A Different Beginning---Chapter 5

A.N.-------AU and it starts at the beginning of the mini-series. I am writing this solo so I am sorry for any mistakes.

Chapter 5

Kara had finished packing her few belongings and was on the flight deck waiting on Apollo. She hoped that the commander and his son had been able to have a civil conservation and that she had not caused too much trouble by getting into it with Apollo. In a way she wished she had more time to get to know him, for some reason she seemed to be able to make him mad fairly easy. It would have been fun to see if she could do it again, plus she had heard a lot about his flying ability. Kara's thoughts were cut shut short when she saw the CAG and Helo coming her way.

As they approached the CAG spoke first " Starbuck, I wanted to say good luck on your next assignment and to let you know that the first squadron and myself would be flying part of the way back with you. "

" Why? " Kara asked

The CAG figured it was a reasonable question " Commander Adama thought it would give us one last time to stretch our wings before we have to leave the Galactica "

Starbuck smirked " Thank the gods, at least it might not be so boring now "

The CAG got ready to walk away knowing that Helo wanted to say good-bye " We will see you in the air then "

Starbuck stopped him " Wait, you may need to let Apollo know, I don't think he likes surprises "

" I will " he said and then walked away

After the CAG left, Helo stood in front of Kara with his arms crossed giving her a measured look " So, were you planning on letting me in on your plans or were you just going to leave?"

Kara looked at her closest friend " Of course I was Karl, why do you think I came down here early?" she asked giving him one of her patented smiles " Things happened kinda fast and I did not have time before now "

Helo uncrossed his arms and grinned back at her " Really, cause it seems you found the time to fight with Apollo " when she got all serious looking and did not respond to his attempted joke he continued " So, what are you plans?"

" I'm not sure yet, the old man told me that Commander Cain wants me to serve my last year on the Pegagus, so now I have to decide between the academy instructors job or Cain's offer " she told him

Helo reached out and pulled her into a hug " Whatever you decide promise to keep in touch "

Kara hugged him back then pulled away and looked at him " I will and the same goes for you " and before she could say anything else she caught Helo looking at something over her shoulder and she turned to see Apollo standing a feet away looking in their direction. " Great " she muttered to herself, now she would have to find something to say to him, but before she could Helo spoke up. " Hey Apollo, did the CAG let you know about the squadrons plans?" Kara wondered when they had met.

Lee who had entered the flight deck a few minutes earlier had spotted Starbuck and Helo talking, so he stopped to watch them. They sure seemed close he thought, and then he remembered what his dad had said earlier and wondered if she was being Starbuck or Kara. It still didn't make sense to him, but for some reason he found himself curious. Then they saw him watching and Helo spoke to him while he noticed Starbuck stepping back. He figured she was still upset so he walked forward to meet them.

Lee answered Helo, but chanced a glance at Starbuck " No, what about the squadron?"

Helo looked at Kara thinking she would answer, but she stayed silent " They will be flying part of the way back with you " and then he grinned "And Boomer and I get to tag along "

Kara turned to Helo " Then I guess I will see you out there, I am going to do my pre- flight " she paused after taking a step and finally spoke to Apollo " See you in the air Apollo "

Lee scrambled for something to say " Listen about before, I am " but she did not let him finish " Never apologize Apollo " then she sauntered off.

Helo watched Apollo as he watched Kara walk away and felt he should say something " I would not worry about it, Kara gives as good as she gets"

Lee turned to look at the man beside him " Is she always so --- " Lee could not think of the right wrong to describe what he meant.

Helo answered him anyway understanding what he was asking " Yeah she is, but she can also be a very good friend or your worst nightmare " he said chuckling.

Gods Lee thought, he could not wait for this day to end. He came here expecting to have a short visit with his dad then be on his way. What he had not expected was to have his thoughts overrun about some woman he had never met before. Lee could not deny his interest in her though, not only was she a spitfire, she was also beautiful . He finally remembered that he was still standing with Helo and had not spoken, so he shook his thoughts loose " It was nice to meet you " Lee said as he extended his hand " I guess I should go "

Helo shook his hand " Yeah me too, I'll see you out there " and as Helo went to walk away Lee asked him " Should I expect any surprises out of Starbuck on this flight? "

Helo stopped and chuckled " I hope so, I bet my last cubits on it "

Great Lee thought " Well maybe the CAG can keep her from doing anything."

" I wouldn't count on it, I believe he was the one who started the bet " Helo said chuckling again

Lee just shook hid head and went to his viper.

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Kara had left Helo standing with Apollo and headed to her viper. She did not know how she really felt about him, she knew he flew well, but he seemed so uptight. Kara could not help but notice how good looking he was though, and that her thoughts had been on him a lot since she met him. After their little fight she did not know what to say to him, so she said as little as possible. Gods it was going to be a long flight. She glanced up from her pre-flight checklist and saw that Helo and him were still talking, she wondered what about.

Kara saw him tell Helo good-bye and head in the direction of his viper. Just as he got there she saw the CAG approach him and knew he was telling him about the squadrons plan. After that he grabbed his checklist and preceded to go through it. Kara finished hers and finished putting her flight suit on all the way and grabbed her helmet and headed up the stairs into her viper. She knew that they would launch first with the Colonial ship falling in behind them followed by the squadron. Before long they were all on their way to Caprica.

They had been flying for a couple of hours without incident. Lee had been listening to the back and forth banter between Starbuck and the rest of the pilots until Pincher all of of sudden spoke up.

" Hey Starbuck, you going to show us one more of your fancy moves before we peel off and head back to the Galactica?" Pincher asked

Kara thought about it " I don't think my wing-man would approve Pincher "

Then the CAG spoke up " You are still under my orders until I leave, so go ahead Starbuck show us what you got "

Lee could only groan because he knew the CAG was right, he just hoped she did not pull anything to reckless.

Kara thought about what she was going to do. She knew her and Apollo were safely ahead of the colonial ship and that the rest of the squadron was at the rear leaving Boomer's raptor to the left side of the colonial ship. While Kara was up front and to the right, she finally figured out what she was going to do and hoped Apollo did not freak out. " All right guys here goes nothing "

Kara flew a few yards up before she started rolling to her left five times ending up right above Apollo's viper upside down. Lee immediately started calling out " Where the frak did she go? "

Kara could not help but grin " Look up Apollo "

Lee looked up and saw her viper directly above his only a few feet away and upside down. There canopies were practically touching. " Are you fraking insane Starbuck? " he shouted. Kara just gave him a wink and a smirk. " Get your ass back in formation, now Starbuck!! " he yelled, he did not care what the CAG thought at this point.

Kara just gave him another wink before rolling back to her right and ending up in perfect formation once again. Lee could hear several ' whoops ' before the pilots started peeling off and saying good-bye . Then he heard Helo " Try to play nice the rest of the way Starbuck "

He heard Kara respond " I'll try my best Helo " and then they were gone, leaving Lee having to deal with her the rest of the way. All went smoothly for the next hour, and then suddenly the alerts started going off in their vipers.

" Starbuck, Apollo what is going on?" Lee asked beginning to get worried.

" Apollo, Starbuck I am showing two nukes headed our way " Starbuck yelled

" I see them, what do you think fired them?" Apollo asked

" I'm not sure yet, but we are going to have to intercept those nukes before they get close to the colonial ship " she told him

" Fine let's move to intercept, I will take the one on the left and you take care of the other " Apollo ordered

Then they both took off. Starbuck managed to take out hers fairly quickly, and even though Apollo had gotten to his right after the blast threw his viper back with force.

By that time the colonial ship had caught up to them and Starbuck headed in the direction of Apollo's viper. " Apollo, what happened to your viper?" she asked because it was no longer moving.

" The shock must have shut it off, and I have no control over it " he told her while still flipping switches.

Before Kara could get to him she caught something out of the corner of her eye " Frak , is that a cylon ship?' she asked herself. She knew it had been forty years since the cylon war, but she did not have any doubt that was what she was seeing. Without thinking she headed towards it hoping to draw it away from Apollo and the colonial ship.

" Apollo, Starbuck I'll be right back after I take out this cylon ship " she told him and then took off after it. Kara was relieved that her ship was still armed. As she flew toward it, the thing started firing and without thinking she started firing back. " Frak " she said, this thing was bobbing and weaving and she could not get a lock on it. Finally she decided to try and get above it hoping to the gods she could take it out before it got her. She flew high above it and started back down at an inverted angle and started firing. Just when she thought her luck had ran out she got it with a direct hit and was barely able to pull out of the way before it exploded.

As soon as she was clear and could stop shaking she headed back to Apollo, he was still just floating." Apollo I hate to tell you this, but the cylons are back " and then she asked " How is your viper ?"

Lee would not have believed what she just said, but he had watched her take out the cylon ship. " My viper is still dead, I need to get it back to the ship, but I don't see how."

" Just hold on, I will think of something " Kara flew beside him trying to work out how she was going to do this. " I think I have an idea, but you will have to trust me."

Lee just groaned and said " It looks like I don't have much choice "

Kara called the Captain of the colonial ship and had him pull into position directly ahead of Apollo's viper and stay in a holding position. After everyone was in position she got behind Apollo " Okay Apollo I am going to give you a little nudge, I will try to guide you inside very slowly, but I have no idea how you are going to stop. "

Lee was not to sure about her plan, but he did not have much choice " You do know that there is not much room for stopping "

Kara exhaled several times before speaking " Okay I have another idea, once I have given you enough momentum I am going to move in front of you and land first, I should be able to stop us both, but it will not be pretty "

Lee face paled " You are insane!! " he said, having no doubt about it now.

" Maybe, probably, but it is the only way, so let's just do this and try not to over think it " Kara told him as she nudged his viper then quickly flipped over his and began slowing down.

Lee could not believe what she was doing, but he had to admit that it might just work. And before he knew it they had safely landed both vipers inside the colonial ship. Lee took a moment to sit there and breathe, not quite believing it was all over. Then he remembered the cylons and popped his canopy and exited his viper. He saw Starbuck walking towards him with a huge grin on her face and before he knew it she had pulled him into a hug. " We made it " she whispered to him.

He pulled back slightly and looked into her hazel green eyes and with all seriousness said " Thank you Starbuck "

She realized they were still standing close, so she stepped back and cleared her throat " We had better go see the Captain and find out what is going on."

Lee just nodded and followed her off the deck.

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