Saul Tigh looked up when the hatch to his quarters parted, Ellen had gotten worked up and ended up being taken to the brig this morning and forced the Marines to lock him inside. Truth be told, Saul found himself more than a little relieved as Ellen had been driving him up the wall for nearly three days now, pretty much since the moment he was relived of duty and sent down here.
She had spent the last month trolling the Pegasus in a near-constant chase after every young officer and enlisted that caught her eye. It was the Picon BOQ all over again, back then Tigh had just thrown her out of his apartment and then ignored the problem while he and Bill did deep patrol after deep patrol on the Valkyrie.
They reconciled when he and Bill were moved back to Caprica where Galactica was docked but started to fight again after he told her about his retirement plans which had knocked him into the black spiral he ended up in at the time of the Attacks.
He and Ellen were never that great of a match; when things were good, when Ellen was happy and he was sober it was great but all too often those times were few and far between. The bad times often found Ellen seducing any man under the age of twenty-five and Tigh at the bottom of a bottle.
An hour ago he spent a long time contemplating a bottle of whiskey that sat on his desk but decided it was time to leave old patterns of behavior behind and poured it out. When Ellen was released from the brig they'd either fix things between them or end things between them he wasn't going to keep circling the drain with her for the rest of his life.
Tigh was surprised to find Major Shaw standing in the hatchway, the young woman looked at him with those dark eyes and he always found himself slightly disturbed by her. Like Cain, Shaw often looked at you with eyes that had seen far too much.
Which she had, she'd been Cain's most trusted officer after the Attacks and along with Lee a protégé. She'd been on the Scylla along with Fisk and the two of them were the ones Cain instructed to gun down the civilians on board.
The young woman stepped into the room and looked at him with distaste, "Commander Adama and Admiral Cain have requested you."
Tigh raised an eyebrow at her before he rose to his feet and began to fasten his tunic before he followed her out. He had heard that Admiral Cain had been among the survivors they brought back as well as several high ranking officers involved with the War College and Picon HQ, but Saul had to wonder why he was being beckoned.
"What's happened?"
The young woman turned down another corridor and they passed sickbay, he glanced inside and noticed that it was still full to bursting, "We brought back approximately two-hundred seventy-six survivors from Caprica on the first run and just completed another." Her Picon accent seemed to make everything she said a little harsher, sometimes confrontational and coupled with her attitude it made her very stand-offish.
"Another two-hundred, mostly prisoners from the southern continents near the Martok Valley and Qualai. Our next run will be over Virgon."
Lee referred to her as a "razor" which he assumed was a compliment for someone who served under Cain like they had but Saul wasn't too sure being a razor was something to strive for. "What about the Cylons?"
She smirked at him out of the corner of her eye, "Didn't you hear? The Cylons surrendered and left, we were too much of a nuisance. The Commander and Admiral have ordered rescue operations on the other planets as well. But that's not what they called you for."
They made their way up a flight of stairs onto Deck Three near C-Corridor, Shaw continued. "Yesterday, three ships jumped into orbit of Caprica with us. A Battlestar, guardian class and two frigates that identified themselves as the Judah, the Daud and the Sowilo." Saul nodded, he was familiar with the Judah, the guardian class battlestar was built in the same shipyard as the Valkyrie and like his former ship charged with short term deep probes while Mercury-class ships handled long term charting mission. "They'd been monitoring the Occupation Force from out near the Avatara asteroid belt on the edge of the system while guarding a group of civilian refugee ships and picking off patrols and supply runs when they could. We've picked up fifteen more ships and about eleven thousand more survivors."
Saul had to give to Lee; his mission could now be considered an overwhelming success beyond even his wildest hopes. If they get all these people back to the Fleet they'd increase the population by almost a third plus three more military ships, one of the highest ranking officers in the Fleet and a lot of the War College brain trust. Lee might have literally saved humanity… and he'd be drummed out of the service for it.
With all the civilians and other refugees aboard the marine presence outside Lee's cabin had returned and the two men currently guarding the door had to be two of the biggest marines Saul had ever seen with the blonde-hair and blue eyes and the corn-fed Aerelon farm boy look he often saw with them, he wondered with a hint of a smirk is if these were the two marines his wife had gone to hack over.
One of them swiped his ID and the hatch parted for them, Saul and Kendra entered and he found himself face-to-face with one of Bill's oldest friends.
Will Cain was tall with fair skin and his once blonde hair was mostly grey now, expressive brown eyes reminded Saul of his daughter and the lines on his face seemed to show the barest hint of a smirk. His dress blues fit loosely attesting to months of malnutrition and while they had the proper rank insignia didn't have all the proper adornments for an Admiral. Saul was very interested to see how the Old Man would react to his friend.
There were several other officers around the table all of their ranks indicated they were likely high ranking officers from the war college and the COs of the three ships they'd found. He stepped forward with Shaw and saluted, "Reporting as ordered, Admiral."
Cain returned the salute and ordered them at ease, before he extended his hand to Tigh with a grin. "Saul, it's good to see you again."
He took the other man's hand and replied, "It's good to see you again Will, if we'd thought-"
Cain held up his hand, "I don't need to hear that one Saul, you did come and that's what mattered." The other officers nodded in agreement, "We were just completing our strategy session for the morning, we have four days to link the FTLs of the Judah's fleet and to Pegasus make as many runs as possible before we start back to the Galactica or we'll be declared overdue and the Fleet moves on and Gods only know if we'd ever be able to catch up to them again." Saul nodded in agreement but Will wasn't done. "We also have a problem concerning the Commander of Pegasus."
He turned to Lee with a frown and the younger man spoke, "I have informed the Admiral of my acts of mutiny and treason in bringing Pegasus back to Caprica and relinquished command."
Cain nodded, "I've assumed command of Pegasus at least temporarily but I'm forming a tribunal to review the incident as well as decide if Commander Adama should face formal charges of mutiny and treason." He gestured towards a female officer, her jet black hair was pulled back in a bun and added to the stern expression on her face gave the impression of professionalism. The red and gold patch on her uniform identified her as the commanding officer of the Judah. "Commander Burgess will oversee the tribunal and she requires depositions from both you and Major Shaw."
Burgess looked them over then said, "Come with me." She led them to one of the conference rooms and the trio of officers sat down, she made a call to CIC and a few minutes later a recording officer entered and took position at the end of the table.
Burgess asked Kendra to wait outside then turned to Saul, "I'm told both of you were in CIC when Commander Adama mutinied."
Saul nodded, "Yes sir. We'd just returned from Galactica after Admiral Adama had refused his proposed rescue op. As we returned to Pegasus he ordered battle drills but I believe now that he was ordering preparations to go ahead with the operation anyway. When we arrived in CIC he ordered the CAP recalled, and gave immediate clearance for a raptor from Galactica piloted by Captain Thrace and Lieutenant Agathon to land.
"We received a call from Admiral Adama and the President shortly after that and he ordered Pegasus to Condition One. The Admiral asked what the Commander was doing and the President ordered him to stand down. When it became clear that he wouldn't comply, Admiral Adama ordered me to assume command and place him under arrest.
"When I relieved him of duty, the Commander ordered my arrest as well and there was a stand off in CIC."
Burgess nodded while Saul reached out and took a glass and filled from the decanter in the middle of the table. He took a drink to sooth his throat as she asked, "Then?"
He frowned, "I pulled my sidearm and put it to his head. He convinced me to put it down and I was escorted out of CIC."
Burgess digested the information for a moment before she asked, "The meeting between the Admiral and Commander, was it confrontational?"
He nodded, "Very much at the end, they both accused the other of ignoring their moral and legal responsibilities. It's been a long-standing argument between them."
She mulled over his words for a moment before she asked him to send in Major Shaw then dismissed him.
&&&&&&&&&
Kara entered Lee's cabin and found him seated at the couch, reading a novel. She crossed the room and sat next him, without looking up Lee's hand found hers and she threaded her fingers through his and admired the glint of silver peeking out from between their flesh. She found she enjoyed admiring her wedding ring, she enjoyed what it meant.
She watched as the tension in Lee's shoulders eased simply by her being there. "How are you holding up?"
The question would have seemed a lot less strange if she'd been the one to ask, "I'm not the one on the brink of a Dishonorable so how are you holding up?"
Lee grinned, "Starbuck, you're always on the brink of a Dishonorable."
She chuckled, "Everyone has a skill, mine's insubordination."
He tossed the book onto the coffee table in front of them and tugged on her hand, Kara obliged him by pushing him into the back of the couch and sliding into his lap, "You're confusing skill and passion. Insubordination is your passion."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Then what's my skill?"
He winked, "Driving Adama men to acts of insanity."
She chuckled and the two of them settled into a comfortable silence. She laid her head on his shoulder and buried her nose in the side of his throat she inhaled deeply and released it on a gentle sigh. Lee's murmur was almost sleepy, "I don't regret it, even if they airlock me I'll never regret coming back."
She shivered at the thought of her husband (she'd later realize that it was the first time she didn't grin goofily when she thought of Lee as her husband) being airlocked then nestled further into him. She listened to his breathing then realized that Lee was at peace with himself for the first time since she could remember. She whispered into his throat, "I'm so proud of you."
He chuckled, "I couldn't have done this without you Kara, you gave me the strength to stand up to my father and the President and do what was right."
She chuckled when he sighed, "Frak me, I'm sappy."
She picked her head up and felt a Starbuck smirk slide into place. "Yes you are, but I love you anyway."