"Admiral, we need to make the decision now, either we launch the alert fighters or we make the jump, there are no other options," Lee practically yelled through the phone to his father, his eyes never leaving the Dradus screen as more an more Cylon ships appeared, all inbound for the planet. There were literally mere moments to decide before it was too late.
"To launch now would be suicide, we don't have enough qualified pilots left in the fleet," his father responded, providing Lee with the answer he'd both been dreading and hoping for.
"But if we jump, we'll be leaving all those people down on the planet defenseless," he protested weakly. Dee and Helo watched him expectantly.
"We jump now, live to fight another day. And we will be back. Alert the fleet; tell them to jump at will. They should all have the emergency jump coordinates."
"Yes, sir." Lee ended the transmission, turning to face the others. "Dee, I need you on the comms, alert the rest of the fleet we're jumping clear now, as soon as they fire up their FTL drives they're to jump at will." He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; all centered around one lone thought, Kara.
"What about jump points?" Dee asked, already reaching for the switch that would open up the communications relay throughout the fleet.
"Tell them to use the last set of emergency jump coordinates they were issued."
"But sir, those were issued over a year ago!"
"Those were the Admiral's orders," Lee responded tightly.
"What about our people on the planet?" Helo asked, hoping he already knew what the answer was, but needing the affirmation of his thoughts spoken out loud.
"The best way we can help them is by living to fight another day," Lee said, exuding a confidence and sounding more like his father then he'd ever willingly admit to. "The Admiral wants us out of here so we can regroup and plan our counterattack. We'll be coming back for our people one day."
Gaeta walked into the President's quarters and was greeted to the sight of President Baltar wrapped around a throng of half-naked women. It was something he'd grown accustomed to seeing during the months since he'd been brought in as one of Baltar's cabinet ministers. He wasn't sure what was worse, the knowledge of what really went on inside of Colonial One, or the fact that it didn't even cause him to bat an eye anymore. There were days when he couldn't even face himself in the mirror, memories of his part in Baltar's election to the presidency and his continued service as part of the cabinet filling him with remorse. But it was too late for him to walk away now. It was becoming clearer with each passing moment why the Chief had put together his labor union to combat the excesses that Baltar, and those close to him, enjoyed everyday. And so it was that Gaeta, like the rest of the inner circle, continued to put up a front that they were indeed loyal supporters of the President, may the Gods and the citizens of New Caprica have mercy on them all.
It was during yet another of Gaeta's briefings regarding the rumblings of the labor union that it happened. The sound of fighter planes flying by over head, drawing the attention of all on board the ship. At first, Baltar was going to complain about how he'd have to put an end to the Admiral allowing his ships to fly by so early in the morning. Slowly, realization dawned on all their faces as many of them struggled to peer out the windows. The noise was far too great for that of the Colonial Fleet's limited Viper squadrons, even more so since the many of the pilots had thrown in the towel and joined the majority of the fleet in colonizing the planet. Cylon raiders filled the sky.
The shock they generated among those assembled in the President's chambers was nothing next to the sheer terror they felt over the sound of feet marching steadily towards the door. It swung open and two Cylon centurions came marching in, weapons at the ready. They positioned themselves on either side of the open portal and stood guard as the humanoid Cylon models entered the room. Baltar's eyes nearly popped from his head when he saw her. Just as swiftly, he shut them, counting silently to ten before opening them again. She was still there.
"Hello Gaius," she said, smiling.
"How…how did you find us? We thought we'd lost you," he stammered out.
Doral smiled. "We had lost you. We were thousands of light years away."
"But then we picked up on the trace of a thermonuclear explosion," the blonde added. "It lead us right to you."
He stared at her, mesmerized, not even noticing the other models that walked up to stand beside her, directly across the desk from him. The Sharon Valerii model was there, as was the Doral model that'd already made his presence known. Even the so-called Doctor that had cared for Kara Thrace on Caprica was there. Doral took center stage, gloating over the imminent Cylon victory. There was a proposal for the immediate and unconditional surrender of the humans, the promise that they'd all be unharmed if they did. Baltar found it hard to concentrate on anything but the exquisite blonde standing before him. Gina. That's what the last incarnation he'd been with had called herself, the one who'd blown the bomb he'd given her as a gift and led the Cylons right to them.
His cabinet members and the Cylon delegation were all looking at him expectantly, and he finally managed to shake himself out of his startled stupor long enough to give them all an answer. "Well, in that case, I believe I have little choice but to offer you our surrender."
Silence filled the room, the humans horrified, the humanoid Cylons gloating victoriously, and the centurions stoically watching it all, the single red light flashing across their brows, where a human's eyes would normally be,betraying no emotions at all.
Inside the tent that acted as the make-shift school, the former President Laura Roslin prayed desperately to the gods for help. As soon as she'd seen the raiders flying overhead, she'd hustled the children who'd followed her outside to see what all the noise had been about back inside, closing the flap as tightly as possible behind them. Her eyes sought out the child, Hera. Was it possible that the Cylons knew of her existence?
It was impossible she told herself. She'd gone to great lengths to convince not only Sharon and Helo that their daughter had died, but to let the news leak throughout the rest of the fleet as well. There was no telling how many more Cylon spies had been living among the humans, Brother Cavil was proof enough of that. If they were all convinced that the child was dead, then there was no reason for her to fear otherwise. Or so she hoped. But then, the Cylons were continually proving themselves to be very resourceful when it came to ferreting out information.
Looking around the tent, Roslin took in the faces of the frightened children. The children, they were the true future for mankind. She straightened her shoulders with resolve and smiled reassuringly at them.
Kara pushed her way through the crowd and watched as the toasters came marching into the human settlement in endless rows of gleaming steel. She felt someone squeeze in beside her and heard the Chief speak.
"So what are we going to do, Captain?"
"Same thing we always do, fight them until we can't fight no more."
She continued to stare at the Cylon army marching past, while the Chief spared a quick glance for the very pregnant Cally at his side. She met his eyes, her hand moving to rub a comforting circle over her protruding stomach. He reached down, gently grasping her free hand and giving it a squeeze before returning his attention to the spectacle before him. Off in the distance, he could see humanoid Cylons departing Colonial One, including Sharon. Pulling his eyes away from her he began speaking quietly to Starbuck again, leaning closer to her ear so that he could be heard over the din of clanking steel.
"What about the old man? Don't you think they would have put on some kind of fight? Tried to alert us maybe?"
Kara was silent for a few moments; not wanting to admit what her heart feared the most. Instead she answered matter-of-factly, "They probably jumped when the toasters started showing up. We really didn't leave much in the way of pilots or crews up there for them to put on any kind of fight. And when was the last time any of us actively maintained radio contact with them?" She couldn't quite keep the tinge of regret from her voice as she spoke. She thought briefly of her short transmission to Lee, it'd been the first time in months she'd spoken with anyone still on board the battlestars. The last time had been with Helo, but she'd still managed to ask about Lee.
"Or they were taken by surprise and blown to bits before they could even react," Tyrol said, not even trying to keep the emotion from his voice. Despite the large number crew members who'd come down to the planet to live, they still had plenty of friends still on board both of the battlestars. Helo, the captive Cylon Sharon, Lee, the Admiral, even Kat.
"No. If something had happened to them I'd know."
"How's that Starbuck? You got some kind of communication relay in your head now?"
"I'd just know," she said so quietly he almost didn't hear her. There was no way she was going to voice out loud the thought that she knew, deep down inside, if something ever happened to Lee she'd feel it. And the old man. Admiral Adama had been like a surrogate father to her for longer than she cared to remember. The Adama men had all made her a part of their family at one time or another, nothing could happen to them without her sensing it. Tyrol gave up arguing with her, it was more reassuring to think that the battlestars had gotten away, that there would be at least some small chance of rescue, no matter how slim it was.
"How many of the crew do you think we have down here?" he asked after a few minutes.
"I don't know, probably at least half of them off of both ships."
"That's about what I had figured, a lot of them are in the union."
"I really don't think the union really matters much anymore."
"No, but it puts me in contact with our people. We've got those resistance members we liberated off of Caprica here too. Some of them are union, but not many."
"Resistance…..Sam! Chief, have you seen Sam at all?" Starbuck asked, amazed that the sudden turn of events could have pushed her husband from her mind so easily.
"No….not since I saw you dragging him back to your tent earlier."
"Frack, I gotta find him," she said, moving away from the crowd and seeking out her husband.
"I'm looking for Kara Thrace."
The voice awakened Sam Anders from the deep sleep he'd fallen wearily into after Kara had so carefully tucked him into bed. He hated feeling this weak, nothing had gone the way he'd expected them to when they'd moved down to this godforsaken planet. Despite the radiation problem, at least the real Caprica had everything they needed; they weren't left to eke out a meager living from scratch. He tried to focus his bleary eyes in the direction of the voice that had broken through his subconscious sleeping mind. All he could make out was blondish hair and a bad shirt. "How do you know Kara? Are you a friend of hers or something?"
"Something like that," the blonde man answered casually, squatting down and peering more closely at Anders. From this vantage point, the sick man was able to bring his face into focus; there was something vaguely familiar about it that he couldn't quite place.
"She went out but she should be back soon," Anders said wearily.
"I'm sure we'll catch up with each other sooner or later, we've gotso many thingstodiscuss."
It was like he disappeared after those parting words, so much so that Anders half wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing. He fell into a broken sleep once more, feverishly tossing and turning across the small bed. By the time Kara found him a short time later, he'd forgotten all about his encounter with the blonde man.
From the shadows of a nearby tent, Leobon smiled at the sight of her, watching as she burst through the tent flap. It had been such a long time since his other incarnation had been blown from the airlock of the Galactica. When he'd found himself reborn again those memories had driven him to this very moment. At last Kara Thrace, the mighty Starbuck was within his reach.