"Here's the drill," Apollo said from his podium, this time addressing more pilots than Sharon. She was in attendance, dressed in a flight uniform. She didn't know why, it was a directive from CIC. "I'll fly Raptor 279 to Kobol. Racetrack, you're in the back seat. The plan is to do two orbits at 20 miles. We'll be screaming around the planet, so you'll have to run the sensors hot and soak up everything you can. Up to it?"
"Yes, sir," Racetrack said nervously. Apollo could tell she was scared out of her uniform.
"Hotdog, you won't have to do much. You'll be in Raptor 280. Once 279 comes back here, you'll dock with us in space and transfer Lieutenant Valerii to us. She'll help us analyze data, then you'll bring her back to Galactica. Nothing hard about it."
"Except that I'll be in a confined space with a Cylon, sir," Hotdog snapped.
"Those are your orders," Apollo replied firmly. "Do I need to find someone else to carry them out?"
"No, sir."
"Go pre-flight the Raptors," Apollo said to Racetrack and Hotdog. "We'll be in the pod in a few minutes."
"Yes, sir," the two lieutenants said in perfect unison as they saluted and left the briefing room.
"Good idea," Sharon said. "It'll save 30 minutes of landing and launching if I meet you out there. It slipped my mind."
"What else should we expect?"
"I doubt they have flak batteries yet. Those take a lot of time to set up. Just don't go below 10 miles or they'll open up with the low-flight missiles. And they won't be hesitant to do that."
Apollo looked at Sharon again. He couldn't believe he was carrying on a semi-casual conversation with a Cylon agent. Nor could he comprehend why the agent told him everything he wanted to know without torture or remorse for her fellow Cylons.
"You're thinking about this too much," Sharon observed. "You're trying to plan the whole mission before you know what it is. If you don't find signs of survivors, there's no point in going back. Data first, action second."
"That's deep insight."
"Nothing deep about it. It's the job at hand, and you're about to tangle with a force that does its job well. Hotdog's not too happy about this."
"He'll get over it. Are you getting along with the Marines?"
"As well as can be expected. They don't trust me, but they're not gonna kill me either."
"I'm sending two of them with you on 280. Just in case something happens."
"You think…"
"No, I don't. Hotdog may be a bit of a nutcase, but he'll also follow an order occasionally. Colonel Tigh told me about your test with Baltar. You know he and the Chief will be in the brig when we bring them back, don't you?"
Sharon nodded. "Tyrol didn't know. He suspected, especially when the word got out that Cylons weren't chrome toasters anymore. Baltar, on the other hand, he knew and did nothing about it..."
"And is ultimately responsible for my father being in sick bay. If he spoke up, we may have been able to stop you. I don't like the man. And if we go down there and find him dead, I probably won't complain."
"I left Helo behind for Baltar. Somehow, I don't think it was a fair trade."
"You know something about that, don't you?"
"More than I want to say right now. When I went on the base ship, I was flooded with data. It's all still in my head, just not sorted out. Baltar isn't an innocent soul. I promise you that."
"Tell me what you know," Lee asked, almost begging for the information.
"It started back on Caprica. The Cylons had an agent on Baltar, and the agent either put a virus into the defense computers or opened a hole in the program that could be hacked into by special Raiders. It was much easier than it should have been."
"When did reality set in with you?" Apollo asked.
"Throttle up when I left Helo behind. The destruction was immense, and to know I was a part of it, that snapped me out of my delusion. I'll tell more later, when I know it."
"Let's get to the bay and do this…"
"Captain," Sharon said, "I do want to go…"
"Not this time. Let's get our people and then worry about the next step."
"Yes, sir," Sharon answered, following Lee out of the briefing room.