DR: Okay, now we have the moment you have all been waiting for... Apollo and Sheba get it together!

Janet: Finally!

Zeke: At last!

Jayne: Oh yea! (picks up camcorda)

DR: And what do you think you are going to do with that?

Jayne: What? Can't I take a few...

ALL: NO!

Jayne: (snorts in disjust and stands up) I'll be in my bunk. (walks off)

Weir: That is just sick...

DR: It's Jayne, remember. Also in this chapter Mal & Inara see thje mighty Galatica from within, and something stirs...

Chapter 38: Treatment, Reconciliation & Detection

Mal looked about as they followed Starbuck through the mighty Battlestar. He was a little disappointed at the décor. Nearly everything was a uniform dark grey. Crewmen made the only real splash of colour in their orange or tan jumpsuits. "Bit dreary in here…" He commented.

Starbuck shrugged ahead of them. "With the war, the interior of our ships was never really a high issue. We built our ships to fight, not to look pretty."

"I can understand that." Mal responded as they all stepping into one of the elevators. He could clearly see how a people, outmanned and outgunned, and not to mention the technological disadvantage, would focus only on making the ships battle worthy, and worry about the amenities later.

Punching a button on the large panel to the side of the door, Starbuck started to explain a few more things as the doors closed. "We're going to ride up one of the Galactica's arms into the main hull now. Normally we would use the cross tunnel that links both Landing Bays to reach the central elevators, but I figured you'd want to get into the better looking areas of the ship first." As he spoke the lift shifted only slightly, barely enough to feel.

"Smooth ride." Mal commented.

Starbuck chuckled. "Well, you try riding one of the pilot cars when an alert is called. That is fun."

For herself Inara was amazed at what she was feeling. Yes, it was clear that this ship was a warship, but what she thought was more important was that it didn't try to hide the fact. Many Alliance ships, or at least those she had been on, made their cabins artificially bright, with soft curves and lots of light. The latest generation of cruisers, 'Floating Cities' as they were known, were only intimidating due to their size and unusual design. Inside and out they were soft, curved, as if a set of designers had sculpted the ship, without thought to her actual purpose.

Not so here. Everything about the battlestar felt solid, rugged. There were no soft, sweeping curves. Everything was hard edged, solid. The designers didn't try to hide the structural bracing, the blast doors and access panels. Instead they made them part of the design, enhanced and reinforced them. True, it could do with a lick of paint, but the solid, dependable nature was built into the very bulkheads of the ship. Clearly, she had been built to go into battle and return with her crew safe and sound.

And there was something else… a hint of something timeless. She got a feeling that the ship was very old, but yet was only just coming into her own. That she had seen hundreds of years, and could see out hundreds more.

"Pardon my asking, but I was wondering… just how old is this ship?"

Starbuck thought for a moment. "She's over five hundred yahrens… Oh sorry." Starbuck stopped when he saw the confusion on both their faces. "In your time units, I think she'd be about four hundred and sixty years old." He then grinned. "But don't you worry. She's dependable, solid. In her prime."

Mal felt his eyes widen as the doors opened once more. Four hundred and sixty years! Humans from Earth had not even left their solar system when this ship's keel was first laid!

"And she's survived all this time?" He asked, a new found respect for the ship in his voice.

"That she has, from one great battle to another." Starbuck found himself warming to his role as impromptu guide. "She was the second Battlestar built, and not once has she needed to return to the yards for major repairs. If you've interested, you should talk to the Commander. Adama knows this ship's history better than anyone. His father commanded her before him."

Mal nodded, trying to picture the look on the faces of Alliance captains if they ever met this ship. He grinned as he pictured bug eyed looks of awe.

As they walked deeper, the only sounds were a faint rumble of the engines and their own footsteps. There was plenty of head room as the plating above was a good meter above even Mal's head. The bulkheads here were smoother, neater, with a lighter grey finish. Inara figured that they had entered the sections that the crew spent most of their time in now.

Mal began to wonder just how everyone on board knew where to go, as they seemed to be walking for miles. There seemed to be a warren of passageways in this ship! She was big sure, but this big?

Starbuck turned one final corridor, and up ahead they saw a closed hatch with the words 'Life Centre' spelled out on it in that bold, angular typeface the Colonials used. Mal noted how Starbuck gritted his teeth a little as he tapped the console next to it.

The hatch slid into the bulkhead with barely a sound, and they entered a room with off white walls, the one side lined with old fashioned computer towers. Despite the antiquated look, they both knew that it was only skin deep. Underneath there would be cutting edge hardware.

The row of beds on the other side of the room was empty, aside from the last one. There a man lay underneath a silvery sheet, talking to the women who stood at his side. The curly blond hair identified her as Cassiopeia.

Starbuck coughed. "Cassie?"

Cassiopeia turned her head about. "Starbuck…" She smiled warmly, then saw Mal and Inara standing just inside the hatch. "Inara, perfect timing. We just finished setting up." She looked down at the man besides her. "Good to see you're almost recovered." She patted his shoulder before moving out from between the beds.

"What happened to him?" Mal asked, curious despite himself.

Cassie sighed. "He was our most seriously injured crewman after the battle. Got struck by a falling cross bracing. Shattered five ribs and two vertebra in his spine. He should be fully recovered and able to return to duty in a couple more days."

That short tale told both Mal and Inara much about the Colonials' medical technology. If a broken spine was treatable, and could be fully recovered from… Mal had seen many soldiers who were condemned to living in wheelchairs due to spinal damage.

Taking Inara's hand, Cassie led them deeper into the Life Centre, Starbuck trailing after them. They passed several more wards before reaching a smaller, private room. A bed rested in the centre of the small chamber, more of the ever present computer towers along a wall. An older man with failing hair stood at the side, fiddling with a tube of some sort, waited for them. He looked up as they entered.

"Ah Cassie. I take it this is the Siress you were talking about?" He smiled warmly at Inara. "Siress Sherra, I'm Doctor Salik."

"Hello…" Inara greeted him, warmed by his friendly nature. He didn't fit the stereotypical image of a warship's doctor at all.

"I'm not sure how much Cassie here has told you, but bluntly we're going to have to directly introduce the substance into your blood stream. Once there, it will react with and break down the harmful chemical that is already there, leaving nothing but harmless compounds. I'll be monitoring the whole thing, so you don't need to worry."

Inara heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you for this. You have no idea how it feels to have this hanging over me…"

"Well, it's not going to for much longer." Salik's eyes turned to Cassie. "Cassie, I can handle things here for the moment. Why don't you have a chat with our Starbuck?"

As Cassie smiled, Mal saw Starbuck grin before stepping out, clearly in flight. Mal smirked as he watched Cassiopeia stride after him, a determined look on her face. Clearly she was going to have words with him.

Thinking about that caused Mal's thoughts to wander back to Apollo. How was he getting on with his own romantic troubles?

X-X-X-X-X-X

Apollo felt a whole host of snakes slithering around his gut as he walked through the passageways of the battlestar. He knew how he felt about Sheba, and he knew how she felt about him. The question was, was he too late in acting on them?

The look on her face when he had last seen her refused to fade from his minds eye, dogging every step he took. It was a long walk to the Celestial dome, perched high above the main ion thrusters. It was the most remote place on the whole ship, for there was nothing else back there.

He had first stopped by her quarters, taking a deep breath before he pressed the chime. When he got no answer, he had used his command codes to see when the door had been last opened.

Surprisingly, it had been opened twice in quick succession, barely a half centare apart. Doing a rough calculation in his head, he figured that she had come straight here after landing the shuttle, then left again. As the Flight Major, he knew the rotation of every pilot under his command. Sheba was not due on duty for another nine centares, and as her assigned fighters were still in the hanger, there was only one place she could be.

Now here he was, stood at the foot of the ladder that led up to the dome. Leaning back, he looked up at the closed hatched above him. The roar of the Galactica's turbines around him was deadened by the ear guards he wore, but that was nothing when compared to the pounding of his own heart. He could feel the blood thundering through his veins as those snakes grew larger.

'You can't back out now Apollo…' He told himself. Summoning the last shreds of his courage, he began to climb.

Sheba was sat in the dome, wrapped in the thick blanket she had brought up there several sectons ago, Starbuck and Cassiopeia lending a hand surprisingly. The outer panels were open, displaying a panoramic view of the stars. Zi hung overhead, a blue & brown jewel, marbled with white. Several times in the last few sectons – weeks, she corrected herself – when she came off duty she had come here, opened the panels and just gazed at the Colonials' new home. The rest of the fleet was clustered mostly below and to starboard of the battlestar, while Zi was slightly above and to port.

As she watched, a thread of cloud drifted across the continent called Europa, the trailing edge revealing the once hidden corner that contained the Great Ancient City. In the past that tiny area of the planet would have been hidden from view all the time, Zoid Eve even adjusting the clouds to provide a thin screen. But now she allowed them to go as they will.

Sheba shivered as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself. From orbit the City itself was nothing more than a tiny white speak on the edge of a small circle of green. The circle of mountains that contained the plain was more visible. As she looked, Sheba was able to trace how offshoots from those mountains spread across the arid lands that surrounded them, creating ridges in what would be dusty plains.

It was not just the grand scale of things that prompted the shiver though. A lot of it had to do with what had happened down there. She had flown up here in a blazing fury, cursing Apollo for his heartless comment. But once she got here she regretted her words. She knew that Apollo was afraid of his feelings, and she did understand why he was. But it didn't help her with her heart, which was breaking apart. She knew that her face was tear stained, but she didn't care at that moment.

Wearily she lifted the bottle of Ambrosia that she had found tucked away in the small basket that Starbuck had brought up here along with the blanket. Sheba had wondered if he had forgotten to take it with him when he left. Certainly the pair of them had been acting a little strange of late. It had been a little strange that they were so willing to help her with such an odd…

The heavy clunking of the hatch opening snapped her attention back to the present. Spinning her head, she was shocked to see Apollo climb out slowly. He looked… different, from when she had last seen him. It was as he lowered the hatch back down, sealing away the thundering engines, that she saw the dirt that stained his warrior jacket. Just what had happened after she had left?

Wearily Apollo shucked off the ear guards, his eyes taking in the incredible view outside the dome. With all the work he had been doing, he had had very little chance to come up here and just look at the planet that they were going to call 'home'. It was breath taking.

But what was even more startling was the sight of Sheba sitting on the deck, wrapped in a thick blanket that was way too big for one. It was large enough for several people to snuggle together within. Her right hand was exposed, and he was a little shocked, but not really surprised, when he saw the bottle held in her grasp.

"Sheba… where did you get that?" he asked as gently as he could.

Sheba seemed dazed for a moment, before her eyes jumped to the bottle. "Oh… Starbuck must have left it up here when he and Cassie helped me get this…" her covered left hand rose, lifting a portion of the blanket it was under up. "…Up here."

"How good is it?" He asked as he sat down across from her.

Sheba shrugged. "I don't really know… here. You taste." She held the bottle out to him.

Apollo took it, as he had been going to ask for a taste anyway. Lifting the bottle to his lips, he could faintly taste her on the mouth of it, reminding him of that kiss they had shared in that Raider… so long ago.

Pushing the regrets about that incident out of mind, he focused on the taste. As he lowered the bottle once more, he asked the question that he had thought when she told him how it got here. "How long ago was this?"

Sheba frowned. "About three Sectons ago…"

"Well, I can tell you now, Starbuck did not forget about this." Apollo told her with absolute conviction, hefting the bottle to peer at what was left of the label. "Stuff this good he would never leave lying around. I'm surprised he was able to get hold of it in the first place."

"Well, I had too much on my mind to ask him where or how…" Sheba commented bitterly.

"I know…" Apollo's tone was apologetic, bringing her gaze back up rapidly. "I've had a lot on my mind lately too."

Sheba mirthlessly laughed. "When are you not thinking?"

Apollo sighed as he laid the bottle down. "What else did Starbuck 'leave behind'?" He asked, having spied the basket that rested on the other side of Sheba.

Sheba noted how he stressed the last two words. "You think he did that deliberately?" She questioned, her eyebrows rising.

"I wouldn't put it past him…" Apollo commented. He looked over his shoulder at the planet. "Is this why you come up here, for the view?"

"Partly…" Sheba answered quietly, seeming to draw into herself. "But I also like to remember…" She didn't have to finish. Apollo knew to what she was alluding to. He found his throat was dry once more.

As he took another drink, Sheba's eyes snapped back to him. "Hey, don't you drink it all!"

"Here." He held it out for her. As she took the bottle their hands touched, and both of them felt a spark jump between them both. Both sets of eyes snapped up to look at the other.

For several long seconds they looked at each other, unable to look away. Apollo followed the path of the tears that had run down her face, the way her lips were quivering ever so slightly. He noted the dark circles under her eyes and the way her hair hung about loosely.

Sheba for her part was seeing the smudges of dirt on his face, the dusting of grit on his shoulders. She noted that his face seemed paler than it should, and how his eyes were totally open and unguarded.

As they both looked at each other, Sheba's eyes asked her question, one last time.

This time, there was a flicker in Apollo's, the flicker that she had been hoping for.

"Sheba, I… I'm sorry." Apollo began, forcing the words past his dead tongue. "I'm sorry I've shut you out since… I know I've been monstrous, and well… do you forgive me?"

Gasping, Sheba dropped the bottle, grasped his hand in her now free one, and yanked hard. The sudden pull caused him to topple forwards, and it was only by bringing his other hand forwards sharply that he was able to prevent his head cracking on the deck. But even as he looked up at her in shock, her other hand had slipped out from underneath the blanket to wrap round the back of his neck and pull his head to hers.

Sheba threw everything she had into that kiss, her other hand now snaking under his arm to curl round his back. After a moments shock Apollo began to respond. At first he was tentative, but then he responded with mounting passion. Dimly she was aware of him sliding his legs forwards underneath him, so that he was sitting on his heels rather than having his whole weight on his knees. But frankly she wasn't bothered by such things as she tasted him once more.

Perception of the outside world faded from both their minds, every sense going dead except for those in their lips. Rolling waves of passion crashed through both of them as they both leaned into it.

Slowly Sheba drew back, just enough so that she could look him in the eyes. Tears of joy ran from the corners of her eyes as with one hand she played with his hair. "What changed?" She had to know what had happened to make him suddenly accept her, even if she was overjoyed at the change!

"It was Mal. He told me about what had happened to him, and how it affected him." Apollo told her simply, not wishing to scare her just yet with the plunge he had taken. "It was tearing him up relating the events, but he too lost a part of himself, leaving him cold and emotionless. He told me how it had almost destroyed him, and everyone around him, in the end." There was moisture in the corner of his eyes now.

Sheba fell forwards, her arms wrapping round him. Apollo responded in kind, holding her close to him.

"Oh Apollo… I'm sorry too. I've been so frustrated, and…" She felt so guilty about taking her anger out on him, even though he had been the cause of it. She had known that he felt torn, that he was betraying the memory of his late wife, but she still had lashed out.

"No need to explain yourself Sheba. I deserved it all."

"No… what you deserve…" Sheba brought her head back once more. "…is this." With that she leaned forwards again, capturing his lips with her own.

Apollo ran a hand through her silken tresses of hair as the blood thundered through his veins. He could taste her so much more clearly now. Her passion, at last able to be freed, kept her mouth firmly on his, least his brain got in the way again!

As they both felt the heat rise within, their hands became more active, gently caressing each other. Slowly Sheba allowed herself to lie back onto the blanket, dragging him down with her. Above them both the Planet Zi continued to turn serenely, forgotten.

X-X-X-X-X-X

At the very edge of the star system that contained Zi, the Searcher class ship Illuminati sat, watching. After the attack by the Cylon force, Adama had ordered the ship out here, to the very fringes of the system, to give them as much advanced warning as possible. He did not want to be caught unawares again.

Ever since they had reached station, there had been little to do but watch and wait. Fortunately, the crews of such ships tended towards the introspective, quiet types, who could handle the long hours much more easily than more outgoing types. As such the crews tended to be filled with those from Picea, Taurus and Libra.

Not that the crew of Illuminati were sitting on their hands. They had a backlog of data to analyse and catalogue, all gathered in the ship's tour of the Zi system, and on the trip here. From their location on the rim of the system, the crew were slowly mapping the stars, building up a detailed star chart for this whole new region of space. It was what the Searchers had been built for, in the beginning; deep space exploration and stellar cartography. They carried as standard the latest in astronomical scanners and star mapping systems, and even if Illuminati no longer mounted the vastly powerful and far reaching stellar mapping module she had been fitted with when she first fired her ion drives and left the shipyard, she was still an explorer first and foremost.

They had been there for almost three weeks when the military spec sensors detected a reading. With the drives at idle, the crew had pumped even more power into the scanners, pushing the range out to twenty-eight light centares. At that range they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a harmless rock and deadly Cylon Base Ship, but that was immaterial.

"What you got there?" Captain Ricen asked the sensor operator as he stepped over.

"Not sure sir…there's a lot of interference…" On the screen the blip grew larger, broader. "It's a large contact, and I'm getting something else…" Punching commands into the computer, the operator continued trying to work out what the contact was.

However, both men felt a chill settling in the pit of their stomachs, even before the energy wave form came up on the screen… a wave form they both recognised.

"That's a Cylon power signature!" Ricen gasped even before the computer confirmed it. Quickly he reached out and punched the comm panel. "Attention all hands, attention!" His voice echoed throughout the ship via the intercom. "We've detected Cylon ships heading our way. Pack up your gear and be ready to run for home. Engineering, on my command divert all power to the sensor grid. We need to see what is out there."

As reports from all the sections reported back in, Ricen looked at the operator and nodded. "Engage."

The command that was punched in was one only recently added. The study of zoidian technology had revealed a number of ways to improve the resolution of a long range scan. However the power requirement to achieve the required result was enormous. The only way to do it was to shunt power from all other systems, including the engines, comms and even life support. Hence the system was kept on standby, only to be used when absolutely needed, and never for longer than a half centare.

Ricen figured now was as good a time as any.

The enhanced sensor pulse blasted forth across the ether, using the tricks of both the Colonies and Zoidians to beat the light barrier and provide an almost instantaneous snap shot of space ahead of the ship reaching out almost twenty-seven light centares.

What emerged from the sensor scan froze the blood of the two men watching the screen.

It took Ricen almost a full centon to find his voice.

"Engineering… Redirect all power to the engines… we need to get this back to Adama."

His voice was filled with terror.

With a bright glare the Illuminati's ion drives ignited. Spinning on the spot, she turned to face back towards the centre of the system once more, her engines blasting forth a plume of ions as she dove back towards Zi… carrying a dire message for all.

The Cylons were coming…

DR: Feel free to start cursing now!

Bekett: What about bloody panic?

DR: That too.

Sheppard: It's a bit like when we detected those three hive ships...

DR: I know, but remember, I wrote this before I saw that episode. Next time, Tigh wanders Serenity, we return to the Blitz team for a spell, and then we have a look in on Inara... Until them!

Shadow: And don't forget to review!