Chapter 2: Lamentation
Colonel Saul Tigh had been in a meeting with Doctor Cottle when the klaxon sounded and he was paged to contact Combat. He grabbed the phone off the wall and pressed the hot key for CIC, "Combat, Gaeta."
"This is Tigh, SitRep."
"Sir, a Cylon Heavy Raider just jumped into the system, Captain Thrace is apparently aboard. She's requesting docking clearance. We're at Condition One and Alert fighters are in the tube."
Saul felt a grudging respect, he'd been against Bill's decision to promote Starbuck and name her CAG but even he had to admit she was good. For her to jump back from Caprica meant she had the Arrow the President wanted and with any luck they'd find whatever the woman was looking for and they could get the hell out of here. "Who's on CAP?"
"Duck and Hot Dog sir, with Flat Top."
"Have Flat Top execute a slow pass, if the Heavy Raider makes no aggressive moves have the CAP escort it in, weapons free. If it turns wrong I want Duck to blow them to hell. Remain at Condition One until further notice. I want a strike team there when the Raider's brought in as well. Then contact Colonial One and inform the President, I'll be on the flight deck."
He hung up the phone and turned to Cottle, "Starbuck's jumped back from Caprica, gather a med team, I want you to take her blood the second she's off the Raider." He turned towards the bed Bill was currently resting in. "Is he-"
The gruff voice of Galactica's CMO cut off the question, "No, not to go anywhere. Thrace can come see him, it might do him some good." He gathered a med kit and followed Tigh out of sickbay.
They arrived on the upper level of the flight deck and found a corporal leading the four man strike team. They fell into step behind the two officers and descended the steps to find Chief Tyrol and his deck team bringing the Raider in on a high lift. The Chief and Specialist Seelix were still carrying the marks of their ordeal on the surface of Kobol. Along with Crashdown, Cally and Baltar they were the survivors of an expedition that ran afoul of Cylons and each other.
When they were rescued, Crashdown had been badly injured during an operation to take out a Cylon SAM Platform when he took a bullet meant for Cally. The ECO was still in medical for another two days. Then Cally had shot the Cylon masquerading as Boomer this morning during her cell transfer. He and Bill had decided to sentence her to thirty days in hack for unauthorized discharge of a firearm.
The Cylon ship was towed into position and the deck crew stepped away. A moment later the rear of the craft split open and a ramp appeared out of the hole. Starbuck's appearance at the top of the ramp ushered several whoops of excitement from the deck crew and she grinned at them. "Aw, did you guys miss me?" She turned to Tigh and after only a second of hesitation snapped to attention and saluted. "Request permission to come aboard Colonel."
He returned the salute, "Permission granted. As you were."
She stood at ease and flashed that annoying grin he'd seen plenty of times at the triad table then pulled what looked like a long black tube off her shoulder like the kind blueprints are carried in, she upturned it and out came a large, jewel encrusted gold arrow. "The Arrow of Apollo, sir."
He took the Arrow and gestured to Cottle, the gruff doctor pulled out a syringe, "Your sleeve Captain."
She looked to Tigh and he spoke as he turned the artifact over in his hand, "I'm not taking any chances Captain, not after what happened."
The CAG rolled up her right sleeve and held out her arm, "What happened?"
He felt a surge of rage boil out of him, the thing had almost cost him his best friend after all. "Boomer was a Cylon, she- IT shot the Old Man twice."
"WHAT?" Tigh's head snapped up from the Arrow to see the frantic man at the top of the ramp, a frakking dead man.
Lee Adama stood there in tattered BDUs, pale and thin and looking rather ill. "Lee?" He turned to his CAG, "How the frak-"
Apollo was down the ramp in three long strides and in front of the XO. "Where's my father?" The shocks kept coming as Karl Agathon stepped down the ramp looking almost as bad as Apollo.
Years of service allowed Tigh to take control of his racing thoughts, "They've been on Caprica all this time?" Kara nodded and Tigh was suddenly thankful he'd called the fire team. "Marines, take these two to Doctor Baltar to run the test, then take them to the brig to hold them until the tests are completed."
The marines moved to follow their orders and Apollo went ballistic, "NO! MY FATHER!" The marines grabbed hold of the pilot's arms and were quite literally dragging him off the flight deck kicking and screaming, Agathon was going more sedately.
Tigh crossed the flight deck to Lee quickly, "CAPTAIN ADAMA, ATTENTION!" It was a tone of voice that he'd found over time that never failed to cut through the crowd, he'd used it quite often since the attacks to reign in a crew member that was on the brink. It worked with Bill's son just as well. Lee immediately ceased his struggling and snapped to. Tigh got toe-to-toe with him and growled, "Think about it boy, your father is in medical right now after being shot by a Cylon infiltrator. Do you honestly believe that I would let you go to him without being absolutely sure? So you can do this the hard way, kicking and screaming and fighting the whole way or you can act like a Frakking Officer and do your frakking job. Do you understand?"
Lee seemed ready to do… something, Saul was pretty sure Lee didn't even know what that something would be but after a moment he nodded, "Ye-yes sir."
The older officer nodded, "Dismissed, Captain."
He turned to find Starbuck was at his side, "Sir, I think you should clear the flight deck, right now."
He looked at his CAG and wondered what was going through her head, "Why?"
She looked back to the raider and whispered, "We took a prisoner sir, a very familiar prisoner."
He sighed and looked to the heavens for guidance, "Frak." He then looked to the Chief, "Tyrol! Clear the deck, right now!"
The deck chief's eyes widened before he nodded and yelled, "Alright people, you heard the Colonel. Clear the deck."
&&&&&&&&&
It took four hours for Kara to finally make her way to the holding cell that housed Lee and Karl. Most of that time was spent convincing the XO and then the President not to chuck Sharon out the airlock. It wasn't until Sharon mentioned the Tomb of Athena and knowing where it was that Roslin decided to put her in the reinforced holding cell they designed for the other Boomer.
Then she had to go to Baltar and give a blood sample, no one blamed Dr. Cottle for not getting around to it, all things considered. Now she was on her way to the brig to try and keep Lee calm. She'd wanted to visit the Old Man, but it was decided that she could speak to him when they'd figured out if Lee and Karl were indeed Lee and Karl. No need to get him excited several times in one day, once should do it.
She rounded the corner and stepped inside the cell block. A little grin tugged at her lips at the idea of visiting someone in hack instead of being visited in hack. The smile died when she saw Lee pacing his cell. Karl was in the next cell, desperately trying to calm the other pilot down, "Lee. Lee! Listen to me, this isn't helping, just sit down, take a deep breath and calm down."
The viper pilot snarled at the larger man and barked out, "Shut the frak up Helo! My father's dying somewhere and I'm locked in a FRAKKING CELL!" As he spoke he had turned to the marine guard and gripped the bars. The marine wisely kept her composure and held her tongue because Lee looked like he wanted to chew through the bars.
With a growl, Lee went back to pacing, while Karl remained maddeningly calm. "Lee, I'm your friend that's why I'm not going to knock your teeth out for yelling at me for no reason. Tigh was right, he can't take a chance that two pilots who spent two months on a Cylon-occupied world only to miraculously reappear aren't Cylons themselves."
"But we're not Cylons!"
Karl grinned, "Well, I know I'm not. I can't speak for you, I have heard you mumble 'by your Command' in your sleep though." Lee started a retort then stopped and scowled at the larger man for a moment. Karl continued, "Then every once in a while your pupils had this spot of red that went back and forth." He held his index finger in front of his face and passed it back and forth like a Cylon scanner, topping it with a little "Woo-woo" sound.
Lee flopped onto his cot and banged the back of his head against the wall, "Asshole."
Karl looked to her with a wide grin, "I learned from the best."
Kara smiled and crossed the room, "Cute. I mean, I woulda just decked Apollo and be done with it." She stopped in front of Lee and gripped his shoulder through the bars in a comforting fashion, "Hey."
He looked up with nearly frantic eyes, "How's my father?"
She smiled, "He's stable, in fact he's conscious, a little weak. When they get the results Tigh will take all three of us to him." She turned to Karl, "Boomer's okay, they're not going to hurt her, I have an assurance from Tigh and the President."
Karl's calm face finally broke and he lowered his head, "Thank the Gods."
Lee nodded slightly then said, "What happened?"
She shook her head sadly, "We sent a recon patrol out about a week before I jumped back to Caprica, they found a temperate planet in a near-by system. When they returned, the Commander, the President and I went over the findings and decided to send a survey mission, for supplies; food, fresh water, and the like. We also considered settling there, as there were ruins all over the place. We were looking over some of the photos Boomer took of the surface when the President had a vision and realized the planet was Kobol and that I was 'fated' to return to Caprica to retrieve the Arrow."
Lee sighed, "I can't imagine my father accepted that too easily."
She shook her head, "Not really, but he listened and after a while agreed to send me back to Caprica in the raider. He also green lighted a survey run of three raptors, when they jumped into the system they ran into trouble. The Cylons were already in the system; one Raptor made it back another was destroyed and third had a hard landing on the surface just outside the City of the Gods. I had already jumped away, the Old Man cooked up a rescue op that hinged on destroying the Base Ship in Orbit of the planet by sending in a raptor with a nuke and a Cylon IFF.
"He sent Boomer and Racetrack and they accomplished the mission. When they returned, the Old Man met them on the flight deck and she put two in his chest before Jammer and Flat Top could subdue her."
Lee's hands scrubbed over his face while Karl turned away from them and mumbled, "Gods, why did it have to be her?"
Kara nodded and continued, "When I look back at it now, something had been eating at Sharon for weeks. I thought it was the guilt she felt over your disappearance and leaving Karl behind, she seemed to be cracking up but I'm thinking it was her programming asserting itself."
The hatch opened and the three pilots turned to find Laura Roslin standing in the open doorway. She turned to the guard, "Private, please release Captain Adama and Lieutenant Agathon."
"Right away Madam President," The woman saluted then walked over to the holding cells while pulling out her keys. She unlocked Karl's cell first, and tried not to shrink under the hard glare Lee gave her, Kara almost felt sorry for the young marine.
When Lee stepped out of his cell, Roslin walked up to him with a warm expression. "Captain Apollo, you can't know how happy it made me when Dr. Baltar determined you and Lt. Agathon were not Cylon Agents."
"Madam President, forgive me but I need to see my father."
She ignored Lee's very brusque tone and gave him an understanding smile, "I know Captain, and I intend to take you to him now, afterwards, you and the Lieutenant will submit to complete physicals from Doctor Cottle. I just wanted to discuss some of the things Captain Thrace told us on our way to Medical." She led them out of the cell block then.
When they entered the corridor Roslin spoke again, "I understand that you encountered a resistance movement on Caprica."
Lee nodded, "Yes ma'am."
"Captain Thrace said you offered to bring them along."
"We did, but their leader, Anders, said they wanted to take Caprica back. I can't really say I blame him." He turned to her, "I can't understand why you haven't come back to the Colonies. You can't honestly believe this Earth nonsense, it's probably just half-drunken ramblings of some monks somewhere along the line. The whole idea of a thirteenth tribe is just ridiculous, even if they had gone a separate way, they would have contacted us by now."
She gave Lee a hard look, "The most interesting thing about being President is you don't have to explain your actions to people."
"Not even when you've abandoned billions of people to live in prison camps or be tortured to death so you can chase after the pipe dream of Earth?"
Kara stepped in between the two, "Lee, you are way out of line right now. The President and the Old Man agreed a long time ago that going back to the Colonies is a death sentence. You should know that better than most."
She frowned when Lee's face clamped down, "Whatever, may I see my father now?" He didn't wait however, just gave Helo a look and the larger man nodded then led the way. Kara scowled at his retreating back. Things had seemed so good between her and Lee, better than they ever had been so where the hell had this come from?
&&&&&&&&&
Starbuck was back.
It was the only thing that made sense to Bill Adama. Tigh had stormed out of medical several hours ago with Cottle and a medical team, when the med team returned twenty minutes later they seemed much more upbeat and were whispering back and forth out of his earshot. They seemed energetic, almost giddy. Kara was back from Caprica, she was the only person in the Fleet who could change the mood of his crew this drastically.
He smiled to himself, Kara had that effect on him more than most. He loved his spirited CAG like she was his daughter.
Now it was just a matter of Saul bringing her down to see him. Nothing in the Universe would make him happier than seeing her alive and safe at home again. She was the closest thing to family he had left. He looked towards the hatch and nearly had a heart attack. Helo had walked into Medical, dirty and tattered and pale, but alive. He started to grin, leave it to Kara to find strays and bring them home.
When the ECO stepped further into the room, his companion came into view and tears nearly came to his eyes judging by the pressure he felt. Lee stood in sickbay, searching the room. His eyes landed on Bill, and the look on his son's face stunned the Old Man. The last time he'd looked into Lee's eyes, his son was hurling cruel words at him and now he looked at him in a way he hadn't since he was a boy.
Lee crossed the room to him, "Dad." The last time that word had left Lee's lips it was just before he'd exploded in rage, and before that two years earlier it had been hissed as he told him he'd never forgive him for Zak. It sounded so different when said affectionately.
What could Bill say to his son, now twice resurrected that would mean anything? What words would tell Lee the hell he'd suffered thinking his only remaining son was dead? Lee stood at his side, looking down at him. "I thought you were dead." Bill was surprised at how rough his voice sounded.
Lee grinned, "Sorry to disappoint." There was no sting to the remark.
He shook his head, "I've never been so happy to be so wrong." He gripped Lee's arm and with a surprising surge of strength pulled his son to him and wrapped his arms tightly around him. He choked down a laugh when Lee hugged him back just as tightly. Bill looked up and found Kara at the foot of the bed, he beckoned her forward and pulled her into the embrace as well, "You did good, Kara."
He heard a sobbing laugh come from his daughter and he only squeezed them tighter.
The gruff voice of the CMO broke through the quiet of their reunion, "Well, I hate to break up this sugary moment, but I have three physicals to perform. They spent almost two months on a bombed-out irradiated planet running from Cylons, then to top it off they spent a lot of time with Thrace. I can only imagine what she did to Captain Adama."
Kara stepped back with a scowl, while Lee shook his head and flushed. Bill looked towards Helo, the ECO grinned and said. "In Kara's defense Commander, she only molested your son once to my knowledge."
Bill turned a raised eyebrow on his CAG and she gave the room her best smug Starbuck expression. "He didn't complain."
Bill shook his head, "I don't want to know."
End Part