This fits in no particular spot in the VS, nor does is it meant to
interrupt any story, now or in the future.
   It just is.

   Thanksgiving Interlude
   By Senmut 

====================================================
     "Ya ready yet, Pop?"
     "Just about, Jen," said Kevin Byrne, opening a particular door in
his small quarters, and ushering out the "guest of honor" for the
evening. "We still have half an ho...centar."
     "Okay. I guess I'm just flustered, is all."
     "Don't worry, kid, you'll do just great."
     "But I've never done anything like this before. This whole thing is
all new to me."
     "You'll sail through like a pro, Jen," smiled Byrne, making sure
everything was laid out as it ought to be. "I'll seat you next to him,
okay?"
     "What if he gets fresh?"
     "I thought that was the idea."
     "Pop!"
     "Then I'll remind him that I have a well-polished shotgun. Failing
that, I'll hit him with a metal spoon! Or maybe Sargamesh can strangle
him. Now go get dressed, okay?"
     "What about Lydia?"
     "She's at some party on the Rising Star tonight. GO!"
     Byrne smiled, watching his daughter disappear into the other room,
to get dressed for this evening's festivities. After checking yet again
his "equipment", he ducked into the head, quickly shaved, washed, and got
into his dress Navy Whites. No sooner had he buttoned the last button,
when the chime chimed.
     "That roast kangaroo I smell?" asked Cedric Allen, Byrne's only
surviving crewmate from the Saint Brendan, and his stunning wife,
Kalysha, of the planet Harkaelis. 
     "Ill roast you, you twit," grinned Byrne, ushering them in. Allen
held a bottle of something.
     "That a bottle of booze in your pocket, or a bloody great gun?"
asked Byrne.
     "Lethal, either way."
     "Goody, let's have lots."
     "Uh! Men!" sniffed Kalysha.
     "Uncle Ced!" cried Jena, emerging into the room. 
     "And how's me favorite little girl, eh?" asked the Australian,
giving the girl a hug. 
     "Smells good," said Kalysha, as they were shown to the table. Jen
put the music disk in. "What..."
     "The closest..."
     The door rang again, and it was Sire Pelias, dressed in his finest.
Just emerging from the lift down the corridor was Commander Adama, Siress
Tinia on his arm. Jena, shaking, greeted them, just in time for Colonel
Tigh, Sargamesh, and Technician Hummer to make it right on time. Boomer
and Athena were moments behind.
     "This is intriguing," said Adama, looking at the set table. "A
religious observance?"
     "It was, once upon a time," said Byrne, settling the ladies in the
old-fashioned style. "Today, it's more or less just something we do every
year."
     "I'll get it, Pop," said Jen. This time, it was Starbuck, Cassie,
and Jensen. Almost as soon as they were in, "Academician Sarah" arrived,
dressed like a holopic star. Soon, after Apollo, Sheba, and Boxey made
it, they were all seated.
     "You call it what?" asked "Sarah", aka Nizaka of the planet Ziklag.
     'Thanksgiving'", replied Byrne, as he brought the "turkey', in
actuality a Virgonian wild forest fowl from the Hegal, to the table. It
was the closest thing he could find to a turkey. Much of the rest he had
scrounged the Fleet for, almost emptying his gaming purse, but what the
Hades Hole? "I checked our calendar against the best reckoning I have for
the time since we left Earth. Comparing it to yours, this is, near as I
can tell, the last Thursday in November, which in my country, is
Thanksgiving Day."
     "At least that's your story, right?" grinned Allen.
     "And I'm sticking to it," laughed Byrne. "So..." He spread his
hands, indicating the repast laid out, and picked up the knife.
     Except for Allen, none had seen foods prepared quite like these
before. Byrne explained the "history" of the holiday, and what each thing
was. The Colonies had "pumpkins", but nothing like a sweet potato. A fair
substitute for it was found. Most of the rest had Colonial analogues, but
there were furrowed brows all around.
     "It looks like the little berries we used to gather when I was a
boy,' said Tigh, of the "cranberry" sauce. The closest Byrne could find
was a small fruit used to make a potent liquer, and had risked it.
     "On Earth, it's called a 'cranberry'," he Byrne explained, answering
questions culinary and otherwise. "I learned that there was something
alot like it aboard the Agro Ship."
     "I think it's a wonderful tradition," said Athena.
     "Yes," said Byrne, to Sargamesh's question. "Many of the Plymouth
Settlers had died in previous year winter, the colony almost failed, and
in thanks for their survival, they and the natives held a feast, to thank
God for their survival."
     "Fitting," said the other, deciding that he liked "turkey". Nizaka
did as well, her eyes going wide as she got a taste. 
     "And you cooked this all yourself?" asked Starbuck.
     "Well, Jen helped of course. She's a natural with anything within
range of a kitchen."
     "Great job," said Sheba, sampling the "mashed potatoes". 
     "Wow, sure looks wonderful," said Boxey. "Every yahren?"
     "Yup. Every yahren, Boxey. And this yahren..." he sighed, looking at
Jen, then at the rest, "I have alot to be thankful for."
     "Indeed yes," said Apollo.
     "All of you, in some way, played a part in I and my daughter's
deliverance. You all came along, just when you were most needed," said
Byrne. "You gave me back my health," he nodded at Cassie, "my chance to
see my daughter live, and grow up," he nodded to the Warriors, "my one
surviving companion from Earth, as well as resolution in the matter...of
those pirates, "he inclined the head to Nizaka, "and a chance to finally
get back home."
     "I'll drink to that!" said Allen, raising his glass. 
     "Yes," said Adama, "we have alot to be thankful for, despite all our
travails. Freinds, food, a course to follow."
     "Like we're being looked out for," said Cassie.
     "Very much," said Boomer, tasting his wine. "Very much so."
     They sat around, recounting their various personal deliverances.
Jensen, from the almost fatal encounter with the murderous Korax,
Starbuck, Boomer, and Athena the same. Athena for the safety of her
children, Hummer, surviving the breakup of the unnamed planet, and
"adoption" by the Zohrlochs, Sargamesh the series of utter imponderables
that had led him from Eridu, to slavery, to liberation and a place among
the Colonials. Boxey, his "new' family, Adama, the sealing of his son to
Sheba. Kalysha, her deliverance from death, degradation, and finding
Cedric. It was a circle of thanks, all around.
     "Being as this is a night of thanks," said Pelias, rising, "I would
like to make an announcement." He extended a hand to Jena. As she rose,
Cassie couldn't help but see how vastly better she looked, since her
rescue. instead of scrawny and malnourished, now she radiated health, and
her blossoming womanhood had not gone unnoticed.
     "Speech, speech!" said Allen. 
     "In accordance with the traditions of my House, and with Captain
Byrne's consent..."
     "....ahem!  cough..cough.."
     "I have asked, and Genesis had consented, that we shall be, as they
say on Earth, 'an item'."
     There were congratulations and toasts all around. Pelias looked at
her father, and Byrne glowered back, then broke into a merry laughter.
     "Much to be thankful for," said Colonel Tigh.
     ":Indeed there is," said Adama.
 
     Later, dishes piled, guests departed, and Jena asleep, Byrne sat,
silently, staring down. Staring, looking, at a photo in his hand. One of
the few surviving images of Jen's mother, Genesis Penelope Kling. Taken
with the long-defunct digital cam aboard the Saint Brendan, it was a
diptych, showing her, smiling, by herself, and the second, smiling even
more, holding their infant daughter. It was one of the few things he
still possessed that he truly treasured. As the silent minutes ticked by,
he felt his mind take him back, back to...
     A tear fell onto the frame, but he neither noticed nor cared.
     Unbidden, the words to an old song began to course through his
memory.
     Words...
 
     There's no time for us
     There's no place for us
     What is this thing that builds our dreams yet slips away
     From us?

     Who wants to live forever
     Who wants to live forever...? 

     "Ah, Jen," he whispered, touching the picture, almost reverently,
like a holy icon. "So little time we had."
 
     There's no chance for us
     Its all decided for us
     This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us

     Who wants to live forever
     Who wants to live forever? 
     Who dares to love forever? 
     When love must die?
 
     "Should have been me, babe." He shook his head. "Should have been
me."


     But touch my tears with your lips
     Touch my world with your fingertips
     And we can have forever
     And we can love forever
     Forever is our today
     Who wants to live forever
     Who wants to live forever? 
     Forever is our today
 
     "Not enough todays, baby. Never enough todays."

     Who waits forever anyway?
 
     A tear fell onto the frame, but he neither noticed nor cared.