Ch 5
"Smuggle?" Kara asked, as she looked at the Romulan ale.
"It's currently illegal. So what happened next?" Nechayev asked, sipping her glass.
"I got the arrow, and ran into Helo, Lt. Agathon. And his Cylon girlfriend, Sharon. She's currently in jail on the Galactica. Anyway, Sharon bolted after I tried to kill her, because I knew she was a Cylon, and Helo knew she was a Cylon. So, me and Helo drove around Delphi, one of the cities. We ran into a godsdamned motherfracking pyramid team. They were doing high altitude training when the nukes fell." Kara said.
"You're kidding, right?" Nechayev asked.
"I'm not. They took us in. Got close to their leader, Samuel T. Anders. Pity he's dead." Kara said.
"What happened?" Nechayev asked.
"We were scouting for an a Cylon airbase, hoping to steal a heavy raider. A Cylon patrol discovered us and started hosing the convoy with gunfire. I got shot, and captured. For 4 days, I was in a hospital, that was ran by the Cylons. They were trying to combine human and Cylon to make a new generation." Kara said, shuddering at the memory.
"Christ. Sperm and eggs from both sides. What were they thinking?" Nechayev asked.
"Don't want to know what they were thinking. I broke out of the hospital, after killing a few dozen POWs. Men and woman were being used as baby machines. When I was fleeing the hospital, Cylon centurions started firing at me. Sam and his resistance came and tried to help me escape. And here comes Sharon with the Cylon heavy raider we were about to capture and guns down the Cylons, allowing us to escape. And then…" Kara says.
"Something unexpected happens."
"Yep. I'm pretty sure it was a sniper, because we never saw the bastard. Sam's head is blown right off. It's crazy. One second, he's alive, helping me get onto the raider. Next second, he's dead." Kara says.
"It never does make sense. In the Dominion war, we would make advances, only to suffer intense defeats. One day, we would take out dozens of enemy ships, and the next day, we'd lose half a fleet. And the day after that, we'd be more than happy to return the favor. Just went on and on." Nechayev said.
"I'm hoping we can go back and rescue the survivors." Kara said, drinking her glass of Romulan ale, down it in one gulp. She still struggled with the strong after taste.
"Romulan ale isn't for me." Kara said, putting the glass on the table.
"Most people can't handle it." Nechayev said.
"I wonder why." Kara said, trying not to throw up.
"Bridge to Admiral Nechayev."
"Admiral, here."
"Adama wants to speak to you."
"Patch me through."
"Admiral, my son is being inducted as the Commander of the Pegasus." Adama said.
"Congratulations, Adama. But that's not why you called me." Nechayev said.
"You and Starbuck need to be there for the ceremony." Adama said.
"I understand Starbuck, but me?" Nechayev asked.
"It'll be a boost to moral to see the Graff Spee in support." Adama said.
"Understood. When is it starting?" Nechayev asked.
"In three days."
"I'll be there. Out." Nechayev said.
"I feel woozy." Kara said, as the strong alcohol hit her in force.
"Admiral to sickbay. Lock onto Capt. Thrace's bio sign and beam her to the sickbay. She drank one glass of Romulan ale, and she's gone loopy." Nechayev said, and watched as the drunk pilot was beamed out of her quarters.
"Finally, some peace and quiet." She said, turning up the jazz music and continued to read Adama's logs.
On the Galactica, Adama and Roslin met.
"The stuff Nechayev is giving to the fleet is a real help. Cottle can't make heads or tails of what he's got, so she sent one of her doctors to give him pointers." Adama said.
"It's good to see that some normality is coming back, but I'm worried about something." Roslin said.
"About what?" Adama asked.
"How the fleet will react to a warship from the 13 tribe. People are demanding that Nechayev contact earth and send a fleet of warships to protect us." Roslin said.
"It will take time for them to assemble a fleet and if they do it quickly, good luck finding us. We're moving all the time. So I doubt we'll see a fleet of battleships from the 13 tribe." Adama said.
3 days later, and Lee Adama was being sworn in as the commander of the Pegasus. Admiral Neachev was there, wearing full dress uniform.
"I swear, you're like a kid on his first day at school." Kara whispered to Lee.
"You're going to make me regret having you along, aren't you?" Lee whispered back.
"Every day." Kara responded.
"… I now present to you, the newest commander of the battlestar Pegasus." Roslin said, stepping aside and letting Lee stand on the podium, in front of the many personal of the Pegasus crew.
"9 months ago, the world changed. Our lives changed forever. We found ourselves holding responsibilities that we never thought we'd be holding. Duty, honor, respect, loyalty. Those are more than words. Those are the guidelines of those who serve in the colonial fleet. And recently, all have been in shortage aboard this ship. Well that's going to change. Starting today. I've already appointed Kara Thrace as my acting CAG, and I'll be going thru crew roosters and…"
Kendraw Shaw turned the radio off in contempt.
"More things change, the more they stay the same." She said.
"Yeah, ain't that the truth." A fellow cook said.
"Oh, Admiral. I was hoping we can talk." Roslin said.
"Sure thing." Nechayev said.
"In private." Roslin said.
Raising an eyebrow, Nechayev followed Roslin to an empty room.
"What's on your mind?" Nechayev asked.
"The Federation. How long until you can have a fleet here to meet us?" Roslin asked.
"President, we're still trying to figure out what section of space we're in. The Federation has never been here before. My guess is that we're in what Starfleet calls the Charlie quadrant." Nechayev said.
"But you could contact earth, have a fleet meet us?" Roslin asked.
"No. It'll take time to assemble a fleet, and even longer get here. Besides, Starfleet is stretched thin right now. So we can't afford to send ships into the Charlie quadrant and look for 50-odd ships. If we're in the Charlie quadrant." Nechayev said.