Here, as promised, is chapter 5! I think things are going to get a bit complicated...

As always, thanks for your comments. It's nice to know if people are reading and if I'm making any sense at all...

Disclaimer: Nope, they're not mine, but I play with them, and they don't complain...

Too High a Cost
By: Mariel

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Chapter 5

Reunions

Bill stopped. Off to his right, through the sound of rustling leaves and the pattering of softly falling rain, he could hear the unmistakable rasp and thud of cylon movement. He'd been young - too young - when he'd heard it for the first time, and since the end of the first Cylon War, he'd been haunted by the certainty that he would hear it again.

With a suddenness that made him pause, the faint reverberation of heavy metallic weight brought back memories of fallen friends and comrades.

The battles they had fought; the quick decisions that had meant life or death; the way it had felt to live with the knowledge that the fall of dice was as easily predictable as how a battle might go...

He breathed deeply, slowing the adrenaline that coursed through him. He had thrived on that uncertainty, thrived on the 'throw it all in and see how it falls' kind of life. He'd loved the way his mind had felt as he manipulated possibilities and sought out solutions not thought of before. He'd loved setting out in his viper, enveloped in the darkness of space, his purpose clear, his mind sharp, his blood pounding through his veins.

Think fast, act faster...but take the time to do things right. It had sounded like an impossible task, but he had made it his goal during those days, and he had been grateful to find his way to a balance that had kept him and those who served with him alive.

He'd loved every minute of it.

And now, he was called to fight them again. Fixing his attention on the metallic sounds in the distance, he realised he was listening to only one cylon. He waited, picturing its movements in his mind's eye. In a reasonably short time he ascertained that it was not moving in a search pattern, but was merely treading a patterned route in one relatively small area. That meant it was guarding something - most likely Lee's raptor. There was a chance he and Kara were there and being held captive, or it might be that a cylon had simply been posted as a sentry in case an attempt was made to return the raptor.

Knowing he'd have to get closer to find out which of his hypotheses was correct, he carefully began to move forward.

He soon came upon the unmistakable signs of a barely-controlled landing. Shortly after that, he found the damaged vessel itself. Wiping rain from his brow, he cursed the planet's weather and inched through damp undergrowth to get closer. A few moments of observation told him that there was indeed only one cylon. How many others there were on the planet, he couldn't be sure of, but he kept in mind Lee's mention of seeing four. Calculating quickly, he decided there were probably at least a handful or two of them left on the planet to keep a permanent eye on things in case someone returned. Lives were cheap when they weren't really lives, he thought. The cylons stationed here could remain here for decades, feeling no loneliness, no depression, no longing for home and loved ones...

The spectre of Boomer rose unbidden in his mind. She had been miserably homesick the first few weeks aboard the Galactica. He could remember speaking with her and seeing the unspoken distress she felt at being separated from her family for the first lengthy period in her life. Her brave attempt to cover her feelings and do the job expected had touched him, and he'd felt a pleased sense of satisfaction when the talented young woman had settled in, found friends, and gained a comfortable and respected place amongst the flight crew.

He grimaced, chiding himself for again humanizing what he knew was only a human-looking machine. Still, on some fundamental level, he knew he would never be able to do otherwise. As much as he hated the cylon that had tried to end his life, he missed and continued to respect the wise, fun-loving young woman who had been one of his most trusted pilots.

She had been the one to finally press home to him the painful lesson that betrayal was inevitable.

The cylon Sharon he now knew, though not one and the same with Boomer, was her - or part of her. Though he did not understand how, something of one had been carried to the other, and he recognised it. - and trusted in it and in their conversation in some dark, unfathomable way he knew made no sense.

Inhaling deeply, he shook his thoughts free and allowed his gaze to stray across the crash site. He visualised the raptor falling through the thick canopy of tree branches overhead, fighting to stay aloft as long as possible between the sparsely spread out tree trunks, and then skidding along the rough terrain until it stopped to lie partially on its side.

It didn't take much examination to know that without a team of engineers, the raptor would not be going anywhere. From the looks of it, it was a miracle that it had been landed in one piece. Taking a moment to feel pride in his son's fine piloting, he again turned his thoughts to more immediate concerns.

Observing the cylon as it came back into sight, he saw that it paid little attention to the raptor itself.

Lee and Kara were not inside.

That meant he had to determine what direction they had headed in when they'd left the raptor. He crouched silently and took a few minutes to consider his options. Quickly running through them, he went with the tried and true: Go with what you know. They had studied the maps and learned how to get to the Tomb of Athena, so that's where they would head. He rose. If he could find their trail, chances were he might catch up with them before nightfall.

Aware that disposing of the sentry cylon would draw attention to his presence, he silently left it to its lone duty.

-xxx-

The rain stopped and the sun appeared, creating a thick, heavy, humid atmosphere that only partially dried his wet clothing. Pressing onward, Bill became increasingly sure he was on the right track. An hour or so before sunset, he stopped as the sudden, unmistakable sound of cylon gun turrent fire echoed through the trees. Shocked at its closeness, he startled instinctively, then relaxed as he realised it was not aimed at him.

Moving swiftly towards the noise, he slowed when he was close enough to see the flash of gunfire. Approaching carefully, he found another lone cylon, this one exchanging gunfire with someone who had sought safety behind a fallen tree.

Wishing it hadn't been quite so long since he'd had a session of target practice, Bill silently placed his rifle on the ground and drew out the handgun he had brought with him. They'd learned a few things when cylons had boarded the Galactica more than a year ago, and he'd placed several valuable charges in the weapon's firing chamber that they'd discovered were the most effective in destroying them.

Slowly, he raised the gun. Taking aim, he exhaled softly and fired.

The shot went wide, and the cylon reacted immediately. In one smooth, concerted movement, it turned its head and swung its right arm to fire in his direction, all the while keeping the gunfire from its left turrent spraying the fallen tree.

Bill muttered a curse as a hail of gunfire laced the area he stood in. Diving for cover, he winced as something in his shoulder pulled. Ignoring the pain, he scrabbled onto his knees, aimed his weapon, and quickly pulled the trigger again.

This time, the cylon fell, its head severed from its body.

Bill lowered his arms and looked at the gun in his hand. After taking a steadying breath, he rose to his feet and, fighting a burgeoning hope, began walking towards the fallen tree the cylon had been firing on.

-xxx-

When the shooting stopped, Kara lifted her head cautiously and peered over the top of the fallen tree she and Lee had taken refuge behind.

She tensed as she recognised their saviour, then exclaimed, "Ohmygods! Lee! It's your dad!"

Scrambling to her feet, she clambered over the tree trunk and ran towards the man now carefully stepping his way past the blasted remains of their cylon attacker.

Barely slowing as she reached him, she threw herself against his chest.

"I knew you wouldn't leave us! I told Lee! I told him!"

She clung to Adama's neck, oblivious to the fact that he made no movement to hold her. Leaning back, she grabbed the top of his shoulders and grinned at him, her eyes brimming with the joy of trust fulfilled.

Looking at her, Bill's features slowly relaxed. Finally drawing her close with tired arms, he hugged her back. As he did so, he felt something cold and hard inside him ease slightly. Immediately sensing the danger of that, he quickly released her.

Kara, still joyous and clutching the Admiral's arm as though afraid he would disappear, immediately turned and looked back in Lee's direction.

"Lee! Get over here! It's your father!"

Lee, who had stood and silently watched his father's and Kara's reunion, slowly moved towards them. He was unsurprised by his father's reaction to Kara - if his father were going to forgive anyone, it would always be Kara - but he knew his own greeting would not be so easy. He and his father had never travelled an easy road together...

"Dad," he said when he reached them.

"Son," Adama replied. Reaching out an arm, he placed a hand on Lee's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're safe. Glad you're both safe," his father said gruffly.

He was doing what had to be done, and it was the right thing to do...

Lee nodded, surprised at his father's lack of rancor. Unsure of how to respond, he looked around and asked, "Where are the others?"

Adama looked at him with steady blue eyes. "There's only me. I said no one would be sent to come after you, and I meant it. I refuse to endanger more people's lives on this planet."

Lee made as though to respond, then closed his mouth. His father was here, and that meant there was a way off the planet. He could debate the logic of his methods later.

Interrupting his son's thoughts, Adama said, "We'd better clear out of here. There are other cylons searching an area close enough to here that they would have heard the gunfire. They'll come to investigate."

Kara nodded, but did not move. Looking down at the cylon, she then looked at Adama and grinned.

"Two shots, eh?"

A rueful smile escaped and played across Bill's face. "Suggest mandatory fire arms practise for all personnel when you get back, okay?"

She laughed. "Will do, sir."

She wanted to hug him again, wanted to bring more of the man she had known back, but before she could, Adama's expression shuttered closed once again. "I'll get my gear; you get whatever you've been carrying," he told them. Nodding in the direction the sun was rapidly sinking towards, he said, "There's no moon, so we can't go far tonight. We'll have to find a place to stay until daybreak. I think we'll find something in that direction."

Kara nodded, her heart filled with happiness. They'd make it off this planet alive. The Admiral would see to it.

Looking at the man now walking away from her, she renewed a promise made earlier: when they got back, she'd have that talk with him. Things would be better; she'd see to it.

-xxx-

An hour or so later, they stopped for the night on the side of a hillock. As Adama had said, there was no moon, and the chance of detection had been too great for them to use any sort of light to show them their way. Not daring to light a fire, they ate cold rations and then huddled in their bed sacks and tried to sleep.

Throughout the night, as they lay waiting restlessly for dawn, they occasionally heard a cylon in the distance, but none came close to where they lay hidden. Eventually, they fell into a light sleep.

Just before daylight the next morning, they were awoken by the sound of cylon gunfire.

All three were on their feet at once.

And were then forced to drop to the ground as a wild hail of bullets ricocheted off the trees and rocks around them.

The three crouched low and tried to make sense of what was happening in the darkness below. They heard crashing footfalls racing towards them and what sounded like Colonial weaponry, then, following closely behind, the unmistakable sound of cylon turrent fire and heavy-moving machines stamping through the forest. Manoeuvring so that he could see what was happening, Lee saw two distinct flares of gunfire. He turned and whispered, "Two cylons, heading in our direction. They're chasing someone. Whoever it is, is firing back."

Bill nodded. Assessing the general situation, he gave instructions for Lee and Kara to move downhill and take up an ambush position.

Splitting up, they had barely got themselves situated when dark figures ran past them in the gloom. The two pursuing cylons were not long in following. As soon as they had passed, Lee, Kara, and Adama opened fire on them. Caught unawares, the two cylons were destroyed with surprising ease.

Rising to their feet, the three of them walked over to look at the remains of the two cylons.

"That's three down," Adama said, "but who were they firing at? I couldn't see anything. There was more than one person, though."

Lee shrugged. "I couldn't tell. We'll have to follow-"

The sound of a twig snapping as it was trod upon made all three of them turn and raise their weapons in one easy movement.

"Don't shoot," said a familiar voice. In the pale grey of early dawn, Karl Agathon stepped slowly into sight. His tall, muscular frame was followed closely by the slender, almost etheral one of Lieutenant Valerii. Agathon nodded towards the Admiral.

"Admiral Adama," he said.

Lee, Kara and the Admiral all lowered their guns.

"Lieutenant Agathon," Adama said in surprise.

Before he could say more, a movement behind the two officers drew his attention away from them. A third person emerged from the darkness. Stepping carefully towards them, the woman's eyes never left the Admiral.

Kara gasped.

"Madame President!" she said.

Lee turned to look at his father's expression.

He winced. This wasn't going to be one of those 'Madame President, it's good to see you' moments.

Kara, however, raised an eyebrow and grinned. Looking between the Admiral and the President, she drawled, "Well, it looks like the whole family's here."

Adama shot her a look that told her he wasn't amused, but she returned it with a look of wide-eyed innocence. He might be acting as though the past had never happened, but she refused to. She knew now beyond a doubt that the man she knew still existed somewhere inside the man who stood before her. He had, after all, come to rescue them. He still cared. The people here - including Roslin - were important to him, and she refused to act otherwise.

But now, curiousity overwhelming her, she stepped back to see how he would act.

-xxx-

His whole body tensed in anger, Adama focussed his attention on Roslin. Those around him inhaled quietly and took subtle steps backwards.

"What are you doing here?"

Taking a brave step forward, the President drew herself up to her full height and said, "We came to bring you back - to bring you all back. When I heard what you'd done-" She faltered, unsure of how to avoid revealing the panic she had felt at his leaving. Finally, she continued, "I didn't think you should be here alone. You need backup. We didn't know-" Her voiced trailed off under his glare. He had, she knew, every right to be furious. Whatever cylons had been out searching for Kara and Lee would now be headed in this direction. That was bad. What was worse was that they'd also screwed up their arrival royally, and he was soon going to be even more angry than he was now.

She looked down at the ground.

"You could have got us killed," he rasped.

She raised her eyes to meet his.

"Bill-"

His name passed her lips without thinking. There was a pleading in the way she said it, a shadow of things unspoken.

He did not let her continue. "We had an agreement. What possessed you to-"

He stopped speaking abruptly and stared at her. Fighting the cold rage he carried inside his chest, he felt it begin to burn furiously. There was little to say regarding yet another betrayal of an agreement she had made with him. He wanted to lash out at her, berate her for acting first and thinking afterwards when it was too late; he wanted to chastise her for tempting the Fates with two more precious lives.

And he hated himself for having allowed himself the fool's trust he had placed in her yet again.

His fists clenched. Focussing on what had to be done, he turned away from her. Taking a ragged breath to calm himself, he turned his attention to the two who had arrived with her. "My orders were that none of my people were to be sent down here," he said in a harsh tone. "What are you doing here?"

Helo looked down at the toes of his boots. Looking slightly sheepish, he replied, "Technically, I'm not one of your people, anymore, sir." Looking up, he explained, "I've been discharged."

"You've what?"

"Been discharged, sir."

"For what reason!"

"Insubordination," Helo replied. He paused, then added, "and maybe a few other things, I'm not sure. Colonel Tigh has the list. To make it perfectly clear I was no longer military, I resigned, as well. So did Sharon." He shrugged. "After that, coming here seemed like an okay idea."

Adama's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Really."

Helo nodded. "The President needed a pilot, sir."

He turned cold eyes towards Roslin. "That's debatable."

"We're here purely on a voluntary basis, sir," Helo assured him.

Turning his attention back to the lieutenant, Adama grunted. "It's good to know you weren't ordered to create this frakking mess. I'd have expected better judgment from you."

Helo's eyes turned downwards for a moment, but when he looked up, his face was filled with resolve.

"My best judgement said I should watch your back, sir. I have to be here to do that."

The Admiral held the younger man's eyes and absorbed his response, but did not answer to it. Instead, he asked, "Where did you land your raptor?"

Helo faltered, and looked uncomfortable.

Adama's heart sank.

"Well?" he asked, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"The cylons spotted us when we entered the atmosphere," Helo explained. "We got hit by one of their missiles and lost a thruster. I managed to land okay, but we've been trying to evade and outrun them ever since we got here. I thought we'd managed to elude them, until just a while ago..."

Bill sighed.

"Is she flight-worthy?"

Helo shook his head. "I don't think so. She looks okay, but there was something seriously wrong with the way she was handling. I figure she'll need parts and a couple hours with some of Tyrol's people."

Which they all knew was impossible.

The only outward evidence Adama gave of his chagrin was his clenched jaw.

"So we've lost not one, but two raptors so far," he said tightly.

Knowing how precious their military vessels were, Helo nodded uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, sir."

Adama shot the President a look, wondering if she would ever understand how high a cost her mission had just exacted from them. Two fewer raptors to defend the fleet, four of their best pilots in jeopardy...

Turning from Roslin before he lost control, he regarded Sharon silently. It did not suprise him that she had made no contribution to the conversation. As he looked at her, he felt none of the murderous intent he had once felt towards her. Now, he was grown resolved to the dichotomy of two or more Sharons in one body - the wise, young human-appearing pilot who had loved and been loved in return and who held within her all the spirit and courage of Boomer ... the programmed cylon mole, completely capable of mindlessly wreaking havoc should her programming dictate it...and the determined, young cylon who loved Helo and had given birth to their son and who claimed to have free will... and whom he had re-commissioned during a time of need...

When he spoke to her, he was never sure which of them he was speaking to, but he'd come to realise he didn't really care. She was his connection to what he didn't understand, his connection to that dark part of human nature and cylon resolve that he needed to explore and come to terms with. Her perceptions were often distasteful to him, sometimes hurt him, and regularly angered him, but he had gained from their discourses, and for that he appreciated her.

He looked at her now, however, with a heavy heart. He saw the look of fear and regret in her eyes and immediately understood it. Only Roslin, he thought, would be so unthinking as to bring her here. Only Roslin could so overlook the possible consequences of her choices in her blind rush to achieve her goal

The planet would indeed exact its price.

Feeling something settle into place, he greeted her almost kindly. His face showing none of the concern he felt for the time bomb he knew she carried inside her, he said, "Lieutenant Valerii, it is good to see you."

There was gentleness and a resignation in his voice that surprised them all.

Sharon nodded. "Thank you, sir." Looking down, the cylon said, "I'm here to help." She then lifted her eyes and met his. "I will help," she promised.

Her voice held a plea that he believe her.

He did, though he suspected it would be in ways she did not yet suspect. Nodding, he held her gaze.

"I know you'll do your best."

Watching the exchange, Roslin frowned as she tried to decipher the unspoken communication she was sure was taking place. Failing, and wanting what she couldn't understand to stop, she interrupted them. "So, what do we do now?" she asked.

Adama looked at her briefly, then turned away and addressed the others. "Now, we find a place to make camp and then we sit and wait. I arranged a rendezvous point with the Galactica in three day's time. With this many of us, I've got to take a better look at how to get to our transportation. Before I move to get you off this planet, I need to see what kind of search sequence they set up to find us. Once I know that, we'll move accordingly. Until then, we need to hide out somewhere far enough away that if we're discovered they don't also find our transportation off the planet," he said.

She noticed he had totally ignored the object of the original mission, which had been to seek out the scrolls. She thought for a moment about suggesting that since they were almost there...and stopped herself. Looking at the four young people in front of her, and at the man who felt responsible for them, she paused to rethink.

Now might not be the time.

Watching as the others prepared to move out, she decided to think about it a while more before proposing that they make their way to the Tomb of Athena.

When Adama shouldered his gun, Roslin saw him wince.

Taking an impulsive step towards him she asked, "Are you hurt?"

Ignoring her, he nodded towards a steep incline on their left that signalled the foot of the escarpment that they had been travelling towards. "I'd like to get to the top before mid-afternoon. If the cylons don't know your raptor can't fly, they'll wait for us to show up there, but they'll only wait for so long. Then they'll figure out we're up to something else and start scouting around for us."

Looking at the small group he was now responsible for, he turned. "Let's clear camp and get moving," he said.

-xxx-

The journey up the escarpment was made mostly in silence. Roslin could tell that Lee and Kara avoided even looking at her, and had also noticed the close formation they kept with the Admiral. Their disasterous arrival on the planet and Bill's dramatic arrival to rescue them had changed the dynamics of things once again, and their focus remained on him, all thoughts of her mission set aside.

She'd tried to muster a conversation with Sharon:

"I was surprised by the Admiral's reaction to your being here," she said.

Sharon looked at her. Something flashed in her eyes, but was too quickly gone for Roslin to interpret.

Reaching out a hand to grab a branch to help pull herself along with, Sharon looked at the President for a second before responding. "The Admiral is generous," she told the older woman. "He knows me, and for some reason forgives one part because he cares about the other." She stopped and held the president's gaze. "He has compassion, Madame President. In a fleet filled with people who just want the job done for them, he cares about the people who have to accomplish that job. It's something you might consider learning."

Laura was struck by the young woman's blunt intensity. She blinked.

"But he orders you into danger all the time," she said, not understanding.

"Yes, he does. It's his duty to do so and it's our duty to obey. But when he does it, he weighs the odds, makes sure we're as safe as he can make us because he cares about us. As people. As people who matter to him. And that's the important difference: he worries about us and our safety and if he's done everything he can to ensure our coming back alive. The mission is important, but so are we. You worry about if we'll succeed and about the people's perceptions and about how they'll react once they know what you've done. You don't ever really consider the lives you're putting at risk. He does. Always."

It was a harsh evaluation, and took Laura aback. Had she become the woman this young cylon described? Had she become so goal-driven that she failed to consider the people she sent out to attain those goals? Had she lost that much of her humanity that individuals meant so little to her?

Helo, who had been following and overheard, drew up beside Sharon and said, "We got to know the Old Man pretty well over the past year. He's distanced himself from the people around him, but he still cares. He wouldn't be here, otherwise." He looked ahead to where Adama led their small group. "He's changed, but that may be simply to protect himself. The past year wasn't easy for him."

Laura opened her mouth to ask a question, but was forestalled by Lee's voice calling back to them:

"We're almost there."

And miraculously, they were. Setting aside what she had been told for later thought, Roslin resumed her upward climb.

-xxx-

Finally at the top of the escarpment, they stopped for food and water and then travelled farther inland for about a mile. The flat, forested plateau they travelled suddenly gave way to the edge of a deep, narrow, and heavily-treed gorge. The roar of falling water could be heard deep at its bottom, to their left.

"We'll camp at the bottom," Adama told them gruffly. "It's deep enough we can light a fire down there and by the time the smoke reaches here, it'll be too diffused to see."

"How'd you know this was even here?" Kara asked, looking down the steep side of the gorge. It was covered in dense, damp foliage that would be a pain to travel through, and was deep enough that she couldn't see the bottom from where she stood. Looking on the bright side, however, she determined that at least there were enough trees and bushes growing on its sides to prevent them from slipping and falling straight to the bottom.

Adama shrugged. "Chief Tyrol says topography is for sissies, and he may be right, but it taught me what to look for when reading a map." Looking at the darkening sky, he told them, "We'd better move fast. It'll be dark down there a long time before it gets dark up here." He looked at Helo. "I'll take point. You've got my back."

Helo held the Admiral's gaze. Recognising the Admiral's words for what they were, he nodded slowly

"Thank you, sir," he said..

He'd follow this man to hell and back.

Roslin watched the exchange silently, then observed Bill carefully as he walked by her. He was holding himself stiffly and she wondered again if he were hurt. Knowing better than to comment, she followed the others down over the edge of the steep bank.

End Chapter 5