So we're back to getting Kara caught, I know, not the most exciting thing in the world but I want to do this a certain way and ask you to bear with me. The next chapter will hopefully be more interesting to you, And I am trying out a new point of view, I want to try differentiating besides just Kara and Leoben. Anyways, enough with the babble, and thanks for reading my story.

Chapter Five-

Kara-

What was the cylon doing? What the hell was wrong with him? What made him just stand there like nothing was going on? She had just helped blow up part of a grounded bastestar for Gods' sake. He should be doing something, not just standing by a tree.

But the cylon appeared to be waiting for something and knowing Leoben she wouldn't like it. "He has an agenda, it's a goal you won't understand 'til later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal." The admiral's words rang through her head and she knew he was right. Leoben had a goal to accomplish and staying here in this tree wasn't going to help her stop it any. Problem was she had no idea what he wanted, no context clues to go off of, nothing.

Leoben scared her more than anything if she was being honest. He knew things about her no one else had known, granted Simon could have seen it on the x-rays like Cottle had but Leoben was different. He'd actually told her, right to her face about her mother and it was before Caprica. No one had the right to speak about her mother that way least of all a skin-job.

Curled up against the tree she reflected on things while she waited for them to find and kill her. There was no chance to run, years ago or so she might have tried but now, hiding was the best bet. Best way to survive.

Kara thought about a lot of things, Zak, the old man, Lee, Dee, Sam, Helo the Galatica Sharon, The former President, Baltar, how he'd betrayed them. It wouldn't leave her alone, though she and the man never got along she hoped he was okay. He probably wasn't considering the cylons had him but you never know.

She thought about Sam being sick, how she might never see him again, the man had started to show signs of healing but you never knew with that kind of thing. And with what he had done on Caprica against the cylons it was very doubtful they would let him live even if he wasn't sick.

She heard the soft hum of a heavy raider and the branches hit her in the face as the thing landed nearby. It was officially over, there was no chance for escape with how close the machine was to her and she would be gone before she could do anything. Maybe she could do some damage when the time was right she reasoned, taking the knife handle from her mouth and holding onto to it with a vice grip. It was her only weapon besides the one in her boot sole and she would be heard reaching for it.

Kara felt a wave of helplessness cascade over her. She did the only thing she thought would help her. She began to pray to Artemis and Aphrodite in particular but anyone who was listening to her would do gladly. Prayer had always helped her, just the idea that someone was listening to her, made her feel so much better.

Lords of Kobol hear my prayer she began, knowing she could die any second made it seem all the more important to her that she do this.

And yet Kara did not pray for herself. No, she knew if the Gods chose her to leave the universe at that moment there was no stopping them. It was all up to them. All she could hope for then was Elysium and that Zak would be there. That was provided they let screw-ups like her in heaven.

Please take care of your children who may be forced to depart from this world today and the days following. Please watch over the Colonel and the rest of the resistance. Grant us security and safety in the coming days, something we shall surely need.

If the God Apollo wills it please allow Samuel to heal and go back to being the same he was before. Keep him safe in the coming days of war and please please please let the Galatica and the Pegasus come back and rescue us. Please save your children from the cylons and those who would mock your name.

So say we all.

She could have gone on but there was movement below, forcing her to end the prayer. Kara hoped the Gods were listening to her, there would be so much trial coming. She needed their protection, there were just some things she felt she could not do without them.

Sam needed to make it, she didn't think she could pull through if he didn't. Was her touch really a curse, was she doomed to kill everyone she loved? She had effectively killed Lee, she had killed Zak, and so many others. The loss of Samuel would be a huge blow to her and she wasn't sure if she could pick up the pieces. She loved Sam, he never asked her to do anything she didn't want to do, and he accepted her for who she was.

Try as she might she couldn't stay as focused on the scene below as she haould, a cylon had emerged from the treeline, it was a Simon and he was holding some kind of gun. It didn't seem to be a regular gun though, she knew it was a gun, it had everything else a gun had, but the chamber seemed different. Starbuck knew she had seen it before, but where was the question.

But in a second it all clicked. She remembered their guns instructor holding the very same weapon up to show all the cadets. The man brawled that it was a tranquilizer gun, meant to bring people down if they were wanted alive. And the second it got a dart in you it was game over.

She shivered against the night not just because it was cold but because she realized she did not get a nice easy death. Nope, she was going to be a prisoner of war if they found her, and there didn't seem to be a damned thing she could do about it.

This had all been a joke that left a bitter taste in her mouth. They knew where she was all along, they weren't going to kill her right now, she would be dragged to a prison somewhere. Or a farm. Panic threatened to nearly overwhelm her and she sought to keep herself under control. Soldiers don't freeze up, you get through it.

Keep it together girl. she instructed herself and slowly below she watched the cylon hand the gun to Leoben, he gripped it expertly, knowing what he was doing, he paused to take aim upwards, knowing right where she was, she saw Leoben pull the trigger and the dart lodged itself in her leg, emptying it's contents into her blood stream despite the speed she pulled it out.

The drug would take effect in five minutes tops and she would be out for the count. Or maybe they were just going to let her fall to the ground and let whatever life besides plants and humans there was on this planet eat her remains because she bleed to death from the fall. It was the type of thing cylons would do.

Kara didn't say a word, no moans, no whimpers, nothing at all, not about to give them the slightest bit of satisfaction. If she had to lose she was going to do it with dignity, but her mind was swirling.

Her green eyes started to close as much as she fought to keep them open and her grip on the knife began to loosen a bit along with her hand on the trunk, and she was becoming unbalanced. The world was slowly starting to fade away from her grasp and yet, all she could think of was how sorry she was.

She was letting so many people down by not fighting until she couldn't. She began to list them in her head as much as she probably shouldn't, giving herself evidence she had fracked this up pretty damn bad made her mind clearer for a bit.

Sorry Admiral. you gave me a reason to keep living and now I threw it away. After a while I probably won't be able to hang on anymore and will give things up to them, or die first and you always said you never wanted to loose me.

Sorry Lee for what I did to you along with not being good enough and sorry to you to Dee, you always deserved him more than a frack up like me. I know you faced some rumors about us but I want you to know I will never come between you two on purpose, marriage is sacred. He choose you, even before I let him down.

Sorry Madame President for not being able to do my job, I always thought of you as kind of like a mother figure, I hope you don't mind. Even though I don't vote I voted for you.

Sorry Helo, you were my best friend. I don't deserve you in the slightest, and you kept picking up the pieces of me that kept breaking, it takes a real person to do that, though I don't know why you wasted your time on me I am sure glad you did.

Sorry Sharon or Caprica Sharon for being a jerk to you. I didn't want to think that cylons could be different, or maybe was just too stupid too, either way, you deserved better treatment than what I gave you, you helped me, you helped me save Sam.

Sorry Tigh for punching you, stealing your ambrosia and everything else. And now for leaving you to the cylons. I never liked you but ever since that conversation the day after ground-breaking I can see you really aren't that bad, oh and I'm sorry for stealing your tank and putting it in the red wash causing it to get a slight pink tinge. I wasn't thinking.

Sorry Chief for leaving you to lead a resistance. You took care of my bird and you know how much it means to me, I'm such a coward to leave you to get these people organized but you are a better people leader than me, I know you don't think so but you are, rank be damned.

Sorry Cally for not being around to help with the baby and stuff. I'm sure the baby will be fine, and Chief will be fine. I'm sorry I'll get to miss him, don't know why you were thinking of letting me near him but I'm sorry I'll miss it.

Sorry Sam for not being there when you wake up like I know you will. Sorry for not being there like the wife you deserve. Sorry for taking so long to rescue you, sorry for sleeping with Lee on the night of ground breaking ceremony even though you never found out about it.

Kara slowly lost her balance and fell forward through the branches, leaving a few minor cuts and bruises and the last thing she remembers is someone catching her in their arms. Those arms felt like comfort, home, security, and the idea she would be okay even if she closed her eyes. She also knew those arms were a lie. A voice whispered comfort in her ear even though she couldn't place whose voice it was.

But it felt pretty nice, like someone was saving her from the nightmares her imagination had dreamt up to answer the question of what happens now. She knew they were just giving her a false sense of security, luring her into cooperating until she was under control so her interrogators would not harm her.

Kara wonders for a moment what kind of tactics they will use on her, but before her mind can even dredge up her POW training from War College, her mind fully blackens out, allowing her to sink into a peaceful oblivion that didn't have cylons in it. Just comfortable blackness.

And really, how can you screw up blackness?

Laura-

Laura sat in the underground tunnels with a blanket wrapped around herself. She knew she would have to have energy for the coming day, day 2 of the cylon invasion, but she somehow couldn't sleep. Fancy that, former President who had made some pretty big calls against the cylons being afraid they would try and find her to kill her, she was only mildly worried about. It was the people out there risking their lives probably at this very moment she was more worried about. She knew a resistance was needed, an insurgency if you will, and yet, she had never before felt so strongly, the anticipation of which soldiers would return and which ones wouldn't.

The trap door clanged open, and threw some of the early morning light down onto the caves. Laura stood up, still in clothes from the day before and rushed over to greet them. Sam in a bed nearby, moved in fear the cylons would kill him for the Caprica resistance efforts, struggled to sit up to greet them.

Laura diverted her attention from the door to the former pyramid player, carefully helping the healing man sit up, she scanned the people coming in, exhausted and yet, exhilarated. They were coming down from a battle high, that was apparent enough. There was also a sadness to their features, and fear. Fear was extremely apparent in their faces.

When the last man entered and the door shut, Laura did a quick head count. 19 people. That was one less than had gone out, it was only the first mission of the insurgents and they had already lost someone. She knew they were facing almost impossible odds, but it was still a blow to moral they had lost someone already.

"Where's Kara?" Sam said before a coughing fit overtook him. They were not as violent anymore, a good sign Cottle said, but they still hurt Laura's heart. She wished he was better, in the year she had been on New Caprica she had come to like Samuel T. Anders very much.

Chief looked lost and it hit Laura like a ton of bricks. Kara had gotten lost. So many questions, did they know she was dead, was she just taken, missing or?

Hendricks, one of Sam's pyramid players walked over to him, and began very gently. "She was with us all the way to the trees. Than we lost her, it was so confusing and she said not to look for anyone, get to the rendezvous, and than get back, she has to be alive, the only people who got shot that night were toasters. There were no more gun shots than the ones the Dorals took." The man tried to comfort his team captain but it didn't do much good.

Sam looked lost, and Laura knew why. They all looked lost, and she felt lost. Starbuck was someone who always came back, proof that no matter how large the odds, you could get out of it. It didn't matter what it was, she was always alive and fighting again another day. Toasters hated her, she was a heroine to everyone. The people needed that, but now she was gone, and it scared them, it made everything seem more fragile. With the loss of the Colonel and herself, everything seemed more fragile.

"We are going to get her back Sam. We'll start searching the area we saw her last in and go from there." Chief said confidently, it was hard on him, you could see it. Everyone loved Starbuck, even if it was in a grudging fashion. The world was not right without her.

"One of those cylons was chasing me, but than it switched to the person I think was her," One of the knuckle draggers spoke up quietly. Laura looked in the young man who they called Jammer's face. She saw truth there, and why would he lie about this? It was a young woman's life at stake here, despite that very same woman's idea that she wasn't worth it, something Laura had heard her say more than once.

Becoming suspicious of your neighbors already Laura? She chided herself, these people had proved themselves to be on their side many times over, there was to be no questioning of loyalties or the cylons would not have to rip them apart, they would do it themselves in fear of neighbors. It would be like what had happened after it had been revealed cylons could imitate humans.

"Which cylon?" she asked, hardly wanting to know the answer to her question. Kara had a knack for pissing people off, cylons even more so. She had talked to Kara on Kobol and learned about the blonde woman, and the Simon. For a moment Laura wonders if they will start that again, the farms. If so, they would take Maya and may find Hera. And the cylons having that baby was something that could not happen.

The Knuckledragger bits his lip and the entire room is silent waiting for his answer, "Leoben" he whispers, and the room takes note "Yeah that was his name, the one who called himself Leoben."

At that single moment, Laura's blood ran cold. "Are you sure?" She asked. Maybe Leoben had a personal vendetta, she had been the one having him tortured for information until Laura herself had intervened, opting for a different method. Or maybe it was the farms like they had on Caprica? She mentally shuddered, having noted the Captain's scars and demanded an explanation to both of them. Kara after much convincing give up some grudging details, it horrified Laura. She had always been one for women's choice, it was a twisted thing of them to do, low even for cylons.

On the other hand, it could be a combination of both, try a tactic like they had used with Helo and Sharon, get them to fall in love. As much as she can't see it happening, that is not to say they wouldn't try, Leoben apparently already knew a disturbing among about her, judging by her reaction to something he said to her in the interrogation.

Any reason they may have for taking her, Laura knew it was not because they were being nice. No, they wanted her, she had listened to some of the footage they had from Leoben's interview, and he thought she was special for some reason. She wondered if she really wanted to know what that reason was.

"I'm going to take a peek outside to see if it is safe for you to leave, tonight we will meet again to discuss Captain Thrace-Anders" The former President used both names just incase and climbed up the ladder outside, Chief went with her, the men downstairs talking to the ill pyramid player to rouse his spirits and get him to help plan the next move.

"It's unsettling for you isn't it?" Laura asked the deck Chief turned insurgent. He nodded along with her, not trusting himself to say anymore, she knew what he was thinking; if they could get Starbuck they could get anybody. What would the use her for, bargaining tool, symbol of what happened to resistance fighters? Her mind gave her horrible images and Laura didn't like them.

They replaced the rug and went back outside into the early morning light. Today you could at least see this planet's sun, and maybe it would not be so damp and so cold. Maybe.

"How is it Cally?" She asked Chief's very pregnant wife who had been waiting outside, all this strain could not be good for the baby. The question is broad, fit for Cally's interpretation, the former President always admired the spitfire of a girl. She was one of few females who was in a very male dominated field, had bit the ear of a prisoner who'd attacked her aboard the Astral Queen, and was a very sweet girl.

"There a group of toasters coming," She observed and pointed off into the distance; Laura felt fear grip her in its icy claws. It was in the general direction of where the resistance had run.

From a distance you could tell the group was heavily guarded. 8 metal Centurions, a raider flying overhead, all to guard a few skin jobs. But it surely couldn't be for just the skin-jobs. No, it had to be something else. Or someone else.

She waited while the group came into the tent city, hopefully empty handed. It was a futile hope she knew and yet she could not stop it.

A slight gasp escaped Laura when she realized her hopes had been dashed. In the group, which was easy to see as they passed due to the humans scuttled out of their way, not wanting to be killed, there were only three cylons in the group. There was a Simon, whom Kara had brought back a photo and description of from Caprica, who seemed to be the doctor, or scientist of the cylons, and two Leoben copies around him.

One Leoben had a scar right above where the Admiral had given him one, and the other Leoben, the one in between Simon and the scarred Leoben, the other Leoben was the one who Chief, Cally and a huge number of people were staring at.

"Frack." Cally stated, an understatement for sure, because in the Leoben's arms, was a person, unconscious, blonde hair everywhere, a part of a symbol for Caprica on her arm. In his arms was Kara.