A Different Beginning-Chapter 22

[ BREAK] As always all mistakes are mine.

This is mostly an A.U. story and will start becoming more A.U. as I move ahead.

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Adama and Roslin were both trying to out talk the other and were getting louder.

Colonel Tigh knew he needed to try and stop them " Commander, President Roslin, might I suggest the two of you take this somewhere else besides the CIC "

Adama realised where they were and before walking out looked around for Lee " Colonel where is Captain Adama?"

Tigh looked around also " I have no idea "

The commander pulled himself together " Colonel have someone find Apollo and you have command until President Roslin and I finish our discussion elsewhere " and with that he walked out letting Roslin follow him.

Adama had shut the door to the first conference room they came to after entering. " What you did was wrong, not only did you send one of my best officers and pilot on a suicide mission you also had her steal a military asset " he knew he was practically screaming, but he didn't care.

Unlike Adama, Roslin calmly sat down at the table " I tried going through you commander, but you refused to listen to reason, so as the peoples leader I had no choice, but the one you left me with "

Adama finally took a seat knowing they had to work through this now that Roslin had left him no choice " That is because you based your reasons on religion and that was not enough to support you using the raider on a foolhardy mission "

Roslin scoffed " Just because you are not a believer doesn't mean that probably eighty percent of this fleet is "

Adama still upset, slapped the table " I could have you court marshaled and your presidential power stripped for what you pulled "

Roslin held her ground " You could, but then the fleet would split and fall apart " she paused " Look commander we are going to Kobol anyway, so let's just agree to disagree while we wait on Captain Thrace to return "

That made him even madder when he was reminded that it was Kara that had jumped away " What makes you think she will make it there let alone back?" he yelled

Roslin knew that was what he was most upset about " Captain Thrace believes in the Gods as I do, and from everything that has happened since this war begun she apparently has the gods watching out for her "

Adama gave her a strange look " Why do you think that?"

Roslin laughed " She could have been killed many times over, yet she always manages to survive, even you can't think she has that much luck "

Adama did not respond to that " I need to find my son before we jump to Kobol, we will finish this later " he got up and left the room.

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As soon as the raptor docked Lee jumped off heading straight to Mark's restaurant. Lee saw Mark as soon as he entered and walked up to him while he was talking to two people at a table.

Lee didn't care that he was interrupting " I need to talk to you now in private "

Mark could tell by the look on Lee's face that he was barely holding it together and he knew it somehow had to do with Kara and Adam had just got back " We can talk in my office "

Even though it was still early Mark pulled out a bottle and two glasses and poured them each a drink. Lee had not stopped pacing the whole time. " Sit down Lee and tell me what's wrong "

Lee grabbed his drink and downed it placing it back on the table, then sat down " Kara said she left something for me with you "

Mark knew something bad had happened " She did, but first can you tell me what's going on?"

Lee thought about it knowing it was a military matter, but after what Kara had done he needed to talk to someone " Did Kara tell you what she was going to do when she came to see you last night?"

Mark was even more worried now " No, what did Kara do Lee?"

" You can't repeat anything I say Mark" after Mark nodded Lee told him " Kara jumped away in the raider to Caprica "

Before Mark could ask why, Adam who had followed them after seeing how upset Lee Adama was, stood listening at the door that was left ajar and after hearing about Kara he burst into the office startling both Mark and Lee so bad they jumped up.

Adam got in Lee's face " Why in the gods name did you let her jump to Caprica?" he shouted

Then he turned his anger towards Mark " You better pray you knew nothing about this "

It was Lee's turn to shout " I didn't let her do anything she did this behind my back, and who the frak do you think you are when it comes to Kara?"

Adam sat down, he had to think " Is there any way that me or someone can go after her?"

Mark just remembered the implications if something happened to Kara and he sat down with his head in his hands " Oh my gods what are we going to do?"

Lee suddenly felt like he was in another reality " I am going to give the two of you about five seconds to tell me what is going on before I call the marines "

Mark spoke up " Adam you can trust Lee, you need to tell him "

Adam knew he couldn't tell Lee without first telling Kara about her destiny, so he opted for another truth " The only thing I will tell you right now is that Kara is my daughter, I can't say anything else until I speak to Kara first, she doesn't even know I'm alive "

Mark barely caught himself before saying something. That was something he didn't even know, but he understood that Adam needed to tell Kara first. Now he just needed to figure out what to say to Lee.

Lee bent over at the waist taking a deep breath, he didn't know what to ask first. Finally he stood up and looked at Mark " What all did you know?"

Mark swallowed " Only that Adam said that Kara needed to be protected and before you ask, yes that is why I became friends with her, but it is not why I remained friends with her " he paused " I liked having Kara as a friend and then I met you and felt the same way, so please believe me when I say that both of you mean a great deal to me "

Lee looked at Adam " It was you that had Mark warn Kara about the cylons wasn't it?" Adam nodded " So how did you know?"

Adam stood up " It is a long story and one that I will tell after we get Kara back, trust me it has no bearing on the safety of the fleet right now, we need to make sure Kara is safe before we do anything else "

Lee shook his no " Not until you show me proof that you are Kara's father "

Adam got up and left " I'll be right back "

Mark and Lee both sat waiting on him to return.

Adam came back in and laid down a couple of photos of him and a much younger Kara on the desk and then gave Lee her birth records " It is all I have managed to hang onto"

Adam sat down " Captain Adama I ask you to please keep this between the three of us, I am not sure who I can trust right now, and for reasons I will explain later Kara has a destiny that she is unaware of " Adam decided to tell Lee that Kara had a destiny, but he could not tell him about it.

Lee nodded his consent before adding " I will need to tell my dad though " Lee jerked when it finally hit him that Adam said Kara had a destiny "What is it with you and the cylons claiming Kara has a destiny?"

Adam shook his head, responding to Lee's first answer " No Captain, if you care as much about my daughter as I think you do you cannot tell your dad, besides there is nothing useful he could do with the information except unwittingly put her in more danger " Adam needed to ask Lee about the cylons " What did you mean when you said the cylons say Kara has a destiny?"

Lee felt it couldn't hurt to tell Kara's dad " Actually it is only one cylon, Leobon who claims that Kara's destiny is with him "

Adam sighed " The cylons have probably twisted the religions up so much that they aren't even sure what's what anymore "

Mark broke into the conservation " We need to do something, because I'd bet my last cubit that the cylon Leobon is on Caprica "

Lee grabbed the bottle and poured himself another drink " Then we need to figure out if we can come up with any ideas "

Adam asked " Why did she go to Caprica?"

Lee dropped his head " I'm not sure, all I heard before I left the CIC was that the president had sent her "

Mark opened his desk drawer and grabbed the letter and tossed it to Lee " This is what she left for you, maybe it will tell us something "

Lee opened the letter up skimming over the personal things until later and when he finished he folded it up and placed it in his coat. " She has gone to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo that is supposed to open the Tomb of Athena on Kobol in the hope that it will show us the way to Earth "

Adam cursed " The scrolls of Pythia may have been right thousands of years ago, but after that long a time has passed it may not be reliable anymore, but it couldn't hurt to check out the tomb "

Lee didn't believe in the gods, but it seems like Adam believes in them as much as Kara does " How do you know that?"

Adam sighed " I just do, this is what my whole life has been about and so has Kara's, even though she doesn't know to what extent "

Mark needed to ask Adam something personal, he just hoped it didn't offend Adam or Lee " Adam why did you leave Kara and her mom when she was just eight years old?"

Lee was shocked to hear that " I know what her mom did to her, but I didn't know anything about you Adam "

Adam looked first at Mark " I left to protect her " then he turned to Lee " What did her mom do to her?"

Lee sneered " Let's just say you leaving didn't protect her from her mom, no child should have to endure what Kara went through and she may not forgive you for that "

Before anything else could be said there was a knock on the door, Mark got up and answered it was Maggie. " Hey Maggie I'm busy right now could we talk later?"

Maggie gave him a small smile " That is not why I am here Mark, have you seen Apollo, the commander is ready to send out search parties?"

Lee got up and went to the door " I'm here Racetrack, what is going on?"

Maggie kept looking between Mark and Apollo not knowing if she should talk about military matters in front of Mark, but Apollo did not seem like it mattered " We are jumping to Kobol and the commander needs patrols on CAP and raptors on the surface "

Lee looked at Mark " Could you walk with Racetrack down to the docking bay I need a minute?"

Mark nodded " Sure, come on Maggie I wanted a chance to see you today anyway "

Lee shut the door and faced Adam again " I will try to get as much information as I can before I can get back to you and please call me Lee "

Adam stuck out his hand " Everyone knows me as Adam even Mark so let's stick to that, but my real name is Daniel as you probably saw on her birth certificate, keep that to yourself "

Lee turned to leave " Lee please let me know if you here anything about Kara and let me be the one to tell her I am alive "

Before Lee pull the door shut he said " I will Adam "

As Lee walked to the docking bay he tried to process all he had found out in the last hour.

After Racetrack boarded the raptor Mark put a hand on Lee's shoulder to stop him " If you need anything, even if it's just to talk I'll be here "

Lee nodded before he boarded " Thanks Mark "

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Maggie stayed silent on the way back to the Galactica.

As soon as they were cleared Lee headed to the CIC to see the commander, he even saluted " Reporting as ordered sir "

Lee knew if him and Adam had any chance of going after Kara he needed to stay on his fathers good side.

" At ease Captain " Adama looked at Lee a second " Where did you go Captain?"

Lee knew that everyone in the CIC had heard Kara " I went to pick up a personal letter Kara left for me "

Adama held out his hand " Let me see it "

Lee shook his head no " I said it was personal, it had nothing to do with what she did "

Adama dropped his hand, he knew he couldn't push Lee on this " We are jumping to Kobol I need two raptors to land and check it out " Adama paused " You had no idea she was going to do this?"

Lee sighed " No, she knew I would have stopped her "Lee had to ask " Is there any way we can go after her?"

Adama dropped his head " Not unless we had another raider, which we don't " Adama looked up " Get your teams ready we are jumping in ten minutes, dismissed "

Lee walked out of the CIC to the hangar deck to prepare the teams, he would stay and run CAP patrol.

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Lee picked up his roster sheet for the day and saw that Crashdown and Pike were off shift today. He knew they were viper pilots now, but he needed them on Raptor detail.

Lee had the chief call to get them down to the deck while he found out who else would be going down. He saw Baltar and a couple of people with knowledge about what was edible, including Tryol and Cally going down to the surface.

Lee put Cally and Galen on the raptor with Crashdown and Baltar and the other two with Pike.

He waited until the jump was over before making sure everyone was accounted for and waited until the raptors lifted off before joining CAP.

Lee finished his three hour CAP patrol and was ordered to life station after landing ' What now' he thought.

As soon as he entered Cottle took him into his office " It is about Boomer Captain, she has been shot in the face and before you ask she said it was an accident that happened while she was cleaning her gun "

Lee knew the Doc thought differently " You don't believe her do you?"

Cottle shook his head " No, but I also can't prove it "

Lee got up and left to go see her " How are you Boomer?"

" I'm fine sir, it was just an accident " she told him " Is what they are saying about Starbuck true?"

Lee sat down, this had been a bad day so far, he just hoped it was over soon " Yes it's true " he said sadly

Boomer didn't know what to say except " Maybe she will get lucky and find Helo and together they can find a way back "

Lee looked up at her then " I didn't think about that " he felt a little bit more hopeful now.

Boomer decided she could offer something else " If you need me for anything Apollo just ask, Starbuck is one of my few friends "

Lee stood up " Thanks Boomer and get better soon we need you out there "

She said " Yes Sir " as he left

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Boomer had a lot of time to think while she has been in life station.

She knew she kept losing track of time and would wake up in strange places not remembering what she had done. Even though Baltar had said she was not a cylon she did not believe him, that was why she tried to kill herself.

Boomer now truly believed she was a cylon and it made her angry at the cylons for making her think she had a family and friends only to find out that she didn't.

The one thing she was sure of was that she would make the cylons pay for what they took from her whether it was real or not because to her it was.

The only thing she could do now was wait for the right opportunity to come along.

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Lee stopped by the mess to pick up a bite to eat before heading to his office to read Kara's letter.

After he locked the hatch he sat down at his desk and took it out and opened it up.

LEE

I honestly don't think there is anything I can say that will make this any easier.

After I spoke to Roslin and Eloshi I wasn't sure about taking the raider, but after asking your dad a couple of questions I knew that he did not know the way to Earth.

I know you are not a believer of the gods, but you know I am. When Roslin and Eloshi told me about the Tomb of Athena on Kobol and that we needed the Arrow of Apollo to open it so we could find a way to Earth, I knew that I had the best chance of retrieving it since I have flown the raider.

I want you to know how much I needed to be with you last night. Not only because I was ready, but also because I needed to draw strength from you before I left for Caprica.

I promise you Lee that I will do everything in my power to return to you. Watch your six while I am gone.

KARA

Lee folded the letter back up in put it in the pocket closet to his heart vowing to try and help her in any way that he could.

After taking a few bites of food he laid down replaying holding Kara in his arms after they made love.

Lee had no idea how long he had slept, but jumped up when he heard the klaxons going off. He took off running to the CIC hoping it was Kara, but knowing she wouldn't be back so soon.

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Lee came to a halt when he entered the CIC trying to find out what was happening.

Adama looked up and saw Lee standing there " A base star has jumped in between us and our teams on the ground "

Lee looked up at dradis " Why aren't they firing on us?"

Colonel Tigh spoke up " We don't have a fraking clue, but we got a distress call from Crashdown saying they were taking fire from something on the surface "

Adama slammed his hand down on the console " If we had the raider we could just fly a nuke up their ass "

Gaeta spoke up " We still have a cylon transponder that could be put in a raptor "

Lee didn't seem to sure that would work " First we would need a pilot which could very well turn into a suicide mission and then we would have to hope the cylons thought the raptor had been captured "

Adama cleared his throat " It is our only option, Gaeta get to work on the raptor and Captain I need you to get Boomer ready to fly this mission "

Lee looked at his dad " Are you sure about Boomer?"

Adama snorted " Since she has already tried to kill herself I would say she is the perfect choice for it "

Lee turned and left headed to life station.

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When Lee arrived in life station Boomer was already sitting up " What has happened Apollo?"

Lee sighed " A base star has penned our people on the planet down, they are taking fire and we can't help them until we blow up the base star "

Boomer stood up " I suppose this is where I come in " she said as she grabbed her uniform and went behind a curtain to get dressed.

When she came out Lee was sitting in the chair by the bed. " Captain have you heard anything about Starbuck?"

Lee just shook his head no.

Boomer sat on the edge of the bed not knowing how to explain what she believed about herself to him. " Apollo how willing are you to help save Starbuck and get her home?"

Lee looked at Boomer for a minute before saying anything " I am willing to do what ever it takes "

Boomer stood up " If you can trust me Apollo, I can help Starbuck "

Lee grabbed her arm before she left the room " What are you talking about Boomer?"

Boomer looked him dead in the eye " I need you to be my co-pilot and as soon as we take off I will explain it all to you, but you are going to have to trust me or this will all be for nothing "

Somehow Lee knew that there were things she was not saying, but for Kara's sake he would trust her for now. " Okay we will do it your way, but there is no way the commander is going to let me on that raptor so I will have to sneak on "

On their way to the deck she spoke again " I am doing this for Galen and the rest of the colonials on the planet also "

When they made it to the flight deck Gaeta had installed the cylon transponder and the deck crew had placed the missile.

Lee went to the phone to let CIC know Boomer was ready and while he was doing that Boomer made sure the missile would jam making them have to land on the base star.

After Lee boarded unnoticed Boomer entered and closed the hatch before leaving the Galactica.

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Lee moved to sit in the co-pilots chair waiting until they left the Galactica " Now explain what you are going to do Boomer"

Boomer set course before turning to face Apollo " I have a lot to say, so please don't freak out or start asking questions until I have finished explaining "

Lee nodded.

Boomer was nervous " I tried to kill myself because I thought I was a cylon even though Baltar said I wasn't " she paused " Now I know I am and I am so mad at the cylons for making me believe I had a family and friends, so I have decided to pay them back any way that I can " here she paused again " I am going to land on the base star and set the missile off manually, killing myself along with the base star so that I can down load and as soon as I can I will find Starbuck and Helo and help them get back home "

Instead of freaking out that he was alone with a cylon, Lee was more shocked that she thought she was a cylon " Are you sure you are a cylon Boomer?"

Boomer nodded " Yes I am "

Lee sat there speechless.

They were nearing the base star " When we land I will exit to work on the missile that I jammed, while you sit in the ECO chair I want you to carefully look out inside the base star, you should see copies of me confirming what I have said " she spoke again before existing " Keep the raptor powered up, I will be setting a twenty second delay. Tell the commander I owed him one and tell Galen I am sorry and that I love him. Now do you have any idea where I should look for Starbuck?"

Lee was very nervous, things seemed to be happening to fast, but he had seen Boomer copies already " The Delphi museum or Leobon might have her "

After she dislodged the missile Boomer walked back to the hatch " Now I need you to hit me hard enough to knock me back from the raptor, it will help the cylons buy my story, you see my orders were to kill Commander Adama, but I couldn't do it, now hurry Apollo "

" I don't know what to say Boomer except I am sorry and please help Kara " Apollo immediately hit her and closed the ramp leaving the base star and jumping just as it blew up.

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When the raptor popped up on dradis the commander took over " Boomer this is Galactica actual report"

The voice Adama heard shocked him " Galactica, Apollo mission was a success, but we lost Boomer "

Adama got on the line again " Captain meet me in my office for debrief as soon as you land "

After Lee landed the raptor and got out several people were clapping and congratulating him until they noticed Boomer wasn't with him.

Racetrack stepped forward " Where is Boomer sir?"

Lee knew he couldn't tell them yet " Boomer gave her life to complete the mission " It was true even though she was a cylon.

Lee felt like he was going to throw up he had to get out of there " I have a debrief to get to, Racetrack prepare an SAR for the people on the planet and I will call you as soon as the commander says it is a go "

Lee left headed to the commanders office. When he arrived the commander started ranting " Why in the frak were you on that raptor Captain?"

When Lee sat down instead of answering the commander knew something was wrong " What is wrong Lee?"

Lee looked up at him then " I will tell you everything, but you will have to fill the president in, I won't feel like explaining this again "

The commander knew he should make Lee wait until Roslin could be there, but he could tell that Lee looked like he was on the verge of being sick or passing out " Okay Lee, I'll make an exception this time "

So Adama listened while Lee told him everything, he was shocked that Boomer was a cylon and he knew what she was referring to when she said she owed him. After hearing that her orders were to kill him he felt like he now owed her. " Do you believe that she will help Starbuck?"

Lee simply nodded " I do, but I would not keep the whole fleet at Kobol, for all we know when she downloads they will have a way of scanning her memories and find out what really happened on the base star "

Adama stood up " Before you go, can you tell me why Boomer trusted you to help her Lee?"

Lee stopped at the hatch " She knows how much Kara means to me and knew that I would do anything I could to help her, plus cylon or not her and Starbuck have known each other for a while now " Lee paused before saying " Even though she is a cylon, I still saw her as Boomer, that's pretty fraked up isn't it?"

Adama stopped him once again trying to get his focus back on the mission " I take it you have already prepped a raptor for the planet "

Lee nodded " Yes, all I need is your permission, we are ready to go "

Adama sat back down " Go ahead Captain, we will wait here until your return and I will update the president "

Adama dismissed him and placed a call to Roslin.

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Lee headed to the hangar deck glad that he had things to keep him occupied, otherwise all he would think about would be Kara.

Racetrack was standing on the open hatch to her raptor waiting to hear from Apollo.

What she didn't expect was him to come walking towards her. " If your ready Racetrack let's go, our people need us now "

Lee entered the raptor and saw a nurse, Skulls and two marines then took the co-pilots seat, it was Racetrack's raptor after all.

Racetrack sat down and buckled up before asking " Are you sure you want to go Captain after every thing that has happened today?"

Lee looked at her " I need to keep busy " is all he said

Racetrack figured that made sense, but she was worried about what would happen to him when he had nothing to keep him busy anymore.

As soon as they jumped in above the planet Skulls the ECO saw their people penned down taking fire. " Captain Adama there seems to be some sort of an automatic device set up that is keeping our people from being able to move "

Lee got up and went to Skulls station and looked for himself, turning to Skulls he asked " Can you take it out?"

Skulls nodded " We have a missile I just don't know how safe our people will be, it will be a close call "

Lee strapped back in " Do it, our people will know to take cover "

Once all the shooting stopped Racetrack landed.

After getting out Lee saw that one of the raptors was useless, he looked up and saw Crashdown headed over to him.

Lee immediately asked " What's the damage Crash?"

Crash handed him a set of dog tags, " We lost Pike, Baltar, and one of the civilian's, sir "

Lee hated they had lost a pilot and with Baltar dead there would have to be another election. " All right people let's load up and get out of here "

After they were off the planet Lee leaned over next to Racetrack " Don't say anything about Boomer, let me tell the chief "

Racetrack nodded she was more than glad she did not have to tell the chief.

After landing and before leaving the raptor Lee told them " I want no discussions about anything even among yourselves until we debrief, understood and I want all of you to stop by life station?"

They all agreed, they were just glad to be back on the Galactica. Lee waited until everyone was out before he stepped out of the raptor.

Lee knew he could not put it off any longer " Chief Tryol I need to speak to you for a minute "

Chief turned around and headed back to Apollo " Do you need something Captain?"

Lee ran his hand through his hair, he really did not want to say this " As I'm sure you know the base star was blown up, but we lost a pilot doing it, I'm sorry chief it was Boomer "

Lee watched as the chief stood there trying to process it, so he kept talking " Boomer gave her life to save a lot of ours, she died doing her job "

That was all Lee was going to say about it, because sooner or later everybody would find out she was a cylon, but for right now he didn't think the chief could handle that to. " Boomer said to tell you that she loved you chief and that she was sorry "

Lee patted him on the back as he walked away leaving him to deal with her death. As he walked away he could here the chief crying softly.

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Lee was heading to his office when a call came over the coms for him to go to the conference rooms. Lee would be glad when this day ended because all he wanted to do was get sloppy drunk and hopefully pass out, so he wouldn't think about Kara.

When he entered the room Roslin and his dad had been waiting on him.

He half saluted and sat down on the couch heavily waiting for one of them to say something " What's going on?"

Roslin cleared her throat " Captain Adama the commander told me about the cylon and we have decided not to tell anyone else, only the three of us know and we are going to keep it that way "

Lee really didn't care what they wanted to do about it " Okay, with her dead I doubt very seriously that another one will pop up "

Roslin looked at him closely " You don't act like finding out Boomer was a cylon bothers you very much, why is that ?"

Lee didn't really know how to answer her " I have had time to come to terms about it and it's been a really long day "

Adama spoke up " I imagine he feels like I do, Boomer is going to find Kara and help her get back to the fleet and for that we are thankful, plus she went against her cylon orders and did not try and kill me " he said jokily

Roslin looked at both of them " And you two are willing to trust her on this, I don't understand "

Lee jumped up, he really needed a drink " What the frak else are we supposed to do, they are on Caprica and we are here, so yeah I am gonna trust her, especially since it involves Kara " Lee paused " Boomer is really pissed off that the cylons made her believe that she had a family and friends, she says she is going to make them pay for what they did to her and the ones I saw on the base star looked like her, but seemed different"

Adama had been thinking while Lee was talking " What if the ones on the base star don't have memories like Boomer, maybe they are kind of a blank slate?"

Lee thought about it " Maybe, that reminds me I told the chief about Boomer, but I didn't say anything about what she was "

Adama nodded " Good, now we need to figure out what ships or ship to have waiting at Kobol "

Lee who was still standing looked at them " I need to go, I'm sure the two of you can decide which ships to take to Kobol "

Adama looked at his son " Your dismissed Captain, I suggest you try to get some sleep "

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When Lee left his dad's office he went to the nearest wall phone " This is Captain Adama I need to place a secure call to Cloud Nine, have them page Mark Rivers "

Lee waited until Mark came to the phone " This is Mark is something wrong Lee?"

Lee shook his head even though Mark couldn't see him " I wanted to let you and Adam know that I have sent someone to Caprica to find Kara and get her back home " hopefully he thought to himself.

Mark sighed a sigh of relief " Thank the gods, I will let Adam know, are you okay Lee?"

Lee sighed " As well as I can be at this point, I will get in touch with you tomorrow, goodnight Mark "

Mark hoped he really was okay because Kara had asked him to help Lee " Goodnight Lee, try to get some sleep "

Lee hung up and stood still for a moment, and silently prayed that Kara's gods were watching over her.

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After Lee finished with his silent prayer he headed to the pilot's rec room hoping to have several drinks before attempting to try and sleep.

He looked around for a table with an opening and spotted one with Duck, Kat, Crash, Racetrack and Keeper and headed their way.

Lee pulled the chair out and sat down " I hope you guys don't mind me sitting here " they all shook their head no " Good because I intend on getting very drunk "

Keeper spoke first " I am sorry about Starbuck, Captain "

Lee picked up the drink Duck had placed in front of him " It is not your fault Keeper you couldn't have stopped her "

Lee picked up his drink and downed it then passed it back to Duck for a refill.

Kat asked what everyone wanted to know " Where did Starbuck go Captain?"

Lee looked around at each of them and knew they were worried about Kara " She went back to Caprica on an order issued by the president, but try and keep that to yourselves we don't need a lot of people gossiping about it "

Racetrack spoke up after looking at each of the pilots " We will keep it between us Apollo, but if you need anything let us know "

All of the pilots nodded their heads in agreement " Good, now let's get back to the card game and me getting drunk "

Crash dealt a new hand of cards and for the next hour they watched as their Captain got sloppy drunk.

Lee started waving his glass around " I suggest we start a new bet, and yes I know that you guys bet about stuff, just not what you bet about, so I say we bet on whether Starbuck makes it back to the fleet or not, what do you think Duck?"

They were all stunned that Apollo would want to bet about that and Duck had no idea how to respond so he decided it would be safer to bet positive " I bet 25 cubits she makes it back "

Kat spoke up " I know that Starbuck always finds a way to beat the odds, so I wager 50 cubits we will she her soon "

Keeper knew no one would bet against her not making it back, especially since the Captain needed all the hope he could get " I agree with Kat, if anybody can pull it off it will be Starbuck "

Crash added his two cents to the topic " After what she pulled off to save my life I know she will get the job done, so I bet 50 cubits also "

Racetrack had not said anything yet, she was meeting Mark tomorrow and she intended on talking to him about Apollo, she reached for the bottle Duck had and poured them all a shot " I am not going to bet because I know she will be back " she passed them all a shot glass " I propose a toast " she raised her glass to the center of the table " Here's to Starbuck "

The others raised their shots with Apollo being the last and then a chorus of " Here's to Starbuck " sounded around the table with the rest of the rec room doing so also when they heard the toast.

After thirty more minutes had passed Duck and Crash helped a very drunk Apollo make it to his bed and watched as he passed out before covering him up and getting into their racks for the night.

[BREAK]

A.N.-I needed to get rid of Gaius to make room for another Vice-President and no it will not be Lee.

A.N.- I am sorry that my chapters seem to take up a whole day, in the future I am going to try and not do that.

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