New Caprica was a wasteland when Lee was finally given permission to take a look at the fallout, and the only thing that kept him from completely losing it was Cally's casual comment that Kara was waiting for him down on the surface.
New Caprica was a wasteland when Lee was finally given permission to take a look at the fallout, and the only thing that kept him from completely losing it was Cally's casual comment that Kara was waiting for him down on the surface.
Then again, maybe casual wasn't the right word for what Cally did.
It had been a long battle securing this planet from the Cylons. The original plan had been to grab the survivors and run, but it became clear rather quickly that that was easier said than done. He and his father had planned for a lot of possibilities, but the presence of collaborators was not one of them.
They didn't expect their own men would try to stop them.
The consequences were harsh.
This planet that was supposed to be their answer to the continuation of humanity was a war-torn shell of life. No one would be able to live on it now.
The truce had been simple and quick. The Cylons understood that humanity was ready to die rather than be controlled. Humanity's demise was no longer something the machines wanted. They must survive if the Cylons ever wished to understand the ideas of procreation, the last mystery of their creators.
Humanity was free, but it seemed like they had already sacrificed too much to move on. No one could find a reason why they shouldn't just lay down the last of their burdens, to end their lives and end the pain. The lack of hope was palpable.
Lee had quickly accepted the burden of running both Galactica and Pegasus while his father went planetside to try to understand just how large a mess they were dealing with. Every aspect of life was chaos these days. It was nice to have something to do that he knew he could handle.
His father returned with his report. It was as bad as they feared, but there were survivors. A resistance had been formed, and a good number of its members had fought their way through the battle. His father didn't mention anyone by name, and Lee was too scared to ask about her.
He focused on the task of bringing the two battlestars back to one hundred percent and ignored what was happening on the planet. If it was something he really had to know, he would be told. He knew he was avoiding the problem, but right now it was what he had to do. Everyone got used to not talking about New Caprica and the survivors when they were around the Commander so it wasn't even an issue most days.
That is until Lee came off a CIC shift to find a rather exhausted ex-deckhand waiting for him in his office. "Cally?"
"Commander Adama, sir. Let's dispense with the bullshit right now. You're happy I'm alive. I'm happy you came back to fight for us. Blah blah blah. Who the frak do you think you are?"
Lee's eyes went wide. He had never heard Cally talk like this before. "I don't understand what you mean."
"Just because you're a Commander does not mean you can just forget the people who put you in that position. She had been waiting for you to come down to the planet since the day the truce was reached. Every fraking day she wakes up and sits down in the landing yards, waiting for a Raptor from Pegasus that never comes. I tell her she's an idiot for trusting you again after that shit you pulled with Anders and the meds, but she won't give it up.
"Who…" Lee's words caught in his throat, and he coughed for a few seconds before trying again. "Who are you talking about?"
"Kara," Cally said, the pissed-off look still on her face. They both knew who she was talking about. "You know it took me a long while to figure out she needs you. Sam's death hit her hard, mostly because she knew he was the one who handed her over to Leoben. She kept repeating that she couldn't believe you were right when you said that Anders wasn't like the two of you. You really frakked with her head, but then that was always your thing. You would swoop in for the kill whenever she showed you an ounce of vulnerability. I guess that's why when she kept asking me to get a hold of you, I lied and said you were too busy to come down to the surface. I thought she was just too fraking fragile to see a guy like you." Cally's face twisted into an amused smirk for a few seconds before shifting back to the anger. "Kara had the balls to tell me that I was wrong and if you said you were too busy, it was because there was some crisis you had to handle. She wouldn't believe you would refuse her when she needed you so much. You see, Lee, she's a mess right now. That Cylon really screwed with her mind. There's a little girl down on that planet, and no one knows whether Kara's actually her mother or not. It took me so long to convince her that Leoben hadn't done it all for her good, that he had no clue what she needed. The day she finally admitted I was right was the day she started asking for you." Cally let out a small laugh and reached out to smack Lee upside the head. "She's so fraked up that right now I think you two deserve each other."
Lee was frozen in place. The amount of information Cally had just pushed onto him was threatening to make his head explode. Kara had been taken. She might have a daughter. She was waiting for him. She wanted him. She didn't hate him.
The last thought snapped him into action. He grabbed the phone and demanded a direct line with Galactica Actual.
"Dad, I'm going down to the planet."
Lee saw her the second he stepped off the Raptor. She was sitting on a crate, her knees tucked under her chin, watching a group of survivors play a game of pyramid. She was a lot thinner than he remembered.
He had two days to get this right. He just hoped that was enough.
She didn't turn to look at him until he was a few feet away, and when she did, she smiled. "Hi."
Lee took a seat on the crate next to her. "So I hear that there might be a little Starbuck running around." He lifted his arm, and she leaned into his body.
"Would you like to meet her?"
Lee sighed. "Yeah. I honestly would."
