"That went well. Nice try, Apollo," Boomer offered.

"Not good enough it seems," Apollo replied.

"So how stupid would you think I was if I told you I believed her," Boomer asked.

"Believed what? She hasn't even given us enough information to call them lies."

"I don't think she knows what it is she's flying through," Boomer said ignoring Apollo's frustration. "She's just doing it by the seat of her pants anyway."

"That would be pure insanity to fly into something like that without knowing what you were doing."

"Do I have to remind you that Starbuck did it too?"

"Do I have to remind you, Boomer, what happened to him down … wherever they went?"

"Well, it sounds like that had more to do with the actual skirmish than that anomaly. What the frack is it?"

"I don't know. She seems able to come and go at will. She's creating that ….that…distortion field. She must know what it is and what it does."

"Then why not just tell us? Look, maybe it's too many yahrens flying with Starbuck, but how does he do half the things he does? Flying into an endless void and pulling you out by your shorthairs just by following the end of his nose? He had no clue what he was doing and yet, it worked. Or how about his and Sheba's story about you dying and them found you on the ship of lights. What about those coordinates you say they gave you, or that planet some mystical guy named John transported you to just so you could prevent a war. Do you expect me to believe all that?"

Apollo noted that Boomer had a point. Things had been far from normal since the destruction of the colonies, and Apollo couldn't explain even half the things that had happened to him since then, least of all the course they were on for some mystical planet that may or may not exist.

"I see your point Boomer. Okay, so I will concede that she may not know what it is she's flying into, but she can control it and it does lead to a Cylon territory. That is more than enough reason for me to be concerned and to want some answers, don't you think?"

"Oh I agree with you wholeheartedly. I'm just saying, she keeps asking us to trust her, and we have three full tankers of fuel, as well as full water tanks. She's delivered more than Commander Dante, and yet you seem to trust him."

"I never said I trusted Dante, not after he essentially told us we were not welcome on his planet and asked the council to keep knowledge of the habitable planets secret from our populace, many who would be more than happy to join Dante's society. We would probably let them go too if that is what they wanted. But Dante made it clear we would receive no help in that area." Apollo swallowed down the distaste of that council meeting. Dante had more swagger than Cain in that chamber, deftly putting the rulers of the fleet in a humiliating light as he spoke of their age and lack of ability to do what Dante called "real work". He even hinted that the aging members of the council couldn't even father children to rebuild their population. Apollo had not liked the uncomfortable silence that followed that statement. Even his own father could not dispute that point as Boxey had always been able to wear him out in only a few centons.

"So why not give her the benefit of the doubt? Just a thought."

"Perhaps I would be more willing to try that approach if Starbuck wasn't in surgery right now," Apollo replied.

"Good point as well. Just making an observation is all." Boomer backed off the topic knowing full well that there were even more lives at stake than Starbuck's. "After all, we all know that Starbuck couldn't get into trouble without someone leading him there by the nose. Not our Starbuck. Nope."

Apollo sighed. "It is a good observation and I will keep it in mind if she returns."

"You think she's gone for good?" Boomer asked surprised.

"Why else would she take her Viper and not just ride in the Raider as she had every other trip through that distortion?"

"She seems to actually care for Starbuck," Boomer offered in the way of argument. "I've seen the two of them together, Apollo. Lords help me, but it's actually kind of cute."

Apollo raised his eyebrows at that and added to his to do list to check on the oxygen levels in Boomer's Viper cockpit. "Cute? Did you actually just use those words about Starbuck's love life?"

"Yeah, I guess I did, but it's true. He's smitten for lack of a better term. Follows her around like a lost daggit and not just because it's his job."

"He was like that once with Athena." Apollo thought back to the early days of his sister's relationship with Starbuck. It had lasted far longer than he thought either Starbuck or Athena were capable of sustaining a relationship. Starbuck was too flighty and Athena far too headstrong, and yet it had been more than a couple of yahrens before it suddenly ended with the end of their worlds. If not for the destruction, he might have one day actually called Starbuck his brother. But since the destruction, Starbuck had seemed to have settled down with Cassie and he thought that his old flighty days might have been over, that is until Cassie turned down his proposal. Apollo had to admit that perhaps he should reevaluate Starbuck's flighty nature, and put the blame more on the women he chose. Athena admitted she'd rebuffed Starbuck, and now Cassie had as well. Apollo wondered if Starbuck's interest in the much younger and more vulnerable Rene was Starbuck's effort to find a woman who needed him and would not mind his need to be needed.

"Do you think Rene is being truthful with him?" Apollo voiced his fears for his friend aloud.

"That I don't know other than he backs her up most of the time. And he followed her into that thing without hesitating," Boomer added as proof.

"And he's in surgery," Apollo countered again.

"Yeah…well, as I said before, that could be Starbuck's fault, not hers," Boomer said referring to their friend's own reckless nature.

"Remind me to ask him when we get back. I'm only waiting another twenty centons before we head back. Apparently she can find us even if we move on without her."

It was only another five centons before the distortion appeared and Rene came bursting through in her Viper.

"Mission complete," Rene reported.

"And the Cylons aren't following you?"

"No sir. All clear. Permission to return to the Galactica?"

Apollo inwardly sighed at her concession. This was not going to work if she didn't start to see herself as one of them, as part of a team. "Perhaps she just needs some teamwork details," Apollo thought to himself knowing a few choice details like bilge scrubbing and Viper maintenance that could teach her those skills.

"Permission granted," Apollo answered. "Let's go home."

"Yes, sir." Rene let Apollo and Boomer take the lead. It was easier to follow the glow of their engines than for her to stick to a course. She absently checked the oxygen levels in her cockpit and added a bit more to the mix to clear her head.

"You okay back there, Rene? You're veering off course and falling behind," Boomer said concerned.

She snapped her eyes open, not realizing she had closed them for longer than a blink. How long, she had no idea.

"Sorry," she replied hastily. She reached out again to add a bit more oxygen to the cabin. Her shaking fingers fumbled with the knob. If it weren't for her helmet, she would reach up and slap herself in the face to wake up. "Come on, not much farther," she said aloud to herself, not realizing her comm was still open.

"Rene?" Apollo asked.

"Sorry," she said shaking her head and cutting the comm. The flush of humiliation kept burning, making her begin to sweat and reawakening the smell of blood that began to permeate the cockpit. She gaged slightly and was thankful it had been a while since she'd had solid food. As the nausea rose, she thought that maybe it was due to the lack of food in her system. It was a familiar feeling. "Frack me," she said aloud, realizing the implication of the sensation. She chose to ignore it, focusing instead on just flying, then landing, and getting to Starbuck. She had been right, it wasn't much farther. She breathed deeply the oxygen rich air and willed her hands to still long enough to make it into the landing bay.

Once her Viper had come to a rest, Rene climbed laboriously from the cockpit, dropping from her Viper to her knees on the flight deck. To Apollo it appeared as if she was praying. "She's going to need every single Lord of Kobol on her side to get away with this," he thought to himself as he approached her.

"What was that? Where did you go to get that fuel? How does it work? Can the Cylons do that, is that where you learned about it?"

To Rene the questions came like rapid fire from a Centurion pulse rifle. She might have answered one or two if Apollo had given her a chance. Rene took a deep breath before she lifted her right hand from the decking, brought it to her lips, kissed her fingers and lowered it back to the flight deck before rising up on one leaden leg, and then the other, climbing to her feet. She looked to Apollo, sucking in a deep breath, before asking, "How's Starbuck?"

"Recovering. The surgery went well and he's doing fine."

"Good." She nodded. "I need to see him."

"You should clean up first." Apollo motioned to the blood stained uniform she still wore, now dried and flaking. "And the Commander is waiting."

"I can clean up later. I need to see Starbuck. The Commander can wait. It won't go anywhere." She lurched away from him, stumbling slightly before heading to decon. He let her go for now, heading over to a comm station to inform his father she was back aboard and could be found in the Life Center for now.