Battlestar Galactica: Devotion

Epilogue

Epilogue

Six Weeks Later

"Chief, I'm gonna need you to develop my gun camera footage ASAP. I got a helluva set of vacation pictures." She climbed off the brilliant white Viper, smeared with the blood from a Cylon Raider. "I'll take my post-flight checklist. I want to sign off so I can get in the shower."

Chief Galen Tyrol felt like he was looking at a ghost. "I don't have one for you."

All the jocks, and the mechanics, and everyone else that was in the area had converged on that hangar, and all of them looking at the blonde who had stepped out of the fighter.

"What's up?" She gave a nervous laugh.

Before anyone could respond, Lee Adama was upon her, and hugged her with all his might.

"Okay", Kara Thrace said, wondering what this was about. "OK. Me, too, it's okay, it's okay."

On Lee's heels, Sam Anders walked up to her. "I told everyone you were to fracking mean for anyone to kill you." He tried to laugh, but his voice cracked with joy.

"Okay", she repeated, "I'm okay, I'm okay." Then she looked at what her husband was wearing. "What the hell are you doing in a jock smock."

Sam Anders, Call Sign Longshot, didn't delay in answering. "I just finished Viper Transition a week ago, and I started ACM."

Kara was thoroughly confused now. "How the..."

"Starbuck!"

Kara looked up on the catwalk to her right, hearing the Old Man's voice.

She turned to face him, a confident smile on her face. "I did it, Boss", she said with pride. "I found Earth." She gave a satisfied laugh.

"Everybody move back", the Admiral ordered, those below him obeying, except for the Marine guards who advance closer, weapons trained on the pilot. "I need you in Sickbay. Doc Cottle's gonna give you a complete physical examination."

"OK, what the hell's going on?" Kara's demeanor had turned from joy, to consternation, to outright anger. "I'm off this ship for a few hours, and everybody's acting..."

Sam cut her off. "A few hours?" The confusion was universal now. "Kara, you were gone for over two months.

"That's impossible", she countered, even before Sam had stopped talking. "My ship's clock reads six hours and change."

"Then your clock's wrong, Kara", Lee said, seeing the look on his friend's face. "Sam's telling the truth. We thought you were dead."

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After the physical, Cottle debunked what everyone was thinking-Kara Thrace was not a Cylon, and everything matched up to her being...well, her.

The Old Man, Lee, and Tigh were in the room with she and Cottle. "I don't understand any of this", she kept repeating over and over.

"I'll show you the video tapes, Starbuck", Lee offered. "Video from my Viper, from Galactica, and from two other ships in The Fleet."

"We held a service for you in the hangar", Tigh added. "Five thousand strong said goodbye to you, Thrace."

"You all thought I was dead..." It still hadn't sunk in. Yet in an instant, panic swept over Starbuck. "Dead..." She noticed someone missing that she thought would have been at the meeting. "Where is the President?" She stood up as if prodded by an electric shock.

No one wanted to speak, least of all Bill Adama, but Lee was the logical choice, and they looked at him. "I'm...the President, Kara", he said. "Yeah, I flew this mission because I was needed but..."