"So, the ship docks tomorrow, I have two days of debrief, and then I will be all yours," Bill says as he walks the girls back to their transport, "The movers are..."

"Coming tomorrow and packing everything up, we're meeting them at the cabin on Thursday and staying with Mona tomorrow night," Laura tells him as they approach the heavy. She turns on her heel coming to stand in front of Bill. She leans up and kisses him before sighing and squeezing his hand, "I love you, I'll see you in a couple days, stay safe."

"I love you too. Lee's going to be doing your escort home, so you should be pretty safe," Bill smiles, leaning down to kiss her again before ruffling Aurora's hair, "Don't give your mom too much trouble."

"I'm not trouble," Aurora says indignantly, looking up at Bill with a look very reminiscent of her mother.

"I know I'm just teasing," Bill assures her before looking up at Mona, "Thank you for coming."

"I had a great time. The crew was amazing," Mona assures Bill with a smile. Bill leans down and kisses Aurora's cheek before letting them board with a wave. Laura settles Aurora in the seat next to her before sinking down with a small sigh, looking out the window as they take off.

"Are you okay?" Mona asks as she leans forward towards Laura, a concerned look on her face, "You've been off the last couple days."

"I'm fine...I just have a bad feeling about something."

"Laura, everything is going to be fine, by the time we land you are going to be officially retired and off to live in the woods with your caveman."

"I'll believe it when we get there," Laura says, a slightly sour look on her face, "Will you give me half of one of those things? My stomach is killing me."

"Course," Mona says handing her half a pill. Laura bites off half of it and chews it over before putting the other half in her pocket. She lays her head back and closes her eyes, letting out a long breath, trying to relax. Aurora snuggles into Laura's side, already halfway to a nap herself.


Laura jolts awake as Billy shakes her shoulder. She rubs her eyes and sighs softly as she looks up at the boy, taking in the worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"There are some reports coming in."

"Reports?" Laura says as she sits up, confusion furrowing her brow.

"Attacks on the colonies," Billy whispers, "The pilots are trying to get more information."

Laura pushes herself out of her seat and looks back at Mona who was passed out. She digs through her friends bag to retrieve her phone, frowning when she doesn't see any messages. She puts the phone back before pulling Billy aside.

"What are you hearing?"

"From what we could determine…the cylons are attacking, all of the colonies have been hit by nukes…someone just pulled the last transmission from Caprica…"

"Sit, don't let her go anywhere," Laura says as she pushes Billy down into her seat before approaching the cockpit. She knocks on the door before going in, finding one of the pilots clutching a transmission, anxiety flitting through his face, "Caprica is gone?"

Laura studies the look on the man's face, resignation taking over her own.

"Caprica and three other colonies," He tells her. Laura takes the transmission and skims it over. The pilot shakes his head before looking at the door behind Laura, "I should make an announcement…"

"I will take care of that," Laura assures him, "See if you can contact the Ministry of Civil Defense and see if we can do anything to help."

Laura slips out of the cockpit, the transmission still grasped in her hand as she goes to talk to the rest of the passengers, adrenaline starting to thrum through her veins as she attempts to take charge of the situation. After she gets everyone calmed down, she kneels down next to Billy and hands him a couple pieces of paper.

"This is the passenger list. I need you to keep track of it." Billy nods, taking the paper wth a shaking hand. Laura stops and squeezes his hand, "You okay?"

"Uh…yeah, I'll be fine," Billy assures her with a small smile. Laura looks over as the pilot tries to get her attention. She straightens back up and wrings her hands once.

"Come get me if either of them wake up."

"Yes, maam." Laura slips away at a slightly hurried pace, taking the proffered comm link once she gets settled in the cockpit. She talks for a while with the only person they were able to get a hold of. She'd only talked to Jack at a couple cabinet functions, but could picture his face in her mind as she listened to the chaos in the background.

Her attention snaps away as she listens to the pilot talk to Lee about an incoming nuke. Gods…she had completely forgotten about her son flying along side them. She watches in horror as Lee manages to take out the nuke before starting to drift aimlessly. The pilot begins guiding him to their cargo hold as Laura directs her attention back to her own conversation, keeping just the slightest ear on the pilot.


Laura launches out of her seat as Lee comes in, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Thank gods you're okay." Lee hugs her back, silent for a moment before pulling away. He greets the pilot as he stands, ready to leave, and thanks him for the rescue.

"Don't thank me, thank her," He says before slipping out of the room. Lee catches the end of Laura's directive to Billy and turns his attention back to her.

"Survivors?"

"There are a lot of civilian ships out there, damaged, losing power, low on supplies…we have room for 500, and we're going to need every last bit of it."

"We don't even know the tactical situation out there," Doral interjects trying to get Lee to see Laura didn't know what she was doing. Laura bites back her first response before taking a deep breath.

"I don't think it takes a degree from the Academy to know that we're losing, wouldn't you say, Captain?" Laura asks Lee pointedly.

"Right," Lee agrees with a nod.

"So, we need to pick up as many people as we can and find some where we can touch down. Captain Adama, would you mind taking a look at the navigational charts and see if you can find us somewhere to lay down and hide?"

"Of course," Laura offers both of them a smile before disappearing through the doorway. Lee taps Doral on the chest with his gloves and a grin on his face.

"Lady's in charge…oh and I probably should have mentioned she's my mom," Lee says before following Laura's path. He stops her as they get to the other room, pulling her aside slightly, "Have you heard anything?"

"Not yet," Laura tells him, "You weren't catching anything that the pilots weren't were you?"

"No," Lee shakes his head, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know how to answer that," Laura says as she turns away, heading for the cockpit. Lee follows her, letting her take a seat as he stands, hand braced on the ceiling. They listen quietly as the pilots continue to search for any leading communication before they stumble onto and tune into a broadcast.

"This is an official Colonial Government broadcast. All ministers and officials should now go to Case Orange. Repeat: This is an official Colonial Government broadcast. All ministers and officials should now go to Case Orange." Laura looks straight ahead and sighs with a hard swallow.

"It's an automatic broadcast. It's only supposed to be played in the event that the president, the vice president, and most of the cabinet members are incapacitated…or killed," She tells them, not daring to venture a look at Lee. She rattles off her code to be sent back before thanking them and slipping out of the cockpit. Lee comes out a couple minutes later, finding her next to Aurora, stroking the sleeping girl's hair mindlessly. He takes a seat across from her and swallows as he looks at the two of them for a moment.

"How far down?" Lee asks.

"Forty third…and I knew every single one of the forty two ahead of me…probably longer than I've even known your father," Laura says, stopping her hand and looking at Lee, "I was so close to getting out, Lee, so close."

They both look up as the pilot comes over, handing Laura the reply transmission. Her eyes quickly skim the page before handing it back. She exchanges the blanket around her shoulders for a jacket and stands.

"We will need a priest," Laura tells the pilot. He nods quietly and scurries off. Laura leans down and presses a kiss to Aurora's head, waking her up gently. Aurora stretches out and yawns as she sits up.

"Are we home?" She asks, looking around the empty cabin before noticing Lee, "I thought Lee was flying outside."

"He was, we picked his ship up," Laura says before squatting in front of Aurora, "You remember how I told you about the Cylons and what Daddy and Lee and Zak and Kara's jobs are really for?"

Aurora nods, rubbing her eye again. She looks back and forth between Laura and Lee, a worried look settling in on her face.

"What happened?"

"The Cylons attacked home and all the other planets," Laura starts, trying to think on her feet how much she should tell her daughter, "And we can't go back."

"Why?"

"I don't know, butterfly," Laura says as she strokes Aurora's cheek, her own tears starting to fall again as she wraps her arms around the small body, holding her close, "I don't know."


Lee hands Laura the transmission from his father.

"He's taking command, rendezvous is at Ragnar." Laura takes the transmission and bites her lip before handing it back.

"Tell him we need Galactica here, we've got four ships lined up for rescue."

"He's…not gonna like that."

"At this point, I don't know that I care, Lee," Laura says, glancing up at him, "It's an order from the President."

"Yes, sir," Lee says as he starts to compose the reply. Laura takes a seat across from Mona and Aurora and sighs.

"Galactica is still functional. Bill is taking command of the fleet, wants us to meet him at some place called Ragnar."

"It's the Ragnar Anchorage, it's a munitions supply locker in the center of a storm," Mona says, "Richard mentioned it a couple times."

"Lee is requesting Galactica's presence here, we'll see how well that goes over."

"Dad and Zak are okay?"

"As far as I know, honey," Laura says, "We'll see once Galactica gets here."

"I wanna go home," Aurora whispers. Laura holds her arms out, pulling her daughter into her lap. She presses a kiss to her head and sighs gently.

"I know you do baby. I do too," Laura tells her as she rubs her back. She takes a deep breath and lets it out.

"Laura?" Laura looks up at Mona.

"You're doing a great job."

"Doesn't feel like it," Laura says quietly.


"We need to leave. And that's a decision that needs to be made now Madame President," Lee says as the small group confers on the recent sighting of a cylon raider. Laura rubs her head as she considers her options.

"Distribute the coordinates to the FTL ships…and start jump prep," Laura tells them before slipping away. Mona pulls Laura down into the seat next to her, Aurora asleep on the seat across from them. She wraps her arm around her best friend and kisses her head.

"We have to leave so many behind," Laura whispers.

"In order to save the rest," Mona reminds her. Laura grabs a sick bag, setting it on her lap as she watches Aurora sleep.

"She's safe…Lee's safe, Bill's safe, Zak, Kara, you…everyone is safe, so why don't I feel any better?"

"You don't have to feel better. 99.9 percent of the people that we knew, are gone. It's okay to mourn that."

Laura nods and closes her eyes, waiting as Lee counts down their jump, feeling her stomach instantly enter her throat as they speed through space and time. Once they exit their jump Laura clenches her eyes tight as she throws up almost instantly.

"Oh gods, you're so gross."

"Thanks," Laura says dryly as she closes the bag before throwing it away. She rinses her mouth out and looks out the window as they begin their approach of Galactica and the munitions depot in the midst of a swirling blue and green swarm.


[TBC]