After the jump was completed, Lee ordered the SAR to launch. Each officer in CIC watched the three blips signifying the raptors appear on the screen. With each pass of the arch across the screen, the raptors got closer to their goal and with each pass the tension in CIC was ratcheted up another few degrees.
The SAR was well within visual range when Red Devil's voice crackled through the speakers, "Pegasus/Red Devil, confirmed visual id of the two raptors. I can't quite see inside yet." Lee's hand hovered over the hand receiver waiting for the Commander's order.
When Red Devil's voice broke the now oppressive silence, it was clearly disheartened. "Pegasus, both raptor crews are dead. Repeat, they're all dead."
Cain sighed and spoke, "Bring them home-" She was cut off as three hostile blips suddenly appeared on the screen.
The blips were quickly identified as Base Ships, and the young woman at Tactical said. "Three Base Ships have just jumped into weapons range!"
Lee yanked the hand set out of its cradle and muttered, "Frak me." He then entered in the hot key to the flight deck.
Hoshi suddenly exclaimed, "They're launching nukes!"
Cain called out, "Brace for impact!"
Lee dropped the receiver and took a firm grip on the table. The impact of the nukes striking the hull rang out like a dull thud, the shock of the strike followed so quickly it might as well have been instantaneous.
The ship pitched hard and Lee stumbled back from the table only for the ship to lurch again causing him to stagger into Hoshi at communications. The Plexiglas doors behind the Commander shattered and hurled safety glass all over them. The EMP from the nukes went through the ship, blowing out fuses and overloading circuits and hurling sparks out of power couplings.
The second impact was lost in the chaos left behind by the first one. This one pitched the ship violently and interrupted power causing monitors and lights to flicker.
Lee pushed off of Hoshi and staggered back to the Tac table, "Damage Report!"
He looked across the table and saw Cain pulling herself to her feet. She had been thrown hard into the tactical station and blood was now flowing freely from a nasty cut over her left eye. Sergeant Mathias attempted to help her but Cain waved her off, "I'm alright, sergeant." Despite her reassuring words, Cain staggered forward. Lee was pretty sure she had a concussion.
Hoshi's voice was shaken as he made his report, "T-two nuclear detonations to the stern, sir."
Lee looked up and watched the DRADIS flicker, a warning message popped up on the screen and before he had a chance to read it the officer at the Damage Control station called out, "FTL is offline, we're stuck here."
"Frak…" Lee turned to the Commander and noticed that she hadn't been able to shake off the glassy look in her eyes. He then glanced at Mathias and gave her a nod which she returned before the Marine gently took Cain's elbow and led her out of CIC to Medical. "Hoshi, scramble the fighters, we'll need them to buy us some time and get me Garner on the horn. Fire control, get me a solution."
Another nuke struck the hull and staggered them. The Damage Control officer checked her boards and said, "Structural damage to the top-side heat exchanger, we can't take much more of this."
Lee scowled at the display then said, "Roll us over and have Kat and Starbuck protect our heat exchanger. Move us towards the closest Base Ship"
The helm and flight ops officers followed his instructions while the petty officer at fire control reported that they had a firing solution. "Weapons free, fire at will."
&&&&&&&&&
Kara found herself in the middle of a maelstrom. It took almost as much effort to avoid the flak from Pegasus as it did to out-maneuver the raiders in the air. Hoshi's call of "Fire in the hole" had all the vipers clearing out of the line of fire and the air became more clouded as Pegasus opened up the big guns on the base ships.
A raider flared into a fireball for a fraction of a second after she turned her guns on it and she smirked to herself for the same amount of time. No use celebrating every kill, there were enough raiders in the air that she'd have plenty more before the day was out.
Her point was proven when an alarm told her she'd been locked onto from behind, she spun her viper around and opened fire, burning another one out of the sky. Swinging around again she chased a raider into Harpy's line of fire and the other pilot splashed him before she herself flared her out of this life and left spots in Kara's vision.
Spots that she didn't even bother to blink away, she moved on to her next target with the cold detachment that training and experience had drilled into her. There'd be time to celebrate Harpy's life when they got back to the Fleet.
&&&&&&&&&
Lee listened as Kara, Kat and Showboat divided up the planes to take on the raiders, then looked to fire control and ordered a solution on the center axis of the nearest Base Ship. Hoshi told him he had Garner. "What's going on down there?"
Garner's voice could barely be made out over the chaos both in CIC and down in Engineering. "We're still getting the fires under control-" Garner issued an order to someone down there and then said, "There's a coolant leak, off scale low. There's a hull breech, I've got a breather unit and I'm going in there."
"How long?"
"Can't say."
Lee scowled at the DRADIS screen in front of him, "Well, we're not going to last long here, we need that FTL RFN." He slammed the receiver down with force.
The tactical officer spoke from her station, "We have a solution on the nearest Base Ship."
With an expression mirroring a wolf that had finally separated its prey from the pack Lee uttered one word, "Fire."
&&&&&&&&
Garner swung the sledge in his hand and struck the spanner when he felt the subtle lurch of the ship signifying the front batteries opening fire. He smirked into his breathing gear and muttered, "Give 'em Hell, girl."
He struck the spanner again, noticing that blood vessels were coming to the surface of his hands, the air was almost gone and he still had two valves to close.
The ship shuddered slightly, suggesting a direct hit on the far side of the hull. He grimaced and thought about how much repair work was ahead of them, he'd gladly do every job himself if it meant they got out of this alive.
He moved onto the next valve and struck the spanner, noticing that the strike didn't make a sound. The air was officially gone.
&&&&&&&&&
Lee noticed out of the corner of his eyes when Hoshi looked up from his station with a giddy expression, "Direct hits along the center axis… He's turning… He's frakkin' running, Major!"
He never took his attention off the DRADIS display, "The other two aren't." All he could hope was Garner wasn't going to take too much longer.
&&&&&&&&&
Starbuck whipped her plane in a high G arc out of the firing line, turned on her raider and opened fire, splashing yet another toaster. Her ammo count went into the red at that moment. Several of the pilots in her group were reporting the same thing and she heard Kat's voice in her ear. "Pegasus/Kat, we're skosh ammo. We're down to harsh words."
She smirked to herself as she chased down the raider on Narcho's tail and scrubbed it as well. She scowled at the zeros in her ammo counts. She was in trouble, but like an answer to her prayers Lee's voice found her ear, "Actual to all pilots, combat landings. We're frakking outta here!"
She spun her plane with a triumphant laugh and slammed the throttle down, bound for home.
&&&&&&&&&
Lee could see Flight Ops frantically calculating their jump while fire control laid down heavy cover fire as their planes came off the board. Finally he heard Kara's voice on the speaker; "CIC/Starbuck, nobody behind me but toasters!"
Hoshi turned to him from communications, "All planes are aboard and the bays are secured."
He couldn't suppress the relieved smile that graced his face as he said, "Jump!"
A moment later Lee felt the world compress and they were gone.
&&&&&&&&&
Lee and Kara had stood outside of the Admiral's quarters for well over twenty minutes as the Commander was "debriefed."
Three days passed since the Pegasus returned to the Fleet, severely damaged and down seven pilots and another thirty officers and enlisted. Commander Cain herself had needed fifteen stitches in her forehead and suffered a concussion after bouncing her head off the Tactical Station. This left Lee in command while Pegasus affected repairs, the Admiral had allowed them to delay their report on the incident until the bulk of repairs were underway and Cain was released from Medical.
Almost the split-second Cain was cleared for duty the beckon from Galactica came and he and the Commander found themselves on a raptor less than an hour later. When the officers arrived at his cabin, they found Kara waiting outside the hatch as well. Lee was unsurprised, she had been on Pegasus and as a command rank officer, and it seemed some of the fallout would land upon her as well as Lee and the Commander.
The senior Adama practically vibrated with fury as he stalked past them and through his hatch. It seemed the three days that passed had done very little to abate his anger. Ten minutes passed with the three officers standing outside his closed hatch, much like three troublesome students outside their Principal's office.
The hatch then came open and Adama's extremely clipped tone beckoned the Commander inside. The hatch sealed behind her but Lee and Kara didn't dare converse while they waited. Both convinced that the Old Man would burn them both to ash with his fury if he caught them chatting when the time for their dressing down finally came.
That didn't stop them from sharing sheepish looks; Kara's report was very bare bones as she had not been in CIC when the decision to jump after their people was made so she could only provide so much information. As for Lee, he'd submitted his report to the Commander yesterday and he'd made sure he'd shouldered much of the blame in a bid to save the Commander from the shame.
He was sure after the report he'd submitted that his remaining time as the XO of Pegasus could be measured in minutes, if not his military career all together. He'd committed open mutiny and treason; he'd be given tremendous leniency if he only spent the rest of his life in hack.
The hatch came open and Cain stepped out with her head set defiantly, Adama barked out from within, " Thrace. Adama. Inside!"
Kara stepped inside but Cain caught Lee's arm as she passed him, in a whisper she spoke only two words, "Admit nothing."
She stepped away and made her way down the corridor with Lee's eyes following her in confusion. What had she done?
His father's voice ripped through the hall, "Now!"
Lee had seen his father furious and knew William Adama rarely raised his voice. He didn't need to, that gruff voice could shred you in a conversational volume. So he knew from experience that the tension in his voice spoke volumes. He entered his father's cabin and stood next to Kara. Both were left at attention as the Admiral looked them both over for several excruciating minutes.
When he finally spoke, Lee found he'd have preferred the silence. "I am ashamed of both of you." One sentence had him wanting to double over as though he'd been punched in the chest. "You are command officers, two of the highest ranking officers in this Fleet." He pierced Kara with his eyes, "You're my CAG," then turned his glare on Lee, "You are the Pegasus' XO. You both know Colonial Fleet Law, I gave Commander Cain a direct order to send force recon and she disobeyed me."
He rose from his chair, "She committed mutiny, neither of you did your duty and relieved her. That can never happen again while I'm in command of this Fleet."
He returned his ire to Kara for several long seconds before he spoke, "Is that clear?"
They spoke in unison, "Yes sir."
"A written reprimand will appear on both your records, you're dismissed Major Thrace." Kara saluted and left Lee Adama alone with William Adama. He wasn't sure which side of William Adama he was faced with, his father or the Admiral nor was he sure which he'd prefer. Both were likely to be incensed with him.
The older man circled around his desk and stood toe-to-toe with him, "Do you think I'm a fool?" Lee didn't dare answer, whoever he was faced with, Father or Officer, neither would tolerate him speaking during this dressing down. "I read that bullshit you call a report. She placed you under arrest? You allowed her to relive you of duty?"
Lee's eyes widened and he stammered, "Sir, I-"
"You should have relieved her of duty and placed her under arrest! Instead you let her walk all over you? You can never back down Lee, not if you have any hope of taking command."
His father turned and reclaimed his seat, "I consider it fortunate that the Marine allowed you to return to CIC and you salvaged that disaster. You could have lost not only Pegasus but all hands as well." This time when his father's eyes caught his, there was a hint of pride in them. "Commander Cain has accepted full responsibility and exonerated you in the mutiny charges. She's bowing to the pressure to resign command of Pegasus, which leaves the ship in need of a new CO."
He reached into his desk and pulled out a felt box, "I must impress upon you the importance of duty Lee, I'm placing you in command of Pegasus and I can't have anything like this happen again." He opened the box, presenting a set of Commander's pins. He was handing him the Pegasus. "Are we clear?"
There was a price.
Lee scowled at him, they weren't talking about the rescue attempt and perhaps they never were. They were talking about the Colonies, "Lee, I'm warning you, if as Commander of the Pegasus you violate my orders I won't hesitate to make sure you spend the rest of your life on the Astral Queen. I ask again, are we clear?"
Lee narrowed his eyes as his father, he was damning uncounted people to slavery to death and he was dressing Lee down? The old, familiar anger and indignation that had marked his relationship with his father were boiling to the surface but he stomped them down viciously. They'd do him no good.
He needed Pegasus. He needed to take this promotion for the sake of doing the right thing. He reached out for the symbols of his new rank and swallowed some of his pride, "Crystal, sir." He took the box, snapped to and saluted. "Will that be all, sir?"
Bill looked him over for a long time before he nodded, "You're dismissed, Commander." He turned on his heel crisply and made his way for the hatch but his father's voice stopped him. "Lee? Despite the last few days, and despite the tone of this meeting, I want you to know that this is one of the proudest moments of my life." Never let it be said that William Adama's flare for tactics had only military applications.
Lee smiled despite himself. He knew what his father had just done and it still worked. He looked at the now closed jeweler's box then back to the elder Adama, "Thank you, sir." They shared one more moment before he turned and left the cabin.