XIV

"Kacey, it's time for bed, honey!"

Laura Roslin thought she knew what tired was. After being a school teacher for years, then getting into politics, to tragically becoming President of what was left of the human race, then back to being a teacher, and also an insurrectionist. She had always felt exhausted at the end of every day.

She had been kidding herself. Add little girl who was almost five years old to her daily routine-she hadn't known what exhaustion was. And Kacey, now, was her responsibility. She was married to Kacey's momma, and that made Laura mommy in her own right. But she also adored her new daughter, and made sure Kacey came before anything.

"OK, Mommy", the little girl yelled from across the room. "Putting the coloring book away!"

"OK, baby, thank you. Go get your jammies on, and I'll get you a snack before tucking you in."

"Yay! Apple juice!"

Laura approached her with a smile on her face. "Then apple juice it is, young lady. C'mon, in your room, put your jammies on."

Kacey scurried into the other room, out in record time to get her drink.

She sucked it down quickly, then she and her mommy said her prayers to the gods, and to protect her momma, then Laura tucked her in, kissed her gently, and let the little girl wade off to her slumber.

Laura sat down heavily, a glass of wine on the coffee table next to her. Despite how tired she was, she smiled at the thought of the little girl in the other room. The smile faded quickly, thinking about the little girl's momma, who was Laura's wife.

"Gods, I miss you, Kara."

Laura took a big gulp. She and her wife had only been married mere days when The Cylons hauled her off to prison, in exchange for desperately-needed medicine to fight an epidemic that was going through New Caprica. The school had been shut down the day after Kara had been incarcerated. Laura now had Kacey virtually every minute. It was hard work, keeping up with a whirling dervish like Kacey, but Laura enjoyed it.

As she was taking another sip, she heard a knock on the wooden frame. It was almost 2100, an unusual hour for guests, but she went to the entrance, and lifted the flap.

"Colonel Tigh", Laura said, quite surprised. She hadn't seen Saul Tigh in almost a week, due to the Epidemic and her full-time mom duties.

"I'm sorry to be here so late, Madam President, but may I come in?"

Laura gave him a smirk. "Only if you're very quiet, Saul."

"Oh, Kacey's asleep? I can come back if you need me to."

"No, come on in, Colonel. It's nice to see an adult. I love Kacey to pieces", she said as they moved into the living room area, "but some adult conversation will be nice. Would you like a glass of wine?"

"If it isn't that rot-gut Tyrol is making, then I'd be glad to."

Laura softly chuckled. "That stuff is nasty, although it could come in quite handy if you need to get bamboozled."

"This place calls for being bamboozled, Madam President."

She studied Tigh for a moment. "We've known each other for over three years now, Saul. I know we haven't always gotten along, but I think you can call me Laura."

"Very well, Laura", he said, lifting his newly-poured glass of wine in salute, Roslin doing the same. "I just wanted to give you an update on the doings of the insurrection. I know you want to be updated every now and then."

"I do", Laura confirmed, "especially since my wife is being held in that godsdamn prison."

Saul was quiet for a moment. "That's one of the things we're trying to monitor. To be honest", he observed, "if we try to bust her out, the medicine goes bye-bye, and, right now, Cottle says they're starting to see signs that this Epidemic might be peaking. We have to keep on top of it."

"I know, Saul", Laura said as unemotionally as she could. "Paul Jacobson, one of the other teachers, came by earlier today, and said they're hoping to open the school back up in about ten days."

"That would be good, Laura", Saul agreed. "Just to give you a little break from watching Kacey twenty-nine hours a day."

Laura lightly laughed. "It's a lot of work, Tigh", she agreed, "but gods, I love that little girl so much. I just wish her momma was here with us."

Saul delved into a little of his news. As he had mentioned, the medicine was making a dent in the Epidemic. He informed her the latest count on automatic weapons in hiding to be over three hundred. One here, one there, would disappear, maybe once or twice a week. It had added up over the months.

"I also wanted to let you know that Gaius' Six, Caprica, isn't happy with how D'Anna and Cavil are handling things. Word is one of the Sharons is also rocking the boat."

Laura stood up a little straighter at that news. "Trying to sow some bad-blood between The Cylons?"

He nodded. "That's part of it. The other part is we're hoping that, if we can gain the trust of Caprica, that she'll be able to give us updates on Kara."

"You know, Saul", Laura said, in almost a whisper, "part of me wants to know everything she's going through, and part of me doesn't want to hear one fraking thing about it. Maybe that's callous of me, but...I don't know if I could handle bad news."

"I get it. If you don't want us to tell you, I understand, but we can also use the information to let them know that we are keeping an eye on things, as far as Kara as concerned."

Laura's eyes turned to stone. "I meant what I said to D'Anna. I'll rip her head off if Kara comes back damaged."

Tigh looked at her hard. "Laura, sometimes you're tough as nails, but sometimes you can still be that naive school teacher. Whether you like it or not, Kara is going to come out of there damaged in one way or another: physically, psychologically, or both. We were both locked up, and I lost an eye and will limp for the rest of my life probably. They didn't take her to make her feel warm and fuzzy."

Laura started at her wine glass. "I know, Colonel", she said feebly, so much against what Tigh had come to expect from her. "I don't know what part of my wife I'll get back when I see her again. We had just found each other, for the gods' sake. I don't want to lose her."

"You won't if we can help it, Laura", he said with a cold voice. "And I'm still convinced Galactica and Pegasus will come back some day."

She looked hard at him. "We can't count on that hope, Colonel", she said, sounding all like a President addressing a military subordinate. "We don't even know if they're alive. We have to make our own luck, and do what we can to drive these bastards out of here. We can't just hope the Battlestars show up."

"I know", he said honestly, to his credit, "but I also know Bill. If he's alive, he's gonna make it back here, one way or another.

"I hope you're right", Laura said, taking another gulp of her wine. "It could end up being the only thing that brings my wife back to me."

A Week Later

Lee Adama was sitting in his father's quarters on Galactica. It had been another long day of training and trial and error with the scenario they wanted to use at New Caprica.

"We are making progress, dad", Lee told him firmly. "The software in the drones is better than the last package. There's still a few kinks in it, but the technology guys say they can have that ironed out in a matter of days. They know what the problem is."

"I saw the report from Racetrack on the latest test. That is encouraging." They both had drinks in front of them, and Bill Adama took a healthy gulp of his.

"The really good news is that the training for the newer pilots is really starting to pay off. Simplifying it was the right move."

"How about their SIM work?"

Lee nodded. "They rooks have really improved by using the SIM's. Their confidence level is climbing. I think within a week, we can try another full field test of our operation."

A few weeks ago, that would have set Admiral Bill Adama off, but not now. He had been too harsh with his team, but sometimes that was needed to light a fire under everyone's asses. It had never been a matter of anyone not working hard. They were exhausted.

With the change in the training schedule, and the use of SIM's for the more complicated maneuvers, Lee had set it up so the flight crews and maintenance people were getting proper sleep periods, and that was paying dividends.

"I'll tentatively schedule a full dress rehearsal for the Op for a week from today, Lee", his father informed him, coming to a decision. "Unless you think they'll need a little more time."

Lee shook his head adamantly. "I think we'll be ready to rock in a week. I really do."

Now the Admiral looked hard at the Commander of the Pegasus. "I know it's a little late to venture this thought, Lee, and we can't do much about this, but do you think Kat, Hot Dog, and Racetrack are up to leading this operation?"

"Yes". He hadn't skipped a beat. "Next to Helo, Margaret is the best Raptor driver we have. Of our current roster of pilots, Kat and Hot Dog are easily the best pilots. If there was still a fleet, they'd both be close to becoming CAG's on their own. They're that good. They're just not quite as experiences as Helo or I, but they have the respect ad confidence of their pilots."

"That's good", Bill said quietly, standing up to dismiss the meeting, Lee following him in kind.

"By the way, dad", Lee said with raised eyebrows. "Haven't you noticed I've lost some of the weight? I've been boxing and jumping rope, lifting a few weights."

"How much?"

"I'm down seven stones, old man."

The Admiral looked at him with the same passive expression. "Keep jumping", he said, dead-pan, looking back down at his paperwork, Lee not knowing what to say to that comment.

There had been no more visits from D'Anna, assuring Kara that the physical abuse would stop. Which was just as well, because it hadn't.

The one Sharon, virtually every day, came by to violate Starbuck in one way or another, either demanding she perform oral sex on him, or in penetrating Kara with her fingers, and sometimes other objects.

Today, it was that Leoben who had raped her just over a week ago. As usual, Kara wasn't bound or restrained, as she had been for days on end at the beginning of her confinement, but she also didn't have the strength now to effectively fight back. The paltry amount of food she was given each day, and minimum amounts of water, had left her weakened.

"How are we today, Starbuck", the Leoben said, pulling up a chair next to Kara's bed, where she lay looking at the ceiling. Kara ignored him completely.

"Not in the mood to talk, are you?" He gave her a laugh that wasn't friendly. "That's OK. I'm not here to talk either." He stood up, towering over her. "Take you clothes off."

She looked at him for the first time. "And if I don't?"

With a move so fast that she hardly saw it, he leaned down, grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up until her face was even with his. "If you don't, I snap your fraking neck off."

Kara Thrace-Roslin rarely felt fear. Being a fighter pilot, where your life was on the line every mission had helped her control her fear-to use it to make herself a better pilot.

Right now, she felt fear, knowing this Cylon could snap her neck like it was a dried-out twig.

She simply nodded, her face turning redder and redder, as she tried to breathe. Leoben threw her back on the bed. She coughed and choked for a few moments as the breath came back to her. When she regained her senses, the Cylon was looking down at her expectantly.

Kara complied, taking off the loose-fitting top she had on. She had no bra on-hadn't had one on since being imprisoned. She then disrobed the loose pants she had been given, again she had no panties on. Leoben's eyes dangerously flashed his desire.

He quickly disrobed, Kara simply closing her eyes so as not look at the man. Without a word, he pushed her on her back, spread her legs, and began to use his fingers on her. He didn't simply invade her this time. He slowly rubbed his fingers through her labia, on her clit, on her entrance, in an attempt to ready her.

Despite her best efforts, Kara couldn't help but become aroused with the continued finger massage. She began to moan, against her own wishes, and she could sense that she was becoming wetter and wetter. She still didn't open her eyes.

After a few more minutes, he spread her legs wide, and with no preamble, he impaled her, Kara giving an involuntary moan. The Cylon man thrusted hard from the beginning. Despite the fact that she was lubricated, it was still painful, as she hadn't fully relaxed. As with the assault before, she let her mind wander to Laura and Kacey.

Much to Kara's chagrin, he had stamina, and kept slamming into her, an occasional yelp of pain escaping her lips. She would not get the satisfaction of seeing her break. Finally, mercifully, she felt him tighten up, and he groaned loudly, as he spilled inside of her, but he kept pumping with abandon until he was spent.

He said nothing to her as he went limp, and dismounted her. Kara simply lay motionless and quiet, still not opening her eyes.

Eventually, she heard him move away from the bed, then the door clicked open. "Get dressed. I don't think you want anyone to see you in such a...state."

The door slammed behind her.

By the following week, the doctors that served the Human population on New Caprica began to have even more hope. Seventy-five people had died from the Epidemic; another one-hundred or so were very ill, their prognosis uncertain. More and more were starting to recover.

Like most viruses, simply reducing contact between people helped. Closing the schools, and the shops and the few bars and restaurants, and even President Baltar's edict forbidding large gatherings of over ten people, had begun to work. The Cylons had kept their promise, and the medicine kept flowing in. They had even upgraded the equipment the doctors were allowed to use, which also helped stem the Epidemic.

They couldn't let up quite yet. A lot of people were probably asymptomatic, and they needed to stay in isolation, as did everyone else. They didn't want a flare-up of new cases. But they were cautiously optimistic that this Epidemic would not be as deadly as the last one.

Coming to that conclusion, Dr. Cottle paid a visit to Saul Tigh, with Laura Roslin present. They all wore masks at the doctor's insistence.

"So that's where we're at", Cottle said, summing up his brief. "I hate to give that bastard Baltar any credit, but his edict on no gatherings helped."

"We'll give the credit to the common sense of our people, not to Gaius Baltar." As usual, Laura spit the man's name out.

Kacey was with her, wearing her own mask. "Gaius Baltar!" Her voice was as angry as a little girl's voice could get. It made the adults snicker. I shouldn't have said that."

Cottle actually laughed a little. "I think she gets that fiery personality from her moms." Cottle realized what he had said, and looked up apologetically. "I'm sorry, Madam President, I wasn't thinking."

"Oh, you're right, doctor", Laura said with a smile, looking down at the young girl. "She's just like her momma, that's for sure. And she does say 'Gaius Baltar' exactly like I do."

The physician looked at the other two. "Any word on Kara?"

Laura shook her head. "Nothing concrete, Sherman. Not even rumors."

"We're trying to coax a Six into giving us some information", Saul added. "So far, no dice."

"I'll keep praying for her, and for the two of you, Laura", Cottle said, his gruffness gone for a fleeting moment.

"Thank you, doctor", Laura said kindly. "That means a lot to us."

He looked at Tigh now. "And nothing new on The Fleet?"

"No", Saul said quietly, beginning to wonder if they would ever show up. "I refuse to believe that, if they're alive, they won't come for us."

Cottle grunted. "It's the alive part that worries me."

The other two silently agreed with the doctor. It worried them, too.

Aboard Galactica

The maddening trial and error, the comedy of frak-up's, and the frustration everyone had been feeling for over a month, was being replaced by a strong sense of hope that the worst was behind them, and that, very soon, they could mount their recuse efforts.

Yet despite all his work, as a good soldier, Lee Adama was still against this entire operation. His feeling came to a head when Admiral Adama announced he was giving Athena Agathon a commission in the Colonial Fleet. She had come up with the idea to use her to find and grab the launch keys that The Cylons had taken from the ships on the ground. Those ships would, be needed for an evacuation. The Admiral had approved the idea.

Lee didn't like it. Privately, he let the Admiral know his displeasure.

"You can't do this", Lee pleaded with his father. "She's a Cylon."

"Well, I trust her", the elder Adama said calmly.

"Well, that's a mistake."

He looked up at his son. "Well, it'll be my mistake, won't it?"

Lee became more animated. "You are gambling with the lives of everyone on this ship-everyone on my ship."

That got under the Admiral's skin. "I don't need a lecture from you about the responsibilities of command. We're done here."

He had not raised his voice to his son, but he got up and walked away from his desk. Lee wouldn't let it go that easily, not this time.

"I'm not finished", he countered, standing up and following his father out of his quarters. "This entire plan is a reckless gamble. And yes", Lee conceded, "you certainly have the right to risk the lives of the men and women under your command. But that's not the issue."

The Admiral simply kept walking. Lee persisted.

"This issue is that you are risking the lives of the entire Human race!"

Bill kept walking. "I'm trying to save the Human race."

"No, no, you're not! That's what you're not seeing!" He side-stepped his father, who was still walking, still trying to get his point across. "The Human race? That's those two-thousand people huddled in those civilian ships that managed to get away when The Cylons attacked. They're the safe bet! They're the ones whose survival we should guard, just like we did after the attack on The Colonies."

His father still wasn't buying it. "Sharon can penetrate The Cylon defenses.

"It's not about her", Lee countered.

Bill Adama acted as if he hadn't heard him. "The Centurions can't distinguish her from the other humanoid models. Did you know that?"

Lee couldn't take it any longer. "Admiral..."

The Admiral kept on talking. "They were deliberately programmed that way. The Cylons didn't want them becoming self-aware, and suddenly resisting orders. They didn't want their own robotic rebellion on their hands. You can appreciate the irony."

Lee had had it. He jumped ahead of his father, and stopped him from walking.

"Dad!"

Bill Adama looked into his son's eyes. "I know what you're saying, but we have a responsibility to the people we left behind."

Lee pulled out what he hoped was his trump card. "Remember what Roslin said: our first responsibility is to the survival of Humanity. We can't lose sight of that."

Lee paused, his father looking to the ground. "Over the past two years we've...lost sight of almost everything. We got...soft. But if we go back to New Caprica now, and we lose...it's over. Humanity just stops. And an Admiral's bars don't give you the right to make that gamble."

William Adama looked up at his son, and into his eyes for a long moment. At that moment, he was more proud of Lee than he had ever been. His son had been one of the few to keep his moral compass aligned during this never-ending nightmare. He had a good heart, and a good conscious. Bill came to a decision at that moment.

"You're right, son", he said calmly. Lee's eyes widened in surprise. "You should make plans to resume the search for Earth, with Pegasus and the civilian fleet.

Now Lee was alarmed. "With Pegasus? What about Galactica?"

"I know why we left those people behind", he explained to his remaining son. "And I know it was their choice in the first place to be down there. And I realize that the survival of the Human race outweighs anything else."

He paused for a brief moment. "But this time, I can't live with it. Maybe I'm a coward, but I'm going back."

The Admiral hadn't even finished the last word when Lee cut in. "Dad, you won't have a chance." It was the last card he had to play.

"I'm going back, son."

They two Adama's, the two top commanders of The Fleet looked at each other for a long, painful moment, the Admiral pulling his son into a tight embrace.

The operation had just changed. Lee knew they'd have to call the principles together to revise the plan to include only the Battlestar Galactica.

The visits from Leoben had become a daily occurrence. He hadn't brutalized her like he did the first time, but rape was rape, and that's what he was doing to her. He had forced her not only into intercourse, but in providing oral sex to him as well. It disgusted her to no end. But right now, if she were to get back to her wife and daughter, it was required of her, or they would kill her. She knew that.

This Leoben was certainly not like the other Leoben, she clearly saw that. She began to think that maybe she had been wrong about the Sharon married to Helo-that they were all exactly the same. Helo's Sharon wasn't Boomer-wasn't anything like Boomer. These two Leoben's were different. She had no love for the Leoben who kept her in the Doll House, but he had never physically attacked her or hurt her, despite the fact Starbuck had killed him more than a dozen times. He still showed that, on some level, he did care about her. And he had introduced her to Kacey.

It didn't make her hate The Cylons over all any less, but she was beginning to see that they may not be this monolithic, cookie-cutter humanoid race. Maybe she had been right when she had prayed to the gods after Laura had dumped the Leoben she had tortured out of an airlock: maybe, at least some of them, did indeed have a soul?

A Week Later

Lieutenant Margaret Edmunson, Racetrack, and her partner, Lieutenant Hamish McCall, Call Sign Skulls, were on a Raptor mission near New Caprica. For the last few days, they had been trying to raise the resistance on the planet, but as of yet, had not been successful.

The were ending their allotted time to eavesdrop on communications. They, like the others before them so far, had been disappointed that they had not made contact. Just as Racetrack was about to engage the FTL and jump away, Skulls stopped her.

Despite having the Cylon jamming frequencies, the wireless still was on the fritz. There weren't any real parts to fix those falling apart on this set, Tyrol and Seelix kept trying to tweak the machine.

Galen and Saul were in the bunker, Galen fretting over the damn machine.

"Is it working or isn't it?" Saul was his usual, blunt self.

"So much for our sources on the inside", Galen said bitterly.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched warble from the machine.

"Ow, frack", Tigh moaned, "turn that thing down."

Galen stared the machine for a moment, looking over at Saul. "It's working."

Skulls looked at his display. "Hold on. I'm picking something up."

Racetrack peeked over her shoulder at her partner.

He looked right at her. "It's a Colonial transmission. It's a low-power signal but...the recognition codes match! Oh, yeah, we got a link to the ground!"

Margaret giggled. "OK, send the coded response..."

The wireless displayed a message they had been waiting months to see:

Frequency Resolved

Secure Channel Open

"I've got a signal", Tigh said with a shaky voice.

A new message popped up on the screen:

Channel Open

Receiving Incoming Packet

Galen again looked at Saul. "A Raptor just made contact with us."

"What's it say?"

Will make contact this freq every

twelve hours. Prepare Sitrep for

Command Authority.

Have hope.

We're coming for you.

To Be Continued...