Stumbling Towards the Dawn - Part 16
Title: Stumbling Towards the Dawn - Part 16
Word Count: 2,911
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine ... just playing.
Spoilers: To LDYB Part II - Everything is definitely AU from the moment the Cylons flew over.
Summary: When Cloud Nine is destroyed, it attracted the attention of not only the Cylons.
Author's Note: This is a crossover fic, with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon - Fifth Imperium universe, but I don't think that you need to know the universe of this trilogy of novels to get it. Hopefully, it's explained well enough in the story.
Gaius Baltar didn’t know how long he stayed huddled beneath his desk after the explosions stopped. Colonial One had been hit at least three more times after the blast that had killed Gaeta and as ship fell apart around him, Gaius could only scream and scream.
Now, with arms wrapped around his knees, he rocked back and forth, eyes tightly shut … and mumbled hoarse prayers to Gods he didn’t believe in--an effort to shut out all sound.
Still, sounds penetrated … loud voices … pieces of debris were being moved … and then there was pounding … heavy footfalls pounding the deck in almost perfect unison.
Centurions!
He fought the wild panic clawing at his heart … his very soul, for they would drag him out to face what he’d ultimately wrought … the destruction of the remnants of humanity. He wanted to plead with those accusing ghosts that assailed him every time he closed his eyes that he hadn’t meant for this to happen … that it wasn’t his fault. But it was. Twice now he’d held the safety of the human species in his hands and twice his self-serving nature had led to nothing but catastrophe.
Gaius wanted to tell them that he had only intended to make it right … to atone for that first horrific mistake … to show everyone that he could be a good man … to show Roslin that he hadn’t deserved that frakking stupid, condescending letter she’d left him when she’d thought she was dying. But now he saw that it had been his worst mistake; whereas Roslin had been willing to serve the people first and last, he’d been preoccupied with serving himself first … with showing what a great statesman he could be … with salving his conscience by telling himself he was giving the people what they wanted. His vision of New Caprica.
And then the headiness of power had settled in his soul and he’d forgotten about even serving the people.
Now there was no way to atone … nothing left but Gaius Baltar huddled beneath his desk with his ghosts, and the footfalls drawing inexorably closer. He tried to curl himself into an even tighter ball. It took him a moment to recognise when the footsteps had stopped.
Then he heard it.
“Get out from under there you frakking, traitorous piece of shit!” growled a low, deadly voice.
It was a voice that confused him and frightened him now more than any Centurion could. A large, disembodied hand reached in and dragged him out from beneath the desk. He struggled ineffectually against his assailant’s prodigious strength, his feet barely scraping the deck with his toes. Another hand caught his jaw and squeezed it in a bone-crushing grip.
Gaius Baltar’s terror-filled eyes opened involuntarily and gazed down into the smouldering hell-fire that was Kara Thrace’s gaze.
“Mr. President,” she said with exquisite contempt. “I would like you to meet the Imperial Marines from the Empire of Man and Mother Earth!”
She pushed his head back ruthlessly, forcing him to focus behind her and for the first time, Baltar saw the solid wall of deadly marines wearing unfamiliar body armour, each carrying even more unfamiliar weapons … all of which were trained on him.
Suddenly he heard it … the strangled, tortured screams of pure terror. It took him a moment to realise that it came from his own throat before blackness claimed him.
#
Lee stood in the corner of the small, private waiting room where Jos Kirkland had deposited him ten minutes ago; the luxurious furnishings created an ambiance that reminded him of a sitting room in a suite of an upscale hotel on Caprica or Arilon. He looked out the window over the park and marvelled at the sophistication of Imperial holographic technology. He remembered being impressed with the park simulation on board the Colonial cruise liner, Cloud Nine, before a Cylon with a nuke had destroyed her, but now it seemed like a crude child’s finger-painting compared to this masterpiece.
Lee laid his head against the cool glass. He hadn’t thought it was possible, but his father had looked even more devastated when he spoke to him about twelve hours ago over the Imperial comlink. William Adama had never looked so fragile and so old. Lee hadn’t needed to wonder how Laura was doing; it was all there in his father’s face and as soon as he could take his first break in the last twenty-eight hours, he’d hopped a shuttle from Pegasus over to Herdan.
“Lee?” a hoarse voice croaked behind him.
He turned to the pale wraith of a figure in the threshold. “Kara!” His voice caught in his throat and his feet propelled him towards her of their own will. Before he had a chance to think about it, he’d enveloped her in a tight hug.
“Oh Lee,” she whispered and for the second time in the last few days, he felt his anger and recriminations just slip away. He couldn’t hold onto them anymore--not against his father and certainly not against Kara. This war had already exacted too high a price; no matter what was between him and Dee, Kara was family and he thanked the Gods that she was alive and safe.
He put his arm about her shoulders and steered her to the large comfortable couch. They sat down and just held each other. For the first time in a long time, he felt at peace--for it wasn’t just Lee and Kara comforting each other, but Apollo and Starbuck as well.
“I’m sorry to hear about Anders,” he said softly at last.
She nodded her head against his shoulder. “I know,” she said, her grief so palpable it nearly broke his heart. “I know.”
After a moment, she moved out of his embrace and sat back, looking at him with those sad blue eyes. “How is the Old Man?” she asked. “My heart just about stopped when I came on board and they told me he was in here. Was he hurt in the fight?”
Lee ran his fingers through his hair. “Gods if only,” he said, feeling the tears slip past his barriers again. “That, he could deal with--by all the souls in Tartarus, Starbuck--that, I could deal with. It’s Laura,” he said meeting her gaze as the horrified comprehension slowly dawned in those blue eyes he loved so well. The pain in his heart spilled into his voice now. “It’s bad, Kara. She was raped,” he choked out. “They allowed that Leobon monster to rape her multiple times,” he said, his voice low and hard.
“Gods!” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “I prayed, Lee--Gods, how I prayed--”
“I know,” he replied, holding one of her clenched fists between his hands. “So did I … so did Dad. As soon as the fight was over, he didn’t even wait for Tigh to get back on board Galactica--he just turned everything over to Kat and came here right away. When I spoke to him last night, he said that I could visit her if I got a moment this morning. Give him an update on the civilian evacuation if I needed to, but I don’t think he gives a good frak-all about our civilians right now. Anyway, I’m supposed to meet with an Admiral Solomon in about an hour before I head back to Pegasus. Apparently the Imperials picked him up on one of the Basestars and he’ll be taking over coordinating the evacuation from the ground.”
Kara smiled through her tears. “Actually, I met the assistant to his Chief of Staff outside,” she said rising. “You’ll want to meet her.” Lee looked at her in confusion; meeting some admiral’s aide was the last thing he cared about right now. “Trust me, Lee,” she said, gently disengaging her hand. “You’ll want to meet her.”
Still smiling mysteriously, Kara hurried out of the room. Lee rose from his seat and folded his arms impatiently; his eyes were glued to the door. Who could be important enough to make Kara go all mysterious on him?
Suddenly, for the second time in less than half an hour, Lee Adama found himself staring at an apparition framed in the waiting room doorway.
“Athena?” he said in disbelief as his young, black-haired cousin approached. “Is it you? Could it possibly be you?”
“Yeah Lee,” she said, her voice still breathtakingly musical despite its hoarseness. “It’s me.”
He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He felt her shudder violently and he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her forehead.
Lee looked up and saw Kara standing with another young woman near the door. “Thank you,” he whispered and she grinned impishly. He pressed another kiss into Athena’s sweet-smelling hair. “Oh, Little Sister, it’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, Big Brother,” she laughed as they broke their embrace and she dried her tears. “I thought I’d never see you or any of our family again,” she said squeezing his hand tightly. “Imagine my surprise when the Imperials told us that there was not only one, but two Battlestars out here fighting for our freedom--and both commanded by Adama men no less,” she chuckled softly and he joined her laughter. “Oh … Big Brother …”
“Big Bother?” Kara said in confusion. “I thought you two were cousins.”
Lee laughed heartily. “We are,” he said drying his eyes. “It’s a long story--a family joke. Dad and Aunt Miranda are first cousins. Take a close look at Athena--who does she look like, Kara?” he asked gently, smoothing his cousin’s heavy black bangs away from her face.
“Zak!” Kara whispered.
“Exactly,” Lee replied softly. “When they were little, Zak and Athena looked enough alike that people would mistake them for twins. Our families often took vacations and trips together--better deals on group rates for a lot of things.”
Athena chuckled, eyes twinkling as she told the story. “Anyway, it was Uncle Bill who hit on using the twin-fiction to get Zak into an amusement park for the kiddie rates, although Zak was more than two years older than me,” she said. “It helped that until he hit puberty, Zak was pretty scrawny and not much bigger than I was, so he got away with paying the ten and under rate for about three years longer than he should have. So if Zak and I were twins, Lee became--”
“Big Brother,” Kara laughed.
“And a right pair of pests they were too, eh Lee,” William Adama said, closing the door to the adjoining room behind him.
“That they were, Dad,” Lee replied.
“Hi Uncle Bill,” Athena whispered, tears flowing down her face again.
“Hey there, War Goddess,” he said as Athena lost herself in his big bear hug. “My little Wise Goddess.” After a few moments, they let each other go. He cupped her face gently and kissed her forehead. He looked up at Kara and grinned. “Hey Starbuck, what do you hear?”
“Nothing but the glorious rain, sir,” she replied as he pulled her into a tight hug. “And I want you to know I shot all the frakking cats I could find!”
“Good job, Kara,” he said smiling into her eyes as she stepped back.
“Boom, boom, boom,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry to hear about Sam.”
“I know, sir--thank you.”
“And who is this?” he said, turning to the pretty, young redhead still hovering in the doorway behind Kara. Lee was ashamed to realise that in his excitement over Athena, he hadn’t given the other young woman a second thought. Now that he studied her closely, he realised there was something very familiar about her.
“This is my friend, Flight Cadet Sheba Cain, Uncle Bill; her mother was Admiral Helena Cain,” Athena replied, shocking Lee to his core. “Sheba, this is Admiral William Adama, Commander Lee Adama and of course you’ve met Captain Thrace.”
Sheba Cain nodded a slight bow. “Admiral Adama, Commander Adama,” she said quietly.
“Ms Cain,” William said holding out his hand to her. “I’m sorry about your mother. She was a fine officer.”
“Thank you, sir,” the young woman said coolly as she shook his hand.
“Ms Cain, my condolences,” Lee said offering his hand to her. “It was a privilege to work under your mother’s command, even for such a short time.”
After a moment’s hesitation she took it and shook firmly. “Thank you, sir,” she said; this time, her “thank you” sounded a lot colder to Lee’s ears.
I suppose Pegasus will always be her mother’s ship, Lee realised grimly, and I will always be some jumped-up interloper. Wait till she learns I went from CAG to Commander in a matter of months.
“Admiral, Commander,” Athena said looking very much the professional young officer suddenly. “Admiral Solomon’s meeting begins in an hour, but with his compliments, he would very much like to meet with you both privately before the briefing.”
“That won’t be possible for me,” Lee heard his father say quietly and saw the surprise in Athena’s eyes; Sheba Cain looked positively mutinous. “Please tell Admiral Solomon, with my compliments, I’ll be able to give him approximately two and a half hours, starting at about 1300 hours Imperial time today, and we’ll set other meeting times then.”
“Y-yes, sir,” Athena stumbled before regaining her composure. “Of course, sir.”
“And Captain Thrace and I will be along in approximately fifteen minutes,” Lee said. “I hope that will give Admiral Solomon enough time.”
“Yes sir,” Athena replied.
“Excuse me?” came Sheba Cain’s low disbelieving voice.
“Sheba,” Athena said sternly.
“No,” the younger girl said defiantly as she glared at Lee and his father. “What could be so important that they think that they can dictate terms to the admiral at their convenience?”
“Cadet Cain--enough!” Athena barked. She turned back to them, clearly embarrassed by her friend and Lee could see that she didn’t understand why Cain was acting the way she was. “I’ll inform the admiral, sirs.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Serranos,” William said, patting her shoulder gently. “And Cadet Cain, sometimes family matters takes precedence over all other concerns.” He turned and ushered Lee and Kara into Laura’s private room.
#
William stood back as Lee and Kara approached Laura’s bed. Brash Kara marched immediately around to the far side of the bed, but it was Lee, who--despite his more hesitant approach--sat on the bed and took one of Laura’s trembling, restless hands in his as if to warm it.
Laura’s eyes fluttered open; her medical team had given her a light sedative to help her through this visit, as she’d worked herself into a state over seeing Lee again.
William didn’t fully understand it except that she was anxious to see him, yet she couldn’t wrap her mind around allowing him to see her like this … or that Lee knew what had happened to her. It was as if she feared that--somehow--it would diminish her in his eyes.
“Captain Apollo,” she whispered; her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She hadn't really called him that since Kobol.
Lee brought her hand to his lips and kissed it reverentially. “Madam President,” he said.
A sob hitched in her throat. “Not the president anymore, Lee,” she rasped out. William thought his heart would break.
“You will always be my President, Laura,” he assured her and she allowed her tears to fall at last. Lee kissed her gently on the forehead.
She shifted her gaze to Kara and lifted her hand out to her. Kara took her hand and sat down. “Hey,” she said, leaning in to kiss Laura’s cheek.
“Kara,” Laura said after a deep breath. “William told me about Samuel. How are you holding up?”
“Okay,” Kara whispered through her tears.
Laura nodded. “And everyone?” she said softly.
“All in all we came through pretty well, but we took some hard losses,” Kara replied honestly. “Including Maya--”
A soft cry of pure anguished escaped Laura. “And Isis?” she whispered when she could speak again.
“She’s fine,” Kara assured her. “Maya had left her with Cottle when she went back to help Sam finish evacuating the rest of the orphans. The school was hit by a Cylon shell late in the fighting--Sam, Maya, Racetrack, Cortana, Jinx and nine kids didn’t make it out. Others are in critical condition.” Laura nodded and fresh tears flowed down her cheeks. “I know it’s hard,” Kara continued, “but we’ve also had a few bright spots,” she said with an impish grin.
“We have?” Laura said with such hope in her eyes.
“Yep! Guess who delivered Cally’s little boy?” Kara asked with a glint of pure, unholy Starbuck mischief in her eyes.
“Who?” Laura demanded. “You?”
“Boxey!” Kara crowed.
“Alexander?” Laura said in such disbelief, William could only laugh.
“Yep!” she said as a small giggle escaped Laura. “By the time Cottle got around to them, Cally had already popped and dropped the kid into Boxey’s hands. All Cottle had to do was cut the cord and clean ’em up!”
Laura’s hand flew to her mouth and William recognised an impending bout of giggles coming on. Silently he thanked the Gods again for keeping Kara Thrace safe as Laura erupted into gales of uncontrollable giggles.
Part 17
Word Count: 2,911
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine ... just playing.
Spoilers: To LDYB Part II - Everything is definitely AU from the moment the Cylons flew over.
Summary: When Cloud Nine is destroyed, it attracted the attention of not only the Cylons.
Author's Note: This is a crossover fic, with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon - Fifth Imperium universe, but I don't think that you need to know the universe of this trilogy of novels to get it. Hopefully, it's explained well enough in the story.
Gaius Baltar didn’t know how long he stayed huddled beneath his desk after the explosions stopped. Colonial One had been hit at least three more times after the blast that had killed Gaeta and as ship fell apart around him, Gaius could only scream and scream.
Now, with arms wrapped around his knees, he rocked back and forth, eyes tightly shut … and mumbled hoarse prayers to Gods he didn’t believe in--an effort to shut out all sound.
Still, sounds penetrated … loud voices … pieces of debris were being moved … and then there was pounding … heavy footfalls pounding the deck in almost perfect unison.
Centurions!
He fought the wild panic clawing at his heart … his very soul, for they would drag him out to face what he’d ultimately wrought … the destruction of the remnants of humanity. He wanted to plead with those accusing ghosts that assailed him every time he closed his eyes that he hadn’t meant for this to happen … that it wasn’t his fault. But it was. Twice now he’d held the safety of the human species in his hands and twice his self-serving nature had led to nothing but catastrophe.
Gaius wanted to tell them that he had only intended to make it right … to atone for that first horrific mistake … to show everyone that he could be a good man … to show Roslin that he hadn’t deserved that frakking stupid, condescending letter she’d left him when she’d thought she was dying. But now he saw that it had been his worst mistake; whereas Roslin had been willing to serve the people first and last, he’d been preoccupied with serving himself first … with showing what a great statesman he could be … with salving his conscience by telling himself he was giving the people what they wanted. His vision of New Caprica.
And then the headiness of power had settled in his soul and he’d forgotten about even serving the people.
Now there was no way to atone … nothing left but Gaius Baltar huddled beneath his desk with his ghosts, and the footfalls drawing inexorably closer. He tried to curl himself into an even tighter ball. It took him a moment to recognise when the footsteps had stopped.
Then he heard it.
“Get out from under there you frakking, traitorous piece of shit!” growled a low, deadly voice.
It was a voice that confused him and frightened him now more than any Centurion could. A large, disembodied hand reached in and dragged him out from beneath the desk. He struggled ineffectually against his assailant’s prodigious strength, his feet barely scraping the deck with his toes. Another hand caught his jaw and squeezed it in a bone-crushing grip.
Gaius Baltar’s terror-filled eyes opened involuntarily and gazed down into the smouldering hell-fire that was Kara Thrace’s gaze.
“Mr. President,” she said with exquisite contempt. “I would like you to meet the Imperial Marines from the Empire of Man and Mother Earth!”
She pushed his head back ruthlessly, forcing him to focus behind her and for the first time, Baltar saw the solid wall of deadly marines wearing unfamiliar body armour, each carrying even more unfamiliar weapons … all of which were trained on him.
Suddenly he heard it … the strangled, tortured screams of pure terror. It took him a moment to realise that it came from his own throat before blackness claimed him.
#
Lee stood in the corner of the small, private waiting room where Jos Kirkland had deposited him ten minutes ago; the luxurious furnishings created an ambiance that reminded him of a sitting room in a suite of an upscale hotel on Caprica or Arilon. He looked out the window over the park and marvelled at the sophistication of Imperial holographic technology. He remembered being impressed with the park simulation on board the Colonial cruise liner, Cloud Nine, before a Cylon with a nuke had destroyed her, but now it seemed like a crude child’s finger-painting compared to this masterpiece.
Lee laid his head against the cool glass. He hadn’t thought it was possible, but his father had looked even more devastated when he spoke to him about twelve hours ago over the Imperial comlink. William Adama had never looked so fragile and so old. Lee hadn’t needed to wonder how Laura was doing; it was all there in his father’s face and as soon as he could take his first break in the last twenty-eight hours, he’d hopped a shuttle from Pegasus over to Herdan.
“Lee?” a hoarse voice croaked behind him.
He turned to the pale wraith of a figure in the threshold. “Kara!” His voice caught in his throat and his feet propelled him towards her of their own will. Before he had a chance to think about it, he’d enveloped her in a tight hug.
“Oh Lee,” she whispered and for the second time in the last few days, he felt his anger and recriminations just slip away. He couldn’t hold onto them anymore--not against his father and certainly not against Kara. This war had already exacted too high a price; no matter what was between him and Dee, Kara was family and he thanked the Gods that she was alive and safe.
He put his arm about her shoulders and steered her to the large comfortable couch. They sat down and just held each other. For the first time in a long time, he felt at peace--for it wasn’t just Lee and Kara comforting each other, but Apollo and Starbuck as well.
“I’m sorry to hear about Anders,” he said softly at last.
She nodded her head against his shoulder. “I know,” she said, her grief so palpable it nearly broke his heart. “I know.”
After a moment, she moved out of his embrace and sat back, looking at him with those sad blue eyes. “How is the Old Man?” she asked. “My heart just about stopped when I came on board and they told me he was in here. Was he hurt in the fight?”
Lee ran his fingers through his hair. “Gods if only,” he said, feeling the tears slip past his barriers again. “That, he could deal with--by all the souls in Tartarus, Starbuck--that, I could deal with. It’s Laura,” he said meeting her gaze as the horrified comprehension slowly dawned in those blue eyes he loved so well. The pain in his heart spilled into his voice now. “It’s bad, Kara. She was raped,” he choked out. “They allowed that Leobon monster to rape her multiple times,” he said, his voice low and hard.
“Gods!” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “I prayed, Lee--Gods, how I prayed--”
“I know,” he replied, holding one of her clenched fists between his hands. “So did I … so did Dad. As soon as the fight was over, he didn’t even wait for Tigh to get back on board Galactica--he just turned everything over to Kat and came here right away. When I spoke to him last night, he said that I could visit her if I got a moment this morning. Give him an update on the civilian evacuation if I needed to, but I don’t think he gives a good frak-all about our civilians right now. Anyway, I’m supposed to meet with an Admiral Solomon in about an hour before I head back to Pegasus. Apparently the Imperials picked him up on one of the Basestars and he’ll be taking over coordinating the evacuation from the ground.”
Kara smiled through her tears. “Actually, I met the assistant to his Chief of Staff outside,” she said rising. “You’ll want to meet her.” Lee looked at her in confusion; meeting some admiral’s aide was the last thing he cared about right now. “Trust me, Lee,” she said, gently disengaging her hand. “You’ll want to meet her.”
Still smiling mysteriously, Kara hurried out of the room. Lee rose from his seat and folded his arms impatiently; his eyes were glued to the door. Who could be important enough to make Kara go all mysterious on him?
Suddenly, for the second time in less than half an hour, Lee Adama found himself staring at an apparition framed in the waiting room doorway.
“Athena?” he said in disbelief as his young, black-haired cousin approached. “Is it you? Could it possibly be you?”
“Yeah Lee,” she said, her voice still breathtakingly musical despite its hoarseness. “It’s me.”
He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He felt her shudder violently and he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her forehead.
Lee looked up and saw Kara standing with another young woman near the door. “Thank you,” he whispered and she grinned impishly. He pressed another kiss into Athena’s sweet-smelling hair. “Oh, Little Sister, it’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, Big Brother,” she laughed as they broke their embrace and she dried her tears. “I thought I’d never see you or any of our family again,” she said squeezing his hand tightly. “Imagine my surprise when the Imperials told us that there was not only one, but two Battlestars out here fighting for our freedom--and both commanded by Adama men no less,” she chuckled softly and he joined her laughter. “Oh … Big Brother …”
“Big Bother?” Kara said in confusion. “I thought you two were cousins.”
Lee laughed heartily. “We are,” he said drying his eyes. “It’s a long story--a family joke. Dad and Aunt Miranda are first cousins. Take a close look at Athena--who does she look like, Kara?” he asked gently, smoothing his cousin’s heavy black bangs away from her face.
“Zak!” Kara whispered.
“Exactly,” Lee replied softly. “When they were little, Zak and Athena looked enough alike that people would mistake them for twins. Our families often took vacations and trips together--better deals on group rates for a lot of things.”
Athena chuckled, eyes twinkling as she told the story. “Anyway, it was Uncle Bill who hit on using the twin-fiction to get Zak into an amusement park for the kiddie rates, although Zak was more than two years older than me,” she said. “It helped that until he hit puberty, Zak was pretty scrawny and not much bigger than I was, so he got away with paying the ten and under rate for about three years longer than he should have. So if Zak and I were twins, Lee became--”
“Big Brother,” Kara laughed.
“And a right pair of pests they were too, eh Lee,” William Adama said, closing the door to the adjoining room behind him.
“That they were, Dad,” Lee replied.
“Hi Uncle Bill,” Athena whispered, tears flowing down her face again.
“Hey there, War Goddess,” he said as Athena lost herself in his big bear hug. “My little Wise Goddess.” After a few moments, they let each other go. He cupped her face gently and kissed her forehead. He looked up at Kara and grinned. “Hey Starbuck, what do you hear?”
“Nothing but the glorious rain, sir,” she replied as he pulled her into a tight hug. “And I want you to know I shot all the frakking cats I could find!”
“Good job, Kara,” he said smiling into her eyes as she stepped back.
“Boom, boom, boom,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry to hear about Sam.”
“I know, sir--thank you.”
“And who is this?” he said, turning to the pretty, young redhead still hovering in the doorway behind Kara. Lee was ashamed to realise that in his excitement over Athena, he hadn’t given the other young woman a second thought. Now that he studied her closely, he realised there was something very familiar about her.
“This is my friend, Flight Cadet Sheba Cain, Uncle Bill; her mother was Admiral Helena Cain,” Athena replied, shocking Lee to his core. “Sheba, this is Admiral William Adama, Commander Lee Adama and of course you’ve met Captain Thrace.”
Sheba Cain nodded a slight bow. “Admiral Adama, Commander Adama,” she said quietly.
“Ms Cain,” William said holding out his hand to her. “I’m sorry about your mother. She was a fine officer.”
“Thank you, sir,” the young woman said coolly as she shook his hand.
“Ms Cain, my condolences,” Lee said offering his hand to her. “It was a privilege to work under your mother’s command, even for such a short time.”
After a moment’s hesitation she took it and shook firmly. “Thank you, sir,” she said; this time, her “thank you” sounded a lot colder to Lee’s ears.
I suppose Pegasus will always be her mother’s ship, Lee realised grimly, and I will always be some jumped-up interloper. Wait till she learns I went from CAG to Commander in a matter of months.
“Admiral, Commander,” Athena said looking very much the professional young officer suddenly. “Admiral Solomon’s meeting begins in an hour, but with his compliments, he would very much like to meet with you both privately before the briefing.”
“That won’t be possible for me,” Lee heard his father say quietly and saw the surprise in Athena’s eyes; Sheba Cain looked positively mutinous. “Please tell Admiral Solomon, with my compliments, I’ll be able to give him approximately two and a half hours, starting at about 1300 hours Imperial time today, and we’ll set other meeting times then.”
“Y-yes, sir,” Athena stumbled before regaining her composure. “Of course, sir.”
“And Captain Thrace and I will be along in approximately fifteen minutes,” Lee said. “I hope that will give Admiral Solomon enough time.”
“Yes sir,” Athena replied.
“Excuse me?” came Sheba Cain’s low disbelieving voice.
“Sheba,” Athena said sternly.
“No,” the younger girl said defiantly as she glared at Lee and his father. “What could be so important that they think that they can dictate terms to the admiral at their convenience?”
“Cadet Cain--enough!” Athena barked. She turned back to them, clearly embarrassed by her friend and Lee could see that she didn’t understand why Cain was acting the way she was. “I’ll inform the admiral, sirs.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Serranos,” William said, patting her shoulder gently. “And Cadet Cain, sometimes family matters takes precedence over all other concerns.” He turned and ushered Lee and Kara into Laura’s private room.
#
William stood back as Lee and Kara approached Laura’s bed. Brash Kara marched immediately around to the far side of the bed, but it was Lee, who--despite his more hesitant approach--sat on the bed and took one of Laura’s trembling, restless hands in his as if to warm it.
Laura’s eyes fluttered open; her medical team had given her a light sedative to help her through this visit, as she’d worked herself into a state over seeing Lee again.
William didn’t fully understand it except that she was anxious to see him, yet she couldn’t wrap her mind around allowing him to see her like this … or that Lee knew what had happened to her. It was as if she feared that--somehow--it would diminish her in his eyes.
“Captain Apollo,” she whispered; her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She hadn't really called him that since Kobol.
Lee brought her hand to his lips and kissed it reverentially. “Madam President,” he said.
A sob hitched in her throat. “Not the president anymore, Lee,” she rasped out. William thought his heart would break.
“You will always be my President, Laura,” he assured her and she allowed her tears to fall at last. Lee kissed her gently on the forehead.
She shifted her gaze to Kara and lifted her hand out to her. Kara took her hand and sat down. “Hey,” she said, leaning in to kiss Laura’s cheek.
“Kara,” Laura said after a deep breath. “William told me about Samuel. How are you holding up?”
“Okay,” Kara whispered through her tears.
Laura nodded. “And everyone?” she said softly.
“All in all we came through pretty well, but we took some hard losses,” Kara replied honestly. “Including Maya--”
A soft cry of pure anguished escaped Laura. “And Isis?” she whispered when she could speak again.
“She’s fine,” Kara assured her. “Maya had left her with Cottle when she went back to help Sam finish evacuating the rest of the orphans. The school was hit by a Cylon shell late in the fighting--Sam, Maya, Racetrack, Cortana, Jinx and nine kids didn’t make it out. Others are in critical condition.” Laura nodded and fresh tears flowed down her cheeks. “I know it’s hard,” Kara continued, “but we’ve also had a few bright spots,” she said with an impish grin.
“We have?” Laura said with such hope in her eyes.
“Yep! Guess who delivered Cally’s little boy?” Kara asked with a glint of pure, unholy Starbuck mischief in her eyes.
“Who?” Laura demanded. “You?”
“Boxey!” Kara crowed.
“Alexander?” Laura said in such disbelief, William could only laugh.
“Yep!” she said as a small giggle escaped Laura. “By the time Cottle got around to them, Cally had already popped and dropped the kid into Boxey’s hands. All Cottle had to do was cut the cord and clean ’em up!”
Laura’s hand flew to her mouth and William recognised an impending bout of giggles coming on. Silently he thanked the Gods again for keeping Kara Thrace safe as Laura erupted into gales of uncontrollable giggles.
Part 17