Disclaimer: I do not own Battlestar Galactica, or any of the characters of Galactica. All I own are my ideas and theories.
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3.
"Again. DRADIS clear," she heard Lee's voice call out from the back of the raptor. "No cylon contacts, no static, nothing. Now just sit tight for an hour and then we can report the all clear back to Galactica."
"Well you never know. I could be leading us into a cylon trap."
"Come on Kara," he started. "No one-"
"No one what? Where you going to say that no one believes that? Because if no one believed that, we wouldn't be here."
"Well I don't believe that," he amended. And it was the truth. He had believed in her since she had stepped off that viper. Believed in her when everyone else thought that she had taken the Demetrius and left. And when his father asked for a member of the political cabinet to accompany her on the recon jumps in order to reassure the fleet, he had volunteered immediately. It had helped that having him along would save having to task one of the ECO's in accompanying them. The story of her miraculous return from the dead had spread through the fleet like wildfire, and so had the rampant cylon conspiracy theories. The Demetrius's months long absence did little to help these rumours, and even with her return, he knew that most people still didn't trust her assertion and that of her crew that she had found Earth.
"I know," she finally answered. There was a long silence. Talking had never been their strong suit, and Lee doubted it ever would be.
"You bring a deck?"
"Yeah."
"You wanna get back here and deal me in. Haven't had a decent game of triad since you left," he joked.
"Oh you are just asking you get your ass kicked Apollo." He could hear the grin in her voice as she flicked out the deck and settled down in the back compartment with him.
o0o
As she cleared up the cards and headed back to the front compartment, he reached out and touched her cheek softly.
"I missed you Kara." She brought her hand up against his and smiled. Free of barriers, free of pretension, she was beautiful.
"I missed you too Lee." With one last squeeze of her hand, she put her helmet back on, and moved to the front and to begin jump prep.
o0o
"Galactica. Starbuck. Next jump coordinates reported clear of cylon activity."
"Starbuck. Galactica." Dee's voice crackled over the wireless. "Apollo can you confirm jump coordinates free of cylon contacts." He heard Kara's forced exhale, but he knew that she was aware of opinions in the fleet, and that she knew nothing short of finding Earth would change those opinions.
"Galactica. Apollo. Affirmative. Jump coordinates free of cylon activity."
"Apollo. Galactica. Acknowledged. The Aurora's got a busted nav. Galactica actual requests you guide her through the jump."
"Galactica. Starbuck. Wilco." As soon as Galactica broke contact, Lee switched over to a private channel.
"Kara?"
"I'm fine Lee. Really. I know what the fleet believes about me. I just want to get to Earth." With that she switched off the channel and hailed The Aurora.
"Aurora. Starbuck. Hear you're having trouble with your nav. We're going to pin you to the jump point. You can fix it on the other side."
"This is The Aurora. I think we've got it fixed but it will take a couple minutes to reboot. Assistance appreciated. Receiving jump coordinates." They watched as the other ships blinked out of existence, and then inputted the coordinates themselves as The Aurora blinked out.
o0o
"Galactica. Starbuck. Reporting in with The Aurora."
"Starbuck. Galactica. Acknowledged. Come on home."
"Galactica. Starbuck. Coming home." She turned the raptor towards the Galactica where it was floating at the other side of the fleet, but stopped short at Lee's panicked shout.
"Contact! It looks like…one bogey. Cylon basestar CBDR, bearing 187, carom 221."
"Galactica. Starbuck. We've got a contact here. Request cavalry."
"Starbuck. Galactica. CAP is fuelling up. Cavalry will be there shortly."
"Frak!" he heard her shout, and the raptor was jerked around.
"What the hell are you doing Kara!
"Cavalry won't be here soon enough and Galactica has no firing solution. Just you and me Apollo. Ready missiles."
"Readying missiles. "
"Target acquired. Release missiles on my mark. Mark."
"Missiles released." They watched as the weapons sped through space and impacted the basestar, just missing their weak spot.
"Frak! Galactica where's the cavalry?!"
"Starbuck. Hot Dog. Will be there in two minutes."
"Basestar beginning to launch raiders!" came Lee's voice from the back compartment.
"Frak! Okay, Lee get your ass up here!" She hit the throttle, and they sped towards the direct centre of the basestar. Lee strapped into the co-pilot seat, and watched as she made minute course adjustments to send them right in the middle of the huge ship.
"Prepare for ejection." He gave her a thumbs up and she yanked the ejection lever. Nothing happened. She pulled on it again, and their eyes met. As their eyes met, he could have sworn he saw an absolute calmness come over her. And as he stared at her, he felt it pass over him as well.
"I'll see you on the other side, Lee." She repeated the words of so many months ago. In response, he reached out his hand, and placed it on top of hers. They both faced the oncoming basestar, whose raiders were just beginning to launch. They were both dimly aware of someone screaming over the wireless. But it was too late.
o0o
"LEE! KARA! EJECT! EJECT!" he was screaming into the wireless, heedless of the stares of those in CIC. Finally Gaeta spoke up.
"Sir, Hot Dog reports bogey destroyed." He picked up the phone.
"Hot Dog. Actual. Any sign of an ejection seat?" Though he knew logically that nothing would have survived ejecting that close to the exploding ship, he couldn't help but hope.
"Actual. Hot Dog. No sign. They're… gone." The young pilot didn't sound so great either. Bill just stared. He was probably in shock, his mind diagnosed absently. He faintly heard Dee calling out to him, asking instructions through poorly masked tears, but he could not bring himself to care. Lee was gone. Kara was gone. And with them the last of his family. He vaguely heard Helo give the order to call the Vipers home and jump out before more cylons arrived. He vaguely felt his fingers cramp as he grasped the side of the console. He felt the usual sickening sensation of the FTL jump, but even that seemed muted. He heard all the ships announced as checked in, and then he heard the CIC go silent. Everyone was affected in some way, and no one wanted to say anything. He finally heard Helo order Gaeta to take over the con, and then there was an arm around his shoulder, guiding him out of the CIC. The younger man didn't speak, and for that, he was grateful. He didn't know if he could have answered. He was adrift, without anything to anchor him to this world. The woman he had come to see as his partner in life was gone. His brother was gone. And now his children were gone.
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A/N: Huge thanks go out to Mariel3 and Afoo. Thanks to both of you for taking a couple seconds to press that nice little button. It is much appreciated. This chapter is one of the few that will deviate from Adama's point of view, but I had to give Lee and Kara a decent send-off, and this was the best way I could think of to do it. Because they are Lee and Kara, Starbuck and Apollo, two parts of a whole. They had to go out together. I hope you liked this one; next one should be up in a few days hopefully, unless it proves particularly difficult to write. So if you've actually read it up to hear, then please just take a couple more seconds to press that button and type in a couple words. Thanks a lot in advance. And even if you don't comment, thanks for taking the time to read.