A Love Beyond the Stars - Against all Odds

[Dax]

A Love Beyond the Stars – Against all Odds

So the Admiral made a decision. Military needs are a priority.

The world is over, the fight is just beginning.

Chapter Eight
Day of the Dead

Willow and Tara walked quietly back from the officer’s mess hall to their quarter.
Even though there were several other people around, the mood in the hallways of Galactica was strangely quiet these days.
The mood had started to change ever since Admiral Cain had started “integrating” the crews of the two battlestars.
For the Galactica that meant that both ‘Apollo’ and ‘Starbuck’ had been reassigned to the Pegasus and Chief Tyrol had been replaced by someone from the Pegasus.

It was all these changes to Adama’s command that made Willow wonder that if it hadn’t been for her injured knee, she might be over at Pegasus by now too.
After all she had been supposed to serve aboard this Mercury class Battlestar after Galactica’s decommission and a extended shore leave of course.
Not for the first time since watching Admiral Cain and Colonel Fisk step out of that Raptor, Willow asked herself what had happened to Colonel Rupert Giles.

“Morning ‘Red’ what’d you hear?” a familiar voice behind her asked and without turning around Willow answered: “Nothing but the rain.”
“Good. Then grab your gun and bring in the cat,” said a female pilot of the Pegasus as she fell in step with Willow and Tara.

“’White Knight’!” Willow cried out and turned to Tara, “That's ‘White Knight’! I mean Lt. Lucy Martin. Tara, she was my first wing man aboard the Battlestar Orion VII!
“Lucy, that’s Dr. Tara Maclay, Secretary of Education and my girlfriend.”
The blond pilot and the blond secretary shook hands, both smiling brightly.
“Pleasure to meet you”, Tara said.
“The pleasure’s all mine,” Lucy assured her, then turned back to where Willow was standing. “So, your girlfriend huh?”
Willow nodded.
“And that would make you…”
“As gay as a picnic basket.”
“I knew it!” Lucy Martin muttered under her breath and Willow’s face turned into one big question mark.

“You knew?” The redhead asked. “Lucy it’s been more then two years since we served together, and back then I even didn’t know myself. Only found out when I fell in love with Tara, so how come you knew?”
“How could I not?” ‘White Knight’ asked back, and turning to Tara she said: “Back then she had a huge crush on me. And hadn’t it been for good old Oz – who knows.”
Feeling slightly confused, Willow shook her head. “Now you’re telling me that you re gay too?”
“Certainly am!”
“You have to tell me all about it,” Willow demanded “As well as all about how you managed to escape destruction by the Cylons when every other modern Battlestar did not.”
Willow’s babble came to a sudden hold when Tara pointed out to them that there were better places to have a talk than in the hallway.
”Do you have time?” Willow then asked, and Lucy nodded. “Then come along to our place.”
With ‘White Knight’ in tow, Willow and Tara walked to the visitor quarters and their official residence aboard this battlestar.

They sat down in the living room and after Tara had poured them all a glass of juice, Willow asked what she had been wondering about ever since they had been found by the Pegasus against all odds.
“Lucy,” she asked. “What ever happened to Col. Giles?”
‘Whit Knight’ took another sip from her glass before she put it down on the table again. “Oh you mean Commander Giles?”

“Commander? Why, I thought he never wanted a command of his own!”
“That’s what he said all right,” Lucy answered. “But then he didn’t have much of a choice.” she paused for a bit, then started to tell the story:
“It was about three months prior to the attacks. We where out on outer boarder patrol when Commander Taggert simply dropped dead in the middle of the CIC – cardiac arrest. Turns out he had a weak heart.
“However the ship needs a commander, even that far away from base. And so, via text message, Admiral Cain, as the head of our battlestar group, gave Giles field promotion to commander and the Pegasus as his command, with Fisk as his XO.”

“So what happened to Commander Giles, did he get killed during the attacks?” Willow wanted to know, somehow she already knew that Giles had been aboard Pegasus when the Cylons had returned.
Lucy Martin quietly emptied her glass and declined Tara’s offer to refill.

“Well, we had completed our patrol and returned to Geminon. Giles had settled into his new job nicely. We were about to dock at the Utopia Plaintia ship yards for an extended overhaul.
“Admiral Cain had come aboard for a big inspection, as well as to discuss some other issues with Commander Giles…”

Battlestar Pegasus
Utopia Planitia Shipyards
Planet Geminon

“Mr Hoshi, where’s the Admiral now?” Commander Rupert Giles asked from his usual position at the CIC’s Dradis console.
“If they’re sticking to the schedule, she and Col. Fisk should be in main engineering by now,” came the immediate reply.
“And if we know anything about our Admiral it’s that she likes to keep to her schedule,” Commander Giles muttered under his breath, while he cleaned his glasses. Putting them back on, he looked up at the screens in front of him.
“Mr. Moore,” he called out, “anything new on our docking schedule?”

“Sir, dock master just called, saying that it will take at least another hour before he can clear us for docking.” Lt. Ron Moore reported.
“Bloody yard people,” Giles grunted. “Always making a fuss about us having to arrive on time, only to make us wait for them to let us in. We’re already three hours late as it is.” Frustrated he took of his glasses again and placed them on the console in front of them.

“Should I hold the network shutdown, Sir?” Lt. Granger, his computer-expert asked.
“No, no. We might as well get the ship as ready as possible,” Commander Giles said, after he gave the lieutenant’s proposal some thought.
“We can easily bring her in manually. The sooner we starting our shore leave the better, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes Sir.”

Some twenty minutes later a lieutenant came over from communications and silently handed Com. Giles a piece of paper, her face was as white as the communication she had handed him.
It was a priority one alert message from Fleet Headquarters.
“Attention all colonial units,” Giles read out aloud. “Cylon attack underway. This is no drill.”
A moment of dreadful silence descended on the CIC, the words “War with the Cylons” being the elephant in the room.
Commander Giles was just about to order Larissa Granger to power up the by now offline computer network and to get Ad. Cain up there when suddenly…

“Sir! unidentified Dradis contact 2477 carum 389.
“Highly possibly a Cylon Basestar!”
Now the reports came in from all stations.
“Sir! They launching missiles!”
“Radiological Alarm!” Yelled a specialist.
“They’ve got nukes,” Giles whispered and yelled: “All hands brace for impact!” seconds before one missile found its target and detonated.
Pegasus got hit amidships.
The huge battlestar was tossed around like a boat in a storm.
Explosions everywhere, along with screams of pain, electric discharges and fires breaking out through out the CIC.

With some effort Rupert Giles pulled himself up to his feet again.
“Sit rep!” he bellowed into the chaos around him. “And get those fires out!”
“Sir, fires in both port landing bays, as well as in the upper starboard one,” reported Lt. Moore, giving Giles the situation report he had asked for.
“Get the DC units down there immediately!”
“Yes sir!”
“What about the Cylons?”
“Sir, Dradis is down, due to the EMP, but passive sensors indicate that the Basestar is still out there!
“Sir! Battlestar’s Titan and Mordor destroyed. Also the heavy cruisers Excelsior, Exeter and Saratoga.
“Sir! That’s every major ship within the shipyard!”

“The nuclear blasts will have blinded their Dradis as much as ours,” Giles said. “But once it’s coming back online, they’ll realise they missed us.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Lt. Gideon,” he called out, “what’s the status on our FTL drive?”
“Sir, Lt. Gideon is dead,” answered Ensign Hodge, standing beside his comrades fallen body.
“Then you just earned yourself a promotion!” Giles bellowed. “And now, what’s the status on our FTL drive – Lieutenant!”
“FTL drives are fully operational, Sir!” Hodge answered after he hastily checked the instruments at his station.
“Good. Mr. Hodge! Spin up drives two & four and prepare for an immediate FTL jump!”

“But sir!” Hodge stammered while he gave the necessary orders to the specialists standing right next to him. “We have to calculate the jump first!”
“No time! Jump as soon as you have the green light on the FTL drive board,” Giles said calmly.
“But sir! In a blind jump… we might end up in the middle of a sun!” Hodge cried out.
“We have only seconds before the Cylons realise their mistake! And we won’t stand a chance against that Basestar!” Giles said, taking the first damage reports from a specialist.

“We have a green panel!” cried the specialist next to Hodge.
“Jump!” Giles ordered, but nothing happened. He turned his head staring at the terrified Hodge. “DO IT!” he yelled and Hodge turned the switch activating the jump drive.

The moment they jumped out of the shipyards, two things happened. Lt. Moore reported incoming missiles and the just arriving Helena Cain bellowed: “What the frak is going on here!”

Ten hours later.

“So you’re telling me that the Cylons had some sort of a backdoor into our computer network and thus simply ordered the other Battlestars and Heavy Cruisers to… stand down?” Giles asked Lt. Granger, who had just given her initial report about what she had found out about the Cylons attack.
“Yes Sir,” Granger said, “though I still wonder how they managed to get this backdoor into the CMP navigational program.”
“So do I Lieutenant, but we can ponder about that later.
“Just make sure you get that darn thing removed from our system. And see that you get the systems to work isolated.
“Otherwise they might find another way to infiltrate the system, and there’s no reason to give them full access to the entire ship.”
“Yes sir!”

Admiral Cain entered the CI; according to military protocol she was in charge now.
“Situation report!” she ordered, walking up to Commander Giles, who dismissed Granger to get on with her work.
“Fires are out, sir,” Giles reported. “DC units are busy all over the ship,” he took some paper handed to him by a specialist. “Radiation is within norm, hull plating kept out most of the hard stuff.
“Port launch bays are open and operational again. Starboard will take a little while longer.”
“Good,” Admiral Cain said. “So what’s the finale body count?”
“783 sir,” Giles said. ”I’ve giving orders to set up a temporary morgue in Hangar Bay D.”

“Well, at least we are still moving,” Cain said. “Gutsy call, Rupert, blind jump.”
“Yes, I know,” Giles admitted. “But I figured we were finished anyway and our chances were better with a blind jump than standing toe to toe with a Basestar.”
Another specialist approached them. “Commander, the Scimitar is asking when they can expect technical assistance. They re experiencing difficulty with their jump drive.”
“Tell them we are getting to them as soon as we can spare someone over here,” Giles told the specialist but got interrupted by the Admiral.

“Delay that order,” she said and with a wave of her hand sent the specialist away.
“Sir?” Rupert Giles asked quietly and turned around to face his superior officer. “With all due respect Admiral but we do have to help these people. They came to us for protection. Besides, when we want them to go with us, we have to make sure they are up to it.”
“Go where?” the Admiral demanded to know.
“Out of here, leave this system for good. Maybe we’re lucky and other Battlestars have made it too and gathered some civilian ships as well.”
“What are you talking about Commander?” Cain asked.
“This war, Sir, is over,” Giles said calmly. “We lost.”

“I will not have anything of that around my CIC,” Cain said sternly. “What we will do is assemble three teams. We’ll take what we need from the civilian ships before we head back into battle.”
She handed Giles a list which included most of the things a ship needed to survive. He vehemently shook his head before he put the list down and slowly said: “We are certainly not doing anything like this.”

“I beg your pardon?” Cain asked slowly.
“Sir, as colonial officers we took an oath to defend the people of the twelve colonies.” Rupert Giles said.
“We are in the middle of a war,” Cain answered. “And I made my decision, military needs to be first.
“So will you order the marines to get from the ships what we need? To enable us to further fight the Cylons?”
“No, I won’t,” Giles said calmly. “Because this order is entirely illegal.”

By now everyone in the CIC, officers, Including Col. Fisk, who now was third in command of Pegasus, specialists, and marines where watching the development of the dispute between the two highest ranking officers onboard.
“Commander Giles, hand me your sidearm,” Cain ordered.
“You can’t relieve me of my duties,” Giles said. “The order you just gave is illegal and therefore it is my duty to relieve you of your command and place you under arrest, Sergeant!”
“You won’t do that,” Helena Cain said with a dangerously calm voice.
“And why is that?” Giles asked curiously, taking off his glasses again.

Admiral Helena Cain didn’t answer but instead raised her own gun in one fluid motion and shoot Rupert Giles point blank into his head.
As his dead body hit the ground, Helena Cain calmly holstered her gun again and turned around to face Col. Fisk, who had watched the entire scene from two meters away.
“Now, Col. Fisk will you order the marines to carry out their mission?” she asked matter-of-factly.

“And what did he do?” Willow asked, horrified.
“What could he do?” Lucy said, secret tears glistening in her eyes. “Fisk ordered the marines to deploy. And they stripped the civilian ships of everything useful.
“The Admiral then looked through the civilian ships passenger list and those she deemed useful to fill the losses of Pegasus where… recruited.”
“Recruited?” something in Lucy’s voice had Willow made ask.
“They recruited them with force,” Lucy explained with a hurt voice. “Some of them refused… the Admiral put the families of those up at the wall…
“The marines executed two whole families.”
Her voice broke and for a long moment she fell silent.

Willow and Tara were silent too, not knowing what to say. There had been rumours about how Admiral Can was running things aboard Pegasus ever since the attacks but they hardly compared to what they had just heard from ‘White Knight’.
They talked some more until Lucy Martin had to report back for duty aboard Pegasus.

Later that day Willow told Col. Thigh about what she’d learned form Lt. Knight and he said that he would relay this information’s to Commander Adama.
But because they where just about to commence a attack on a very important target within a pursuing Cylon fleet, he couldn’t tell when or if the commander would act on it.

Two days later, they had succeeded in destroying the Cylon Resurrection Ship and that meant that until they could replace that ship any Cylon who got killed – including the living Raiders – would stay dead.
It was one thing to go into battle knowing that if you get hit, you would wake up in another body than knowing that your last breath might actually be the last.

There was also no longer any need for Adama to confront the Admiral with her actions because Helena Cain was dead. Killed by Pegasus’ very own Cylon prisoner who somehow had managed to escape from the brig and even got off the battlestar after she had shot the admiral with her own gun.

***

Willow Rosenberg stood silently in a sideway of the port hangar bay. Leaning heavily on her crutches, she looked at the Viper that had been with her ever since she had reported for her first assignment aboard the Battlestar Orion VII. For almost three years this Viper had been hers.
But this part of her military career was now definitely over.
Today she would hand over her Viper to another pilot – who she didn’t know yet.

“Should I leave the two of you alone?” asked a familiar voice right into Willow’s ear, the warm breath letting the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
“Tara!” Willow beamed. “I didn’t think you would make it because of the Quorum meeting.” She gave Tara a light kiss on her cheek.
“I managed to postpone my part of the meeting until tomorrow,” Tara explained and put her arm around Willow’s hip.

“Plus her customary pilot was needed here too!” Came another familiar voice from behind them, making Willow jump.
“Why’s everybody sneaking up on me today?,” Willow wondered and turned around to see Lt. Dana Kim coming her way.
“You, ‘Rice-Pattie’?” she asked astonished. “You are taking over my Viper?”
“Yep,” Dana said with a grin.
“I didn’t knew you were qualified to fly a Viper.”
“It’s been a while,” Dana answered. “But not that long that I couldn’t convince ‘Apollo’ to let me handle your bird.”
“You know, now I can sleep well, knowing that my Viper is in the hands of a good pilot,” Willow said, surprising herself with how attached she had grown to her fighter.

By now Specialist Cally had arrived, carrying the new plaques for Viper 1701. After she greeted Willow, Tara and Dana, Cally moved a ladder to the Viper and climbed up to the cockpit. There she replaced the plaque Lt. Willow Rosenberg ‘Red-Dyke’ with Lt. Dana Kim ‘Rice-Pattie’.
It was the most simple procedure, not even part of military protocol.
But it brought some kind of closure to Willow as she felt a few tears running down her cheeks, that Tara secretly wiped away with a tissue.
“Thank you,” Willow whispered.

In no time Specialist Jessica Cally had changed the plaques on the other side of the Viper too. She walked up to Dana, Willow and Tara, stood to attention and saluted Willow sharply before she handed her the two old plaques.
Willow handed Tara her right crutch, and returned the salute before she took the plagues. “Thank you Jessica,” she said feeling like she would break out crying any moment now.
“You’re welcome sir,” Cally said with a friendly smile and walked away.

“Well, better get ready,” Dana said. “Need to get to the briefing before I start out on my first patrol.” She shook Tara’s hand, then turned to Willow. “Don’t be a stranger down here, okay?” she asked.
“I won’t, “ Willow promised, “good hunting ‘Rice-Pattie’.”
“Good hunting ‘Red-Dyke’.”

***
“You know Tara,” Willow said, as the two woman made their way out of the hangar bay. “I think I will miss being called ‘Red-Dyke’”
“I can call you ‘Red-Dyke’ if you like,” Tara offered with a seductive smile. “You know on special occasions. Very special occasions.” By now her voice was no longer suggestive but showed only too clearly what she was ‘suggesting’.
Willow was just about to take Tara by her word when the newly promoted Admiral Adama stepped around the corner in front of them.

“Ah Lt. Rosenberg,” Adama said, “I was just about to send for you.
“Admiral Adama” Willow said and saluted her commanding officer as good as it was possible without letting go of a crutch.
William Adama returned the salute. “If you would come with me to my office Lieutenant, there’s something I need to talk about with you.”
“I think that would be my cue to go and attend to my own duties,” Tara said and was about to excuse herself. But Adama raised his hand, “You don’t need to Dr. Maclay, you can come along – if your girlfriend doesn’t mind.”

Of course Willow didn’t mind and so they soon sat side by side in front of William Adama’s desk. While Adama was sorting through some papers, Willow found herself both assured and proud of Tara’s presence at her side.
Assured because she felt much calmer with having her girlfriend at her side as the future of her military career was about to be decided. And proud because of the way Admiral Adama simply accepted Tara as her partner in life.

“Lt. Rosenberg,” Adama said putting his glasses aside. “when you reported for duty aboard the Galactica, nineteen months ago, I knew from the start that you had all the potential to become not only a great pilot but an outstanding officer as well.
“I dare say, you exceeded in all my expectations. That was why I recommended Commander Giles to keep an eye on you. And I knew that if he saw the same in you as I did, he would make you CAG as soon as the position would’ve been open aboard the Pegasus.”
The admiral fell silent for a bit, remembering his comrade with whom he had fought side by side during the Cylons Wars.

William Adama put his glasses back on and then seized the document lying right in front of him. “As Col. Thigh informed me you’ve lost your flight status due to the knee injuries you suffered on Kobol.”
“That’s correct, sir,” Willow acknowledged. “Doctor Pulaski told me, that even though I will regain most of the mobility within my knee, I will no longer be able to produce the necessary thrust with my leg to fly a Viper.”
“A real pity,” Adama said. “You always where among the finest pilots. Nonetheless, I never saw your potential limited to mere flying and I would hate losing a valuable member of my crew.”
He let the peace of paper drop to his desk again and looked right into Willow’s face whose heart started to beat much faster.
“Lieutenant, as soon as Doctor Cottle declares you fit for duty again,” he said in the most official tone of voice. “You will report to flight control for duty as a flight officer.”

“Yes Sir,” Willow answered then frowned. “But Sir, wouldn’t that be a Captain’s position?”
“That’s right,” Admiral Adama agreed and seemingly out of nowhere produced a small black box, opened it and handed it to Willow, who accepted it with trembling hands.
The box contained two pieces of rank insignia.
“Congratulations, Captain,” Admiral Adama said and offered Willow his hand which she shook absentmindedly.

Tara smiled proudly at her newly promoted girlfriend. “Admiral Adama, may I?” she asked, pointing at the insignias in Willow’s trembling hands.
“Be my guest, Doctor,” the Admiral answered with a barley notable smile.
Carefully Tara took of the lieutenants pins from Willow’s uniform collar and replaced them with the new ones. She then placed the old ones in the box and handed it back to the admiral.

For Willow this was all like a dream.
There had been a part of her that had already accepted the possibility that her service as colonial officer might come to an end,
But she never had even dreamed that, if she was to remain with the colonial forces, she would actually rise in rank, now that she was slightly compromised in her physical performance.

“And now if you would excuse me,” Admiral Adama said and stood up.
Willow too got to her feet and took one crutch that Tara handed her. She stood to attention and raised her hand in salute. “Admiral.”
“Captain,” he said and returned the salute.
Willow took the other crutch and was just about to turn around and leave the office together with Tara, when William Adama added one last thing.

“Since you still have some time to spare, I suggest that you get up to speed with your new position and duties.”
“Of course sir.”
“Good. I’ll have Lt. Benson bring you the guidebooks and instruction manuals. Dismissed.”

Willow stood to attention once more. Then Dr Tara Maclay led the very proud Captain Willow Rosenberg out of Admiral Adama’s office.

[Dax]

There you go - and only one more chapter to go!

[JujuDeRoussie]

Hello here!!


Oh that's so great!!! She's a captain!!!

Poor Giles!

oh and Lt. Benson? Would you mind to intoduce her to me?

see ya

your friend.

Julia

[Willowtree252]

Daxy how did this get by me my friend sorry I love that Willow got promoted and is now a capt she will be good at that.

You know Tara,” Willow said, as the two woman made their way out of the hangar bay. “I think I will miss being called ‘Red-Dyke’”
“I can call you ‘Red-Dyke’ if you like,” Tara offered with a seductive smile. “You know on special occasions. Very special occasions.” By now her voice was no longer suggestive but showed only too clearly what she was ‘suggesting

I love the deep flirting it lets us see a part that is only theres.

[Zampsa1975]

Wow! Great update-y goodness.... If I remember correctly Tara addresses Willow as Captain when they talked the first time at the seremony... now she really is a Captain... good for her... What happened to Giles was not very fun to read...

[LittleBit]

This is a great story ... I have ust finished reading both the prequel and this story and have found them to be a great read. I was saddened by Willow not being able to fly anymore but I love how you're showing how many options there are in life even when want you think is the "thing" for you turns out to no longer be a possibility.

Quite shocked to hear what happened to Giles ... but glad Cain is now dead.

Keep up the fabulous work.

[Chummy]

Yo Dex

were are you it's been along time since you update.

[Dax]

A Love Beyond the Stars – Against all Odds

And now, because it was the first will of the people, I am going to sign my first executive order, requiring to immediately establish settlements on the planet we have come to know as New Caprica.

The world is over, the fight is just beginning.

Chapter Nine
Objects at Rest

“I think you might wanna check Dawn’s bags before she leaves,” Buffy said lightly to Tara. “Or otherwise you might be missing your cat.”
Buffy was sitting together with Tara on the couch watching Dawn who, for the past few hours, had been sitting on the floor either playing or snuggling with little Miss Kitty Fantastico who was obviously enjoying having the undivided attention of the young elementary school teacher.

“What’s keeping Willow so long?” ‘Slayer’ asked, looking at her wrist watch. “She should’ve been back an hour ago.”
Tara too locked at the clock. “I don’t know. She was scheduled for physic therapy and then for another appointment with Doctor Pulaski.”
“I hope she shows up soon,” came the voice of Dawn from under the living room table where she had followed Miss Kitty who was chasing her favourite ball. “I’ve already missed one flight, can’t afford to miss the next one too.”
She came out from under the table and sat herself into the chair right next to Tara. Followed right away by Miss Kitty who rolled herself up into her lap to take a nap.

“Well, you’ve got another thirty minutes,” said Buffy with another glance at her watch. “Then I’m getting you down to the hangar bay.
“To fly me over yourself with a Viper?” Dawn asked excited.
“No, the regular shuttle to the Cloud Nine.”
“That’s so unfair!” Dawn protested. “Willow used to fly Tara around in that Viper all the time. And now Tara gets flown in a Raptor.” She gave a pout.
“That,” Tara said thoughtfully, “might very well change in the near future. I mean with Baltar being sworn in as the new President of the Twelve Colonies.”

“You think he might not want you to continue as Sec Ed?” Dawn asked.
“I have absolutely no idea,” Tara admitted. “Ever since he announced his pitch for the presidency and started campaigning right away, I haven’t had any dealings with him.
“Not that I had much to do with him in the first place. I had my work cut out and he was most of the time locked away in his laboratory working on that Cylon detector.”
“Not that this thing worked very well,” Buffy interposed. “After all he also declared ‘Boomer’ to be human.”
“No, not really,” Tara agreed, and remembered the other Cylon that had been discovered among the crew of the Galactica. She shook herself to chase away the face of Faith coming to her mind.

“I simply have to wait and see if he want to keep me as Secretary of Education and if he does, if the two of us agree on what he wants and what I want to do in my field,” Tara concluded.
“I for one, hope that you’ll remain in office Tara,” Dawn said sincerely, “you’re the best Sec Ed I’ve ever worked with.”
“Right – I’m the only Sec Ed you’ve ever worked with,” Tara observed with a grin.
“Still can’t believe he won the election,” Buffy said.
“Well he and his campaign manager Tom Zarek played the ‘settle on New Caprica’ now card, and won,” Tara said solemnly.

By pure chance a Raptor, part of a rescue mission to Caprica, got lost on the first in a series of jumps, found this habitable planet hidden within a nebular cloud, that hit the planet and everything within its orbit from any kind of long range scanners.
As it seems the perfect save haven from the Cylons.
But whereas Laura and Admiral Adama rather wanted to continue the search for Earth, Baltar made the immediate settlement of this new planet his priority.

Not surprisingly that won him the vote.
Who could blame the people of being sick of living in metal buckets when they really wanted to stand on a planet’s surface again with a sky over their heads.
Now with Gaius Baltar being elected President, the colonisation of the planet soon known as New Caprica would obviously get the fast forward.
One could only hope that this nebular would not only shield them from the Cylons but also stop what ever sleeper agents they might still have among them from contacting them on their own.

***
Tara, Buffy and Dawn discussed the pro and cons of giving up the search for Earth and settle on New Caprica, whether or not that should be done at once or only after further survey of the planet.
They where so involved in their discussion, that they only became aware of Willow returning when she stepped through the bulkhead into the room.
Upon seeing her best friend, Buffy jumped to her feet, stood to attention and saluted: “Good afternoon Captain!”
Willow let out a heartfelt sigh and shoot the bulkhead behind her.
“Would you please stop that Buffy,” she pleaded. “You very well know that this isn’t necessary as long that we’re off duty.”
“But I’m having so much fun!” Buffy protested.
“You certainly do,” Willow said and slowly crossed the room.

Only now Tara recognised the change in Willow’s appearance because she had replaced the two crutches with a single cane.
With two steps Tara was at Willow’s side and put her arms around her waist. “Oh honey, that’s wonderful!” She cried and kissed her girlfriend tenderly on her lips. “Why didn’t you tell me that today was the day?”
“Because I found it much more rewarding to keep it to myself and surprise the woman I love,” Willow answered with a big smile on her lips. But then she couldn’t restrain herself anymore and kissed the blond woman again and again.

After a while the two woman became aware of the presence of the two Summers’ sisters who, both being single at the moment, gave them longing looks.
“I think we better stop,” Tara said, blushing considerably.
“Oh no, don’t stop!” Dawn said, “I totally need my second hand smoggiest!”
“Where did you get this rather fabulous walking cane?” Buffy asked, taking the cane from Willow after she had sat down right next to her.

“Looks rather grand doesn’t it? Willow said, looking at the cane in Buffy’s hand. It was an old one, made from dark wood with a shining chrome handle.
“It’s a present from Dr. Pulaski, she came over today to check on my progress.
“She told me this cane once belonged to her grandfather. He too was a doctor and she could not think of a better use than to give it to someone who really needed a cane to keep walking.” For a while Willow looked thoughtfully at the cane, that Buffy had handed back to her.

“Anyway,” Willow said. “Both docs say I’m fit for duty and so tomorrow I’ll start training at launch control.”
“What do you mean start?” Tara asked and gave Willow the look. “As it is, you already spent half the day down there anyway. You certainly know all about it by now.”
“Are you suggesting that I neglect my duties as your fiancée?” Willow asked raising an eyebrow.

“What does she mean by fiancée?” Buffy asked, but Dawn beat her to the answer.
“When did she propose?” Dawn asked Tara excitingly.
“Yesterday!” Tara beamed and shows the plane gold ring on her finger. “We know, we’re still not legally allowed to get married but Willow and I don’t care. We want everyone to know that we belong together.” She kissed Willow tenderly on the cheek.
By now the entire room was one wave of happiness, with Dawn hugging Willow and Tara and Buffy just being happy for her best friend and her fiancée.

Little did they know that the happiness around them was about to come to sudden and brutal end.
Because just as Dawn came to her feet and gathered her things – she had spent last night on Willow and Tara’s couch – the Galactica got hit by a great force that send Dawn to the floor.
Soon the alarms where sounding throughout the Battlestar and Lt. Gaeta called all hands aboard to the action stations.
‘Slayer’ left at once, heading down for the hangar bay and her Viper, while Willow called the CIC to find out what had happened.

Listening to Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla’s hurried situation report, Willow’s freckled face turned pale while her green eyes widened in shook and horror, making Tara hurry her side.
Leaning heavily on her cane, Willow put the phone back on to the lever on the wall. She didn’t say a word but kept staring into oblivion.
“Willow, talk to me,” Tara pleaded. “What happened?”
By now Dawn was on her feet too and by Willow’s side, looking very worried. Together with Tara she led the shocked Colonial Officer to the sofa and together they sat down.

Eventually Willow found her voice and whisperingly started to tell the other two women what she had just learned from ‘D’ Dualla.
“Cloud Nine has just been destroyed. All indications point to a nuclear explosion, coming from within the ship. Destroyed at least two other vessels…” She managed before tears closed off her throat completely.
Tara put her arm around Willow’s waist, holding on to her, trying to comfort both Willow and herself.

“I would’ve been back at Cloud Nine by now,” Dawn whispered. “If it wouldn’t it have been for you being late, I would not have missed that flight an hour ago. I would’ve been there,” she repeated over and over again.

“My kids!” Dawn suddenly cried out, meaning the boys and girls she had been looking forward to be teaching again tomorrow morning.
Willow put a comforting hand on Dawn’s shoulder but the young woman brushed it away and, crying hard, Dawn jumped to her feet and ran into the joining bedroom, slamming the door close behind her.

“So many people,” Willow cried, “gone! So many people… the colonies and now all these people that lived on that large ship!”
Willow and Tara sank into each other’s arms, both crying for all the souls that had perished within the blink of an eye.

One Year Later.

Planet New Caprica.
Battlestar’s Galactica and Pegasus on Orbital Defence Patrol.
Day 380

Major Willow Rosenberg slowly walked down the empty hallways of Battlestar Pegasus on her way to the mighty Battlestar’s CIC.
She didn’t need to hurry though for nothing generally happened these days.

The settlement of New Caprica had commenced despite Admiral Adama’s objections, that the theft of the nuclear warhead from Dr. Baltar’s laboratory and the following destruction of the Cloud Nine could have been the prelude to a Cylon attack.
Ok, apparently President Baltar had been right, and the electromagnetic discharges of the cloud surrounding New Caprica really effectively shielded them from any outside detection.
And whether or not the device had been set up by a Cylon agent or not would not change that – so maybe they might really be safe here.
The perfect safe haven for a new beginning after all, or was it?

Most of the people throughout the fleet thought so.
By now, only a small number of the fleet’s civilian ships were still in orbit with Galactica and Pegasus, the majority having been landed on the planet’s surface.
The population of New Caprica’s settlement was up to 39192 and that included most of the personnel of Galactica and Pegasus.
Both Battlestars where now operating with a skeleton crew and only got barely enough pilots to fly a decent patrol.

Of course it had only been thanks to this shortage in officers and crew that had it made possible for Willow to further climb the ladder of command up to becoming second in command of the Pegasus. That was certainly much higher than Willow had ever expected to be.
Major Willow Rosenberg, Executive Officer of Battlestar Pegasus – that had a nice ring to it.
A battlestar, that was operating with less than a third of its regular crew complement.
Some of the crews had asked to be relocated to the planets surface while others simply hadn’t returned from planetary shore leave.

Willow couldn’t help it, every now and then, to ask herself if she and Tara had made the right decision, to stay aboard Galactica and only go down to New Caprica for one or the other shore leave.

Battlestar Galactica
Orbital Defence Patrol.
Day 61

“So you’re absolutely sure, you wanna do this?” Willow asked uncertain holding Tara’s hand. “Rather stay with me here aboard Galactica, than go stay on New Caprica?”
“Willow, I already told you, I do. So why do you keep asking?”
“Because I want to make sure that you’re sure,” the redhead babbled away and earned herself a sweet smile from he fiancée. “What?”
“You know you are absolutely adorable when you babble,” Tara smiled.

“I just want you to be happy,” Willow said, kissing Tara’s fingertips one by one. “Either on the Galactica or down in New Caprica City. And if you want me to, I would leave with you at once.”
“But could you really leave service all together?” Tara asked sceptically.
“Sure!”
“Desert Admiral Adama?”
Sure, Willow wanted to say again, but coulnd’t get the word out.
“See,” Tara said softly. “I know you, Willow. You swore an oath to protect the people of the twelve colonies. And for you that means staying up here on Galactica.
“Your sense of duty would never allow you simply to stay on New Caprica and not returning form a shore leave back to your duty station. And that devotion is one of the many things I love about you.”
She kissed Willow gently cupping her face with her hands.

“You know, that isn’t the only reason why I prefer staying aboard Galactica for the time being,” Tara asked.
“It’s not?” Willow wondered opening her eyes again.
“No,” Tara said and then she explained why she thought Galactica was the right place to be right now. Except maybe for the one or other stint in New Caprica City.

Willow’s steps echoed throughout the Pegasus’ hall ways, accompanied by the metal clank of her walking canes tip.
Despite her hopes and Dr. Pulaski’s assurance that it might be possible, Willow still needed the cane to walk around the ship or on the planet’s surface, or longer distances in general.
Within their quarter she could move around without her walking aid.

Now, these quarters were the real treat for being aboard Pegasus’ XO.
Not only were they much more spacious than their previous one aboard Galactica but it also featured their very own bathroom!

Walking around the next corner, Willow became aware of a young officer walking in front of her.
“Morning, Lieutenant,” Willow said, falling into step with the young woman who had her long blond hair up in a ponytail.
“Morning Major,” the Lieutenant answered and gave Willow a short salute.
“So how’s business at communication today?” Willow wanted to know.
“Slow as usually. Mostly relaying messages from New Caprica, to ships within the fleet and to the exploration mission up on the eastern continent.

“Oh very good,” Willow answered. “And may I say that you’re looking very good this morning Lieutenant?” She gave the blond a suggestive smile.
“Does your wife know you’re flirting with fellow female officers, Major?” Asked the lieutenant.
“I think she does,” Willow returned.
“And what does she think about it?”
“I don’t know. What do you think about it, Tara?”
“Well, it’s all right, as long as I’m said female officer,” Lt. Tara Maclay laughed.

Less than fifty days into his presidency, it became apparent to Tara that Gaius Baltar took no particular interests in educational matters whatsoever. And that made working with him increasingly difficult und unpleasant for Tara.
Even though she had the full support of the Quorum of Twelve and both Vice-President Tom Zarek and presidential aid Felix Gaeta who tried their best to smooth out the rift between President and Secretary of Education, there came a day that the mere thought of going back to work just another day with this self loving egomaniac, made Tara sick – literally sick.

So it was with a heavy heart that Tara stepped in front of the press and announced that she was to resign from the post of Secretary of Education effective immediately.
Of course she didn’t leave her job without telling the press how she had come to her decision, and what she exactly thought of the current administration and its president.

It had been a difficult choice for Tara, but the right one, Willow knew.
She also knew that given a regime change in three years time, and there was little doubt in Willow’s mind, that Baltar had no chance of winning re-election, Tara would take up office again.
“Maybe you should run for president then, Tara,” Willow had jokingly suggested.
“Not funny, Willow.”

Wanting to make herself useful, and given that there where no civilian positions on a battlestar, Tara joined up with the Colonial forces, which didn’t surprise Willow when she told her.
She started with the officer’s training right away and since she always was a fast learner, having a masters degree in math also helped, Tara soon settled into her new job.
By the time Willow got promoted to Major, Tara got her own promotion to Lieutenant and they both got transferred to the Pegasus.

“How was your appointment with Dr. Franklin?” Willow asked.
“Fine,” Tara with a warm smile upon her lips. “All’s going according to plan.”
“And how’s our little girl doing?” Willow wanted to know and placed her free hand upon Tara’s notably rounded belly.
“Great, I think, though she seems determined to practice tap-dance on my bladder.”

Battlestar Pegasus
Orbital Defence Patrol.
Day 211

“Look at these rooms!” Willow said for the fifth time and continued wandering from the living room to the bedroom and back again.
She was followed closely by Miss Kitty Fantastico who was inspecting the new living quarters of her mistresses. Or more as if she owned the place.

Tara watched them both with loving amusement, standing in front of the closed automated door.
Eventually Willow came to a stop in front of her Tara, taking her into her arms.
“This is a great place,” she said and kissed Tara passionately.
“I hear you,” Tara said between kisses. “Certainly doesn’t get any better then this.”
“Not on a ship anyway,” Willow said.
“You know Willow,” Tara said thoughtfully. “One day I would like to live down on the planets surface. Not right away but if things down there take a little better shape… and we’re really safe down there from the Cylons…”

Willow nodded. “I hope that too,” she agreed. “I also wouldn’t mind New Caprica City looking less like a field camp.
“You know a home with both walls and a roof on top on it.” They kissed some more, then Willow leaned back and looked Tara deep into her blue eyes.
“Of course now that we have these really fabulous quarters,” Willow said quietly, “we could also remember the plan of starting a family.” By now her voice was down to a whisper.
“You mean?” Tara whispered.
“I mean. Ok?”
“Ok,” Tara beamed.
And for the next minutes they remained in blissful silence that needed no words and kept holding on to each other, literally feeling the love flowing back and forth between them.

“But how?” Tara asked, “I mean where do we get…uhm… what we’re missing?”
“Xander,” Willow said.
“Xander?” Tara asked sounding confused. “Your friend Xander Harries? Who died like a year ago?”
Willow nodded. “While cleaning out my locker on Galactica yesterday, I found this,” she said and produced an envelope from her uniform-jacket pocket.
“It’s his will. He must’ve placed it there some time earlier, you know, without me noticing it. Anyway. Xander’s father died of testicular cancer, several years ago.
“Ever since then, Xander feared that, given that cancer sometimes runs in the family, he was afraid he might develop testicular cancer too, and – by treating it – might lose his… you know.
“So just in case, he stock piled some of his sperm at Galactica’s medical cold storage. Now in his will, he leave this to me. Saying he always knew that I someday wanted to have kids. Plus,” she said and gave a smirk.
“He also wrote that he always suspected that I might be gay, and thus would certainly would eventually have need for his ‘donation’ anyway.“

She handed Tara the letter, who took it as gently as if it already was the thing that would ensure her motherhood.
“We’re going to be mothers,” Tara whispered and Willow nodded. “Mommy, Mama and a baby.”

“So Doctor Franklin says it’s okay for you to travel down to the planet?” Willow asked sounding a bit worried.
“Of course he does,” Tara laughed. “We’ll be fine Willow.”
They stood at one of the many intersections of the mighty Battlestar where they now needed to part. Willow needed to go to the pilot’s readying room to meet with ‘Slayer’ Pegasus’ CAG and Tara would head to the hangar bay from where she was to be flown down to New Caprica City by ‘White Knight’.

“Honey,” Tara said both amused and touched by Willow worrying about her and their unborn daughter Hope.
“I’m pregnant, not sick nor handicapped. Everything is going to be fine – except maybe that I won’t fit much longer into my uniform. But besides from that, it’s perfectly safe for me to travel to the planet for the next two months or so.
“Plus I promised Laura to get her some more stuff for school.”

“Still the Sec Ed aren’t you?” Willow asked with a smirk.
“But only for a little bit,” Tara admitted. “And only unofficially, mind you.” She gave Willow her biggest smile and added: “And now give me kiss before I miss my flight.”
“Bye honey, I love you,” Willow said and kissed Tara goodbye.

“Love you too,” Tara answered.
“And I love you Hope,” Willow whispered to Tara’s belly and kissed it too.

***

About an hour later Major Rosenberg passed though the automatically opening glass doors into Pegasus’ CIC where Commander Adama was just having a spirited argument with someone down on the planet’s surface.
Judging from the looks on his wife’s Lt. Dualla’s face, Willow assumed it to be ‘Starbuck’.
“Morning Lieutenant,” Willow said.
“Morning Major,” Anastasia ‘D’ Dualla answered. “’White Knight’ just reported in. She and your wife have landed safely on New Caprica, sir.”
“Thank you ‘D’,” Willow answered with a smile.

It felt really great to Willow how the others accepted and spoke of Tara as Willow’s wife.
Though not legally speaking her wife. Legalisation of the gay marriage, as it had been imposed into Carprican Law, was of no interest for the current administration of Gaius Baltar.
Willow and Tara had been married by Admiral Adama before they left for the Pegasus.
It had been a nice little ceremony aboard Galactica, together with their friends Buffy, Jessica Cally and Dana Kim.
The only person missing was Buffy’s sister Dawn, who back then was already living in New Caprica City and could not been contacted.

Willow stepped up to the centre station and looked up to the telemetry screens.
Of course there wasn’t much to see on the Dradis screens, except for the regular electromagnetic distortions emanating from the clouds surrounding the planet and his sun.
It was what hid them from the Cylons and after all until now it had worked, hadn’t it?
There hadn’t been a single sighting for the past three hundred and eighty days.
Or maybe the Cylons had really stuck to their promise, to no longer pursue humanity.

One year ago, ‘Starbuck’ had returned from a rescue mission from Caprica, not only with the survivors of a resistance group, but also with the news that the Cylons had left the Colonies.
Unknowingly, ‘Starbuck’ had brought a humanoid Cylon along with her – an elderly man.
Now this Cylon avatar, know to them as the priest – Brother Cavil, who was aboard the Galactica too at the same time, had a message for the colonials.
Thanks to the growing influence of the two “Heroes of the Cylons”; a six and a eight – the latter known to the people of the Galactica as Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerie – they had come to the conclusion, that trying to destroy humanity had been a mistake.

A mistake!
Billions of people killed in the nuclear bombardment of the Twelve Colonies, others while on the run, mercilessly pursued by the Cylon.
They called it a mistake, and said they would leave them alone now, in search of a new home for themselves.

Willow shook her head, dismissing the rage that was building up in her. There was no use in getting angry about what had happened.
As for trusting the Cylons to really stay away, Willow agreed with the Admiral to not feel too secure just yet.
Not when she was only five month away from becoming a mom.

Again Willow looked up to the screens with their regularly appearing disturbances.
“You don’t really except to see anything now, don’t you?” Commander Adama asked from his station, while still talking to ‘Starbuck’.
Willow shook her head with an amusing smile. No, she didn’t expect to see anything but Galactica and the other ships of the fleet on that screen.

‘Peep! Peep!’

“What was that?” Willow asked into the air in front of her.
“Wait a minute,” Lee Adama said to Kara Thrace on the other end of the line. “What is it, Major?”
“I’m not really sure,” Willow answered and kept staring at the Dradis screen in front of her. “Probably just a glitch or something.”
Willow was about to dismiss what she believed to have seen when the screen became clear again and what she saw made her eyes go wide and let her blood freeze.
“Enemy contact!” she yelled. “That’s a Cylon fleet! They found us!”
“Action stations,” Adama ordered under his breath.

“Action station! Action stations set condition one through out the ship” Major Rosenberg’s voice echoed throughout the mostly empty ship.
“Galactica Actual’ on the line!”
At once the son took the father’s call.
Willow read up on the reports slowly coming into her station, while her thoughts raced to the two persons she held most dear in her life – Tara and their unborn daughter Hope.

“We have to get out of here,” Willow heard Lee Adama say to his father, and could only too well imagine the Admirals response: “We just can’t leave all those people behind.” Because it was exactly what she was thinking right now.

“There’ nothing we can do,” ‘Pegasus Actual’ pointed out. “It’s taking us forever just o get to action stations over here. We’re in no position to fight, sir.”
He was right Willow knew, even though everything inside her rebelled against it.
“We don’t have a choice, we need to get out of here now!” Lee went on.

“All stations report condition one throughout the ship, sir,” she reported, not without noticing how very long it had taken to get to the action stations. “Should we launch the alert fighter?”
Commander Adama shook his head while still waiting for the admiral to make the decision.
“Sir, the decision has to be made now!” Lee told his superior officer.

Knowing what had to be done, Willow anticipated Commander Adama’s next orders and went over to Lt. Lefebvre’s station.
“Lieutenant begin jump prep,” she ordered quietly. “Warm up FTL drives two and four, break out the FTL computers. Calculate the jump and coordinate with Galactica and the rest of the fleet.”
“Yes, sir.”
From across the CIC she got the silent confirmation that Admiral Adam had given the order.

“Be ready to execute the jump!” Major Rosenberg ordered, while at the same time Willow prayed: ‘Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer, keep my Tara safe and protect her and our unborn daughter from harm.”

“Jump!” Commander Adama ordered

In the moment Pegasus, Galactica and the other ships jumped away, Willow made her promise:
“I’m coming back for you, Tara, I’m coming back to save you and Hope. Even if I have to battle the entire Cylon force with my bare hands – I’ll be back!’

The fight for the survival of humanity continues.

A Love Beyond the Stars – A Race Through Dark Places

[JujuDeRoussie]

Oh My God!

Hi little bread

You didn't do what I think you did, did ya? You didn't tear apart our girls did you?

Ok you did... Grrr

Ok just another thing... Lt. Maclay? mmmm Hey wait a minute, Lt. Maclay has a comrade called Lt. Lefebvre? Oh I know someone who might flirt with Major Rosenberg's wife

Can't wait for the next part!

Friendly,

Juju The Translator! lol

[emsaunt]

Sehr gut! Wunderbar!

I love how you are able to meld the two worlds of BtVS and BSG without compromising either. The love between Wllow and Tara and how they deal with each other, and the darkness and grittiness of the BSG world are both easily recognizable. You make it believable.

I wish I had the words to fully express how much I love your story.

Thanks for your update!

emsaunt

[LittleBit]

oh dear me! This is quite tragic, but I'm sure you'll find a way to reunite our girls again! Great story and cannot wait for the next installment.

[Zampsa1975]

Excellent update-y goodness... so you took the split them apart option... I hope that Willow would soon be reunited with her wife and their baby...

[Willowtree252]

Daxy I am so sorry to keep you waiting I have been out of pocket. I really loved this update it was sad with the explosion. I love Willow and Tara having a baby it is so sweet and they got married that made my day. now you have me worried with the dark to come but as always I will wait and see what kind of ride you take me on. love Cheryl my true friend.