only hours separated them from 'time-zero' when the op. Rescue was to begin.

"I can't and you know that" he reasoned. "Only the pilots are going in the first group. That's a good plan."

Of course he was right. And of course he wasn't. Some of the pilots insisted on taking their families, but there were also a few indispensable deck-hands, CIC personnel, engineers. And their families. If someone wanted to be literal.

"Not only pilots" Kara tried to argue, though she knew it was futile, "and you know that."

"Cally and a few pregnant girls or new mommies don't count." Sam looked at her seriously. Yes, they've been through that over and over again. "That's the way of protecting the human race, or somehing" he reminded Laura Roslin's argumentation – her reasons to take those few girls in case something didn't work out. At least the youngest children would be safe.

"Right." Kara nodded. "And let's not forget Laura Roslin herself." The ex-President was going too, partly because her cold, reasonable mind, and sense of responsibility were something humans really needed – she may not have been the President anymore, but she was the best leader they could have. And partly because Admiral Adama insisted. "Those girls are going because they know someone from the command group" Kara sighed, and shook her head at this obvious favoritism. There were so many pregnant women, so many little children staying behind, until the second stage of the operation. And men. "You know me" she tried once more. "You could get onboard too, based on that..."

"I will be more useful here" Sam cut in. "Okay? We've discussed it..."

"I just don't want us to get separated."

"I know Kara" he said softly, and came closer. "I don't want that either." He placed his hand under her chin, forced her to look up into his eyes. "But we have no choice..."

"We do..."

"We don't." He held her face in his palms. "I can fight. I have to fight. I want to fight. You are going to be fighting, why don't you want the same for me? You know it would make me miserable if I was useless."

"I know" she nodded. "I just don't want to lose you" she added in a whisper.

"Neither do I" he whispered back. And held her close. "And I promise I'll do all I can to stay alive. Will you promise the same?"

"Yes" she sighed and buried her face in his chest. "I promise I'll do all I can to stay alive."

>>

"Everything ready?"

"Almost."

Kara was surprised to see Laura Roslin come into her tent, over an hour before they were supposed to leave. They were supposed to be sleeping, getting as much rest as possible before the operation. Not that Kara or Sam were able to sleep.

"What are you doing here?" Kara asked, climbling out of bed.

"I need to talk to you" the older woman replied meaningfully.

"What about?" Sam inquired, getting up as well.

Laure eyed him, and turned to Kara. This was a secret. This was just between the two of them. And Kara didn't need to ask what it was about, because there was only one secret the two of them shared. They went outside.

"Did he come?" Laura asked immediately, in a confidential whisper.

"No." Kara shook her head, equally amazed by Laura's ability to juggle so many different obstacles, and her own forgetfulness.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Nothing." What was she supposed to do? The were fleeing, Leoben was going to be left behind, along with all the worries. Without even trying, Kara was about to put one more nightmare behind her.

"We need…" Laura started, but Kara didn't want to worry.

"There's nothing I can do" she stated firmly. "Do you want me to go to one of those Number Fours, and ask 'are you the one who wants the hybrid?' What if the others don't know the child even exists? This seems quite frakked up, don't you think? When Gaeta made an assumption that there was some rift in the cylon's command we thought he was nuts, but more and more evidence proves him right. I don't know what fraction Leoben… our Leoben works for. I can't… take risks."

Laura looked at her intently, and Kara flinched. Yes, she was vaguely aware that she was in denial. Somewhere deep inside – too deep to dig into – she knew why it was so important to her to take Sam with them right now. But he was staying, so she couldn't worry. She couldn't worry.

Laura had her own purposes though. "All I want, is to know..." she started, but Kara didn't want to listen.

"…know if Hera would be safe" she interrupted, thinking she knew better. "Don't worry. She will be. They aren't going to harm her, c'mon, we'll be out of here in a matter of hours! Laura?" Kara stopped, startled by a sudden change in Laura's face. The ex-president seemed about to cry!

"I never thought it would come to this" she whispered her confession. "I tried to force myself to remember that this was a machine, but when I watch her grow, when she smiles at me and calls me 'ati'… You know, for 'auntie'…"

"Stop it!" Kara rose her voice, and covered her ears. She already heard too much!

Laura put a hand to her mouth, frightened.

They looked at each other, trying to figure out what was said, and what it meant.

"Stop it right there Laura" Kara said slowly, knowing her own ability to supress memories could still save the baby. She didn't have to analyze what child was close enough to Laura to consider her an aunt. "I don't want to know anything about this baby. I can't know that." Even if she believed it was about to end soon, they were still on the planet, and something could go wrong. She didn't want to know! "I think you should…"

"Go." Laura nodded. "Yes, I'll go." She started turning away, but then she remembered. "About the other hybrid." She looked up at Kara again, trying to find some understanding. "It has a parent. An unidentified cylon! There must be some way you could get that information from Leoben!"

"Not any more" Kara replied sadly. Leoben was past, and his secrets and lies were past. She didn't intend to dwell upon that, even if – in Laura's oppinion – it could help humans. "We'll see you in an hour?"

"This is important" Laura insisted weakly, but she knew it was to no avail. Kara remained silent. "In an hour then."

>>

In the foggy hour before the sundown, a group of refugees was dashing through the grassland. Raptors were supposed to land about two miles from New Caprica City in fifteen minutes. If everything was coordinated perfectly enough, the group would get to the landing site in exactly the right moment to assure the first step of the operation to last no longer that a minute.

Kara was marching next to Laura in complete silence. They haven't said a word to each other since their earlier conversation and it didn't even seem weird.

T – minus thirteen miutes.

The fiery arrows soared throug the star-lit sky. Raptors.

Kara looked at Laura and saw genuine joy and relief in her eyes. The joy and relief she felt herself. But Laura's were suddenly replaced by fear.

"Welcome again" Kara heard a familiar voice from right behind her back.

Leoben.

She turned, pointing her gun at him.

"You don't want to do this" he said, smiling.

"Don't I?"

"You know I'm not the only cylon around. And Sam is back there" he reminded.

Kara stood, watching him, his smile, his impudence.

And he turned to Laura instead. "It's nice to see you again" he welcomed. "Did you think about what I told you?"

"Oh..." Laura gasped. "I did" she admitted, and scolded herself immediately. "But not for long! It was all crap! You're a liar, and a deciever. I don't know what your purposes are, but you're not going to win. You won't deceive her!" Laura pointed at Kara, and Leoben looked over at the blonde.

His eyes asessed her really long, and Kara didn't say a word. She didn't know what to say. Her thoughts were all gone. Gone back to Anders…

"Someone will contact you out there" the cylon said finally, a smile plastered to his face. "I wonder if you will ask one of your friends for help with fulfilling your mission. You still have friends out there, do you?" He fell silent, waiting, and Kara felt familiar force of fury rising up in her chest. Just a second before she was ready to explode, he spoke again. "Guess we'll have to wait to find out. We're getting ready. Wait for a sign." With that he turned away, and disappeared into the mist.

Both women stood there for a while. Until Laura realized all the refugees were already gone, and they were alone.

"Hurry!"

It took all of Kara's self-control to fall into step beside her friend again. She tried to comprehend all the implications of Leoben's sudden arrival – at the last moment, when no one would expect him to! She was to run away. She was to be free from this burden! But there he was, with more lies for her, more questions. And it seemed not only she was familiar with his tricks.

"What did he tell you?" Kara turned to Laura, who looked at her startled, not understanding. "He asked if you thought about..."

"Yes. I know." Laura took her time, before she explained. "When I orderd his airlocking. Just before… he said... He said Adama was a cylon. And I actually considered his words true! I actually wanted the old man tested in Baltar's detector, and caused a lot of confusion, and nearly destroyed all trust between the two of us. But the cylon didn't succeed. We prevailed. And so must you, Kara" Laura looked intently into the younger woman's eyes. "You must learn to separate his lies from the truth. You must find a way to capture what's important, and throw away the garbage."

Kara nodded, but before she could answer, she saw bushes before them move slightly. She pointed her gun at the approaching figure, and nearly shot. It took all her willpower to remember to first look.

It was Helo.

"There you are" he whispered. "Hurry up, raptors are waiting!"

He turned around and two women followed him.

"I know" Kara whispered to Laura after a moment. "He knows, that you know. He thinks I can get that information from you. I think there is only Hera."

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Next days were a blur. Raptors jumping into the atmosphere, landing to take the refugees. One of the battlestars jumping in, half an hour later, launching vipers, fighting, fighting, protecting the escaping raptors, the other battlestar ready to jump in, if the first one deosn't return in the estimated time, fighting, protecting, helping to escape. Fighting and fighting, and over and over again.

Kara lost count after seventh jump. After that she was on autopilot. She was Starbuck. And Starbuck was invincible.

They saved 23 862 souls.

The rest either died or were too afraid to try an attempt at escaping, or simply wanted to stay – wanted to remain planetside. Didn't want to return to space, even at the cost of being cylons' pets.

23 862 survivors in search of a home, called Earth.

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t.b.c.

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If you're good, there will be some Lee in the next chapter... ;)