AFTERMATH : THE JOURNEY BEGINS

       The door to the pilot's Ready Room slid open at admit Roark, Harry right behind him.  Both paused, identical black brows arching when they saw Raphael, Gabriel, and Payton sitting at the table with the eight that had volunteered to join them on this venture.

          "Raph?" he asked, moving to the table and setting his laptop down.

          "Gabe, Pay and I will be joining you lot on this insane venture you two have concocted," he answered in a tone that brooked no argument.

          "We have enough people for this," Harry said as he moved to take a seat beside Rabastan.  "As glad as we would be to have you--"

          "Good, then it's settled," he said, head-turning as the door slid open once again to admit Commanders Adama, Thorin, and Roark, as well as Admiral Roark.  "Dad?"

          "We want to know EXACTLY what you lot are planning to do."

          A smirk.  "Of course you do.  Roark, the Nova."

          Roark looked at the three who had just arbitrarily decided to join them, then over at his grandfather, to his father, then to his uncle and cousin, none of whom looked to be happy.  Shaking his head, he took the seat beside Rodolphus, opened the laptop, and brought up the Nova for them all to see.

          "The Nova of Madigon.  Close to two thousand magnams wide, and so bright it lights the entire area around it for magnams.  It completely surrounds Carrilon but for this small 50 magnum shipping lane..." he pointed out a spot, "here, on the other side of the planet.  Uri was right about one thing.  IF we had taken this route," he traced the standard route taken by most ships, "we never would have made it.  We haven't the food, nor do we have the fuel we would need to go around.  That is why I proposed we go THROUGH the Nova."

          "It is because of that brightness that our cockpits will have to be completely shielded."

          "But...if our cockpits are completely shielded, how are we going to see the mines to destroy them?"  Ryder asked from where he sat beside his brother Jacen.

          "We will have to rely entirely on our radar," Harry answered, taking control of Roark's stylus, he drew a line in the formation they had decoded would work best.  "We'll line up like this, almost, though not quite taking up an arrow-like formation before the three Battlestars.  We'll spread out like so," he drew again, "and blow a path two hundred magnums wide for the fleet to get through safely."

          "And if we should happen to miss a mine?"

          "I suggest very strongly, Ki, that you NOT miss.  If you miss, you're dead, and probably the pilots on either side of you too."

          "Oh...hh, love...ly," Colten murmured

          Roark gave his brother a grin.  "Isn't it though?  I will be flying the point--" A hand covered his, giving it a hard squeeze.  Roark turned his head to look at his husband, who was now glaring at him.  "You, my husband can be as unhappy as you like, but this is my idea, so I WILL be taking point."

          Their eyes met...held.  there was silence for a few microns as the battle of wills continued.  Finally, Rodolphus gave a slight nod of acceptance.  "Fine," he growled roughly, "but I will fly on your right."

          "That's where I had you placed," he said quietly, turning his hand over to wrap around the one covering his.  "Raph," he looked over at his older brother, "I would like you to fly beside Dolph, then Colten, Jordan, Tyler, Ki, and Ryder.  Harry will be flying on my left with Bas beside him, then Gabe, Payton, Aiden, Dylan, and Jacen."

          There were nods all around, faces taking on determined looks.  Roark turned his laptop around, shut it down, and after closing it, got to his feet.  "Let's go check our Vipers over, gentlemen.  You see anything, anything at all that looks wrong, you tell your ground crew and it will be fixed.  Also, we need to check over the shielding they placed over the cockpit windows for any holes.  Even a small crack will flood your cockpit with light so bright it will blind you."

          "Right."

          They each reached for their helmets, then headed for the door.  "Boys?"

          The call stopped them, making them turn.  "Fly sure."

          "Fly safe."

          "We will, and so stop worrying, Papa, we'll be back before you even know we're gone."

          "You had better be," Thorin growled, "and just for the record, we are not happy about this.  Not at all, but we also agree we have no real choice."

          "DO NOT," Adama spoke up, " take any more risks than you absolutely have to."

          They nodded and left the Ready room.