Chapter 23
(Adama's POV)

I try not to snort at the mental image of Kara with a crochet hook in her hand... in fact I can see it now and, even though I am fairly certain she could come up with about a dozen creative uses for it in a matter of seconds, I seriously doubt any of those would involve yarn. Of course, I am also well aware that while the idea of Kara taking up crochet is laughable, there are other options that wouldn't be more physically demanding and that could actually give her some sort of relief so I quietly remind myself to see about the possibility of scrounging some paper and a couple of pencils for her. Art supplies may not be abundant in the fleet but if we have enough paper to keep up with the paperwork then I'm pretty sure we could improvise something in that regard... but now that's not the point.

"Okay, now that is disturbing," I hear Lee say as I am pulled out of my musings... and if the look in his eyes is anything to go by, then I think it's safe to say that I wasn't the only one who thought that the idea of Kara wielding a crochet hook was highly entertaining.

"How long will you be keeping her there?" I ask, turning my attention back to the subject at hand.

"Until I can be reasonably sure that she is not a danger to herself. That could be weeks or it could be months, I don't know," he admits.

"And before she can resume some of her duties or start some form of physical therapy?" I prod, still trying to determine where we stand here and what my next move should be.

"To tell you the truth that will depend largely on her frame of mind. From a physical perspective alone, however, she is still pretty much confined to bed and I would say that she is looking at at least four weeks before she can go back to teaching theory of flight --though it will be a lot longer than that before she can even think of getting into the cockpit and going out there with her nuggets-- and two to three months before she can start doing something more challenging, such as light maintenance shifts."

"And physical therapy?"

"Well, in a way she is doing that already... it's called breathing. In a month or so, when she can handle her everyday activities without pain, or at least without too much pain, I'll start encouraging her to do some isometric and dynamic tension exercises, in six to eight weeks I may start considering something a little more strenuous and two weeks after that I will probably allow her to move to light sessions in the gym to work on improving her general condition. How fast she progresses from there, however, is going to be largely up to her."

"That long?" asks Lee, sounding more than a little dismayed and knowing as well as I do that Kara is not going to take well to that forced inactivity.

"I'm afraid so... and, as I've said all along, her physical condition is the least of my worries. That's why we have to come up with something for her to do with herself in the meantime... and by 'coming up with something for her to do' I don't mean that you should bury her under everyone else's paperwork either," he warns us. "I know there are schedules that have to be written and so on but that girl is already suicidal and boring her to death is not going to help matters."

"That shouldn't be a problem," I say.

"You have a plan, don't you?" asks Lee, eying me with some suspicion.

"Yes," I admit. "In fact there is a problem I've been meaning to address for the last two years but the time was never right or, to be accurate, the time was never there... and as unfortunate as the circumstances that brought us to this point may be, this could still turn out to be a perfect opportunity to address those concerns."

"What 'concerns'?"

"Well, the truth is that even though current assignments have more to do with what works than with rank --hell, right now Helo is the acting XO even though you outrank him and even Kara has seniority over him-- she is still officially fourth in the chain of command, fifth if we were to count the doctor here..."

"And you better not," Cottle warns me. "I may technically outrank her but I know about as much about running a frakking battlestar as you do about open heart surgery... and I do mean performing it."

"I realize that but the point is that Starbuck never went to War College," I reply before turning my attention back to Lee. "In fact you are the only officer we have under the age of thirty with that kind of background and that is a serious liability... one we can't really afford considering that we don't know how long we are going to be out here. Now, there's no denying that Kara has the experience and the instincts to more than compensate for her lack of formal training in some areas --not to mention that she has a knack for thinking outside the box that can be invaluable at times-- but the bottom line is that she could probably use some theory to back that up... especially if she were ever to find herself in the position of having to deal with a command of her own."

"So you want her to use this time to study?" asks Lee, shaking his head at the thought.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"No, but..."

"That's a situation we are going to have to deal with, son, and there are going to be no new officers graduating from War College, you know that much," I remind him, well aware that we are getting dangerously close to an issue Lee has been actively trying not to think about for these past two years but also knowing that it is something that has to be addressed. "There are no refreshments, our current crew is it and Saul and I are not going to live forever so, when the time comes, someone has to be ready to step up to the plate... and the truth is that, even if he cleans up his act, I seriously doubt Saul will ever be able to take over control of the fleet. He is a good XO but, as we found out the hard way when I was shot, he is no commander and he never will be."

"So basically what you are saying is that Kara and I are it?" he asks, sounding far from comfortable with that particular notion.

"I'm afraid so. I might be able to add Helo's name to that list someday but for the time being I'm still not sure people would follow him any more than they would follow Saul... not considering who his wife happens to be."