Echoes: Chapter 25

[ecstaticdance]

Title: Echoes
Author: EcstaticDance
Summary: All of this has happened before, now we're going to see it happen again. But the Lords of Kobol want to see if they can possibly change it, so key characters have retained the echoes of memories which cause them to make different decisions, or experience things at different times, than in previous cycles.
Spoilers: Through Season 4
Warnings: Heavy mysticism. This is not scientifically sound, folks. It's myth-driven.
Pairings/Characters: Kara/Lee
Rating: M
Disclaimers: None of it is mine.
Cross-posted:
Thanks: To my husband for taking the time to read it through.

Previous Chapters: at my LJ

Return to Chapter 24




Chapter 25

Galen sat in his room, watching his wife sleep. Cottle had put her on a suicide watch. Something to do with a rare and severe mental imbalance that in very unusual circumstances could hit new mothers as much as a year after their kids were born. She wasn't perfect. Life with her was, in fact, hell sometimes. The harping and complaining wore his patience thin to say the least. But she was his wife, and what had started as guilt had grown into... at least affection, if not the passionate love he'd felt for Sharon.

Boomer, he corrected himself.

Then he cast both names aside. That was part of the past, and if he'd made do with second best because that was all he'd had, at least he'd done so with his eyes wide open. His son hadn't been given a choice, and his wife deserved better, especially from a frakking toaster. That was going to be a fun little bomb to drop on her one day. He sighed, scrubbing a hand across his face. His wife was falling apart. His ship was falling apart. His life had been turned upside down. He felt like he was juggling and wondered how long he'd be able to keep at it before he dropped something. Losing any one of those little eggs would be devastating. Stretching out on his bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Nicky must have heard him, because he couldn't have waited more than 5 minutes to start wailing. Cally started up immediately, looking disoriented and wired.

“Hey.” Galen laid a gentle hand on her arm. “Lay back down. I've got him.” He dragged himself out of bed, and picked up their son. He'd probably get as much rest walking the halls with Nicky as laying down, anyways.

﴿﴾

Helo stood in the middle of the ship's silent bridge. He could feel the transferred scorn from the rest of the crew through the jacket of his duty blues. She's not connected to reality. Athena's words they might be, but the whole crew was thinking them. He couldn't say with any certainty that he didn't agree. On the other hand, He knew Starbuck better than any of them did, and while she wasn't behaving normally, he was also pretty sure she wasn't crazy. He'd seen her unhinged before. It tended more toward violence than what she was going through now.

This, he thought as he struggled to keep all expression off his face, was something else. Something he'd only seen once before. When her mom had died. Kara was lost, and desperately trying to find something to connect the pieces and make things make sense. He couldn't blame them for assuming she'd come back a different person than she'd been when she'd died. He knew she was the same girl. Him and Lee, but Lee had other things to do. Not the least of which being the task of taking care of his daughter. As much as he wished Lee could have come along, he understood that particular need.

The minutes of the CAP run ticked down in a slow, simmering silence. One last run, she'd said. Even though they'd already checked that sector twice. He'd been furious with himself for agreeing before he'd even nodded, but chain of command was what it was. And after arguing for the integration of every other stray Cylon who'd asked for amnesty, he couldn't see his way clear to break the pattern for his best friend.

He looked up and checked the time again. Another half hour and they could start preparations for the return trip. He wished they'd found something. He wanted to give her more time, wanted to believe in her. But the time just didn't exist, and he was afraid that if he tried to eek out anything more, the rest of the crew would mutiny despite his objections. If he'd been more religious he would have been praying to every God out there that Kara never, ever found out what had been discussed on this ship. She did owe them for coming along, for giving her a chance, but they all came out here knowing that she wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for. She deserved better than this.

Felix Gaeta's startled him out of his thoughts. “Incoming transmission,” he paused. “From Starbuck.”

He forced himself to stay calm. Early didn't necessarily mean successful when Kara was in this kind of mood. “Put it over the general channel, Felix. We all want to know what she's got to say.”

Static crackled into the quiet space, filling it to capacity and multiplying tensions that were already running high for everyone.

“Starbuck, Demitrius. What have you got?”

“Demitrius, this is Starbuck. I found that star.”

﴿﴾

Kara hadn't really been certain what she was looking for, but when Leoban's voice came to her over the Comm, she knew she'd found it. It made no sense and served no purpose, except to exacerbate the feeling that everything in her life had somehow shifted out of place. She shouldn't trust this Cylon, this man, but he was a marker on the path she had to follow. Memories of survival training in the mountains on Picon came rushing back to her and almost made her smile. Leoben was the bent twig, letting her know that her feet were still following the trail of her quarry.

“No sign of radioactive materials.” Mathias had taken the lead in sweeping the Heavy Raider that was waiting to be locked to one of the ship's docking bays. She hadn't even bothered to unsuit before bringing them the news. These people wanted out of this place.

She just needed a bit more time. Kara licked her lips and nodded. It's for Pea. “Bring him in.”

She felt the slight tremor of the dock engaging on a smaller bird and started pacing, chewing her bottom lip. Leoben's face hovered in him mind, leaning in over her, trying to force her to admit she loved him. She flinched at the memory, forced it away, only to have it replaced by Leonard's insistent voice, claiming that she was the Keeper of the Keys. Whatever that meant. This model made her skin crawl. All the more because she was beginning to think she might understand him.

She turned as he walked into the mess. “It's like I knew you were out there.” She willed him to explain it to her, to finally shed some light on all the insanity that he spewed.

“You've changed,” he dodged the question, or rather, ignored it completely. Tension coiled through her body. She needed to get out, needed space, air. As she moved to push past him, he spoke again. “I have eyes, I can see.” Leoban spoke softly, only for her, though the room was quiet enough Kara was sure everyone could hear him. “God has taken your hand and purged you of the questions, the doubt.” She turned to face him, raising a critical eyebrow. Frakker had gotten his wires crossed somewhere in the last year if he thought any of that was true. “Your journey can finally begin, but there isn't much time. The others, the ones I left behind. They need your help, but not as much as you need theirs.” She tried to step backward, and ran into the railing. Leoben stepped over, intimately close now, and breathed softly into her ear. “Your crew, they don't trust you.”

Kara rolled her eyes. The man should have been a frakking private eye. She needed a shower.

As she reached the hatch, Leoban called one final sentence after her. “You need to talk to our hybrid.”

Kara swallowed hard. The hybrid. She turned her head, looking over her shoulder, but not at Leoben. “Find a detention cell to put him in. I'll talk to him more there.”

﴿﴾

Gaius looked over at Tory, who was getting dressed. They'd had a lovely interlude, and he was still enjoying the afterglow. Musing idly, he probed for information concerning the good President's plans for him.

“You're not worth a confrontation.” He gaped as she rolled her eyes at him. “None of your followers is any one of consequence, so they're content to leave you alone.”

“But...” Words poured from his mouth as if that Six that lived in his head were standing beside him, though he hadn't seen her in days. “Every individual is someone of consequence. We all matter to God, and that is the only scale we should be concerned with. Do they not realize how dangerous it is to ignore such a large section of the population? Have they not read their history? Because let me tell you, uprisings have happened in the past, and they may well happen again if the people are not respected.”

Tory spared him a long suffering look, then finished buttoning her blouse. “They won't believe it until it's pushed under their noses.” She breathed a sarcastic laugh then carried on. “I doubt this group is going to shove much of anything under anyone's nose.”

Gaius watched Roslin's darkly beautiful secretary finish dressing and leave his alcove. There was, indeed, something special about this one. She had a spark about her that he could only remember finding in a handful of other women. Keeping her close was a given. Even without the information she provided, she underestimated herself. She was someone of consequence, which was, it would seem, exactly what he needed to get himself taken seriously by those in power.

﴿﴾

Kara hadn't bothered with soap. There was too much to do. The shudder that ripped unexpectedly through the ship as she stepped out of the shower confirmed that to her. She pulled clothes on over still-damp skin, opening the hatch to her quarters in time to see Karl turning the corner toward her. His face was a mask of fury.

“Mathias.” Just the one word. One name.

“The Heavy Raider.” Of course Mathias would have insisted on leading a more thorough investigation of the Cylon vessel. And now, another good soldier was gone. It never got any easier, learning that she'd sent someone to their death. She struggled as much to breath now as she had the day she'd gotten the call about Zak. It was her fault.

He nodded, nostrils flared, breathing hard where she could barely catch her breath. “The frakker blew up in her face while she was examining it.” He paused, as if he wanted to say something more, and his eyes slid away from hers. That hurt more than the death. “The others are going to want you to say something.”

Her mind cast around for something to say. “I.. give me half an hour. Have them meet in the mess.”

Kara waited for him to nod and turn back toward the bridge before heading out in the opposite direction. To Leoben's makeshift cell. She didn't bother with courtesies when she arrived.

“This was a set up.” There was no yelling. Her anger was too cold. She'd trusted him. Against her better judgment, against logic, against the will of her crew, she had trusted him. And this was the repayment.

Confusion. That was the emotion she saw in his face. “I swear we were attacked...”

The contrast with his typical, infuriating serenity was so strong that she clarified before could think better of it. “Your ship just killed one of my people!”

Leoben blinked, no less startled. Rather than responding, however, he danced around the point. “And you're wondering how to make it fit, how to make it all make sense. All your life, you forced back the truth by lashing out at everyone around you. Anesthetizing yourself with ambrosia and empty affairs. But you've lost the taste for those petty things.”

Under the onslaught, Kara backed against the wall of the cell, sliding down to sit on the floor across from Leoben and holding her head in her hands. Every accusation was grounded in truth, but she'd started changing well before those two missing months. She'd been building a real life with Lee, found genuine joy in her daughter. Had it all been an illusion? Was she this vague, out-of-synch feeling what she was supposed to be living? Her voice was harsh and broken when she interrupted him without looking up. “What happened to me while I was missing?”

His eyes bored holes into the top of her head. The heat of his gaze searing into her soul. “I told you when I first came aboard that you'd changed. I look at you... I don't see Kara Thrace. I see an Angel, blazing with the light of God. I see an Angel, here to lead her people home.”

Something inside her chest snapped, releasing a torrent of feelings that had refused to surface for far too long. His words had hit too close to something she almost remembered, and at the same time were too impossible an explanation. Her body uncoiled with the force of the emotions, propelling her toward him.

She'd meant to punch him, break his nose, his jaw, anything. Instead... instead she reached out with her fury, grabbing at his hair and dragging them both out beyond the bounds of their lives.

﴿﴾

Galen looked around the room at his three companions. Nicky was walking unsteadily in the middle of the locker they'd taken over for their meeting. He was young enough he wouldn't carry tales back to Cally. “I wonder what our numbers are.” He interrupted whatever conversation had been going on without him.

“I...” Sam looked at him curiously for a moment. “I don't think we have numbers. We're a different kind of Cylon. We were born and grew up, just like people do. And we're the only ones like us.”

“Except any bodies we might have kicking around.” Saul grumbled half in disgust and half in hope. A few nights before, he had drunkenly confessed that he'd taken to filling his evenings “thinking” their location toward Ellen. As if he could send her a message that would both reach far enough for her to get it, and not be intercepted or understandable by anyone else. Frak, maybe he could. None of them had any idea what they could actually do, except maybe Sam. For some reason, the ex-Pryamid player turned fighter pilot was still remembering more than any of the rest of them. Galen grinned wryly down at his son and thought he might have some inkling how Anders felt, needing to repeat the same information over and over again before it sank in for the others as either memory or acceptance.

He sighed, and pressed his fingers over his eyes. “I remember shopping, on a planet, in the sun... Not any planet in the Colonies. It was... It's like it was before that. I think I was picking out vegetables for that night. That song we all heard was part of the memory, but so was something else. Plans, I think, for dinner, and we were all five going to be there and we were talking about something important, but... Whatever it was keeps slipping away every time I think I have it.”

Tory shook her head in exasperation. “It doesn't matter, now. We're here, and we have a job to do, whatever that job is. All we can do is trust God to show us what he needs from us.”

The three men turned their heads to examine Tory. Galen spoke first. “You spend way too much time with Baltar.” He stooped and scooped up Nicky. “I have to get going before Cally misses us for dinner.”

﴿﴾

Kara lost her balance. The blue-green light, the lack of walls, all of it was so achingly familiar, as if the place itself held the memory of a dear, dear friend. Now, however, she was stuck with a softly laughing Leoben.

She snarled at him. “What the frak is this? Where is this?” When he wouldn't stop laughing, she back-handed him. The satisfaction it brought her could not be described.

The Cylon licked at the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth and settled himself somewhat, though the grin stayed fixed on his face. He looked at her out of considering eyes. “It's the stream of consciousness, Kara, the river of life. Look around you.” The grin dropped and his eyes narrowed. He was in her face without having seemed to move, his voice ringing in her ears. “Look, Kara! What do you see?”

She pulled back to hit him again, shove him out of her space, but as she moved something else caught her eye. There was Laura Roslin, her toes in the edge of the river, looking away as if refusing to see it would make it go away. And on the other side, she saw Zak. He smiled his encouragement to her, no resentment, no jealousy. Just joy. Between the two of them, she saw Erin Mathias, weeping, lost. She frowned in consternation, and didn't notice Leoben reaching out toward her until he'd touched his hand to her forehead.

Images flashed in front of her. Mostly, she saw herself. She knelt in front of her idols, her focus pieces that helped her when she talked to the Gods. Over and over again, she saw herself praying to them to guide her friends' souls safely to Elysium. Each time, the small statues glowed with an inner light. Artemis and Aphrodite. It reminded her that she'd only pulled them out once since she'd come back from... from here, she realized. That one time, they'd felt strangely cold and uncomfortable in her hands, as if they didn't fit her anymore. Her heart raced. She didn't understand, wasn't sure she wanted to. And yet, she knew that she had to.

“Stop!” She did push him away this time. “What the frak is going on? Who are you?”

“You are the Gateway, Kara. The Keeper of the Keys. You need to show them the way.” He laughed, and the sound made her shudder. High and unhinged. He stopped abruptly, becoming instantly serious. As if he'd read her mind, he stepped forward and answered, “I am only half crazy.” With that, he turned and walked away, out of the river, leaving her alone with Mathias who was still struggling futilely.

The statues. The prayers. Dreams she half-remembered. A lens turned and focused in her mind. Part of what had been distorted and fragmented was suddenly crisply clear and blindingly obvious. The days with her father, re-learning the song he'd taught her when she was a child, crystallized in her memory. There were still questions and missing pieces, still things she needed to discover, but this was part of her task.

Kara held her breath, reached out and closed her eyes, the way she did when she was starting a new painting. She visualized what she was going to draw, opened her eyes and painted it with her fingers, in quick, abstract strokes. A road. A wide, easy path leading straight to the shores of Elysium. And starting at Mathias' feet. She watched in awe as Erin stumbled into the path and looked up, finally seeing where she needed to go. Suddenly, it seemed she could see where she'd been as well, and she looked quietly at the far shore one last time, then waved a quiet goodbye. Kara couldn't see what stood across from her, on the living side of the river, but the joy and peace she saw on the other woman's face as she turned to move toward Elysium eased her heart. She took a deep breath and looked around herself once more.

“What now?”

She turned and a figure appeared in front of her. A man, dark and of middling height, drifted in the distance. She watched as he came together with a tall blond woman, then sent her off. The defense mainframe in Caprica City loomed behind him and his elegant companion walked in. The worlds ended and the man's body lay bloodied and ruined next to the woman's amidst the rubble of his home.

A voice whispered in her mind. She recognized it immediately. It was her father's voice, the voice of the man she'd dreamed of during the time that she'd been missing. They've been punished, and begun their task. Show him the way, so that he can finish it. You'll know when it's time to gather her, too.

She reached out and touched Gaius Baltar's soul. A feral grin spread slowly across her face and her fingers curled into him.

﴿﴾

Gaius looked at the middle aged woman standing in front of him, hoping that she would accept his word that the old gods did not exist. It was always a risk to allow dissent and anger. The danger, however, seemed generally to be over-balanced by the resurgence in the faith of his established followers.

As he waited for her response, he looked over the crowd. They made him feel unclean. They were lemmings and fanatics, everything his scientific training had taught him to disdain. Now, they were also his hope for survival.

He felt the tug of a headache behind his eyes and lifted a hand to rub his brow. As his eyelids drooped, the light around him flared and crackled. When he brought his hand away, everything had changed. He stood in the midst of a cathedral built of turquoise light and stone so smooth it seemed wet. He turned fractionally and found himself nose to nose with Kara Thrace.

No, that wasn't possible. It was his angel, the Six who lived in his mind, wearing a new costume. He closed his mouth and grinned slyly.

“You always were a crafty one.” He nodded at her and slid closer. “Why the costume? And why here? You normally prefer the beach.”

Her mouth twisted into a scornful scowl. “What the frak are you talking about, Doc?”

“Oh, really.” He rolled his eyes in exasperation. Angels could be so trying sometimes. “I suppose you have another message for me from God? I thought I was doing my job already, spreading His truth. Have I missed something?”

“Yeah, you missed something.” Anger flashed in her eyes, and she stepped away from him. Pointing into the distance, off to one side, she hissed, “Look.”

Something in her tone raised a warning for him. His heart raced as he turned his head, and he watched the months of his life before the second Cylon war had destroyed the Twelve Colonies play out before him. He shook his head, stepping backward. He'd been forgiven for this. She'd assured him of that. Her quiet, rough voice insinuated itself into his thoughts. “You always knew you were special, didn't you, Baltar? You knew you were destined to be more. You didn't believe in any Gods, but you believed that you were more than other men, more than other people. You were interested in nothing but the survival of Gaius Baltar. But you didn't survive.”

He turned to look away, but the vision stayed in front of him. His home outside of Caprica City tumble to the ground around himself and Caprica Six like so many matchsticks tossed on a stiff breeze. As if he were watching a movie, the view zoomed in on his prone body, shattered, lying in a pool of blood. “But... That's not possible. I walked away from there. I walked out to the field and Lt. Agathon gave up his seat for me, and...”

His heart pounded frantically. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. The woman next to him bared her teeth in parody of a smile. “What do you remember, Gaius?” When he didn't answer, she glided in front of him. Her face was suddenly in his, breath hot on his cheeks. “What do you remember? You're the genius! Think!” She backed away from him again, her eyes glittering dangerously.

Nothing. He remembered absolutely nothing between being pushed to the floor and finding the group of people with whom he'd discovered the Raptor that had saved him. He knew the answer was written on his face, and didn't bother trying to hide it. She'd already read his tale.

“You died there, Gaius. But you had more to do. You had to pay for your sins.” She paused. “You like sins, right? And having them forgiven?” Eyes open wide, she nodded eagerly, and innocently. “But you see, you have it wrong,” she sneered. “Forgiveness is something you earn because you've honestly, genuinely repented, not something that's handed out by some benevolent father-god, like candy, to bribe narcissistic kids into loving him.” He squirmed, no more than an insect under her gaze. Her demeanor cooled suddenly, shifting from aggressive to thoughtful. “So, how do you repent for allowing your ego to end the lives of hundreds of billions of human beings?”

“I... ahem...” Gaius cleared the squeakiness from his voice and tried again. “I could... Maybe it would be appropriate for me to... I mean...”

“Don't bother.” Disgust was thick in her voice. “I'm going to offer you a choice, Baltar. You can accept it, and spend the rest of eternity earning your forgiveness, or you can reject it and die a second horrible, yet convenient and this time permanent, death sometime in the near future.” A wave of her hand showed him two paths. Along the first, he saw war, blood and darkness, and in the far distance, he saw people taking his words and twisting them. None of it was clear, the end least of all. It stayed blurry, as if covered by an out-of-focus lens. Along the second path, he saw the Keepers of Hades' Gate. He would get the death he deserved if he took that choice. A traitor's death. There were no easy decisions, no quick paths to glory and accolades. Life is suffering.

“What are you?” The sound he managed was barely a whisper. “What am I?”

“You're nothing.” The retort snapped back at him. “Once you've chosen, you're dead or you're something more. If you're not dead, then you're sworn to protect and defend humanity. You're... a Guardian. What you're called in the history books will be decided by people who aren't even born yet.”

﴿﴾

The intense fear and confusion on the ex-President's face was deeply satisfying. Kara suppressed a gleeful giggle as he looked at her with blinking, disbelieving eyes. She let the corners of her lips quirk upward slightly when he nodded his acceptance of her offer. He would be a Guardian. Moving her own head in the direction of that path, she sent him back to his cozy room on the Galactica.

She knew that he wouldn't be remembered for the One God he was trying to cement into the minds and hearts of the people, although that seed would take root eventually. No, he'd be remembered first for the agricultural skills he remembered from his childhood on Aerelon. She could see the story playing out in the currents of the river. Not everything was clear, and most things were absolutely undecipherable, but this thread ran pure and true through the water. Eventually, even the useful skills he shared would be seen as secondary to the Orgies that surrounded him wherever he went. But that didn't matter. He'd do his part and help to ensure that the human race survived.

Reality twisted and contorted around her as she returned to the Demetrius. Leoben stood before her, staring at her intently. She pursed her lips, considering him. He could already move in and out of the stream without her, already knew the secrets she'd only just discovered. In some way that she couldn't quite put her finger on, he was like her. It made her want to vomit.

Eying him warily, she asked, “How long have I been gone?” Based on the two months she'd been missing before, she had already guessed that time didn't pass the same way in the stream as it did in the rest of the world.

“You never left, Kara.” A look of knowing flitted across his face, gone as quickly as it had appeared.

“What do you want?”

“An alliance between humanity and the Rebel Cylons. If you help us, our hybrid will help you find Earth.” He looked up at her expectantly.

Cringing reflexively, she turned to walk away. “I've got to go.”

Back in the corridor, she leaned against the wall. An alliance with the Cylons. It seemed so far-fetched. And yet, Lee had insisted that she needed to be the one to extend that first offer of friendship to the Cylons who were offered amnesty on the Galactica. As if he'd known, somehow, that she would need to be able to take that step, to be willing to bridge the gap between human and Cylon. She vaguely remembered a midnight discussion of visions and purpose and destiny. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. Do you trust me. “Yeah, Lee.” She answered. “I trust you.”

Already late for the impromptu ceremony she'd promised Helo, she set off for the mess. The crew of the Demitrius was waiting for her when she arrived. She cleared her throat and walked to the head of the table to address them. She closed her eyes and remembered Mathias walking down that road she'd drawn, toward peace. Her breath hitched, her throat constricted. Then the words began to flow from her mouth. “Mathias was a friend and a comrade. She was a dedicated soldier and she died for a mission she believed in. A mission we have to finish. Not for me. Not for her. For humanity. This is bigger than any of us. Mathias understood that.” She stopped, looked around at the faces that were looking at her with expressions that ranged from confusion to outrage. “We have to finish this. As soon as we can be ready, we have got to jump to the Basestar coordinates Leoben gave us.” She pressed her lips into a thin line. She could feel the shock and the ire rolling off them all in waves, but she couldn't back down from this. She needed to go to this ship.

﴿﴾

The small common space exploded with noise as soon as Kara left. It seemed everyone had a reason not to get ready for the jump. Karl understood their feelings. Even shared them, for the most part. Only discipline and devotion to his friend kept him from joining them. He was done listening to them.

“Enough!” His voice carried over the din, silencing everyone. He pulled himself up, drawing on every inch of both height and authority. “She's still the Captain of this ship, and as long as that's true, she gives the orders.”

“Why is that still true, Helo?” Athena had been after him to remove her from command since they'd gotten on board. It had made for a rather uncomfortable stay in their cramped, shared quarters.

He scowled in her direction. “You're talking mutiny. I won't be a part of that.” His words were for everyone, but he kept his eyes locked on his wife's. Of all of them, she should have been the most sympathetic. “Go get ready for the jump. I'm going to talk to Captain Thrace.” He looked at them all one last time, daring them to contradict him, then exited in the direction of Kara's quarters.

Her door was already open when he arrived. She was tapping a pencil against her table, deep in thought over yet another star map. He knocked and called out to her.

Kara looked up at him. “Come in.”

Hesitation tied his tongue. How could he possibly approach this? She was his superior. She was the better strategist, the better tactician... Straight to the point was generally the best course with Starbuck, but she was like a ticking bomb lately, and he had no idea what would make her go off. Hoping he wasn't making a serious mistake, he went directly to the heart of the matter. “Are you sure this is the best thing to do?”

Her face darkened and the air between them thickened with tension. “We have to complete this mission, and the only way I can complete it is to talk to that Hybrid. I have to go see her.”

“We're running out of time, Kara. We need to make our rendez-vous with the fleet or we're going to lose them. And what if this is a trap, Kara? Come on! You're the battle plan master, what are your contingencies?” He stared down at her, demanding answers, and praying that she had them, that she'd prove to him that he'd been right to believe in her. He'd accepted the position as her XO specifically because he was one of the few who could generally get through that armor that kept her from listening to most people. A waver in her expression encouraged him to throw out an alternative. “Let us jump back to the fleet, refuel, restock, get reinforcements... before we head out.”

A look of anguish consumed her and she should her head. “No. No, we don't have time for that. We need to go now. We need...” She stopped short. “No, we can't go back to the Fleet. Dismissed.” The gears were turning in her head, and Karl wanted to know what they were coming up with, but he also knew when not to push his luck. Saluting, he turned and made his way to the bridge. She'd be along soon enough.

﴿﴾

Lee paced around his cramped room, stepping carefully over Elpis. A few more days, and they'd have Kara back. He refused to question that. The extra space was the only aspect of living on Colonial One that Lee occasionally regretted giving up to stay on Galactica. He would have missed the bravado and the near normalcy of life in the heart of the military. These were his people. Soldiers who knew that to survive with anything resembling sanity intact, they had to make the best of the situation they were given. The constant grumbling and conflicting demands of his constituents and fellow Quorum members frayed his nerves and ate at his composure.

Still, those were easier to bear than the cool scorn of President Roslin. Their differences on the Baltar trial had been academic, and while he understood that Baltar's acquittal had stung, he'd also hoped she'd be sophisticated enough to move past it and resume her role as his mentor. When Zarek had approached him with the offer to represent Caprica on the Quorum, he'd assumed the suggestion had been initiated by Roslin. Now, he wondered. She took every opportunity to belittle him and attempt to reduce his influence. Only his discipline kept him from screaming his frustration on a regular basis.

Zarek seemed disappointed and pleased by turns with his pet junior representative's choices. He thought ruefully of his admission of admiration to the man, back when he'd run a successful mutiny on the Astral Queen. That may well have been the biggest mistake he'd ever made in his life. Although admiring the man to begin with, he had to admit, was also in the running for that particular prize. That was the danger of Tom Zarek, it seemed. The words he spoke made sense until you saw the motivation under them.

Lee looked down at Pea, struggling and complaining on the floor. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, watching her and just breathing for a moment. This was the whole point, he realized. Right here in front of him. Life. Not as they knew it. That was as dead and gone as the people in the photographs adorning the memorial hall. They needed to learn from that life, keep the things that had worked and accept that those which hadn't needed to be changed. They wouldn't know what their new life would look like until it had been lived. But they had to stop fighting it and start guiding it instead. They had to let it grow into whatever it was going to be.

“Sweet Pea...” He crouched so that he'd be closer to her level. “I promise you that I'll do my best to make my choices for the right reasons. We've got a lot of wounds to heal in this fleet, and pride and self-interest are not going to get us anywhere.”

His daughter grunted and then squealed in what seemed like angry consent. He smiled and laughed softly, reaching out to pick her up. He returned to pacing, bouncing the small girl and working through his current constituent challenges out loud. She nodded off, and he tucked her into her crib before returning to his paperwork. He had no idea how to approach Roslin, and now wasn't the time to figure it out. He had to rely on his instincts to recognize the opportunity when it presented itself. In the meantime, he needed to respond to the people who depended on him to make sure they were taken care of properly.

﴿﴾

“Reset the jump coordinates for the rendez-vous point with the Fleet.” Kara watched as everyone on the bridge jumped at the sound of her voice. Karl's frustration and desperation had reminded her that no matter how much she trusted Lee, they were all still running on visions. Visions that might as well be smoke and mirrors, especially after all the evidence they had in their past to show them that the Cylons were not to be trusted, except in isolated circumstances. This might be one of those situations, but until they knew, she'd owed it to them all to play it safe. “You're right, okay? I can't risk all of your lives on my gut instinct. So, I'm going to take a Raptor out and check this lead out myself.” She talked over her XO's objections. “Feelix, how long before we need to start jumping back?”

The communications officer stammered for a minute, punching numbers into the nav computer, calculating the answer. “Twenty hours and thirty minutes, sir. Not a second more.”

“The Raptor doesn't have fuel to get back to Galactica.” Karl forced his own thoughts into the conversation, his concern for her as a friend overriding his duty as an officer.

“But the Basestar does!” She knew she was right. She had to be. This was their chance at Earth. Steeling herself, she turned to his wife. “I need you, Athena. I need someone who speaks their language. If this is a trap, I want to know about it.” She held her breath while the Agathons exchanged glances and jointly ignored biting remarks about Sharon's reliability.

“I'll go.” The dark-haired woman nodded.

Helo ground his teeth. “Lt. Gaeta, set the clock for twenty hours, twenty-nine minutes and start it. We'll be waiting here until the clock runs out.”

Kara let out her breath and nodded her thanks to the two of them. They'd prep the Raptor. While they were at it, she would spend a little time with Leoben, figuring out what it was, exactly, that they needed to give the Cylons in order to make the alliance work.

Alliance. The word sent shivers down her spine. After everything Leoben had put her through, after the horrors the Cylons had visited on all of humanity, the Gods were throwing the two races at each other. First the three who had taken vows to the Fleet in exchange for their lives, and now a whole ship of rebels. She let her eyes roam the walls of the corridor she was walking down, wondering if she might be able see them. “You're all a bunch of sick frakkers, you know that?” In the back of her head, she could have sworn she heard voices laughing in response.

Continue to Chapter 26