A/N: I thought I was closing in on the end of this story, but I realize that I could stretch it out longer. I'm kicking around the idea of closing this one out in 2 more chapters and then doing a sequel a little later. I'll have to see how it flows and of course what you all would like. Thanks again to all the reviews and the fact that so many of you continue to like this story. So please after you read hit that review button and let me know what you think!!
Chapter 21: One Blue Planet
Starbuck didn't think about the co-ordinates to the first three jumps that she had plugged into the Valkyerie's navigation system. She had gone tearing into space and had started the first jump before they had barely cleared the launch doors of the basestar. The second and the third jumps had happened just as quickly, and now she was sitting in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing.
Well not quite nothing she amended. There was the beautiful canvas of space and stars all around her, and she took a moment to just enjoy the quiet and solitude. She couldn't see Apollo, but she was relatively sure that he was still unconscious, and right now that suited her. She knew that they would be running low on fuel after a few more jumps, so she had to run a scan on any nearby planets to see if there was one that could support life until they were rescued.
The thought that they might not ever be found flitted through her brain briefly, but she locked it away and forced herself to concentrate on one thing; finding some place to call home. Starbuck glanced around and to her surprise found that there were a handful of planets, a few moons and two relatively good sized suns. Could they be so lucky, gods willing they could use a little luck or divine intervention right now.
After several tense moments she knew that the planets here wouldn't help them. None had the necessary requirements to sustain human life for a few minutes much less what could turn into forever for them. She spooled up the FTL and punched in another random jump sequence, she wasn't going in any particular order; Artemis knew that Leoben had kept a copy of the list he had given her. No need to make it easy on him by going in list order.
Just before she had finished entering in the next sequence, something caught her eye, or the lack of something. She didn't know a whole lot about how solar systems formed, but it seemed like this one was awfully one sided with all the planets lined up to her right. Just as she was about to hit the button to jump, her sensors let out a series of rapid beeps and information scrolled onto the small screen. Medium sized planet, carbon based, oxygen rich, 60 percent water, large land masses. Two moons, electromagnetic field, temperate climate, rich vegetation, high ability to sustain human life.
Starbuck whipped her head around trying to see what her sensors were picking up. She gave a growl of frustration as nothing immediately came into view. She was just about to hit her thrusters when she felt Lee's hand on her shoulder.
"Look straight ahead," he said in his broken whisper of a voice. She did as she was told and still she saw nothing. After a few moments of staring she was getting frustrated and was about to give voice to that frustration when something that felt like cold water raced down her spine. She shook her head and then saw what Lee must have seen. Right there in front of her was a planet, blue and white, it looked like Earth, it looked like home.
"The Gods are good," she breathed as she took in the almost round planet. It was bigger than Earth, a good deal bigger in actuality, and it had two moons where Earth only had the one. She wanted a closer look, she needed a closer look. She hit her thrusters and brought them closer so that she could orbit around the planet. She let the sensors take pictures, and more readings while she just looked. It was beyond beautiful, it was everything they had been searching for and never found. Looked like they owed a whopping thank you to the kitchen appliances.
"Now I just need to find a place to land," she said mostly to herself. Apollo hadn't said anything else, so she assumed that he had once again passed out, that was probably for the best. She was going to burn a lot of fuel breaking the atmosphere of the planet, so much so that they wouldn't be able to break free if no one found them. This would be home for the two of them, probably forever.
Kara didn't give herself time to hesitate, time to over think the situation. As far as she was concerned it was pretty cut and dry, they had limited fuel, no way to find the fleet, this planet was their only hope to survive beyond the next 6 hours. With that one thought in mind she angled her bird towards the blue ball and punched her thrusters, there was no going back now.
The planet's gravitational field grabbed hold of the Valkyerie and pummeled it like a rag doll. It took every ounce of skill, and a whole lot of praying for Kara just to keep them from going into a spin that she might not be able to get them out of. Even though the Valkyerie had been built to withstand the atmosphere entry, Kara could still feel the heat all around and was worried that they might burn to a crisp, not a pleasant way to go in her opinion.
After several heart pounding moments the Valkyerie pulled through and Kara was surrounded by white fluffy clouds and big blue sky. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and was completely unaware of the tears silently tracking down her cheeks. Her hands, wrist and shoulders throbbed painfully from keeping them in one piece, and she was so overwhelmed that she just let her bird streak through the sky for a moment.
A few stolen minutes later and Kara began the arduous task of looking for somewhere to land. Her sensors hadn't picked up any human life, so that meant no cities, no airfields, no landing strips, no paved roads. The best she could hope for was a clear level field, and nothing that would eat them. She wasn't to keen on meeting Tyrannosaurus Rex and trying to convince it that she didn't taste good with ketchup.
She took in the wonder of all the open unspoiled land, checked her sensors and looked for some place with a nice temperate climate, plenty of water, and good amount of vegetation. They'd needed to eat and she only had a few rations, so they'd need someplace that could support them, wouldn't do to get stuck in a desert or the tundra.
Almost half hour later she found what she was looking for. A large track of forested area broken up by verdant valleys with several sources of water close at hand. They'd have plenty of area to forage, water to drink and bath, a good source of fuel, a small measure of shelter should they need to bunker down, and as luck would have it, a very long, very wide dry stream bed to put the Valkyerie down on.
Kara banked to her left to line her precious bird up with the stream bed, dropped her wheels and prayed like hell as she went screaming for her improvised landing strip. She watched as the ground came racing up towards them, and the thought that this was madness flitted through her mind right before the Valkyerie slammed into the hard gravelly earth with a bone jarring jolt.
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Lee felt a bone jarring jolt slam through his body, and his eyes flew open. He was in the dark, he preferred the dark, but something wasn't right; he couldn't remember. He thought Kara had come, they had escaped. Why couldn't he remember?
He shook his head and his vision blurred, then refocused. He should have known, she never came for him, she never would. He was still in the white room, with the white bed and the white sheets. The whole blasted room was white, even the clothes they kept putting on him were white, everything was white except the clear window. It wasn't white, it was hell.
He banged his head against the wall a couple of times trying desperately to slip back into unconsciousness where they couldn't find him, but all he managed to do was make stars dance in front of his eyes. He hated them, he wanted them dead, all of them including her. How could she betray him? He stood up and took of their blasted white clothes, they hated when he did it, so he did it to spite them.
He looked at the window, looked beyond it into the room. The room with all of it's bold bright colors. Browns, oranges, reds and golds; he hated that room, he hated seeing what happened in that room. But there was no one there right now, she wasn't there, at least not right now. Lee turned away from the window, made his way to the white bed, he hated that bed and laid down. Maybe if he was lucky sleep would come and release him into oblivion for a few short hours, someplace where it didn't hurt so damn bad.
She walked into the room while he laid there, his thoughts fuzzy and disoriented, sleep almost claiming him. Then she walked closer to the glass startling both his mind and body to alertness. He tried not to get up and go to the window, but it was no use; her mere presence demanded that he move closer, be closer to her. She was still as breath taking as the first time he saw her naked and swimming in an ocean. Gods but that had seemed a lifetime ago.
Her hair was longer and looked as if it had just been kissed by the sun; he found that funny as he didn't remember the last time he had kissed her hair. But damn if he wouldn't give anything, including a piece of his soul to do so just now. Her skin was luminous, her body still fit, the strength of it radiating outwards. She wore a white dress with thin straps on her shoulders, heeled sandals that made her taller, drawing his eyes to her legs. Lee whimpered thinking of those legs wrapped around his hips.
She moved through the room, comfortable and at ease. He watched as she walked to a wall and tapped a few times. She lifted out a wine glass filled with a dark red liquid, took a few casual sips as she glanced at a stack of papers lying on the desk under the window. Lee's whole body tensed as the door to the room opened and she turned with a smile curving her lips. His breath stuck in his throat as Leoben walked into the room and pulled Kara into his arms, kissing her lightly on the lips. The blood thundered in Lee's ears as she kissed him back.
Lee watched helpless as Leoben took the glass of wine from her hand, took a sip, placed it on the desk, then drawing her fingers up to his lips. He gently kissed them and then leaned in to whisper something into her ear. Whatever it was had her smiling seductively and enfolding the cylon into her embrace, her hands tangling into his hair. Leoben slowly danced her around the room, kissing her cheek, her neck, her shoulders. Kara's hands were busy on the buttons of his shirt, sliding the material down his arms, and then carelessly tossing it to the floor.
Lee snapped his eyes shut, he didn't want to see it, he never wanted to see it. But that didn't stop the images from filtering behind his closed eyelids, or the sensation of her hands on his body. He felt every caress of her fingers as she trailed them over Leoben, he heard every whispered word that she uttered for that frakking toaster. He wanted to kill him, he wanted to kill them both.
"Open you eyes Apollo," another voice spoke to him. "See how your precious goddess betrays you. How she spreads her affections to any who catches her attention. She never really loved you, you were but a brief moment, an interlude if you will."
"Open your eyes Apollo and see," the voice crooned to him. He tried to keep his eyes tightly closed, if he didn't see it wasn't real; yet he could still feel her hands along his body, caressing, loving, arousing; but it wasn't him she was touching.
"Open your eyes Apollo, don't be afraid," the voice commanded this time, and Lee was unable to resist. No matter how many times he told himself that he wouldn't obey, he did every time, every time he opened his eyes.
He saw Leoben lift Kara into his arms and carry her to the large bed. Lee whimpered a little as he felt her nails rake across his back, he sighed a little as gentle teeth nipped at his ear. He couldn't take it, he couldn't stop the pleasure that washed through him at the feel of her wrapping around his body. And just as it always did, just as Leoben was about to enter her, his mind cleared, the connection with Kara was snapped and the pain of her betrayal was magnified a thousandfold into his mind.
He lunged towards the window, fist pounding on the glass. He heard the soft peels of laughter and the crooning tones of the voice commanding him to keep looking. He snarled, kicked and beat on that clear window, spending himself on his anger, and when there was no anger left, he let out with a soul shattering scream.
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Kara nearly jumped from her skin as an inhuman scream ripped through the air. Fast as lighting she had her weapon in her hand as was spinning around to face whatever threat had let out that scream. She stood stock still in amazement as her gaze landed on Apollo, he looked like all the demons from hell were chasing him, and he was fighting for all he was worth. She had left him safely secured in the cockpit while she set up the tent and sleeping bag from the emergency kit under her seat. But the man she had left blissfully unconscious was gone, and in his place was a wild wounded animal.
She didn't hesitate as she raced back to the Valkyerie, scrambled up the wing and hopped into the tight confines of the cockpit. She pinned his arms to his sides with her knees and used the weight of her body to hold his thrashing one down. His screams tore at her heart, and she could barely make out the guttural words he uttered in between screams. Kara was sitting in his lap watching the man she loved being torn apart by an enemy she couldn't see.
Artemis stroked her hands down his face, against his neck, his cheeks. She molded her body more firmly to his, whispering soft soothing words into his ear. She tenderly wiped away the tears that streamed down his cheeks and brushed her lips against his forehead. Her touch was whisper soft, gentler than she had ever been to any other living creature in her life. She pulled his head down to her chest, stroked her fingers through his hair and along the tense muscles of his neck.
After several heart wrenching minutes, Apollo slowly began to quiet, his screams giving way to hoarse crying, then to pitiful whimpers. Artemis sat there holding him, her heart not only breaking, but the need for revenge clawing at her belly. She pulled back and looked into his vividly blue eyes, eyes that were opaque, blank, devoid of all human emotion.
"What have those bastards done to you," she said in a voice on the verge of hysteria. She wrapped her arms around him tighter as he began to tremble. Kara knew she needed to finish putting the tent up and getting the sleeping bag ready, but she was afraid to leave him alone again. She wanted to protect him, keep him safe, but she couldn't even see what he was fighting, all she could do at this moment was get him comfortable and pray like hell some one found them soon.
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"Hermes, maybe if..."
"I'm telling you I can't see her any more Admiral," Devon snarled at his mother. He looked like something the cat had dragged in and deposited in a heap on the floor. He hadn't slept in days, and it showed. His clothes were rumpled, his face unshaven, his green eyes haunted and troubled. His mother's heart broke just looking at him, but she knew she had to keep pushing not just for his sister's sake, but for his own as well.
"She can't have just disappeared," Cass said to her son.
"That's exactly what she's done," he snapped back. He hated everyone depending on him for answers, he didn't have any and he could see the accusations in their eyes and he hated them for it.
"Are you sure these are the last co-ordinates?" Helena asked him. She tried to keep her voice smooth, nonthreatening. She knew that Hermes was under a considerable amount of pressure from everyone around, and he was close to breaking. If he broke they'd lose even this small connection to Artemis.
"As sure as I am of anything," he replied. His voice was surly even though he'd tried to pull the sarcasm in. He had managed to see a set of jump co-ordinates on the navigation system of what he was sure was the Valkyerie. He'd tried to explain that he wasn't positive that it had been Kara's fighter, or that what he saw was something that was happening now and not several years ago, or even several years in the future. But his mother latched onto it desperate for any link to her daughter.
Admiral Thrace had immediately ordered search and rescue to jump to the co-ordinates. When they came back and reported that the are was clear, she had the fleet jump there. At first the colonials were leery about randomly jumping to a set of coordinates that Hermes had in a vision that he wasn't sure about, but after several hours of intense debate they decided to jump as well.
"Tell me again what you saw," the Admiral demanded coming to stand next to him. Hermes glared at her, his eyes hard and defiance etched in every muscle in his body.
"Damn, it's not going to change if I tell you again," he stormed.
"So think of me as a little dim witted, and tell me again," she said in voice that mirrored his own. Hermes heaved a sigh, looking at his mother he pulled some of his frustration in and pulled out a chair. He gently forced her to sit, the slumped down next to her. They were both ragged and just about running on empty, they needed to find Kara and soon.
"She was sitting in the cockpit of the Valkyerie, or at least it felt like the Valkyerie," he said allowing himself to flow back. His voice took on a far away quality when he continued. "She was looking at her sensors, muttering to herself while glancing at a piece of paper taped on her dash. It has more jump co-ordinates, at least I'm pretty sure they're co-ordinates. Where we are now are they co-ordinates that were inputted on her nav computer. I don't think this is where she is jumping to, but where she was jumping from."
"Can you make out any of the co-ordinates on the paper?" Adama asked him. Hermes had to admire the restraint that the older man shown. He could see the questions about Apollo burning in Adama's eyes, yet the Admiral had yet to give voice to them.
"I can see some of the numbers," he replied straining at the boundaries of his mind trying to bring that one single aspect of his vision into focus.
It was harder than any of them could imagine it would be, but Hermes pushed as hard as he could. He felt the hand on his shoulder, gentle, restraining, but he pushed it off mentally and pushed harder. His vision blurred, went dark, then rushed back into crystalline detail. The sharpness of it stabbed his eyes, and pain burst into his head. He felt his body seize, go limp and strong hands pull him into stronger arms.
"No son, we can't afford to lose you as well," Hermes heard Adama say as he opened his eyes. He was some how being held up in the shorter man's arms and he could see the concern etched in the lines of his face.
"I can see some of the numbers, but not all," Hermes said as Bill lowered him back into the chair. "Maybe Ares and your Gaeta could work on them and extrapolate from our current position. I know she's out there somewhere, where I'm not sure, it's like a veil covering my eyes, like something hiding her from view."
"We will find her son," Cass said coming down on her knees in front of her son. She reached out and grabbed hold of his hands, her eyes fervent as she looked up to Bill Adama. "We'll find both of them."