WHTMT - chapter 8

oooooooooooooooo

The cylons attacked the next day. The sky began to darken at noon, and some were saying it was an eclipse. Though what was eclipsing what wasn't totally clear, since astronomy wasn't one of the top priorities of the Baltar administration. Not that much was really; it seemed the man spent most of his days and nights in a drunken stupor with one or two of the 'ladies' that had been not-so-affectionately dubbed 'Baltar's harem.' Those on the battlestars probably had more ideas about the planets, moons, and other bodies in the heavens, but that information never filtered down to the surface. A distinct rift had grown between the two factions - planet dwellers and ship dwellers - and cooperation was getting harder and harder to come by.

Those on the surface weren't fooled long though, as cylon raiders and heavy raiders began to descend from the dark sky. It cleared as the basestars jumped away , and Kara's heart sank down to her toes as she realized that Galactica and Pegasus had likely jumped away and left them. Either that or the cylons had caught them by surprise and blown them out of the sky, but as she hadn't seen or heard any explosions, she figured they'd gone instead.

Sam stood beside her just inside the tent, leaning heavily on her for support. He scanned the sky, seeing the clear blue and sunshine and sighed. "No reinforcements huh? I guess we're on our own."

"Who's this 'we' you speak of? You're headed back to bed mister."

"Like hell," he said angrily, and erupted in a violent fit of coughing. "I'm not leaving you to deal with them alone. I didn't on Caprica and I won't here."

"In case you hadn't noticed, there are thirty thousand other people here. I'll hardly be alone. And you - you can hardly stand. What good are you going to be if we have to fight?"

"If," he spat disgustedly. "You mean when. And I can still hold a gun. As long as there's breath in me I will protect you and our baby. Don't ever doubt that."

Kara smiled up at him lovingly and squeezed him hard. He began to cough again and Kara winced apologetically.

"Anyway," he began, once the coughing subsided, "if I can survive you, I can survive them."

"Touche," she replied, squeezing gently this time and kissing his cheek.

After getting him back to bed, she headed out to see what was going on first hand. The toasters were marching in formation down the 'main' street of New Caprica City, as it had been named, and many of Kara and Sam's neighbours stood outside their tents watching, expressions of extreme fear on their faces as they held their loved ones close.

Kara sidestepped her way among them till she reached the school tent where Roslin stood, arms around her chest protectively, watching the cylons with barely concealed hatred in her eyes.

"Laura," she murmured, still unused to using the former President's first name, but forcing herself to anyway.

"I've waited for this day," Roslin said quietly. "I always felt they let us go too easily. The question is, what do they want?"

"That is the question isn't it?" Kara said dryly. "They could have nuked us easily if they wanted us dead. So why didn't they?"

"Obviously they have a different plan now."

Kara shuddered at Roslin's words, remembering the farms on Caprica and vividly recalling Sharon's words - 'you're special Kara. You have a destiny.' She'd hoped that escaping Caprica had changed that destiny, and that the cylons willingly letting them go had meant her destiny had changed, but perhaps it had merely been put on hold for a time.

"Well I have a plan too," she said resolutely, despite her fears.

"I knew you would." Roslin smiled.

"I'm going to head to the raptor. Try to contact one of the ships."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but don't you think the cylons will be monitoring all frequencies to make sure we don't call for help?"

Kara smiled. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that they don't know about. I'm more worried that the ships are gone, to be honest."

"Gone? They wouldn't ..."

"I spotted five basestars before they jumped. That must be nearly the entire cylon fleet. Galactica and Pegasus are no match for that, even with a full crew complement. If I were them I'd have jumped away, and I'm generally not the type to flee from a fight. The Admiral will do what's best for his crews and for the civilian ships still out there. I'll try to contact them, but I don't hold out much hope."

"Good luck Captain ... Kara," Roslin called after her. Kara smiled. She wasn't the only one having trouble adjusting to civilian life it seemed.

oooooooooooooooo

Kara threw down the equipment in disgust. She'd tried every secret code she knew, even one only Lee would know, as she'd only ever used it once before, but to no avail. There was no one there to answer.

"Time for plan B Thrace. Come on, think." But nothing came to her, short of visiting the President and finding out what the frak was going on.

"Well, they say the best defense is a good offence, so here goes ..." she murmured to herself, as she gingerly picked her way through the tent community, trying not to attract the attention of any toasters. For once she was glad of the nondescript grey clothes that made her blend into the crowds.

When she arrived at Colonial One - still the home and office of the President, she was disheartened to see the place crawling with centurions. That ended any chance of her sneaking in unawares. Might as well try the front door, she thought, heading purposefully in that direction, hoping they'd let her through since she was unarmed.

A cylon stopped her and searched her but wouldn't let her pass.

"I have an appointment to see the President," she lied. Still no help. Did those stupid machines understand english?

"I need to go in there. Let me through," she demanded, sounding braver than she felt.

"Let her through," a familiar voice said, floating through the open doorway. Immediately the centurion moved aside to let her through.

She stopped dead as she entered the President's study. He was there, of course, looking much the worse for wear as usual, but there were also three humanoid cylons; a copy of the 'Shelly' one from Galactica, a copy of Doral, the one who'd blown himself up, and a copy of Boomer - Sharon, who'd been one of Kara's best friends. Her blood ran cold.

"What do you want with us?" she blurted out suddenly.

"What makes you think we want something?" the blonde one asked, in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Humans are so distrustful."

"Should we have a reason not to be?" Kara demanded. "After what you did to us?"

The blonde one tsk tsked. "Holding grudges too."

"Cut the 'we're superior to you' crap and tell us what you want."

Baltar winced at Kara's directness. It was definitely not his way. "Now now ... Kara ... let's try being polite to our guests, shall we?" he piped up, finally joining the conversation.

"Guests?" Kara spat. "Try murderers. Executioners perhaps, but not guests."

"We've changed," Sharon interrupted in a quiet voice. "Some of us have seen the goodness of humans, and we've convinced the others that love is better than war."

"You'll pardon me for having trouble believing that." Kara crossed her arms over her chest in a defiant pose.

"We let Anders live."

"What?" Kara exploded, eyes wide.

"On Caprica. We had him but we let him go, to show that we want peace."

Kara's blood froze again at the thought that Sam had been captured, and it could easily have been too late by the time she'd returned to rescue him. She lowered her arms protectively over her belly, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Sharon.

"We're here to combine our societies. To learn to live together in peace again. To make a better society out of the ashes of our civilizations."

"I'm not sure having garrisons of centurions marching in the streets is going to promote harmony," Kara said dryly.

"We needed to show a military presence," Doral interjected. "If only a few of us showed up, you'd have taken revenge. It's human nature. As our peoples integrate, the military presence will subside."

"There will be people firmly against this you know," Kara warned. "They will form a resistance to fight peace with you."

"Will you be among them?" Sharon asked softly.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. Generally she would have said yes on principle alone, but the fact that Sam was dying, that she was pregnant, put a different spin on things. Maybe peace was the way to go - the way to make sure they didn't lose any more people. Humanity was scarcely surviving already; they didn't need to lose more good people while fighting the inevitable.

"Go back and tell them. They need to hear it from you - from other humans. They won't trust us, but if their own people tell them we come in peace, maybe they'll choose not to fight."

"Yeah, somehow I doubt that," Kara said, eyebrows raising in skepticism. "I don't think you understand humans very well."

"Try. Please?" Sharon pleaded, and Kara could see the desperation in her eyes. She's a toaster Thrace, she doesn't have emotions, she reminded herself. Just because she looks like your friend doesn't mean she is.

"Fine. I'll go, but I wouldn't expect success if I were you," she said unwillingly, heading for the door.

"You'd better hope you're successful," Doral warned. Our people are under orders not to hurt you, but that may change if you don't cooperate."

Kara spun around and glared at him defiantly before storming out.

Sharon sighed disgustedly. "I told you not to threaten her. That's the worst thing you can do to Starbuck. You've made an enemy for life now."

"She liked me before?" he asked sarcastically.

"You know what I mean. You've fired the desire to fight in her. Now she'll rally the others against us."

He stepped forward, into her personal space. "Let her try. She'll see what a mistake that is."

"She can't be harmed, you know that," Six put in suddenly. "God's plan must be followed."

"She can be stopped without being harmed. The same won't be said of her friends though."

"I thought you said you were here in peace. No more war ... love and harmony and all that sort of thing," Baltar protested, appalled at the conversation he was listening to.

Six chuckled. "That's one of the things I've always loved about you. You're so innocent."

TBC

A/N : This story has taken on a life of it's own, which is not to say it won't end up where I've always planned it will, but it seems there will be a bit more to it than I originally intended. This chapter, and perhaps the next few, may end up being more exposition of the story than the 'romance' aspect of the story. Please stick with it though, as the relationship triangle is still a major portion of the story and will return again soon. I promise!

Thanks to all who've read and reviewed so far - I appreciate the comments.