WHTMT - chapter 9

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Nearly a dozen people were crammed into Kara and Sam's tent, listening to her report on the cylon situation. Tyrol, Cally, Roslin and several of Sam's closest friends were among them.

"We have to fight," Jackson said firmly when Kara was done. There were many nods of assent.

"I agree. We can't let them do this to us again," Tyrol said, shaking his fist angrily.

"But Galen ..." Cally protested, gently rocking baby Matthew, only two days old.

He put his arm around her shoulder. "You know we have no choice. Our son needs to grow up to be free, not having the cylons always at his back. We need to show them once and for all that we mean business."

"Can you imagine? Human/cylon babies? If they want us to integrate societies you know it isn't going to be long before they're taking our women and creating hybrids." The man who'd spoken was one of the Chief's former mechanics - he couldn't have known about the farms on Caprica - but Kara shuddered at the memory.

Sam too, looked at her as the man spoke and shuddered sympathetically along with her. He knew how badly she'd been affected by what she'd seen and what had nearly happened to her, and remembered the death pact they'd made when she'd returned to Caprica to rescue him. Fortunately they hadn't had to go through with it, though Sam would have, if need be. There were some fates worse than death - especially for women.

"So what are we going to do?" Jackson asked, turning instinctively to Sam, who merely coughed, unable to speak.

"Can't you see he's not up to it?" Kara asked a little defensively, walking over to sit beside him. He took her hand and squeezed it.

"So Captain ... what's the deal?" Tyrol asked, turning to Kara for leadership.

She sighed. "I don't know."

Many voices piped up, quite a few of the C-bucks among them encouraging her on.

"If anyone can lead us, you can. Sam trusted you, I'll trust you." Sam nodded in appreciation of his friends' support.

"Come on Captain - you've always been a good leader in battle - the other pilots may have bitched about you sometimes, but you always got the job done, and almost always brought everyone home alive." Tyrol gave her a small smile.

"On the ground as well - she and Sam were an unstoppable combination."

Sam squeezed Kara's hand, and she turned to face him, tears filling her eyes.

"I had nothing to lose before," she whispered, other hand protectively covering her stomach.

Cally, motherly instincts kicking in, was the first to realize. "Are you ..." she began, but stopped as both Kara and Sam nodded.

Roslin smiled. "Well, we don't want to force you into anything, but we certainly could benefit from your advice. You've shown you can outsmart the cylons on more than one occasion. If you can help with the planning, the rest of us will take care of the execution, won't we?" She looked around the tent for approval.

Tyrol nodded firmly. "Absolutely. I'll go round up as many people as I can whom I know we can trust."

"Be careful?" Cally implored. Tyrol smiled and left without answering.

"Home base will have to be the school tent," Kara stated. "Ours is too small and Sam needs privacy."

Roslin nodded. "That works."

"Jackson - gather up the rest of the Bucks and let them know what's happening. Don't come to home base yet, it'll be too conspicuous." Her voice lowered, as though she were talking to herself. "And I need time to come up with a plan."

"Yes sir," Jackson said, heading out.

Kara smiled ruefully. "It's been a while since I heard that."

Roslin put a gentle hand on Kara's shoulder. "You miss it, don't you?"

"A little," Kara confessed, squeezing Sam's hand as he coughed. "I'll be at the base shortly to begin planning. We just need a few minutes ..." She trailed off, looking lovingly into Sam's eyes.

The others got the hint and left post haste.

"I don't want to do this - not without you," she said softly, stroking his hand with her thumb.

"You have to," he rasped, coughing again. "Chief was right - our baby deserves to be safe and have a good life. Just promise me you won't put yourself in danger."

"I promise," she whispered. "I'll be here most of the time anyway. Someone has to take care of you." She smiled weakly.

"Don't you worry about me, I'll be fine." He burst into a coughing fit that nearly had him choking, and Kara knew. It was already too late. She was going to lose him, no matter what she did. The tears rolled down her cheeks as she hugged him and patted him on the back.

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"I still don't like it," Lee growled.

"It was your suggestion," Helo reminded him. "Sir," he added, as an afterthought.

The Commanders and their acting XO's were meeting on Galactica now that they'd jumped away safely and appeared not to have been followed. It was a tense meeting.

Lee glared at Helo, and Dee shuddered at the open hostility in his face.

"I'm well aware of that, but it doesn't mean I like leaving all of those people behind."

"None of us like it Commander, but as you pointed out, it was a necessity; we dared not risk waiting for them to fire on us to find out just how overpowered we were," Adama said, playing the diplomat as much as he could. It wasn't a role he was comfortable with, but he'd watched Laura Roslin for nearly a year and had taken a few lessons from her.

"Consider how defenceless they are though. A few guns ... some ex-soldiers ... for all we know the cylons could have blown that entire rock out of existence before our people were aware there was any danger," Lee said, frustration evident in his tone of voice.

"Let's think positively shall we? We're going to assume the cylons haven't harmed them and figure out a plan to go back. We need to be prepared in case they've turned hostile again. Suggestions anyone?" Adama moved some star charts out of the way and put the scale models onto the war table.

Lee could immediately see a way but a little voice in his head kept finding flaws. It's a perfect plan - by the book. The cylons will see right through it. You need to think out of the box Lee. The voice sounded suspiciously like Kara.

The thought of her made his heart sink down to his toes. He'd likely never see her again, never talk to her, never touch her. I'll never get another 'Kara' hug - gods, how will I survive? And while sadness enveloped him at the thought of leaving her behind to die with the others, shame began to flush his cheeks as he remembered how he'd treated her the last time they'd spoken. She asked me for help - and I turned her down. My gods, what is wrong with me?

"Commander, something wrong?" Adama asked, always acutely aware of his son's change in moods.

"No, nothing sir. Just thinking. Trying to think like Starbuck."

"I wish we had her with us now," Adama admitted. "She could always be counted on to come up with some incredibly wild-sounding plan that was just what we needed."

Amen to that, Lee thought, sighing. He wished she was here too. Not that he'd ever confess it in front of the others, but he always felt more secure knowing Starbuck was on their side. She could always be counted on to save people's asses and get the job done. Generally, with as few words as possible too. Apollo and Starbuck worked together like a well-oiled machine, always fitting into each other's plans instinctively. Lee felt completely lost inside at the thought of losing her forever. Fighting with her, not speaking to her ... that was one thing, but never having the chance to make up was something he could barely stand the thought of.

"I'm still waiting for suggestions," Adama prompted.

"Well, here's a thought," Helo began, and outlined his plan. When he was done, everyone was silent for a moment, processing it, until an idea popped into Lee's head like a gift from the gods.

"That's good," he said, "but what if we were to ..." And he shared his ideas, which consisted of Helo's original plan with a few tweaks and backups.

"Yes, yes, and then we do this," Adama said, obviously getting excited at the prospect, pushing models over the table. "The cylons will never see this coming." He smiled in satisfaction. "Good work people. We begin in twelve hours, after we've had time to prep our ships and brief our people."

I hope it isn't too late by then, Lee thought with a shudder.

"You're dismissed. Commander, a word please?"

"Yes sir," Lee said, nodding at Dee to go ahead with Helo. He sighed. He had a feeling the old man wanted to talk about something Lee didn't. Something personal.

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"It's a good plan," Roslin said, nodding. "But do you think it'll work? It seems pretty risky to me."

"Well, that's why we have plan B. The cylons fall for plan A and think they have us, and then we hit them with something else."

"I like the way you think." Roslin smiled her approval. She'd been impressed at Kara's ability to plan during the tylium fuel station mission and knew she wouldn't let them down now.

Kara smirked, then her face grew serious again. "The difficult part is to find volunteers for the most dangerous part."

"I'm willing. And so are the others." Jackson stood at the tent's entrance. "Freedom is worth risking your life for. And if we die in the process - well, it's better than never trying at all."

"Thank you," Kara said, blinking as the tears threatened again. When did she become so emotional? Must be those hormones running amock in my body - causing me to act crazy! "I'm going to put you in charge of the Buck's group then. Here's the plan ..."

Jackson bent his head over the table and looked as Kara and Roslin outlined their basic plan.

"Sounds good to me. We'll manage, don't worry about us. We survived eight months on Caprica, we can do this."

"I have no doubt." Kara smiled. "We begin in two hours. I need a bit of time to find some equipment. If you see the Chief, send him this way. I'm going to need his help with rigging this stuff."

"Will do," Jackson said, nodding as he left the tent.

"You didn't tell him about the backup plan?" Roslin queried.

"It's on a need to know basis. And he doesn't need to know," Kara said grimly. "Yet."

Roslin gave her a strange smile. "That sounds a lot like someone else I know."

Kara smiled back. "I learned from the best." They exchanged a sad look, each knowing what the other was thinking. "I need to get to work. Lots to do in the next two hours."

"Good luck ... Kara."

Kara smiled weakly at her before leaving the tent. We're surely going to need it, she thought ruefully. This is going to be a lot tougher than anyone expects. Gods, I wish Lee were here ... it's always so much easier when I have him on my side ...

TBC