A/N: So sorry that this chapter has taken a lot longer than all the others to post, but it gave me a really hard time. I can't believe this story is nearing the 100 reviews mark. I'm amazed by all of your feedback. This chapter is a little heavy, but necessary to moving the story along. Next chapter will have some lightness and a few surprises! Please let me know what you think and if you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 14: Give a Little Bit

"So what do you think about our guests?" Bill asks Laura, watching her pace around the small confines of his quarters. They had been served lunch, both lost in their own thoughts, and now that everything had been cleared away, they needed to talk. They had only a few more minutes before they were to go back to the conference room for round two.

"I'm beginning to believe we're dealing with a group of religious zealots, who may have destroyed the lives of billions of people based off of blind faith," she replies coming to sit down next to him on the leather couch.

"I would have agreed," he states simply.

"Would have? Does that mean you don't," she says looking at him in utter astonishment. Laura had not missed the last exchange between him and Cassandra. It seemed almost as if the woman had been trapped in a painful memory, and Bill sensed it and went to rescue her.

"We are being chased through the universe by cylons. Machines intent on what looks like an agenda to destroy the humans anyway they can," he says paraphrasing Helena. "We can't deny that the cylons are real.

"No we can't," Laura says on a sigh. "But what they are telling us seems so farfetched. For thousands of years a small group of people kept to a single-minded task set down to them by their ancestors. They never lost sight of the goal, never wavered."

"People take their religion very seriously," Bill says looking at her pointedly.

"Point taken," she replies with a smirk. "But most religions don't call for the wholesale destruction of a planet and billions of people."

"The cylons' does," Bill says quietly. Laura looks at him suddenly as comprehension begins to dawn. This group of people did to the cylons what the cylons had done to the twelve colonies. "Balance, Helena says they believed the Gods liked symmetry."

"This has all happened before and it will all happen again," Bill says as Laura settles next to him. "What part we have to play in this is not clear to me."

"Maybe we don't play a part at all," she says taking hold of his. "Maybe we're just in this for the ride."

"I don't think so Madame President; afterall there is that book," he says indicating the book sitting on the table in front of them. "I'm sure they wouldn't have given that to you if you had no part to play in this. Do you think maybe now is the time to open it and see what is has to tell you."

Laura continued to stare at the book as if it was a snake waiting to strike out at her. She didn't want to know what was in there, and she sure as hell didn't want it to pertain to her. Her plate was already full, she couldn't handle anymore prophecies that she couldn't figure out.

"Or maybe you want to wait until you're alone," Bill says. Laura notices that there is a slight hesitation in his voice and turns to look at him. All she can see in his eyes is curiosity, but she is certain that he is worried about her as well.

"No, I'd rather do it now; with you sitting next to me," she says. Bill reaches over and takes her hand as she pulls the book into her lap. It is a soft leather bound book with a slight hint of sandalwood clinging to it. The pages appear old and worn, and Laura is worried that if she touches them they will disintegrate. They both peer at the writing, marveling at the ancient writing before them. Neither can read it, but that doesn't bother them.

"Turn to the back," Bill nudges her. "That is the part they said has a direct impact on you. Laura flips the book and opens the back cover. The last page is blank, but the two before it are covered in script and it's all in the language they speak.

"I wonder how we can understand each other," Laura says looking up at him. "We were in two different places in the universe, yet we speak and read the same language.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was not planned by the Gods somehow," Bill smiles at her.

"The Lords move in mysterious ways," she laughed.

"What does it say?" He asks, turning serious again.

"Alright, I'll read it aloud," she says smiling at him. "An old man likes being right sometimes. Although under most circumstances I get to be cryptic, and keep them guessing as to what I mean; this is not one of those times. This book has passed from the care of Chiron Thalia of House Thalia into the hands of Cassandra Thrace, head of House Thrace and the Council of Twelve, and once again into the final hands of Roslin of House (and here you can gasp in surprise or excitement) Thalia."

"What the hell does he mean House Thalia?" Bill asks in utter astonishment.

"Hold on Bill; don't interrupt," Laura shushes him. "Yes I said House Thalia; I do have the gift of foresight afterall. I also have more knowledge available to me than you do. From what I can gather the progression goes something like this, Thalia-Othalia-Rothalia-Rothasalia-Rosalia-Rosalina-Roslin. You could probably trace your family's origins to confirm this, but why waste your time; you've more important things to do. I can't tell you where you need to go, or even what you need to do to get there; all I can tell you is that you need to trust your own judgement and to listen to your inner voice. Your family has lost more knowledge than they ever realized they possessed , it is time for you to regain that ability." Laura stops reading and looks at Bill. She decides not to read the rest of what is written out loud. She doesn't think Bill is ready to hear that his family is also mentioned.

"My Gods, is this real?" He asks. "And what exactly is he telling you?"

"I guess it is more than real," she replies closing the book. "His message seems quite clear to me. Roslin is the female line of prophets that Cass and Helena alluded to."

"And this makes you the prophet that they need?"

"He doesn't mention my name specifically," she replies. "Just Roslin of House Thalia, and I don't believe they need a prophet so much as they want one."

"Well how many Roslins do you know running around since the end of the worlds?" He asks. She can tell that he is the one who is now agitated. Bill has gotten up and is pacing around the room, running his hands through his hair as if trying to clear his mind of all thought.

"Bill, let's not jump too far ahead of ourselves," she says grabbing his arm to stop his relentless pacing. "Much like the cylons these people have a plan, and we need to find out what it is. I won't have us be the pawns in this."

"Neither will," he says settling back down beside her. "Are we agreed that if we throw ourselves on their side, we get full disclosure and an equal share of decision making?"

"We are more than agreed on that. Shall we go and see what else our guests have to tell us?" she asks him standing and holding out her hand to him.

&&&&

Lee wakes up relaxed and surrounded by everything Kara. He reaches over and finds her space not only empty, but cool as well. He lifts his head and looks around the small room. She isn't there and when he decides to get up and go look for her, he hears her voice coming from the other room. He notices that the door has been left slightly ajar, and he smiles because he knows she did that intentionally. She wanted him to know that she hadn't left him alone, but she also had not wanted to wake him.

"Alright, here are the flight schedules for the next week, and the patrol rotation for the day of the parties," he hears her say. He assumes that she is talking to Helo, as he is the DCAG.

"I see you're flying that day," Helo responds.

"Everyone takes a rotation that day," she tells him, a note of steel in her voice.

"Except Cosmo and Cupid," Helo points out.

"Those two are grounded until they find a way to work out their differences," she says with a note of disgust. "For heavens sake, he's her wingman. Why the hell can't they get along!"

"You know why Artemis," Helo says with a note of amusement. "Get him to dump what's her name and the two of them can go back to the way things were before. I'm not sure why he would want to be with anyone but her anyway. Cosmo is one hot ass chick; I'd do her if I didn't think Cupid would kill me."

"So what you're telling me is that the idiot is dating someone else, but is chasing off anyone who is interested in her?" Kara asks in astonishment.

"You got it, and he's not being shy about it."

"Alright no grounding them," Kara says. "We're going to shake things up a bit. Pair Cosmo up with Reno and Cupid with Mahogany. Let them know I'm not willing to change my mind and if they want to push it, I can ground them."

"You play dirty," Helo laughs. "You know Reno and Cosmo had a thing going before we had to flee Earth."

"Oh yeah, I remember that summer quite clearly," Kara chuckles.

"What are you going to do about Sam?" Helo asks her quietly. Lee freezes in the process of grabbing his boxers, intent on the silence that now fills the outer room.

"I don't know what to do if truth be told," she sighs raising troubled eyes to Helo.

"It's obvious to anybody with eyes that whatever is going on between you and Apollo, is quite consuming, and there's no room for anyone else," Helo says grabbing her hand. "Kara you deserve any happiness that comes your way. You don't love Sam, you don't look at the way you do Apollo."

"But I feel guilty letting the last few years go as if they mean nothing," she replies in a whisper.

"What I think is funny is that your guilt is because you feel as if you are letting Devon down; not because you might hurt Sam," he chuckles. "Devon is the reason the two of you are together. If he hadn't died on Earth this wouldn't even be an issue. Your brother wouldn't want to be the reason why you'd deny yourself something spectacular, just to keep a part of his memory alive."

Helo tried to be as gentle as possible, not wanting get Kara either upset or mad with him. Either scenario would not bode well for his jaw coming out of the encounter unscathed. He watches as the emotions race across her face and her look turns contemplative.

"You're right, but don't let it go to your head," she laughs at the smug look on his face. "Time to face the music and get off this roller coaster ride. It is going to get real ugly, but I'm use to that."

"So how and when?" Helo asks settling back into his chair.

"Might as well go out with a bang," she grins. "The party sounds like a good place, and I'm going to do it in true Starbuck fashion."

"Woo Hoo! That means the Wolf Pack is making an appearance. Let the good times roll," Helo whoops. "Are you sure we can't charge admission?"

"Karl behave yourself," Kara laughs. Lee lets the sound of her laughter roll over him, and feels his stomach clench. He's not sure exactly what she's up to, but he knows that he doesn't want to miss it.

"Now Karl it's time for you to get out," Kara says herding him towards the door. "I want to get back to the Galactica by dinnertime. I need to have a little chat with Fleet Admiral Thrace." Karl saw the gleam in Kara's eyes and took a step back. That look always meant trouble, but he wasn't sure if it was the Admiral or the Captain that was going to get burned. Both Thrace women knew how to hit below the belt, especially when dealing with each other.

"Alright Captain, I'll be ready to go within the hour," Helo says as he's leaving.

"I know you're awake Lee," Kara says, turning back towards the smaller room. She appeared in the doorway to see Lee sitting on the edge of the bed, holding his boxers in his hands. He looked warm and inviting, and Kara was tempted to say to heel with everything and crawl in beside him. But Leoben's words kept crashing through her mind, leaving her unsettled and a little afraid.

"Something happen while we were sleeping," Lee says looking into her eyes.

"Your cylon paid me a little visit," she tells him, grabbing a clean t-shirt and a pair of khakis. Lee stands and pulls her in front of him; he holds her easily and searches he face.

"He didn't try to hurt you?" He asks. The cylon's obsession with Kara was more the worrisome.

"No, and he didn't threaten to kill you off either," she says chuckling. "But I need to have a conversation with the Fleet Admiral, and it's not going to be pretty." Kara says fiercely.

"Does this need to be a private conversation?" Lee asks letting go so that they can both get dress.

"I think the time for secrets has come to an end," Kara responds.

&&&&

Bill and Laura were seated at the conference table when Cassandra and Helena were escorted back into the room by the marines. The two women had changed out of their military uniforms to more casual attire.

"I think we're just going to get right to the point," Laura says as they sit down. Cass looks her, her face slightly guarded. "What exactly is the ultimate goal of your group?"

Cass smiled only briefly before inclining her head towards Laura. "The ultimate destruction of the cylons. There is no middle ground for us; we can't live in peace with them, no matter how big the universe is."

"Just as there are twelve families that have no cylon blood, the are twelve cylons that have never had any human blood mixed with theirs," Helena says taking over. "They're just as bent on our destruction as we are on theirs. We have been at war with them too long for any other outcome."

"But something has gone wrong," Bill says noticing the under current in her words.

"Yes several some things," Cass is the one to answer drawing Bill's eyes to her. "The cylons have found it difficult to reproduce with you. It's not a problem they had on Earth."

"They also want to know if the same thing holds true for the twelve families," Helena says. "Can they reproduce with us, and wether or not we can reproduce with the people from the twelve colonies."

"Wether we can reproduce with them isn't something we want to find out," Cass replies. "We are driven not only by prophecy, but also through the belief that the Gods wouldn't lead us astray. We were chosen for this long before we were born, and we mean to see it through to whatever end there is; even if that means the total annihilation of the human race." Bill and Laura both looked stunned at Cassandra's words. It would seem that twelve families were playing for high stakes.

"We understand that you wish for survival of your people; we do as well. To be able to find some place where you can live and stop running from the cylons," Cass says talking directly to Laura. "That's not enough for us; the only way we stop fighting or running from them, is when there are no more cylons left. We destroyed Earth hoping to end this there, and..."

Everyone in the room jumped as the door to he conference room banged against the wall and an inhuman cry filled the space. They all turned to see an infuriated Captain Thrace standing in the threshold struggling against the marines.

"How could you!" She bellows locking eyes with her mother."How could you order the wholesale destruction of billions of people to satisfy your own agenda?" Kara's whole body shook with the fury that consumed her.

"Kara you don't understand..." Cassandra began standing from her chair.

"What do I need to understand?" She screams. "Your son was on that planet when you ordered it destroyed. You knew this and condemned him to death anyway, you didn't even try to save him."

Bill watched as all the blood drained out of Cassandra Thrace's face. She swayed slightly on her feet and if she had not grabbed hold of the table, he was sure she would have crumbled to the floor.

"Captain Thrace, if you can get a hold of your temper, maybe you can come in and get the answers you deserve," Laura says to her in an attempt to get the young woman to calm down. "If not, you'll be removed to a secure location until you simmer down."

Kara turned hard green eyes to stare at Laura as if daring her to try and carry out that last threat. It wasn't until she felt Apollo's hand on her arm that she began to calm down. She still felt the red hot wave of hatred rolling through her when she looked at her mother, but she had enough rein over her temper to not reach out and snap the woman's neck. Laura nodded to the marines, and they released the Captain. Kara and Lee walked into the room the door firmly closing behind them.

"Maybe we should give you some privacy to discuss things," Bill says standing. He didn't really want to leave, but he felt it might be easier if mother and daughter were not being watched while they had this particular conversation.

"No," Helena says quietly. "We've lived long enough with our secrets, hidden agenda and prophecies. If we're all going to be in this together, then it's time for us to give a little bit. And Captain Thrace, if you wish to hear this and get some answers of your own, I suggest you try to comport yourself like an officer of the UAG," Helena says to her in a crisp military voice.

Kara inclines her head slightly and took a seat across the table from her mother. This put her next to Bill and when Lee sat down next to her, she felt almost surrounded by something she couldn't name.

"Leaving Earth in tack was never an option for us," Cass says picking up the thread of conversation. "We were never directly told to destroy Earth, but the understanding that this abomination couldn't be allowed to continue was always understood. There was never any intention to destroy Earth until all of our ships had launched and all of our people were off planet."

"But never accuse the cylons of being stupid. When the original 12 cylons were able to put enough of the puzzle together, they struck at us hard. We've long since held the codes to most of the nuclear devices on Earth, and when the situation grew too desperate, we felt like we had no choice but to accelerate the end of our goals that much faster."

"We knew we still had most of our people on Earth," here Cassandra looks directly into her daughters eyes. "Loved ones, friends, families, our children. It was singularly the hardest decision any of us had to make. The council of twelve were no longer on Earth, and the only other people we thought to be vital to our prophesies were also off planet; so we began detonating warheads."

"Yet you still managed to lose your last possible prophets," Laura says interrupting. "I can't imagine you not factoring that in to your plan."

"Maybe saying we lost them both on Earth was a little hasty," here Cassandra paused and locked eyes with her daughter. Kara pulled in a sharp breath knowing that this was being directed solely at her. "It had become imperative to keep Athos Thalia's 3 children separated. So they were all assigned to different ships, so no 2 would be together if catastrophe struck. His youngest Andreas was sent to live on the Libra..."

"But you don't know that the Libra has been destroyed," Kara cuts in.

"Wait," Bill says leaning forward. "You have another ship out there?"

"We don't know what has happened to the Libra," Helena answers. "When the distress call went out, the Capricorn and Pisces responded; but nothing was heard from the Libra. She could be still out there whole and intact."

"Or she could have fallen into the hands of the cylons," Lee says quietly. His words drew every eye in the room to him and he shrugged. "It's what you're most afraid of.

"You're right," Cass says to him. "The Libra's commanding officer, Isadora Agathon is the only member of the Council of Twelve that is unaccounted for. Athos' oldest son was an officer on the Sagittarius."

"Are you saying he was not on ship when things went sour?" Laura asks.

"No, he was planet side," Cass responds.

"Several people from the Sagittarius had been given 2 week passes to clear up any unfinished business. Was he one of them?" Kara asks still locked in a battle of wills with her mother.

"Initially yes," Cass whispers. "Those passes expired the night before the attacks."

"So he didn't report back to duty?" Bill asks.

"He was on a medical leave of absence," Cass replies watching her daughter's face intently. At first there was no reaction, but as the words sank in , Kara's eyes grew huge.

"That would be one hell of a coincidence," Kara says to her mother.

Ignoring her daughter's remark, Cassandra continues. "His daughter is an officer on the Capricorn."

"Right, you told us she was a fighter pilot in your fleet," Laura says nodding. "But does she even figure into this. I remember you saying the line of prophets only ran through the males."

"His daughter figures into this more prominently than either of his sons," Helena says trying hard not to encompass Kara in her gaze.

"Come on you two," Kara snarls at them. She kicks her chair back and stands looming over the table. "Aren't you capable of just spitting it out!"

"Fine Kara, if that's how you want it!" Cassandra yells matching her daughter's stance. "Athos Thalia is your father, not Rand Thrace. It wasn't an accident or a mistake; it was what the Council planned from the beginning."

"And Andreas, was he something that the Council planned?" Kara screams.

"No, he was what Athos and I planned for ourselves." And with that Admiral Cassandra Thrace walked out of the conference room heading for the hangar deck.

TBC

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