Chapter 30

Apollo and Who?

During the Cylon occupation of Caprica an estimated eight thousand people who had been arrested for various crimes or merely detained on suspicion of some crime were taken by the Cylons for further interrogation and simply disappeared. All attempts to learn of their fates were unsuccessful.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

Laura ate breakfast in President Adar's private dining room like she was famished. Normally a picky eater, she surprised even herself. Was this delight in a simple meal of toast, eggs and fruit another side-effect of her brush with death?

Cavil arrived in time for coffee although he refused to share a cup with them. "It bothers my ulcer," he said.

Laura didn't think she would ever get used to his sardonic sense of humor. What could possibly give a machine an ulcer?

Adar had given them no clue of what their options might be. He said they would wait for Cavil. Frank Enwright was uncharacteristically silent and subdued. Laura could tell that the previous day had taken a toll on him.

"Have a seat, Brother Cavil," Adar said. "What can the three of us do to help you get your class on monotheism set up?"

"You intend to give in to his demands?" The chancellor asked in disbelief.

"Now, Frank," Adar said soothingly. "I think we're being unrealistic to think this is not going to happen. So Brother Cavil, I ask again, what can we do to help?"

Cavil seemed skeptical, even confused. "You can drop the Brother. This woman knows I have no religious beliefs."

"Does that mean you won't be teaching the class?"

Cavil said. "Natasi will be teaching it. This was her idea although I must admit it's a good one. Something must have activated her proselytizing subroutine. Perhaps it's that godless human scientist she's attracted to. I pity her."

Laura noticed that Cavil no longer referred to Dr. Baltar by his name. She wondered if Baltar's failure to deliver a human-Cylon hybrid had anything to do with Cavil's change in attitude toward him.

"Natasi," Adar said. "Wonderful. I can't think of anyone better suited to teach the class."

Laura was stunned although she managed not to show it. Adar was entirely too enthusiastic. She knew him well enough to know that he must have a motive that wasn't yet clear to her.

Adar continued. "Now, Frank, aren't you going to need some information on Natasi's credentials to put in the Course Catalogue? I would imagine you'll want a picture as well since this is a new offering. You'll want to publicize it thoroughly. You'll really want to market this to your students. I imagine there will be quite a number of young men who will be eager to try to get in the next semester's class. Young women, too, of course. Frank, since this is a required class, you need to reserve your largest auditorium."

Suddenly Laura realized what he had in mind.

"I think a bit of marketing is definitely in order, Frank. I think you should ask Natasi to visit the campus and distribute some literature about her class. Yes, I think that would be a wonderful idea. Is it all right with you, then, Cavil, if we contact Natasi and make arrangements?"

"Fine," Cavil said suspiciously. "You don't intend to fight this?"

"Not at all," Laura said. "I had the benefit of having a night to sleep on it and think about it. We should all be open to hearing other beliefs and ideas."

Enwright said, "That's not the point…"

"Listen to Laura," Adar said, cutting him off. "She has the right idea. Laura, since you seem to understand my position on this issue, you should work with Frank and explain it to him. Is that agreeable to you Cavil?"

Cavil agreed although he looked like he was still trying to find a hidden agenda in what Adar had just said.

"Good then. Well I'm sure I've taken valuable time out of your work days. Laura and Frank, I leave this in your capable hands. Frank, don't hesitate to employ your best PR people."

They all left the President's office. Two of Cavil's centurions were waiting in the hall and accompanied him toward his own office. Laura asked Frank Enwright to go back to hers.

"I can't believe the President caved like that," Frank said when they were far enough down the hall that Cavil couldn't hear them.

"He didn't. Look at Natasi through the eyes of a nineteen-year-old male. You know how she dresses and walks and talks. Can you imagine the near riot her classes will be? Can you imagine the students taking her seriously?"

"I must be getting old. I completely missed where you and the President are going with this. She's a college boy's wet dream. Probably some of my faculty's, as well."

Laura smiled. "I think you've got it."

"Let me work on something, a little publicity campaign for the class, a few personal appearances for Natasi, get some good pictures of her for distribution. We'll get this on our web site, too. Distribute a course outline along with her picture through email. We'll market it as a new class offering. We'll put the required part in very small print and only in the course outline, not the marketing piece. When should we get back together?"

"Next week. How about Wednesday?"

"Done," Frank said. He held out his hand. "Thank you, Laura. You and the President have saved my career."

"It isn't over yet, Frank, but we've averted a crisis for now. Let's just hope we can handle the next one that comes along. I'm sure there will be one."

"Your ex-husband said to tell you hello. He came by my office last night. He said he was very sorry he had missed you."

"How is Hayden?"

"He's fine. Did you know he accepted the chair of the Education Department?"

"I saw it in the alumni newsletter last month. I sent him a note of congratulations. We may be divorced, but we're not enemies. I still have a great deal of respect for him."

"As he does for you."

...

Tuesday night Lee's mobile phone rang. He recognized John's number on the caller ID.

"Hey, John, what's up?"

"I won't be able to meet you Friday night at McGee's. Laura and I are going away for a long weekend. She needs it. I need it. A lot has happened this week."

"I saw the news Monday night. I was holding my breath."

"You think you were."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm surprising her. I've got a little place on an island off the south coast of Delphi. It's a work in progress. I haven't been there in a couple of months, but it will be warmer than it is here and we can relax."

"What happened to I'll be lucky if she even kisses me goodnight again? You didn't waste any time, did you?"

John laughed. "Look who's talking."

"I went to see Car…the girl…yesterday afternoon. She didn't admit it but I think she wrote that letter. She knows who the fourth Cylon is."

"Did she tell you?"

"No, I couldn't get her to tell me. She says he doesn't know what he is. All I got was her promise that if he does figure it out she'll call me."

"You need to stay on top of this, Lee."

"I know."

"Did you tell your dad?"

"Not yet."

"Are you going to?"

"I'm still thinking about it. Now that we've stopped interviewing half of Caprica, I'm actually going to be able to have lunch this Sunday with Mom and Dad. I'm going to talk to him about a couple of things."

"That was something about your buddy Agent Darren almost catching a major terrorist."

"Almost being the operative word. Major Parker told us in a briefing today that the detonators found at this guy's apartment were definitely the kind used with the explosives that blew up the lab. We have some leads on where the detonators came from. One of the weapons, too. This guy has got to be one of them. They think that he was the explosives' expert and that he got away on the motorcycle. I think he was the explosives' expert, but he didn't get away on the motorcycle. I just can't tell anybody else that. "

"So where does that leave your girlfriend?"

"I wish you'd quit calling her that. She's not my girlfriend. But basically nobody's looking for her any more. We're all looking for this other guy. Tips keep coming in and Darren's men are following up but coming up empty every time. It looks like Cavil's mind is on other things right now anyway."

"I'd like to put one right between that bastard's eyes just like your girlfriend did to Simon and the other one. I know they'd just bring another copy down from their resurrection ship, but it would feel so good. Laura's a tough, courageous woman, but when I felt her start shaking from what he'd put her through, I wanted to kill him."

"Be careful who you say that to, John."

"You're the only one I'd ever say anything like that to and you know it. I'd never even say that to your dad. He's having a problem with me and Laura anyway, and I hate that, but I'm going to be with her for as long as she'll have me. I'll just have to deal with your dad as best I can."

"My dad made his choice years ago."

"He could still have had Laura three years ago. She told me that herself. He chose to stay with your mom and you and Zak. Hell, who am I kidding? She still has strong feelings for him. I can hear it in her voice when she talks about him. I'm just a place-holder for him. He's still got feelings for her, too. If he ever decides he wants her, I'll be history. She isn't looking for love or anything permanent from me."

"You're selling yourself short, John. You have a habit of doing that."

"No, I'm not. What have I got to offer a woman like Laura Roslin?"

"You mean besides the hot sex?"

"I never said I was having hot sex with her."

"Oh, come on, John, you're going away together for the weekend."

"It's the story of my life. Before I met Kara's mother I was hung up on another woman and she married my best friend. Kara's mother loved the Marines more than she loved me. Lissa worships Gaius Baltar. Laura's hung up on your dad. Anyway, I called to tell you something else, too. On a happier note, Kara's alive. You were right and I was wrong so I apologize for doubting you. She survived just like you told me she would."

"What?" Lee said in disbelief.

"It's true. Laura met Kara in one of the refugee camps. I didn't believe it was her at first, but she told Laura that her mother was a Marine and had died on Picon. It's her. There's no doubt now. Laura's assistant Billy tracked Kara and Karl from the camp to Caprica City. She was passing herself off in the camp as Karl's sister. I'd never have found her on the list even if she'd been there when I was there, which she wasn't. They didn't arrive in the camp until late winter. She's here in Caprica City now, though, so it's just a matter of time until I find her. We'll get together at McGee's next Friday. I'll catch you up on how the search is going."

"That sounds great. You and Laura have a good time."

"I plan to do exactly that. See you, Lee." He ended the call.

"Kara's alive." Lee said the words out loud and then said them again because they sounded so good. "Kara's alive."

He couldn't even imagine how happy that must have made John.

He thought of Carrie Warner. John was probably glad now that Lee had met her first and fallen so hard for her. At least he wouldn't have to worry about Lee trying anything with his sixteen-year-old daughter. Lee smiled when he remembered how protective John had been just talking about Kara back on the Galactica three years earlier. He didn't even want to think about what John would do to a man who had touched his beautiful daughter. He'd put Tom Zarek on his ass just for grabbing Kara's arm too hard.

Any guy who'd done more than that was probably a dead man.

...

Wednesday morning Kara went in to work early. Jack Fisk was in his office as usual. She tapped on the open door.

"Hi Carrie, come in."

"Hey, Boss. I'm looking for a place to live…another place to live."

"What's wrong? Roommates kick you out?"

"No. It's time I got out on my own. Do you know of anything around where you live? It's a nice neighborhood."

"Apartments in my building are pricier than you can afford. And don't ask me for a raise. I'm paying you more than I should right now. I know of something you might want to consider. It's not permanent, but it would get you out and let you keep saving for your own place. My wife told me that one of her friends is looking for someone to apartment-sit for her. She's a legal assistant at a big law firm that's handling some cases in Kinsdale. They're going to be up there for two or three months. She's looking for someone to stay at her place and take care of it. Interested?"

"Yes, definitely. Where is it?"

"In our building. Twenty-second floor, a two-bedroom, I think. We'll give you a good recommendation. She's leaving in a couple of days. This came up suddenly. You wouldn't be able to bring much. That's the downside of apartment sitting."

"Jack, I don't have much. Just some clothes and a few personal things."

"I'll call my wife later this morning. Her friend might want you to come over and meet her tonight. Can you do that?"

"You bet. What's her name?"

"Foster. Tory Foster."

...

"I have Hugh Connelly on the line," Adele said to Laura.

"Put him on."

"Laura. This is a very nice surprise. I was just thinking about calling you."

"Were you?"

"Yes. I've applied for a position teaching history at the Academy next fall. Apparently the military is having trouble staffing all the teaching positions with military personnel. They've advertised for several positions. I'm coming to Caprica City for an interview next week."

"That's wonderful. I'm acquainted with the administrator Colonel Winters. Do you want me to put in a good word for you?"

"Would you? I'd like to use you as a reference, too. Even if I don't get this job at the Academy, Stacey wants to move to Caprica City. Antioch has some very unhappy memories for both of us."

"I'll be glad to give you a good reference. I'd love for you to come have lunch with me. There's also someone I'd like for you to meet. Kara's father, John Gallagher."

"Kara's father is dead."

"She thinks he is, but he's not."

"I read about one of Tom Zarek's men killing a pilot. Kara and I talked about it."

"That wasn't him. One of Zarek's men killed the pilot of the Astral Queen, not Kara's father."

"I'm sure Kara was glad to find out."

"That's one of the reasons we want to talk to you. We know Kara made it to Caprica City, but we can't find her."

"What do you mean you can't find her?"

"She and her friends didn't go to government housing. There are over seven million people here, Hugh. It's a big place."

"So she doesn't know her father is alive."

"Not yet. We hope you can help us. Do you have any idea where she might be or what she might be doing?"

"No, I'm sorry. After I moved out of the camp, I didn't see Kara. In fact during that last year I didn't see her at all. She and I…I'm not sure exactly how to say this…"

"Hugh, I realize she had a crush on you. Even during the brief time I saw you together I could tell that."

"Laura, I'll tell you this but please don't tell her father. Kara and I almost…we didn't, but we almost…she told me she was older and I was very attracted to her. I was an emotional wreck at the time. My wife and parents had died in the bombing and I'd just lost my little boy. Kara stopped me from killing myself. She was the one who finally had the good sense to stay away from me and to tell me to stay away from her. I honored her wishes."

"Her jealousy over your marriage wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would it?"

"She didn't know I was married until she came to see me on the day before she left the camp. She didn't even know Stacey was pregnant until then."

"How are Stacey and Elaina?"

"They're fine. We're all doing fine. I don't know if I can tell you much about Kara. I know she was leaving with her friend Karl, the one everybody thought was her brother. She didn't mention anyone else, but I ran into Karl one day in the camp a month or so before they left. He was with a dark-haired girl. The way they were holding hands I knew they were boyfriend and girlfriend. There was another guy with them, also dark-haired, wearing glasses. Karl introduced them but I don't remember their names. They weren't brother and sister but I think they were related, maybe cousins. I'm sorry but I don't remember any more. It was almost a year ago."

"Hugh, that's wonderful. It probably means Kara and Karl weren't alone when they arrived in Caprica City. It's another tiny piece of the puzzle. When are you going to be here next week?"

"Thursday. My interview at the Academy starts at nine o'clock. I was told to plan on eating lunch with Colonel Winters and a Major Whitstone who is head of the History Department. So lunch will be out of the question, but I'd like to get together for dinner if you could."

"I'm sure I can arrange that. I hope John can make it, too. I would very much like for him to meet you. You can tell him firsthand about life in the camp. I'm afraid he thinks it was horrible for Kara."

"It wasn't great, but I can tell him that it could have been a lot worse."

"I don't want you to lie to him, Hugh, but I'd like for him to hear about life in the camp with as positive a spin as possible. He's beating himself up very badly over not continuing to look for her."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. She looked up Chuck Winters' number and placed the call.

"Laura, this is a surprise."

"A pleasant one, I hope."

"Very much so. How can I help you?"

"I understand you're interviewing for several positions at the Academy for next fall."

"That's right."

"I have a recommendation. Hugh Connelly. He's applied for a position in the history department."

"I remember the name from the resumés we received. So you give him a good recommendation."

"I do. He was responsible in a big way for getting the schools for the youngest children started in the refugee camp. I don't know what I would have done without him. He has superb organizational skills and he's a kind and caring man. I'll be glad to put all of that in writing for you."

"Would you do that? An email will be sufficient. How have you been doing?"

"Fine, Chuck. And you?"

"Fine. I gathered you weren't interested in going out again when you didn't return my last call."

"I've been extremely busy, Chuck."

"Not too busy for John Gallagher. I heard he escorted you to the President's birthday party Saturday night."

Laura was silent for a moment. "I apologize for not returning your call. I should have. At the time you last called me, though, my relationship with John was strictly professional. He was helping me with a small project. But we are dating now."

Winters laughed softly. "On my best day I was never able to compete with him when it came to the ladies. If you can clip his wings, my hat's off to you. I wish you the best, Laura."

"Thank you, Chuck. You're a very nice man."

He laughed again. "Not as nice as you think, but I'll accept your compliment. Take care of yourself and stay away from Cavil. He is one dangerous son of a bitch. Pitting yourself against him was not smart."

"Bill Adama told me the same thing. I think all is going to work out well, though. He's getting his way for now. We'll just have to take the future as it happens."

They said their goodbyes and hung up.

Thirty minutes later her private number rang. She recognized the caller immediately.

"Hello, John."

"Laura, how are you?"

"Fine. I can barely hear you."

"I'm in Antioch, getting ready to start pre-flight for the return trip. I wonder if you can get Billy to look for somebody for me, the kid who used to work at the cargo company. I finally got in touch with one of his friends this morning and he says he hasn't heard from him in three or four months. His name is Peter Chen. If Billy has time, do you think you could get him to check? I don't know his date of birth, but I know he's in his early twenties."

She wrote the name on a pad. "We'll see what we can find."

"Is it all right if I call you tonight then?"

"Would you like to come over for dinner? Say around seven o'clock?"

"You know I would."

An hour later a disturbed-looking Billy brought her a single piece of paper.

A Peter Chen, twenty-three years old, was arrested three months ago for cyber crimes. I can't find where he's being held or what specifically he's been charged with. In fact he's no longer anywhere in the system. "

"That can't be good."

"No, it's not. That's what happens when the Cylons take a prisoner out of our police custody. They're usually never heard from again."

"Oh, Billy, that is really not good."

"I'm going to hazard a guess that Peter Chen has been dead for at least three months."

"For cyber crimes? How could the Cylons do that?"

"If he was a skilled hacker, then they had a lot to fear from him, not just his skills to get into their databases, but the ability to plant spyware and viruses there. They wouldn't let someone like that go free. At the very least he's on one of their ships or stuck here on Caprica in a hell-hole of a secret prison."

"This is terrible news. John is going to be very upset."

"I think if I were you that I would discourage him from trying to get someone to hack into any of the protected databases. If the person is caught and gives John up, then he'll suffer the same fate."

"We'll find another way, Billy. There have got to be other ways. Could we do something using the internet? Something like a missing person ad?"

"Do you have a picture?"

"No, John never mentioned having a picture of her."

"Then even if you have a detailed description you're going to be swamped with people who will swear they know where she is. Half of them will really think they've seen her or know her. The other half will be crazies. You might get lucky, but you'd also have to deal with thousands of false leads or possibly con artists who have a personal agenda of their own. I don't think I'd go that route yet."

"I never thought of all that."

"John would probably be better off hiring a good private detective to look for his daughter."

"I'll talk to him about that tonight."

...

On Thursday Kara moved out of the apartment she shared with Jared and Maggie and Karl and moved into Tory Foster's apartment. Tory had left that morning for Kinsdale. Kara had only been able to talk to her for twenty minutes the previous evening since Tory had been packing for an early flight. She had seemed distracted and disorganized. Tory had simply taken Jack and his wife's recommendation of Kara's trustworthiness and had given her the extra key and alarm code.

Kara considered it a gift from the gods.

She waited until she knew Karl would be home from work and called the apartment. "I've moved out," she said when he answered.

"You've what?"

"I've moved out. I'm apartment-sitting for someone. You look like you and Maggie are getting along okay again so I didn't think you'd want to move with me."

"Maggie and I had a long talk. We're not…it's not like that with us anymore, but I told her I didn't want us to be enemies. She's okay with it. So you couldn't even talk to me about it, could you? You just moved out."

Kara took a deep breath. "Karl, I had to get out. I told Jared that I'd met somebody. He's not handling it too well."

"Like we don't all know that?"

"It should get better now that I'm gone."

"I doubt it. What am I supposed to tell him when you don't come back here tonight?"

"Just tell him I called and said I'm all right and not to worry. I don't want him to report me to the police as missing or something. I'll give him some time to get used to me being gone and then I'll talk to him again."

"Where are you?"

"Somewhere safe."

"You're not even going to tell me where you are?"

"Not yet."

"Why not?" For the first time she heard anger in his voice…and a lot of hurt.

"So you won't be tempted to tell Maggie."

"After all we've been through, you still don't trust me? That sucks, Kara."

"I trust you, but this way I'm not making you lie. When she starts asking, you can tell her you don't know where I am and you'll be telling her the truth. In a week or two when they've quit asking, I'll tell you."

"What if I want to see you or talk to you?"

"Call me at work and leave a message. I'll call you back. I'm not going to be able to go a whole week without talking to you or seeing you." She was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness. "I'm going to miss you."

"Me too. Hurry up and get your own apartment."

"I will. Take care, Karl."

She hung up and wandered around Tory's apartment. It was done in muted shades of gold and rust and grape. Kara liked lighter colors, but it was still nice. Tory had told her that she should sleep in the guest bedroom and use the guest bathroom. That was okay with her. Having a bed and not just a mattress on the floor was wonderful. Having a sink and tub without rust stains was nice, too. And having a place where they didn't have to spray for roaches twice a month and put out rat poison was better than nice.

She wandered back into the living room. A bookshelf sat against one wall. Kara scanned the titles. There were a lot of books about the law, some textbooks, some history books and some novels. She looked at the titles. It looked like most of them were romances like Karl's mother used to read. She pulled one out. The Picon Pirate. She thought about the woman who lived with the Oracle…of what she had said about her own father…that he was a pirate and a ruthless man…and a good lover.

Kara sat down on the couch and started reading the book. An hour later she got up. It was entirely too quiet. She missed Karl. She missed having other people around. She even missed Maggie. But most surprising of all, she missed Jared. She thought of the way he would massage her shoulders when she got home from work tense from being on the bike all day. She thought of the way he would bring her a beer if he went to get one for himself. She thought of all the nice things he did for her. She was definitely going to miss him.

She wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She and Tory hadn't discussed food, but since Tory wouldn't be back for a couple of months, Kara didn't think she would care if Kara ate anything in there. On one counter was a small wine rack filled with a dozen bottles of wine. Tory would probably draw the line at Kara helping herself to the wine. She looked at the clock on the stove. Five thirty. She warmed some left-over spaghetti.

She looked at the news. Nothing exciting tonight…not like Monday night at all. She read some more. Finally at nine o'clock she went to bed. She tried to think of the last time she had spent a night in a place completely by herself. Had she ever spent a night entirely by herself? She didn't think so.

The apartment she had shared with Karl and Maggie and Jared was on a busy street. Even at night there were traffic sounds, the occasional horn blowing or a siren. Tory Foster's apartment was on the back side of the building twenty-two floors up instead of three like the other apartment. The quiet was unnerving.

Sometime before dawn the next morning she woke up and didn't know where she was. She had been dreaming, not a nightmare, but something confusing…images of the Oracle in her long skirts and blind eyes and scarred face and the six men who were important in her life. Two of them were faceless.

Kara turned on the bedside lamp and waited for her heart to stop pounding. She got up, went to the bathroom and got a glass of water. She crawled back into bed, turned off the lamp, and finally as the sun came up, she went back to sleep. She didn't wake up until nearly ten o'clock. She didn't go back to work until Sunday. She knew she couldn't hang around the apartment for two more days. She would go crazy spending that much time by herself.

She knew of one thing she was going to have to do. She was going to have to get in touch with Frogman and figure out a way for him to communicate with her directly. She didn't want to take orders from Jared any longer regarding the resistance. The only two things she knew about Frogman were that he worked with Jared and the kind of car he drove. Late that afternoon she showered and dressed and rode the subway to where their computer hub was located. It was underground, like the station, but the parking was above it in a multi-story garage.

She walked through each level until she found Frogman's car and positioned herself where she could see everyone who got off the elevator on that level. Finally at 5:45 she saw Frogman. He didn't appear too surprised to see her.

"I don't guess this is much of a surprise, is it?" She asked.

"Jared called in sick today. He's never missed work before. I wondered what was going on."

"We split up. I moved out."

"I'm sorry."

"Jared is a nice guy. He's just not the guy for me. So the reason I'm here is to find out how we're going to work this other thing. I guess I need to get my orders from you now."

"I've got no problem with that. I'll have a talk with Jared about it, too. Just give me your mobile phone number. I'll call you when I need you to meet me at Zeno's."

"I don't have a mobile phone."

Frogman opened the trunk of his car, rummaged around in a box and came up with a phone and charger. "It's no big loss if something happens to the phone. It belonged to somebody who died in the bombing. The group pays for it. Just let me know if something happens to it and we'll quit paying."

She took the phone and nodded. "About the meeting with Tom Zarek…is that still going to happen?"

"If I can work it out. Jared told me you want to kill Zarek. I can't let you take any weapons into a meeting with him. He's too important right now to our group."

"I don't want to kill him anymore. I just want to talk to him. I need to know what happened to my father. I need to hear him say it. When do you think it will be?"

"Three weeks, maybe a month. I'll be in touch when the time is right. I may be in touch before then if we need you to do something else. Things are calm right now. There's not much going on."

She nodded again. "Just call me."

"Take care of yourself, Sassy."

She left the garage and went down to the station. She didn't want to go back to Tory's apartment yet. Knowing it was probably a stupid thing to do, she went to Zeno's. There was a crowd there watching the last semi-final game of the pyramid tournament. Tonight's winner would play the Delphi Dominos the following Saturday night for the championship. She couldn't get a seat at the bar and had trouble for a while getting close enough to get a beer. She scanned each of the faces. Lee wasn't there.

She didn't like being in a crowd of people like that. It made her edgy. She turned to make her way to the outside and almost ran into a young guy, probably not much older than she was.

"Sorry," she said. "Standing room only."

"You want to join us? We've got room at our table."

"Who's us?" She asked.

"Me and a couple of my buddies. We're all in Flight School right now training to be Viper pilots. I'm Brendan Constanza, call sign Hot Dog."

"Carrie Warner."

Hot Dog introduced her to the pilot-trainees or nuggets at the table, Donald Chuckles Perry and Louanne Kat Katraine. He pulled out a chair for her.

"So what do you do, Carrie?" Kat asked her.

"I deliver meds on a motorcycle."

"No kidding," Hot Dog said. "You ride a motorcycle?"

"It's a living. What's Flight School like?"

"Hard," said Hot Dog.

"It's kicking my ass," said Chuckles.

"And I'm kicking everybody's ass," said Kat.

They all laughed and clicked their bottles of beer together. Kara sensed a real camaraderie among them.

"My father was a Viper pilot," she said. "He flew in the First Cylon War."

"Cool," said Kat. "So are you going to be a Viper pilot, too?"

"I think so. Next year after I've saved some more money I'm going to apply to the Academy. I know another Viper pilot, Lee Adama, and he told me I should do it?"

All three of them looked at her. "You know Apollo?" Hot Dog asked.

"Apollo?"

"Lee's call sign. He's a Flight School legend. He finished top of his class even after missing over a week when his suit leaked during the deep space simulation exercise."

"He's super smart," Kat said. "We get compared to his scores a lot. Our instructor is always saying, and the score to beat is Apollo's."

Kara was stunned. Lee Adama bore the name of a god just like the Oracle had said. Her true love bore the name of a god. She thought of her father's call sign, the one she wanted to take…Starbuck. Starbuck and Apollo. She loved the sound of the two names together.

The crowd erupted in cheers. Sam Anders had scored and the Buccaneers had gone ahead. They maintained their lead until the end of the game and would advance to the finals in one week.

"Sam Anders is so hot," Kat said. "I'd like to meet him."

"You want to do more to him than meet him," Hot Dog snickered.

Kat rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous. What do you think, Carrie? Is Anders hot or what?"

Kara shrugged. "I guess."

"You guess? What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Maybe she's got her eyes on somebody else," Chuckles answered.

"Maybe they're on Apollo," Kat teased. "I'll have to tell Apollo he's got an admirer next time I see him."

When they left that night, Hot Dog asked if they would see her again at Zeno's.

"Maybe," she told him. She thought he wanted to ask her out but didn't have the nerve.

Since she had drunk three beers, she rode the subway back to the station nearest her old apartment before she realized her mistake. She had to backtrack one station and then take another line to get to the station nearest Tory's apartment. But the good thing is that Friday was over. That just left Saturday to get through before she could go to work again.

...

Zak was on his way out the door when Lee arrived at his parents' house for Sunday lunch.

"I've got to go to work," Zak said. "I'd like to stay and talk, but I'll be late."

"Still working at Bull's Eye?"

Zak laughed. "You still in the military?"

Lee laughed, too. "Let's try to get together soon and talk, maybe have a beer."

"Sure," Zak said.

"I met a friend of yours."

"Who?"

"Carrie Warner."

Zak shook his head. "The name doesn't ring a bell with me."

"You met her at Zeno's the day you got…the day you left the Academy. She's blond and beautiful."

"How did you meet her?"

Lee grinned. "It's a long story. We'll drink that beer and I'll tell you."

"Let's make it soon. Are you dating her?"

"Trying to."

"She shot me down, too."

"Who says she shot me down, little bro?"

"No way," Zak said. "A hot girl like that. No way. Not my super serious big bro."

Lee laughed. "Go on. You're going to be late for work."

He went into the kitchen. "Hi, Mom."

"Lee. I feel like it's been months since I've seen you."

"Almost. Where's Dad?"

"Where he always is lately if the weather permits…out by the fish pond. I know he'll be glad to see you."

Lee went out the patio door and found his father sitting at the wrought iron table. He was smoking a cigar.

"I understand you got to fly this week," Bill said.

Lee pulled out a chair and sat. "Finally. It felt good. Better than I remembered. How was your week?"

"You mean other than Laura taking a few years off my life?"

"I saw that on the news Monday night."

"I think Cavil got her out there so his centurions could kill her. I told Laura how foolish it was for her to play right into his hands like that, but you know her. I was rough on her. I called to see how she was doing on Friday, but her secretary said she was out of the office until Tuesday."

Lee started not to say anything and then realized that Laura would probably tell his dad the next time she saw him.

"She and John went away for a long weekend."

Bill took a deep breath and stared into the distance. "I know John is your friend, Lee. I consider him a friend, too, but I can't see anything good coming from their affair."

"John cares a lot about her. If anybody gets hurt, it's going to be him."

Bill got up. "I'm going to fix a drink. Do you want one?"

"Not before lunch."

Bill returned a few minutes later with the drink and sat down. "So how goes the investigation?"

"We had some excitement early in the week but it didn't pan out. We're no closer to catching that terrorist than we were right after it happened."

"That's too bad."

"On the bright side, though, now that we've got a name, we've stopped interviewing the four thousand motorcycle riders of Caprica City."

"That's got to be a relief."

"Some of our analysts have a theory that there may be more Cylon models on Caprica that don't know what they are. They think the man Laura got the letter about might be one of them."

Bill sipped his drink. "Someone at your grandfather's law firm boxed up his personal belongings and papers and sent them to me. I've gone through some of the letters he exchanged with a wealthy industrialist and computer engineer, Daniel Graystone. They both lost daughters in a suicide bombing when a religious zealot blew himself up on a mag lev train. My father thought Graystone could infuse a robotic being with my sister's personality via an avatar that she had created in cyberspace. Apparently that idea was the beginning of the next generation of centurions."

Lee was stunned. "My grandfather was involved in that?"

Bill shook his head. "Not directly. Graystone was attempting to raise funds to continue his research by selling the idea of robotic replacements for lost loved ones. I don't know how far the experiments went. There are a great many legal implications that no one thought about. My father was apparently looking into those when the Graystones disappeared, taking most of the old U-87 Cylons with them. The First War ended shortly afterward. They apparently went somewhere and continued working until they created the skinjobs."

"So we really did try to play at being gods? What Cavil has said all along is true."

"Yes," Bill said. "In all our misguided folly we unleashed this plague on ourselves."

"Gaius Baltar has always maintained that the early centurion-model Cylons couldn't have created the skinjobs without human help."

"He's right, son. And now you see why I should be the one to implement the plan to rid the planet of them. I owe my father that much."

"Is your plan more than just a dream, Dad? I was thinking about that while I was flying on Monday. I just don't see any way we can hope to defeat them with no weapons and the little amount of fuel they let us have."

"When the time comes we'll have weapons and fuel. We'll have bullets for our guns and missiles and rockets for our ships. Even as we speak the armories are being emptied of live ammunition and duds are being put in their places, very carefully, a few at a time. As for the fuel, Tom Zarek is going to help us when he gets out of prison by taking charge of a mining expedition to Tauron. He's gotten prisoners to volunteer to run the mining equipment. Cavil is letting him take some centurions. They're going to reopen the mines."

"You've been busy."

Lee saw just the ghost of a smile from his father. "Yes, I have. Visiting battlestars and advising the President is a full-time job."

"Does the President know about your plan?"

"Parts of it. He's given me free reign and a blank check as long as I don't implement anything without talking to him first."

Carolanne opened the patio door. "I've got lunch on the table."

"Your mother doesn't know anything about this. It would only upset her so don't mention it."

"I wouldn't think of it."

They stood up. Before they went inside, Lee asked, "Am I part of your plan?"

"You and all the other Viper pilots are a very big part of my plan."

When they sat down to eat, his mother asked him a question his father would never have asked. "Are you dating anyone now?"

Lee shook his head and then said, "But I have met a girl."

"And?" His mother looked hopeful.

"She lost her parents when Antioch was bombed. She doesn't like the military because she thinks we're cooperating with the Cylons. I'm taking it slow with her."

"Is she in school? Does she have a job?"

Lee smiled. "She makes emergency deliveries of medicine to hospitals and clinics…on a motorcycle."

"A motorcycle? That's interesting. How did you meet her?"

"While we were interviewing motorcycle riders after Dr. Baltar's lab was destroyed."

"Are we going to get to meet her?" His mother asked.

"I hope so. I just don't know when."

"Don't push him, Carolanne," Bill said. "Lee has got plenty of time before he needs to think about settling down. He's barely twenty-one."

"How old is she?" His mother asked.

"Twenty."

"Is she pretty?"

"Beautiful. She's got incredible green eyes."

"Like John's?"

Lee nodded. "Just like his. Maybe I need to ask him if he visited Antioch twenty-one years ago."

They all laughed. Lee knew better. John was too careful.

...

When he left his parents' house that afternoon, Lee rode back into the city and on impulse got off the subway at Carrie Warner's stop. He walked up the steps to the street, changed his mind, went back down the steps, changed his mind again and walked all the way to her apartment before he had a chance to reverse his decision. He knocked on the door and waited.

The young man he had seen her with at Zeno's opened the door. He hadn't shaved in several days and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Whatever you're selling we don't want any." He started to shut the door.

"I'm not selling anything. Is Carrie here?"

The other guy stared at him, door half-open, for a few moments, and then to Lee's surprise he laughed. "This is some kind of joke, right? She put you up to this."

"It's no joke. Is Carrie here or not?"

"Not," Jared said. "In fact she doesn't live here anymore. I'm really surprised you don't know that since you're the reason she moved out."

With those words Jared slammed the door in his face.

Lee rode the elevator down to the ground floor and walked to the subway station. On his way to his apartment he tried to imagine what had happened to cause Carrie Warner to move out in the space of less than a week. Her roommate-boyfriend didn't look like he was taking it too well. Lee hoped she was all right. Carrie was definitely a girl who could take care of herself, and then he thought of what Ackerman had done to her. She was tough, but she was still vulnerable.

When he got back to his apartment he called the number he had for MediFirst. He eventually made his way through the automated messages and transfers until he got to the weekend dispatcher. When the guy said Carrie was out on a run and volunteered to leave a message for her, Lee declined. He'd found out what he wanted to know. She was working the day shift, seven a.m. until seven p.m.

That evening he rode the subway to MediFirst and waited on the sidewalk outside the building. At 7:20 she came out. The night was cold and he had forgotten his gloves. He was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets when she saw him.

"I don't believe this. Are you stalking me?"

"No, I just want to make sure you're all right."

"Why wouldn't I be all right? Go home."

"I went to your apartment today. Your other friend told me you'd moved out. What happened?"

"You went to the apartment? Great! That's just frakking great! Now he knows who you are."

Lee ignored her. "I'd like to buy you dinner tonight."

"I told you we can't do this. We can't see each other."

"It's just friends. We won't call it a date."

"Look, I'm cold and tired. I haven't been sleeping too good and I just want to go back to where I'm staying and get a hot shower and something to eat and try to get some sleep. I'm working for the next two days."

"I've got to work tomorrow, too. We can go somewhere close by and grab a bite." He smiled. "Please."

The smile did it.

"The only place close by is a little diner two streets over. I'm sure it's not the kind of place you're used to eating. It's cheap, but the soup's not too bad."

"Come on," Lee said. "Show me."

Kara relented and started walking. "If I do this you've got to promise to quit stalking me."

Lee smiled again. "I'm not stalking you."

"What did Jared say?"

"Not much. He didn't look so good, though."

"Damn," Kara said. "It's not like I don't care about him. We've been through a lot together. I just don't have those kinds of feelings for him. I never did."

"Well something must have made him think you did."

"We sometimes fooled around."

The thought of Carrie fooling around with Jared sent a wave of jealousy through Lee. "Is he the one who taught you how to…to…"

"How to what?" Kara asked angrily.

"Kiss?" Lee finished tentatively.

"Is that a big deal for you? A good-looking guy like you has probably kissed a hundred girls. I haven't kissed but two guys in my whole life…three counting you."

"I haven't kissed a hundred girls. Not even a fraction of that number. Who was the other guy?"

"Somebody in the camp and don't ask me any more questions. We shouldn't be talking about this anyway."

"You're right. We shouldn't. So where did you move to?"

"An apartment."

"I didn't have to graduate top of my class to figure that out. Where?"

They reached the diner and went inside. Carrie led him to a booth in the back corner. He noticed that she seated herself where she could watch the door.

"Expecting company?" Lee asked.

"I've got this thing about sitting with my back to a door," Kara said. "I've always been that way."

"So where did you move?"

"Somewhere safe. Look, I've already been through this with my best friend. I just need to stay off everyone's dradis for a while. I'm trying to sort some things out."

When the waitress came, Kara ordered soup and a sandwich and a beer. Lee did the same.

"Are you living by yourself now?"

She ignored his question. "I went to Zeno's Friday night to watch the pyramid game."

"The place you're living doesn't have a television?"

"It's got a television. I was just tired of being by myself. I met a couple of nuggets, Viper trainees. They told me you're a legend in Flight School."

Lee shrugged. "I've got this thing about being top of my class. My brother told me once I needed to lighten up. My best friend said the same thing."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being the best. If I ever make it to Flight School, I'll be the best Viper pilot they've ever seen. I'll be better than you. I'll be as good as my father…my father's friend…the Viper pilot."

Lee smiled. "That's pretty damned cocky. One day I'll make you eat those words."

"You're on."

"Speaking of fathers...what did yours look like?"

"Tall and handsome."

"With green eyes?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

Their food and drinks arrived. Lee turned up his beer. "Just curious."

"I look more like my mother, though."

They ate in silence until Lee said, "About Flight School. You'll need a call sign. Be thinking about one. If you don't come up with one, somebody will do it for you. That's what happened to me."

"I've already got one picked out. It belonged to my father's friend. He's dead, too, so I'm sure he won't mind if I take it."

"What is it?"

"I'll tell you when the time is right. It sounds good with Apollo. Now you'd better eat. The soup is getting cold. If we stay here too long you'll start thinking this is a date." She looked at him and grinned. "Won't you?"

When they finished eating, Lee insisted on paying for their meal, and they walked back to the subway station.

"Don't try to follow me," Kara said to him.

"I enjoyed tonight, Carrie."

"Yeah, well don't think it's going to happen again."

"I'm sure it's not."

"Thanks for buying my dinner. Now go. That's your train. I've got a few minutes to wait."

Lee stepped into the subway car. As the train pulled out of the station, he looked back at her. By now he knew that it was going to happen again. If he didn't push her, if he was patient, it would happen again. Despite what she had said, he'd seen it in her eyes, those beautiful green eyes. She had enjoyed tonight, too.

He smiled and wondered about her call sign. Apollo and who?

Strangely the name that came into his mind was John Gallagher's call sign.

Starbuck.

Apollo and Starbuck.

Carrie Warner would have to do really well to come up with one that sounded better than that.