They eventually reached the caves just after sunrise, but Bill wouldn't let them rest until they'd gotten good and far into the rocky maze under the mountain – and, as far as Laura could see, lost, but Bill assured her he knew exactly where they were.

Finally they made camp – if spreading their jackets on the ground to sit on and setting their bags and the flashlight down could be called that – in a small hollow off one of the less cavernous tunnels, and Bill offered to take the first watch while Laura got some sleep.

She declined, however. "I won't be able to sleep for at least another hour," she said, trying to settle into a more comfortable sitting position against the cold, hard rock, pushing her boots off and pulling the corners of her jacket up around her ice-cold toes. "Have to wait for the adrenaline to wear off. You can try if you want, though. I promise to wake you if somebody shoots at me."

Bill chuckled, but shook his head. "I was thinking more along the lines of food, actually."

"Oh," Laura perked up, "that does sound good."

His chuckling grew louder. "You've never eaten field rations before, have you?"

"I'm sorry to say I know them by reputation only." Laura smiled wryly. "I have occasionally felt a morbid desire to try them, though. Just to see if that reputation is justified."

"Well, here's your chance to find out." The look on Bill's face seemed suspiciously fiendish as he dug two foil-wrapped bars from his bag and tossed one to her before sitting down at her side.

Laura peeled the foil back without hesitation and bit into the yellow-brown bar. It was smooth in texture, but as she chewed Laura realized that it was also decidedly… sticky. This did not make it easy to swallow, and it took her more than a minute just to get the first mouthful down. After that, there was the matter of the aftertaste. The taste of the bar itself was simply bland, but when she had swallowed there was a taste left in her mouth which was unpleasantly and unfamiliarly bitter.

Bill was looking at her while he chewed his own ration bar, obviously trying to conceal a smirk. "So, is its reputation justified?" he asked, swallowing neatly before he spoke. Laura wondered how he managed that.

"Do you know," she replied, "I think it is." And she shrugged and took a second bite. When, after another minute of concentrated chewing, she had finished it, she said, "So, tell me about this plan B of yours."

Bill obliged, somehow managing to eat and talk at the same time, while all she could do was work her jaws and hope the vile stuff wouldn't pull her teeth out. He explained about the virus, engineered by Sharon Agathon whom he somehow trusted completely, and about the sneak escape which was being equally engineered by Saul Tigh to take place during the chaos which was sure to ensue upon said virus' release. He drew a map in the dirt on the ground in front of them, illustrating their position relative to the rendezvous point to the east where the recaptured ships from the ground would be picking up their passengers. "It would be a day's walk if we were on the surface. If we stay underground it's more likely to be two. The plan is due to be executed three days from now."

"So that give us a margin of a day," Laura mused, crumpling the empty foil wrapper of her ration bar between her fingers.

"Two, if we take to the surface."

"Is that wise?" Laura asked, meeting his eyes.

"Probably not," Bill said. "Just less dark and claustrophobic."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of dark enclosed spaces, Bill," Laura teased. "I thought you were a Viper pilot."

"At least in a Viper you can see the stars," Bill said. "But no, I'm not claustrophobic. It's the possibility of the battery in the flashlight dying that might be an issue. I have two lightsticks, but after that we'd be lost, with very little chance of getting out alive."

"How likely is it that the battery will die?"

Bill shook his head. "There's no way to tell. It should have been fresh when the Raptor was launched, but the way things have slipped on Galactica…" he trailed off, grimacing.

Laura felt a strange discomfort at hearing this confession of his crew's – and by extension, his – imperfection, but she pushed it aside to focus on the immediate issue. "We still have less chance of being spotted by the Cylons if we stay below ground, right?"

"Yes."

She shook her head. "I'd rather take my chances with the darkness than the Cylons."

"The caves it is, then." Bill nodded. "We'd better turn the flashlight off while we're not moving," he added.

"Alright." Laura tried to settle into a more comfortable position against the rocks while Bill switched off the flashlight. Eventually she gave up and leaned against him instead.

Bill chuckled in the darkness. "I could have told you my shoulder was a more comfortable pillow than that pile of rocks." She felt him sneak an arm around her waist and pull her closer.

"Warmer, too," Laura murmured, finally starting to feel calm enough to sleep.

"Of course," he replied.

"Tell me a bedtime story," she said, feeling whimsical all of a sudden.

She felt his laugh more than she heard it. Then he was silent for a moment before he surprised her by quoting scripture.

"And they did not falter, even when their numbers were diminished and hope seemed far. Neither hunger, nor fear, nor death itself could stop them, for their will was the will of the gods, and so they found after three times a hundred years twelve planets, upon which they lay down their burdens and began anew." Bill cleared his throat, and Laura sensed him turning his head towards her, even though of course he couldn't see her either way. "I saw you, right before I grabbed you on the battlefield, Laura. You gave up. You let yourself fall."

Her breath caught in her throat at being called out so, but she couldn't deny it. "Yes," she said.

"Hmm." He seemed to be contemplating something, but then she felt his attention shift back fully to her. "Don't do that again."

For some reason this seemed vaguely amusing. "Yes, sir," she said warmly.

"Hmph."

This grunt sounded satisfied, so she nestled closer to him and let her control flow away until she could sleep.

She slept an indeterminate length of time, and when she woke she wasn't sure what had roused her. She opened her eyes, blinked, and focussed as much as she could without her glasses.

She didn't realize until she could see it properly how utterly wrong it was for there to be anything to focus on in the darkness at all.

The sight which had captured her attention was a small red light, moving slowly from side to side, probably about twenty feet away.

And it was getting closer.