"Reckless, stupid and completely irresponsible!" Laura Roslin yelled at Gaius Baltar, referring to his new decree, that had been approved about four days ago.
The Admiral had organized a meeting in Galactica in order to discuss the decree and possibly convince him to call it off. Both the president and the vice-president had agreed to come, but they seemed anything but interested in cooperating.
"It is only fair that people are allowed to settle in the planet," Baltar said in a perfectly peaceful tone.
"By leaving all of us unprotected?! Both the battlestars need a bigger crew! If the cylons find us…" Tigh insisted.
"They won't find us," Zerek interrupted him calmly. "New Caprica is located within a nebula that gets in the way of DRADIS triangulation. The cylons do not have any idea of where we are."
"Right," Kara murmured. "And that is not pushing our luck or anything," she said sarcastically. "Might as well get them welcoming gifts."
Baltar grumbled something to himself and turned to Lee. "What is she doing here? I thought the invitation for this meeting only applied to the commander of the battlestar and his second-in-command."
Lee laughed. "Well, thanks to your wonderful new decree, Mr. President, I have no XO and the only officer in my ship whose rank is above lieutenant is Captain Thrace. I guess that makes her my second-in-command for the time being. Now, did I mention that of the 1500 or so crewmembers that I had three days ago in Pegasus, I have less than 400 left?"
"Why would you need 1500 crewmembers, Commander?" Baltar asked him. "The battlestars are simply assuming a guarding position right now. It his highly unlike the cylons will find us."
"Still, a battlestar needs a crew," the Admiral said. "We need more officers aboard. Galactica needs at least 1000 crewmembers even in a 'guarding position' and we barely reach 600."
"You are putting the whole human race in a dangerous position," Roslin told them. "Our two biggest weapons can't work without people in there to make sure it happens!"
"Miss Roslin, in case you don't recall, you lost the elections. You are not the president, Dr. Baltar is," Zerek told her. "With all due respect, why don't you go back to your school on the planet and do your job instead of butting in ours?"
"I recall you doing it all the time when I was the president…" she murmured.
"I will not call of the decree," Baltar declared finally. "If the people want to settle on the planet, I will let them."
"Someone's running for re-election…" Kara murmured to Lee, who nodded in return.
"If you excuse us, we have another important meeting down in Colonial One," Zerek informed them. "I think we're done here."
"You two listen," Roslin said. "If, gods forbid, the cylons find us, we are all doomed and guess whose fault it will be."
Both Baltar and Zerek ignored her and left Galactica's ward room silently.
It took a few seconds for Roslin to explode. "What were people thinking when they elected Baltar for president?!" she shouted.
"He and Zerek played them well," the Older Adama said. "We could use all this situation to destroy them. If people knew how unprotected they are right now, I'm sure they'd take a stand."
"That would only cause fear and instability," Roslin said. "Plus, we all know that, now that they have power, neither Baltar nor Zerek, would leave it just because people are unhappy. These two would find a way to turn us into the bad guys…"
"Great," Lee said sarcastically. "What do we do now?"
"We find a way to adapt ourselves to a small crew," his father answered. "And I need a new CAG."
"Me too," he replied, turning his face to Kara slowly.
She raised an eyebrow. "What are you looking at? You're not suggesting I… No frakking way. You know I hate the paperwork and the CAG has piles of it to fill!"
"But you love to boss around," he told her. "Being CAG would enable you to do it all the time."
"Pegasus only has like 10 pilots left!" she told him. "Assigning CAPs will be a nightmare!"
He made a pleading face. "Please! I need someone I trust in there."
"I was already Pegasus' CAG once," she told him. "And I resigned for a reason!"
"We were not in the best terms back then," he insisted. "And you hated my XO. I promise you'll like the person I have in mind this time. Not to mention that you get fly anytime you want in a shinny Mark VII."
She seemed to react at that and finally gave up. "You are so going to fill half the paperwork for me…"
"Deal," he said before looking at his father, who, along with Roslin, seemed to have an amused expression on his face. "What?"
"It's just the way you act around each other," Roslin told him. "The chemistry you have is beyond reality."
"Almost humorous," the Admiral added. "Now, about official business, I already talked to you-know-who about becoming your XO and the arrangements for you-know-what. He wanted to discuss it with you personally. I think he's in the Hangar Bay."
"What are the code messages for?" Kara asked in an extremely annoyed voice. "Who is you-know-who and what about you-know-what?"
"You'll find out soon," Lee told her simply.
"How soon?" she inquired.
"If you follow me, you'll know in a few minutes," he said as he opened the ward room's hatch.
--
The Hangar Bay was basically empty. Almost 80 of the deckhands had moved to New Caprica, including Chief Tyrol. Old Fugurski was the New Chief deckhand.
Kara and Lee walked around the deck, being greeted by the few pilots left in the battlestar. Kat, Hotdog, Racetrack and Showboat were among them.
"You know, if you told me who we are looking for, it might help," she said.
"I don't want to spoil the surprise," he replied. They reached the hangar's area reserved for raptors, where Helo was working on his own. "Actually, we just found him."
"You want Helo to be your XO?" she inquired in surprise as they walked to him.
"Yeah, don't you like the idea?" Starbuck didn't have a chance to answer, since Helo noticed their presence and approached them.
"Apollo, Starbuck," Helo said with a slight grin in his face. "I heard you two shacked up together."
"What? Everybody knows now?" she asked, looking around to check if everyone was hearing them.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "Nobody was really surprised. There were bets going around and all. I completely cleaned up the Chief. Cally was not too happy about it."
"Are you serious?" Lee asked in shock. "Bets?!"
"Everyone except you knew you were all over each other," Agathon explained. "Don't worry, things always look a lot clearer from the outside."
Kara grumbled something about 'a bunch of frakwits who should get their own lives'.
"Anyway, my father told you about my idea of making you Pegasus' XO," Lee started. "He mentioned you needed to discuss some things with me in person."
"Look, Apollo, I'd be honored to accept your proposition but I'm worried about Sharon. The Old Man said he could transfer her to Pegasus but you know what happened to the last cylon prisoner in there…" Helo said.
"That happened because Cain let it happen," Lee told him. "You have my word I won't let any harm come to her in there. I will give direct orders to the marines not to let anyone enter her cell without my permission. I'll even have Corporal Venner and other marines of my trust watching her personally," he assured him. "Pegasus was never an easy ship to run. I need people I trust in the most important positions."
"He told me the same crap to get me to be CAG," Kara murmured to her friend.
Helo sighed, considering the offer. Most of the people he was closer to in Galactica had already left. Kara was one of them. And they had promised to keep Sharon safe… Nothing really tied him to Galactica if she could go with him.
"When can you move Sharon?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. With the crew shortage it may take one or two days," Apollo told him.
"Alright, I'll go when she does," Helo agreed.
"Great," Kara said. She took one step ahead and poked him on the chest. "Don't you dare go all Tigh on me, Karl Agathon, or I'll kick your sorry ass."
"Don't threaten the XO or I'll send you to the brig," he warned her in a mock-serious voice.
"You know, you may be the XO but I'm still your superior in what comes to rank." She pointed to herself. "Captain." And then pointed to him. "Lieutenant. Show some respect."
"Keep dreaming, Starbuck," he told her with a chuckle.
"Okay, we've got to go," Lee informed him. "I'll try to rush Sharon's transportation to Pegasus."
"Yeah, thanks," Helo said before they turned around and went to the raptor that would take them to Pegasus.
Inside, Kara sat on the pilot seat with Lee by her side.
"So," he started, "how mad would to be if I told you that you'd not be Helo's superior anymore because an XO has to be at least a captain?"
She turned her face slowly and gave him a glare. Suddenly, she shrugged her shoulders and returned her attention to piloting the raptor. "He'll never have the connections that I have with the commander, anyway," she declared.
"Yeah, you and the commander have very good connections," he laughed.
There were a few seconds of silence between them, not the uncomfortable type.
"I meant it when I said you'll be doing half the paperwork," she warned him. "It's part of the deal."
"In a normal situation, the commander wouldn't have to beg a pilot to be the CAG in the first place…" he stated.
"In a normal situation, the commander wouldn't have such good connections with the CAG either…" she replied.
"Thank gods this is not a normal situation, then," he murmured.
A/N: Not a great chapter... I know. But it is necessary to show how things were going in the battlestars while everyone else is down on the planet. Anyway, thank you for the feedback, keep sending it. I already have a few ideas for the next chapters. Review!