A Different Beginning

by remake

What if Kara and Lee had never met prior to the start of the mini-series?

45. Chapter 45

A Different Beginning*****Chapter 45

Kara and Lee meet for the first time on the day the cylons attack.

A.N.-Even though I had no reviews on ( Chapter 44 ) I still intend to finish this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter as I am trying to tie up loose ends for future things.

[ ]

Adama left Colonel Tigh in charge of the CIC and placed a ship wide call for Sam Anders and his men to meet him on the flight deck.

After arriving there he told Chief Tyrol to clear the bay after they landed. Adama also called Colonel Tigh and told him to keep the viper squadron in the air in case it was a set up.

Adama and Boomer stood side by side as the raider Natalie piloted landed and he motioned Anders to spread out around the raider. Adama knew it was Lee and Kara, but he still needed to follow protocol.

Adama also wanted to keep this from Roslin hopefully until after she announced Mark as her vice-president.

Finally the raider opened up and he saw Lee and Kara standing at attention " At ease Captains "

Kara and Lee relaxed their stance and Kara looked behind her saying " It is safe to come out Natalie "

Natalie stepped up to Lee's side " Hello Commander Adama " Adama also noted that Sam and his men were not threatened by her.

Adama looked at Lee " I take it this is not Caprica, Captain?

Lee shook his head " No, Caprica had to stay because of her unique connection to Boomer, plus Caprica said Natalie was better at negotiations than her "

Kara chuckled " Sir, might I suggest we take this somewhere more private?"

Adama hated that he had not thought of that " Sure Starbuck, let's go to my office, I'm afraid the situation rooms have been used a lot lately "

Adama turned to Anders " I want you and your men to guard this raider, do not let anyone near it, understood?"

Anders nodded " Understood sir "

Lee walked beside his dad as Natalie and Kara followed them to Adama's office which Mathis was standing guard at.

Kara wondered what was going on " Why all the guards commander?"

Adama stepped through the hatch first and shut the door behind them before he answered " I trust very few people right now Captain "

Adama sat behind his desk as Boomer, Natalie and Kara sat on the couch leaving the chair across from the commander.

Kara cleared her throat " Commander I could use a drink before we get started "

Adama nodded as he stood up " What about the rest of you?"

Lee spoke up " I'll have one also " he then looked at Boomer and Natalie " We will just have water, thank you " Boomer answered for her and Natalie.

Adama fixed himself one along with Lee and Kara's and poured water for Boomer and Natalie before passing them out and sitting back down. " Who wants to explain what is going on?"

They all looked at Natalie.

Natalie scooted forward on the couch " Caprica and Eliza have set a trap for Cavil by using Leobons trace marker hoping he will try and find it "

Adama interrupted " I thought Leobon was boxed, so how will that work?"

Natalie nodded " He is, and we put another trace marker in him that will stay active as long as he is boxed, anyway we have a heavy raider hiding out of range and as soon as Cavil shows up with another basestar since he never travels alone the raider will transmit their location and our cylon fighters will jump in with nukes taking out the basestars and the resurrection ship Leobon is on "

Boomer asked " What about Cavil's resurrection ship, you know he always keeps it back?"

Lee spoke up " We have placed heavy raiders spread out just outside of the jump entry points and with any luck we will be able to destroy it also, if not we will have to continue fighting them "

Adama thought it might work except " Natalie what about your resurrection ships?"

Natalie smiled " We have them close by, but out of sight and out of download range "

Adama pulled the photo out of the ' Creations ' planet. " As soon as Boomer gets the go ahead from Caprica we are set to destroy the Creations planet " he paused thinking " Even if this all goes according to plan there will still be Cavil, Doral and Deanna's left to deal with "

Natalie agreed " Yes, and that is what I wanted to speak to you about "

Adama noticed the others didn't seem to know what she was talking about " What is it?"

Natalie looked around at the others, she had only discussed this with Caprica " If you allow our three basestars to join your fleet we will help destroy the HUB and stop downloading forever "

Adama thought it over " Do you trust all the copies on your basestars?"

Natalie nodded " Yes we do, but more importantly Starbuck will be free to find us a home with the other three cylons gone forever "

Adama sighed " That is exactly what Adam told me, but we have a major problem and that is the president "

Boomer stood up suddenly worried " Lee has a solution already in place for that, but our more immediate problem is having to explain to Roslin why there is a basestar out there right now "

Kara stood up and started pacing herself " Frak, we didn't even think about that "

Natalie calmly stated " We can always tell her that we believe in the Aurora prophecy and want to help the fleet fight the other cylons "

Lee shook his head " She doesn't believe that we should follow Aurora or her chosen one "

Adama smiled " Maybe not, but if Natalie spoke to her it might buy us some time until Mark becomes the vice-president "

Boomer stopped pacing " Natalie you can't mention Caprica or Eliza and you need to let her believe everything is her idea and it wouldn't hurt if you also said Pythia might be the one we should follow "

Adama agreed " Mark is being sworn in tomorrow around one or two o'clock and they both will be attending Eloshi's religious meeting in the ballroom on Cloud Nine "

Kara stopped in front of the desk next to Lee " What happens after that?"

Adama chuckled " Knowing her she will cause a riot among the civilians as she tries to divide the religious sects and I will place her in the brig to cool off while I find something to charge her with "

Kara grinned " Then Mark will have control of the presidential office, that's perfect, but we will have to act fast "

Adama agreed " Natalie if you don't mind I would like for you to talk to her tonight " Natalie nodded her okay " I will call her now and have her meet us here "

Adama stood up " Lee, I need you and Kara out of sight, I hope she doesn't find out you are here or we will have to come up with another story " Adama paused " Have Mathis escort you to visitors quarters, I trust her and you two are not to leave that room, understood?"

Kara grabbed Lee's arm pulling him up " That is one order I don't mind following " she said grinning as they left.

Adama smiled and shook his head " Boomer I need you in the CIC I suspect Caprica should be contacting you soon and I want you and Colonel Tigh to execute the destruction of the Creations planet while I deal with Roslin, your dismissed "

[***]

While Adama and Natalie waited on President Roslin,Natalie asked " If the president believes in Pythia why doesn't she believe in Aurora?"

Adama stayed leaning back in his chair since Natalie had moved to sit across the desk from him " Not many people know, but she has cancer and she takes chamomile which causes her to have visions and according to Pythia the dying leader will lead them to Earth and she refuses to believe anything else "

Natalie chuckled " So Apollo took steps to take care of the situation himself "

Adama grinned " Yes, and I actually believe it is going to work "

Natalie frowned " I hope so, or we may never find a new home "

They sat in silence for a while until there was a knock on the hatch.

Adama got up and opened the hatch " Hello Madame President, thank you for coming so quickly "

As she stepped in she sounded furious " I was already on my way, can you tell me why we did not blow that basestar to hades as soon as it showed up?"

Adama stayed calm " Come in I would like you to meet our guest " Adama waited until she saw her " This is Natalie and the basestar is hers, she is here to ask for our help and in return she will help us "

Natalie stood up and reached out to shake Roslin's hand " It is nice to meet you President Roslin "

Roslin was so shocked she shook the cylons hand without meaning to and let go quickly taking a step back.

Adama walked around them " Let's sit in the living room " Ordinarily Adama would have sat in his chair, but in this case he needed to stay between Natalie and Roslin, so he sat with Natalie on the couch. " Madame President why don't we listen to what Natalie has to say before saying anything?"

Roslin looked at him like she wanted to kill him for putting her in this position, but nodded her consent.

Natalie clasped her hands together in her lap " As I already told Commander Adama I stole a basestar off of Caprica after Cavil started acting differently, he became obsessed with Leobon and Kobol and started doing things without telling us about them " Natalie paused to gather her thoughts " Several of my models and some of the eights started noticing things also and came to me for answers, which I didn't have. After another week more models came forward, so we held a meeting and voted to leave Cavil and Caprica. Before you ask I made sure we all shared the same thoughts by using our method of knowing each others thoughts.

Adama stopped her a moment " Did Cavil try to hunt you down "

Natalie shook her head " No, which was also strange because he hates disloyalty, but it reinforced the idea that he was up to something larger "

Roslin spoke " Why should we trust you and why would you want to join us?"

Natalie dropped her head " We finally realized that Cavil had been lying to us all along, there is no cylon god and we put two and two together and knew he had been trying to make us believe he was our god " she paused again " We know your religion and believe that Pythia or Aurora will show someone the way to Earth and in return we will help you destroy the cylon HUB and end resurrection forever "

Roslin gasped " You mean we can finally get rid of the cylons?"

Adama smirked " Not all of them Roslin, the ones that choose to help us will become part of our future "

Roslin stood up " You don't mean that "

Adama stood also " Roslin I will not turn against the ones who help us and I know a lot of people that will agree with me, and I will not allow you to harm any of them, understood?"

Roslin walked toward the hatch " I will have to think about it and run it by the quorum, I will let you know tomorrow "

Adama almost shouted " Don't forget about the HUB just to save your pride "

Roslin slammed the hatch on the way out.

Adama turned to Natalie " Would you like to return to your basestar until tomorrow morning?"

Natalie stood up " Yes, and if you don't mind I will leave a line open so Boomer can tell me what happened with Caprica and Eliza "

Adama nodded " Sure, come on and I will walk you down to your raider before I head to the CIC and find out what's going on "

[ ]

When Adama entered the CIC it had already started " Boomer sitrep "

Boomer turned to face the commander " Cavil and another basestar fell for the trap, but the cylon fighters needed help, so Eliza jumped her basestar in and took out whose basestar we believed to be Deanna's and jumped out. Cavil is still holding on, but the good news is the heavy raiders found his resurrection ship, so if we can destroy the basestar he can't download "

Adama knew he needed to help if it was going to work " Boomer input the jump coordinates, we will jump in and help take down Cavil's basestar "

Colonel Tigh jumped into the conservation " We can't leave the fleet unprotected commander "

Adama grinned " They won't be unprotected Colonel, in case you forgot we have a friendly basestar out there "

Adama looked at Boomer " Tell Natalie to protect the fleet and then jump us "

Cavil had defeated the cylon fighters and was getting ready to jump to Caprica for reinforcements when the Galactica jumped in and immediately fired two nukes dead center of his basestar "

" Frak " was the last word the original Cavil would ever say.

The Galactica was only gone ten minutes at the most before rejoining the fleet.

[ ]

When Roslin left Adama's office she went to see Mark in life station. " Hey Mark I need a favor "

Mark sat up " Sure Laura what is it?"

Roslin sat down " I just left a meeting with the commander and a number six cylon who currently has a basestar in the fleet and she offered to help us destroy the Cylon Hub which would end cylon resurrection forever and in return she wants to join the fleet "

Mark chose his words carefully " That sounds like a good trade off especially if we can destroy the cylons that are against us "

Roslin smirked " I can't believe how much the commander is willing to trust the cylons, anyway I need to swear you in as soon as possible in the morning "

Mark knew why, but asked anyway " How would that help?"

Roslin stood up " I am going to need your support in case I have to make a case against the commander and the military to stop this insanity "

Mark had a bad feeling things were about to go sideways " I will have Cottle release me early and meet you on Colonial One at nine o'clock in the morning if that will help "

Roslin patted his shoulder " Thanks Mark, I will be waiting for you with the press there also, and then we are going to attend Eloshi's meeting and try to stop this Aurora nonsense "

Roslin felt the Galactica jump without any warning and stormed off muttering " What in the frak is he up to now?"

Mark laid back down and sighed hoping Lee's plan worked and wondered himself what Commander Adama was doing.

[ ]

Adama was making a fleet wide statement " I apologize if I alarmed any of you, but I didn't have time to explain, we received information on a cylon basestar and jumped in and destroyed it. As a matter of fact the cylons suffered severe losses today not only by us, but also by some of their own people " Adama paused a second before continuing " I will explain in more detail tomorrow to your quorum leaders, thank you for understanding, Adama out "

Adama turned to talk to Boomer " Has Caprica been updated?"

Boomer smiled " Yes sir and she said to thank you for you help, she also said she would access the situation and fill us in tomorrow "

Before anymore could be said Roslin stormed in " What in the frak did you do?"

Adama sighed " We blew up Cavils basestar and before you say it, I left the fleet under the protection of Natalie and her basestar and that is all I am going to say about it "

Adama moved to stand by Boomer and whispered " Kara and Lee are in quarters under orders not to leave and I would appreciate it if you filled them in since your shift is up "

Boomer saluted " Yes sir, I will take care of it now "

Roslin stormed off and headed back to Colonial One intending on finding out what was happening and why she wasn't being told.

[ ]

Kara and Lee were in the guest quarters they had been sent to.

Kara had plans for her and Lee later, but he needed to rest and eat before that could happen.

After making Lee lay down she opened the hatch and asked Mathis to have them something to eat sent up.

Lee waited until Kara closed the hatch " I would rest better if you laid down with me Kara "

Kara chuckled and walked over " Scoot over Lee and no funny business until you rest and eat "

Lee grinned and rolled onto his good side facing her and reached over to pull her closer to him" I'm fine Kara "

Kara turned on her side facing him and backed up a few inches " Stop Lee, Simon said you had to rest, so close your eyes and try to sleep or at least rest and I promise to make it up to you later "

Lee rolled his eyes " Fine, what do you think is happening right now?"

Kara was going to say she had no idea when the Galactica suddenly jumped " Why in the frak did we just jump?"

Lee shrugged " How in the frak should I know?"

The first thing they heard when they came out of the jump was Galactica firing nukes and then the Galactica jumped again.

Kara jumped up and went to the hatch opening it " Mathis what in the frak is going on?"

The marine shrugged " I don't know Captain, I'm sure someone will let us know soon "

Kara shoved the hatch closed " Nobody knows a frakking thing, we should have stayed with Caprica where we at least knew what was happening "

Lee was watching her rant and couldn't help but grin " I know you would think the chosen one would know everything "

Kara eyes jumped straight to his " It is not funny Lee, I hate being locked up "

Lee was about to say something else when someone knocked on the hatch.

Kara sprinted to the hatch jerking it open and finding Boomer standing there she grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room shoving the hatch closed.

Before Boomer could say a word Kara started " Tell me what is happening right now Boomer or I swear I am walking out of here "

Boomer went and sat on the edge of the bed " I was trying to Starbuck before you went ballistic "

Lee chuckled " What did happen Boomer?"

Kara leaned against the wall while Boomer explained everything.

Lee was shocked " Dad jumped away from the fleet just like that?"

Boomer nodded " Yes, but he left Natalie to protect the fleet "

Kara grinned " So the original Cavil is dead forever now?"

Lee gasped " I bet Roslin is beyond pissed "

Boomer chuckled " She was, she stormed out of the CIC "

Kara moved to sit on the bed " So I guess the old man wants us to stay put until Mark is sworn in and Eloshi's meeting is over "

Boomer shrugged " Yes, but if Roslin divides the fleet you may have to admit you are the chosen one to bring the fleet back together again "

Kara nodded " I figured as much, have you heard from Caprica since it all went down?"

Boomer stood up " Not yet, but I will let you know when I do, but right now I am heading to my rack after I shower " Boomer opened the hatch " Night guys "

Kara had just laid back down when they heard another knock, instead of getting up again Kara hollered at who ever it was " Come in "

It was Mathis with their food.

[ ]

The next morning Adama had Helo and Racetrack escort Mark to Colonial One with orders to stay with him in an unofficial capacity since Mark was dating Racetrack hoping Roslin would see it as such.

Helo and Racetrack still wore their colonial uniforms.

Helo headed down to the hangar to sign out the raptor while Racetrack went to life-station to walk down to the bay with Mark.

Mark filled Maggie in on why Roslin had moved the time up to swear him in as her vice-president.

Maggie listened until he finished " Roslin doesn't know that Lee and Kara are back on the Galactica and the commander doesn't want to tell her yet "

Mark looked over at her " Why not? "

Maggie shrugged " Athena said Boomer told her he didn't want to tell her they came with Natalie and he doesn't want any attention drawn to her when Eloshi mentions Aurora at her meeting "

Mark nodded " He is trying to protect her, but it will have to come out eventually "

Maggie frowned " I know, and if Roslin succeeds in splitting the people between following Pythia or Aurora Starbuck will be the only one who can bring the people back together "

No more was said between then as they reached the hangar deck and spotted Helo waiting on them.

Helo smiled and patted Mark on the shoulder " Are you ready to become vice-president Mark?"

Mark shrugged " Not really, but I will do what I have to do to make sure Kara can fulfill her destiny "

They all strapped in and left for Colonial One each lost in their own thoughts.

As soon as they landed and the raptor door opened Billy was standing there waiting on them " Hello Mr. Rivers, President Roslin has sent me to escort you to the meeting room "

Mark stepped down off the ramp and extended his hand to Billy who shook it, he knew he needed to start playing nice " Please call me Mark and you are Billy, right?"

Billy smiled " Yes sir I am, please follow me "

Mark stood still " I would like Maggie and Karl to join me, if that's okay "

Billy wasn't sure, but he agreed anyway " Alright, but we need to hurry they are waiting on you "

Mark walked beside Billy leaving Maggie and Karl walking behind them.

Helo leaned over and whispered to Racetrack " I bet Roslin won't like us being there "

Maggie grinned and whispered back " Since I am Mark's girlfriend she won't say anything about it, I don't think she would want to upset Mark "

Before Roslin allowed the press in and while she waited on Mark she told the quorum about the basestar and what the cylon wanted. " I need to know what each of you think "

The quorum representative from Caprica spoke up " If Commander Adama trusts the cylon then we can't pass up our only chance of stopping cylon resurrection, so I vote to take the cylon up on her offer "

Roslin hated that she was right " Does anyone else have an opinion?"

The Picon representative spoke next " I also agree under the condition that Commander Adama places marines on the basestar "

Roslin listened as all but two agreed with the plan " The majority rules, I will let the Commander know " she glanced at one of her aides " Let the reporters in, but do not tell them what we just discussed "

Billy and Mark entered the room from the side and stood just out of view while Roslin spoke to the quorum members who were sitting on the front row with the reporters standing behind them. " Priestess Eloshi could not be here, so I have asked Priestess Ella to swear in Mark Rivers as our Vice-President " Roslin looked to her right motioning for Mark to come stand with her, Mark walked out to stand with her " I would like you all to meet Mark Rivers and now bear witness to his swearing in "

Priestess Ella had walked over and stood before Mark as they turned sideways to the crowd " Please raise your right hand and repeat after me "

Mark did and as soon as they finished the reporters started firing questions at him. He made sure to answer them all and managed to keep a smile on his face the whole time.

Roslin finally stepped in " That will be all the time we have for now as most of you know we are attending Priestess Eloshi's meeting in the ballroom on Cloud Nine if any of you care to join us us "

One reporter asked to take pictures of the two of them together. They actually ended up posing for several before they managed to get away.

Then they were on their way to Cloud Nine along with Roslin who asked to ride over with them.

Roslin sat by Mark in the back and whispered " The quorum voted to allow the basestar to help us "

Mark looked at her " Laura it is the only chance we may ever have at stopping the cylons "

Roslin didn't like it but " I know, now I just need to stop Eloshi "

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