Chapter 74

Operation Nemesis

The incident which was responsible for starting the hostilities that eventually resulted in the freeing of Caprica from Cylon rule was never fully explained to the media or the public. A rumor that it involved the attempted kidnapping of Laura Roslin's son by a group of Cylons was never confirmed.

- Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

Laura sat in the small security room of her apartment building with her son in her arms, rocking him gently back and forth, humming a wordless tune to him. He had been startled awake by the shouts and noise in the lobby as they had exited the elevator and had begun to cry and cling to her, but he was finally sleeping again, his little hand still clutching the front of her blouse, the pacifier moving as he sought its comfort even in his dreams.

One of the Marines had turned off the bright overhead fluorescent light and the room was illuminated now only by the dozen small monitors for the apartment's security cameras. Laura watched several of them as they changed every few seconds like a kaleidoscope, moving floor by floor showing the hallways. Marines were everywhere except the eighth floor where the two centurions still kept their vigil per Cavil's instructions.

One camera was focused exclusively on the lobby and the elevator. Laura saw Kara exit the apartment followed by Lee and Leoben with Cavil held tightly between them. He looked absurd with a pink flowered pillowcase over his head and pieces of her stockings trailing from his ankles. It was the closest she had come to smiling since the whole ordeal had begun. The elevator door closed. Laura scanned the rows of monitors.

Kara got off the elevator in the lobby followed by Lee and Leoben holding a still-struggling Cavil between them. She saw a group of Marines take Cavil and another group take Leoben. She turned to the Marine seated beside her.

"Make sure that no harm comes to the man with my stepdaughter. Make sure that no harm comes to either of them. I know they're Cylons, but they will not be shot trying to escape or roughed up for resisting arrest. Do I make myself clear? The President and I will deal with them. That's an order. Make sure everyone understands it."

"Yes, ma'am." He got up and left the room and another Marine took his place in the chair beside her.

Laura watched the lobby monitor as John stood with his arms wrapped around his daughter. The security system had no sound, but she saw Kara look up at him, say something and smile.

Kara's presence of mind tonight had been astonishing, beginning with the moment she had walked through the doorway and shot Cavil with her slingshot and a large glass marble that Laura had later found on the carpet as she helped Kara drag the semi-conscious Cylon upright and tie him to a chair. Laura doubted she would have thought to gag Cavil to keep him from calling out for his centurions, but Kara had realized the importance of keeping him quiet. She had even been calm enough to tell her father and Lee to get Leoben. And Leoben had saved their lives.

Laura knew they would have to hold Leoben with the other Cylons for a while, but she intended to see that after the basestars were destroyed and Caprica was purged of its centurions, he was set free to return to his bookstore. The fate of the others would not be so benign, although Laura had not yet decided what she wanted their fate to be.

D'Anna was another problem. Did she even know what she was? Leoben hadn't known for a long time. If not for Kara, he might never have known. But John, like Bill, had never trusted any of them, including the quiet Cylon who ran a bookstore. John and Bill had always believed that they were infiltrators or sleepers, put among them for some nefarious Cylon purpose.

Laura, however, had heard the quiet hatred in Leoben's voice as he'd spoken to Cavil. He had spit in his leader's face. Laura knew of no greater insult that could be paid to a person, but she was too tired right now to try to decide if Leoben had been sincere in his hatred or not. There would be time to question the humanoid Cylons later.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Bill came to the doorway of the room. The Marine stood and came to attention.

"Wait outside," Bill said.

When they were alone he sat down in the chair beside her and gently squeezed the lower part of her arm. "How are you holding up?"

Since Monday she had gotten very little sleep, but she still smiled faintly. "I'm managing."

"We've evacuated the building. President Adar is sending his special armored vehicle for you and your son. As soon as you're away from here, we're going to take out the centurions."

Laura glanced at the bank of monitors. The Marines were obviously ready and awaiting the signal to attack.

"The guards who were working tonight, how are they? And Doug?"

"Both guards are dead. John said the EMTs told him that Doug has a fifty-fifty chance."

"Oh, gods," Laura said as tears filled her eyes. "Those fine young men. They're dead because of me. And Doug is gravely wounded. He always treated everyone with such respect."

"Those young men knew the risk of guarding a President-elect," Bill said gently. "It goes with the job."

Something hardened inside of her. "The Cylons will pay."

"Yes, they will. I've already spoken with Adar. I've put my plan into effect. We can't wait for the Solstice. We're going tonight."

"Tonight?" Laura wasn't sure she had heard him correctly. "Are we ready?"

"I would have liked another month to work on the details, but technically we're ready."

"And you think we can do it on such short notice?"

"How long do you think it will be before the Cylons realize that something has happened to their leader? How long do you think we can hide Cavil before they start looking for him? The minute they realize he's missing, they'll be on alert status. We'll have lost the element of surprise. We don't have a choice. When Cavil tried to take your son in an insane plan to find Earth, he crossed a line. It was a point of no return. Without even knowing it, he forced my hand. It's got to be tonight."

Laura closed her eyes. She was so tired right now that she could barely think. She was going to have to trust that Bill had made the right decision. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He dropped his gaze.

"Let's get you outside," he said softly. "I want you out of here and in a safe place. I've advised Adar to take you and his family and staff and go to the bunker. We're going to take out that basestar before sunrise. My battlestars will do the same with the other basestars. They're ready and waiting my orders."

John came to the door. "Adar's car is here for Laura and Braedon."

Bill helped Laura to her feet. In a daze she walked to the door where John put his arm around her. They walked through the lobby filled with Marines and out into the cold night.

Laura said. "I need a blanket for Braedon."

"Kara's got it."

Lee and Kara stood outside the apartment's front entrance. Kara had the diaper bag slung over her shoulder.

"We need a blanket," John said.

Kara opened the bag and got out the blanket. Carefully she wrapped it around her brother. He stirred but didn't open his eyes. The pacifier still moved rhythmically.

Laura looked at her stepdaughter. "You saved us tonight. You saved my son. I will never be able to thank you enough."

John turned to Kara. "Could you hold your brother for a minute? I need to talk to Laura…alone."

Without saying a word, Kara took Braedon. John took Laura's hand and led her twenty paces down the sidewalk.

Laura looked up at him. His face was backlit by the streetlamp and it was hard to see his eyes.

"I'm sorry our date didn't work out tonight," he said lightly. "I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to it."

"You're not coming with me, are you?"

"You and Brae will be safe with President Adar. I'm going to ride out to the airbase with Kara and Lee and Bill. My little girl's going up in a Viper tonight. That's where I need to be."

Again a terrible fear clutched her. She began to tremble. "But you're not going to…do anything…please…"

He took her face in his hands. "This is my fight, too, Laura. I love you. Just remember that." She put her arms around him and he crushed her to him. "By morning this will all be over one way or another. By morning we'll either be free of the Cylons or we'll be dead."

"Please don't leave me. Promise me…"

She heard his voice warm against her ear, the light, teasing tone he had used so often as they had gotten to know each other. "Don't worry. You're not going to get rid of me that easy."

"I love you so much," she said to him.

He pulled back slightly and looked at her. She still couldn't see his eyes and then he kissed her gently. Their first kiss had been on this same sidewalk on that magical snowy evening she had realized she was falling in love with him. His arms tightened around her and the kiss deepened with the passion they shared.

Kara rocked Braedon gently back and forth and looked at her father kiss Laura. Suddenly she was back on Picon, standing in a stolen ship, watching her mother kiss her father, not even knowing yet who he was. Kara sucked in her breath. No. Nothing like that was going to happen tonight. Unable to watch she looked down at her brother. Lee had turned toward her and was also looking at the sleeping child. He tucked the blanket tighter around Braedon's shoulder.

Kara didn't look up until she was aware that her father and Laura had ended the kiss and moved off down the sidewalk.

With John's arm still tight around her, Laura followed the sidewalk until they came to the heavy, dark SUV with tinted windows. An ensign was standing beside the vehicle. He snapped to attention before he opened the back door. John helped her get seated and then beckoned to Kara. She carried Braedon to the SUV and placed him in Laura's arms.

John leaned over and kissed his sleeping son. "I love you, Brae," he said softly.

Laura looked at her husband just before he shut the door. He smiled at her and then the door closed. The SUV began to move. Her son stirred in her arms. She tucked the blanket around him and began humming softly again. After a few moments tears spilled from her eyes and she choked, unable to sing even a few words of the age-old lullaby.

Bye, baby Bunting, Daddy's gone a-hunting…

…

Kara, Lee, John and Bill sat in the back of a personnel carrier as it sped toward the airbase. Bill had been on his mobile phone almost constantly for the last twenty minutes.

When he finally closed the phone for a moment, John asked him. "How many pilots?"

"More than I thought," Bill said. "Almost a hundred so far. I've still got people making calls. We may do better than that."

"There are some pilots home on leave from the Galactica," Kara said. "Are you including them?"

"My staff has got the shore-leave rosters for all the battlestars. They're calling them in as fast as they can."

"Do we have enough Vipers?" Lee asked.

"We've got fifty-two at the airbase. We've got another two hundred thirty Mark IIs at the boneyard that the Cylons think are junk. I seriously doubt we can get that many pilots on this short notice, but all those Vipers will fly."

"There's no runway at the boneyard," Lee said.

"Yes, there is," Bill replied. "We keep enough equipment on it that it doesn't look like a runway. By the time we're ready to launch our Vipers, it will be cleared. It's not a long runway, but it's long enough to get them in the air."

Kara looked at her father. "You're not going up in a Viper." It was a statement, not a question.

He smiled. "No, baby. I'm not going up in a Viper."

Bill said, "Colonel Tigh's been at the airbase for the last half hour. Once we've got fifty pilots there, he's got transports ready to take the rest of the pilots to the boneyard."

"I thought Colonel Tigh was on the G," Lee said.

"He's home on leave," Kara said. "He was on the transport ship last Friday."

Kara glanced at her father. She knew what he was probably thinking. He was probably wondering if Saul Tigh was sober enough to handle the admiral's orders.

The transport was waved through the gates and sped along until it pulled up outside the main hangar. They all got out.

"There are extra flight suits in the locker rooms," Bill said. "I know yours is on the Galactica, but I'm sure you can find one, Kara."

Kara remembered the last time she had been out here at the hangar, the day of her graduation from Flight School. The folding chairs were gone. The hangar was full of Vipers. Other Vipers were lined up outside. Pilots in flight suits were milling around.

"Admiral on deck," Tigh bellowed as Bill walked through the door.

Kara saw every pilot and crewman come to attention. Bill motioned to Tigh and Tigh shouted, "As you were."

Tigh had a clipboard and Bill walked over to him.

"I'm going with Lee to the locker room," her father said softly to Kara. "I'd like to avoid the meet and greet with Tigh for as long as I can. We'll see you outside in a few minutes."

"It might take more than a few minutes if I have to hunt for a flight suit." Kara answered.

Lee and John walked into the men's locker room. There were several other pilots in there changing.

"You haven't told her, have you?" Lee asked John.

John shook his head. "Do you blame me? I was always the backup pilot. If this had gone down on the Solstice, there would have been no need. Besides, they might still find Bill's Raptor pilot."

"He's not at home and he's not answering his mobile phone," Lee said.

John smiled. "He's a top-notch pilot, but he likes the ladies. I can guess why he's not answering his phone."

"Like somebody else I know."

Before John walked down the row of lockers, he said, "That's all in my past and you know it. Besides, I got a brand new flight suit for my consulting work." He stopped in front of a locker that said, Gallagher, J and punched in a code.

Lee punched in the code to his own locker. He sat on the bench and removed his shoes, stripped off his jeans and button-up shirt. He pulled off the t-shirt. He thought briefly of what he had planned to be doing tonight. He wondered when he and Kara would next get the chance to be together like that and then he put the thought out of his mind. There were more important things to think about right now.

"How many times have you taken that Raptor up?" He asked John.

"Not nearly as many times as I wish I had now. Maybe half a dozen. I never thought I'd be doing this. I was always just the backup. Bill never thought I'd be doing it either. Hell, I just wanted to make sure it would work and that Bill wasn't sending a good pilot to his death."

"What's your verdict?"

"If everything goes according to the plan, it should work."

Lee stepped into the flight suit and pulled it halfway up before he sat down on the bench again and put on his boots.

"There's a lot riding on what we do tonight," Lee said.

"What you really mean is there's a lot riding on what I do tonight."

"We're all in this together, John."

"If I do my job right, that basestar won't get the chance to launch a single Raider."

Lee didn't say anything. There were so many things that could go wrong starting with those Cylon homing beacons, or what the scientists thought were homing beacons. They might not work or might not work right. They might not even be homing beacons at all. There had been no real way to test them. If the Cylons had visual monitoring of everything that approached the basestar, it might not matter. John could fly a perfect mission and it still might not matter. Lee knew that a basestar housed almost eight hundred Raiders. What were the chances that not a single Raider would be launched? What were the chances that they wouldn't have to fight?

Noel Allison and Dwight Saunders rushed into the locker room. "Lee," Narcho said. "We just got called to report to the airbase right away for some kind of drill. What's going on?"

"Hey, Narcho, Flat Top" Lee said. "Get suited up. My dad will tell everybody in a few minutes."

John zipped the flight suit up to his neck and turned. "Good evening, gentlemen. We appreciate you giving up some of your shore leave to help us out."

Lee heard the surprise in Saunders' voice. "Major Gallagher?"

John took the helmet and gloves off the top shelf of his locker before he closed the door. He walked back over to Lee. "I need to talk to Kara. She's not going to take this too well."

"I know," Lee said.

"I'm not going to mention that you knew anything about it. It will be easier. That way she can yell at me and not at both of us."

The two men looked at each other for a minute. Lee felt a lump forming in his throat. "The next time we go to Zeno's, the drinks are on me."

John grinned. "That'll be a first." He squeezed Lee's shoulder. "Take care of my daughter. She loves you."

Lee nodded. He couldn't speak as John walked out of the locker room.

"We're going to war, aren't we?" Narcho asked. "This isn't any drill. This is the real thing, isn't it?"

Lee finally found his voice. "Yeah, Narch, we're going to war."

…

Kara was lucky. The third suit she tried fit her well enough that it would work. And it was new. She found new tanks, gloves and boots. She found an empty locker and threw her jeans and sweater inside. She quickly got into the flight suit and sat on the bench to put on the boots. She made sure the seal around the legs of her suit was tight. She checked the metal loops that would attach to the ejection mechanism in the Viper, the part that would jerk her feet back against the seat if she had to eject. It was part of the split second chain of events that happened when a pilot pulled that yellow-and-black-striped handle. It kept her legs from being cut off by the front of the cockpit as she and her seat were fired straight up.

She knew the sequence by heart. She had written it on tests and quoted it to her flight instructors enough. The pilot's feet were jerked backward at the same time explosive bolts fired and blew the canopy away. Then explosives under the seat fired, and the pilot was subjected to a force of sixteen Gs as he was propelled up and out of the cockpit. The entire sequence took less than a second. That's why when they saw it in training films, it was always slowed down and shown frame by frame.

Kara took a deep breath. Ejecting from a ship was a brutal experience under any circumstances and one to be avoided if at all possible. That's why it was covered so extensively in Flight School. It was a last resort to save a pilot's life, but it didn't come risk or pain free. She checked the metal rings again.

Kara glanced up just as Seelix walked in. She was wearing a pretty dress and makeup.

"Hot date?" Kara asked.

"What the hell is going on?" Seelix asked angrily. "And what the hell is your father doing standing outside the locker room wearing a flight suit? How lame is it calling a drill during our shore leave?"

Hot and then cold washed over Kara. She grabbed her helmet and gloves. "He…so…lied to me," she said angrily as she slammed the door of the locker, stormed out and almost ran into her father.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing? You told me you weren't going to take a Viper up and you lied…"

"Whoa, Kara. Slow down. I didn't lie. I'm not taking a Viper up."

"Then what's this?" She grabbed the sleeve of his flight suit. "You decided to dress up for us? This is not some frakking costume party."

"Kara. Just stop talking for a minute and listen to me because I've got to go. Bill can't find his Raptor pilot. I'm taking the Raptor and the Raider loaded with explosives up to the basestar."

Kara was still furious. "When did you decide to do this? Thirty minutes ago?"

"I was always the backup pilot," John said gently. "You don't plan an operation like this without having a backup for everything. Bill never thought I'd be the one in that Raptor. I didn't either, but guess what?"

"No, you can't," she said stubbornly. "You don't fly a Raptor."

"Yes, I do."

Suddenly her anger evaporated as the reality of what he was going to do sank in. She was the little girl back at Singer's airport again. Her lip began to tremble. "No, please…"

"Kara, don't cry. Don't. Come on, suck it up. Be tough." He struggled to smile. "I'll be back as soon as I make a special delivery to that basestar. You've got to be ready in case they manage to launch any of their Raiders. This is what you trained to do. You're going to be fine."

They looked at each other for a long time, each acknowledging the danger of what the other had to do.

He put his arms around her. "I've loved you since the minute I first saw you." He kissed her forehead.

She was struggling not to cry, struggling harder than she had that night at Singer's little airport. She nodded.

"Don't worry, baby. I've got more lives than a cat. Now I've got to go. The longer we wait, the greater the chance that the Cylons are going to figure out what we're doing."

With her father's arm around her shoulders, they walked down the corridor and out into the hangar. Bill was addressing the pilots, explaining to them what was happening. Lee stood just inside the door. John nodded to him.

For a moment Kara was the thirteen-year-old girl at Singer's airport. "I love you, Daddy," she managed to whisper.

John kissed her again and then without looking back, he walked through the hangar and out the huge doors. There was a jeep waiting for him and he got in.

"The Raptor and the Raider have already been towed out to the runway," Lee said. "They're driving him out there."

"How long have you known?" She asked him.

"Not long," Lee answered. "He was the backup. He was really more of a test pilot. He was never supposed to fly the mission."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you. It was his."

"Does Laura know?"

"I doubt it."

Bill was still speaking.

"Colonel Tigh has the list of pilots who will fly out of the airbase. The rest of you will be taken by transport to the military salvage yard north of the city. Your Vipers are waiting for you out there. Raptor pilots will all stay here. You will man your ships while we wait for phase two of the plan to be completed. If we have to fight, your primary objective is to stop any Raiders from reaching Caprica. Good hunting, everyone."

Bill stepped down from the crate he had stood on while addressing the pilots. Tigh began bellowing names. Kara's and Lee's were among the first names called. They would stay at the airbase and launch from there.

"What do we do?" Kara asked. "Just pick a ship?"

"Just pick a ship and let the crewman know your name and military ID number so he can make a record of it."

So they will know who doesn't make it back.

Bill walked up to them. He hugged his son and patted his back. "Good hunting, Apollo." Then he turned to Kara. "Good hunting, Starbuck." He put his hand briefly on her shoulder and patted also. Their eyes met for only a moment before he looked away.

She wanted to ask the admiral why he had let her father do it, but she didn't trust herself to speak. Later, maybe she and Lee and her father and the admiral would sit down and have a drink and talk about it, but not now.

"Thank you, sir," was all she said.

Bill moved on to another group of pilots offering words of encouragement.

Kara looked around. "I wonder where Karl and Sharon are. They should have been here by now."

"They've been…detained," Lee said softly.

"Detained! What the frak for?"

"My dad doesn't trust Sharon. Or Karl because of their relationship. If everything goes well tonight, he'll let them go."

"Damn it," Kara said angrily. "Sharon did everything your father asked her to do. Karl would die before he would betray us."

"I know, Kara. I know. But she's still a Cylon. You've got to understand why my father couldn't trust her with what we're about to do. They're being detained over at base headquarters. They're sitting in a conference room. Nobody is going to touch them."

"How many Marines are guarding them?"

Lee shook his head. "I don't know. When this is over, I'm sure they'll be released."

"They're being treated like the frakking enemy."

Lee heard the tension and exasperation in his own voice. "Sharon is the enemy. I don't care how much you like her or trust her, she's one of them. My dad couldn't take the chance. That's why Leoben is sitting in a prison cell right now next to Cavil. I'm on my father's side in this. Your dad is, too. Sharon is a Cylon. Leoben is a Cylon. You can't forget that."

"What about Karl? He's no Cylon."

"Karl and Sharon are a team. He should understand. Now let this go, Kara. You've got a job to do."

Suddenly Kara felt like everything was falling apart for her…her father going up in a Raptor, Karl and Sharon sitting out the fight in a conference room because the admiral didn't trust them. Chaos and confusion were all around them and their lives hung in the balance. For just a moment Kara felt her grip on reality slip and then she was back. Lee was right. They would talk about it later when the battle was over.

"We need to get in our ships," Lee said in a gentler tone of voice. "John can't launch until we're ready."

As crewman and pilots continued hurrying around them, Lee pulled her to him and kissed her.

"Whatever happens, I love you."

Feeling dazed, she climbed the steps to a Viper that was sitting beside the one Lee had just climbed into. She printed her name, rank and military ID number on the form that the crewman handed her. She signed it. He wrote the tail number of her ship on it before he added it to the others on his clipboard. She was Viper seven-two-nine.

Lee closed his canopy and Kara watched as his ship was attached to a magnetic tow and was pulled out of the hangar to await launch. Tows were pulling other ships out in a steady stream and she lost sight of Lee's ship. A crewman helped her get strapped into her seat and get her helmet on. He pulled the pins that armed her ejection seat. She closed her canopy. Her Viper jerked once as a tow attached and began pulling her forward. Soon the bright lights of the hangar were left behind and they were swallowed by the darkness. The tow dropped her at her place in the takeoff queue and sped back to the hangar for another Viper.

Everything was being done in stealth and darkness. They couldn't even start their engines yet. Kara leaned her head back as far as she could in the helmet and looked up. The night was crisp and clear and cold. The sky was full of stars, the torches of other worlds. Even though she couldn't see it, she knew that the basestar was up there, too, like a giant malevolent starfish. At the point where each of the metal arms joined the central hub, the Raiders nestled row upon row, like coins dropped in shallow slots, their organic brains sleeping, waiting for a signal that would awaken them and tell them to carry out their programming, to launch and destroy their enemy.

Lee had told her that Rick and Kevin had a theory about the Raiders. They thought that in case of an actual combat situation, many of them were preprogrammed by the Cylons to head for specific targets on Caprica such as Marble House and the Capitol Building and the hydroelectric plant and transportation hubs while the rest of them would fight an aerial battle with whatever the Colonials sent to take them on. He had no idea if Rick and Kevin were right.

Her father had told her that a good human pilot would take out a Raider every single time. He had gone up against them over and over and survived, but other good pilots had not. What had made the difference? Did the gods keep some of them safe while they let others die?

She kept her eyes on the night sky and waited.

Lee adjusted his wireless to the base communication frequency and listened. Right now there was nothing but static. Soon they should hear something from John. He would be ready by now to take his Raptor up with the explosive-laden Raider slaved to it. The basestar was in a low orbit over Caprica City. It should only take John about fifteen minutes to reach it…if all went well. As soon as he received the signal that the Vipers were in place and ready to launch, he would go. Even though Lee didn't believe in the gods, he still found himself silently repeating, Keep him safe.

Kara thought of the small statues of Apollo and Artemis that Yolanda and Keshia had given her, statues that she had left on the Galactica with the rest of her things. The gods had protected Lee through two dangerous missions. They would keep him safe once more. And her father. Fate had taken him from her five years earlier and she had found him. Kara knew the gods wouldn't do something that cruel to her again. Nevertheless she found herself repeating quietly, Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer. Watch over my father and bring him safely back to me.

….

The dark SUV rolled up to one of the back entrances of Marble House. Laura saw more Marines. Richard Adar himself was the one who opened the vehicle's door.

She wiped her eyes and spoke softly so as not to wake her sleeping son. "Hello, Richard."

"Laura, what a horrible experience for you to have to go through." He helped her from the SUV and took the diaper bag, handing it to an aide.

"I guess Bill has filled you in on what's happening."

"Yes. Because of it there's been a change of plans. We're moving to the bunker just in case. You'll be riding with me and my family. My wife is packing a few things right now."

"I'm traveling very light. My son and one diaper bag."

"We can get anything you need…for yourself and your son. We'll be leaving in about twenty minutes. Please come inside."

They walked a short distance to a small parlor and she sat down. Braedon rubbed his eyes and fretted in his sleep. She lay him on the sofa beside her and put the pacifier back in his mouth before she pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. He was heavy and her arms ached from holding him for so long.

Laura's thoughts were on what was happening at the airbase. Somehow she knew that John's part was more than he had told her. She knew there was more involved than just going out there to be with Kara and Lee.

Men with earpieces and assault rifles were in the hall.

"It looks like you're preparing for an invasion," she said absently to Adar.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. The centurions upstairs are still quiet. We've done nothing to alert them."

"You've spoken with Bill?"

"Five minutes ago. They've reached the airbase."

"What's been done with Cavil and…the other one, Leoben, the one who helped us?"

"They've been taken to a prison under the bunker."

"Please see that Leoben is treated kindly. Without his help we might have been killed." She amended her statement. "I would have been killed. My son would have been taken."

"Bill explained the situation to me."

"And the other Cylons here on Caprica…the humanoids? What is their status?"

"They're being rounded up as we speak. They'll be taken to the same place."

"Who do we have so far?"

"Doral and Simon. The women, Natasi and D'Anna Biers have proven more elusive. Neither was at home when our agents called on them."

"Have you checked Dr. Baltar's apartment for Natasi?"

"It's on our list of places to look," Adar replied. "As is the warehouse where she preaches. Will John be joining us later?"

"Yes. He's with Bill out at the airbase now. Kara and Lee will be in Vipers tonight."

"I understand. Now what can I get you? I know you must want something to drink or eat."

"Some hot tea," Laura murmured. "I would really like some hot tea."

Adar stepped into the hall. When he came back he said, "I've sent someone to the kitchen."

"Thank you," she said wearily.

Ten minutes later, one of the guards appeared carrying a tray. There was a pot of tea, several cups and some small sandwiches.

Adar poured a cup of tea and handed it to her. "I'll be back shortly and we'll all leave."

Laura sipped the tea and closed her eyes. She thought of John and Kara and Lee and Bill. Mighty Zeus, please keep them safe. Please keep all of them safe.

…

There was a burst of static and the comm channel crackled to life. Lee heard John's voice.

"This is Papa Bear. I am away. Baby Bear is tagging along, but he's acting ornery."

John had launched his Raptor and the slaved Raider was with him, but it sounded like something wasn't going exactly as expected. No one had been able to take the Raptor up with the Raider along. Now Lee realized the enormity of what John had to do. What had worked fine in test flights with a slaved Raptor might not work so well with a slaved Raider. Mixing Colonial and Cylon technology might not have been as easy as it had seemed in the lab.

Lee knew the plan. With both Cylon homing beacons transmitting, John would fly the Raptor toward the mouth of the basestar's main landing bay. On dradis it should look to the Cylons like two Raiders approaching. Just as they were almost to the entrance, John would turn off the device that kept the two ships flying in tandem. In theory the Raider's momentum would carry it into the landing bay as John executed a steep, over-the-top turn. As soon as the connection was broken, the thirty-second countdown on the Raider's explosives would begin. Flying at the Raptor's top speed, John should be well clear when the explosives detonated.

It sounded simple. Lee knew it was anything but. So many things could go wrong.

They had been told to maintain wireless silence except for John. The open channel crackled with static. Lee looked at the chronometer in the cuff of his flight suit. Eight minutes had passed since John's first message. He should be halfway there by now. So far so good. He knew the basestar was being monitored closely. Nothing unusual was happening or they would have been told to launch their Vipers. The homing beacons must be working.

Kara sat numbly in her cockpit. She had wanted more than anything to say something to her father when she'd heard his voice but they had to maintain wireless silence. He was away in the Raptor. She almost smiled. Papa Bear and Baby Bear. She wondered who had thought of those names. The minutes ticked by as she looked at the black velvet sky full of stars. Her mouth moved silently in prayer. Protect him. Protect Papa Bear.

The static crackled and she heard her father's voice again, fainter because he was much farther away.

"Papa Bear and Baby Bear are approaching the den. Baby Bear is away." Ten seconds of silence followed. Kara knew her father was executing the difficult over-the-top-turn, so easy in a Viper, not quite as easy in a Raptor. Thirty more seconds ticked by. The explosives should have detonated by now.

"We got…(a garbled word and a long burst of static)… no signal…(more static)… timer did not engage…(static and several garbled words)…we got no joy on detonation…I repeat no joy on detonation…(more garbled words and static)…basestar is launching Raiders…repeat launching Raiders… I am returning to basestar…repeat returning to basestar."

"No," Kara whispered. There could be only one reason he would return to that basestar. "No. Don't go back. Don't go back."

"Launch all Vipers." The command from the airbase communication center was loud in her headset compared to her father's voice. "Engage and destroy."

The lead Viper immediately fired its engines and took off. Kara saw the blue flame as it reached launch velocity and climbed skyward. The rest of them moved up toward the runway. They were launching Vipers as fast as they could on two parallel runways, faster than was probably safe. How long did it take a basestar to launch almost eight hundred Raiders? Thirty seconds? A minute? Could they all launch at once?

The static in her ear crackled again. She was next in line on the runway. The Viper in front of her launched. She waited until she heard the command. "Launch next Viper."

"Viper seven-two-nine launching," she confirmed. The moment she reached launch velocity and cleared the runway, she said, "Viper seven-two-nine is away."

She lifted off, streaking upward at a steep angle. Admiral Adama had said it. Their primary goal was to stop any Raiders from reaching Caprica. Those Raiders would have only one goal in their programming…to wreak as much destruction on the planet as they could. Every one of them carried four missiles and KEWs in both wings.

There was static on the wireless and again her father's voice but his words were too faint and garbled for her to understand. Her Viper had barely begun to climb when there was a brilliant white blossom in the night sky and a speeding radiance rolling outward that was like the biggest fireworks she had ever seen.

The basestar.

"Nooooo!" Kara screamed, and then a complete calm overtook her. There was no reason for her to worry. Her father had gotten out. He was okay. She knew he was. He wasn't on that basestar when it had exploded. She would get back to the airbase and find him waiting for her. Right now she had Raiders to stop before they got into Caprica's atmosphere. Right now she had a job to do just like her father had done his. He would be waiting for her, waiting to welcome her back. He would put his arms around her and smile at her and say, Good job, baby, just like he always did.

Streaking upward ahead of Kara, Lee saw the basestar disintegrate from the center in a ball of white. The spiked, metallic arms broke away, burning. The rolling wave of the explosion engulfed the last Raiders that had launched, but there were hundreds still streaking toward Caprica. In the static of the open wireless channel Lee had heard only a few garbled sounds but he knew what they had meant. John had flown his Raptor into the central landing bay and done something to trigger the explosive-laden Raider that he had just delivered to the basestar.

For a moment Lee couldn't get his breath. Kara and Braedon's father. Laura's husband. His best friend. Gone. In an explosion as white and hot as a star going nova, John was gone.

Lee saw flashes from tracer fire ahead of him. The first Vipers to launch had already begun to fight. They had their instructions. Stop the Raiders from getting to Caprica. Engage and destroy. With a cold anger and resolve and a desire to kill that he hadn't known he possessed, Lee Adama streaked into the fight.

…

Laura's suite in the bunker was bigger and nicer than she had been given five years earlier during the negotiations. One of President Adar's staff had brought a portable crib and set it up. She directed him to put the crib in a bedroom. Laura looked at her watch. Twenty minutes after midnight. An hour since they had arrived at the bunker. She wondered how long it would be until there was news from the airbase.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Laura called.

One of Adar's guards opened the door. Maya rushed in. Her beautiful dark eyes were wide and frightened.

"What's happening to us?"

"Please come in," Laura said with far more calm than she felt. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

Maya put a small suitcase on the floor, walked over to her and the two women shared a spontaneous and awkward hug.

"Where's Braedon?" Maya asked.

"He's asleep in one of the bedrooms." Laura gestured to the couch. "Please. Sit. I hope I didn't interrupt a date."

"I was studying. Where's John?"

"He's at the airbase with Lee and Kara…and Bill. Tonight…" Laura took a deep breath. "Tonight we're engaging the Cylons."

Maya looked at her, not comprehending.

"We've gone to war," Laura said.

"War? We're fighting?" Maya asked in disbelief.

"Yes. That's why I'm here in the bunker. I'd like for you to stay with me to take care of Braedon."

"Of course." Maya looked dazed.

"His bottles are in the refrigerator. His diaper bag is in the bedroom with him. If he wakes up he'll need to be changed. I'm sure he's very wet by now."

"Did the Cylons attack us?"

As quickly as she could, Laura told Maya what had happened that night. She saw Maya's eyes widen in shock.

As if to assure herself that Braedon was actually there and all right, Maya got up and walked to the door of the bedroom. She stood for a moment before she came back.

Laura continued. "President Adar and I have determined that for the next two months, until I take office, we will govern Caprica together. We will make all decisions as a team. That's why I need you now more than ever. John and I will be moving into Marble House with Braedon. I'd like for you to move with us now instead of waiting until January."

"Whatever it takes," Maya said. "Whatever I need to do."

Laura put her hand against her forehead. She had the beginnings of a headache and her medicine was back at the apartment. Damn Cavil. If it weren't for him, she would have gone to sleep tonight happy and content and curled in her husband's arms.

"Headache?" Maya asked.

Laura nodded.

"Why don't you lie down? I can listen for Brae. I'm not sleepy."

"I hope Sam is understanding about this change in plans," Laura said.

"He knows where my priorities are. Besides, I'm not the only woman in his life. If he gets lonely…" She didn't have to finish the sentence.

Laura said, "Please get me immediately when the President sends someone. Don't hesitate to wake me up. I'm afraid our mobile phones don't work in this bunker. Rick promised to let me know the minute anything happens. And say a prayer for all of our pilots who might have to fight tonight."

Maya nodded and Laura saw her eyes flood with tears. "Kara is so young."

Laura sighed wearily as she walked into one of the suite's bedrooms. "Yes," she murmured. "They're all so young."

…

"A pilot who is superior in a dogfight isn't made," Colonel Burgher had once told them in class. "He is born." He had smiled in Kara's direction. "Or she is born. Quick, aggressive, always thinking of the next move, always in attack mode. But there is another quality that is hard to pinpoint, a natural ability that is not given to all pilots. It separates the good from the great. It can be the difference between being the hunter or the hunted. The one who dies or the one who survives to fight another day."

His words had been dramatic and over the top, but they had meant something to her. Kara Thrace was a good dogfighter in the video arcade and in the simulator, but she had never had a chance to prove herself in actual combat.

Now she had the chance and she knew she might not survive it, might not survive to fight another day no matter how good she was. The dark sky was full of Cylon Raiders. They filled her vision just like the fireflies on Picon when she and Karl had run through the big field behind the base on summer nights as laughing children playing hide and seek. The Colonials had been able to put just over a hundred Vipers in the air…a hundred against how many Raiders…four hundred? Five hundred?

She heard Narcho's voice. "I'm on your wing, Starbuck."

Three Raiders were coming straight at them. "Don't let them separate us. That's what they'll try to do."

Even at a distance Kara could see the red eyes scanning them, identifying them as Colonial, as the enemy. She didn't wait for them to fire but pulled the trigger and followed the arc of the tracer rounds pouring from her KEWs. They were high. Her weapons weren't calibrated perfectly. It was no wonder considering that live ammunition hadn't been fired from them in five years.

The Cylons flashed past them and Kara realized that they didn't want to engage, that they were headed for the atmosphere and Caprica City. Their programmed targets were far below them on the planet's surface.

Kara pulled her Viper into a tight turn. "Follow them," she yelled to Narcho. "Don't let them get to the surface."

She didn't wait to see if he followed her or not. She got the first Raider seconds later and stayed in pursuit. The second one exploded in front of her. Narcho got the third one. She pulled another tight turn, felt the force of four Gs slam her body against the seat. Her senses had never felt so sharp.

"Stay with me, Narch."

"Lords of Kobol, there must be three or four hundred of them."

"Well that's three or four hundred less than it could have been," she said and tried to believe the bravado of her words.

The first wave of Raiders had been headed for Caprica. How many more would try to pass them instead of engaging? How many more before they met ones programmed to fight them instead of destroy the planet?

She didn't have to wait long for her answer. A Viper ahead of them exploded. Gods, don't let it be Lee. She took out the Cylon that had killed one of her comrades and barely managed to avoid the debris. There were so many of them, so damned many of them. Two more Raiders streaked past her headed for the surface of the planet.

"I'm on them," Narcho said and she saw him turn. "Stay in the fight. I'll be back."

Kara continued firing at every Raider she encountered. How much longer would her ammunition hold out? How long until one of them got a lucky shot?

And where was Lee? Where the hell was Lee?

…

Lee turned like a bear cornered by a pack of wolves. He and three other Vipers were in the center of a group of Raiders. Some had engaged immediately, others had seemed only to want to get past the Vipers without expending any ammunition on their way to destroy something on the planet's surface.

"No damn way you're going to Caprica," Lee said to them even though he knew they couldn't hear him.

He pulled the Viper into a sharp diving turn and felt the force of gravity on his body increase. Three…four Gs slammed him back against the seat. He pulled out of the turn and fired. Another Raider exploded. He pursued the other one down and destroyed it as well.

"Good shot," he heard in his wireless but didn't know which one of the Viper pilots had said it.

He turned back. He had never seen so many Raiders. Nothing he had done in his training missions had prepared him for this. Viper tracer rounds arced over the front of his ship.

"Gods damn it," he shouted into his wireless. "Shoot at the Cylons, not at me."

Frak, that's all he needed, to be taken out by friendly fire from a Viper pilot with an itchy trigger finger. He climbed toward another group of Raiders. Lee knew the range of their kinetic energy weapons was just over a thousand feet. Many of the Vipers were wasting their ammunition, firing at the Cylons from too far away.

"Close in," he called. "You can't hit them from this distance." Even as he rallied and encouraged the small group of Viper pilots around him, he knew that without reinforcements, they would probably not be able to destroy all of these Raiders. There were just too many of them. Some of them would get through. Some of them would reach Caprica.

Two Raiders broke away from the pack and bore down on him guns blazing. Lee dove and was aware that the rounds had hit something behind him. Another Viper. The shock wave of the explosion slammed the back of his ship knocking him sideways. He fought for control and regained it. Damn, he knew there had to be some damage, but no alarms were blaring in the cockpit. He flew forward and rejoined the fight.

…

Kara didn't know how much longer they could keep it up. It was getting more and more difficult to catch the Raiders that were bound for Caprica. She knew that some of them had slipped through because there were occasional bright flashes on the surface of the planet.

Seelix had been with her and Narcho for a few minutes and then had gone after a Raider. She had not come back. Kara didn't know if that meant Seelix had gone on to another group of Raiders or had been killed.

"Hey, Starbuck," Narcho said. "If I don't make it, I just want you to know it was an honor flying your wing."

"Shut up, Narch," Kara replied. "We're both going to make it."

"We haven't made a dent in them."

"Yes, we have."

The wireless crackled and they heard the voice of base command. "Galactica is inbound. Repeat, Galactica is inbound."

Miles above them there was a spark like a flash of lightning in a dark summer sky. Space distorted and the Galactica appeared. Kara felt a wave of relief wash over her. She knew that the G would be launching her Vipers within a minute. Help was on the way.

Three Raiders streaked past her with a Viper close behind. She caught a glimpse of the pilot. Lee. Lee was alive. She turned her Viper and began pursuit. As she neared Lee's Viper, she saw that a piece of cowling was missing from his starboard engine. The area around it was blackened. He'd been hit.

Kara raced ahead to get a better look at the damage. It could have been worse. It looked mostly superficial.

"You look a little scorched, Apollo," Kara called, the joy at seeing him alive clear in her voice.

Lee felt relief wash over him at the sound of Kara's voice. The Raiders were pulling away from them. They entered the atmosphere. Lee could see the glow from their shielded exteriors.

"Get back into the fight," Lee called back to her. "These boys are mine."

"No," she shouted. "You've lost your engine cowling. You'll overheat in the atmosphere." Even as she spoke, Lee's starboard engine began to glow. "Shut down your starboard engine. Shut it down now."

An alarm was already blaring in Lee's cockpit. The engine's fire suppressant system indicated that it had released, but nothing happened. Frak, what had Kara said? The engine cowling was gone. The fire suppressant was in the cowling. He shut down the starboard engine. He was caught in Caprica's gravitational pull. The three Raiders were almost out of sight. He felt a jolt and then a wobble. He tried to stabilize the ship.

Kara saw part of Lee's starboard engine break away. He could still make it down on one engine. If the starboard side of the ship held together, he would even be able to land the Viper.

"I'm staying with you," she called to him.

"I'm fine, Starbuck. Get back up there and keep fighting. I'll land this thing and get another Viper and be right back."

The Raider came out of nowhere. Later Kara would acknowledge that her focus on Lee had taken her attention, but at the time it seemed like the Cylon had simply materialized on her port side, closing fast. A high-pitched alarm in her cockpit blared. She glanced at her control panel. It had a lock on her.

Instinct took over and she pulled a tight, diving turn that barely took her out of the line of bullets that came pouring at her. She was in a fight for her own life and could no longer watch Lee. She pulled her Viper out of the dive into a steep climb straight toward two more Raiders that were on their way to the surface. She opened fire on one of them and again barely avoided the debris from the explosion. The alarm in her cockpit stopped blaring. She turned tightly again. A chunk of debris must have struck the Cylon behind her because it was cartwheeling out of control down toward the surface.

She had lost sight of Lee completely by now. She had to trust that he would be all right. He would land his damaged Viper, get another one and return to the fight. They had more Vipers than pilots. Something was happening much farther above her now and she realized that the Galactica's Vipers had joined them. With more determination than ever, she flew toward the fray.

…

Lee knew he was in trouble when his right rudder pedal would no longer respond. He was well below the Kármán line now, hurtling downward, fighting to keep the Viper from going into a flat spin or starting to tumble. Either scenario was bad. He wondered if pieces of the ship were tearing loose as it was buffeted by the atmosphere. Sixteen miles above the surface of the planet, his console displays faded, came back on briefly and then faded completely. He had lost all power and control of his ship. He began the dreaded tumbling.

He activated his distress signal, issued the mayday alert, called in his last known position, and told the airbase he was going down. He didn't know if they heard him or not because with no wireless, he couldn't hear an acknowledgement.

He didn't know exactly where he was, over land or the ocean. Everything was black around him. At least he wasn't over Caprica City. At least his Viper wasn't going to crash into buildings and kill hundreds or thousands of civilians. He hoped he was over the vast heartland of Caprica instead of the ocean. At least he would stand a chance of rescue over land.

He could no longer trust his senses, of what was up or down. He tried to calculate how far his ship had fallen in the wild tumble, how near the surface he was, but he was now too dizzy and nauseous to think.

He was afraid to wait any longer, afraid he would pass out. He got his hand on the black-and-yellow-striped handle and pulled. He heard, or thought he heard, the explosion of his canopy being ripped away. It was the last thing he remembered until he regained consciousness with the wind whistling outside his helmet. He groped until his hands found the lines of his parachute. He was still falling toward the surface of the planet but not in his Viper. Above him yards and yards of billowing nylon slowed his descent.

He blinked until his vision began to clear. He felt like a giant had taken a sledgehammer and pounded the top of his head. The pain ran all the way down his spine. He struggled to keep the nausea under control, aware of what a mess it would be to throw up inside his helmet. He looked down, desperate to find anything that would tell him where he was. Far below was a thin, wavy line of silver. He looked at the horizon and saw a half of Caprica's smallest moon, Elara. He was over the ocean. One of his worst nightmares was coming true. He had not only had to ditch his Viper, he had done it over water and at night.

He watched helplessly as the wavy silver line grew larger and nearer. Caprica's ocean was vast. The chances of him being found before he drowned or died of hypothermia or thirst were slim to none. He didn't want to think about the other possibility, of becoming some sea creature's dinner. He thought of Kara. She was going to lose both her father and him on the same night.

Lee didn't believe in the gods or an afterlife. John did. He wondered which one of them was right. John had died a hero. He had given his life for his wife and his children and his friends and for everyone on Caprica. He had saved the lives of millions of people. John was now wherever heroes went when they died. Lee didn't know if he was worthy of something like that or not.

He thought of Kara as the ocean rushed toward him. I love you. Always remember how much I love you.

And then he hit the water.