V

Two Days Later

Kara and Laura hadn't seen each other since the night after the insurgency meeting. Both were actually glad they had been given a few days off, after the awkward encounter two nights earlier, and their almost simultaneous releasing of pent-up tension because of it. It wasn't until the first of the week that they saw each other again. By that time, both were feeling a little less off balance, but it didn't keep them from feeling awkward with each other.

Laura had taken a few personal days off from school, scheduled long before any of what had gone on between she and Kara had occurred. She was going to check in with Colonel Tigh, to see if there was any insurgency news to be had. Tigh and Roslin would never see eye-to-eye, but they had gained a hard-fought, mutual respect and understanding with each other.

As Laura was approaching Tigh's home, Kara popped out of the dwelling, just about five feet in front of the former President. They looked startled at each other for a few moments. Roslin spoke first.

"Gods, Kara, I don't know why, but you scared the living crap out of me!"

Despite the still simmering sexual tension, that made Starbuck laugh. "That's good, because I almost jumped out of my shoes. We damn near ran into each other-literally!"

That relaxed them both. They didn't go into maniacal laughter like they had a few nights earlier, but it broke the tension.

"Maybe we're just too damn used to being startled around this gods-forsaken hell-hole."

Kara smirked at the description of New Caprica. "So you won't recommend our little Paradise to any visitors, huh?"

Roslin snorted a laugh. "Maybe if we had new...owners...that might improve my ratings for the place."

They had moved a few feet away from Tigh's home, but kept talking. "Yeah, well, I'll agree with you on that one. Might bring up our property values."

They were not completely at ease with each other, both noticing that fact, and it made them wonder even more what was going on between them.

"You may be right", Laura agreed. "Were you getting an update from Tigh?"

Kara shook her head. "No. Believe it or not, while you're at school, Tigh and I do chat once in a while. He may be an old bastard, but he's our old bastard, and we think alike in a lot of ways."

For a moment, Laura Roslin felt a rising jealousy that Kara was talking to Tigh, but hadn't opened up to her until very recently. Again, Roslin wondered why that emotion had come calling.

Starbuck sensed it. She moved a little closer to Laura. "Don't worry, Laura", Kara said with a smile, "he and I talk about the insurgency, and the Toasters, and Baltar, and if The Fleet is every coming back." Kara put a hand on Laura's shoulder. "I meant it when I said that, when I'm ready, you're the one I will talk to about...the other things. OK?"

Laura nodded, not able to speak for a moment. "Fair enough, Thrace", she finally said in a bit of a scratchy voice. "We still on for dinner Friday?"

Kara nodded. "Oh, absolutely. Kacey doesn't have a sleep over this weekend-at least right now, so we can't act like two ladies who have lost their minds."

They both laughed comfortably at that thought, knowing that, when they were together and drinking, they were borderline insane, or so it seemed. Maybe it was another sign of what lay deeper underneath for both of them.

"That's fine. I love talking and playing with Kacey. She's such a sweet, bright girl."

"Not like her mom, huh?"

Laura didn't see the stormy eyes that accompanied such words from Kara on occasion, so she felt that Kara was simply being a little care free.

"Her mom is fine, Thrace", Roslin said with a mock severity. "A little off her rocker, but she's not too bad."

"Coming from a politician", Kara said with a wink of her eye, "I'll take that as high praise."

"You're damn right you should, Starbuck", Laura said with mock bravado, "because I meant it that way."

They both laughed again, smiles on their face.

"I'll let you go, Roslin, and have your interview with the Colonel. It's almost time to pick up Kacey from preschool. Talk to you later?"

"Wouldn't miss it, Kara. Laters!"

As Laura was walking away, Kara felt a warmth spread through her whole being, realizing that she and Laura were becoming very close. Not for the first time in the last few weeks, she wondered what was happening.

"Anything yet, Chief?"

Galen Tyrol glanced up at Saul Tigh. At least several times a day, someone in the resistance checked to see if The Fleet had received the messages that were being sent into space. Tigh and the others knew what frequencies The Cylons used, and which ones they monitored, and had been able to send messages.

To this date, almost eighteen months after the Cylon occupation of New Caprica had begun, there was yet to be an answer.

"Nothing, Colonel", Tyrol said without any emotion. "The transmissions are going out, but to this date, no one is there." He stopped and asked the question that no one had dared asked Tigh up to this time. "You think they'll ever come back."

That put animation into Saul's eyes and his voice. "You listen to me, Chief, the Old Man said he would come back, and he'll come back. When they get close, Raptors will jump in once a day, to see if we're contacting them."

"Colonel, we haven't heard..."

Tigh cut him off. "I was at the godsdamned meetings, Galen. I know what the plan was in case The Fleet had to run. We knew this was a possibility. Yes, I think they'll be back. One, I do believe it, and two, if I stop believing it, then what the frak is the point of all this?"

Tyrol was surprised at Tigh's honesty in his answer, and his face registered that respect. "OK, Colonel, you knew someone was gonna ask. I think they'll be back as well, but a lot of people are losing faith. They don't think The Fleet is coming back."

"I know that, Chief", Tigh said with some annoyance. If it were up to me, we'd be doing more to harass these fraking creeps, but Roslin made it clear that we can't do what Duck did, or hid our weapons in the temple, or the hospital, or any place else like that."

"Roslin has a point, Colonel", Tyrol objected. "I mean, there's not many of us left as it it", he said with a humorless laugh. "If we take down our own numbers, just to rally support, we're cutting off our nose to spite our face."

"I agreed to it, Galen", Tigh said defensively. "I didn't, and still don't like it, but I see the point. We have made life miserable for them. But I'll tell you one thing, here and now: the minute we establish contact with a Raptor, the whole leadership, including Laura, will have to accept a major uprising in order to keep their eye on us, and not on The Fleet."

"I agree with you on that one, Saul. Once The Fleet is back, getting off this rock won't be bloodless. There'll be a lot of casualties."

"There's only one casualty I want, and we both know who that is, Chief."

Tigh made his way toward the ladder, heading upstairs without another word.

Galen went back to listening for a few minutes. When the time comes, he thought to himself, with a small chuckle, it's gonna suck to be Gaius Baltar.

Seven Light Years Away, Aboard the Galactica

"Mr. Agathon", Admiral William Adama said in his usual low, gravely voice, "status of repairs?"

"Sir, repairs on port lateral slates, between sections sixteen and twenty five are complete. Port hangar reports landing bay is cleared of debris, and is operational. Maintenance is still working on the FTL shaft, repairs should be finished with in two hours."

"Thank you, XO."

For the past eighteen months, the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus had been fighting a running battle with what started out as five, and now was four Baseships. The Fleet under his command had rarely had a day of peace since being driving from New Caprica, leaving some thirty-six thousand human beings on that miserable rock that President Gaius Baltar had dragged them to.

He had no idea how many, if any, were still alive, or what was happening. Every Viper and every Raptor was needed to fend off almost constant attacks. For the moment, the two Battlestars were hiding inside a gaseous nebula, which fraked up Cylon Dradis. There were two problems with that: the first being they couldn't see the Toasters either, and secondly, eventually, when repairs were complete, they'd have to leave the relative safety of the nebula.

He picked up the growler phone. Everyone knew who he was calling. In moments, Commander Lee Adama was on the line.

"Yes, Admiral?"

"Lee, do you think you can get a Raptor through this soup? We need to hold a council of war."

"I can do it, sir", Lee said with confidence. It would be not quite zero visibility, but as seasoned a pilot as Lee was, he knew he could make it. "You want anyone to come with me?"

"Yeah, bring Hot Dog, and Hoshi. I'm gonna have Helo, Kat, and Kelly in on the meeting. I'm getting tired of running away from these assholes."

"Preaching to the choir, Admiral. OK, give me about forty minutes, and I'll be on deck."

"That's fine, Lee, see you then."

Lee, Hot Dog, and Louis Hoshi arrived exactly as scheduled, and they immediately went to the pilot Ready Room for a discussion. As the Admiral had said, beside the three from Pegasus, he had invited his XO, Helo, and his CAG, Kat, to the meeting.

"Since we have a few days to repair and to rest, at least a little, I wanted to get some ideas from all of you about something big."

Lee usually was the first to follow up in these meetings, but today, he wanted to let the subordinates take a crack at things.

"Big, as in what, Admiral?" Louanne "Kat" Katraine was the current CAG on Galactica, with Kara stuck on New Caprica. Other jocks still in the fleet might have more experience, but Kat was tough, and was one of the best pilots either Adama had seen. She was a mirror-image in many ways of Kara Thrace-which is why the two probably fought like cats and dogs all the time when they were both on board.

"As in pulling off a rescue mission on New Caprica."

That made Lee sit up. "You want to try and get those people off the planet? While The Cylons keep chewing our asses almost every day?"

"I want us to find a way to slip those bastards, Lee", his father said, with a voice that clearly said he was tired of running. "It seems like where we jump, they jump. It's like they know where we're going."

"We swept all of their trackers off Galactica a long time ago, sir", Captain Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza reminded everyone. Brendan and Kat had trained together, and had become two of the most reliable pilots in the fleet. He was currently the CAG on Pegasus. "And as far as we know, there are none on Pegasus."

"We've made sweeps as on both ships", Captain Louis Hoshi noted. "We haven't found anything. Could they still be tracking us somehow?"

"It seems that way, but how? We've found nothing in here that doesn't belong onboard." Bill Adama simply couldn't figure out how they were doing.

Helo's eyes lost focus for a moment, and he didn't know why. He missed out on a small bit of the conversation. When he regained his focus, a thought occurred to him.

"Excuse me, Louis", Karl Agathon said, as Hoshi was still talking with the Admiral.

"Go ahead, Helo", Louis said evenly.

"We haven't found anything inside..." He stopped for a moment, to think it through, then looked around at everyone. "Could they have attached something to our hull in one of the early battles."

"We do visual checks of the ships, Helo", Kat reminded him. "We've never seen anything."

Now Lee Adama got it. "How often to we check the underside of the hull?"

The room went uncomfortably silent.

"Son-of-a-bitch", Hot Dog said. "We never check that. We're usually on either side of the ship."

Everyone looked at the Admiral, thoroughly embarrassed. Despite the subject matter, Bill Adama gave a small smile. "Don't kick yourselves in the ass, people. I didn't think of it either, and I'm the boss."

Lee looked at his dad, his eyes telling his father what he wanted to say. Bill nodded.

"Before we go any further with this discussion, I want you two", he looked at Kat and Hot Dog, "and myself to each take a Raptor and do a visual check of the belly of both ships. If we're right underneath, the nebula won't be a problem, especially with our searchlights on."

Karl spoke up. "Hey, the Raptors are my babies, remember?" Everyone smiled back at him. "I'll take one out as well."

Admiral Adama liked the spirit he was hearing. "I'll suit up as well." Everyone looked at him like he had two heads. "What? I still know how to fly folks."

Hoshi looked around the room. "I assume that means I'm in charge of the store while all of you are gallivanting around?"

Lee snickered. "I think you can handle it, Louis. Hell, if we had more ships, I think you'd have your own ship by now."

"Commander, with all due respect, why don't you guys get out there before I jump out an air lock? I have no desire to be an Admiral."

That broke the tension, and everyone laughed loudly.

"OK, people", Lee said, taking the lead, as he'd be the lead pilot on the outside. "I want skids up in fifteen minutes. Let's see if we have anything."

Within forty-five minutes, a thorough sweep of the undercarriage of both gigantic ships had been accomplished. Nothing was found on Galactica.

A sweep of Pegasus, however, had found an object that was seemingly magnetized to the hull. Helo and Lee went out a second time, and retrieved the item for study.

Kara hadn't taken a stroll to her quiet area, as she now called it, in quite a while. Things had been so hectic lately, with Kacey now fully engaged in school, the work she would do to help keep the settlement running, while at the same time looking for ways to selectively destroy it, to piss off The Cylons, had left her a little run down.

Then there was Laura.

Laura had helped bring Kara out of her post-captivity shell. The trauma that Leoben had heaped on her for months would have, she knew, killed her eventually. Had there been no Kacey, she probably would have taken her own life locked up in that nightmare.

Kacey had kept her alive. Laura had her living again, and feeling good about herself. She couldn't remember having a normal friendship, especially with a woman. Her relationship with men wouldn't win her any awards either. It seemed that whenever Kara Thrace started to feel close to someone, she fraked it up. Starbuck used to think it was just that she hadn't picked unbelievable guys, but Zak was a good guy. Lee was a good guy. Sam was a good guy. Was she perhaps, unconsciously, looking to frak up her relationships?

When she had committed to take care of Kacey, she knew she couldn't just screw it up. It wasn't an option. It was hard work-harder than flying a Viper against Cylons, but it was a joy to watch Kacey growing and learning. She would not be her mother. She loved Kacey, and would make sure she was raised right.

She wasn't worried about she and Kacey. She was wondering what the hell was going on with she and Laura? They had a blast together, that much was certain. They could talk about anything and everything. They just connected as human beings. Maybe that's why, subconsciously, she had been so willing to put her life on the line more than a few times for the woman when she was President.

Yet something was taking place that Kara hadn't expected. She was growing very fond of Laura, and already trusted her more than perhaps she had anyone in her life. Laura didn't judge her, or second-guess her choices in life. Of course, she hadn't yet opened up to Laura about her past and the Doll House. Maybe it was time she did?

She overlooked the river below, on a day where there was actually a glint of sunshine off the water. It was never really sunny on New Caprica. But today was pleasant, and she simply sat and breathed in the fresh air, clearing her mind and coming as close to meditating as she had ever come. She was, in many ways, more at peace now than she had ever been.

What is because of Kacey?

Or did Laura have something to do with that?

"OK, people", Bill Adama said to the group that he had conference with earlier that day. "Before we finish up, I absolutely want a sweep of this entire ship, to see if we have any other devices. Take whatever electronic gear you need, but I want to make sure we're clean. When we're done, we have to make plans."

Five hours later, the task had been done, by everyone on both ships. Those who were asleep, had been waken. Adama allowed everyone to get back in their rotation, and called a meeting of what he thought of as his senior staff for 0900.

He wanted to shake The Cylons, and plan a rescue at New Caprica.

Right at 0900, he opened the floor up again. Just by looking at his son, Bill Adama knew Lee didn't like something. He was sure he didn't like the prospect of going back to New Caprica. Lee was enough of a pro that he wouldn't contradict the C-in-C in front of the troops, but the Admiral was already bracing himself for when he dismissed the others.

"Before we left New Caprica", Bill Adama began, "President Roslin told me that if a situation arose where the Battlestars had to leave, to don't think about New Caprica, and to take what was left of humanity on these ships, and try to find Earth, so that Humanity could survive."

He moved down from the lectern, pacing in front of his charges.

"It was good advice, but I can't leave the bulk of what is left of Humanity captive under The Cylons and Baltar. I'd never forgive myself if we didn't try to recuse them. I want some options, people."

They threw it around for a good two hours, going over options, of just how to beat the four (they still thought it was four) Cylon Baseships that held sentry into New Caprica. There was only one entry to the planet, so they'd have to run the gantlet.

They came out with the outlines of a plan.

Within three days they began training for the rescue.