Chapter 67

Solo Flight

Working on an anonymous tip that was said to have originated in Sovana, members of the President's anti-terrorism task force were able to intercept a shipment of explosives bound for Caprica City that was rumored to be slated for use in bombing multiple voting centers during the Presidential election in November. Citing security reasons, Special Agent Vladimir Darren, head of the task force would neither confirm nor deny the validity of the rumor.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

The corporal with the mail cart dropped several inter-office envelops onto Lee Adama's desk and kept going down the hall. A month previously Lee had volunteered to move out of the big room where Parker's eight senior interrogators sat and move into a small, one-man office nearer to the boss as Lee often thought of Major Parker. During the time he had worked for Parker, Lee had come to respect Parker's quick intelligence and fairness. Lee had rarely seen Parker lose his cool and never seen him yell at anyone the way he knew others did. He'd never seen Parker belittle anyone even for a dumb mistake. Parker expected good work, but he also gave everyone the chance to learn and learning sometimes meant making mistakes. Lee knew that he had certainly made his share.

There was one thing, though, that Parker wouldn't tolerate in his interrogators and that was cruelty to a prisoner or the petty use of the power that the interrogators had. Parker dealt with that swiftly as Lee had seen.

Parker had brought two new interrogators into the department. One of them was a replacement for Ackerman who had been permanently assigned to Sovana, a city that had turned out to be a gold mine for information gathering. There was so much going wrong in Sovana now that even the lowliest street perps had information to trade in exchange for a reduction in the charges against them. When the police arrested a suspect who claimed to have information about the Resistance, they turned the suspect over to the military. Sooner or later most were questioned by Ackerman who had proved adept at being able to cut through what was mostly fabrication and what warranted a second look.

Lee had never liked Ackerman, especially after the incident involving Kara, but he had to admit that Ackerman seemed to be getting results in Sovana. The rough, lawless nature of the city seemed tailor made for a man like him. Lee sometimes wondered how many heads Ackerman got to slam into a table on a daily basis. Maybe Parker had known how well Ackerman would take to Sovana. Parker was a smart man. He'd given his counterpart in Sovana an asset and he'd also gotten rid of a liability in his Caprica unit.

Ackerman's replacement, a seasoned MP, plus a very green second lieutenant just out of the Academy needed to be in the room with the senior interrogators. They needed another desk. Lee had volunteered to move. At first he missed the companionship, especially that of Captain Jill Hadrian whom Lee had come to think of as his mentor, but Lee also knew that he usually worked better alone. He wasn't doing much interrogating these days anyway. Parker had decided that Lee's most useful talent lay along the lines of data analysis. So Lee analyzed, taking data that was provided by others and looking for patterns, looking for anomalies, looking for links between events that others had missed. It was often boring, but Lee knew he had become good at it. He also knew he wasn't going to be doing it for the rest of his career. Things would change after they destroyed the Cylons. Lee was fairly certain he would get a promotion to Captain and a new assignment…if he survived.

For over a year Lee had officially checked Neil's blog several times a week looking for clues about the Resistance in the often-confusing stream-of-consciousness style entries that were posted under the name of Martin Spiller. But six weeks previously the entries had abruptly stopped. There had been nothing in the last journal entry to indicate Speigel was going to quit writing so Lee had feared the worst. After two weeks of silence he had used his security access and had combed through the arrest and death records in Sovana. He had done it weekly since then.

There were a lot of deaths in Sovana these days, almost as many deaths as there were arrests. With no Cylon help at all, humans seemed to be killing each other in that city at an alarming rate. The degeneration of one of the oldest cities on the planet into an enclave for smugglers, drug dealers, other criminals and corruption in the local government seemed to amuse Cavil. Lee finally understood why Cavil continued to do nothing as the city edged toward lawlessness and chaos. It validated Cavil's belief in Cylon superiority. Cavil often used the example of Sovana to point out the depravity and inferiority of humans as he told of the peaceful and democratic process by which the Cylons governed themselves.

Lee was one of the few people on the planet who knew that the Cylon process of decision-making wasn't always peaceful. Cavil had ordered his centurions to kill a copy of Leoben when that copy had protested too strongly against the destruction of the Colonies. Not only had killed him, but Cavil had wiped his memory and sent him to Caprica City to sell books and learn about the nature of the humans Leoben had wanted to spare. If Cavil had wanted Leoben to see the worst of human nature, he should have put him in Sovana.

Lee gritted his teeth every time he heard one of Cavil's speeches. But listening to Cavil's speeches and analyzing them was now part of his job so he listened. They were rambling, narcissistic, long-winded verbal tomes on Cylon superiority. There were some physicians and psychiatrists who thought they saw deterioration in Cavil's thought processes. Over the last month, Lee had listened to every recorded speech he could find and had compared them to some speeches made several years earlier. He was beginning to agree with the doctors. Cavil's speeches seemed less focused, more given to strange abstract ideas and repetitive ranting. Lee had already begun to wonder if Cavil's Cylon brain might not be undergoing the same thing that sometimes happened to the aging human brain. Could Cavil be showing the beginning of a Cylon version of dementia or senility in those silica pathways? Sharon had told Kara that Cavil had deleted his sleep subroutines. The human body repaired itself during sleep. Could lack of sleep be playing a part in Cavil's deterioration?

In six months it wouldn't matter, but for now, Lee listened to the speeches and tried to find clues to the Cylon's long-range plans for Caprica. And when he had a few free moments, Lee also looked for Neil Spiegel.

Just this morning he had once again checked for a blog entry. Finding nothing new Lee had searched arrest records under both Neil Spiegel and Martin Spiller. He had finally searched morgue records under both names and then all the UDMs or Unknown Deceased Males from approximately fifteen to thirty. He knew that Neil's fingerprints were on file, but in the overburdened Sovana coroner's office with its deteriorating computer infrastructure, a technician missing a set of fingerprints wouldn't be surprising.

One by one Lee had pulled up the morgue photographs and breathed a sigh of relief. Neil was not among the dead young men, at least not today. It gave Lee hope that Neil had done something better with his life.

He had just begun to wonder how Laura was going to handle the problem of Sovana after her election and they were free of the Cylons, when his phone rang. It was his father's office number. Lee hadn't heard from him for over a week, not since he had dropped his father off that Saturday morning on their way back from the boneyard.

His father asked Lee to meet him for lunch at a small restaurant near the base. Bill was already there when Lee walked in.

"I ordered you a cup of coffee," Bill said.

"Thanks. What's up?"

"I told you I'd keep you informed of my decisions on Operation Sadie."

Lee felt his stomach lurch but kept his expression neutral.

"I'm going to call Major Parker after lunch and let him know you'll be working on a special project for me during the afternoons for the indefinite future. I want you out at the boneyard working on those computer flight simulations."

"Does this mean…?"

"You're my pilot, Lee. You're going to jump Sadie to Nereid."

Lee was so stunned that for a moment he didn't move or say a thing. He wasn't even sure he had breathed.

Adama grunted. "I thought I'd get more of a reaction than that."

"I'm still trying to convince myself I just heard you say I would be flying Sadie."

"You heard me right. This is the point of no return for piloting that Raider. If you want to do it, then give me a yes now. Otherwise I move down the list to my next choice."

"Who is?"

"Yes or no, Lee?"

"Yes."

He got a tight smile from his father. "Good," Bill said.

The waiter came and took their orders for lunch.

Lee toyed with the spoon at his place setting. "When did you make your decision?"

"This morning."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Not yet. I'm going by Laura and John's place tonight on my way home. John has the surface maps of Nereid ready for me. I'm going to tell him then."

"Is he the reason you didn't pick Kara for the mission?"

"No."

"Why didn't you?"

"Put yourself in my place, Lee. Why do you think I didn't?"

"Her lack of experience?"

"That's right. She's smart and I could feel her enthusiasm out at the hangar that day. Her sim scores are outstanding. She thinks on her feet, even a bit outside of the box. She's doing extremely well in Flight School, but I couldn't see handing this mission to a green pilot, jeopardizing the mission and putting her life at risk. She doesn't have the experience yet. One day she will. I have no doubt of that. She's going to be an exceptional pilot, as good as her father, maybe better."

"She's probably going to be upset. I think she really wanted this mission."

"This was a military decision. There was nothing personal in it. I hope she understands."

"So you want me to start working with Mr. Rafferty?"

"It's Dr. Rafferty. He has two PhDs, one of them in astrophysics, the other in aeronautical engineering, but he'd rather you call him Rick. Actually you'll be working with his chief computer technician. I can't remember his name, but Rick will introduce you to him and explain it all to you next Monday afternoon."

"Is it all right if I tell Kara?"

"Why don't you let me do that tonight when I go by the apartment? I made the decision. It should come from me."

"Kara will probably graduate at the top of her Viper class."

"I never doubted that she would," Bill said.

…

Kara sat on the terrace going over the next day's maneuvers in one of her flight manuals. Her second check ride was coming up at the end of the week. Tomorrow she was going to have to stall her Viper and recover from it. Then she was going to have to put it into a downward spiral and recover from that. The next day she would have to demonstrate her ability to do an emergency landing. On paper, the maneuvers often ran together for her, but as soon as she got into the Viper, she was able to clear her mind and remember everything.

She had heard some of the other nuggets use the term brain fire referring to what happened to their thinking when they were trying to fly the Viper, read their instruments and listen to their instructor all at the same time. So far she had never experienced that muddle of thinking when the brain reaches overload and consumes itself in an inferno of fried synapses, but that didn't mean it couldn't or wouldn't ever happen to her.

She looked at her manual again and started down the stall sequence for the twentieth time, committing the steps to memory and then letting herself pilot her ship during an imaginary stall.

Behind her the terrace door opened. She didn't turn around, certain that it was her father coming to tell her that it was getting too dark to see her manuals. Instead she heard the admiral's voice.

"It's nice out here in the early evening."

Kara closed the emergency procedures manual and stood. She hoped he would overlook the wrinkled shorts and t-shirt. "Hello, Admiral Adama."

"Sit down, please. Have I interrupted your studying?"

Kara sat. "It's getting too dark out here to read anyway."

He had a drink in his hand. He came over and sat in the chair beside her. "I never realized you could see the peak of the Capitol Building from here."

"Yes, sir. In a straight line it's not too far. Three miles, maybe."

He sipped his drink. "I picked Lee to fly the mission to Nereid. I wanted to be the one to tell you. It was my choice. My decision."

His news didn't surprise Kara. She'd been expecting it ever since Lee had ridden out to the boneyard again with his father, but the fact that the admiral had made his decision this soon did surprise her. She didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say.

Bill Adama went on. "I want you to know that the only thing that took you out of the running for this mission was your lack of experience as a pilot. And the fact that you're still in Flight School. Lee is going to start working with computer simulations of flying the Raider next week. We're going to do everything we can to insure that it's a safe mission for him."

"I understand," Kara said. "You made a good choice, sir. Lee's a good pilot."

"I know he is. He performed well on the mission that got us the two Raiders."

"He'll do good on this one, too."

"I think so or I wouldn't have picked him. I want you to know there will be other missions in the future, missions you'll definitely be considered for. You're going to be a good pilot, too, and a valuable asset to us. I want you to know I was very impressed by your willingness and by your enthusiasm."

"Have you told my dad?"

Bill took a sip of his drink. "I wanted to tell you first. I felt like I owed you that much. I'll be glad to tell him…or you can."

"I'll do it. He'll be happy. I know he didn't want me to get the mission."

"No father wants to see his child put in harm's way. This was a very hard decision for me to make. I weighed a number of factors as I made it."

"Lee will be okay."

"I know he will." Bill stood. "Are you going inside?"

"I'm just going to sit out here for a few more minutes. Thank you, sir, for telling me."

Behind her she again heard the door open and then close. Being inside that Raider had felt so right, though. How could she have been wrong about it? Still she understood Admiral Adama's reasons for picking Lee. He had flown a Viper for almost three years. He had flown in deep space for a year. He knew about his father's plan. Lee was the right pilot for the mission. She stared at the brightest stars, just now visible in the twilight sky. Somewhere among them was Nereid's sun. One day in the not too distant future the man she loved would jump a Raider there.

Her father sat down in the chair beside her. "Are you all right?"

She shrugged. "He told you?"

"He didn't have to. I knew when he asked to speak to you alone what he had come for."

"I know you're glad."

"Do you blame me? Do you not understand why I don't want you in that Raider for this mission?"

"I understand," Kara said, disappointment shortening her words for the first time.

"Bill thinks a great deal of you and your abilities or he would never have even considered you for the mission. You can bet he'll consider you for future missions. I'm sure he weighed all the factors in making his choice."

"He picked Lee."

"That doesn't surprise me. Lee will do a good job. And it means Bill doesn't have to reveal his plan to yet another person. Are you coming in?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be by myself for a while."

Her father got up, leaned down and kissed the top of her head. She heard the door open and close. She looked up again at the darkening sky and the stars, those distant torches of other worlds. She wouldn't jump Sadie this time, but one day she would travel to Nereid just like the Oracle had said. She was sure of it.

She felt some of the disappointment begin to lift. She would finish Flight School. She would go to the Galactica and get some experience flying a Viper in deep space. She would help rid Caprica of the Cylons, and one day, not long after they were free, Admiral Adama would take the fleet and they would journey to another world. They would destroy the Cylon homeworld on Nereid and make the galaxy safe for humans once again.

…

Laura walked into the den after putting her son to bed. John and Bill were seated side by side on the couch. John's laptop computer was open on Bill's lap. John pointed to something on the screen.

"…and if the Cylons destroyed the unstable dam, they wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of it collapsing and flooding the northern part of the city. I don't think they would have gone to the trouble to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. The infrastructure is already in place, the water and sewer and the roads. Irina didn't personally see the city, but she said her husband did. He said some of the buildings were still habitable. The Cylons could tear down the others and start building again."

"They still have one stable dam to provide a source of power?"

"One dam and a hydroelectric plant near the city. The question then becomes what they would have done with any prisoners they took…providing they took human prisoners like we think they did."

"You don't think they would house them in the city?"

"I think the city is too close to the mountains and the possibility of freedom should any of them escape. Personally I think they would have built a prison somewhere else, somewhere more remote."

"Which could be anywhere."

"Yes, but they wouldn't want to go too far from the city. A couple hundred miles to the east, the topography changes and becomes high desert. There's a large plateau that rises half a mile or more above the desert floor. It's approximately fifty miles in diameter. A large portion in the center of it is flat. I think it would be an ideal place for a prison. In the event some prisoners managed to escape, they would have nowhere to hide. According to one of the journal entries, the mountains west of the city are full of caves, full of good hiding places. There's abundant game in the forest. Prisoners escaping from the city might stand a chance if they made it to the mountains. On that plateau they wouldn't stand any chance. They'd have nowhere to hide. No chance at all."

"Would the Cylons think that way?" Laura asked. "What would they know of good hiding places and abundant game? Hunter-gatherer Cylons is something of an oxymoron to me."

Bill smiled. "Leave it to Laura to think of something like that."

"A nuclear device doesn't care if the Cylon's living quarters are in the mountains or on a plateau," Laura said. "Lee will fly the entire area around the ruined city from east to west. His reconnaissance will determine where the Cylons are and where Bill will direct our nukes."

"What about the prisoners?" John asked.

Laura and Bill looked at each other. Bill said, "I've made a military decision not to attempt to rescue any prisoners."

"Why not?"

"I agree with Bill," Laura said quickly. "To attempt a rescue would put too many of our personnel and our battlestars at risk. It will be my official stance if I'm elected."

"I think that decision is premature and presumptive!" John said the anger clear in his voice. "We're talking about human beings who have survived five years of hell, possibly thousands of them. They don't deserve to be nuked along with their captors."

"I agree that they certainly don't deserve it," Laura said softly, "but at what point does the risk outweigh the gain? Our battlestars are needed to protect the millions of humans still living on Caprica. Can we afford to lose that protection?"

"Bill doesn't intend to take all his battlestars to Nereid," John said.

Bill said, "But the loss of even one hurts our ability to protect this planet, not to mention that in losing even one battlestar, we may be losing more humans than we'd be rescuing on Nereid."

John looked at Laura. "It's a good thing you didn't feel that way about the humans in the refugee camps outside of Antioch and Sovana and Kinsdale, isn't it? It's a good thing you didn't decide to write off all those humans as more trouble than they were worth."

Laura suddenly realized one of the reasons this had upset John so much. Kara had been in one of those camps.

"John, that was different," Laura said.

"How was it different? Human life is human life! What difference does it make what planet it's on?"

Bill finished the rest of his drink and stood. "I'll wait to make a final decision until I see what kind of information Lee brings us."

Laura looked at Bill and their eyes locked. He had already made his decision, and he knew her feelings on the matter. He didn't have to say it again and neither did she.

"I'll see myself out," Bill said.

After he was gone, John walked over to the terrace door before he turned.

"When did you plan to tell me what you and Bill had decided?"

"I assumed that Bill had already told you. You've discussed Nereid numerous times. You've discussed the mission. I thought you knew and agreed with him."

"We've discussed the mission. We've discussed the fact that there are probably human prisoners on the planet, but Bill failed to mention the little detail that he considers them expendable. I can't believe you agree with him. After you stood up to Cavil over the refugees and after the way you put your life on the line for a hundred students at the university, I can't believe you can write off thousands of humans as necessary casualties of war, as collateral damage."

"You don't understand."

"What don't I understand? Explain it to me!"

"From a military point of view…"

"Forget the military point of view," John said angrily. "I got the military point of view from Bill. I want your point of view! I want to hear how a humanitarian justifies nuking human prisoners."

"As President I'll be called on to make a number of very difficult decisions."

"You're not answering my question."

"We need every battlestar we've got to protect Caprica. We can't stand the loss of even one. The needs of the millions of people on Caprica outweigh the needs of a few thousand captive humans on Nereid."

"We may lose battlestars getting rid of the Cylons here. In fact if anything goes wrong with destroying that basestar and we have to fight them here, we probably will."

"Then we can't afford to lose any more trying to rescue prisoners that may or may not have lived through what the Cylons have done to them. It takes several years to build a battlestar. We have one shipyard on Caprica. It will take months to get production going again. Consider what that means."

"There's something more going on with you. What is it?"

"Our son," Laura finally said in anguish. "We've got to protect our son."

"Why do you think we're getting rid of the Cylons in the first place? We're doing it to protect all the children of Caprica, not just Braedon. We're doing that so that they can all grow up free. I'm sorry. I'm just not making the connection between that and nuking human prisoners."

"If the Cylons are on Nereid and we don't destroy them, they could come here again. We could face another holocaust and this time there won't be any negotiations. This time they'll kill us all."

"I still don't see why you think we can't destroy the Cylons on Nereid without killing their human prisoners."

"Then let's just say we disagree and leave it at that. I'm not going to change my mind, John. I stand with Bill on this."

"What if someone you loved were on Nereid? What if Kara or Lee or Bill or me were on that planet? Would you nuke us along with the rest of the prisoners? Does your compassion for humanity stop at the Kármán Line above Caprica? Would the needs of the many still outweigh the needs of the few?"

Laura felt something cold pierce her heart. "Oh, gods, John. Don't ask me to answer a question like that. You're not being fair to me. None of you are on that planet. You're all here on Caprica."

He drew a long breath and let it out, poured a drink and went out onto the terrace without another word.

Laura placed her hand over her heart and rubbed the cold ache that seemed to have settled there. She had not expected that kind of reaction from John. He was a military man, a former Viper pilot. She had expected him to agree with her and Bill. She had not expected his vehement objection. She still believed that she was right, though. She still believed that the need to protect Caprica outweighed the risk of trying to rescue prisoners on Nereid.

Sadly she picked up her notepad and put on her glasses. She had another speech to write.

…

Kara heard the door open again. When she turned, she saw her father. He came over and sat down beside her.

"Is the admiral gone?" She asked.

"He's gone."

Her father sounded angry. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Laura and I are on opposite sides of the fence on an important issue."

"What happened to compromise?" Kara asked. "You've told me a couple of times that relationships are all about compromise and talking things out."

"Sometimes you can't compromise," her father said. "Sometimes it all comes down to who you are and what you believe. I don't think there's any way she and I will be able to compromise on this issue."

"Which is?"

"I don't want to drag you into it right now. We'll talk about it later. You need to concentrate on what you'll be doing tomorrow."

"I know. I'm going to my room and study some more," she said as she stood up.

He reached over and squeezed her hand. "Don't stay up too late. You need your sleep. I love you, baby."

Even in her preoccupied state Kara could tell that whatever had just happened between her father and Laura had been big. But she didn't ask any more questions. She went to her room and lay across the bed. Finally she unplugged her phone from its charger on the nightstand and called Lee. He picked up on the first ring, almost like he had the phone by his side waiting for her call.

"Congratulations," she said to him and hoped her voice showed him that she meant it.

"Thanks. Are you okay with my dad's decision?"

"Yes and no. Yes because I think you're the best choice. And no because I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You understand why he didn't…"

"Lee, you don't have to make excuses to me for why he chose you. He explained it."

"I know you're disappointed."

Kara took a deep breath. "I really thought…but it's not important now."

"Thought what, Kara? It's important to me."

"I think I just misunderstood the Oracle. That's all."

"The Oracle told you that you were going to fly the Raider?"

"No. She told me I would journey to another world. I was the one who thought that meant I would fly Sadie. Now I think it means I'll be on the Galactica when we go to wipe out the Cylons there. I will journey to Nereid…just not the way I first thought."

"Then you and I are okay?"

"We're okay, Lee. I want to hear all about your training for the mission. I want to hear every single detail. Promise me."

"I will. What are you doing tomorrow in Flight School?"

"Stalls and spins."

"Both of those can be dangerous. Be careful."

Kara smiled. "I'm always careful. Besides, I got Jessups as my instructor for tomorrow. He'll keep me straight."

"Your new best friend," Lee teased. "Who have you got for your next check ride?"

"I don't know yet. It'll be posted Thursday afternoon."

"After Friday you'll be half way through with your check rides. If you do good on that one, you'll get to solo next week."

"I can't wait, Kara said.

"Zak has asked us to go out with him on Saturday night. Do you want to do it?"

"Zak or Zak and Maggie?"

"Zak and Maggie. I think Sam and Maya are going, too."

"If Sam and Maya are going to be there, I can handle it."

"You shouldn't let this thing with you and Maggie go on forever."

"Maggs and I are okay. We speak when we see each other. She and I are never going to be good friends. There's just too much history."

"So I should tell Zak yes?"

"Where are we going?"

"Probably Crocodiles. That seems to be his and Sam's choice of a watering hole."

"Maybe I'll mention it to Karl and Sharon, too."

"Sure. Why not?" Lee said. "The more the merrier."

…

Lee raised his bottle of beer on Saturday night as they sat around a table at Crocodiles.

"To Kara Thrace who passed her second check ride with a 94 and who gets to solo next week," he said.

"Here. Here." Sam slapped the table. "To another Viper pilot in our midst."

Maya and Zak smiled. Maggie didn't exactly smile, but she raised her glass.

"And to Margaret Edmondson," Zak said with his beer still raised, "who is also going to pilot a Raptor next week with just an ECO for company and no instructor."

"To Maggie," Sam echoed.

"Congratulations," Kara said.

They all drank.

Lee leaned over and whispered to Kara. "What happened to Sharon and Karl tonight?"

Kara whispered back, "Sharon screwed up her second check ride. She's having trouble with her landings. The instructor didn't flunk her, but she's got to do the check ride again before they'll clear her to solo. Karl called me this afternoon and said she didn't want to come out tonight. She's being really hard on herself."

"That surprises me," Lee said. "You'd think a machine…."

"Maybe that proves she's not so perfect after all. Maybe she can download the flight manuals, but that doesn't mean she can fly the ship without problems."

Zak punched Lee's shoulder lightly. "No whispering, you two. Save it for later."

Kara grinned. "Just talking shop."

Maggie didn't say anything. Kara was sure Maggie knew about Sharon's check ride. Things like that got around quickly.

"Save the shop talk for later, too," Zak said. "This isn't The Shark Rider."

"What do you know about The Shark Rider?" Kara asked in surprise. "I didn't think you went slumming down on the waterfront."

"I know all about The Shark Rider where nuggets go to forget the stresses of Flight School."

"Just like Crocodiles where jocks and their PR guys go to…whatever."

Sam smiled. "You'd better quit while you're ahead," he said to Zak. "I don't want Kara giving my beautiful date the wrong impression about me."

Sam had his arm across the back of Maya's chair. Kara had never seen Maya looking as pretty as she did tonight. Her shining dark hair was down around her shoulders and she wore a red top over a black skirt that showed just enough of her legs to be hot. Kara had never realized what a good body Maya had either. She was wearing makeup, too. She never wore makeup when she was taking care of Braedon. With Maya's looks and gentle disposition, no wonder Sam Anders had a hard time keeping his eyes off her.

It wasn't long until Sam saw some of his fellow pyramid players come in and go to a table on the other side of the room. "Come on," he said to Maya and took her hand. "I want to introduce you to some friends of mine."

"Yep," Zak said as soon as they were away from the table. "He's a goner."

"You think so?" Kara asked. "You think one of Caprica's playboy princes has met his match? They've only been dating a couple of weeks."

"How long do you think it takes?" Zak asked her with a smile.

Kara thought about his question. It had taken her one night to know Lee was the man for her.

She looked at Lee and saw the love in his eyes before she turned to Zak. "Okay. I'll give you that one. I bow to the vast experience of Caprica's other playboy prince."

"Smart," Zak said. "We all eventually meet our match."

Kara looked at Maggie. Maggie finally smiled.

Later Kara and Maya walked to the restroom together. "You look really sharp tonight," Kara told her as they were washing their hands. "Sam looks seriously love-smacked."

"You think so?"

"I do."

Maya looked up and their eyes met in the mirror over the sink. Kara saw a sudden sadness in Maya's eyes.

"He reminds me of Peter. He's taller and handsomer, but…something about him…the way he laughs…maybe."

"Is that a problem?"

"I don't want to get my hopes up that he's like Peter in other ways and then be disappointed. Peter was kind and gentle and he loved me."

"Then have fun with Sam and forget about the rest right now."

"I'm not very good at that."

"Having fun?" Kara asked incredulously.

Maya blushed but held Kara's eyes in the mirror. "Sleeping with a man I'm not in love with. I'm not saying that will never happen, but I'm not in love with him now. He's been very good to me. He's taken me some very nice places, but...I just don't think I'm ready for anything else right now."

"I guess that's what Sam wants…I mean the sleeping with part. He's good-looking and he's a big sports star. He's used to having women throw themselves at him."

"I don't want to make a mistake. I don't want to get hurt again."

Kara said, "I don't know what to say. You probably shouldn't listen to me anyway. You're the one who knows what's best for you."

"Lee loves you. I can tell by the way he looks at you. You're so lucky."

"I know."

Maya attempted a perky smile, but the sadness was still in her eyes. "We'd best get back to the table. I don't want Sam to come looking for me."

…

Later that night at Lee's apartment, he said to Kara, "I'm still thinking about Sharon. I'm sorry she's having trouble learning to fly a Raptor. I just never thought…I mean she's a Cylon."

"I know what you mean. I was surprised, too. She aced most of the written tests. Before we started flying, Saunders told me he thought she would take top honors in the Raptor class. That's sure not going to happen now."

"You think he's going to get it?"

"Probably. He did great on his first check ride. I haven't talked to him about the second one yet, but I'm sure he did good on that one, too. Maybe Sharon is hardwired to fly Cylon ships. Stick her in a heavy Raider and maybe she'd know what to do."

"A Raptor isn't the easiest ship to learn to fly, but a ship is still a ship."

"She's got to get her wings. She's got to be on the Galactica with me and Karl."

He hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her to him. "I have it on good authority that some nuggets have the guts to question their instructors after their check rides."

"Oh yeah? Who would be that dumb?"

"My girlfriend. Maybe you've heard of her. Starbuck."

"Her? Yeah, I've heard of her. So you're her boyfriend? Lucky you."

"Lucky me," Lee said and kissed her.

They hadn't been together since the previous weekend. Lee knew how difficult some of the maneuvers were to learn and he had respected Kara's desire to study. He knew how important this part of Flight School was. Seeing her tonight, though, and sitting beside her at Crocodiles, it had been hard to keep his mind off making love to her.

His mouth slid around to her ear. "Let's go to the bedroom."

He took her hand and pulled her after him. They made it to the doorway before they started kissing again. They kept it up as they quickly shed their clothes. He held her against him.

"Go slow, Kara. Gods, go slow or this is going to be over before we get started. I've been thinking about this all night, all week really."

She pushed him back on the bed and crawled over him, staying on her hands and knees. She bent down and kissed him, her tongue teasing him, her mouth gently pulling at his.

His senses felt like they were on fire. She moaned softly against his mouth. He slid one of his hands down against her. She was already wet. She lowered her hips. He heard the soft moan again as she took him all the way in.

She tried. He knew she tried. She managed to go slow for a short while, but she was as ready as he was. The world dissolved into cascading liquid fire for him as her hands clutched his shoulders.

She lay on him, her face against his neck. His hands gently stroked her back.

"That might have been a record for both of us," he said. "I don't think we've been in here five minutes."

"More like two," she mumbled.

"Don't go to sleep, Kara. We can't go to sleep. I know we got spoiled while John and Laura were away."

"They had a fight about something," Kara said drowsily. "The other night when your dad was there. Things have been way cool between them the last couple of days."

"Do you know what it was about?"

"No. But it's been on my father's mind since then. I've asked him a couple of times and he told me to concentrate on Flight School, that we'd talk about it later."

"You don't think they fought about my dad, do you?"

"I don't think so. It might have had something to do with the refugee camps," she finally said.

"Why do you think that?"

"I'm not sure. My dad wants us to go back to the one where I was…after Flight School is over. I asked Karl one day at lunch last week if he wanted to go. He said he would think about it. Would you like to go with us?"

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"If you don't mind spending a day flying up to Antioch and back. I'm mostly going because my dad asked me to go. He wants to…I'm not sure what he wants to do. He was just there with Laura. I don't know why he wants to go back with me."

"Maybe this is something you need to share with him and Karl."

"Then you don't want to go?"

"I'll go if you want me to."

"I do." Kara slid down off of him and lay beside him. "I've tried to put that place behind me. It doesn't look the same anyway. I'm not sure what going back would accomplish, but I'm going to do it for my dad."

"There's something in our nature," Lee said, "in our human nature to want to build monuments to our dead. We build memorials so we can remember the dead…and honor them…honor their sacrifice, honor their suffering."

"There wasn't any sacrifice in the camp. Just mud and rats and suffering and death. Ugly death. Painful death. Because of the Cylons. I'm glad I'm going to be part of destroying them."

Lee thought of the morgue photos he'd seen as he had searched for Neil Spiegle. "I know what you mean. Death is ugly sometimes…and painful. But there was sacrifice in the camps. You told me what Maya did to try to save her little girl's life. That was sacrifice. I'm sure she's not the only one who did something like that."

"I never thought about it like that. I swear to the gods if Sam Anders hurts her, I'll…I don't know what I'll do to him. Maya deserves somebody who will treat her right. I think she wants to move on with her life, but I'm not sure Sam is the guy she should do it with. Sam isn't exactly a poster boy for sticking to one woman."

"If Zak is right about Sam's feelings…"

Kara snorted. "What does Zak know? He's as much of a playboy as Sam."

"He and Sam have been friends for over a year. Maybe Sam has told him how he feels about Maya."

Kara snorted again. "Guys don't tell other guys how they feel about a girl. They tell other guys if they're scoring or if they've got the hots for a girl, but they don't talk about their feelings to other guys."

"You're wrong."

"Oh, yeah? When was the last time you had a heart-to-heart with another guy about your feelings for me? I'll bet you've never told Zak you love me. I'll bet you never told your dad, either."

Lee didn't say anything. She was right. He hadn't. Finally he said, "That doesn't mean…"

"It's okay. You tell me you love me. That's what counts."

"You said Karl talks to you about his feelings for Sharon."

"Duh, Lee. I'm not a guy."

"Oh, yeah," Lee said feeling momentarily stupid.

"Karl and I have always talked to each other about stuff like that…except not so much lately because I mostly see him at lunch now and somebody else is always around."

"It'll be different if you're both on the G together. You'll have a lot of time to catch up."

"That's the good thing. The bad thing is you won't be there."

"After we defeat the Cylons, I'm going to ask my dad to get me transferred to the Galactica."

"You are? I thought you said you'd never ask him for a favor or…"

"You're worth it. I can handle going back to a battlestar as long as you're on it."

"So the second time you go to Nereid we'll be together?"

"We'll be together."

...

Laura awoke and looked at the clock. Just after two a.m. She wasn't sure what had awakened her and she listened. The baby monitor on the bedside table was quiet. It hadn't been Braedon. She rolled over. John wasn't in bed with her. She got up and looked into the hallway. The apartment was dark and quiet.

Without bothering to put her robe over her nightgown, she walked barefoot down the hall. The den was dark, the only light coming through the terrace door from the sliver of moon barely visible in the sky.

She opened the door and walked outside. John was sitting on one of the cushioned lounge chairs, a drink in his hand. She walked to the balustrade of the terrace and looked across the river at the lighted dome of the Capitol Building in the distance. Beyond the Capitol was Marble House, the official residence of the President of the Colonies. If she were elected, then in six months they would be moving from the apartment into Marble House for her four-year term of office. If she sought re-election and won, they might not be back here for eight years. Their son would be in school, a fourth grader. The thought was almost frightening to her.

Still looking across the river, she said, "You're up early or did you ever come to bed?"

"I couldn't sleep," John said softly. "I didn't want to wake you."

She turned. He was wearing a t-shirt and his pajama bottoms.

She walked over and sat down on the edge of the cushion beside him. "May I?" She asked as she took his drink.

"Help yourself."

The whiskey was straight, just the way she liked it. A man's drink, Chuck Winters had called it. She took a sip. It burned going down. She handed it back to him.

"What's keeping you awake?" She asked, although she was certain she already knew.

He shrugged and didn't answer her right away. "A lot of things," he finally said.

"Is it what we talked about when Bill was here this week?"

"I never dreamed the whole time I was helping him with this part of the plan that I was helping condemn thousands of innocent humans. Or that my wife would be okay with it."

"John, you can't look at it like that."

"Then how can I look at it?"

"Do you think that this decision was easy for me to make?" She asked with pain in her voice.

"Apparently it wasn't all that hard for you to make."

"John, please…"

"Look, Laura. I know we said we would always talk about things that were bothering us, but as far as I'm concerned there's nothing to talk about on this issue. You feel one way and I feel another. I'm not going to change your mind and you're not going to change mine. The best thing we can do is drop it. The more we talk about it, the worse it's going to get. There's nothing you can say that's going to make me feel better about my part in it, either."

"Do you think Bill lied to you, deceived you into helping him?"

"No. When we were talking about the possibility of prisoners on the planet, he withheld a command decision. He's an admiral. He had no obligation to tell me his thoughts."

"As your friend, though?"

"I am having a problem with that. I thought he trusted me more than he apparently does."

"Do you feel like I should have told you?"

"I don't know how I feel right now. I've got to deal with this in my own way. You're just going to have to let me."

"When the flu was going through the refugee camps that second winter, we could have gotten a few doses of antibiotics to the camps. But it was only enough to help a tiny fraction of the sick. And we knew that it would have started a rush on the medical tents. It would have forced exhausted doctors and medical technicians to make decisions that would have been unfair to everyone, perhaps even caused harm to come to the medical personnel. We didn't want to save a few lives at the cost of others. If some of the refugees had rioted and tried to take the antibiotics by force, the consequences could have been terrible. The loss of a physician would have been devastating to a camp."

"There was always the choice to send a Marine escort with the medicine."

"We discussed that. Adar didn't want to do it and neither did I. If the refugees had started something, it would have put our Marines in the position of firing on them. Those poor people had suffered so much. Becoming targets for our soldiers would have been a nightmare for all involved. It would have almost certainly cost more lives than the antibiotics would have saved."

"So what did you do?"

"We sent the antibiotics to the hospitals here in Caprica City. President Adar made the final decision, but I concurred with him. I spent many sleepless nights as the death tolls climbed in the camps. Looking back I still believe we made the right choice. I've made tough decisions before and dealt with the aftermath on a personal level. I will do it again. It goes with the territory."

"That doesn't mean I'll agree with every decision you make."

She placed her hand gently against his chest. "Don't you want to come to bed with me?"

"We can't fix this by making love."

"I know we can't fix it. What if I just want you to make love to me?"

He made a short sound, almost a laugh. "I never thought I'd ever say this to you, Laura, but I'm not sure I'm in the mood right now."

She dropped her head and closed her eyes. "Oh, gods, John."

She felt his hand on the back of her neck, gently pulling her down to him. He gently kissed her forehead. He probably meant the kiss as a dismissal, a way of telling her to go back to bed, but she slid a leg across his lap and pressed herself against him. She kissed his mouth and then his neck.

"Please," she whispered against his ear. "Please."

She kissed him again, harder this time, pushing his head back against the cushion, and the kiss finally changed. She felt the desire awaken in him. They never made it off the lounge chair on the dark terrace. Their lovemaking had an urgency and heat that she hadn't felt in a long time and an undercurrent of anger that he didn't try to hide although she didn't understand if the anger was directed at her or at himself.

When it was over, when she was panting softly from the pleasure that still suffused her, he wrapped his arms around her and enfolded her against his chest. She knew he loved her, but she felt him withdraw from her emotionally even as he grew soft inside of her, in those moments when they were usually the closest. Physically he hadn't disappointed her, but he either couldn't or wouldn't give her that part of himself that she wanted, those tender moments of sharing and soft words of love that meant so much to her. Tonight his embrace felt like he was just going through the motions.

She finally drew back and looked at him. Even in the faint light she could tell that his eyes were not on her right now. They were on the stars and she knew his thoughts were once again with a group of humans on a distant planet that the Cylons called home.

…

Kara sat alone in the single cockpit of a Viper Mark II. No instructor sat behind her. She brought the Viper out to the taxiway and waited for clearance to take off. She was just one in a long line of Vipers, both trainers and single cockpit models waiting for access to the runway. Above them the Raiders waited, another one peeling off from the group as each Viper launched into the air. When her turn finally came, she took her Viper up. She was proud of her takeoff. Her takeoffs were usually one of the best parts of her flights. Even Jessups had complimented her last takeoff.

It took her several minutes to adjust to the fact that today there would be no voice coming from a seat behind her, no voice giving instructions or criticism or yelling in her ear. There would be no hand to take the controls if she screwed up either.

Twenty minutes later she was in the air over Caprica City. She banked her ship to the north, to the smaller airbase fifty-five miles away where she would practice her touch-and-go landings.

Even seeing her Cylon escort beside of her didn't bother her today. She was free of the ground, free of the rest of the world, and every nerve in her body felt the joy of it.

She radioed the runway duty officer as she approached the small airbase. He gave her permission to enter the landing pattern. She did the four required touch-and-goes. The ground officer cleared her on them and told her that she could return to the Caprica airbase.

As she was making the quick takeoffs and landings, her Raider escort had hovered over the side of the small base. It reminded her of a vulture, circling, waiting until she had completed the exercises.

Now as she climbed to her cruising altitude after her last takeoff, she nudged her Viper a little closer to it just to see what it would do. It immediately adjusted its distance. So it was very aware of her movements. Lee had told her what he had learned about the Raiders. The neuroscientist said they could learn similar to a dog. She wondered what that would mean for the coming battle. Would these Raiders that had shadowed the nuggets for every single training flight for the last five years have learned all their maneuvers? Probably. The Raiders now knew all the training maneuvers flown by every Viper pilot on Caprica and all of those who launched from the battlestars. Could the Raiders share memories like the skinjobs could? Would all the Raiders expect these same maneuvers in battle? Kara hoped they would because that would mean they were in for a surprise.

She thought of the combat maneuvers she had learned in the simulator. No Raider had learned the things her father and Colonel Burgher had taught her and the rest of her class. When the time came she knew that she would be ready. They would all be ready. She felt confident today and brave as she banked the Viper in a broad turn toward the airbase.

Her first solo flight. She had done it well.

"Come on, Fido," she said to the Raider. "Let's go home."