AN: I apologize profusely for the long delay in the posting of this chapter, but my real life doesn't seem to understand that I have important fanfic writing to do. Stupid real life.

Anyway, hopefully when you read this you'll see why it took so long for me to finally get it done.

Thanks.

00000000000000000000

"I don't get it."

Kara rubbed her eyes and let the breath escape her lungs in a loud hiss. "Imagine my surprise."

"Can you go over it again?" The nugget asked her from his seat in the third row.

"NO." She screamed loudly, lowering her hand back to the podium. "I've already been over it four times!"

"You look like you don't feel well, Captain." A second nugget spoke up.

"I don't feel well. I'm tired, I have a headache……and I don't like to frakking repeat myself!" She yelled and then lowered her voice to where it was just an angry growl. "You say you 'don't get it'? Well, get this!" She pointed at him. "You don't do what I'm telling you to do and you'll end up a puddle of bloody goo in your cockpit. It doesn't matter if you 'get it' or not…………. just frakking do it!"

The second nugget cautiously spoke up again. "Captain, it's just—."

"Fine." Kara groaned, uncapping the marker resting on the podium. "I'll go over it again, I'll even explain it to you like you're a four year old who's asking why it's not okay for you to put your hand on the stove—instead of officers in the Colonial Fleet." She turned around and began to inattentively write on the whiteboard. "Follow these incredibly simple and self explanatory rules and you'll be fine."

She turned back around to total silence and saw the confused faces of the trainees looking back at her.

"I don't get it." The first nugget repeated.

"Man," Another nugget kicked the back of his chair. "Are you trying to get us bitch-slapped across the room?"

"What?" He replied, turning around to face his classmate. "I don't get it."

"WHAT ?" Kara shouted, still not looking at what she'd written on the board as she pounded the marker on the podium. "What don't you get?"

The second nugget came to the first nugget's defense. "With all due respect, Captain. I don't really understand what that means either." She pointed to the board. "It's just four letters."

"What are you talking about?" Kara shook her head in puzzlement, but then turned around to view what she had written.

The only thing written on the board was four bold and capitalized letters that she didn't remember writing: MARS.

"Is that an acronym for something?"

"What?" Kara examined the board as if she was seeing it for the first time. "No, it's not an acronym. I don't remember writing this." She started to turn back to them, her voice tentative and weak. "I don't know what it means."

When she was facing the room again, she caught sight of something in the back toward the hatch that made her gasp and drop the marker down to the floor.

Leoben was there, his face and body covered in sweat and blood, just like the last time she'd seen him. "You have to leave now, Kara."

"Leave?" Kara repeated in a raspy whisper.

He nodded. "You have to go NOW." He smiled at her, but it didn't make her feel troubled or afraid like it did before. This time, it put her at ease. "She'll be safe, but only if you find her right away…….. This is my gift to you, Kara."

Kara took off out of the room, exiting the hatch and leaving a class full of confused nuggets in her wake. She started at a dead run, and was so focused on making her way to………she didn't even know where she was going—that she turned the corner and slammed into the Admiral. He was jolted back, but held onto her upper arms to steady her.

"Where is she?" Kara pleaded, gasping for breath when she recovered. "Where's Laura?"

"How did you—?" Adama halted the question on his tongue and shook his head. "It doesn't matter how you know." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Laura's on the Greenleaf."

"I have to go get her." Kara shouted, trying to move past him.

His jaw clenched. "You can't. Not right now."

"Don't tell me I can't!" She replied angrily, moving away from him. "That's my child!"

"You don't understand, Kara." He stopped her, his voice echoing uncertainty. "There's some kind of malfunction with communications and dradis. You're not able to go anywhere."

"No, you don't understand." She hissed back, her voice echoing determination. "It's not up for discussion………I'm GOING. And no malfunction is gonna stop me."

0000000000000000000

"Dee? There's something I wanted to ask you."

"Yeah?" Dualla responded as she and Laura walked down a hall on the Greenleaf, followed closely by Corporal Townsend. "What's that?"

"Well," Laura began, purposely avoiding eye contact with her godsmother as she gave most of her attention to the cat in her arms. "I'm remembering something that Baltar once told me—."

"Well, there's your first problem." Dee interrupted, laughing slightly. "You need to forget everything he ever told you."

"Well, I'm just remembering it because it goes along with something that you once told me."

"Really?" Dee looked surprised.

Laura's brow furrowed. "Well, no, actually." She shook her head. "As a matter of fact, it contradicts what you said."

"Okay."

"But…….and I can't believe I'm actually saying this…….I think that Baltar might be right about this." She admitted sheepishly.

Dee halted their walk and quirked up an eyebrow, giving a small smile. "Elaborate, please."

Laura took a deep breath. "He told me once that destiny was not something I could fight. It was something that I must accept and come to terms with, but never escape, because my destiny was greater than I was."

Dee nodded. "That's one way of looking at it."

"But not your way." Laura stated, reading Dee's face like a book. "I know that for a fact, because you've told me so. You seem to think that I have a choice in the matter; that I would have to choose my destiny in order for it to be fulfilled."

"Yeah." Dee answered simply.

"Well, I didn't think it worked that way." Laura shrugged. "I mean, if someone has a destiny—hasn't the choice already been made? Hasn't the path already been laid out before them? Thousands of years beforehand, in my instance?"

Dee didn't answer for a moment, and Laura could see that she was deep in thought, trying to come up with the right answer. Finally, she let out a long exhale. "Frak it. Gods, I wish you weren't so damn smart."

"Well, I am. Get over it." Laura sighed as well, but it had a twinge of humor to it. "And answer my question."

"If you're going by the exact definition……… Baltar is right." Dee confirmed reluctantly. "Destiny is greater than just one person, but then that means it's also greater than Gaius Baltar. Destiny is an all-encompassing word that breaks the boundaries and barriers of the known and understood. It doesn't fit any one definition. And that's where people like Baltar fall short, Laura." She reached out to pat Boy's head and he only made a small purring sound. "They can't look past the confines and set rules of the universe long enough to see the bigger picture."

"So try to show me the bigger picture, Dee." Laura pleaded.

Dee looked over at Corporal Townsend, who just shrugged and leaned against the wall.

"The universe can bend its own rules. It took me a long time to figure that out, but everything that's happened in the last few years has shown us that. Destination is not the sole purpose of destiny, little girl." Dee assured her softly. "And you can be set on a certain path, but unless you make certain choices along the way, you'll never get to the end of it."

"Kinda like this hallway." The corporal chuckled lowly.

"Destiny is not just about reaching a certain point; it's about who you are when you get there." Dee then closed her eyes. "And that's always up for you to decide. Everyone has a choice in that matter."

"Even you?" Laura asked gently.

Dee opened her eyes in surprise at the question, but nodded. "Even me."

"I don't believe that." Laura shook her head. "I don't know exactly what's gonna happen, but I know you didn't choose your path, Dee."

"It wasn't easy." Dee whispered, looking her straight in the eye. "But that's exactly what I did."

Laura's eyes moistened slightly. "But your path is going to lead you to…….." Laura took in a sharp breath and covered her eyes. "I can't even finish that thought."

Dee touched Laura's hand and pulled it away from her face. "Then don't."

Laura grew intensely determined. "There has to be another way……another way that I can do what I'm supposed to do without you having to—."

"There could be." Dee told her, reconciled in contrast. "But I'm not willing to go on some insane quest to find it. Not when the futures of everyone I love are hanging in the balance." She began to walk again. "Because Baltar's right, this is greater than just me. I've accepted my destiny and I've come to terms with it. And now you need to respect me enough to trust that I know what I'm doing. I was given a choice…….and I made it."

Laura stayed where she was and called after her. "I don't think I can let you do that."

Dee stopped when she reached the end of the hallway and turned back around to face her before knocking on the door. "Then it's a good thing it's not up to you."

0000000000000000000

"Kara!" The Admiral shouted down the hallway after her, Gaeta striding beside him, as she made her way to the pilot's duty locker. "You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious." She uttered firmly as she looked back to them and opened the hatch.

"Starbuck," Gaeta began, looking over to Adama and entering the room behind her. "It's not that we don't understand your need to go find Laura…….but I know you understand what I told you. The signal has to be affecting the entire fleet. We have NO dradis to tell us where the ships are, we have NO communications to get in contact with them to give us their position. And with no coms, they won't even know you're coming, which means they won't know to activate docking and landing procedures—and the Greenleaf wasn't built for combat landings."

Tyrol had come in the room in the middle of Gaeta's speech and stood by the door, but he made his way inside and placed a helmet on the bench in front of her. "What we're trying to say is that you'll be all alone out there."

Kara looked at the three men in front of her; she stripped out of her pants and jacket until she was standing in just her tanks and shorts. She yanked open her locker and took out her flightsuit.

"Ya know," She started. "There was this joke that the pilots and crew on Galactica would make in the months after the attacks—I guess they must have realized that Lee and I had something special between us, even before we did—because the joke was this: What's it gonna take for Starbuck and Apollo to stop fighting long enough to fall blissfully in love, settle down and have a family?" She stepped into her gear and drew the zipper up to her neck. "And do you know what the punchline was?"

Only Adama shook his head that he didn't know.

"A frakking miracle." She answered flatly.

A small smile twitched on the Admiral's face, even though it wasn't that funny. Tyrol and Gaeta—the one's who had already known about the joke—looked away in embarrassment.

A small smile was on her face too as she fastened the last of her buckles. "But somehow, Lee Adama and Kara Thrace have taken a Cylon/human hybrid baby and raised her as their own, loving her like they've never loved anyone in their lives. That's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard, right? So it has to be a joke, right?" She grabbed the helmet and came up to her father-in-law. "But it's not a joke; it's just a frakking miracle. That's what made us a family, sir. We've come this far……. and whatever higher power is out there……..isn't going to give up on us now." She then looked at Tyrol. "I WON'T be all alone."

She walked out of the locker room and was so intent on getting to the hangar that she didn't notice that the Admiral had been with her the entire time. He spoke to her softly. "I know you want to find her, I want to find her too. But, Kara, this was intentional. It's not a malfunction—it's sabotage. And we don't know what you'll find when …..if…… you get to that ship. We need to be cautious about this. Because as it stands right now, you have no plan other than 'Find Laura'……. and that is just crazy."

She nodded, but kept on walking as she spoke out the corner of her mouth. "Parents do crazy things when their children are in danger, happens all the time. And me flying blind over to another ship is not nearly as crazy as, oh let's say……….opening up the fleet to a Cylon attack, damaging a third of the fighter squadron and using up nearly half of the fuel reserves just to search a barren moon that my child may have crash landed on."

Adama stopped dead in his tracks at her comment and laid a hand on her arm, stopping her as well.

She turned to face him. "I know it's crazy, and I know you're just worried about me as well, but do not start lecturing me about using caution when the people you love are in danger." Her eyes moistened and she shook her head. "I'm sorry sir, but it would just sound hypocritical coming from you."

She walked away again and Adama stood frozen until he saw Gaeta and Tyrol jog past and followed her to the hangar.

Kara walked to her Viper and took the clipboard that Cally held out for her, making sure that everything was in order. "Clear it."

Tyrol clapped his hands together and started shouting for the crew to get everything set up. "Okay people, let's go, let's go!"

Kara climbed into the cockpit, Cally climbing the ladder after her, and she noticed that Cally's hand shook as she gave her helmet to her. She glanced up to see that the specialist had a look of absolute trepidation on her face, so Kara took her shaking hand and squeezed it. "Everything's gonna be okay, Cally."

Cally just bit her lip and descended the rungs to the flight deck below to continue doing her job.

Kara locked eyes with the Admiral as she powered up her systems. "It will be, I swear. I just gotta get to the Greenleaf, then Lee and I will go find Laura and Dee. And everything will be okay."

The Admiral's only response was a nod.

"How do you know that Major Adama is going to be there? How can you be sure he even knows to go to the Greenleaf?" Gaeta asked her hesitantly, looking over at the Admiral.

"Because that's where our daughter is and because that's where I'm going to be. And come hell or high water, Apollo and Starbuck always end up in the same place." They started to lower her canopy. "Gods, Gaeta, haven't you been paying attention all these years?"

She put on her helmet and gave everyone a thumbs-up before they wheeled her to the launch tubes.

When she was finally launched, the Admiral and Gaeta made their way back to CIC while Tyrol, Cally, and a new deckhand stared at the vacant spot where Starbuck's Viper had just been.

"Man," The new deckhand muttered, shaking his head. "No dradis, no coms……..and she really thinks that she can make it to a specific ship even though she has no clue of it's position…….using what, sheer nerve?"

Tyrol nodded. "Sounds about right."

"She's just gonna get herself killed." He continued. "Nobody could do that, it's virtually impossible. She won't get it done."

Tyrol looked annoyed over at Cally and pointed to the deckhand. "Is he new?"

Cally rolled her eyes. "Civilian transfer from the Callisto…….yeah, he's new."

The Chief shook his head and walked away.

"Seriously," The deckhand spoke to Cally. "Nobody's that good. Just who the hell does she think she is?"

Cally turned to him. "You ever read much scripture?"

His eyes got wide, but he shook his head. "No, not really."

Cally moved to where she was inches from his face. "Then shut the hell up."

00000000000000000000

"Dualla!" Mrs. Knowlton stated happily when she opened the door to see Dee and the marine standing there. "This is a wonderful surprise." She stepped back and allowed Corporal Townsend to walk in the room.

"I'm surprised you remember me." Dualla responded humbly, coming inside. "I really only came over here a couple times with Laura."

Mrs. Knowlton smiled. "Of course I remember you."

"Sorry for the unannounced visit," Townsend said. "But you understand that it's safer if you don't know that we're coming."

"I understand completely, Jason." She nodded and smiled again. "It's fine, not much going on here anyway."

"You don't mind if I sweep your quarters?" Townsend asked, beginning to walk around with his gun drawn.

"No, not at all. I remember the drill." She gestured around, but pointed into the next room. "But be careful of the far corner in my bedroom where the closet is, Archimedes and Isis just had kittens a couple of days ago." She laughed. "That's where I've put them, and new parents can be fiercely protective of their children."

"They had kittens?" Laura asked, moving from off the side in the hallway and finally stepping through the door.

Mrs. Knowlton turned around and stood frozen when she saw Laura standing before her. She gasped slightly, but then let out a soft laugh and her eyes glistened. "My, who is this lovely young woman standing before me?"

Dee looked between them and shook her head in shame. "That's right; it's been awhile since you've seen her." Dee brushed a hand through Laura's hair. "Sometimes it's hard for the people who see her everyday to remember how different she can look to the people who don't."

"Well, she may look like a different person." Mrs. Knowlton made a big show of examining Laura thoroughly. "But, yeah……she's still the same Laura."

Laura laughed and then grinned. "It's great to see you again, Mrs. Knowlton."

"Laura, you're practically an adult now." She smiled back. "I really wish you'd call me Maya."

00000000000000000000

Lee piloted the Raptor feeling like someone had thrown a blanket over his head. He actually had to turn off the com system, seeing as how it did nothing besides emit an eardrum-shattering shriek. And he was virtually ignoring the dradis screen, seeing as how it was now just a screen of solid white light.

He commandeered the Raptor he had ridden over to in, ordering the pilot to stay behind when he had offered to come with him. "This is my insanity; nobody else gets hurt because of it." Lee had told him before he flew out of Cloud Nine's shuttle bay.

Lee looked out the window again and cursed for about the hundredth time. He futilely smacked the console in front of him. "Frakking machines! Never realize how much they control your life until they decide NOT TO WORK!"

He had only been in the Raptor for about five minutes, but all he could think of was the many things that could go wrong before he found the Greenleaf, so it seemed like an eternity. And all the frakking passenger carriers looked alike to the naked eye.

He only hoped Kara was having better luck getting there.

Just as Lee was making his third trip around the section of the fleet where he thought he remembered the Greenleaf's last coordinates—and thinking that the gods must have a twisted sense of humor—something about a ship he was passing caught his eye, and he was jolted by a memory.

"Daddy, come on! We have to be there right at 14:57!"

"Laura, where are we going?"

"Mama said it was a surprise." Laura giggled as she dragged him down the corridor on the Greenleaf. "She said she felt bad that she couldn't come to my school's art show, so to make it up to me, I needed to be on the Greenleaf's port side at exactly 14:57!"

Lee looked at his watch and grinned. "Well then we better hustle."

"Ethan! Charlotte!" Laura screamed back at her friends who were trailing behind as they looked at all the drawings on the wall. "Come onnnnnnn! It's almost time!"

Lee glanced back to see the two children take off in a run.

The four of them came to the hallway on the portside of the ship at exactly 14:56:47. "Well, we're here." Lee breathed out heavily, looking down at his daughter. "What are we looking for?"

"Help me up, Daddy." Laura ordered looking out a window, lifting her arms for him to pick her up. He did so and she settled into the windowsill of the nearby square window. She then motioned for him to do the same for her two friends and he picked them both up and set them next to her.

"Square windows, huh?" Lee chuckled. "Little unconventional for a ship, most of the windows are round or octagonal, but I guess it helps when you're trying to squeeze three munchkins on the windowsill."

Ethan and Charlotte giggled and Laura gasped as she saw what she had been waiting for. Three Vipers flew by the window and one—he knew instantly that it was Kara—fell back and twisted itself up and backwards, forming a perfect Atrepedies Star maneuver.

Laura traced the glass with her finger.

"Wow, Laura." Charlotte uttered in total awe. "Your mom is really cool."

Laura looked back to Lee and he nodded. "Yeah, your mom IS really cool, isn't she?"

Laura smiled at him as he kissed her forehead. "You're pretty cool too, Daddy."

"Square windows." He whispered to himself as he saw that the portside of the closest ship was adorned with square windows. "Well, I'll be damned."

He flew to where the ship's shuttle bay was and saw that the doors were down, so he turned on the Raptor's message strobe light and took a deep breath. "Okay, Lords of Kobol, you've been trying to shove your existence down my throat for years now." He prayed as he pounded out a string of code on the small button next to him and the light relayed the message to anyone that might be looking. "But I'm afraid that if you really want me to believe in you, I'm still gonna need one more example………..so help me out here."

He waited a few seconds and was about to start the code again when he saw the most miraculous thing he'd seen since that day in sickbay when Kara held their daughter for the first time.

The shuttle bay doors opened to let him in.

000000000000000000000

"There is definitely something wrong with him." Maya Knowlton said after examining Boy for about ten minutes, holding the cat in her lap as Laura sat next to her, stroking his face.

Laura breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I knew that, and Cottle knew that……but it helps that someone who knows about cats knows that too." She chuckled ruefully. "I was beginning to think I was losing my mind."

"No, you're not losing your mind." Maya placed a hand on Laura's knee, turning to Dee. "Dualla, will you take Boy?"

"Sure." Dee smiled, taking him in her arms and looking at Laura sympathetically.

Maya got off the couch and walked over to a cupboard on the other side of the room, Laura followed her. "Do you think you can help him?"

Maya looked up from searching the shelves. "It's good that you brought him here. If any more time had passed, the damage would've been irreversible." She reached into the back of the cupboard. "But I know just what to do, and then everything will be as it should be."

"And you have something in there that will help?"

"In the short term." Maya responded carefully. "But Laura, you do realize that he'll have to stay here with me?"

"What? Why?" Laura started to shake her head. "He's my cat, he belongs with me. Why can't I keep him on Galactica?"

Maya put a calming hand on Laura's shoulder. "That's not where he belongs. You may think you have some claim to him……..but you don't really. And you have to do what's best for him." She turned back to look at Dee and Corporal Townsend who had moved to the floor so that Boy could squirm around as he rubbed his face against the carpet. "He was poisoned, you know."

"Poisoned?" Laura whispered, unable to believe what she had heard. "Who would poison my cat?"

Maya turned to her with sadness. "Laura, it may not have been intentional, but it was bound to happen. He was taken from his family—from the warmth and security of being with his own kind—and put in a place where he didn't belong."

Boy stopped his squirming and got on his legs, taking on an attack position as he looked to the bedroom and began to hiss loudly. Dee reached over and tried to take the cat in her arms. "What the hell is wrong with you, stupid cat?" She grabbed hold of him, but he still struggled against her.

"I don't understand," Laura began, uncertainty in her voice. "Did I keep something toxic around? Something that I shouldn't have had in my quarters?"

"No," Maya soothed her. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's just the environment; sometimes it can be toxic without you even knowing it. You thought that you could give him a good home, and I'm sure you had the best of intentions, but this is just what happens." She turned to Laura with a fanatical twinkle in her eye. "The intermixing of species is sometimes a necessary evil, but we are beginning to understand that it's a flawed idea."

Laura looked to Townsend, Dee, the cat in Dee's arms, and then back to Maya. "We?" She repeated softly, finally understanding what was going on.

Maya nodded again. "Because nothing really blends…………it just becomes corrupted. And that which was once vibrant in its uniqueness………becomes ill with conformity."

Laura looked to the floor in torment and tried to steady her breath.

Maya reached out and lifted Laura's chin so she was looking right at her again. "It's a good thing that you brought him back to us. This way, his family can work together to make him pure again. This is what is best, Laura…………everyone belongs with their own kind."

On the floor nearby, Boy lashed out and scratched Dee on the arm. "Frak." She hissed. "What is wrong with him?" The cat began to shriek and bare his teeth and thrash against Dee's arms. She looked up to Corporal Townsend. "Jason, help me with him!"

Corporal Townsend knelt closer to Dee and the cat, and for some inexplicable reason—set his gun on the floor next to him. "It's like he's going crazy."

Laura's breath finally became tempered and even as she watched them from the other side of the room. "I always liked you." She told Maya, smiling coldly to let her know that she was on to her. "I remember when we used to come here—you'd let me stay for as long as I wanted. You'd even gave me cookies."

"I lived for the moments. I heard your first word, I watched you grow." Maya smiled back reverently. "To be that close to a miracle from God, it was almost like I could feel his divine presence filling the room. It broke my heart when I gave up the cat to Captain Adama, because I knew I wouldn't see you anymore. At least not until you were ready to take your rightful place amongst us."

"The whole cat thing was just a ploy." Laura stated in a calm tone. "Just a way to get me here so that you could keep tabs on me."

"It started out that way." Maya confirmed. "But my devotion to you is real. I loved you the first moment I saw you, and I knew that you would lead us to a wondrous place…… and we would be closer to God because of you." Maya's eyes filled with proud tears. "You can still do that, Number Thirteen. We understand that you were confused, it's impossible to be around humans for very long without becoming infected with their unrighteousness. But all is forgiven now; you've been brought back to us. And we can make you better again."

"You're an amazing woman, Maya." Laura shook her head in wonderment. "You really are more than just an evil machine, you're also…………a very good liar."

"Dualla, maybe we should just let him go." Corporal Townsend suggested, nearly shouting over the ruckus the cat was causing.

"No." Dee stated firmly, looking down at the cat as he continued to struggle in her grasp. "I'm worried that if we let him go, he's gonna hurt himself."

Townsend looked at Dee as she tried to clutch the resisting cat even tighter. "Lords of Kobol, what the hell is making him freak out this way?"

Before Dee could look up to answer him, she heard a loud snap and a choked, stunted breath escape. And then she felt a body slump against her. Corporal Townsend lay lifeless next to her, his gun lying beside him where he had left it.

Dee looked up to see Number Six standing behind the body, looking down at her. The Cylon smiled menacingly. "Maybe the cat was freaking out because he knew someone was hiding in the bedroom closet."

000000000000000000000

Lee docked on the Greenleaf and jumped out of the Raptor with his hand firmly resting on his gun.

Someone came up behind him. "Lords of Kobol, you must have something watching out for you, because—."

The man stopped his sentence when Lee turned around and drew his gun up. "Identify yourself."

The man looked like he was about to throw up. "Okay, you're the one that landed in my shuttle bay in the middle of a communications blackout—you identify yourself."

Lee cocked his gun and took better aim. "Does it look like I'm in the mood to play games? Identify yourself NOW, or I shoot first and find out who you are later when they toetag your body."

The man gulped and raised his hands. "Okay, okay. I'm Mark Anderson, Landing Signal Officer on the Greenleaf." He took a trembling breath. "And you're Laura's father, right? Captain Adama from the Galactica?"

"Major Adama, now." Lee corrected, feeling the sweat drip down his face. "And how do you know that?"

"Admiral Adama's son. You're either the best pilot in the fleet or married to the best pilot in the fleet……….. depending on who you talk to. And your kid is the one that grows about half a foot every week." Anderson replied, forcing a terrified smile. "Do you think there are people who don't know who you are?"

"And somehow, you just knew that I was coming?" Lee hissed. "How do I know you're not a Cylon?"

"What? I'm not a Cylon." Anderson shook his head fiercely. "I was just sitting by the window since I had nothing to do—it's the weirdest thing, we haven't had a ship dock in about twenty minutes, even before the coms blackout—and I saw your signal light, so I opened the shuttle bay doors and activated the landing procedures."

Lee's jaw clenched and the breath hissed through his teeth. "And what, you think a Cylon wouldn't be able to do all those things?"

"Apollo?" A voice called softly.

Lee drew his focus away from the LSO long enough to look off to the side, about three feet behind him. And he saw an old friend.

"He's not a Cylon, CAG." Helo told him. "And you're wasting precious time."

In an instant, he was gone again.

Lee kept looking at the spot for several seconds, but then lowered his gun and shook his head. "Sorry." He held out his other hand. "But we're in kind of a bad situation here."

Anderson took Lee's hand a shook it. "Man, you're telling me. There's no dradis and no coms to the other ships in the fleet." He gulped again. "Are we about to get attacked?"

Lee didn't feel like lying to him. "Maybe. But right now, you've got bigger things to worry about. Get on the ship's intercom and tell everyone to evacuate to the hangar deck." He saw Anderson hesitate and pointed to the intercom station. "Do it NOW."

The LSO started to jog away, but Lee called out to him again. "And then sit back down at that window to keep a look out. Someone else is coming."

"How do you know that?" Anderson shouted back.

Lee shook his head. "I just do somehow."

Anderson got to the intercom station and picked up the receiver, but then took it away from his ear and tapped it against his hand. "Major Adama?" He shouted to Lee. "The phone is dead."

Lee came over to the station and took the handset that Anderson held out for him. Sure enough, there was nothing but dead silence on the line. "Is this from the coms blackout?"

Anderson ran back over to his LSO station and looked over the controls on his panel. "No, sir, internal phones were working just fine only five minutes ago." He looked up to the window in front of the station. "It was only external com traffic that was affect—." He stopped talking in mid-sentence and his mouth hung open as he spotted something out the window.

"What?" Lee asked him harshly, going over there too. "What do you see?"

"Another ship……….shining it's signal lights at me." Anderson replied. "Sending……almost the exact same message that you did." He looked to Lee in wonder. "Who…..who is that?"

Lee just patted his shoulder, staring out the window and letting the relief wash over him. "That, my friend, is a frakking goddess."

000000000000000000000

"Still no dradis, sir." Gaeta sighed as he sat back in his chair.

"We're not receiving transmissions from any other ships either, Admiral." The communications officer replied. "Nor are we able to contact them."

The Admiral stood in his usual place in CIC and stared up at the screens above him.

Tigh walked up next to him. "That's nothing new, and it's not gonna change by just sitting here."

"It's only been like this for twenty minutes, Saul." Adama lowered his head. "We still have time."

"And we've been trying to fix it for twenty minutes, but haven't been able to. The Cylons could be on their way right now." Tigh whispered cautiously. "I know you're worried about them, but we should jump………..and hope that Apollo and Starbuck can figure this out on their own."

Adama turned his head. "It's not just about Lee and Kara. There are smaller vessels that are helpless without contact from the bigger ships in the fleet. I'm not just gonna leave them here."

"He's right, Colonel." Gaeta spoke up as he came over to them. "We were caught in the middle of a transmit cycle. Half the ships in the fleet weren't even given the new emergency jump coordinates. Without coms and dradis, they'd be stuck here without us to protect them, and with no way of knowing where we went to."

"What are you doing to fix it, Mr. Gaeta?" Adama inquired softly, taking off his glasses and putting them on the table.

"We've got every tech working on the problem, sir. We're also running every diagnostic there is, but we already know the problem."

"Our own ship is being used against us." Tigh interjected, walking agitatedly around the table. "Galactica itself is putting out the signal disruption."

"Could be a virus, could be someone implemented a program into the system that we can't purge…….we just don't know, sir." Gaeta looked at Adama. "We could do a system wipe, shut everything down and hope that when we rebooted, the problem would be gone."

"They'd have thought of that already." Adama stated evenly, rubbing his eyes. "And if we shut down, it'd take time to get everything on-line again. We'd be even more helpless." Adama looked back to Gaeta. "Keep working, Mr. Gaeta."

Gaeta nodded and went back to his station as Tigh stood by Adama again. "Forgive me for saying this, Bill. But your fleet is helpless, your family just launched itself into the direct path of danger and yet you seem remarkably……..calm about all this."

"Not calm," The Admiral corrected. "Just………understanding."

"Understanding?" Tigh repeated.

"Everything will either work out—or it won't." Adama stared up at the screen. "Sooner or later, the day comes where you can't hide from the things you've done anymore. Whether that's a bad thing or not……..depends on what kind of life you've led. And when that day comes, no last minute fixes are going to swing the outcome in your favor. You just have to sit back……… and trust." He looked over at the Colonel. "And so I'm waiting."

"Waiting?"

Adama nodded. "To be given assurance that we're worthy of survival."

Tigh snorted. "Well, you'll excuse me if I'm gonna keep trying to get the problem fixed so that we can jump the hell out of here?"

Adama just lowered his head. "Today is the day it ends, Saul. We either find our salvation….or receive our destruction. But today is the day we stop running."

000000000000000000000

Kara landed her Viper and the ship had barely stopped before she was throwing open her canopy and launching herself down the ladder to hit the deck. Her first order of business was to crush her lips to her husband's as he tangled his hands in her hair.

"I knew you'd come." He whispered as his lips ghosted across her face.

"Yeah?" Kara whispered back, clutching to him. "Well, I knew that you'd already be here." She pulled away and smiled slightly. "So I guess we're even."

Anderson interrupted them. "How did you get here? There must be eighty ships in the fleet, how did you know to dock on this one?"

Kara examined the man with uncertainty until Lee squeezed her hand, affirming that he was safe. Kara shook her head in amusement, looking at Anderson. "You'll actually think I'm crazy if I tell you, so maybe it's best that I don't say."

Lee moved her face back to look at him. "What was it?"

"Well, the Greanleaf is virtually indistinguishable from the other ships, so……" She sighed and scratched her temple. "It was the windows." She answered with a chuckle. "I have no idea why I remember this, but I knew that the Greenleaf has square windows."

Lee's face split in the widest grin she had ever seen and he stroked his thumb over her cheek.

"What?" Kara asked softly.

"Nothing, it's just that Cottle was right." He started to tug her to the hangar exit. "We really do share a damn brain."

000000000000000000000

Dee sat frozen where she was on the floor and clutched Boy, almost to the point that the animal was whimpering to get free, but her only action was to let out a sob and tentatively reach out to touch Townsend's limp body.

Laura had the opposite reaction. She sprung forward and frantically ran over to where Townsend lay on the carpet next to Dee, looking for any signs that the marine was still alive.

"Corporal? Corporal Townsend?" She rasped harshly, shaking him violently, but to no avail. "Oh gods, oh gods………" Her voice trembled as she whispered softly. "Jason?"

"It's no use." Six said without emotion. "He's dead." She then looked at Laura in incredulous wonder. "Are you unfamiliar with the way death works, Number Thirteen?"

Laura reached over to take Corporal Townsend's side arm, but she heard a gun cock behind her and turned to see that Maya held the gun she had been searching for in the cupboard. And it was pointed right at Dee.

Laura gulped and turned back to Six. "No, I'm familiar with how it works." She told her defiantly, standing back up so that she was at near-eye level. "I guess I'm just not as familiar with it as you are."

Six walked up to the marine's dead body and nudged it with her foot. She then picked up his gun and smiled protectively. "You come with us……..and we'll take you to a place where you'll never die."

Laura smiled back. "You would think that the promise of immortality would be enough to tip the scales in your favor," She crinkled her nose up in disgust. "But it's really not. Not if that immortality had to be spent with the likes of you."

Six began to look annoyed. "Obviously your human parents never taught you to show any respect."

Laura angrily began to step closer to the Cylon, but felt Dee's hand pull on her arm, stopping the movement.

Dee stood up, letting Boy scurry into the corner, and tugged on Laura's arm until she stepped back again and they stood shoulder to shoulder. "Stay away from her." Dee told Laura quietly.

Six cast an examining glance up and down the young coms officer and tilted her head to the side. "I'd never do anything to hurt her." To prove her point, she then threw the gun to the floor several feet away from where she was standing. "After all, this is about love."

Dee's mouth quirked up in a hint of a terrified smile. "Says the woman who just broke someone's neck without a second thought."

Six looked to Laura in disbelief. "You're taking guidance and direction from humans who couldn't possibly have a tenth of the knowledge and potential that you have. Is that really what you want your life to be about, Number Thirteen?"

"Don't call me that." Laura hissed through clenched teeth.

Six knelt down to the floor when she saw that Boy had reemerged from his hiding and was inching toward them again. She carefully held out her hand and made kissing noises, attempting to lure the cat to her.

Dee took the Cylon's distraction as an opportunity to move Laura away slightly, but she heard a throat clear and turned to see Maya pointing the gun at the space between her eyes. Dee stopped her retreat and felt the back of her knee come into contact with the end table next to the couch.

Six stayed kneeling on the floor, gently smiling at the cat until he came up to her and let her stroke his head. She then gingerly scooped him up and into her arms. She continued to pay attention to the cat, but spoke to Laura. "What else would I call you? Laura Adama?" Six looked up and shook her head. "That's not who you are."

Laura squeezed Dee's hand a little tighter. "I thought it was up to me to decide who I was."

"You do decide." Six stood up and rubbed the cat behind his ears. "But what you don't seem to understand is that it's a choice you will have to make soon."

"No," Laura corrected. "What you don't seem to understand is that I've already made my choice." She grinned and leaned forward as if to tell a secret. "And you're just being a sore loser about it."

Six shook her head again. "You made your choice—." She said the word with derision. "—without knowing all the facts. Your destiny, your purpose in life—can only be achieved when played in harmony with God's plan."

"Yeah, right……..destiny, purpose, harmony…..blah blah blah." Laura rolled her eyes. "Listen, whatever you're gonna do, could you just do it, already? Because I am getting so sick of your yapping!" She groaned slightly and looked at Dee. "Gods, no wonder Baltar frakked around on her so much."

Six's eyes flashed with fury and she nodded to Maya who stepped back to begin preparing for them to leave the room. "Fine." She seethed back at Laura, gripping the skin around that cat's neck so hard that he began to hiss in her arms. "I WILL. Since it's obvious that we'll have to move quickly to save you from the insolence that has corrupted you from the divine form God gave you!"

Out the corner of her eye, Dee watched Maya move around the cupboards at the back of the room. But Laura's eyes stayed transfixed on the woman who was trying to steal her away.

Boy began to try and claw his way out of Six's grasp as she started to shake violently with anger. "We will take you back to your true family and then you will see—." She was cut off by her own pained gasp when the cat sprung up and screeched loudly, clawing her face and leaving a deep gash down the side.

Six instantly dropped the cat and grabbed her face in horror. Upon hearing the clamor, Maya stopped what she was doing behind them and stepped forward to come to Six's aide.

But when Maya began to move toward them again, Dee grabbed the lamp on the end table behind her and raised it above her head, squarely bringing it down on the woman's head. The ceramic shattered and Maya fell in an unconscious heap down to the floor, her gun falling beside her.

Six's mouth hung open in disbelief and she let her hand drop from her face. She stepped forward but was stopped when Laura's closed fist delivered a sound blow to the injured side of her face.

It was more the shock of what was happening than the force of the blow that knocked Six down, dropping mere feet away from her fellow Cylon.

Dee reached down quickly and took Maya's gun off the floor before Six had a chance to recover. Dee moved beside Laura as Laura stood above Six, unsuccessfully trying to hide her disgust. She cocked the gun and pointed it at Six, who sat up on her elbows and wiped the blood off her face from where Boy had scratched her and the blood from her mouth caused by Laura's punch.

Six laughed mockingly. "Obviously disrespect wasn't the only thing you learned from your human mother. You learned violence from her as well, just as she learned it from hers."

"My mother didn't teach me how to hit like that." Laura breathed out harshly, defiantly. "My grandfather did."

Dee walked carefully over to the other end table, making sure that the gun was always pointed at Six, and picked up the phone. "It's dead." She informed them, voice trembling slightly.

Six laughed again, softer this time as she began to regain her composure. "You humans have somehow managed to alter the plan. So even though it will never be enough to stop us……we're through leaving everything up to the hands of fate. Too much is at stake." She looked at Laura. "Did you really think we wouldn't be prepared this time?"

Just as she said it, the lights went out.

000000000000000000000

Lee and Kara both strode down the corridor, guns drawn and military training at full attention.

"You know where we're going?" Kara asked softly.

"Yeah." He replied, checking an opened hatch in the hallway to make sure that it was clear. "Maya Knowlton's quarters."

"You really think they'll still be there?"

"I'm hoping we'll catch a break." He sighed, wiping the sweat off his brow.

Kara took a deep breath as they hurried along. "This malfunction to paralyze the fleet……….you realize it means there's a Cylon on Galactica, Lee. Someone we know, someone we trust."

He lowered his head for a second. "I know." He looked over at her. "But right now, let's just take care of this. Something is telling me that if we rescue Laura, everything else will work itself out."

"What's telling you that?"

He bit his lip and smiled nervously. "My faith."

Just then, the lights went out.

Cloaked in darkness, he heard Kara groan beside him. "You were saying something about catching a break?"

000000000000000000000

"Laura! Move to the door!" Dee shouted, purposely knocking over the end table and reaching out to grab her godsdaughter. Finding her hand she pulled her to the door.

Six felt around in the darkness and found the gun that she had tossed aside. Aiming at the sound of Dee's voice, she fired several times. Dee blindly fired back, shattering a picture off the wall just as she pushed Laura through the door.

The emergency lights came on, casting the rooms in a dim red glow. Six got up from the floor and emerged into the hallway to find dozens of Greenleaf passengers headed to the shuttle bay.

"Move quickly—but orderly—to the designated emergency location!" A man shouted over the chaos. He saw Six standing immobile in the hallway, gazing at the retreating passengers with frigid detachment. "Miss? You'll need to head to the shuttle bay as well."

"There's someone I need to find first." Six stated calmly.

"Just tell us who it is, and we'll keep an eye out for them when we get to the shuttle bay." He assured her, steering the last of the people toward the end of the hall. "That's where everyone is headed."

"My daughter isn't going to the shuttle bay. Too many people would be hurt if I followed her there." Six smiled proudly. "And misguided as it is, she's all about protecting people."

"Well, you can't stay here." The man told her firmly. "We don't know what's going on and we've already heard gunshots. The Cylons could be on their way."

Six raised her gun point blank to the man's chest. "Oh, I think the Cylons are already here." She smirked. "But I need to find someone before I can deal with you."

He gulped in fear and stepped backwards, then ran at full speed away from her. Six turned and walked in the other direction.

000000000000000000000

Kara and Lee ran until they were about a hundred feet from Maya's corridor, bypassing screaming passengers along the way. The man who had been speaking to Six came up to them in absolute panic, struggling to catch his breath. "Cylon!" He screamed, pointing down the hallway. "Total Cylon! Total Cylon!"

Kara pushed against his chest. "Slow down."

"It was a woman." He breathed out. "Pointed a gun at me, said the Cylons were already here, and said she was looking for someone."

"Who'd she say she was looking for?" Lee shouted over the man's agitation.

"Her daughter." The man trembled. "How is that possible? Toasters can't have children……" He stopped and looked back and forth between Lee and Kara, recognizing them. "Hey, I know who you are!"

"Yeah, join the frakking club." Lee pushed him toward the other end of the hallway.

"And get the frak outta here while you still can!" Kara added.

"Let's go."

"Her daughter?" Kara questioned. "Another copy of Sharon?"

"I don't think so." Lee shook his head. "I don't know why, but I think this is tied up with Baltar."

"How can it be? Baltar's still on Cloud Nine."

"Actually," Lee began cautiously. "He's dead. I went over to Cloud Nine after I got back from the Pegasus and he'd been murdered. I don't think this was………"

He stopped when they came to Maya's quarters and found the door wide open. Their eyes adjusted to the dim light coming in from the corridor and they saw her slumped on the floor. Kara ran over and touched her head; Maya woke up slowly.

"Captain Thrace? Major Adama? Thank the gods." She began with a slurred voice when she saw them. "It was awful. There was a woman……she stormed in here and attacked the corporal, and then she attacked me."

Kara stopped her. "Did you see where they went?"

"They?" Maya looked around the darkened room. "Oh gods...where are Laura and Dee? The woman kept repeating something about claiming her daughter to fulfill some righteous purpose." She rose to her feet with Kara's help and grabbed the arm that Lee held out to steady her. "I think……gods, I can't even imagine it. I think she might have been a Cylon."

Lee and Kara glanced at each other knowingly as Maya continued. "You have to find her, you have to protect Laura."

Lee and Kara looked at each other in disbelief. "You believe her?" Lee asked bluntly.

Kara took in the sight of the disheveled woman and shook her head. "Normally I would." She replied casually, lifting her gun to Maya's chest. "But there's a little voice in my head that keeps shouting 'Total Cylon. Total Cylon'."

"Helo's voice?" Lee questioned.

"Sharon's voice." Kara corrected.

Lee looked at Maya determinedly. "Kill her, Kara."

Before Maya could protest, Kara fired two rounds into her chest and she fell dead to the floor. They then heard a mewling noise and a small figure made its way from its corner, across the carpet and into the hall.

Kara pointed at Boy. "Follow that cat."

000000000000000000000

Six walked for several minutes until she came to a deserted corridor in a closed off section of the ship.

"This is the end of the line. Do you think you can hide from me?" Six yelled out, chuckling softly. "Really, Number Thirteen, you think the hide and seek games from your childhood are enough to hide from your family? We've been playing games with this fleet for so many years. And while it was never fun for us………it has always been slightly comical. If only because the humans actually believe they have a chance of winning the game."

Dee and Laura stood hidden behind a door off the corridor, both holding their breaths, Dee's hand holding Laura's head protectively.

"Do you know what game I've always found to be fun?" Six shouted out, casually sauntering down the hallway. "Triad."

Dee let her head fall back to the wall behind her as she heard the Cylon's footsteps grow closer.

"I know it's funny……a Cylon appreciating a lowly card game." Six smiled to herself. "But it's almost like a metaphor for life. For conflict. Someone makes a wager……… someone makes a counter bet. And most of the time, whoever has the better hand wins."

Laura stepped forward to place her ear against the door. She turned to Dee and put her hand on the knob. "Stay in here."

Dee grabbed her hand. "Where do you think you're going?" She whispered harshly.

"She only wants me." Laura rasped back. "I could fool her into thinking that I was going with her and then—."

Dee cut her off. "You aren't going anywhere."

Six continued to walk toward where they were. "We've obviously got the better hand, Laura." She laughed, using Laura's human name in an attempt to throw her off-balance. "But maybe you're hoping you can bluff your way through this. I've heard from a friend that you're quite skilled at bluffing." Six stopped walking and stood in the middle of the hallway. "But how good is your ability to weed out if someone else is bluffing……….or if they really do have you beat?"

"Laura?" Dee placed a hand on Laura's shoulder. "This is not your fight. This is not what you were created for. Your destiny comes after the smoke clears."

Six took a deep breath, declaring her ultimatum. "If you're not on a shuttle with me in twenty minutes………the entire fleet will be decimated by an inbound Cylon attack. But if you come with me, we might leave them alone and allow them to carry out their own destruction." Six looked up to the ceiling, to the gently strobing red lights. "I could be bluffing, or we could be less than half an hour away from the deaths of everyone you..." Her mouth turned up in a snarl. "…..love."

"Stay where you are, little girl." Dee exhaled forcefully, feeling Laura tense up beside her.

"We only want you." Six called out softly. "Are you really willing to sacrifice them?"

Laura lowered her head and then began to open the door. Until she heard the click of a gun and looked up in the subtle red light to see Dualla pointing it at her.

Dee shook her head and looked at Laura with pure love. "Your heart is in the right place………but I already told you……….this is not your fight."

0000000000000000000000

Kara followed the cat without question, but Lee trailed behind her uncertainly, his gun drawn the entire time. "For frak's sake, Kara. He could just be hungry and following the smell of food."

"No, Lee." Kara responded, coming to the beginning of a closed off corridor. "That cat loves her. He'll protect her even wh—." She stopped when she heard someone else speaking.

"……..love." They heard the distant voice call out.

"You hear that?" Kara asked looking at Lee. He nodded and they peeked around the corner.

"We only want you." They heard Six say. "Are you really willing to sacrifice them?"

"So that's the one." Kara whispered, recognizing Six and falling behind Lee. "Shoulda figured the Cylon model that looked like an actual model would be the one causing all the trouble."

"Stay back." Lee whispered, turning to face her. But when he did, he saw that his wife was already moving toward the Cylon.

"Hey?" Kara shouted, moving out into the open. "I remember you!"

Dee and Laura both were startled to hear Kara's voice. "Mom?" Laura whispered.

Six turned around to face Kara and fired at her, narrowly missing her head. Lee stepped out from behind the corner and he and Kara both returned several rounds. Six fired back and a bullet caught Kara, she fell back against the wall, gasping in agony.

Lee pushed her around the corner and down so that she was seated on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I'm hit." She whispered shakily, touching her upper chest next to her shoulder. "It's not that bad." She whimpered even as her eyes slid shut. "It doesn't matter. Find Laura."

Laura roughly pushed Dee away from the door and opened it, hearing gunshots as Six continued to fire at her parents.

"Hey!" Laura shouted as she ran out into the hallway to face the Cylon.

Six turned when she heard Laura's voice and began to run toward her, but Dee leapt out from behind the door as well, firing at Six and pushing Laura from the middle of the hallway into a service alcove.

Dee saw the hatch that said Engineering Room and opened it without looking to see what it was; only thinking about getting away. They found themselves at the top of a long set of steel-grated stairs and looked down to see a large, two-storied room that held various machinery and pumps to operate the ship.

Six saw that Laura and Dee were holding onto each other, so instead of shooting at them, she came barreling through the hatch. Dee turned around to face her, pointing her gun at her. Six kicked the gun out of Dee's hand and tried to push her down the stairs, but Laura pounced on the Cylon as she tried to protect her godsmother.

Six struggled against Laura and was finally able to shove her off, but the motion and her superior strength shoved Laura against Dee and roughly pushed them both onto the metal-rebar railing, causing it to come loose from the landing. Dee grabbed a hold of Laura and Laura in turned grabbed onto Dee.

They both screamed as the railing gave way, a section of it falling to the floor, and they fell with it to the ground more than twenty feet below.

Six looked off the edge to the two bodies that laid unmoving on the ground and had to take a step back in horror as she realized what she had done. But by stepping back, she moved through the still-open hatch and back into Lee's line of fire. Lee fired at her several times and one of the shots hit Six's upper thigh. She groaned in pain, stumbling first against the wall of the corridor and then back through the hatch and onto the landing. She dropped to her knees.

When Six looked down off the landing again, she didn't see the two bodies that had been laying there before. They were gone. She barely had time to take in the situation before she heard a bullet fire above her head, bouncing off of a nearby wall. She turned to see Lee running through the doorframe.

Six smiled menacingly and held her gun up, pulling the trigger, but she was already out of bullets. Lee smiled in victory at the empty click and fired off another round, but it missed because Six was already in motion, leaping toward him.

The distraction of the missed shot and having a tall, leggy blonde leap at him was enough that Six could grab hold of Lee, twisting their bodies. She tried to throw Lee off the landing, but he managed it so that he fell down the stairs instead. Six smiled with a strange happiness as she saw Lee tumble down each step and groan as he hit hard concrete at the bottom.

The gun had fallen out of Lee's hand when he hit one of the steps and he looked up to see that as Six walked down the stairs, she stopped at that step and picked up his gun. Lee's eyes widened and he gulped when he saw the Cylon grip the cool metal of his service piece.

"What?" Six asked amusedly when she saw Lee's fright. "Are you afraid of this? I could still beat you without it."

Lee grimaced and he adjusted himself so that his upper body was leaning against the wall. "You Cylons always claim that you can beat us simply because your God is more righteous. Funny how I never see you come to a battle without packing an armory of firepower."

"Alright then." Six smiled. She stood on the step and pointed the gun at the other side of the room. She fired without looking and on the third shot, that gun clicked empty too. She tossed it carelessly to the floor. "It's just you and me, Apollo. How do we measure up? No weapons, just hand-to-hand combat. We'll see who's fiercer, who wants to win the battle more……. who has more at stake."

Lee laughed as he tentatively rose to his feet, the soreness still in his body. "My wife tends to exaggerate when she tells war stories, but I believe the last time on of you did that, it wound up dead on a heap of rubble."

Six smiled, finally stepping directly in front of him. "That won't happen again."

Lee reached for her and grabbed her neck, slamming her face into the wall beside them. She threw her head back and turned quickly, flinging him off of her. He stumbled backward, but recovered quickly and leapt for her again.

She was too quick for that, though; she struck him with a kick to the face and pushed him further away, then ran to him and savagely punched him several times. He dropped to his knees and that brought him eye level with the thigh injury he had inflicted, so he reached up and drove his thumb into her fleshy, bleeding wound.

She yelped in pain and pushed him away again. "God, you humans do play dirty, don't you?" She groaned, out of breath.

Lee picked himself up of the ground and began to look for anything he could use as a weapon, but it was a pump room—not a tool room—and everything was too large or attached to something else. "That's funny coming from you and your kind. You don't exactly play fair. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

She looked over at him and stood up straight, finally shrugging off her pain. Her eyes examined him from head to toe and she took note of the fact that she had a good six inches on him. "You don't have anybody my own size." She scoffed disgustedly.

He lunged for her again and she tried to throw him off, but this time, his force was enough to push them both into the hard metal wall. She struggled to reach for him and grabbed his neck, wrapping her fingers around it. She twisted their bodies so that only he was pinned against the wall, and she held him there by the death grip on his throat.

"That's what's got you so angry all the time, isn't it?" She hissed at him as he struggled for breath. "So full of rage because you just don't measure up."

He began to gasp for air and she leaned in, whispering soothing words to him. "Shh, shh, it's not just you. It's your whole species. You keep fighting and fighting in this pathetically futile attempt to survive when what you should realize is that you don't deserve to." Her eyes became soft and sympathetic. "We're better than you are, greater, stronger. We are the next generation of God's chosen. And with that child's help, we will wipe every last remnant of your wretched race from the universe." She pressed harder against his throat. "If you would just die already and let me find her!"

000000000000000000000

"Bill?"

He heard Tigh's voice from beside him

"Bill?"

"What Saul?" He asked without lifting his head or opening his eyes.

"We have to do something."

Adama took a deep breath. "Everything we can do is already being done."

There was silence until he heard his name again."Bill?"

But this time, it wasn't Tigh's voice. The Admiral opened his eyes and looked up across the table to see Laura Roslin smiling at him.

Her voice was gentle and proud as she spoke to him. "You said that humanity never asked itself why it deserved to survive."

Sharon then appeared and came to stand next to her, smiling gently as well. "Well, we can give you a few reasons."

"Galactica, Galactica, any ships, CAN YOU READ ME?"

Tigh's whole body perked up from its dejected slump when the transmission broke through the intercom. "What the hell?" He shouted.

The coms officer laughed slightly and picked up her headset. "This is Galactica, we read you loud and clear!"

"This is Kat." The voice over the intercom responded. "I'm out on CAP and my dradis just cleared again. What the hell happened?"

Gaeta looked at the dradis screen and tapped it several times, then looked over to Tigh and the Admiral. "The dradis is functioning again. The jamming signal has been deactivated."

Loud cheers erupted throughout CIC.

"Thank the gods." Tigh shouted over them. "How?"

"I'm not sure, sir." Gaeta replied in shock. "It just... stopped on its own."

"Ships all throughout the fleet are now contacting us, sir." The coms officer laughed with relief.

Adama looked over to the two dead women standing before him and smiled, tears moistening his eyes. He mouthed 'Thank you.'

Roslin nodded. "But we're not done yet. Repeat after me, Bill." Her eyes and stature took on the determination of a schoolteacher. "887.95 carom 673. You'll be safe there for a while."

"887.95 carom 673." He repeated to himself.

She giggled slightly, gesturing to the com station. "Now say it loud enough so that everyone else can hear."

"Petty Officer!" Adama shouted above the chaos. "887.95 carom 673. Send those jump coordinates to every ship in the fleet. Do it now!" He looked back to find that the two women were already gone. "And then tell them to jump immediately."

"Sir, half the ships in the fleet have already jumped………" She paused, sifting through the deluge of messages she was receiving. "….to those exact coordinates. The messages say that when their com systems came back on line, there were instructions to jump to the coordinates that you just gave me."

"Those aren't the coordinates we had programmed into the computer, sir." Gaeta spoke up. "How did those ships know to jump to them? How did they receive that message?"

"The rest of the fleet is jumping now, sir." The coms officer informed him.

Adama turned to her. "Get a message to the Greenleaf, tell them that our CAP is going to fly combat patrol around it and that our Raptors are going to be docking! And send out the alert fighters!" He shouted.

000000000000000000000

Lee was just about to lose consciousness, anticipating everything to go dark, when instead, everything went bright. The pulsing red light ceased and was replaced with the full lights of a completely functional ship.

The grip Six had around his neck slackened as she noticed the change. "What is going on?" She whispered in shock, looking around the room. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

Lee took advantage of her surprise so that he could take a few breaths and gather enough strength to push himself off the wall and smack her head back with the brunt of his hand.

She did step back, but still managed to punch him roughly, causing his weakened body to slump to the floor again. He fell to his knees and clutched his chest as he continued to struggle for breath.

She just stood above him, looking down at the top of his head. "This is just tragic. And while I've never been fond of the irony that is so prevalent in your ancient stories, but I must admit that this is beautifully ironic." She told him arrogantly, casually. "Your family, your race, and your entire false religion are about to die along with a god named Apollo."

He had nearly fallen into unconsciousness again when the mention of his callsign made something click in his head.

"I wanna hear the story again."

"Laura, I'm tired." He looked down at her, her eyes still wide open as she laid in her bed. "Go to sleep."

"Just once more." She whined. "Please, Daddy."

"Okay, just once more." He conceded as he opened the book and began the story. "Long ago, there was a great queen named Niobe. She was beautiful and powerful, but also quite proud. And it was her pride was her own downfall. In her arrogance, she made a fatal mistake; she insulted the twins of Zeus. She told everyone that because her family was larger in number than the family of Artemis and Apollo, it was greater. The twins of Zeus could not stand for this insult and they exacted their revenge; striking down her family with poisoned arrows."

"But this is no epic tale, it's just how your world is going to end, Apollo." Six taunted him, leaning down so that she could say it directly in his ear. "You're just a broken man, kneeling on the floor. You have no chariot, no bow……..no arrow."

Lee closed his eyes and subtly reached into his pocket, thoughts running through his head.

Yestradin is a highly potent tranquilizer…………enough to knock out someone with Cylon physiology………….I'll sign out some syringes to you……….and you'll have to carry them at all times.

Six reached up to stroke his sweat covered forehead. "And your gods aren't going to save you."

Lee uncapped the syringe and pulled it out of his pocket, growling as he plunged it deep into Six's neck.

She gasped and reached for the syringe sticking out of her jugular, but in the second it took for her hand to reach its destination and pull it out, the drug had started to take effect, and her hand dropped limply to her side.

Lee pushed her away from him and her body fell backwards onto the floor.

She gasped as she looked up at him, her eyes struggling to stay open even as her body embraced its paralysis. Her breath came out in near-sobs. "This was not the way it was supposed to happen, it had been written out. It was promised to us by Almighty God."

Lee was overcome by strength again and rose to his feet, standing over her. "Well, I guess this means that there's something stronger than your God." He hissed.

She laughed contemptuously as she looked up at him, her lips and eyes the only thing she could move. "Please don't tell me you're talking about love."

Just as Lee was about to answer, he heard a voice call down to them. "Hey lady?"

He looked over to the top of the stairs and saw Kara breathing heavily and clutching her shoulder. Lee walked over to the steps and she tossed her gun down to him. He caught it and made his way back over to Six.

Kara gazed at the Cylon from the top of the stairs. "You seriously don't wanna mess with my family." She then looked at Lee as he pointed the gun at Six. "Kill her, Lee."

He followed Kara's order and fired a bullet into her forehead.

Kara gingerly made her way down the stairs as Lee rushed to meet her, kissing her. "Are you okay?"

She touched the wound on her upper chest. "Well, I won't be sparring with you anytime soon, but I think I'll be fine." She looked over at Six's body lying on the floor. "I was about to pass out when the lights came back on, but they jolted me awake again, so I made my way here." She looked back to him and he nodded. "Where's Laura?"

"I don't know. I think she and Dee managed to……….." He trailed off when he looked over and saw Boy skittering down the steps.

The cat scampered over to the alcove beneath the stairs and meowed at the large air vent on the lower half of the wall. Lee and Kara made their way over and looked at the grate, they could see that barely visible brown fingers were holding it closed from inside.

"Dee?" Kara whispered.

"Dee, it's us." Lee told her, pulling the grate from the wall to find Dee curled up in the vent, holding an unconscious Laura close to her.

"The Cylon?" Dee choked out.

"She's dead, Dee." Kara assured her, reaching in for Laura and starting to cry. "Oh gods."

"She's just unconscious." Dee calmed them as they pulled Laura out. "The fall was pretty rough, but I checked her out and she's still breathing."

Lee looked at the vent. "How did you get in here?"

"It was already open. I guess they were doing some work on it." Dee croaked, taking deep breaths. "So I dragged us in here and held the grate closed."

Kara continued to hold Laura, stroking her hair with one hand as she checked her vitals with the other. "I think she just got knocked out."

Dee laughed weakly. "I think I must've cushioned her fall." She finally allowed Lee to pull her out of the vent. "There was that metal rebar over there," She pointed to the section of the fallen railing that was sticking up in the air. "But I made sure Laura didn't fall on it."

Lee placed Dee up against the wall and went to check out the offending rebar. When he touched it, he pulled back to find smears of blood on his finger.

It was then that he understood what had happened.

With resigned fear and sadness, he walked back over to Dee and put his hand on her abdomen. When he pulled back this time, there was blood all over his hand. Her shirt was covered in it.

"Huh." Dee looked down at her own gaping wound and shut her eyes, letting out a pained chuckle before slumping to the floor. "I was wondering why I felt so cold."

TBC

To all the Lee/Kara shippers reading this (of which I'm one, so don't take offense), please try to remember that in this story, Dee dying is a SAD thing. :P