A Different Beginning-Chapter 17

AU and it starts with the mini-series. Also I am writing this solo and I am sorry for any mistakes.

Chapter-17

After they entered the raptor Lee closed the hatch and grabbed Kara before she could sit down. She let out a gasp as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close and whispered " I am going to kiss you Kara " and before she could react he did just that. At first Kara thought about stopping him, but she figured one little kiss should be okay. Okay she thought seconds later when Lee went from a gentle kiss to an almost all out assault on her mouth definitely more than a little kiss. Kara moaned then gave in and kissed him just as intensely. After what was probably only a couple of minutes, but felt like a lot longer Kara pulled back and placed a hand on his chest while she caught her breath. " What the frak has gotten into you Lee?"

Lee who was breathing heavily smiled " It's that damn outfit you have on, it is driving me crazy "

Kara had actually forgotten how she was dressed, so she smirked at him " Lee as much as I enjoyed that I still want to take things slow "

Lee had to ask " Is it because of dad?"

Kara shook her head " Not really, it's because I don't want to frak up things between us by moving to fast, you mean too much to me "

Lee reached for her hand " As long as you are not giving up on us I suppose we can try to slow things down, but Kara I can't promise that I won't try and kiss you again "

Kara grinned at him and squeezed his hand " I hope you do cause I didn't say stop I said slow " she winked at him and let his hand go so she could sit down " Take me home Lee "

After they took off Lee asked " What did Mark want to see you about?"

Kara knew he wasn't jealous and that the question was valid " I"ll tell you about it when we get back to the Galactica, but first what did you think about him?"

Lee glanced over at her " What do you mean Kara?"

Kara looked at him " I mean your first impression of him, what was it?" later he would know why she wanted to know

Lee shrugged " He seemed like a regular guy and he was nice, why did something happen tonight?"

Kara shook her head " No, we'll talk about it later "

Lee looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on the silky green top she was wearing " If you want to talk you are going to have to change your clothes first, otherwise I will not be held responsible for what might happen "

Kara laughed out loud " My gods Lee, fine I'll change and meet you in your office "

They were coming up on the Galactica so they quit talking while Lee landed. Kara unhooked her harness and left the raptor before Lee could grab her again, she didn't trust herself anymore than she trusted Lee at this point. As she jumped down off the raptor she could hear Lee chuckling and saying " Yeah you better run " Kara turned and stuck her tongue out at him before she took off.

[BREAK]

Back on Cloud Nine Mark headed to his office knowing his friend would be waiting on him. What he had been asked to do sounded strange in the first place and now after getting to know Kara a little bit it seemed stranger. He thought back to the night his friend cornered him in his office, quickly explaining that he needed to go to the bar. Telling him that there was a woman in the bar he needed him to meet if at all possible and he would explain later. The next day he found out very little, his friend had only told him that it was important for him to get close to Kara Thrace. When Mark continued to question him further, he told him his suspicions about the cylons and that Kara needed to be made aware of it. His friend told him he would explain more later.

Well, now it was later and Mark needed some answers. Somehow Mark knew he wouldn't get answers to all his questions, but his friend was going to have to give him some kind of explanation if he wanted him to continue getting close to Kara.

Just as Mark thought, when he entered the office, he was waiting on him. Mark took the chair on the other side of the desk and waited for his friend to speak.

After pushing a drink over to him his friend asked " So, did she know about the cylons?"

Mark could only give him his impression of things " I think so even though she denied it, she is military after all "

" What about the guy who picked her up, do you think he can be trusted?" he asked

Mark looked at him " How do you know about that?"

The man shrugged " I was watching, so what do you think about the commanders son?"

Mark gave him a strange look " How do you know who he was?"

" I know a lot of things " he said before taking a drink " I'll ask you again, do you think he can be trusted in regards to Kara?"

Mark had to chuckle at that, remembering Kara's reaction to him asking that question " She let me know in no uncertain terms that she trusted him with her life and to back the frak off " he thought a minute " Kara actually said she trusted only Lee and the commander with her life "

The man shook his head " I thought as much, you know I actually thought you might be interested in more than a friendship with her "

Mark shrugged " I might have thought about it, but after hearing her talk about Lee and meeting him I'm fairly certain he might kill someone if they tried to come between him and Kara " he took a drink " Since I like being alive I'll just stick with being her friend, besides I liked Lee also after meeting him"

They sat in silence a minute and Mark decided to ask some questions " What is so important about Kara and what do you know about her?"

The man groaned, he knew this was coming " Look Mark, I can't tell you a lot and mostly it's for your own safety as much as Kara's " he put his drink down " It is imperative that Kara is protected if humanity has any chance of surviving and finding a place to call home again " he stood up "You have to trust me on this, you are the only link I have to being any help to Kara right now and you can't tell anyone about me not even Kara, especially Kara "

Mark had been watching his friend as he spoke and knew he was stressed out about something " Wow, if what you're saying is true I feel sorry for the burden she has, even if she doesn't know about it " as his friend sat back down Mark needed to ask him something else " I would ask you why she is so important to humanity, but I know you won't tell me, so instead I'll ask you if you are a cylon "

The man looked straight at Mark when he answered " No I'm not "

Mark didn't think so, but it made him wonder how he knew about the cylons " Okay, is Kara a cylon?" he held his breath

" No she is not " he said

Even though they had known each other for five years and Mark trusted his friend he decided to ask another question, just to be sure " Is your name really Adam?"

" Yes, now are you through with the questions Mark, because I would like to get back to talking about Kara and the Adama's?"

Adam knew he had not answered everything truthfully, but he couldn't take a chance with so much at stake. He knew Mark would start asking him things and even though he trusted him there was only so much he would tell him for now.

Mark sighed " I'm sorry about all that, it's just I don't understand why you can't do this yourself "

Adam nodded his head in understanding " I am not sure who I can trust right now or who might recognize me, until then we will just have to do it this way, if you are still willing to help "

Mark nodded " As long as it is about Kara's safety you can count on me, although I can't really believe all of humanity's hope hangs on Kara, she is just one person "

Adam sighed " Believe me I wish it didn't, so did you make plans to see her again?"

Mark refilled his glass wondering what the connection was between Adam, Kara and the cylons. " Not really, I invited Lee to stop by the next time he had some time off for dinner, but I will see her at the Colonial Day dance later this week " Mark soon had another thought " If Kara is so important and with you being the only one that seems to have a clue about what is happening, then doesn't that make you important also?"

Adam sighed and took a minute before answering " In a way I am, at least in terms of preparing Kara, but my importance is secondary to hers "

Mark sat forward " Preparing her, what does that mean? "

Frak, Adam thought, I should not have said it like that " I just meant when the time comes she will have to know everything in order to carry out her destiny "

Mark jumped on that " Her destiny, what the frak does that mean?"

Adam needed to stop this conversation with Mark, it was getting out of hand, so he stood up to go " It is Kara's destiny to help the human race and I am not going to say anything else about it right now " Adam paused before he opened the office door and faced Mark once more " Thanks for helping me Mark and I promise to try and explain things better once I gather some more information "

Mark could only nod " Goodnight Adam " After he left Mark wondered just what kind of mystery he had gotten himself involved in. Mark sighed, he would just have to continue to trust Adam. After all he was the oldest friend he had now that life had ended as they knew it.

[BREAK]

Lee was in his office waiting on Kara, he wondered if he should tell her he spoke to his dad. He knew he should at least talk to her about Leobon. Lee decided he would see how she acted around his dad at the graduation before mentioning anything else. Just as he sat down she opened the hatch.

Kara spoke just as he started to stand up. " Just stay there Lee, it will be easier to talk with the desk between us " she then sat in the chair across from him.

Lee sat back down then leaned back and propped his feet up on the edge of the desk. He dropped his thoughts about talking to her about Leobon, since it seemed she needed to talk to him about something she felt was important " Okay Kara, what's up ?"

Lee listened without interrupting while she told him what Mark had wanted to see her about.

Kara finished " What do you think about it Lee, does it seem weird to you?"

Lee tried to figure out what she really wanted to know. " First off Kara, it seems natural that there would be rumors about the cylons circulating given what's happened and I think the fact that Mark actually called it right is just a coincidence " he sighed " Second of all, maybe he just wanted to warn you as any friend would " Lee saw her getting ready to interrupt and quickly added " I can see why you are worried though, given Leobon's obsession with you "

Kara figured Lee would have a rational explanation for it, but she still felt something was off. " My gut tells me I can trust Mark, but Lee it all felt kinda strange for some reason, plus I felt like we were being watched "

Lee chuckled " Given the way you looked I would find it strange if you weren't being watched " he saw her starting to get angry " Having said that Kara, I say trust your gut and be careful when your off ship and I will make it a point to take Mark up on his offer, and see if I can figure out if he is up to something "

Kara watched as Lee put his feet back on the deck " Thanks, maybe I'm just overreacting " Kara scooted her chair back and placed her feet on the corner of the desk as Lee had been doing " So, what's going on with you Lee?"

Lee who had been looking at a memo on his desktop looked up at her startled " What do mean Kara?"

Kara snorted " Come on Lee, I know you well enough to know when something is bothering you, so what happened while I was gone?"

Lee tried to act confused at her question " I don't know what you are talking about Kara "

Kara watched him fidgeting with a piece of paper that had been on his desk, now she knew for sure something was bothering him. Before she had just been guessing because he seemed distracted when she entered his office. She hoped it wasn't more crap about Dee or the commander for that matter. " For fraks sake Lee just tell me "

Lee decided he would tell her about the Leobon thing. He knew Kara would probably pick up on his dad acting strange tomorrow morning at the ceremony. Lee knew he wasn't ready to let her know that he had talked about their personal situation with his dad, so telling her they talked about the interrogation might be a good thing. At least it might explain things if she thought his dad was acting differently around her.

Lee leaned back in his chair and looked at a point over her shoulder " I was called to the commanders office after I dropped you off earlier " he then looked at her.

Now Kara wasn't sure she wanted to know, but she had asked " Do I even want to know what it was about?"

Lee shook his head " Probably not, but you need to know about it anyway " at her nod he continued. " He accused me of leaving things out of my report concerning your interrogation of Leobon "

Kara took her feet off the desk and stood up and faced away from Lee and stared at the hatch door " What did you tell him Lee?"

Lee wasn't going to tell her about his dad slamming the folder onto the table in front of him or about him throwing his drink against the wall of the office. " Basically I told him all that he needed to know was in the report and if he wanted to know more he would have to ask you "

Kara spun around " Why the frak did you say that Lee, you know I am not going to tell him anything "

Lee stood up and walked around the desk and leaned back against it putting about two feet of space between them before he answered her. " I know, which is why before I left I told him I would try to get you to talk to him about it when you were ready " Lee paused before adding " Kara you must know that Leobon's threat about coming after you could put the fleet in danger "

Kara who had been standing with her arms crossed while Lee talked, uncrossed them and rubbed her hands across her face before looking at him " Fine Lee, you can tell him that Leobon has threatened to come after me, I just don't feel like talking to the commander right now unless I have to"

Lee figured as much " What about the rest of it Kara?"

Kara shook her head " No, Leobon knowing about my childhood does not effect the safety of the fleet, that is my business. " Kara took a breath "He knows what Leobon said about Kobol and Earth, that is all he needs to know "

Lee nodded and took a step in her direction.

Kara stepped back " I need to go Lee, I have to get up early in the morning " Kara saw him about to say something and stepped close enough to give him a quick kiss on his lips then stepped back " Look thanks for listening and telling me about the commander, but I'm tired and I'm just gonna go now " she opened the hatch and looked back a moment " I'll see you in the morning " then she left before he could respond.

Lee just watched her go and then locked the hatch before going to sit back down. He wished he was brave enough to tell her about him talking to his dad about their personal issues. He just got her back into his life though, so for the time being he was going to keep quiet and hoped everything worked itself out.

[BREAK]

As much as Kara would have liked to stay a little longer with Lee she knew she couldn't. It had been a long day and she desperately needed some sleep. After she had gotten undressed and climbed into her bunk she thought back through the days events.

She had started it out with a run with Lee which she had enjoyed. Then she took her nuggets up one more time running them through all their drills. After that she took the raider on it's first test flight and thanked the gods everything had gone okay. She had also enjoyed the time she had gotten to fly with Lee after the demonstration had ended.

Then she had met Lee in his office for a drink before getting a call from Mark. Which led her to meeting him for dinner to talk about the cylons for some reason she still didn't quite understand. Lastly her talk with Lee. That had gone well until he brought up Leobon and the commander. Kara was not looking forward to seeing the commander first thing in the morning, but she knew that she couldn't avoid seeing him. Kara knew she could only avoid him for so long before he called her on it.

Kara closed her eyes and started remembering the kiss she shared with Lee in the raptor. That kiss made her realize how much she missed and needed Lee. She would just have to make sure they were never alone, the temptation of wanting to be with him was too great. It wasn't that she didn't want more with him, but the way the commander had been acting was enough for her to be cautious around Lee.

Kara decided over the next few days to pay attention to the way the commander, Dee and Lee acted. She had no doubt that Lee wasn't interested in Dee, but Kara didn't trust Dee when it came to Lee.

Kara turned over in her bunk and her lasts thoughts were about the kiss as she fell asleep.

[BREAK]

Lee woke up after another restless night of sleep. He lay there a moment remembering the last time he had a full nights sleep. It had been after they had lost pilots and a couple of the deck crew from the raider crashing onto the hangar deck. Most of the pilots were in the rec room drinking after watching their friends coffins being spaced . Kara had gotten very drunk so he walked her back to the bunk room and got her into bed. He was intending on leaving when Kara had asked him to stay, so he did. There had only been two more nights that he had truly slept and they had been when they were on the ice planet. Lee chuckled, Kara was to him like a favorite blankie was to a child, they needed them to be able to sleep.

Lee crawled out of bed and after getting dressed went to meet Kara for a run. When he got to the bunk room she wasn't outside waiting on him like he thought she would be. Lee opened the hatch and walked in quietly so he wouldn't disturb anyone. Her curtain was pulled close so he slipped it open slowly to find her still sleeping.

After watching her for a minute he sat down on the edge of her bed and lightly ran one of his fingers across her bottom lip while whispering "Wake up Kara or you will miss your run "

For a minute Kara thought she was dreaming and reached up to touch her lips and jerked awake when she felt a hand instead and opened her eyes to see Lee sitting there smiling at her " What the frak are you doing here Lee?"

Lee sat back up straight, clearly she was in a bad mood " I thought you would be ready to run "

Kara wanted to ask him why he had been rubbing her lips, but she wasn't awake enough for that discussion so she laid back down " I can't this morning I have to much to do before the ceremony "

Lee stood up " Right, I'm just gonna go I'll see you later " he wondered if he would ever understand her mood swings.

Kara just laid there and watched him leave, she didn't know what to say to him. She was not a morning person, but he couldn't know that. The few times they had fell asleep together she had enjoyed waking up with him.

Kara tried to go back to sleep but finally gave up and gathered her things for a shower. She needed to get down to the pilots ready room and take care of some things. This would be her first time to graduate people she had trained to be viper pilots. Plus she needed to be out of the shower room in case Lee showed up for a shower after his run.

Kara finished dressing and headed to the mess hall for a quick bite. She still had a little over an hour before things got started.

Kara saw Duck and Keeper sitting at a table and went to join them. After sitting down she asked " You guys going to the graduation this morning?'

Duck looked up at her " Are we supposed to?"

Kara shook her head " No, it's not mandatory, but it would be good if you guys showed up to support them "

Keeper spoke up " We just got off CAP, but I guess I could give up a couple of hours of sleep "

Duck looked at Keeper " Great, now if I don't go I will look like an ass, thanks Keeper "

Kara smirked " Don't worry guys I plan on asking anyone I run into between now and then, so you should have some company "

Keeper and Duck just grunted and went back to eating.

Kara finished up after they left and headed to the pilots room. On the way there she ran into Racetrack and Ripper and had talked them into coming. She found out Boomer was on Cap, so that left her out.

Kara started going over all of her notes about the pilots. She was proud of them and needed to make sure everything was in order before they showed up. Kara knew the commander would be there not long after. Just as she was putting all of her papers away she felt someone come into the room. Kara looked up and saw Lee standing there already dressed in his blues just as she was. They looked at each other a moment before he starting walking towards her.

He stopped when he was standing just below the podium where she was. He wanted to ask her about this morning, but knew he needed to keep this professionally " You have everything ready?"

Kara stepped down to stand in front of him " Yeah, I just want to hurry up and get this over with "

Lee cocked his head to the side " Is it because the commander is going to be here?"

Kara shrugged " Some and I'm a bit nervous, this will be my first time doing this "

Lee waited until she looked at him " You'll do fine Kara, don't worry about it "

Kara looked away " It's not just that Lee " when he didn't say anything she looked back at him " I trained them to be viper pilots and I can't help but feel if something happens to one of them it will be my fault "

Lee reached out and touched her arm briefly " You trained them well Kara, whatever happens after that is out of your hands "

Kara was about to respond when people started coming in. She put herself back in Starbuck mode and watched as her new pilots came in and sat in the front row. She noticed other pilots showing up and was surprised when a few of the deck crew came in also.

She went back to the podium and noticed Lee standing up front and to her left facing the room.

Kara was about to speak when Lee yelled out " Attention " after coming to attention she looked up and saw the commander coming to the front with Dee behind him. She knew it was not out of the ordinary for her to be there because she generally accompanied the commander during events, plus she seemed to be holding something.

They came up and stood to her right " At ease " the commander said and at a nod from him she began speaking.

Kara looked around and noticed several more people had shown up. " Have a seat everybody "

Kara looked at her pilots and spoke " I am very proud of each of you, having said that I assure you your training doesn't stop with me "

Kara heard a few of them groaning " All I meant is that each time you go out to fight the cylons you will learn something new, so remember what you have learned and use it " Kara smiled " And always watch out for your wing man, they need you and you will need them "

Kara felt like she was getting close to lecturing and that was not what today was about so she turned to her right " I think Commander Adama has something he wants to say " she stepped over to stand by Lee as Adama took the podium.

Adama looked over at Kara and Lee but they were facing the pilots. " I want to congratulate you all and to welcome the three new pilots to the CAP and to the Galactica "

Adama paused and looked over at Dee motioning for her to hand him something. " As I call your names I want you to step forward to receive your viper wings "

After he finished and they had sat back down " I need to do one more thing before we finish "

He looked at Dee again and she stepped forward to hand him something " Lt. Thrace would you mind stepping over here?"

Kara quickly glanced at Lee and he shrugged, apparently he had no idea what was going on.

Kara went and stood next to the commander " Lt. Thrace you are hereby promoted to Captain "

When Kara heard that she looked directly at Adama " Why? "

The people in the audience laughed, leave it to Starbuck to ask why instead of just accepting the promotion.

Adama smiled because he was thinking the same thing " You deserve it Starbuck, not only are you our lead pilot you are also our instructor, and plus we have a lot of Lt.'s on board already, we need a few Captains " he was trying to joke with her, but it seemed she wasn't in the mood.

Kara just nodded and stood there while Adama pinned her Captains pin on her. After that he turned back to face the room " Again congratulations to you all, and to you also Captain Thrace " he then turned and walked back to stand by Dee.

Lee stepped forward then and looked at the six new pilots " You guys now belong to me, which means you answer to me and not God " he turned for a split second and winked at Kara.

Hotdog jumped in " Thank the Gods, or the CAG in this case " which caused a few snickers.

Lee finished up " Congratulations "

Kara had walked over and stood by Lee and after getting a nod from the commander she called out " Dismissed "

Kara wasted no time, turning to Lee she said " I need to catch up with Kat I forgot to tell her something important " and she took off.

Lee wasn't a fool he knew exactly what she was doing. He turned because he heard his dad approaching him. " Well that was a surprise, when did you decide to promote Starbuck?"

Adama stopped when he reached Lee " I had already planned on it, but I decided to wait until the graduation, where did she run off to?"

Lee just shook his head " She said something about going after Kat "

Adama looked at Lee sadly " Is she ever going to forgive me?"

Lee didn't have a clue, but answered positively " Give her a little more time dad, I think the promotion probably has put her in a tailspin "

Adama didn't respond he just nodded and walked out. Lee was still trying to figure out what happened this morning. Lee knew that even if they were the same rank he was still her CAG.. Kara and him both knew and understood that without having to talk about it. Lee was more concerned about her personally than professionally.

[BREAK]

When Kara had fled the pilot briefing room she had no intention of running Kat down and she knew Lee would know exactly why she had left. Kara went to the only place she could have a little privacy, the walkway above the hangar deck.

After she sat down she fingered her new Captain's pin. She had no idea why the commander had promoted her, his reasons seemed valid, but Kara felt there was more to it than that.

Kara felt bad for avoiding Adama, but he had pissed her off with his sudden obsession of getting Lee and Dee together. Kara sat for a while longer before remembering she was supposed to be helping Gaeta and the Chief out with the raider.

Kara got up and headed to the compartment where they kept the raider. As soon as she got there they were both already working on it. " Can I help do anything?"

Chief turned to face her " I have finished the outside of it and " he stopped talking to boost Gaeta inside before turning back to her " Gaeta thinks he is pretty close to installing our jump drive into it "

Kara thought for a minute " You know that the raider has better jumping capability then what we have in our jump drives "

The chief looked at her " So you think we should have left the jump drive alone?"

Kara shrugged " It's what I would have done, besides shouldn't we be trying to find out why theirs is better than ours?"

About that time Gaeta slid out of the raider, he had heard most of what Starbuck had said " That's what I thought too, so instead of replacing it I just added one of ours in case something were to happen to theirs for some reason "

The chief turned to look at Gaeta " Why didn't you tell me that?"

Gaeta just looked at him as he answered " I wasn't sure before that it would work, but it did, I just finished it "

Kara smiled " So we now have a cylon raider that can jump and have one of ours for backup " Kara was excited " When do we get to test it out?" she asked looking from one to the other.

Chief Tyrol spoke " Maybe tomorrow, there are still a few things we need to do to it first "

" Chief I'll let you tell the commander the good news, I have CAP in a couple of hours, later you can tell me what he said " then she walked off

Gaeta called out to her " Congratulations on your promotion Starbuck "

Kara just nodded and left the bay and headed towards the vipers. She figured she could get a little work done while she waited for her CAP turn to come up.

[BREAK]

Lee had gone back to his office after the graduation. He had the next CAP along with Starbuck, Crashdown and Racetrack. Lee had planned the roster so that at least one of the new viper pilots would always be in the air with either him or Starbuck. He knew that Kara had trained them well, but he wanted to make their first CAP as safe as possible.

Lee was just about to change when he was paged to the CIC. He wondered what was happening now.

When he entered the CIC his commander motioned him towards the situation room.

Lee sat down after his commander took a seat. " What did you want to see me about sir?"

Adama looked at the folder he had been holding. " You know about the upcoming election for a vice president " Lee nodded, knowing that had been the deal he had made with Tom Zarek " It is in two days, so after your CAP I need you to go over there and familiarize yourself with the layout " Adama paused " We will be screening everyone, but I need you to make sure there will be no gaps in the security "

Lee nodded he understood " Who else will be on security detail?"

Adama passed him the paper containing the list of names " I will have some of the marines in plain clothes, you and Starbuck will wear your dress blues"

Lee put the list down " You seem worried "

Adama snorted " With Zarek on the loose, I am sure something will happen, I just don't know what " Adama paused again " You don't need Starbuck with you today unless you think you will need her, she might like to get off the Galactica "

Lee knew his dad was still trying to make things right with Kara. " I'll go alone, I have some personal business to take care of anyway while I'm there "

Adama wanted to ask what, but figured if Lee wanted him to know he would tell him " Then that will be all Captain, dismissed "

Lee left heading to his office to change for CAP.

[BREAK]

After they were in space and settled in for CAP Lee spoke to Kara " Starbuck switch to our secure com "

As he was flying right next to her she looked over and nodded before switching channels " What's up Apollo?"

He looked over at her " I didn't get a chance to congratulate you on your promotion "

She shrugged " Doesn't really mean anything anyway "

Lee tried to give her a stern look " It does mean something, Starbuck you deserved it "

When she didn't answer he knew she did not want to talk about it " I needed to talk to you about something else too "

Srarbuck looked over at him then " I'm listening "

Lee fell back into his CAP position before speaking " After CAP the commander is sending me over to Cloud Nine to check out security positions for the election of the vice president "

Kara had forgotten about that " I bet they are having it on the same day as the dance, aren't they?"

Lee nodded even though she couldn't see him " Yes, and along with some marines you and I both have security detail also "

Frak Kara thought she hated security especially when it came to politics " Am I supposed to go with you today?" she was hoping she was

Lee sighed " No just me, you have a maintenance shift plus I figured you would be working on the raider "

Something clicked and Kara remembered " Are you planning on seeing Mark?"

Lee rolled his eyes " You already know the answer to that, plus it is the perfect chance to drop in unannounced "

After a while she spoke " Lee will you come by tonight when you get back and let me know if you found out anything?"

Lee grinned " Only if you wait for me in my office "

Kara knew what he was up to and he knew she wouldn't say no " Fine Apollo, I'm switching back to the regular com channel now "

Lee was glad she agreed even if she did so out of curiosity. Apollo flew forward to see how Crashdown was doing and then looked over at the raptor Racetrack was flying. All of a sudden the alarms went off at the same time the Galactica was reporting it to them over the com.

" Apollo, Galactica you have three cylon raiders ahead of you " Dee told him

Kara spoke up " We see them Galactica " Kara wished that someone else monitored the coms besides Dee sometimes. She knew they did, it wasn't like she was there twenty four seven, but it seemed like she was always there when she flew CAP.

Apollo called out orders " Crashdown stay on my six, Racetrack stay clear, but close by in case we need you, Starbuck you have point "

Starbuck answered " Already heading that way Apollo "

Lee thought to himself ' of course you are ' " Crash and I will take care of what gets by you "

Starbuck didn't answer because she was already engaging them. After taking out the one in the middle she flipped back around to chase the other two as they were heading towards Crashdown and Apollo. She flew by Apollo as he was taking out one of them, she just needed to get to Crashdown now.

As she approached she saw him firing, but he had not managed to hit it. " Take evasive maneuvers Crash I'll see if I can get his attention "

Crashdown didn't need to be told twice he started trying to get away from the raider as he saw Starbuck approaching. He watched in horror as she put herself between him and the raider taking a hit that had been meant for him.

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