Chapter 20: Lost and Found

"We have to go back."

The Admiral watched his son carefully. He was mildly surprised to see that his son had significantly calmed down since the hanger deck.

"She ejected from her viper. That means that she's alive and out there."

"We can't risk going back there."

"This is Starbuck we are talking about!"

Adama glared at his son, "Don't you think I know that!" he spat out. After several intense moments and deep breaths on both parts the Admiral continued on. "We can't risk the fleet to go back there and look."

"She could still be out there." A silent plea passed between son and father. "One hour. That's all I'm asking for. Let me take a Raptor out there myself. One hour."

"One hour," he acquiesced.

Lee turned to leave the room and was at the hatch when his father spoke again. "I hope you find Kara, but you make sure that you come back."

Lee nodded his head, "Yes sir."

A few minutes later and Lee was on the hangar deck talking to the Chief to get a bird prepped for him.

Athena overheard his request and walked up to him. "Permission to join you sir."

Lee looked at her. "You don't know where I'm going."

"You're going back to find Starbuck. I want to go with you."

"Me too."

Lee looked over Athena's shoulder and saw Racetrack.

He shook his head, "I can't risk your lives."

"You can't do this alone sir. You need one of us to fly the Raptor, one person to man Dradis, and another one to check on Kara when we pull her back in."

"Fine. Wheels up in five."

As soon as they arrived at the site of the previous battle they started the countdown for one hour.

"Board's clear sir." Racetrack called out from the back of the ship.

"Okay, pull up the mark I gave you."

Once they arrived Racetrack stepped forward to offer another set of eyes to look.

"Where was the Galactica?"

Racetrack stepped back to her console and pulled up that information. "They were… at bearing 034, carom minus 082."

"Okay… That means that I was facing this way… And her bird was spiraling out of control in this direction," he said as he pointed to the top of their window. "And she ejected…" he closed his eyes as he tried to remember, "away from me so keep your eyes over there."

For the next fifty minutes they continued to search the area, unfortunately it was without luck.

"Sir… I have a hit on her Viper."

"Where?" he asked.

"Straight ahead, thirty seconds."

Lee looked forwards but didn't accelerate the ship.

"Apollo?" Athena called out.

When she didn't receive a response she looked over her shoulder back to Racetrack who shrugged her shoulders.

"Apollo, should we try and recover her ship?"

"Apollo?" Athena called out once again after not receiving a response for a minute.

When the timer they had set upon their arrival beeped marking that they only had five minutes before they had to return Lee shook his head and looked over at Athena. He then nodded his head as he raced the ship to meet up with the empty drifting viper.

They had just completed connecting the airlock between the underside of the raptor and the viper when the countdown timer sent out an audible beep. Lee took one final look around the sector of space before speaking quietly, "Let's go home."

Athena nodded her head somberly, "Yes sir. Racetrack, spool up the FTL."

When the Raptor was towed onto the hangar deck a large contingent of the deck crew had gathered around to see Starbuck's return.

Once the hatch had opened Racetrack turned in her seat and shook her head in the negative in the hopes of getting the crew to disperse before Apollo got off the Raptor. With that head movement the anticipation in the room came tumbling down, the great Starbuck was gone.

From the edge of the room Teal'c watched as the three pilots stepped down from the Raptor empty handed. He watched as Lee paused before setting his feet on the deck and looked at his father who was watching him carefully from the catwalk.

Seeing the interaction between the Adama men, Teal'c turned and made his way up to the catwalk to join Admiral Adama.

The Admiral didn't acknowledge his presence as he watched his son slowly head towards the catwalk.

"It is possible that Captain Thrace has been captured by the Cylons."

Adama's head swirled at the suggestion from Teal'c. "What?"

"The search and rescue team was unable to recover Captain Thrace's body. It is possible that the heavy raider that showed up during the first search and rescue mission recovered Captain Thrace."

Adama looked at the man and realized that it was entirely possible. Even if she were dead, Apollo would have brought her body home to the Galactica if it was out there.

He remained speechless until his son came up to his side. He looked down at the deck and watched as they towed Kara's viper to a corner of the deck.

"Did you find any debris?"

Lee shook his head in confusion, "What?"

Adama pointed at the viper, "The Viper appears to be in near perfect condition. Did you find the canopy or the pilot's seat?"

Lee closed his eyes still confused, "We saw the canopy, but that's it. Why are you asking about that? Viper parts? We lost Kara!" he reminded his father as his voice rose in anger.

"I know that," his father glared back. He then looked at Teal'c momentarily before looking back at his son. "But there's no body. And so maybe, just maybe, the Cylons picked her up with the heavy raider."

Lee's eyes widened at that prospect, he honestly hadn't considered that option. He shook his head vehemently, "No… No…" as he slowly backed away.

Adama was in the midst of pouring himself a large glass of ambrosia when he heard his hatch opening. He gave a half turn to see who was entering. Upon seeing that it was the President he turned back to the ambrosia and proceeded to pour a smaller glass for her.

He held out the glass to her wordlessly, and she accepted it in the same manner as she seated herself on his couch. He joined her on the couch and took a long sip before looking at her.

They looked at each other in sad silence before Laura finally broke it. "I'm sorry about Captain Thrace. She meant a lot to this fleet. And to you."

Adama snorted as he let a small smile come to his face, "She was a pain in the ass more often than not."

Laura blinked at his words, shocked to hear him speak about her in such a way after her death. They continued to sit in silence and taking measured sips of the ambrosia.

"I'd like to organize a memorial service for Captain Thrace on the-"

"There will be no such thing!" he barked at her as he shot out of his seat and walked over to his desk.

Laura watched his retreating back carefully. She was dealing with a grieving man and had to tread carefully. "Bill."

She watched as his head moved from side to side, "She wasn't killed in action."

"Bill, they didn't find her body. I'm so-"

He whirled around, "Exactly. They didn't find her body. Lee saw her eject and clear the viper. The pilot has to be conscious to eject from a viper. She's alive."

Her eyes widened, she hadn't been informed of those details.

"Then where is she?" she asked softly.

A humming sound was the first thing that Kara processed before she even bothered opening her eyes. Before opening her eyes she took a mental inventory of her body. She tensed all her muscles from her fingers to her toes and was relieved to note that everything was in working order. She then opened her eyes and saw a strange ceiling illuminated by soft red lights.

She turned her head and along the dark wall she saw a strip of red lights chasing after one another.

'Not the Galactica!' she concluded as she quickly shot up to a seated position.

She clutched her head though when she was upright. Her head was throbbing from the sudden movement. She closed her eyes as she tried to will the pain away and remember what had happened.

Kara remembered turning back to face the Cylon fleet during their race back to the Galactica. She then recalled her bird starting to tumble in space as an enemy raider locked its wing with her. 'Where the hell did that come from?' she remembered thinking.

'Eject! Starbuck! Eject!'

She remembered hearing those words but she wasn't sure if that was herself telling her what to do or Lee's voice on the radio. 'Probably both', she mused.

Once she had ejected from the viper she remembered seeing Lee's Viper through her feet. She was then floating through space and saw a raptor headed right for her. She remembered the relief she felt, maybe she wasn't going to die in the cold vacuum of space.

At least she felt that way until out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of light. She turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw a large heavy raider that was approaching her quite quickly.

"Oh frak!"

The next thing she knew she knew she was floating into the heavy raider's hold. She saw a Centurion walk towards her and reach out and grasp the edge of her seat and start pulling her down to the ship floor. Before she reached the ground she struggled to release the straps that held her in place. She released them just as she felt the seat touch down.

But before she could push off from the seat she felt the Centurion's arm press down against her chest effectively immobilizing her to her seat. She thrashed against the Centurion to no avail.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw two more Centurions heading her way. When they were right on top of her she saw them split up, one to immobilize her legs, while the other and the first Centurion held her arms and shoulders down.

With her attempts of thrashing no longer even possible she looked up and saw Leoben standing over her. He bent over and his hands reached towards her helmet. Despite her moving her head as much as possible he was still able to remove her helmet.

"Hello Kara," Leoben said gently as he stroked a hand through her hair.

"Get the frak away from me!"

He smiled tenderly at her as his hand pulled back and withdrew something from his pocket. Kara watched him carefully and her eyes bulged when she saw his hand approaching her with a needle.

She fought even harder at that point. But against three Centurions, she didn't stand a chance.

The last thing she remembered before everything went black was Leoben's smiling face and words.

"We have a destiny Kara."

TBC

Author's Note: Sorry for the delays. And even worse is that there are going to be more delays in the posting of the next chapters. I've decided to add a few elements in response to ideas given by some kind reviewers. Some of the ideas were really good and just wanted me to explore other conversations.

Reviewer's Poll 1: Lee and Starbuck? Should I have them end up together? Or should I shy away from any romantic relationship type between them?

Reviewer's Poll 2: Jack and Sam? Should I have them end up together? Or should I shy away from any romantic relationship type between them?

Please let me know in your reviews