Siren's Kiss

by JaneAus10

This AU story begins when a young Kara Thrace is rescued from a nuked and dying Picon along with her best friend Karl Agathon. It follows them to Caprica and her eventual meeting with Lee Adama and relates the ways in which their lives are changed forever when her destiny crosses his. Image Credit: Detail of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. COMPLETE.

45. Special Mission

Chapter 45

Special Mission

During the fourth year of Cylon occupation, President Adar announced that he would not seek a second term in office. Several candidates immediately declared their intentions of running including Scott Mickelson, the Secretary of Transportation and three members of the Quorum of Twelve. At the time Adar deferred his endorsement of any of them as his successor.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

Lee pulled his car, the car that had once belonged to his mother, into the parking garage of Laura and John's apartment building and carefully nosed into a visitor's spot. Something was going on…he just didn't know what. John had been vague when he had called Lee at work that morning and asked him to come over after dinner on a Wednesday night.

He hoped it didn't have anything to do with Kara. She seemed to be doing all right at the Academy. At least she told him she was doing okay. Lee racked his brain trying to find a reason for tonight's invitation and finding nothing that stood out, he finally got out of the car, locked it and rode the elevator up to the lobby.

He went to the front desk and the doorman checked his name before he went back to the elevator. The doorman pressed a button that released the elevator and Lee was able to ride to the eighth floor. John answered the doorbell. He was still in his uniform.

"Come in. I just got home. Laura's in the den. Talk to her while I change clothes."

Lee walked into the den. Laura was sitting in a comfortable chair. He had not seen her in two weeks, not since the weekend that Kara had been home and they had met at Channing's. Lee and Kara had been only ten minutes late. Lee had taken the blame, saying he'd been delayed at work. It wasn't a complete lie. He had left five minutes late, but he also knew neither John nor Laura bought it. They were just nice enough not to call him on it. Lee knew that John and probably Laura, too, had recognized the post-sex glow that he and Kara both had.

Laura smiled. "Hello, Lee. Get a drink if you'd like one. You know where we keep everything. I'd get one for you, but getting out of this chair once I sit down is becoming more of a chore every day."

"How are you, Laura?"

"Feeling like a whale with a month to go."

"You don't look like one," Lee said. He went to the cabinet, opened it and poured a small glass of ambrosia.

"Go ahead and pour one for John if you would. I know he'll want one. And pour a straight whiskey, please."

Lee put the stopper back in the bottle of ambrosia. "I take it the whiskey is not for you."

"No. It's for your father."

Lee didn't turn around, but he didn't pour the glass of whiskey either. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. With his back still to her, he picked up the glass of ambrosia. "Could I ask what this is about?"

"I'd rather John and your father explained it. I'm not a military person."

Lee finally turned around although he looked at the drink in his hand instead of her. "I don't like being blindsided."

"The reason John asked you to come over tonight is not to try to get you and your father to patch things up. They have another reason…something to do with your father's plan." Laura took a deep breath and said gently, "But you shouldn't keep carrying a grudge. It's as hard on you as it is on him. Life is too short, Lee. Bill loves you."

"Meaning no disrespect, Laura, but my relationship with my father is not your business or John's either."

"Lee, there is something far more important at stake now than your personal feelings. It's time for you to put the past behind you. Bill is more than willing for the sake of what needs to be done."

"Thanks for the drink," Lee said. He started to leave.

John stood in the doorway rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt. "Sit down, Lee. Or are we going to have to find another pilot for this mission?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your dad is going to explain it to you. I'm not asking you to get all teary-eyed and have a love fest with Bill. You can stay and find out what we've got in mind…or leave. It's up to you."

"I just got through telling Laura that I don't like being blindsided."

"This wasn't Laura's idea. It was mine. So if you have something to say, you say it to me. Make your choice, Lee. If you stay, you treat your father with the respect that's due his rank and his experience. Or you go now and we find another pilot to train for a special mission. I won't have you stay and act like a jerk."

Lee sat down. "Why don't you tell me how you really feel?"

John went over to the bar and got his drink.

Laura could feel the tension between the two men. "I know I'm not involved in this the way you two are, but may I say something?"

"Sure," her husband said.

"Lee, John loves you like a son, and you're his best friend, but he's got a great deal of respect for your father. They're friends, too. From the time your mother died, he's been trying to juggle the two relationships. That hasn't always been easy for him. We all need to move forward. To do anything else is counterproductive. We have a common enemy. We should be fighting them and not each other."

Lee finally nodded before he took a sip of his drink. "What happened to the Siren's Kiss?"

John grinned. The tension broke. "I hid it before the dinner party we had a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want Ellen Tigh finishing what little is left. I'm saving that for a special toast."

Lee saw him look at Laura and knew what John was saving it for, the birth of their son. "I hope there's enough for me to be included in that toast."

"You and Kara both."

The doorbell rang. Without a word John walked out of the den. Lee felt his stomach lurch.

"It's all right, Lee," Laura said softly. "Your father loves you. Please give him a chance."

Bill walked into the den. The first thought Lee had was that his father had lost weight. The second was wondering where the silver in his father's hair had come from. It wasn't there at the funeral…or he hadn't noticed.

Lee stood. "Dad."

Bill stopped. "Son."

Neither one seemed to know exactly what to do.

John walked to the bar. "Let me get you a whiskey, Bill."

"Make it a small one. I've got some paperwork to finish tonight when I get back to the apartment."

"Please have a seat," Laura said.

Bill sat on one end of the couch. "How are you, Laura?"

She smiled. "Getting bigger by the day and still a month to go."

"Are you still working?"

"Of course she is," John said. "None of us can get her to slow down. I told her she might as well just have the doc come to the office and deliver the baby so she can get right back to work."

Laura smiled. "He exaggerates, Bill. I have slowed down."

"By slowing down she means she comes home before dark most evenings."

"Not to add to things, but Adar still thinks you should run for the Presidency next year. He doesn't think you would have any serious competition. He's going to announce soon that he's not seeking a second term."

"President Laura Roslin," Lee said. "I like it. What would that make you, John? First Man instead of First Lady? So what's this special mission you need a pilot for?"

John gestured to Bill. "First your dad is going to catch you up on what's happened so far with part of the plan. Then we'll talk about the mission."

For the next ten minutes Bill talked about the progress of part of his plan to rid Caprica of the Cylons. He ended by saying, "We think it's possible to shoot down a Raider without firing a traditional weapon at it. My chief engineer studied the problem and has come up with something. He's rigged an electromagnetic pulse generator that he thinks can be fitted into one of the Viper's wing roots where the kinetic energy weapon usually goes. He's scaled it down to fit in the same casing and given it almost pinpoint accuracy. They're working on a mounting now that will hold it all in place. It should be ready in a month."

"The purpose being?" Lee asked.

"To shoot down a Cylon Raider by disrupting its programming," John answered. "Screw up its electronic brain and cause it to crash or land. We won't know for sure until we give it a try."

"What good is a crashed Raider going to do us?"

"We're going to try to lure it to a low altitude and crash it into the bay," Bill said. "We don't think the Cylons will try to retrieve it. We will. Then we'll try to reverse engineer it. What we'd really like to find out is the way it signals the basestar that it's a Cylon ship. If we could duplicate that, we'd have an easier time getting something on board."

"Something? You mean like a bomb or explosives?"

"Exactly."

"And you want me to be the pilot who fires this…electromagnetic pulse beam at a Cylon Raider and gets it to crash into the bay?"

Bill nodded. "I want someone with a high level of skill that I can trust."

"It may take more than one try," John said. "The engineer is going to have to guess at the strength of the pulse since none of us really understands Cylon technology. Too much and we could damage the ship beyond getting anything out of it. Wipe its brain clean so to speak. Too little and it just shakes its head and flies away, after it shoots you down, of course. If the engineer errs, we want it to be on the too much side on the first try."

"This mission won't be without danger, son. If the Raider thinks you're going to open fire on it, then it could shoot you down before you disable it."

John said, "We think if you lure it out over the bay while you're on a routine training mission, you might be able to stall it long enough to pinpoint the spot on its head…for lack of a better term…to fire the pulse weapon. We think if you aim at its red eye that would be the place to hit it. But we don't know that for sure."

Bill finished the small drink. "We're not asking for an answer tonight, Lee. Think about it. If you decide to help us, then I'll clear it with Major Parker without telling him the exact nature of the mission."

"My answer is yes," Lee said. "Both of you should have known it would be yes."

John said. "Colonel Burgher is helping me and we're programming a practice sim for you."

"A sim?" Lee snorted. "You don't think I can do this without practicing it in a simulator?"

His father looked at John and then back at him. "This has never been done before. It's not like you're going to be able to see the electromagnetic pulse as you fire it. But John is certain they can program a sim that will show you exactly how to line up on the Raider. The minute you go head-to-head with it, you're not going to have but a second before it will start firing at you. You can't afford to miss."

John grinned. "If you'd like, I can have Kara test it and see if she thinks you can handle it."

Lee said. "I'll bet she'd love that."

Bill stood. "I'll leave you two to talk about the sim. I need to get back to my paperwork."

Laura pushed herself up from her chair. "I'll walk with you to the door and let John and Lee talk."

"Goodnight, John." Bill said and then added hesitantly, "it's good to see you again, son."

Lee nodded. "Dad."

Bill and Laura walked into the foyer. "I think all things considered that went very well," she said to him.

"I'll admit I had my doubts he'd stay and hear me out. I'm glad I was wrong."

"Are you really sure you want him to fly this mission?"

"No father wants to put his child in harm's way, but Lee is the best man for the job. He's a good pilot. You flew with him back from Sovana. You know how careful he is. He'll do it right. And we can trust him."

"Have you seen Fiona since our little get-together two weeks ago?"

Bill smiled. "We had dinner together Saturday night. She asked me."

Laura smiled as well. "I'm glad. You need to get out more. You work too hard. Fi is a very nice woman."

"Yes, she is."

Their eyes locked. But she's not you. Did his look really say that or did she just imagine it?

"Goodnight, Bill."

"Goodnight, Laura. Think about slowing down, will you?"

She smiled. "When you do."

She closed the door behind him. As she walked back into the den and took her seat, Lee was saying to John, "So Kara is doing okay in the simulator?"

"She's doing great. We had to work on her attitude at first. She's too eager…she wants to get ahead of herself. She resented having to do all the drills. She still resents it because that's the way each session starts. She just wants to get in that cockpit and fly."

"The drills are important," Lee said.

"That's what I keep telling her. It was Kara's idea to bring down a Raider intact if we could….her idea to pick its brain and its transponder apart."

"Does my dad know that?"

"Not yet, but we'll have a conversation one day soon and I'll tell him. I'm glad you two are speaking to each other. It's a start."

Lee shrugged. "He looks tired."

"He's looked tired since the day I met him over four years ago," John said.

"He hadn't slept much for days by the time you came on board. You didn't look so hot, either, especially with that cut under your eye. Of course that didn't bother some people."

Laura looked up. "Oh, really? Who might that have been?"

"Thanks, Lee," John said.

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"I met Lissa on the Galactica. She was working as a medical technician for Doc Cottle. She bandaged the cut under my eye."

"And how long was it before she put her boots outside your door?"

Lee looked at John. "I didn't tell her about that. I swear."

Laura smiled. "No, I can't let Lee take the blame for that. You both seem to have forgotten that I'm acquainted with several men who served on battlestars."

John gave Lee a warning glance.

"Not that I've ever been on a battlestar," she continued, "but I was curious about how something like that is done. I asked."

Lee stood. "I'm heading home. John, give me a call when you and Colonel Burgher have that sim ready."

"It's almost ready now. Could you come out after work on Friday afternoon…about 16:00?"

"I'll be there," Lee said.

"Good. I'll leave word at the gate."

"John can see me out, Laura. You don't need to get up again."

When John walked back into the den, Laura teased him. "Is a battlestar where you learned to be so quiet while you make love?"

He shrugged. "Is that a complaint?"

"Absolutely not. Isn't it a bit strange, though, having sex in your bunk with other pilots in the same room?"

"The bunks have heavy privacy curtains."

"There's still not much privacy, though, is there?"

"That's why it's an unwritten rule. You do it as quietly as you can. There's always somebody trying to sleep…and you don't want to rub it in that you're getting lucky. So no, it's not too private, but at the same time, you mostly don't care."

"I'm sure you got lucky often."

"That's all in the past, Laura. I wouldn't go back to those days for anything."

...

Kara's left leg was aching as she jammed the thruster pedal toward the firewall and pulled the Viper simulator through a tight turn in pursuit of the Raider that had just passed her. She had missed the shot and now she had to finish the job. As she completed the turn, though, she saw she was in trouble. Instead of one Raider, she was now facing six coming at her from all directions. She got four of them before one got her and the sim screen went blank.

She sat in the cockpit burning with fury and embarrassment. "Do I have time for another try?"

"Not today," her father said. "You want to tell me what you did wrong?"

"Besides getting blown out of the sky?" She asked, her voice still shaking.

"There are no second chances up there. The simulator is for learning so let's critique it. Pull it apart for me and tell me where you made your mistakes."

"I should have hit the Raider the first time, but when I missed, I should have kept going. I should have stayed with my wingman and waited until we could both turn together. Then it would have been two against six instead of one against six."

"Your wingman is not just a decoration. You fly together for a reason."

"I'll try to remember that."

"No, you will remember that. There may come a time when you're forced to take on seemingly unbeatable odds. But don't ever do it unless there's no other way. You're no good to the fleet if you get yourself killed. Remember that. Now climb out of the Viper. We're through for today. You're already a sim ahead of the rest of your class. You'll get another chance at this one next week."

Kara climbed down the steps. She was suddenly aware of her sweaty t-shirt under her uniform as she stood in the cooler air outside the simulator's cockpit. During the last two weeks the sims had gotten harder. As her father was shutting the computer system down, she walked over to the desk on the far side of the room.

"It just gets to me when I frak up like that."

Wordlessly he put his arms around her. It had become a ritual for them. No matter how her session in the simulator went, she got a hug from her father.

"Don't worry, baby. You're getting this better than anyone else. You're better than any other cadet I'm teaching and I'm not saying that just because you're my daughter."

She stepped back and grinned. "It's probably because my old man was some kind of hot-shot Viper pilot during the First Cylon War. He was kind enough to give me some good genes."

"Guess who's going to be out here tomorrow afternoon?"

"Who?"

"Your one and only."

"Lee? Why is he going to be out here?"

"He's going to fly a mission for us in about a month. Colonel Burgher and I wrote a training sim for it."

"A mission? Like what?"

"You remember your idea about capturing a Raider and picking its brain apart?"

"You didn't take that seriously, did you? I was just joking."

"This is classified and I probably shouldn't be talking about it. Bill took it seriously enough to figure out a way to do it…in theory of course. Lee is going to fly the mission."

"How? What's he going to do?"

"He'll fly a special Viper fitted with a modified electromagnetic pulse generator where the kinetic energy weapon is usually housed. He's going to scramble the Raider's brain somewhere out over the bay. We hope it won't break up on impact and that we can get something out of it after we retrieve it."

"Why Lee? It's dangerous. Why him? Can't somebody else do it?"

"We trust him and he volunteered. He could always have turned us down."

"But something could happen to him. He could…get…he could…" Kara couldn't finish her thought aloud. It still ran through her mind. He could get killed.

"Kara, every pilot takes a chance every time he or she goes up. It's an understood risk."

"But this is different. This is taking an extra big chance."

"It's an important mission. We wouldn't have asked Lee if we didn't think he could handle it."

"So does that mean he's talking to his father?"

"They may never have a close relationship, but they are speaking to each other again. Now, he'll be here at 16:00 tomorrow. I can't let you in while he's flying the sim because it's classified, but we should be through by 17:00. If you want to drop by and see him for a few minutes then, I'll find a reason to go up to my office or go see Colonel Burgher."

Kara grinned. "You're the coolest dad in the whole world…sir."

"And you're the coolest daughter…Cadet Thrace."

...

Friday afternoon Lee walked to the door of Major Parker's office at exactly 15:30. "I'm leaving for the Academy, sir. Have a nice weekend."

"Thank you, lieutenant. Good luck with Project Broken Moon."

"Yes, sir."

Lee had learned the official name of the mission only a day earlier when his father had called telling Lee that he had cleared an early leave time on Friday with Major Parker. Parker didn't know the exact nature of the mission, only that Lee needed to spend some time at the Academy.

On his drive out to the Academy, his thoughts were on the mission and the sim he was going to fly, but his thoughts were also on Kara. John had called him the previous night and told him that he had given Kara permission to visit the sim room after Lee finished. He would get to see Kara tonight, maybe even kiss her.

He drove the short distance up the I-6 Motorway before he exited onto the wide boulevard that looped back toward the city and led to the Academy. Driving on the I-6 made him think of the Saturday two weeks earlier that he and Kara had gone on the picnic. He still couldn't think of the ending to their adventure without the inevitable twist of desire in his gut.

Not a day had gone by since then that he hadn't thought of them naked on her motorcycle in a small clearing in the woods far above a Cylon lab with the setting sun turning everything gold around them. He would never have dreamed they could have done it like that or that it could have been so good.

Now as he approached the gates to the Academy and slowed down, he forced his thoughts back to the present. Ten minutes later he was on the second floor of the Math and Sciences Building and outside John's office a few door away from Colonel Burgher's. The colonel was sitting inside talking to John.

Because he was in uniform, Lee came to attention.

"At ease. Come on in, Lee." John gestured to the other chair in the small office. "Shut the door."

Lee sat on the edge of his chair. "I talked to my father this morning. He's pleased with the progress his engineers have made. We're still on schedule to do this mission near the end of November."

Colonel Burgher said, "I got the specs for the weapon by courier from your father's engineer last week. John and I think we've come up with something that will help you prep for your flight. We've modified one of the standard Raider confrontation sims, toned it down since the Raider won't be in a combat-ready position in the beginning, and we've turned the KEW weapon into a beam of light something like a laser so you can get a feel for aiming it."

Lee was suddenly overwhelmed by the enormity of what they were going to do and what was expected of him. "Yes, sir," was all he managed.

John smiled. "Conrad did most of the programming on this sim. He worked on it through the weekend. I'm still learning."

"Have either of you flown it?" Lee asked.

"I have," John said. "Hitting that red eye dead-on is tricky. It took me a couple of run-throughs before I could do it consistently. Timing's an issue, too, but we knew that from the beginning. If you wait a second too late, the Raider will nail you. Go too soon and miss and it will nail you, too. But don't worry. You'll get a feel for it."

Lee took a deep breath. "That's easy for you to say. You've flown hundreds of combat missions."

"You'll do fine, Lee," Colonel Burgher said. "You're welcome to practice in the simulator as often as you'd like when the cadets aren't using it."

"Thank you, sir."

"Come on," John said. "Let's go downstairs before you freak yourself out even more than you are now."

On the sixth run of the sim, Lee finally managed to hit the Raider just a few inches from the red eye. On the first five tries he had missed it by more than a foot each time. Twice he'd missed the Cylon altogether because he'd aimed high.

He heard John's voice. "Again?"

"No, I need a minute." Lee climbed out of the cockpit and walked around.

"You're too uptight, Lee. You're over-thinking. You need to relax and trust your instincts."

Lee clenched and unclenched his fists and rolled his shoulders. "That's easy for you to say. It's not your mission."

"I'd love to fly this mission, but I'll never get clearance to fly a Viper again because of the leg, even though the one I have now is as good as the real one…maybe even better. Rules are rules."

"Have you let Kara try the sim?"

"No, I haven't let Kara try the sim."

"Are you going to?"

"This is a classified mission, Lee. Kara's not part of it."

"You think she could do it?"

"Do I think she could fly the mission? Of course not. The closest she's come to flying a real Viper is this simulator. Do I think she could fly the sim? Probably. She's good, Lee. My daughter is good."

"I believe it. I can tell just by the way she rides that motorcycle. She has grace and a feel for riding. It's almost like she becomes part of the machine."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. You need to quit thinking and become part of your ship. Now get back up there in that cockpit and don't over-think it. We'll do the sim one more time tonight and then we'll quit."

Lee climbed back into the simulator. He thought of Kara and the way she rode the bike. He relaxed. The sim started. He saw the Raider off his starboard side. He banked toward it. The Raider turned with him. He tightened the arc of his turn. As they came face to face he slowed his speed and fired. The narrow beam of light that represented the magnetic pulse shot out. It hit the Raider squarely on its red eye.

Yes, he said to himself. Yes! Yes! Yes!

"Perfect," John said. "Now get out of the cockpit. You want to quit today on a good run. I know you're tired. You need to come back and do this a couple of times a week until you fly the mission."

Lee climbed from the cockpit, his adrenalin still pumping. He was smiling.

"I bet you didn't think I could do it."

"I knew you could do it. You've just got to learn to trust your instincts as much as you trust your instruments. Now you need to wait here for a couple of minutes. I've got to go upstairs. I'll be gone about half an hour. I'm sure somebody's waiting outside the sim room to see you. You know if you leave, the door will lock behind you. You won't be able to get back in. But then neither will anybody else."

As John went out the door, Kara came in. Lee heard the door click shut. Kara was in his arms in seconds. He didn't know if she had ever felt this good against him before. Without a word he kissed her hard and felt her response fire his blood.

He pulled the uniform shirt out of her trousers and got his hand against her skin. He heard the sharp intake of her breath. They stood like that for a few minutes, their hands eagerly exploring.

"Where?" She whispered.

He glanced toward the cockpit.

"It's not going to be as easy as it was on the bike," she grinned. "Maybe over at the desk with you sitting in the chair would be better."

"I like a challenge. I think I'm up for it today."

"Oh, yeah, you're definitely up for it. After you," she said.

He could hardly wait to feel her, but she was right. It wasn't as easy as he had thought. He refused to give up, though, and they finally found the right position with both of them facing forward, Kara leaning back against his chest.

It was almost too good from the beginning. He tried to think of something to make it last longer. He felt her hands on his thighs, felt her fingers dig into his muscles and finally heard her choked cry.

"I love you, Kara," he managed to say as he gave in to the feeling, "I love you."

The back of her head was against his shoulder. A few moments later he found her mouth. The adrenalin edge was finally gone. His breathing slowed and he kissed her gently.

"I love you, too, bad boy," she whispered. "Do you think anybody's ever frakked in Colonel Burgher's simulator before?"

"I never heard about it if they did."

"Don't you just love being the first?"

"More than you can imagine."

They were dressed and sitting beside each other on the front row of the amphitheater when her father returned. Lee had his arm across the top of her seat. To look at them he was sure John wouldn't realize what they had just done.

"You know, I think I forgot to turn off the closed-circuit camera. I hope you kids didn't get too frisky."

Lee saw Kara's eyes widen. "Closed-circuit camera."

John grinned. "Just kidding. The camera's out in the hallway…pointing at the door."

Kara stood. "You get funnier every day, Dad. I guess I'd better be going. I've got to be in the chow line in fifteen minutes with Lieutenant Orders-Must-Be…Lieutenant Sydell."

"How are things going with you and the lieutenant?" Lee asked.

Kara shrugged. "She's still watching me like a hawk."

"Good," her father said. "It'll keep you out of trouble."

They walked to the door and John checked it to make sure it was locked behind them.

"Which one was she?" John finally asked Lee.

"Which one?" Kara said in surprise. "There was more than one?"

"Thanks, John," Lee said. "Is this payback for what I said to Laura the other night?"

"How many more don't I know about?" Kara asked.

"You're going to be late for dinner. Go."

He watched as Kara jogged across the quad. He remembered how he had lined up with his classmates for chow his first term at the Academy. No, she didn't want to be late.

Lee and John walked toward the parking lot.

"You did good today, Lee. You're going to do fine on this mission."

"If I don't, it won't be from lack of practicing. Someday you need to let Kara try Burgher's impossible sim."

"When she's ready. We're still working on patience and discipline." He grinned. "Unlike some people I know."

...

The following Thursday as Kara left the Math and Sciences Building after her weekly simulator class with her dad, she looked at her watch. The days were getting shorter and the temperature colder. She had not worn her jacket and jogged across the quad and all the way to her dorm to keep warm. The room was dark when she opened the door, and she wondered if Sharon was still in the shower.

She pushed the light switch. Movement at the foot of Sharon's bunk caught her eye. She jumped.

"Lords of Kobol, Sharon, what are you doing sitting on the floor in the dark like that?"

Sharon was wearing her bathrobe. Her hair was wet like she had come from the shower. She was sitting in the small three-foot space between the foot of her bunk and the door of her small closet. She had her knees pulled against her chest.

"He raped her," Sharon said.

"What?"

"Captain Reider raped a girl in my PE class. They were in the equipment room. I found a soccer ball on the jogging trail and I returned it. I walked to the door. He was so busy on top of her that he didn't see me."

"How do you know he was raping her? Maybe they were just having sex."

"She was crying."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. I walked away."

"Did she see you?"

"No. I should have done something. I should have stopped him. I knew there was something creepy about him."

"Look, Sharon, even if it wasn't rape, he was still way beyond the red line. You know how we got that talk about the red line. There's not supposed to be any kind of physical contact like that going on between an instructor and a cadet…even if they both want to do it. Reider was doing something he shouldn't have been doing no matter what."

"I don't know what to do." Sharon rubbed her forehead. "I know it was beyond the red line, but it would be his word against mine. What if I'm wrong?"

"If the girl talked…if she came forward…"

"She's not doing very good in class."

"So you think she was getting her grade another way? I'm going to tell my dad."

"No!" Sharon stood. "You can't! I'm afraid Reider will find some way to get me kicked out of school. I've got to finish…I've got to learn to fly a Raptor. Nothing can interfere with that. You've got to promise me, Kara. Promise me!"

"But Reider shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. If he really raped her, he should go to jail. At the very least he should be fired."

"Promise me," Sharon said. "Not a word to anybody. I'll talk to her. I'll see if I can get her to go to Colonel Winters."

"All right. I promise. You'd better get dressed. We've got to be in line for chow in six minutes. You don't want to give Sydell a reason to bust you. Mid-terms start next week and then we get a week away from this place. You don't want to spend it walking off demerits on the quad."

Sharon stood up and shed her robe without the least bit of hesitation as she quickly pulled on underwear and her uniform. Kara had noticed Sharon's lack of modesty before. She acted like she had spent time in one of the refugee camps.

Standing at attention in the hall a few minutes later, Kara couldn't stop thinking of how wrong it was for an instructor to use his power to coerce a cadet into having sex. Sex for grades. And the students who did it were called grade grubbers. She'd heard it happened everywhere. She suddenly wished she hadn't promised Sharon to keep quiet. Guys like Reider needed to be stopped. He needed to be stopped before he did it again.

Sharon stood at attention beside her, their shoulders nearly touching, as Lt. Sydell walked by them. Kara knew Sharon's eyes were straight ahead as were her own. She also knew Sharon was thinking about Reider as well. Were the laws of the Colonies programmed into Cylons or was some attempt made to program them with morality? How did you program morals? How did you program the knowledge of right and wrong?

Kara suddenly thought about Leoben. If she asked him, could he tell her?

...

Friday at 12:30 Laura's desk phone buzzed. Tory said, "Mrs. Nagala is here."

"Send her in," Laura said. She had been surprised on Monday when Fiona had called and asked her to have lunch on Friday. Laura had accepted and said she would make reservations somewhere nearby for them.

Fiona was dressed in a conservatively cut plum-colored suit accessorized with a beautiful silk scarf in shades of purple, lavender and magenta. The word hickey immediately came into Laura's mind. Surely not.

"What a wonderful office," Fiona said. "Mine at the Academy isn't much larger than your desk."

"Neither is John's. Please come in and sit down. I have reservations at the Capital Club for one o'clock. Would you like some coffee or tea?"

"Thank you. I'll wait. I had several cups of coffee this morning."

"You don't have classes on Friday?" Laura asked.

"I finish at eleven. I usually keep office hours the rest of the day and use the time to prepare my lessons and grade papers. Mid-terms start next week."

"I taught school for several years before I entered public service," Laura said. "I remember mid-terms and finals very well."

"I wondered about your background," Fiona said. "So it was in education?"

"Yes."

Fiona gestured to a framed picture on Laura's desk. "May I?"

Laura handed the framed eight-by-ten photograph to Fiona. It was her favorite of all the pictures the wedding photographer had taken. She and John were dancing, looking at each other. Even with the heels she wore, John was still half a head taller than her.

"This is beautiful. Where was it taken?"

"At our wedding reception."

"I've never seen two people more in love. You are very lucky."

"Thank you," Laura said softly. "I wasn't even aware the photographer took that picture until we got the proofs. It was instantly my favorite. I think John has the same picture on his desk at the Academy."

"I've never been to John's office…never even been in that building. How long have you been married?"

"Since April. I'm sure you can do the math. I was almost three months pregnant at our wedding."

"All the more reason to be in love."

"You said you had met Bill at your wedding."

"Almost twenty years ago on Picon. Theo was at Fleet Headquarters. Bill had just gotten an appointment to his staff. He was there for two years before he was posted back to the Galactica as her CAG. Theo was very fond of Bill. He had a great deal of respect for him. Bill moved up quickly. He's going to be promoted again, but I'm sure you already know."

Laura looked at Fiona in surprise. "Bill is going to be promoted?"

"To Admiral. You didn't know?"

"I saw Bill early last week. He came over to meet with Lee and John. He didn't mention anything about a promotion."

"Bill is very modest and unpretentious. And then again, maybe I shouldn't have said anything yet. It's not going to happen until January. He probably wouldn't have told me, but I asked him if he shouldn't be in line for another promotion."

Laura smiled to cover the hurt she was feeling. She and Bill had been close friends for the last four years and he'd told Fiona of his promotion first.

"When did he tell you?"

"Last Saturday night. We had dinner and went back to his apartment for a drink. I'm afraid we sat up far too late talking. Chuck was pacing the floor when I got back to the house. He thought something had happened to me. Now that I have a full-time job, I'm seriously thinking about getting my own place."

"You don't have a mobile phone?" Laura asked in surprise.

"It was turned off."

"Well, I'm very happy for Bill...about the promotion."

"You're hurt that he didn't tell you first."

"No, of course not."

"Yes, you are. I know that twenty years ago Bill was in love with someone other than his wife. He thought about divorcing, but he had an infant son. My husband was his CO and his friend. Bill talked to Theo about it on more than one occasion. Theo shouldn't have, but he told me. I didn't know who the other woman was until I met you. I knew as soon as you looked at him for help with Ellen Tigh during the dinner party. I saw it in his eyes."

"I wasn't the other woman," Laura said coolly. "My relationship with Bill ended before his marriage…by his choice. We didn't see each other for many years, not until we served together on the negotiating team. We've become very close friends since then."

"Ah, but you know what our romantic poets say, a man never forgets his first love. And neither does a woman."

"I've moved on," Laura said. "Bill made a choice over twenty years ago and he made the same choice four years ago. It wasn't me either time."

"Have you ever thought there might have been a reason?"

Laura suddenly smiled as she felt the baby move. "Right now I wouldn't change my life for anything."

Fiona put the picture back on Laura's desk. "I'm very envious of you."

"You're very forthright."

Fiona laughed. "Outspoken is more like it. My father was a linguistics professor at Libran University. He was also the faculty advisor of the Debate Club. He encouraged me from the time I was a little girl to speak up…within reason, of course."

"You were a daddy's girl, too?"

"I certainly was."

Laura glanced at her watch and pushed herself to her feet. "We should go or we'll be late for lunch. I think we might have a great deal in common...besides being daddy's girls."

"Something more than Bill Adama?" Fiona asked with a mischievous look.

"When are you seeing him again?"

"Saturday night. We're going to dinner. I would ask you and John to join us, but…" Fiona left the sentence unfinished.

"No, you're perfectly right. Bill needs to…he needs to move on."

Fiona smiled. "Are you having a boy or a girl or do you know?"

"A boy."

"The moment your son is born, the rest of the world will cease to exist for you for a while. Even Bill Adama."

"Then I leave Bill in your capable hands," Laura said.

"Oh my," Fiona said. "Couldn't you have found another way of phrasing that?"

Both women laughed as they walked out of Laura's office.

"That's a lovely scarf," Laura said.

"Thank you. It covers my wrinkles very well."

...

The last Friday in October, Kara and Lee sat in a booth at Zeno's. She had finished her mid-term exams that afternoon. She had the entire next week free before she had to report back to the Academy. Sharon had gotten a discount on a trip from the travel agency where she used to work, and she and Karl were going to a beach south of Delphi for the week. Kara was jealous.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get off," Lee said. "But with this mission coming up in two weeks, I couldn't."

"There'll be other times. Are you sure you won't rethink..."

"Kara, we've been over that a hundred times. I'm going to do the mission."

"Okay. No more questions about the mission."

"How do you think you did on your mid-terms?"

"I know I did good on Basic Flight. I knew every single question on the exam. My dad didn't give a mid-term exactly. He's averaging the scores of all our sims to come up with a grade. The rest, I don't know. I guess I'll see when I get back."

Kara glanced at the door. Frogman had just come in alone. He passed her and Lee on his way to a booth in the back. She knew he recognized her, but he didn't acknowledge her. He was still following resistance protocol.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said to Lee. "I need to speak to somebody."

"Your former contact in that exclusive club you and your dad belonged to?"

"He's a nice guy."

"Should I be jealous?" Lee grinned.

Kara snorted. "He's as old as my father." She got up, walked to the back booth and sat down across from Frogman.

"Hi. Waiting for someone?"

Frogman gave her one of his rare smiles. "How are you, Sassy?"

"Studying hard. I'm at the Academy now. I'm going to be a pilot like my dad."

"I see you're dating one of the Adama brothers."

She smiled and nodded.

"Does he know about what you did before?"

"He knows. I told you we could trust him. We're really all on the same side."

"I'd like to think so."

"You'll see. You're not getting ready to blow something else up, are you?"

Frogman smiled again. "Good luck with your career as a pilot. Give my regards to your father."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll see you in here again sometime."

As Kara walked back to the booth she and Lee were sharing, she saw Mrs. Nagala come in the door. Tonight instead of one of the business suits, Mrs. Nagala, or Mrs. Peele as Frogman probably called her, was wearing black jeans and a heavy ivory-colored sweater. Her dark hair was down around her shoulders instead of pulled back like she wore it in class. In the dim light she looked younger and a lot sexier than she did at the Academy. They passed each other just before Kara sat down. Mrs. Nagala acknowledged her with a smile but didn't speak.

"That's Mrs. Nagala," Kara said.

"You're kidding. That's the admiral's widow? He must have been about twenty years older than her. Is she dating Frogman?"

"She's dating your dad."

"Oh, great," Lee said. "You and your dad quit your involvement with Frogman's group and now my dad is seeing somebody who's in the same situation."

"She probably told him. If he keeps seeing her, then that's his decision."

"I wonder if Colonel Winters knows?"

Kara shrugged. "She's not an operative. She's just a messenger. That's all she does. She carries information."

"My dad still needs to know."

"It's not up to you to tell him. I trusted you with something. You're not going to betray me, are you?"

"No, Kara. I'm not going to betray you."

"Good, because I want to go back to your apartment with you tonight."

"And that's contingent on me keeping my mouth shut?"

Kara grinned. "It's hard to kiss with your mouth shut, isn't it?"

Lee shut his eyes for a moment. Kara knew exactly how to distract him. He thought about the picnic again and the Viper simulator.

"How long is it going to take you to finish that beer?"

"It's getting warm, anyway. Let's go."

Lee threw several cubits on the table. "You talked me into it. Isn't my bedroom going to seem a little tame after a simulator cockpit?"

"I'll settle for it. It's a lot more comfortable."

"So, no bad boy tonight?"

"I didn't say that."

...

Kara got up early on Saturday morning. She knew she could sleep in today, but the thing Sharon had told her about Captain Reider had been on her mind for the last two weeks. She had asked Sharon only once if she'd seen the girl that Reider had raped or coerced into having sex. But Sharon had said the girl had not been in PE since the incident.

Kara dressed and went into the kitchen. She got juice from the refrigerator and a bagel that she smeared with honey and sat at the kitchen table and ate. Then she found the pad that Jennet used to make her grocery list, tore out a page, and wrote a note for her dad or Laura, whichever one of them got up first.

Gone for a ride on the bike. Be back before lunch. K

She went back to her bedroom, pulled on a heavy sweater, got her black leather jacket, her gloves, helmet and the keys to the bike. She rode over to MediFirst. Jack was in his office. He was glad to see her, and they sat and drank coffee and talked for nearly an hour.

He told her that the emergency deliveries had slowed down a great deal since a new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant had been completed near Kinsdale and hospitals could now stock more drugs. He said he envisioned a day in the future when emergency deliveries might dwindle to a few per day. They were still delivering to the clinics, though, and picking up the unused drugs in the evening. He said crime in some sections of the city was worse than ever.

The biggest news Jack had, though, was that Galen Tyrol had quit and joined the military. Jack said Tyrol had been in a relationship with a young woman and it had ended because she didn't want to marry him. Tyrol had just finished basic training and was soon going to be posted to a battlestar on the deck crew.

Kara could tell Jack was sorry to lose his chief mechanic and a young man whose skill and knowledge he had grown to respect.

By 9:30 she was parked on the street outside Leoben's bookstore. The bookstore opened at nine. She sat on the bike for a few minutes trying to make up her mind. She knew her father would be furious if he knew where she was. Lee would be furious, too. She took a deep breath and got off the bike.

The bell tinkled as she opened the door. She looked around. The bookstore seemed to be deserted. Then Leoben walked out from a door in the back with a coffee cup in his hand.

Kara walked over to the counter. For a few moments he simply looked at her. Finally he said, "How long have you known?"

"From the beginning."

"What beginning?"

"I met you in the camp. And then I saw you…a couple of places here in Caprica City. You said you'd never been to Antioch. You said you didn't have a twin brother. There were a couple of other things, too. How long have you known?"

"I knew for sure the day you and your father came in. Before that it had been flashes…strange memories…a place with red lights…a bathtub full of goo. And not being able to remember my childhood. Just the last couple of years."

"Why are you running this bookstore?"

"I don't know. I live a simple life. I sell books and talk to people."

"Haven't any of the…others…ever contacted you?"

"No. Why didn't you turn me in? Why didn't your father?"

"I made him promise not to."

"Why?"

"Because my destiny is somehow linked to yours. I don't know how. I don't understand it, yet. The Oracle told me."

"That our destinies are linked?"

Kara nodded.

"She called me by name?"

"No. She said the one who didn't know what he was. At the time you didn't."

"After you left that day with your father, I kept waiting for someone to come. I kept waiting for a bullet or a bomb or being tied to a chair in a little room."

"You'd just resurrect and come back."

"It's called downloading. When this body dies, our consciousness…our memories download into another body."

"Up on the resurrection hub?"

"That's right."

"Why don't you have a place down here on the planet where you can download?"

"I don't know. Somebody would probably destroy it like they did the lab."

"How do you know right from wrong?"

"The law?"

"No, anybody can read about laws. How do you know what's right and what's wrong?"

"You mean morality?"

"I guess that's what I'm asking. Like there's no law against lying to someone, but it's still wrong."

"How do you know what's right and wrong?"

"My mother taught me. But you didn't have a mother. How do you know?"

"I guess it was put into my mind at some point."

"You mean your programming?"

"I can't think of it like that anymore than you can. Did your mother program morality into you?"

"No. She taught me."

"What's the difference how you come by a set of morals?"

Kara couldn't think of a way to answer him. "Do you think what you did was right…killing all those humans?"

"What did we do that humans haven't been doing to each other for many thousands of years?"

"My dad said the difference is that you were going to wipe out the whole human race."

"That would never have been my decision…not my choice."

"But Cavil would do it."

"He didn't, though. He stopped before he did it."

"Only because he wanted to figure out a way to make hybrids and he needed our help. At that lab outside the city, they made a baby that's half-human, half-Cylon. It was born a few weeks ago. The mother gave it up and the Cylons took it somewhere."

Kara saw Leoben's face harden. "You're sure about that?"

"I'm sure. Cavil also had a virus made that keeps women from having babies. He had another Cylon put it in vaccines given to little kids."

Leoben shook his head. "I don't believe that."

"It's true. My dad thinks the only way a woman will be able to have a baby in the future is to get implanted with a hybrid or a pure Cylon since Cylons can't make babies."

Leoben repeated. "I don't believe it."

"Laura said it's just another way for you to commit genocide."

"Me?" Leoben said angrily. "Why do you keep lumping me in with the ones who have done this? If what you're saying is true, I didn't make any of those decisions."

"But you're one of them. If it came down to the wire, you'd side with them. You'd side with your own kind."

"You're sure about that?"

"Do you believe what they've done is wrong? Morally wrong?"

The inner struggle was reflected on his face. Finally he said, "Yes."

"Why don't you go see the Oracle and see what she has to say?"

"What if she can tell…what I am? What if she tells somebody?"

Kara shrugged. "I didn't think about that."

"You'll have to go see her for me. You said our destinies are linked."

The bell over the door tinkled and an elderly couple walked in.

"Maybe I'll do that. I'd better go."

"You'll come back, won't you?"

"When the time is right. When I know something."

"I'll be waiting."