Usual disclaimers apply, not mine.

Distrubution: please don't post elsewhere without my knowledge, if you want it just let me know and i'll be happy to oblige.

AN1: Sorry for the delay...here's what you've been waiting for...

Who Are We?

Chapter 3

William Adama had always said that Kara Thrace was the best pilot he had ever seen, even Saul had grudgingly agreed after Kara saved Lee at Ragnar, but that was nothing, absolutely nothing compared to what he had just witnessed. He had been intrigued, actually he had been more than curious when Lee had informed him that he and Starbuck had standing orders from Admiral Nagala not to compete in simulators or tournaments. William Adama had never had a good relationship with Lee since his divorce, he had made the usual inquiries whilst Lee was training and had heard only good things, but he hadn't gone any deeper.

He realised now that he knew very little about his eldest son, both personally and professionally,in order to satisfy his curiosity,he had given his permission for Starbuck and Apollo to fly against each other and agreed toforbid the pilots to repeat any unorthodox manoeuvres they may witness. He privately thought it was overkill but decided to humour Lee, ashe was adamant about the last clause. Now after witnessing the, he didn't know what to call it, was it a race, a show or an exhibition? He knew Lee was right, hell even in his prime he wouldn't have been able to pull off some of those manoeuvres, they were eye defying.

What had begun as an exercise to help train the pilots and to give them a safe outlet for their excess energy when not flying, had turned into an eye opening experience for Bill in regards tohis knowledge about Lee and Kara. He had seen sparks and moments similar in some of Starbucks crazier flights but he realised now that even then she had been holding back slightly and Lee, well he saw why Lee had the callsign of a God, his flying was something else when he finally stopped restraining himself. He didn't know how they didn't fly like that all the time; his respect had grown immensely to see what they had given up in order to be responsible senior pilots.

He remembered their banter before the match, and his breath had caught, he had always deeply regretted the fact that his job took him away from his family, especially Lee, Zak had always been forgiving and stayed in contact but Lee had closed himself off immediately after the divorce, he became a miniature adult whose only care had been his mother and baby brother, so Bill had never really witnessed Lee 'happy' as his presence had always resulted in some form of tension, but listening to his debate with Kara, Bill saw glimpses of the boy he sorely missed. For the first time in a long time William Adama had truly felt like a father, after Zak's death he kept Kara close and as their relationship began to develop he felt more like a father, but that relationship had always been shadowed by Lee's animosity towards him. Right now William Adama felt like a father of two children and he couldn't wait for the battle to begin. Then the countdown began and as it hit 5, Starbuck could be heard saying "No holding back Apollo, this is for real…promise?"

"Promise" Apollo's reply had an edge that Bill couldn't place, there was something else going on under the surface between Starbuck and Apollo.

And they began… There were gasps at their speed but 10 seconds into the sim they all heard Starbuck say with unmistakeable anger "LEE" and that was it, they both began in earnest, Lee stopped holding back and Kara was finally flying with the real Apollo.

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Apollo still didn't feel comfortable letting go, but at Starbuck's rebuke he dropped all his barriers and flew, he focussed all his attention on to the simulation, he knew there would be surprises, Baltar and Gaeta had promised him that, and there it was barely 20 seconds in and a raider was on his tail, he turned and shot it effortlessly, managing to avoid damaging his viper in the process, when all of a sudden he flying in debris, he began evasive manoeuvres and could feel Starbuck do the same, they both spent the next 10 minutes avoiding getting hit whilst tagging the targets that had been set up in the sim, neither of them knew what exactly what the program entailed, they were flying blind, taking on each situation asit arose. Then Lee finally saw the end of the asteroid belt they had been flying through, he could sense Starbuck was at his side and decided to up the ante, he fired at a piece of debris so that itfell directly into Starbuck's path, and pushed his throttle harder, moving into the lead, he knew she would be able to evade the debris he had only hoped for a few seconds lead, then he heard her swear.

"Frak, Lee you bastard" Starbuck's mutter was followed by Apollo's laughter. What surprised the audience was that once Starbuck was level with Apollo once again she laughed as well "well looks like Apollo's back in the game"

"You asked for it" Apollo replied, and then his alarms began to blare, 'shit' he thought those were his radiological alarms, how the frak did a nuke get on his tail? He could hear similar exclamations from Starbuck and they began to fly in their evasive manoeuvres to avoid them but nothing was working when he heard Starbuck say "frakking nukes, Apollo we're going to have to work together on this one, ready lets see if we can still pull off a 'chicken switch', ready on my mark, and mark"

Tigh and Adama glanced at each 'chicken switch' neither of them knew what Starbuck was talking about but they soon saw, Starbuck and Apollo began flying in opposite directions when they had reached a considerable distance they heard Apollo give the order to turn, and they both pulled up at high speed, that had to hurt, they're bodies were pulling massive G's, he could hear other viper pilots wince and hiss in sympathy, but it didn't last long as the hisses turned in gasps and exclamations as Apollo and Starbuck flew straight towards each other, then William realised that they were actually flying on a parallel courses to one another and as they passed one another they each took out the missile on the other's tail. William was amazed, they had flown like crazy, and their Viper's had incurred some damage but they had escaped relatively unharmed, he could hear Kara's laugh, it actually sounded like a giggle!

"Well that was fun" she said to Apollo.

"What do you think is next?" and as soon as Apollo had spoken the space around him had erupted with Cylons, the sim had placed them in the middle of a massive fire fight.

"You had to ask" Kara said as she shot down her first raider.

The next 20 minutes saw Apollo and Starbuck pull off amazing moves killing more Cylons then they could count, they were both intent on surviving, they had saved each other more times then they could count, it was unconscious on both their parts, but they had stopped their banter both wholly focussed on the most intense Viper flight that they had ever been in, they forgot they were in a simulator, everything felt real, Tyrol, Baltar and Gaeta had managed to make the effects feel 100 real. Almost all of Galactica watched breathlessly as they witnessed the pilots fly, they could hear the grunts, and swears of both as they worked tirelessly.

The nuggets were in awe, at both their instructor and their CAG, they had never seen a simulator before, nor had they seen flying like this, ever. But as amazed as the nuggets and non-viper pilots were, that was nothing compared to how the other Viper pilots and senior pilots felt, they knew how remarkable the moves were and how difficult they were to pull off, not to mention painful even in a sim, they were beyond amazed, this was an experience, they all knew how good Starbuck and Apollo were,that they both still alive after many crazy situations had proved that,and they had all heard by now of their unusual training, but nobody could have expected this!

Apollo's heart was racing, his body was exhausted but he had not felt this good in years, seven in fact. He was escaping and evading with all his effort when suddenly the sim changed and his Viper was now in atmospheric conditions, he hoped this was the last condition as his body was beginning to fatigue, he wondered what this sim was about when he noticed another Viper in front of him, with a target on it, and aimed and fired a missile at it. Then he heard a quick "frak" from Starbuck as the Viper he was tailing narrowly missed the missile and Lee understood, his aim was to get Kara, and Kara's was to evade. He laughed and they began a chase which almost mirrored their relationship, with Kara running and Lee doggedly pursuing her.

He spent 5 minutes chasing Starbuck but unable to get a lock on her when the simulation switched and all of sudden he had Starbuck on his tail. "Oh Frak" he muttered as he heard her say "my turn" in a satisfied tone. He then had to spend the next 5 minutes evading Starbuck, and he was pulling out all the stops, he then started to realise that he couldn't keep this pace much longer and decided to risk it all and try to end it, he sped up and pushed his Viper to the limit, when he felt Starbuck do the same he flipped his Viper 180° and shot at her just as she fired at him.

BANG

The next thing Kara and Lee knew their screens had gone to black, slowly as their heartbeats receded back to a normal level the noises around them began register, it sounded like cheering and applause, their names were being chanted "Apollo" and "Starbuck".

Everybody was on the edge of the seats as Apollo and Starbuck began their version of Tag, and when Lee flipped and tagged Kara just as she tagged him the room exploded, there was exclamations of shock, disbelief and awe as the simulation had ended, many groaning at the end of what had been the most entertaining 45 minutes they had experienced. At some point during the simulation Laura Roslin had grasped Bill's arm and neither of them had noticed as they both were engrossed by the match, it was only as Apollo and Starbuck's names were being called out that they realised, Laura blushed slightly and offered a small smile to Bill, "I guess that makes it a draw."

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By mutual and silent agreement Lee and Kara showered in different places, Lee borrowed his father's and Kara used the pilots head. The last thing either could deal with is the other naked, not after that flight, they were too hyped and in the end they both had to find other people to take the edge off, it was something they had both avoided since Lee arrived on the Galactica as they were both trapped on the same ship, before the war whilst they had been training it had been easier to hide their indiscretions from one another, but on the Galactica it would be like rubbing it the other's face so they had both managed, barely. Until today, their simulation was too powerful for self relief, and in the end Lee had turned to one of the nurses, who had only been to happy to help the Captain, whereas Kara found herself frakking Gaius Baltar, actually she was so hyped that she only realised that it was the crazy doctor as she called Lee's name out, it was only when Lee's face had turned in Gaius' that she had realised what she had done, and ran out of his room as soon as she was dressed.

Lee and Kara avoided one another until the question about the tattoo came up. In the end it was decided that they would both get the tattoo, to commemorate the event. At the presidents suggestion they both had a combination of their call signs tattooed on each other 'half a blazing sun for Apollo and half of an eight point star for Starbuck, finished off with bow an arrow' Kara was tempted to choose Lee's butt for the tattoo, but after her experience she decided on his heart, it may be her only chance, she didn't feel good enough for him otherwise. Lee had already decided that he would have his mark over Kara's heart, but he was pleasantly surprised when she chose the same. They had found a tattooist on one of the fleet ships, and had him and his equipment shuttled over and 1 day after the sim match both Lee and Kara had their mark on one another.

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It was Colonial Day, and she had worn a dress, cleaned up, made an effort and genuinely felt like a normal girl, everything had been fine, until she saw Lee. 10 years and she still hadn't found an adequate defence for those blue eyes, not when he looked at her like that, he hadn't seen that look in his eyes for over 5 years, she an still remember the first time, all those years ago, in General Cassidy's office, that incident was burned in to her very soul. She used to wonder what her life would be like if the General never came in. Heartbeat quickened as he stalked towards her, as though a predator would, she wasn't the only one who noticed, eyes all around the room were drawn to him, he exuded power and raw masculinity when he was like this, but Kara wasn't his prey, she never could be, she was the lioness to his lion, she was his partner, so met him halfway, gathering many eyes as she did, not that she noticed, she only had eyes for one man, the room disappeared around her and the universe contracted to just her and Lee, there eyes met and burned each other.

Lee finally entered the ballroom only 20 minutes late, it was as he looked for his father that he saw her, his Artemis, she was standing at the bar drinking some ambrosia, and as his eyes swept over her from head to toe, the Apollo in him rose, like a sleeping Dragon, Gods it should be illegal for her to look like that in public, where he couldn't…shouldn't, he strode toward her then, solely intent on dragging her somewhere private and showing her what she did to him and why tormenting a man, even with the call sign of a God, was a bad idea. He nearly had a stroke as she strode toward him, like a cat, her curves moved with a grace that only she had, the dress making her movement fluid, it wasn't this obvious normally not on the ground, she was like this in the air or in space where she danced to the beat of his heart, he knew he moved to hers. As they met each other in the middle, their eyes took in each detail on the other, knowing that opportunities like this would rarely occur again, just as Lee was about to drag her from the room, Kara took hand and led him on to the dance floor, she knew what he wanted as she did too, but she also wanted to extend the moment, let it burn in to her memory so she could visit it again and again, the fact that she was also rather publicly staking her claim, didn't hurt either, she knew how many women had watched Apollo on and off the Galactica.

Lee held Kara to him, and as always she fit, he often thought she had been made to fit him, he and Kara never got have this, not really, by the time they had realised the true extent of their feelings and what they meant it was too late, Zak had fallen for her. With hindsight Lee knew that their problem was from their first flight in the sims, and their first meeting, they had felt this way, they had never felt differently, they didn't know how, even when they spent two years apart, their feeling's hadn't diminished. At 28 Lee finally had the wisdom he had lacked at 18, so he cherished the opportunity to be able to hold her like this, in public, his hands around her hips, where her curves were, just for him. He was able to slowly caress and stroke, they both enjoyed the familiarity and comfort of their contact, even though they were in a room full of people, Lee and Kara were finally able to just be. And the rest of the room, got to see a rare sight Apollo and Starbuck dancing on the ground as they did in the air and in space, together as one.

As they danced Lee and Kara, conversed silently, his eyes conveyed his need, hers showed him hers. Just as they were about to head out, a call came from overhead. And they were reminded by the Gods why they couldn't be together yet, they were needed as Apollo and Starbuck, at least in space they could be together. They had that at least.

"CONDITION ONE, REPEAT CONDITION ONE HAS BEEN SET"

Adama had prepared for the possibility of attack whilst most of the officers had been on Cloud 9, as such there was a squad of Viper's parked on the luxury liners, the pilots who had been on reserve had a 2 glass limit, and flight suits were next to the birds. Unfortunately both Apollo and Starbuck had placed themselves on reserve; if the fleet was attacked then they were needed in the air, where they belonged. Apollo, Starbuck and 4 other viper pilots ran from the room, most of them stripping as they went. Starbuck only had the one layer to remove so had shed her dress right next to the viper, and donned her flight suit over her bra and knickers, all in less than 30 seconds. The viper's launched off, as soon as they were ready, as if they were in atmosphere, the reserves also happened to be 10 of Galactica's most qualified as flying a viper straight from virtual atmosphere to space was not any easy manoeuvre. Within 5 minutes of action stations being called all vipers were in the air. Adama had CIC, route all their calls overhead in the ballroom, as he did not have enough time to be shuttled to the Galactica, so the guests of the party which had been going on for less than a hour, got to see and hear the Galactica in action.

Starbuck and Apollo had been the first to reach the alert vipers, they had been in holding position as ordered, a base ship had jumped almost on top of them, the raiders had reached the vipers just after Apollo and Starbuck. This time however the formation of the raiders were different, then Apollo saw it, and he couldn't believe it, how did they know?

"Starbuck" He didn't even need to voice his question, she'd know.

"Yeah, I see it too Apollo", damn the bastards, now they were using their own tactics against them. "Looks like one of yours"

"You know what this means, don't you"

Starbuck just laughed, "I should thank them, I get to fly with the real Apollo again."

He didn't reply, what could he say to her, he missed it too, but he had responsibilities "All right, blue squad with Starbuck and me, Red hold the perimeter until the last ship has jumped" they moved to follow his orders.

"Blue squadron, hold off the raiders, Apollo and I'll start the attack, don't follow us, we know what we're doing, Red take out any raider's that pass us" Starbuck said as she looked over the raider's flying toward them in a double 'V', top and bottom, "watch the bottom of your vipers, they're going go for the underbelly, we have better manoeuvrability use that, keep moving, your best bet will be to use their confined space against them, good hunting."

"Starbuck, take point and I'll clear the path for you, you up for it?"

"Always, I see it, watch your back; I'm going to be busy for a little while"

"Apollo, this is Galactica, we have radiological alarms, repeat they have nukes."

"Copy that Galactica" Apollo replied as the first civilian ship began to jump.

Then the raiders were in range, and the battle began.

"All Vipers go" Apollo said, and Starbuck flew straight, heading for the gap between the two lines, any raiders near her were taken out by Apollo, on her wing, his job was harder for now he had to watch both their backs, and clear any raiders in Starbuck path, Starbuck's job was simple, fly towards the base ship and play chicken with a raider, then once its nukes were charged, lead it in to the base ship, and not get blown up by the either the raider, the bomb or the base ship in the process.

"Come on you bastard, nearly there," Starbuck taunted the raider on her tail, she was using all evasive actions to keep the raider focused on her and not on where she was leading him, and it was working.

Bleep, Bleep

The red light on her console told her that the raider had armed it nukes, now it was time to see if her crazy plan from college would actually work. The raider was almost on her, and she was in the base ship's range now then the raider fired its nuke. Then she suddenly braked and back flipped her viper over the raider now she was tailing him, and she was too close to him for the base ship to get a lock on her, she fired at him with a missile, whilst his went straight for the base ship and it was too close for the base ship to hit and not occur damages and the raider collided straight into the base ship which had been weakened by the nuclear detonation it had just suffered.

Starbuck whooped as she flew as fast as she could to avoid being hit by the resulting wave, as the base ship began to explode. 'Oh crap', she had hoped that the base ship would be damaged, at best she was buying time for the fleet to jump, and they had hoped to keep the base star occupied so that the Galactica could cover Cloud 9, which was defenceless but just happened to be carrying the most important people in the fleet. But their plan had worked out better than they could have dreamed. They actually took out the base star! Now she just hoped that the fleet could jump before it exploded completely she was willing to bet that would be an explosion' her heart and body pounded "I'm on my way Apollo, I hope you saved me some!"

Apollo heard her whoop, but couldn't acknowledge it, he was too busy fending off the raiders, they had turned to the target in their midst, and that happened to be him, then he heard the call back from Galactica, 'Oh Gods, they had actually done it!' then he heard her request and he laughed, "Have I ever disappointed you Starbuck?" and then he began his attack anew, by this time Starbuck had rejoined him and they began their attack in earnest, taking out as many raider's they could on their path home. It was almost like their days in the Sims; they never got to fly like this college, not in the air or in space, how could they? They didn't have any enemies, but now as they both turned their guns on the raider's he truly felt like his call sign, as the other viper's began their combat landings they witnessed Apollo and Starbuck together as never before outside the simulator, they destroyed everything in their path and flew like the gods they were, returning to Olympus.

Commander Adama, Colonel Tigh and President Roslin, listened helplessly as the battle above them took place. They could hear the radio chatter, Apollo and Starbuck's conversation confused them all, as did their plan, what little they actually shared over the comm. Adama was amazed, he knew they had a unique partnership and he had heard about their flights at college, and he had witnessed their match in the sims just last week but nothing could have prepared him for seeing it for real. Galactica had sent the communications over to Cloud 9, and Dee had managed to interface the screen to show them the dradis console. Cloud 9 should have been the first to jump, but Adama refused, he was used to being the last to jump with the Galactica knowing they were all home safe. But as he heard Lee's voice give the command to attack, no it wasn't Lee, Kara was right that was Apollo, his breath caught as Starbuck flew straight towards the raiders. Apollo was right it was a formation they had never accounted before. He looked at Tigh, who looked as amazed as he did, what the hell was she doing? And why didn't Lee stop her, it seemed to be part of their plan, but it was suicidal, she couldn't fly through a double squadron of raiders at close range and survive, no one could, but that what she was doing. He watched with the rest of the room as Apollo took out dozens of raiders near them, it was as if he was witnessing the fury of Apollo himself, on any who dare approach his beloved, they all paid. He thought he was going to have a heart attack, he didn't know who worried him more, Lee was fighting scores of raiders in their ranks, and Kara was flying straight for the base star and was being tailed by a raider. Then the raider fired its nuke at her viper and the entire room gasped as she did a retina detaching manoeuvre that put her behind the raider and she tailed the raider. The room cheered as the nuke hit the base star and she had fired her missile at the raider, and the missile and the raider hit the base star! Oh Gods what had she done, they heard her whoop and cheer over the radio and call out to Apollo and reply, and then they jumped.

Adama paced as he waited for news, they had jumped and as protocol demanded the Galactica was the last to jump, but he wasn't on the Galactica, so he didn't know if all the fighters were on board, if his kids were on board. The atmosphere in the room was a restrained cheer, they were all ecstatic, but the pacing Commander in their midst stopped then from celebrating, not until they knew. Then overhead Captain Kelly's voice came, he sounded jubilant "Sir, this is the Galactica, happy to report ALL fighters on board, no casualties, I repeat no casualties." Then the crowd cheered, William met the eyes of the President, and she smiled they were safe! Thanks to Apollo and Starbuck.

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AN: This chapter is confuses the timeline a bit, what was present time in chapters 1 and 2, and the opening of this chapter is set after 'Hand of God' S1 Ep8, thenI jump to the end of colonial day to the ball, everything preceding is still canon. Then I go AU, after the fight against the cylons the story goes back to canon, i.e. Kara still slept with Baltar etc. Hope that clarifies it for you,I tried to make it as clear as possible without repeating canon scenes as I thought they'd be redundant.

AN2: Sorry for the delay, real life became a bitch, I actually had this finished a c ouple of days ago but my wouldn't let me upload, on the upside as a result I have almost finished chapter 4, so that will go up soon, once I see what kind of response this chapter recieves. Please let me know what you guys think, in hindsight it is an action heavy chapter, I tried to make the fights as different as possible, to avoid repetition. But both scenes were necessary to progress the story onward. I'm going to jumping through the established canon quite quickly, just assume if I haven't made a noticeable change (like the colonial day scene in this chapter) that my fic will follow on, along with flashbacks to my preseries history. this next chapter is quite introverted and character based, so hopefully that will balance this chapter. Please let me know what you guys think, plus all of actions sequences are totally made up, so if i've broken any laws of physics or mechanicsI apologise.