A/N: I know the reviews system has been all frakked up this weekend. Once I got the first 2 chappies up I got locked out and couldn't get anything else up. I hope those of you who are reading this are enjoying it. This chapter we are getting into the nuts and bolts of Helo and Kara. I promise there will be more of that and some Lee/Kara action, but not just yet. Italics are Kara dreaming or daydreaming, just so you know.

Once she boarded the raptor they still had to wait about a half an hour. Skulls needed to run into the tent city to grab a few things. Kara figured he was planning some sort of bachelor party for Helo, his fellow ECO. It wasn't a comfortable place, but somehow just being in a ship felt more like home than that stupid tent ever would. She had only been on board a few minutes when she started daydreaming. Helo deserved a speech, a good speech for her toast. They had been friends for so long that she actually needed to reflect to come up with ideas.

Summers on Gemenon on the military base were boring central for a kid. Kara was 9 years old, her mother's unit had been based on Gemenon for about 6 months. Even though she was a military brat she had a tough time making friends. Her personality didn't ingratiate her with the girls, and the boys all thought she had cooties.

She was alone on the playground, bouncing the ball and scooping jacks up. She thought it was a stupid tedious task, but knew that the hand-eye coordination would be important for her future Pyramid career. Her goal was to play forward for the Caprica Buccaneers, but she'd settle any position, especially if it was a scoring position.

Her mother insisted on dressing her in dresses and other assorted girly clothes. This was not exactly conducive to her tom boy lifestyle. All she knew was that whenever she came home filthy from playing her mother would hit her. Her mother hit her when she mouthed off, she hit her when she didn't clean her plate, when she didn't turn out the lights promptly at 20:00 hours, and she hit her sometimes when Kara did nothing. Always it was followed with "Someday you'll appreciate this. Someday you'll have to endure much worse, because you have it coming. Suffering is good for the soul, without it you'll never be strong enough" She suspected the black eyes and broken bones also kept the other children from her. The cover story was always the same, Kara was a clumsy child. How anyone could see her as a clumsy child she didn't know, she was agile as a cat in gym class and on the playground. No one believed her when she would tell them that her mother had done it, Socrata Thrace was well respected, even if she was a drunk.

Kara's father was rarely around. She saw him twice a year. He was generally on tour, or recording, or something other than being near her. But when he did come back he always brought her presents, much to her mother's chagrin. She loved her daddy, and always made sure that when they moved that they moved his upright piano with them. Socrata tolerated the behavior, but constantly threatened to take an axe to the stupid thing when Kara really misbehaved.

This day was just as boring and hot as any other. She didn't have much to do back at their quarters all of her chores were done well before noon, so she mostly spent her time on the playground. She was either playing there or in her fort in the small thicket of woods across from the military personnel housing. Her mother was on duty and didn't believe in day care or babysitters. If Kara was old enough to heat up lunch and get a glass of water she was old enough to be alone. And so she was, always, until a new face approached her.

He was probably the same age as her, but big for his size, brown haired, tan, chubby, but with a caring eye. Her father called people like him "wise in the eye, an old soul." She just figured he was lost. There was no other reason why anyone would be heading her way otherwise. He walked up with a bizarre sense of purpose and sat down with her.

"Hi, I'm Karl." He stuck out a hand at her to shake, and she did. He radiated a strange sense of confidence, like he knew they would be friends.

"I'm Kara." She replied and went back to turning the jacks over in her hand.

"I'm new around here. My dad just transferred into the Red unit here on base."

"My mom's an MP with that unit."

"Cool." For some reason he wasn't uncomfortable around her. The school year was out so the other kids wouldn't have had time to get to him. "You wanna come over to my house and have lunch? My mom made sandwiches."

"I'm not supposed to go to stranger's houses." If her mother found out she had there might be a broken rib in her future.

"But I'm not a stranger, I'm Karl." He said with a smile. She trusted him, she didn't know why, but she trusted him. He stood up and offered her a hand. She took it and he noticed the bruises up and down her arms. She moved the sleeves down on her cardigan to cover them back up. She put the ball and jacks in the pocket of the sweater.

"I'm clumsy; at least that's what they say."

"They look like handprints, how does that make you clumsy? Did someone grab you while you were falling down?"

"Yeah, something like that." It was a conversation she decided to avoid, no reason to scare off someone who obviously was giving her a shot.

"Okay, if we run we can make it back to see tip off in the Pyramid game! I'll race you! First one to my house gets a Picon Berry flavored lollipop! "

Kara was competitive, which was another reason why she was sure no one wanted to be her friend. Either that or she really did have cooties. This chubby boy was no competition, but she'd happily take his bet, and the sweet spoils of victory.

She did win that lollipop, and Karl's mother made her sandwiches the rest of summer . Mrs Agathon pitied the Thrace girl. Her mother was a notoriously stern MP, but surprisingly popular, even with her own husband Marine Corporal Agathon. She was though, no mother. Her child was left to run feral all summer. Karl had few friends at the base on Picon, so she was glad that he had found a friend, even if the girl was odd and always carrying a new injury. They shared a love and goal of playing professional pyramid and spent hours practicing in a makeshift basement court; but they were always begging her to take them to the airfield to watch the vipers and raptors train. She suspected that one day the two of them would take to the sky; she also suspected that they would end up married. She was only right on one account. Mrs Agathon would one day tell her this, the day they graduated from flight school.

"Captain Thrace, we have to stop at the Pegasus to pick an additional crew member. We should arrive on Galactica in about an hour. Welcome back to the sky." Racetrack announced as Skulls started up preflight. Kara was startled back into reality.

"It's just Kara now, but thanks Racetrack, I mean Margaret."

"You'll always be Starbuck to us, sir." She said with a smile as she turned around to buckle back in. "Oh, the Admiral wants to see you when we get to Galactica, but we'll show you to your visitors quarters first."

"Thanks, it'll be nice to see the old bird, and the old man." As they lifted off the ground Kara felt the momentary flitter in her belly that she had often felt in her own viper. Those first few moments airborne were exciting and terrifying. Human beings weren't meant to fly, which was why she suspected that she always felt that way. She put her head back against the wall and ran her hand up the carriage. It felt good to be going home, even if it wasn't her home anymore.