Chapter 6

Hijacked

Caprica became the final destination for most ships that were in transit when the Cylons attacked. All who arrived were immediately taken in as refugees. The pilots of seventeen ships refused to bring their cargo or passengers to Caprica, waiting to see what the outcome of the fighting would be. Most of these ships clustered near the Ragnar Anchorage. All were later determined to have been engaged in some type of criminal activity, smuggling and drug running being the most prevalent. All were destroyed by the Cylons.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

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The destruction of their nuclear basestar apparently caused confusion or indecision on the part of the Cylons. For over twenty-four hours the last six basestars remained stationary in space between Picon and Caprica. Long range scanners picked up the motionless ships. Every hour recon Raptors jumped to within visual range and jumped away seconds later in order to confirm that their position had not changed.

Although the fleet had stood down from Condition One to Condition Two, everyone, pilots and crew, were still ready to launch all Vipers at a moment's notice. They were maintaining a large Combat Air Patrol or CAP around the ships. To say that the situation was creating tension all over the Galactica was an understatement. Lee could see it in the faces of the officers and crew. Only his father seemed to keep his calm demeanor, moving around, setting an example for everyone.

Maybe he hadn't been there for Lee when he was growing up, but Lee now saw that commanding a battlestar was like being a father to several thousand. He began to feel a grudging sense of admiration for his old man.

There had been no communication with the Cylon ships. Both sides were at a stalemate, waiting for the gods knew what. Bill explained to Lee that down on Caprica the President and his top military advisors were trying to decide whether to attack the basestars where they were or wait for them to come to Caprica. Opinion was split as to whether to pull their battlestars away from the planet. The fear was that it was some kind of trick or trap and that if the battlestars left then other Cylon ships would jump in to destroy the last remaining Colony.

Everything stood that way during the night and was still unchanged when Lee and his father got back to the CIC early the next morning. It was starting to look like another day of waiting when one of the ensigns monitoring the screens said, "Dradis contact, sir."

Bill turned around. "Cylon?"

"No sir, it's a Colonial signal, Picon registry. Private. Outbound from Caprica."

"Outbound? You're sure?"

"Yes, sir."

"What heading?"

"Sir, he verbally requests permission to continue past us to a commercial freighter holding at the Ragnar Anchorage…he…wait, he just transmitted a code that the computer has unscrambled. It's a commercial code that indicates he's been hijacked."

The commander didn't hesitate. "Pull two Vipers off CAP. Have them escort that ship into the port landing bay. If he shows any reluctance, tell them to put a round across his bow. That should convince any hijackers that we mean business. And have a squadron of Marines waiting for the ship."

The ensign spoke into her mouthpiece. "Colonial PCN89639 you are ordered to follow escort Vipers. Land your ship on the Galactica and surrender it to us immediately."

A minute later they heard one of the Viper pilots confirm that the ship was landing.

Adama said, "I'm on my way to the hangar deck. I want to see for myself what kind of fish we've hooked this morning. Colonel Tigh, you have the helm. I'll be back shortly."

"I'm coming, too," Lee said.

Adama nodded. "But don't…"

"I know," Lee said, "Don't get in the way."

He always wondered what would have happened if the men on the ship had decided to fight, but they didn't. They surrendered peacefully. In fact, most of them looked tired and ragged and relieved.

There was only one small incident after they all got out when the pilot turned and slugged one of the guys in the orange jumpsuits, hit him hard enough to put him on the deck

"That's for touching my daughter," the pilot said. "And for killing my friend, too."

Two Marines trained their rifles on him, but he raised both hands in an okay-I'm-done gesture and didn't try anything else. By that time the commander was in front of the group and Lee was right behind him.

"All right," Bill said. "Who's going to tell me what's going on? Captain?" He addressed the man who had piloted the ship.

Lee was surprised when the pilot identified his father correctly by his rank.

"Commander, sir. I'm John Gallagher. I'd like for you to meet Tom Zarek and his gang of murderers. I guess the nice orange fashion statement they're making tells you where they've come from. They killed a friend of mine back on Caprica before they hijacked my ship."

Lee looked from the pilot to his father and to the men in orange and the man who was holding his jaw. Tom Zarek. Why did that name sound so familiar to him?

"Captain Gallagher, I'm Bill Adama. You're saying these men hijacked your ship after they killed someone?"

"Yes, sir. I'd like to turn them over to you and get your permission to head back to Caprica immediately. I left my thirteen-year-old daughter and a friend alone down there at a small landing strip. I need to get back to them."

"I can't do that until I get some official confirmation of what you've just told me. And I don't have time at the moment. There're six Cylon basestars sitting between Picon and Caprica. We don't know when they'll make their next move or what it will be. They could jump in on top of us at any minute."

"I need to get back down there, sir. Please."

"I'm sorry, Captain Gallagher." Adama turned to the Marine sergeant. "Take those men to the brig. See that any medical needs are taken care of and get some food sent to them." He turned back to the pilot. "I need to get back to the CIC. Where you spend your time is up to you…the brig or a guest quarters. But you won't leave the Galactica right now. Is that clear?"

The captain took a deep breath and made a decision.

"Yes, sir. I understand the position you're in. I give you my word I won't do anything stupid. I'll wait on your decision. I told my daughter and her friend to call the police. They should be all right until I get back."

Bill looked at Lee. "Take the captain to Sick Bay, let Doc Cottle look at that cut under his eye. It needs attention. When you're done in Sick Bay bring him to my quarters and call me in the CIC."

His father left and Lee looked at Gallagher. He was embarrassed to admit that he didn't know how to get to Sick Bay.

Gallagher smiled as he started walking. "I know the way. I was on the Solaria for six years. It's the same class ship as the Galactica."

Lee noticed the slight limp as he caught up with Gallagher. "The Solaria was lost a couple of nights ago."

"Damn," Gallagher said softly. "A lot of good men and women were aboard that ship."

"What did you do on the Solaria?"

"Viper pilot."

Lee already liked this man who would slug a criminal for touching his daughter. His respect now climbed another notch.

"Did they hurt your daughter?"

"Zarek grabbed her arm too hard. She might have a bruise, but she's tough. She'll be okay."

"What about your leg? Did they hurt that, too?"

"I limp because I have a prosthetic leg. It's good, but not quite like the real thing. I limp worse when I'm tired. And in answer to your next question…that's not how I lost my leg. I lost it when I wrecked my motorcycle."

"You fly commercial now?"

"Private charter. How old are you? You look young to be serving on a battlestar as a commander's aide. And what's your name? I like to know a man's name if I'm talking to him."

"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. My name is Lee. I'm seventeen, eighteen in four months. And in answer to your next couple of questions...I'm not in the service. Commander Adama is my father. I'm here trying to decide whether to become a pilot or a lawyer after I graduate from high school next year."

"You're quick. As for becoming a pilot or a lawyer? Damn, Lee, that's a real no-brainer."

Gallagher was exactly right about the location of Sick Bay.

Doc Cottle had the captain sit on the edge of a gurney while he shined a penlight into the captain's eyes and asked him a series of questions. Knocked out? Headache? Dizziness? Loss of memory? All of which Gallagher answered with a No.

"I've had a concussion before. More than one if that's where you're going. I don't think I have one this time."

"I don't think so either. Just a cut and a shiner. What'd they hit you with?"

"Butt of a PK-45."

"You current on your tetanus."

"Yes, sir. Each year we have to undergo a very thorough physical to keep flying. I always feel like a pincushion when they're through with me."

"You don't have to sir me," Cottle said.

"Habit. You're a major. I left the service as a captain."

Cottle motioned for one of the medical technicians to come over. "Lay back, captain. I'm going to have Lissa clean that cut. It probably just needs a butterfly or two instead of stitches. She'll fix you right up."

The med tech was pretty and dark-eyed with pale skin and dark hair clipped up in the back so that it was off her neck and shoulders. She brought a small tray over to the gurney and pulled on a pair of tight latex gloves.

Gallagher lay back with one arm behind his head. "Is this going to hurt?" he asked and then smiled at her.

"It will probably sting a little," she said as she tore open several packets of what looked like wet gauze. Lee smelled the antiseptic.

"Please be gentle with me," Gallagher said, still smiling.

"Pilots," Cottle muttered under his breath as he lit a cigarette. "The world can be coming to an end and some things never change."

Lee didn't understand what Cottle meant until he noticed the rosy flush creeping up the technician's neck into her pale cheeks.

It took her a long time to clean the cut over the captain's cheekbone and put two small butterfly bandages on it. The whole time Gallagher lay there with his eyes closed. Lee never saw him even flinch.

When Lissa finished she smiled and said, "Was that gentle enough for you?"

He opened his eyes. "I hardly felt it. You're very good, Lissa. Thank you."

Still smiling she nodded and began cleaning up the small tray.

"And I must be very tired to forget my manners like that. I should have introduced myself first. John Gallagher. A woman's that gentle with me, she usually knows my name first."

Lissa said something to Gallagher that Lee couldn't hear, something that caused Gallagher to smile and wink at her. Then she took the tray and went back to the desk.

Gallagher sat up. Cottle offered him a cigarette and stood while Gallagher sat on the edge of the gurney. They smoked and talked about his prosthetic leg, what kind it was, how it wasn't removable, how it was attached to the bone with stainless steel cap and screws, how synthetic skin was attached to his own, how the knee and ankle joints were still experimental.

Cottle asked more questions and Gallagher told him about the surgery that had attached it two years earlier, said the docs told him the limp should eventually go away, that it was probably more habit now than anything else.

Lissa had returned to the desk and whatever she was doing before they came in. Lee noticed her glance at Gallagher, though, more than once out of the corner of her eye.

Fifteen minutes later they were in the commander's quarters. Lee buzzed the CIC and told his father. Five minutes after that Bill walked in.

He poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one to the captain. "Sit down and tell me why you're flying a ship that's registered to a man who was arrested for running drugs. You his pilot?"

"No, sir. It's a long story."

"I'm listening," Bill replied. "Did you think something like that wouldn't be in a database we could check? You'd better have a good explanation or you're going to join Zarek and his men in the brig."

"Maybe I'd better start by telling you I stole the ship to get my daughter and her mother off Picon."

Over the next thirty minutes Lee listened to one of the most extraordinary stories he had ever heard. His father interrupted from time to time with a question, the first time about the owner of the ship.

"He got his ship impounded when he was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Branch of the Colonial Bureau of Investigation. I found out about it because a friend of mine works undercover for the Bureau. It took me nearly two days to track him down and find out they had the ship in a small hangar forty-five miles outside of Picon City. He didn't ask me why I wanted to know and I didn't tell him. What he did tell me was that the drug dealer's lawyer was working on getting him out on bail and that his men were probably on their way there to get the ship. After the basestars got to Picon, everything was in chaos. I was lucky to get to the hangar before they did."

"And you were able to just walk in and take the ship?"

"I was wearing my uniform. I told the guard at the gate I was there to pick it up, that the paperwork was on its way. He let me in. Then I told the guy in the hangar the same thing. He towed it out and fueled it. I got on board, made like I was waiting for the papers to arrive. When the crew gathered around a small television to look at the news, I taxied out to a runway and took off. It was almost too easy. I'm sure it wouldn't have happened under normal circumstances. If the guy who owns it manages to make it off Picon, though, and ever finds me, my life isn't going to be worth two cubits."

"I don't think you need to worry about that. Picon's been dark communication-wise for twenty-four hours. When did you leave?"

Gallagher looked at his watch. "About ten hours ago."

"That ship doesn't have an FTL drive. How the hell did you get it through the radioactive debris field?"

"It has N-class radiation shielding. Most ships that carry drugs have it because it keeps them from being scanned. We were okay."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Bill said.

Lee spoke up. "Captain Gallagher was a Viper pilot on the Solaria. He fought in the First Cylon War."

Adama paused with the glass of whiskey halfway to his mouth. "Is that so?"

"Yes, sir."

"How long?"

"I went in almost three years before the end of the war. I was an eighteen-year-old nugget. By the end I had made it through more than a hundred missions and I wasn't a nugget anymore."

Bill nodded. "The last years were bad ones. If you survived over a hundred missions I can understand how you got through that debris field."

Gallagher went on with his story and told them how Tom Zarek and seven men had jumped him and his daughter's young friend as they started to fuel the ship on Caprica.

"I have no idea where they came from. I just looked up and there they were. We didn't stand a chance, but I tried." He pointed to his cheek. "That's how I got this. I would never have taken off with them, but Zarek made it plain what they were going to do to my daughter if I didn't. She's only thirteen, as innocent as a kid can be. I'd have taken them to Hades before I let them touch her."

"Is she all right?" Bill's voice held fatherly concern. In a way it didn't surprise Lee, but in a way it did.

"Yes, sir. At least Zarek kept his word on that. If he hadn't one of us would be dead right now."

"How did you know it was Tom Zarek?"

"I recognized him. Sixteen years ago I followed his trial for blowing up that government building on Sagittaron. I got no clue how they got to Caprica wearing prison uniforms."

Bill had an explantion.

"I had a resource specialist check it out. Zarek was on a prison transport ship, the Astral Queen that had left Tauron two days ago on its way to Caprica when the Cylons attacked. It was one of the last ships to leave the planet. They took a hit as they left the atmosphere. It took out some of their systems including the FTL. The captain had to seal off one of the compartments to maintain the hull's integrity. They limped all the way to Caprica, but crash-landed yesterday north of Rendlesham. In the confusion Zarek and a few others must have escaped detection and gotten away. It was chaos after the crash. Before they got away though, apparently Zarek or one of his men was so furious with the pilot for the decision he made to save the ship at the cost of some of the inmates that he shot both the pilot and co-pilot. The pilot is dead. The co-pilot was able to tell them part of what happened before they took him into surgery. He's critical but still alive."

"Son of a bitch," Gallagher said. "I'm sure that's what they had planned for me if we had gotten to that freighter. You were my last hope of stopping them before we got that far. I want to thank you and whoever it was who picked up the signal that I'd been hijacked."

Adama nodded and finished his drink. "One of my ensigns on comm duty." He gestured toward the bottle, but Gallagher shook his head.

"I've got to get back down to Caprica. My daughter and her friend are alone. They don't know where they are. They don't know anybody on the planet. I told them to call the police after we'd gone, but…"

"What about your wife?"

"My daughter's mother and I weren't married. That's another long story and more personal than I'm willing to get into. I wanted her to come with us, but she's a Marine. I think that's explanation enough why she stayed with her unit on Picon. I promised her I'd get Kara to safety and take care of her. I need to go, sir. Please."

Adama shook his head. "I wish I could let you go right now, but I can't. I'm still waiting on confirmation from the new Fleet Headquarters on Caprica that it's okay. We have notified the police at Rendlesham that we have you safe on board the Galactica, and asked them to pass the word along to your daughter. They'll take care of her and her friend until we can get you back there. Now, captain, how long has it been since you've eaten or slept?"

"Nearly two days."

"I'm going to put you in with my son. There're two bunks in his quarters. I'm going to have some food sent up. I know you'll want a shower. I want you to eat and get some sleep. You're in no condition to fly right now anyway. We'll talk again later. Do you have a bag on board your ship?"

"Yes, sir. In a compartment in the back. I can go get it."

"No, Lee can do that." His father turned to him. "Show the captain to your quarters. Show him where the showers are and go get his bag."

Lee nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Oh, and captain, if your daughter is anything like you, I have a feeling she'll be fine for a couple of days."

For the first time that morning Lee saw what he thought was a genuine smile from Gallagher.

"She's tough and beautiful…just like her mother. And her friend has a good head on his shoulders. The authorities will take care of them for a couple of days. They'll be okay. Just please make sure they know I'm coming back for them."

Lee pointed out the showers before he left Gallagher in his quarters and headed down to the hangar to get the captain's bag. As he shut the door Gallagher said, "I'd appreciate you bringing me the flask that's in the left side pocket of the pilot's seat. It was a gift from Kara's mother."

Lee said he would, but forgot. He got back to his quarters before he remembered. The captain was gone, to the showers he guessed. He put the bag on the empty bunk and returned to the hangar deck. He got on the ship, but the pockets on both the seats were empty. He looked everywhere he could think to look before he went back to the Marine sergeant he had gotten the captain's bag from earlier.

"No flask," the sergeant said gruffly looking down his desk.

Lee started to turn and go when gut feeling told him the man was lying. How would his Grandfather Adama approach this?

"Do you have any daughters, sergeant?"

"No. Why?" The sergeant at least looked up at him now.

"Captain Gallagher just flew his ship through all that radioactive debris above Picon to get his daughter off the planet. Keep your eyes open if you would, please. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if that flask showed up somewhere. His daughter is all he's got now. Her mother gave him that flask. She wouldn't come with them because she's a Marine. She stayed behind with her unit, even knowing Picon was lost."

He turned to go. Behind him a drawer scraped open. He turned around. A silver flask was sitting on the desk. Lee didn't say a word as he picked it up. The sergeant was busy writing something in his log.

"Sign here," he said indicating a line on which he'd just written the words 1 silver flask.

Lee signed his name under the line where he'd signed for the captain's bag, but this time he felt his grandfather Adama smile.

By the time Lee got back to his quarters, Gallagher had showered, and was already asleep on his back in the unmade bunk. His suitcase was unzipped and open on the floor. A tray with a mostly-eaten sandwich and an empty soup bowl was on the table. Lee put the flask down, got a blanket from the small locker beside the bunk and covered the captain. It made him think of the many times he'd done the same thing for Zak when they were younger…covered his sleeping brother because their mother was too drunk or depressed to remember.

Lee turned off all the lights except the dim one over the door, which stayed on all the time. If anyone deserved to sleep now, it was this man.

Lee didn't believe in the gods. He'd had trouble with religion from the time he was small, but he offered a short prayer to Zeus for the captain's daughter and her friend, for their safety, and for her to be reunited with her father soon. He wondered briefly if his own father loved him enough to do the things for him that Gallagher had done for his daughter.

Then he went out and quietly closed the door behind him. He headed to the CIC to see if his father had another assignment for him. What had the captain called the daughter he had brought off Picon? The one he said was tough and beautiful? The one Lee already wanted to meet? Kara. That was it. He whispered her name, thought it was beautiful, too.

Kara.