Chapter 3

She woke up with a start, her breathing shallow and her skin clammy. It took her a while to realize she was safe in her bunk and not back on New Caprica. The visions still vivid in her mind she made her way toward the showers; the water always managed to calm her, sooth the sensation of dirtiness that always invaded her after one of those nightmares.

They were becoming more and more intense and she was exhausted but at the same time she dreaded falling asleep. It had reached the point were it was either accept sleeping pills from the doc, or stop flying. She had opted for the pills. But of course he had filled a report for the CAG. She had caught Lee watching her quite a few times ever since as if he was waiting for her to frack things up. Eventually she had.

She had been in the process of drinking herself under the table when he had happened upon her. He had snatched the bottle away and started screaming at her that if she wanted to kill herself then it was fine but not when she risked crashing one of his planes in the process. He was right pills plus alcohol was not a good combination, and the effects could last for a long time after ingestion, and she had been scheduled for cap the next morning. But at the time he had been the idiot who was ruining one of her rare moments of peace, so she had hit him.

From that point on all bets had been off, he had hit back, and the fight that had ensued had been dirty. She had allowed all her pent up emotions to release themselves, something about seeing Lee Adama enraged had given her that ability. She didn't know how but at one point he had tripped her. Flat on her back but still kicking he had had to straddle her and pinned her arms above her head in order to control her. His physical proximity, his face hovering mere centimetres over hers had had the effect of a bucket of cold water.

She had stopped struggling and looked him straight in the eyes. He had eased his gripe on her arms and they had both relax, completely drain of energy. However none of them had broken eyes contact. Their staring contest could have gone on for a long time if they hadn't heard people coming in their direction. He had released her, took a few steps back and told her that she was not flying till she had resolved her sleeping problems. He had enough pilots but not enough vipers and he was not risking one over her.

After that little episode she had stopped taking the pills, they did not keep the nightmares at bay and she was grounded anyway.

She was in the process of getting dressed when she heard the alarms go off, followed by the familiar messages pouring out of the speakers.

"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship. I repeat action stations set condition one throughout the ship."

She grabbed her jacket and took off for the CIC, even if it was not her shift she wanted to ear the pilots' shatter. Everyone was tensed, looking at the dradis, waiting for the battle to begin. It came with Lee's order.

"All pilots, weapons free! Engage!"

From what she could gather, several cylon raiders had just jumped in the middle of the fleet. But something bothered her. They were not acting as usual. She focused her attention on the dradis monitor and then it hit her. They were not trying to lock their weapons on a target; they were doing their best to attract the vipers away from the fleet.

"It's a diversion." She mumbled to herself. And then more loudly addressing the admiral she repeated it.

"Admiral, it's a diversion! You have to call back the vipers, now!" She was frantic.

"What are you talking about Starbuck, have you lost your mind! If I do that we're left with no protection!"

"And if you don't, we're all dead!" She yelled back.

Before she could add anything someone said:

"Dradis contact. I see three unidentified ships, going straight for Galactica. They'll be on us in 3 minutes!"

The admiral did not waste anymore time.

"Call back all vipers. And prepare the fleet for jump."

"We don't have time sir, it'll be too late."

"How long until the vipers are in shooting range?"

"Four minutes sir!"

The radiological alarm went off.

"Prepare for inbound!"

The explosion rocked the ship; Kara felt something hit her head. She heard the admiral ordering combat landing to all the vipers and then the jump. After that reality faded away.

"Chief, what the hell is happening here?" Lee screamed over the noise.

"The explosion damaged a fuel line sir, the fire is spreading quickly. We need to evacuate, but the civilians of camp oil-slick are stuck behind those ships!"

"Let me help you."

After a few minutes they were able to open a way large enough for the civilians to pass through. When the last one went through, Lee went in to make sure they'd left no one behind. That's when he heard a whimper; the smoke was so thick that he almost missed her. She was huddled on the floor crying and coughing at the same time. He picked her up and run to safety.

She was clinging to him her breathing labored, he looked around for a medic but it was such a chaos that it was impossible. When he felt her go limp in his arms he decided to go straight to sickbay.

He caught a nurse and with a voice that allowed no contestations ordered her to get him a doctor. By then the little girl had regained consciousness but still had trouble breathing. She was gripping one of his fingers and was obviously not letting it go. He found a free stretcher and sat readjusting the little body so she was more comfortable. They waited a few minutes before the arrival of the doc. He looked up when he heard someone clearing his throat.

"Commander what have you got here?" His voice was surprisingly very gentle. Lee felt the child tense, so he told her:

"Hey, don't worry, he's here to help. Ok?" She didn't reply. He wasn't event sure kids her age knew how to talk anyway; but at least she understood because he felt her relax.

"So what happened?"

"I found her in the middle of a fire; she has inhaled smoke and has trouble breathing. Passed out for a while and scared the life out of me." The Doc listened to her lung and then examined her, talking to her reassuringly so she would not get anymore scared. Once he was finished he gave the nurse instructions.

"She needs oxygen, she also has some minor burns so put some cream on them and then bandage them." Then addressing Lee he said:

"She'll need to drink water at regular intervals, and you'll have to hold the oxygen mask because toddlers don't like them at all."

"What? Wait a minute Doc! I am not staying here. I've got things to do out there…"

"You're staying here commander. You also need oxygen and she needs someone to stay with her and unfortunately for you I have no one to spare at the moment." Without giving him time to protest some more he left saying he had other patients to see.

Over the next hour, Lee discovered that a tired and sick toddler was no fun. She wouldn't let the oxygen mask in place and would start crying whenever he tried to put her in bed. In the end he found that the best solution was to lay down with her in his arms, only then did she stop struggling and fell asleep. He was about to join her when a nurse informed him that she would be looking after the girl now. He was free to go.

He only had had the time to stand up when he heard an anguished cry:

"Oh my gods, Kacey!" It was Kara's voice. He turned around and saw her a few paces away. She had a bandage on her head and didn't look quite steady on her feet. He went to her, grabbed her elbow and pushed her in the chair next to the bed so she wouldn't collapse. Without acknowledging him she took Kacey's hand in hers and asked again.

"What happened? Where is her mother?"

TBC...