Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, nor do I own Battlestar Galactica. They are owned by Joss Whedon and Ronald D. Moore respectively. I merely play with their toys while they're away. Also, this series entirely ignores anything not directly mentioned in Battlestar Galactica, so ignore anything from Caprica. This was conceived before that, so I'm not letting it hamper my creativity

To all be open, on what you are – with intent evil or good. But secret, it must be kept, what it means – except as is judged, for the darkness battle.
-Mysterium 12:19-20

Earlier today

Willow looked out the window at the slowly passing stars and space debris. She was still kinda tired from the time difference – why, oh, why, do the entire Colonies follow Caprica City standard time when, clearly, Saloniki, on the other side of Caprica, is clearly much better. This was plainly obvious to anyone with brains, Willow thought – after all, she had herself grown up in the Saloniki Valley and its time zone.

Tara was on the seat next to the window, asleep. Willow thought that was probably a good position. Asleep. Probably, she thought, the second-best position one could be in. And the best position certainly could not be done on a government-chartered spaceliner even in the best of conditions. Well, maybe in the bathroom, but that'd be kinda uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Willow, for the life of her, could not manage to fall asleep.

Willow, bored with the stars, now turned to look at the other passengers. Also, pretty boring. They were mostly reading, various books and newspapers. Almost all of them were various reporters, going off to the retirement of the famous Battlestar Galactica, a second-rate news story for second-rate reporters. The liner's passenger deck was only about a quarter full, Willow supposed. Maybe they'd be taking on more passengers on the way back.

Now, a woman Willow recognized, somehow, in the back of her mind, was coming back from the bathroom and trying to compose herself. She sat down alone, directly across the aisle from Willow. Willow looked out of the corner of her eye as the woman fidgeted for a few minutes – picking up her book, trying to read it, before setting it down again. Willow thought she was just a little restless, too.

Willow, curious, turned to her, and said, "Hi."

The woman was startled, turning to her, "Hello."

Willow grimaced slightly, "Sorry, I'm just a little restless. I'm Willow. Willow Canaan."

"Oh," the woman said, a bit of relief, "I'm Laura. Laura Roslin. Nice to meet you."

"Oh!" Willow said, "I know now. Sorry, I'm a bit of a political junkie. You're the Secretary of Education. I knew I remembered you from somewhere."

"Ah, I see. Well, it's good to meet you, Willow."

"Yeah, so," Willow trailed off for a few seconds, before coming up with a subject, "You did the organizing for the new museum?"

"I did," Laura said, a little more animated, but only a little. "I designed the guidebook, and I approved everything else for the museum. It was one of my ideas – they've been decommissioning the old Columbias left and right, and no one thought to preserve one as a museum until I gave the idea to Bram. That is, the Secretary of-"

"Defense, yeah, I know. Bram Shiara. He's the highest person of mithraist descent in the federal government."

Laura raised her eyebrows at this. Willow quickly said, "Oh, I'm a mithrasary, too. Of mithraist descent that is. I haven't really ever been much of a follower of Mithraism, though my parents are, though I never really did believe in it. I mean, I always kinda found it to be restricting, but, to each his own, I guess. Sorry, I guess I'm being all babble-y, aren't I? I really do try to stop but I honestly don't notice I'm doing it until I've already been doing it a while so I guess I should, uh stop now."

Laura, instead of being bothered, smiled slightly at Willow, "It's alright. I used to do that, when I was in school."

"Ooh, how'd you stop? It'd be nice if I could figure out how to stop."

"I don't know," Laura said, going into a bit of introspection, "I guess I just kind of," she stopped for a second, before continuing, "grew out of it. Though, people giving me strange looks definitely helped it along."

"That'll never work. Tara loves it when I babble, and she'd just let me go on for hours if I didn't notice."

"Tara?" Laura asked, curiously.

"Oh, this lazy person, out like a light, next to me. My girlfriend. Uh, sorry, you're not Sagittaron or suravaist or anything, and find it offensive, are you?"

"Of course not," Laura smiled, "I'm really not much up for the gods."

"Hmm," Willow said, in more of an acknowledging way than especial approval or disapproval. "I'm a Wicce, myself. So's Tara. I'm an initiate, but she's been in it a lot longer."

Willow and Laura carried on their conversation for another half an hour before Laura returned to her book and Willow, finally, managed to go to sleep for a few hours, resting on her lover's shoulder.

Present

Willow held her lover in her arms as she twitched every few minutes in silence. Neither witch knew what was happening, or why, but whatever it was had affected Tara very deeply.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, baby. It's alright. Whatever's going on, it's probably just an apocalypse. Don't worry, Buffy deals with these things all the time. It'll be okay."

Tara remained silent as she silently leaned into Willow's embrace. Willow cradled her, just barely recognizing that Laura had stood, and walked up to the cockpit shortly after the captain's announcement. Willow looked around, and saw how everyone else in the ship was unsettled, at the very least. She was pretty sure no one else was feeling it the way she and her girlfriend were, but it was a safe bet that, whatever magic was being done could possibly even override Sunnydale Syndrome.

Tara was quiet, no words coming from her, as she looked out the window from Willow. Willow followed her gaze to the old viper flying escort alongside them. Willow smiled, and said, "See, look, Tara. There's Lee. Nothing will happen to us while Lee's flying escort for us. And Buffy and Giles and Xander can deal with whatever's hellmouthy causing this."

Willow looked up, when she heard the cockpit doors open again, and saw the Secretary of Education standing there, saying, "Excuse me, excuse me, I have an announcement."

Willow sat up, now, as did Tara. Tara had a few silent tears on her face, but otherwise looked the picture of normalcy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you all know I'm Laura Roslin, the Secretary of Education. The captain's received some news over the official Colonial and government channels, and it's important that you be kept in the loop. As we understand it, there's been an attack. We have reports of at least two dozen Cylon basestars throughout the System, and we have confirmed reports of bombings, possibly nuclear, on several worlds, including the colonies of Caprica, Picon, Aerilon and Tauron."

The blood drained from Willow's face as she heard the words "attack" and "Cylon". She only barely heard, now, the reports of attack on her homeworld. She muttered to herself, slipping into Mithrasarian, "Got im shmayim," as the rest of the passengers began to yell out loudly, demanding answers.

At word of the Cylons, however, a completely different effect had come down on her girlfriend. Tara's normally silent, peaceful eyes flashed in anger as she muttered about godsdamned Cylon bastards. It would have shocked Willow had Willow been in any position to consider Tara's words.

"Stop! Please, stop. Please!" the Secretary said, trying to maintain some semblance of order, "I'm trying to reach the government right now to get more information. In the meantime, we should all be prepared for an extended stay aboard this ship, okay? So, uh, you, please, and you," she said, indicating the sole flight attendant and a reporter they'd picked up on Galactica, "take an inventory of the emergency supplies and rations."

"Wait a minute," that somewhat annoying tour guide from Galactica said, "who put you in charge?"

"Well, that's a good question," Laura said, addressing him, "The answer is no one. But this is a government ship and I am the senior government official, so that puts me in charge. So, why don't you help me out, and go with, uh," Laura said, sending a questioning glance at Willow, who nodded her consent, "Miss Canaan, over there, down into the cargo area, and see about setting it up as a living space." Willow quickly nodded, touching her lover's shoulder as she stood up, and reached for the man's arm, so they could go down to help prepare. "Everyone else, please, please, try and stay calm. Thank you."