Chapter 5

Meeting Tom Zarek

In a tragic incident at the beginning of the war, the prison transport ship Astral Queen was hit by Cylon fire as she left Tauron's atmosphere in an attempt to reach safety on Caprica. The ship crash-landed at Rendlesham Intercolonial Spaceport far north of Caprica City. Due to the skill of both pilots, most of the ship's passengers and crew survived. The pilot, however, was subsequently shot and killed and his copilot seriously wounded by a prisoner, the reason apparently being the pilot's decision to save the ship at the expense of some of the prisoners who were in a compartment he sealed off to maintain the hull's integrity. The man who killed the pilot was later proved to be a follower of Tom Zarek, and escaped along with Zarek and six others after the crash.

- Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

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Kara opened her eyes. In front of her there was still the black of space, but where there had once been only the twinkle of distant stars, there was now a blue-green planet, large enough that she could tell that it was Caprica, their destination.

She stretched as well as she could within the restraints of the seat harness and looked over at her father. At first she thought he was talking to her until she saw he was wearing a headset, the thin band around the back of his head with earpiece over his left ear and another piece curving in front of his mouth.

"Roger that. I am low on fuel and request intra-atmosphere entry." There was a long pause. She could tell he was listening. "Flight origination is Picon. Destination is Rendlesham Intercolonial Spaceport." And finally, "Copy, control. Glide path Delta."

She got the destination part, but not much else of what he had just said made any sense to her.

He reached forward and pressed a key before he turned to her. "I've turned off transmission. We'll be entering the atmosphere in about ten minutes. You have a nice nap?"

"Um-hmm." She stretched again. "Are we really low on fuel?"

"We are. I burned a lot of fuel getting us through that debris. Normally I'd use the engines to slow us down coming through the atmosphere, but that will take a lot more fuel. We'd be on our reserve before we got down. So I'm going to let gravity bring us down. The shields will protect us, but it's going to be fast and we'll look like we're on fire. Glide path Delta is pretty much straight down. I just want you to be prepared."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Almost two hours. I went back and talked to your friend. I told him what's going on. He's a nice sensible kid. You did well picking him for a best friend."

"We picked each other. Did you tell him…about…being my dad?"

"No, that's your call. I didn't know if you'd want to own up to me as your old man or not."

Kara frowned until she saw him wink at her.

"Now, let's see. I hope I remember how to do this. It's been a while since I've brought a ship down hot through the atmosphere."

"You mean…you don't remember how?"

He grinned and winked at her again. He really liked teasing her.

"Oh, frak you."

"A mouth just like your mother."

He held a finger to his lips for silence. She could tell he was listening to something in his headset. He switched his transmitter back on. "Go ahead, control." And ten seconds later. "We are cleared for RIS on glide path Delta eight three four, intra-atmosphere approach."

Kara looked out again. Caprica was much larger now. She could see oceans and the main continent and the line where it was still in the dark and where it was in sunlight. Her father was moving the yoke. She saw the one in front of her move, too. He looked over at her and nodded as if to say, here we go. He pressed several buttons on the flight console, pulled the throttle back cutting most of the power to the engines. They began descending, gaining speed, the outside beginning to glow faintly orange and then brighter orange. And finally she saw what he meant about thinking they were on fire.

She was aware that she was breathing rapidly, eyes reflecting the sparkling fire coming off the shields of the little craft, excitement mounting in her as they gained speed. Gods, this was the biggest rush, better than the skateboard park, better than swinging over the creek, better than anything she'd ever known. Her hands gripped the armrests of the seat. It was the best feeling she'd ever had. She had to do this someday. She had to be a pilot just like her father.

He was intently watching what she finally figured out was the altimeter, something that hadn't even registered until they'd started down. When it looked like it had run backwards to about thirty thousand, she saw him push the throttle forward. She felt the engines take over power for the ship. They started slowing down and then it was over. The glittering fire was gone. He smoothly transitioned back into straight flight. He put something into the flight computer and saw what came back. He looked over at her and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Control, I am unable to make RIS due to low fuel. New destination, Singer Field."

She hoped everything was okay. He'd changed the place they were going.

He switched off the transmitter again. "We're not going to Rendlesham. I had to give them an interplanetary destination earlier that I knew would be approved. But we'll get too many questions about this ship at Rendlesham. It looks like a passenger ship, but basically it's a drug-runner's ship. Somebody will spot that real quick. We'd be held up for a long time and have to answer a lot of questions. We're actually north of RIS about thirty miles near a private field. I know the guy who owns it. He'll sell me fuel no questions asked. His son and I flew Vipers together for nearly seven years. We'll get a few hours sleep, something to eat, catch the news and decide what we're going to do. We're still a couple of hours from daylight. That all right with you?"

She nodded. She felt almost dazed by the feeling she'd had coming down through the atmosphere.

"You okay, Kara? You're too quiet."

"I'm okay. That was just awesome. You're just awesome."

He grinned. "I think I'm going to like this dad thing. Just remember, the awesomes need to outnumber the frak yous."

When they reached the airfield, it appeared deserted. Her father's attempts to raise a response from anyone down below failed. He finally keyed some numbers into the console and the runway lights came on. Less than a minute later they were on the ground.

"That's strange. I guess Singer's not at home."

"Who's Singer?"

"The guy who owns this little patch of tarmac. He lives here. It's not like him to be gone. He might not appreciate me waking him up at this time of the night, but he would still have responded. I just hope he's okay. It's been about four months since I've been here." He unbuckled his seat harness and got out of his seat. "Come on. Let's get out. I need to stretch my legs."

"Don't you mean leg?" she asked. She could tease him, too.

He laughed. "Now don't make me take back what I just said about liking the dad thing."

She scrambled out of her seat and impulsively hugged him. "No, please don't take it back. I was just kidding you."

For a few moments he held her tightly against him. "I know you were. And I was just kidding you, too. I've wanted to be a father to you for thirteen years. Come on, let's go. If we stand here much longer, you'll make your old man cry again."

Karl was waiting at the door for them. Her father activated the mechanism and the seal disengaged. The door rose up, the steps came out and the end lowered until it touched the tarmac. Her father went down first. Kara and Karl followed.

The air was warm and humid.

Kara turned to Karl. "Are you doing okay now?"

"Better. I slept a couple of hours. The pilot is a nice guy."

"You don't know the half of it."

Her father lit a cigarette and drew the smoke deep into his lungs. "Don't ever start this. It's a damned nasty habit. I've been trying to quit for the last fifteen years. Your mother hates it."

"I hate it, too," Kara said.

He inhaled again, then threw the cigarette down and crushed it underfoot.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to look around. See if I can find Singer. Kara, I want you and Karl to wait here. If I can't find Singer, I'm going to try to find the key to the fuel pump. We're not quite bingo fuel yet, but we're close. It's not enough to take off and get us anywhere else. I'll leave Singer a note. He knows I'm good for the bill."

"I've got to go to the bathroom," Kara said. "Can I go into the terminal?"

"Come on. We'll all go. Then Karl and I will fuel the ship."

The door leading into the terminal was unlocked. Her father found the switch for the interior lights. The reception area had a desk on one side, a row of plastic chairs against another wall, a drink machine, a candy machine and restrooms. Kara headed straight for the women's room.

When she got inside, though, and finally found the light switch, it didn't work. There was a frosted-glass window on the far side of the room. The runway lights outside provided faint illumination. She stood in the semi-dark waiting for her eyes to adjust.

It was then that she noticed the funny smell, like firecrackers, and something else, too, something that smelled sweet and gross at the same time. At first it made her think someone had thrown up, but it didn't exactly smell like that either. When she could see well enough, she went into the first stall.

When she came out, she went to the sink and washed her hands. Her eyes had adjusted to the dim light. She washed her face because it was starting to feel oily and then pulled the elastic band off her ponytail, ran her fingers through her hair and put the elastic back on. Some of her hair was still sticking out. She did it several times before she was satisfied.

Later she was never sure why she looked at the floor in the mirror, but she did. There was something dark on the floor of the third stall, the one next to the window. Knowing she should probably go get her father, she still walked over to it. Standing back she used her foot and pushed the door inward. It bumped against something. She pushed harder and realized that it was a leg. Someone was in there.

She jumped back but whoever was in there didn't move or speak. Finally she found the courage to look around the edge of the door. There was just enough light from the window to see. A white-haired man was sprawled on the toilet, eyes half open, a dark round hole in the middle of his forehead and something dark on the wall behind him that had run down to the floor. She finally realized what the smells were, gunpowder and blood and probably his brains, too.

She gagged as she backed away and ran back to the first stall. She leaned over the toilet and waited to throw up, but her stomach settled. She stood there another minute to be sure and then went back over to the sink and put cold water on her face. She realized that she had probably found Singer, the man her father knew.

A second after that she had another thought. What if the person who shot Singer was still around? She had to tell her father. She ran to the bathroom door, jerked it open and rushed out.

"I found Singer. I found…"

What she found was that she had walked into a worse nightmare than leaving Picon.

Her father and Karl were on their knees in the middle of the reception area, their hands clasped behind their heads, fingers laced. Her father hadn't gotten there without a fight, though. There was a cut high on his left cheekbone. Blood had run down his face and dripped on the front of his shirt near the silver wings that were pinned over his heart. Karl was the whitest and most frightened-looking she had ever seen him, but he didn't look hurt.

Around them stood seven or eight men, some carrying weapons. Kara saw assault rifles and PK-45 handguns. The men were all dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, the universal garb of prisoners. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. What should she do?

All of them were looking at her. No one seemed to know exactly what to do. It couldn't have lasted but a few seconds. It just seemed like a lot longer before one of the men stepped away from the group. He was tall, not as tall as her father, but close to it. He had dark hair and eyes and under other circumstances she might have considered him good-looking.

"Well, what's this, captain? You failed to mention you had another member of your crew."

"Don't you touch her, Zarek."

Kara stood her ground and looked the man named Zarek in the eyes. "You'd better listen to him," she said.

"This one's got courage," Zarek said as he circled her. "No fear in her eyes."

He grasped her upper arm, his fingers biting hard into her flesh. He was probably trying to show her she should be afraid. She clenched her teeth to keep from crying out. Somehow she knew if she made a sound her father would do something stupid.

Zarek forced her over to where her father and Karl were kneeling.

"I found Singer," she said to her father. "They shot him in the head."

She saw the pain flash through his eyes and then the anger. He looked at Zarek. "You son of a bitch. He was a nice guy. A harmless old man who would have given you anything you wanted." Then he looked back at her. "I'm sorry you had to see something like that, Kara. Are you okay?"

She nodded at him. Maybe she was tougher than she thought. Maybe she was more like her mother than she thought. She wanted him to be proud of her.

"I thought I was going to barf…but I didn't."

"Mr. Singer was in the ladies' room trying to escape out the window. Unfortunately for him it was stuck." Zarek made the statement like it was a perfectly good reason to kill someone.

"I know you're a terrorist," her father said. "You can add cold-blooded murderer to your list of accomplishments now. No, wait. You blew up a government building on Sagittaron and killed a lot of innocent people so you're already a cold-blooded murdering terrorist."

"I prefer revolutionary instead of terrorist. Maybe even evolutionary. Our government is corrupt, of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Who runs the Colonies now? Special interest groups and lobbyists. They really care about you and me, don't they? The day of the common man is over. I'm a great believer in equality, just like the Articles that founded our Colonies spelled out. We've gotten too far from our Founders' ideals. Change can't be legislated when the legislators have no motive to do so. It has to be forced."

"Is that how you justify murdering an unarmed old man?"

"I can't always control what some of my men do."

"You're a damned poor leader if your men don't obey you. Ultimately you're responsible for what they do."

"Do I detect a military background, captain? Responsibility passes up the chain of command? Then who would ultimately be responsible for allowing the Cylons to attack the Colonies? The Commander in Chief, Mr. President himself?" Zarek laughed. "Since we know that won't happen, let's blame it on Fate, then. Tell me, do you believe in the Fates, the three sisters who control our lives from the moment of birth?"

"What's your point?"

"According to our priests the Fates or Moiras are the real deciders of our destiny. One sister spins the thread of each individual's life, another sister measures it…and a third cuts it. The third sister cut Mr. Singer's thread tonight. Not my men, Captain. Fate."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I'll let you decide." Zarek continued. "Here's my dilemma. I need a way off this rock and you say you won't take me. Do you really make your own destiny or have the Fates already decided what's going to happen here tonight? You see, I think Fate dropped you and your ship down here for a reason, that reason being our way off Caprica, but maybe I'm wrong."

"There's nowhere for you to go. Believe me. We just came from Picon. This is the only planet in the Twelve Colonies that the Cylons haven't destroyed."

"We got a ship waiting for us at..." one of the men started to say.

Zarek turned on him. "Shut up. The captain doesn't get any information until he says he'll take us."

"There's still nowhere for you to go," her father said.

With his free hand Zarek pulled the elastic band off Kara's ponytail. He lifted her hair and leaned over. She couldn't tell if he kissed her hair or just smelled it. She clinched her fist. If he did anything else she was going to hit him.

All he said was, "If my men and I have to remain here, I'm sure they'll want some kind of entertainment. They've been in prison a long time. Although some might prefer the boy."

Zarek's action and his words had the effect on her father that he'd obviously intended.

"All right, Zarek. You've got yourself a ship and a pilot. But you let her go. You let both her and the boy go. I don't take off until I see you and all your men on board and the two of them here on the ground with their backpacks. Untouched and unharmed. That's all you'll get from me. Take it or leave it. Otherwise you might as well just shoot me right now."

"To show you what a real democracy is like, we'll take a vote. What do you say, men? Do we agree? Let the boy and girl stay here in return for a ride off this rock?"

There seemed to be agreement among the men, although Kara saw a couple of them look at her like they'd had to think about it.

"I'm getting on my feet now, Zarek," her father said. "I'm not going to say goodbye to my daughter on my knees."

Zarek nodded and her father got up. He turned to Karl. "Get up." Karl did the same.

"Let me go, you motherfrakker," Kara snarled at Zarek and jerked her arm from his grasp. He laughed and let her go.

"You've got yourself a real little spitfire, captain. I should have realized she was yours. A chip right off the old block."

Kara threw her arms around her father and looked up at his face. The cut was worse than she first thought. The skin on his cheek had begun to swell and he had the beginnings of a black eye.

"They hurt you."

He smoothed her hair back and smiled at her. "I'm okay, Kara. Don't worry about me. I've had worse. Remind me to tell you sometime about a bar fight I got into on Picon, me and another pilot against half a dozen guys a lot tougher than these. No, on second thought, I'd better not. You might think your old man doesn't have good sense."

"You lost?"

"No, actually we won. I just looked a lot worse afterward."

"Take us with you, please. Don't leave us here."

He wrapped his arms around her and leaned down close to her ear. His voice went from light and teasing to serious.

"I can't do that. I wouldn't have you on that ship with those men for any reason. But I'll be back for you. You'll be safe here. As soon as we're gone, you call the police. They'll keep you safe. I'll be back for both of you. I promise."

"That's enough," Zarek said. "My man tells me they've got the ship fueled. We're ready to go."

Her father kept his arms around her and said very softly against her ear. "My name's John Gallagher. You remember my name. I love you, Kara. You remember that, too. Always remember how much your father loves you."

She nodded. She was about to cry and there was no way she would let any of those men or Zarek see her do that. She clenched her teeth as she looked up at her father. She said I love you with her eyes. He understood. She knew he understood because of the way he nodded back and winked at her.

"You're tough and beautiful," he whispered. "Just like your mother. Remember that, too."

Two of Zarek's men pulled him away from her. He looked at Karl. "Take care of each other. I'll be back for you."

She saw his eyes when he said it this time, though, and knew he didn't believe it. She knew he believed that whenever he got Zarek and his men to wherever they wanted to go, one of them would do to him what they had done to Singer.

Zarek looked at her. "Don't get any ideas about calling the police before we're gone. If I hear a siren or see a cop, your father is the first one to die."

She and Karl stayed in the terminal, looking out the door while Zarek's men dumped their backpacks onto the tarmac. When they were all inside and the steps retracted and the door closed, Kara ran outside to where she could see the front of the ship. She saw her father inside, headset on. He saw her, gave her a thumbs-up and then motioned for her to get out of the way.

She knew he couldn't hear her over the sound of the engines revving, but she shouted anyway, words she had never said in her entire life but that felt so right to say now to a man she'd known for only a few hours, a man who had brought her from sure death on Picon and who had saved her again by promising to fly those men wherever they wanted to go. And he would probably pay for it with his life. The way he'd told her to remember his name meant he didn't think he would be coming back.

"I love you, Daddy. I love you."

The ship accelerated down the runway and lifted off. She watched it get smaller in the night sky. When she couldn't see it anymore, she sat down on the tarmac and cried.

Karl came over and sat down beside her and put his arm around her. She turned her face into his shoulder and sobbed. "I just met him, and they took him away from me."

"I know," he said soothingly. He rubbed the upper part of her arm and just let her cry for a while. Finally he got to his feet and pulled her to hers.

"We've got to go through the packs, Kara. We can't carry all of them. We've got to put what we need into two packs and then go."

For the second time that night she dried her eyes on the bottom of her t-shirt. "We're not going anywhere. He said to wait here and we're going to wait right here."

"Look, we'll call the cops, but I don't think we should stay here. There's no telling what will happen to us. We don't have any kind of identification. They might even think we did this...that we shot the old man. We don't have any proof that Zarek guy and the others were even here, or your father. How are we going to explain what we're doing here? The police will separate us and question us. We'll probably have to go to separate juvenile facilities. You don't want that to happen, do you? I sure don't. We've got to stay together. We can go up into the woods and hide for a while. We won't go far. We'll go where we can still see the field in case your father comes back."

"What do you mean in case he comes back? He will come back."

"That's what I meant."

It took them two trips to get all the packs into the terminal. Kara saw the blue elastic band from her ponytail on the floor where Zarek had dropped it earlier.

"Do the lights in the men's room work?"

"Yeah, why?"

She went behind the reception desk and started pulling open drawers. She found a pair of scissors in the third one. "Come on."

"What?"

"Just come on."

With a bewildered look on his face he followed her into the men's room. Remembering how Zarek had touched her hair, had smelled it or kissed it, she stood in front of the mirror, held up a shoulder-length strand and cut it a few inches from her scalp.

"Kara, what the frak are you doing?"

"It's better if I don't look so much like a girl, don't you think? I'll cut the sides and top. I need you to cut the back."

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure."

The haircut was as bad as she had expected, but she didn't look nearly as much like a girl now. With a ball cap and a baggy t-shirt she could probably pass for a boy. She looked in the mirror and saw her green eyes reflected there, her father's eyes. His hair was dark brown and hers was blond like her mother's, but with hers short she looked even more like him. She looked like her old man who was the best pilot in the Colonies.

She turned to Karl. "His name's John Gallagher. Did he tell you?"

Karl nodded.

Her mother and father were John and Socrata or Sassy and Flyboy, which she liked better.

"I asked him about being a Viper pilot," Karl said. "I could tell he was proud of that. I asked him what his call sign was. He said he was called Starbuck."

She liked her father's call sign even better. She repeated the word out loud and loved the sound of it. "Starbuck."

She decided that when she got to be a Viper pilot it would be her call sign, too.

Her father's legacy to his daughter, a love for flying and his call sign.

Starbuck.