"Dad?" Lee entered the quarters quietly. He was later than he should have been. When the Admiral said 'immediately', everyone knew that it meant two seconds ago. However, they were four pilots short and the CAP rota was in need of re-organising. Lee had put it off, but a fight between Kat and Redwing (which ended up with a bloody nose and more than a few bruises) over who was flying the four hour rotation caused him to go to the rec room, switching names and giving balanced rotations. Now that it was settled, he could finally see his dad for whatever urgent business The Old Man needed to discuss.

Adama was sitting on his couch, his fingers absently trailing the figure eight over a report laying in front of him on the coffee table. He didn't look up when Lee entered the quarters, but he didn't order him out either. Lee took his chances, stepping further in.

"I hear you've quarantined The Pandora." He tried to start a conversation, breaking the silence.

"I didn't want to take the risk of another attack by the group," Adama replied shortly. He looked up and met Lee's eyes. They were tired, but defiant, "we can handle them, the civvies can't." With that, he brought a glass of water up to his lips, taking a long sip.

"Sounds reasonable. What do you want me to do?" Lee asked.

"I need you to accompany an engineer to The Pandora." his dad stated casually, his eyes turned back to the report in front of him. Lee took a moment to process what he had said.

"Our CAP is already four pilots down, dad, i don't think we can afford to take me out of it aswell for a marine job."

"You'll have marines with you aswell."

"With all due respect, this is completely-"

"-we need to fix the fuel leaks, and you are the only one i trust to get the engineer there and back again in one piece."

"The marines are trained for that." Lee retorted.

"It's not voluntary, it's an order," Adama told him shortly, putting an end to Lee's protests, "the group are dangerous. They have a trick up their sleeve and i need your quick thinking and reflexes."

Lee remained silent, taking in what was being said and trying to come up with valid arguments against the order. It was futile, however, and Lee sighed.

"If that's all Admiral?" He asked, saluting, "I have to go brief the next CAP."

"You're dismissed."

....

Laura Roslin opened her eyes slowly. It was the first time for a while that she hadn't dreamed of the Museum and the woman. She wondered briefly if there was a reason behind it, maybe she was dead already? maybe a group of cylons had killed her, or radiation? She shook her head, breaking that train of thought. She was being ridiculous. Laura finally had a peaceful nights sleep and she complained and worried about it.

Racetrack came into view above her, bending down slightly.

"We're nearly ready to get moving." She said, holding her hand out to pull Laura up. Laura, however, ignored the hand offered to her and turned over, getting to her knees and up into a standing position. She could tell it was morning, the barn seemed lighter somehow, and the fire was distinguished.

"Maybe we'll hear a bird." Racetrack said.

"With the noise those two out there are making? good luck." Athena replied from the other side of the barn. She was bent over the medkit, pulling out anti-radiation meds.

Laura looked towards the door, wondering what Athena was going on about. Were Helo and Starbuck having a fight? She wanted to know what was going on, moving to the front of the barn. As she debated pulling the door open to see what the fuss was about, two voices grew louder from behind the door, their words becoming more and more distinct.

"-I don't care Helo! He's dead, ok!?"

"Starbuck, listen to me! It's nobody's fault! Now will you please grow up and at least acknowledge her!?"

They were talking about her, Laura knew it immediately. She carried on listening.

"What do you want from me!? I'm sure as hell not frakking going in there and being best buddies with her! This stupid frakked up mission was her idea!"

"Listen to me Kara," Helo's voice grew quiet and Laura had to strain her ears to hear what he was saying, "we all came here by choice. Burgundy knew what he was getting himself into and he chose to come here. We need to put this behind us."

"Put it all behind us, huh? Yeah it's easy for you isn't it Helo?"

Laura tried to hear more, but it sounded like Kara was done talking. Footsteps grew louder, heading towards the barn and Laura quickly pulled herself away, moving over to where she had fallen asleep. The barn door creaked loudly, signalling that Starbuck and Helo had returned.

"Right, listen up," Athena called, drawing the attention of the other four occupants of the barn, "we have enough anti-radiation meds to last a couple more days here, but that's it. We need to move faster and for greater lengths of time. We can't afford to rest."

Everyone nodded their agreement, and Athena started handing around the syringes. She passed two to Helo, who then gave one to Kara. She then moved around and passed one to Racetrack. When she got to Laura, Athena held out a syringe for her to take. Laura took it gratefully.

"Thankyou," she said, holding it tightly in her hand, "we have enough for how many days?"

"About three days," Athena replied, "they come standard with every medkit, but since there are four of you, you have to share them equally. Since i'm cylon, i have far more resistance to radiation than you. I don't need the meds as much."

"So what you're saying is we will have none to spare?"

"What i'm saying is if you've got a secret stash, now would be a time to admit it." She said, giving a small smile before moving away.

Laura looked at the syringe in her hand. How many days can someone go without these? The woman in her vision was dying, her supply of anti-radiation meds gone. She needed it more than Laura, and if the president wanted information from her, the woman needed to be somewhat coherent.

Laura made up her mind and pocketed the syringe. She could last a day without the meds. With that, she moved to follow the rest of the crew out of the barn, picking up supplies as she went.

"Where are the birds?" Racetrack asked, looking up at the trees surrounding the barn.

"The place was nuked Racetrack," replied Kara, "best you're gonna get is a singing cockroach, now let's move!"

....

They were catching up. The humans were fast, but they were faster. Heavy footsteps thundered as they broke into a run. Not long to go now at all. One of the five was a cylon. A number Eight model. Do not harm the Eight. They could not harm any model, they were programmed not to, unless ordered otherwise.

Their orders were clear, however, and they felt nothing about them. No emotion, no flicker of disappointment, relief, nothing. They were to catch up with the five and hold up their guns and-

They were machines. They would do their jobs. They picked up the short breaths and light footfalls of the five as they ran. One of them looked at the other, head tilted slightly. Its red eye flashed and the other one understood. Just a few more minutes.