Chapter Four

As his crew maneuvers the armored cargo ship, Nebula Chaser, in to a defensive position above the Galactica, Lieutenant Randall "R-n-R" Rise can't help but smile to himself. He calls out to his second-in-command, "Chief, how do we look?"

The Chief checks his monitors, "green on all systems and our guns are hot." The Chief reminds the crew member in charge of gun controls, "don't worry about tracking individual targets, give the fighters a firing solution to chase the Raiders into."

The man nods grumpily as he's performed his tasks thousands of times.

As serious as the situation is, R-n-R can't help but see the humor in it. A Battlestar was hiding helpless behind his cargo ship. A fact made even funnier because the Chaser, like her commander is infamous for being of an undetermined age. Lieutenant Rise is, in fact, the record holder for the oldest active serving Lieutenant in the Colonial Fleet. But no one was about to suggest a large ceremony for his retirement or making the Chaser into a museum. There would be no fanfare when either of them pulled into dry dock for the last time. R-n-R's plan was simple, live out his remaining days on the Chaser until one of them fell apart. Which many whispered was likely to happen sooner rather than later.

R-n-R thought how odd it was that he had taken so quickly to the little squadron of survivors he had escaped with. Maybe it was the shock of the attack…maybe it was the thought that they were the last humans left, but the unit almost fell immediately into more of a family organization than military. R-n-R fell easily into the role of grizzled grandfather dispensing advice and wisdom, that like in most families went largely ignored.

Sure he had misgivings about throwing in his cards with the newly formed Militia, but when Saber and Whiplash had explained that it was the only way to save Jolly…that was good enough for him. Besides, he didn't like the way the Galactica's crew kept showing up, asking dumb questions and trying to change systems they had never seen let alone worked on before.

The Chief calls out, "our fighters are two minutes from engaging the cylons."

R-n-R looks over his crew, "let's trash some toasters."

"What do you mean you can't get me on to the Galactica!"

The Raptor pilot, Topper replies to Acting President Baltar, "the Galactica doesn't have power to her flight deck. And it's not likely the flight crews are going to be in the mood to guide Militia defectors in manually."

Baltar seems flustered and confused, "why can't we board the same bloody way the Marines storm onto Colonial One?"

The ECO, Vandal responds, "because of the Galactica's armor. We don't have anything onboard that could even make a dent in her hull. Sir, why would you want to be on the Galactica? She's dead in the water."

Six says standing next to Baltar, "you're too late, Gaius. There's nothing you can do, except prepare for judgment."

Baltar shows his rising desperation, "I can't believe I get stuck in the one Raptor that's FTL isn't functioning. What about the Nebula Chaser? We could get on board andjump out with it."

Topper and Vandal both laugh. Topper replies, "ole R-n-R isn't going to go running. He won't leave while the Galactica and Colonial One are defenseless. He'll fight until the last possible moment."

Baltar gathers his dignity, "I'll just order him to leave. I am still the Acting President."

Vandal laughs, "I'd like to see that. R-n-R's not real big on respect for rank."

Baltar goes back to his initial argument, "so we are back to finding a way to get me on board the Galactica." He goes on to explain, "If the Galactica and Colonial One are destroyed, I'll be stuck in this tin can with you two morons for the rest of my miserable existence. And that is simply not acceptable! The Galactica is our best hope of surviving this day and she needs assistance. So unless either of you know someone else in the fleet that has advanced degrees in computer science from every major university in the colonies, I suggest we find a way to get me on board!"

Colonel Tigh snaps at everyone present at CIC, "well, what have we got working again?"

Petty Officer Dualla replies, "we have established inner-ship communications, limited short range communications on a few channels and…" Suddenly the lights come on, "lighting."

Tigh says to the entire CIC in disgust, "lights! We need thrusters…gun controls…hell at this point, I'd settle for being able to throw our garbage out the door at them. Anyone not believe there's a base star on the heels of these fighters about to come down on our heads?"

Ensign Solon calls out, "Colonel, we're being hailed."

Tigh asks, "by whom?"

She replies expecting him not to like the answer, "It's Pres…Acting President Baltar, sir."

"I suppose he expects us to somehow find a way to throw ourselves in front of Colonial One to save his sorry ass."

Solon replies, "no sir. He's in a Raptor…he says he thinks he can help us."

Helo and Boomer walk cautiously down a corridor of Colonial One with Jolly rolling in a wheelchair close behind. Jolly says looking back, "doesn't look like anyone is following us."

Helo calls back to Jolly in a whisper, "maybe that's because you fraking nuked them. How did you know to use the raptor's missile defenses as a weapon?"

Jolly replies, "just something I learned from Apollo."

Helo chastises him, "you could have killed us. Could have blown up the entire ship…but I guess a cylon doesn't really care…"

Jolly throws back, "look! You were the one that wanted to go out shooting. They fired first…killed Burnout…they had it coming."

Helo nods angrily, "I guess we all do, huh Jolly?"

Jolly retorts, "I wouldn't know, I'm in chains and you've got the gun."

Boomer adds, "would you both shut up! I hear voices up ahead."

Helo leads the way, gun drawn as the three cautiously advance towards the open doorway lying ahead of them. Suddenly, Jolly finds himself sitting on the dock outside of his grandfather's house, his legs dangling into the water. Sharon sits next to him, wearing casual clothes, as if out for a holiday by the lake. She muses, "something you learned from Apollo?"

Jolly shrugs, then whispers, "well, I did. Sort of…"

Sharon responds with a smile, "can't believe you got away with that trick three times."

Jolly thinks confused, "only twice."

Sharon smiles, "think again. It's time for you to remember everything. It might just be the only way to save yourself."

Jolly shakes his head, "I can't…"

Sharon places her hand on his arm, "yes, you can."

(Flashback) The Cylon Base Star's Flight Deck

Both now wounded, Jolly and Boomer literally fall together into the Raptor's open hatch. Jolly struggles into the pilot's seat and strains to say to Boomer, "I'm going to get us out of here…just hold on for a little while longer." Boomer nods weakly and struggles back towards the ECO's seat leaving a trail of blood behind her.

The Raptor's engines fire to life and Jolly begins moving the ship off the deck deliberately knocking several centurions down in the process. He jerks nervously as rounds from other centurions strike various sections of the Raptor's hull. As they gain altitude, Jolly can see the absolute carnage and chaos that has enveloped the Base Star's flight deck. Destroyed centurions, deceased cylon agents and the debris of Raiders liter almost the entire deck as the fight continues between the two groups.

Three Raiders immediately move to intercept the Raptor. Jolly breathes deeply as he attempts to make evasive maneuvers in the confined space of the ship's flight deck. He sends the Raptor through its paces as he manages to evade their fire.

Jolly steers the ship into the shaft leading towards open space and their only chance for survival. The shaft dramatically enlarges and then shrinks at intervals along its length. He calls out to Boomer, "when I say…hit the anti-missile defenses!" He waits…"NOW!"

Just as the Raptor enters a narrower section of the shaft, it ejects a barrel like object that erupts into sparks and fire. It immediately begins bouncing off the walls and then into the lead Raider. The Raider slides sideways and right into the path of one of its comrades. Both explode. The third Raider manages to make it through the explosions and smoke continuing after the Raptor.

The Raider fires its cannons and one of the rounds ricochets off the walls to find the side of the Raptor. The impact forces the Raptor against the Base Star's walls creating a shower of sparks along its side. Boomer grabs a suction device and places it over the small hole created in the side of the ship.

Then they are free and in open space. Jolly gives the Raptor full throttle with the Raider still giving chase right behind. Upon reaching space, the corners of Jolly's mouth actually curl into a small smile. Which is immediately lost when he sees the collection of Raiders that have been waiting outside the Base Star. The Dradis screen indicates that there are at least eighty of them.

He mutters a quick prayer, "holy frak."

Jolly holds his breath, waiting for the Raiders to fire, but at that moment there is a flash of light that emanates from behind them that quickly encompasses the entire area. The Base Star explodes creating a wave of force and debris that flings the Raptor like a toy. The Raptor is spared some because the explosion sends the Raptor along its current trajectory. Most of the Raiders don't fare so well. Many are crushed as their engines drive them directly into the force of the shock wave. The Raider that had been hot on their tale collides with an incoming Raider and both explode. Jolly fights with the controls, just barely avoiding being thrown into another Raider lying directly ahead of them.

As the Raptor roughly rides out the wave of force, Jolly checks his Dradis screen. He calls back, "there are still about forty of them left. We are going to need to get out of here. Is the FTL still functioning?"

There is no reply, "Boom…" Jolly turns back to see Boomer collapsed on the ECO station. Her eyes are closed and there is blood covering the ground around her. He limps over as quickly as he can. He places a hand upon her forehead, "oh…Sharon. I'm so sorry."

Suddenly the door to the large storage locker at the back of the cabin flies from its hinges. Jolly's head jerks up, and his hand instinctively reaches for his sidearm, which was lost on the flight deck. Taking a hesitant step backwards, Jolly struggles to see into the dark space. Then after a heartbeat the darkness is broken by a small red light moving left to right and then back again. The red light continues to move back and forth as a golden colored centurion with a large dent in its chest plate begins to move forward. It leaves its hiding place and walks towards Jolly.

Jolly looks around frantically for a weapon, any weapon. He takes a step back and the gold centurion displays its hand, which quickly reveals five lethal blade-like fingers. The centurion seems to be sizing Jolly up, but then says, "well Jordan, looks like its just you and me now."

Jolly finding no advantage, freezes at the sound of the voice. He had half expected the voice to be Boomer's. That the whole identity of the centurion had simply been a game the blonde had created to play with him. But it wasn't. It was the voice of a trusted friend. Someone that Jolly loves dearly and just the sound of it is almost enough to drive him into madness. Jolly staggers backwards in despair, falling down in a sitting position, as if death would now be the most merciful ending.

The centurion pauses, leans over Boomer's body and engages the Raptor's FTL drive. Jolly hardly feels the sickening FTL sensation as the Raptor is whisked away from the oncoming Raiders.

Once the jump is complete, the centurion turns its head to Jolly. The voice is that of his friend, but with a cruel edge to it. "Now, what to do about you." It moves surprisingly quickly for how large it is and is upon Jolly in the blink of an eye. With its left metallic hand it grabs Jolly by the throat and lifts him up. The right, it holds out making sure that Jolly is watching its long sharp fingers. The centurion stabs at Jolly's head, but then stops the blades a hair's length from Jolly's eyes. The index finger begins heating up and smoking, as it takes on an orange reddish glow.

Jolly struggles against the centurion but has no strength left to fight. The centurion traces the smoldering finger down Jolly's face just millimeters from touching his skin, and then almost gently presses it against his chest. The finger burns straight through the flight suit and into Jolly's skin. He cries out in pain.

Both the centurion and Jolly turn abruptly as another scream has joined Jolly's. Boomer is alive and she quickly reaches over and grabs the centurion's arm. In one fluid motion, she wrenches the arm completely off of the centurion's body, and with a triumphant yell, she stabs the fingers right into the centurion's face. The heated blade pierces the eye slot creating large sparks as a reddish fluid spurts out upon all three of them. The three figures fall to the ground in a clumped mass.

Jolly struggles and with a groan finally manages to get the centurion's hand off of his neck. He looks over at Boomer, who struggles for a moment, but isn't able to lift herself. She settles for pushing the data disk, she received from the other cylon agents towards him. Jolly reaches across the centurion's body with the last of his strength and places his hand upon hers, "thanks…Sharon."

She says as one side of her mouth reveals a half-smile, "you called me, Sharon. I like it." Her body goes limp, as she dies. Jolly then passes out into the relief of unconsciousness.

Colonel Hadrian shoves the Militia's medic away, as he attempts to tend to her wounds. Hadrian's left side has suffered burns from head to toe, in some spots it's difficult to determine where her burnt uniform ends and her blackened skin begins. A large section of charred flesh hangs loose from her left cheek. She bends with a grimace and grabs an assault rifle from a dead Militia soldier laying near her feet as she surveys Colonial One's flight deck.

The entire deck is covered in black, and smoke slowly rises from several spots as witness to recently extinguished fires. Several covered bodies lay scattered as re-enforcements tend to first aid duties among the few survivors. She mutters in rage to no one in particular, "if he had just let me do my fraking job in the first place, none of this would have happened."

The medic returns to Hadrian, "excuse me, sir. You need medical attention."

Hadrian pulls the bolt back on the rifle, "what I need is to kill someone."

The medic asks stunned, "what?"

Hadrian orders, "just give me something for the pain. As much as I can take and remain conscious."

After receiving the shot in her neck, Hadrian begins walking determinedly towards the open corridor gesturing to two soldiers standing guard with rifles. They follow her out towards revenge.

"No one in that uniform tells me what to do. Get out of my way."

Starbuck appears ready to give a smart mouthed reply, but manages to hold it back, "I…apologize, sir. But did you hear the explosion? I was only trying to suggest that in the current state of affairs that we might be better off finding you…and your comatose friend here a safe place to…"

Commander Adama cuts her off, "to hide? I'm sick of hiding…sick of this game. I'll be damned if I'm going to sit out and be used like some cubit in a hand of cards by that high-strung fidgety traitorous boyfriend of yours."

Starbuck hesitates a moment, "he really is high-strung and fidgety isn't he?"

Adama growls, "Kara, get out of my way and stop trying to delay me."

Starbuck shrugs and moves out of the path of the bed, "I'm just a Major in the Colonial Militia looking out for the best interests of the fleet." She watches as he begins to push President Roslin's bed, but its wheel is stuck in a groove in the floor and he doesn't have quite the strength. Starbuck ventures the question, "what exactly are you going to do with her?" Then with a joking smile, "nothing untoward I trust."

Adama glowers at her, "she needs a real doctor. Who knows what that man has done to her?"

Starbuck nods, "oh, I get it. Big bad Doctor Baltar obviously had something to do with her collapse. It wasn't cancer…nope, had to be Gaius. Maybe he gave her the cancer in the first place? And of course, he's probably still doing something to her to keep her unconscious. Why I bet he even had a hand in the cylon attack. This whole war is all Gaius Baltar's fault." She pauses and then adds, "So you figure, once she's free, she'll wake right up. And then the mighty oracle President Laura Roslin will straighten this whole mess out and send Gaius to his room. Is that what you were thinking?"

Adama scowls, "what I think is that I can't believe you of all people turned against me."

Starbuck responds bitterly, "I told Lee this was the dumbest thing he's ever come up with! My whole being here with Gaius was his idea."

"Lee's never been able to get you to do anything you didn't really want to do."

Starbuck opens her mouth to reply angrily, but is cut off by a voice coming from the doorway, "Commander Adama? Starbuck?"

Adama and Starbuck both turn to see Helo enter the room cautiously with his pistol drawn. Starbuck's smile upon seeing Helo quickly drops as Jolly and the pregnant Boomer follow him into the cargo area of Colonial One.

Helo salutes Adama quickly while never taking his eyes off his prisoners. Starbuck says as Helo's group reaches them, "out taking your pets for a stroll?" Then looking at Jolly, "I heard an explosion, should have known you were on board."

Helo responds with a question to Starbuck, "Kara, what's with the uniform?"

Adama replies in a mocking tone, "this is Major Thrace of the Colonial Militia…and she's our prisoner."

Jolly attempts to get their attention, "Commander, there's somethin…"

Starbuck flies off the handle at Adama, ignoring Jolly's attempt to speak, "WHAT?"

Jolly tries again, "look, there's something I need to tell…"

Adama spits back at Starbuck, "you don't have a weapon, if we run into Militia, no one is going to believe that you managed to take all of us prisoner."

Starbuck replies, "fine. Helo give me your gun."

Finally, in exasperation Jolly yells out, "HEY! The suspected cylon is trying to tell you something!"

Once they all turn, he adds, "I have knowledge that there is a cylon agent among my pilots."

Starbuck asks sarcastically, "your pilots?"

Jolly continues looking directly at Starbuck, "I know who it is. And guess what? It isn't me."

Apollo uneasily releases the breath he had been holding as he watches Slider narrowly escape a head-on collision with a Raider by suddenly twisting her Viper into a vertical dive. Her move places the Raider directly into Apollo's sights as he squeezes the trigger. Streaks of red mark the path of his rounds as they strike dead center into the Raider's fuselage. The cylon explodes and Apollo involuntarily closes his eyes as his viper flies directly through the debris.

Searching the field for his next target, Apollo can't help himself from scanning for the Viper with a distinctive black mark running down its side. The Viper Slider always prefers to fly. He breathes deeply again as he sees her chasing down a Raider that is targeting another of the Galactica's pilots. He doesn't have time to observe the outcome as two Raiders have managed to get behind him and fire. He rolls his Viper and begins evasive maneuvers.

As he manages to turn about and take a shot at one of the Raiders, someone hails him through his radio. He misses the Raider and it veers off, "Captain, this is Lieutenant Rise of the Chaser, a Base Star has just jumped into the system…ETA ten minutes."

Apollo calls back, "copy Chaser. No wonder these Raiders weren't in any hurry to get to our ships, they were just trying to keep us busy. Alert Galactica and prepare to jump to the fleet."

The sound of the Chaser's guns can be heard in the background as R-n-R replies, "bug out? Just when the party is getting good? Not a muffy's chance on Cloud 9's buffet, Captain."

Colonel Tigh breaks in on the radio, "this is Tigh, we've got limited communications back. Lieutenant, if we don't make it out of here, then the Chaser is the last thing with guns the fleet has for protection. You are to stow as many fighters as possible and jump out, is that understood?"

R-n-R responds angrily, "yes, sir."

Commander Adama stares decisively at Jolly, "how do you know?"

Jolly clears his throat, "it just came back to me, sir."

Starbuck laughs, "it just came back to you?"

Jolly counters, "try being tortured…burned and strangled and see how much you enjoy reliving the memories?"

Starbuck moves aggressively towards Jolly, "if that's true, then maybe if I choke you, you'll be able to tell us where all the cylons hiding in the fleet might be. I'm willing to give it a try."

Adama stops her, "there's time for that later. Right now, we need to find a way off this ship."

Helo shakes his head, "the flight deck's torched. The Militia shot up our Raptor and then…" He gestures to Jolly with his sidearm, "pyro over here fried the rest of it along with most of the Militia. Nothing is coming or going off this wreck."

Adama nods, "then we need to get to a radio. Find out what's going on."

A scream of rage comes from the open doorway of the cargo bay, and Starbuck instinctively hurls herself on top of Adama knocking him to the ground, which happens to be lucky timing as rounds fly past the air he had been standing in just a moment before. A round ricochets off of the metal railing of Roslin's bed, and strikes Helo in his left shoulder. He falls, while the rest of the group all dive or move towards the cover of cargo boxes.

Jolly and Boomer move towards the large crane, used to move the ship's cargo, while Starbuck and Adama end up behind several large crates.

Helo laying wounded, quickly slides his pistol across the floor towards Starbuck. Who manages to catch it and begins to return fire.

Colonel Hadrian flanked by two of her soldiers quickly dashes into the cargo bay while firing at the group. She screams, "FRAKING KILL THEM ALL!"

Jolly attempts to slide behind one the large cranes at the end of the deck, and calls to the pregnant Boomer, who in spite of her chains jumps back into the line of fire and grabs Helo. She manages to drag him to cover.

Starbuck manages to shoot one of the Militiamen, but then finds herself effectively pinned down from fire from Hadrian and the other soldier. As Hadrian stops to reload, Starbuck yells out, "I suppose it's too late to explain that I was just about to take them prisoner!"

Hadrian only screeches and begins firing again. Starbuck mutters, "figures." She says to Adama lying next to her, "you have to find someway to hold back the charm. This affect you have on women just makes my job that much more difficult."

He replies, "you should have seen my ex when she got going."

As Jolly fights his chains attempting to slide his hand down his side to pull out the small double barreled concealed ceramic pistol, that Tigh slipped to him, suddenly boxes behind them are pulled down to reveal a service plate in the wall that has been removed. Several Militia members are there, one has a pistol while the others roughly grab and pull Jolly, Boomer and Helo out of the cargo bay. Helo yells in pain, as they grasp his wounded and bleeding shoulder.

Starbuck realizing that she is running out of ammo has been forced to become selective regarding her shots. While a new soldier has picked up the wounded man's rifle and has added to the suppressive fire pinning them down. Everyone seems to have forgotten Roslin lying in the bed in the middle of the room.

As Starbuck quickly pulls her magazine out of the pistol to count how many rounds are left, they hear the sound of at least two new pistols joining the fight. Then silence.

Starbuck slowly raises her head to see that both soldiers with rifles lay dead and Colonel Hadrian is missing. From outside the doorway, Tom Zarek enters the cargo bay accompanied by a man and a woman. All three carry large pistols. The woman is wearing a Militia uniform signifying her rank as corporal. The man is wearing a suit, as if a delegate at the dinner party.

Zarek walks closer, "Colonel Hadrian ran. It looks like they captured the others before we got here, but the coast is clear…for the moment."

Starbuck aims her pistol at Zarek, while Adama asks, "you saved us?"

Zarek smiles, while putting his hands up in a defensive gesture, "life can be funny to the point of actually being cruel can't it?"

Starbuck adds, "and who is going to save us from you?"

Zarek smiles at them.

Baltar says into the radio of the Raptor, "no, no, no, I said to reroute your ancillary systems with the new cable."

One of the technical crew members working on the area underneath a station in the CIC looks back at Petty Officer Dualla and nods. She replies to Baltar, "we did."

Baltar shrugs, "well, then it should be working."

Dualla exasperated replies, "well, it's not."

Baltar nods nervously, while thinking. He then adds, "ok, switch the power routing from ancillary systems to primary."

Dualla nods at the technician, who goes to work underneath her station.

Baltar asks urgently, "well?"

Dualla replies angrily, "now we don't have lights."

Baltar shakes his head, "damn it, I'm not an electrician!"

Baltar appears ready to burst in frustration, he takes a deep breath and manages to steady himself, "the problem is that the same system that separates the ship's systems from being networked is the same thing that is keeping us from getting everything working. We need a power source…an outside power source…something that can jump start the ship's systems, while allowing me a chance to filter out the cylon bug."

Dualla replies angrily, "in case you haven't noticed we're fresh out. So unless you can plug us into another ship, we're still screwed."

Billy Keikeya standing next to Dualla asks, "how much power does a raptor have?"

Dualla shakes her head, "not enough."

Baltar listening to their conversation interjects, "not enough for the entire ship, but probably enough to get a couple of major systems going. Like weapons or the FTL drive."

Dualla asks, "what about the cylon virus or whatever it is? How do you plan on keeping that from sapping our power again?"

Baltar replies, "I have an idea."

The Raptor's ECO, Vandal cuts in, "Mister President, you do realize that what you are proposing will make us an instant target AND we won't be able to defend ourselves or get away?"

Baltar nods, "if we don't do this, then what happens when the Base Star gets here?"

Jolly yells at them, "listen, I have to talk to who ever is in charge. There's a cylon agent among your pilots!"

He is rewarded for his efforts by being dragged out of his wheelchair and hit in the abdomen with a baton. He falls to the floor in pain. Helo is also immediately hit across his wounded shoulder by another man with a baton, and he falls as well. Boomer attempts to stop them from hurting Helo, but they push her away.

The group's leader, a sergeant brandishing his sidearm supervises, as his group of seven men in brown uniforms use their clubs to shove Helo, Boomer and Jolly backwards until they reach the air lock area. The Sergeant has several large wounds that have been bandaged on various regions of his body. Two other members of the mob appear to have similar wounds. This was not going to be a level headed crowd.

Struggling against the mob, Jolly continues to protest while gasping for air, "you don't understand! I need to get to a radio! We need to warn the Galactica!"

The leader of the mob calls out, "there's been no radio contact with the Galactica, since your little cylon bitch sapped her systems. She's nothing but a load of scrap metal now. So chances are they aren't any more interested in listening to you than we are."

The group steps back as the leader goes to the wall and hits the control that brings a large clear door down from the ceiling, sealing the air lock.

As the door closes, both Helo and Jolly stare at Boomer. Helo demands, "what did you do?"

Boomer replies bitterly, "they were going to kill us, Helo. I had to have some leverage to bargain with. I figure the life of our child is worth the price of getting the Galactica back."

Helo snaps back, "well, it seems to be working out nicely."

The Sergeant calls out to the three through an intercom, "which one of you burned down the flight deck?"

Helo and Boomer both tentatively point at Jolly, who shakily gets to his feet. Jolly mutters angrily, "thanks a lot."

The leader responds, "doesn't matter now, I suppose. Because it's just about time to dump the garbage."

The mob seems more than happy with his declaration. Helo shouts out into the intercom on their side, "don't do this! You don't understand!"

Several of the mob shout back at him, and the leader replies to Helo, "sorry, you're just in the way of my doing my job. As soon as the Colonel gets here, it's bye bye cylons." He nods at Helo, "and you too, of course. Wouldn't want you to feel left out."

Inside the air lock, Helo sits against the wall heavily, placing his right hand over his wounded left shoulder. Boomer attempts to help him, but he pushes her roughly away with his good arm, "haven't you done enough already!"

She tries to explain, "if you weren't going to help save your own child, then I had to." She then turns to Jolly raising her chained hands, "Jordan, you understand? I had…"

Jolly turns away from her, "to save yourself by stripping the fleet of its only defense? Are you crazy? Don't ever call me, Jordan. Not ever."

Boomer steps back away from Jolly, "I thought you would understand. After all we have been through…"

Jolly leans his chained hands on the wall across the air lock from Helo, "Sharon and I went through a lot. I don't know you. And as far as I'm concerned, not all Boomers are created equal."

As Jolly looks out the air lock at the mob that appears confused as to the conversation going on, Sharon appears next to him helping support his weight. She says to Jolly, while looking at the pregnant version of herself, "she's becoming desperate. It's making her unstable."

Jolly whispers sarcastically, "you think?"

Sharon explains, "she's different than me. I was so distant from my programming that I couldn't really accept what I was. She's a half-er. She's moves back and forth between knowing that she's a cylon and being immersed in her human role. She's confused and that means she's capable of turning on either side at any given moment. And she'll do anything or kill anyone if she thinks it will secure her baby's life."

Jolly whispers again, "that's comforting."

Helo confronts Jolly, "what the frak are you mumbling about?"

"Nothing." Jolly limps over to Helo, and sits next to him. He asks in a quiet tone, "what do you have left on you?"

Helo looking pale replies, "I don't have a gun, if that's what you mean."

Jolly explains, "I managed to escape from the brigs of the Galactica and a cylon base star…" He flinches as if he's been poked in the ribs, "granted with a lot of help…but all the same, seems like a shame to die in this air lock." He adds, "although technically, I guess we would die just outside of it."

Helo looking ready to give up replies, "our only hope is to wait and hope Starbuck shows up."

Jolly looks as if he has a bad taste in his mouth, "the last we saw, they were cornered and out gunned. They'll be lucky not to be thrown in here with us. Look, I know Boomer's messed with your head…"

Helo scowls, but then nods, "ok, ok, I agree. We need to find a way out of here, but I don't see anyway to do it."

Jolly struggles against his cuffs to slide the small double barreled ceramic pistol that Tigh gave to him out of his back pocket, but with his cuffs and the bandage on his broken left hand is unable. He says to Helo while twisting his backside to him, "would you mind?"

Helo gives him a disgusted look, "not a chance, perv."

Jolly whispers, "you fool, in my back pocket...there's a small gun." Helo tentatively reaches over and withdraws the small double barreled pistol at an angle the mob won't see.

Jolly continues, "don't get too excited, it isn't loaded. I don't suppose you have any extra ammo hiding somewhere?"

Helo reaches into his flight suit and pulls a small rocket looking projectile out of a pocket, "I have been carrying one of these…just in case."

Jolly smiles, "you just happen to carry an explosive round with you?"

Helo smiles back, "I've seen enough centurions that keeping a little extra firepower in reserve just seemed like a smart thing to do. Do you think that thing can fire it?"

Jolly holds his hand out, "only one way to find out."

Helo stops him, "not a chance."

Jolly sighs, "fine. But if it works, you're getting the bill for this one."

Everyone looks up as Hadrian enters in a fury. Her own soldiers appear shocked by her appearance. She's wearing a brown Militia dress uniform that has been burnt all the way down her left side. There are several areas where charred flesh shows through the material. She grips her assault rifle as if it were the last rung of reality that she has to cling to.

The Sergeant salutes and says, "we have the cylon agents and the pilot in custo…sir?"

Hadrian simply growls and marches past him to the air lock controls on the wall. Everyone is so engrossed watching her that no one notices Helo as he quickly and shakily tries to load the lower barrel of the pistol with his one good hand.

Hadrian's hand touches the red button that will open the air lock and send its occupants to the void of space, but she hesitates and turns as a couple of the Militia soldiers cry out a warning. She hesitates just long enough to see Helo fire the round directly at the clear door of the air lock. The projectile strikes the door made of industrial glass and explodes.

The Viper pilot, Lowdown calls out nervously on his radio, "I could use some help."

Apollo watches with a sick feeling as two cylons target his pilot. He manages to fall behind them and destroy one of the Raiders, but not before the other shoots and Lowdown's Viper goes up in a ball of flame. Apollo growls in rage as he moves quickly and destroys the second Raider.

He is forced to immediately pull up dramatically on his controls to avoid flying directly into the Nebula Chaser's firing solution as it kills a Raider trying to break out and get to the Galactica and Colonial One.

Then Apollo does what is quickly becoming his ritual, he scans the battle for a reassuring glimpse of a certain Viper with a black streak running down its side. But his concern grows as he can't find it. There is no sign of Slider anywhere.

Even though he's not sure it's the right thing to do, Apollo calls out on his radio to one of his Raptors monitoring the battle, "Racetrack, I've lost track of a pilot. Where's Slider?"

Apollo's heart races as he fears the response that she may not have made it. After an excruciating moment of silence, Apollo's fears continue to mount. But then Racetrack responds in a confused tone, "I can't find her…oh wait. She's behind the lines. She's heading straight for Colonial One."

The moment of relief quickly passes as he calls out, "Slider, have you taken damage? Do you need assistance?"

But the only response he receives is dead air.

The Colonial Militia's Air Wing pilot, Whiplash complains, "I can't believe we're stuck back here. It's ridiculous. How am I ever going to impress that cute ECO, RaceTrack, if I don't get in the fight?"

The pilot, Rebel replies, "she's on the wrong side, remember? But this is ridiculous. We're the two best pilots they have and we get stuck with clean up duty. Even R-n-R is going to get more action than us."

Whiplash checks a new reading on his screen, he calls out, "hey, what are you doing slacking off back here?"

Rebel adds jokingly, "yeah, aren't you supposed to be up on the front lin…." He never finishes his question as rounds strike his Viper from behind and it explodes.

Whiplash yells, "WHAT THE FRAK!" While trying to maneuver his Viper out of the crosshairs, he calls out on his radio, "this is Whiplash. One of our pilots is a cylon agent. Beware S…" And his Viper becomes a streak of flame and explodes.

Tom Zarek leads the way down Colonial One's corridor, until Starbuck forces her way past him. Zarek asks, "Major, where do you think you are going?"

In anger, Starbuck begins ripping all of the insignias off of her uniform with her free hand, and just lets them fall to the ground. She replies, "the sooner we find them, the sooner I can find a fighter and get in to the real fight." She adds, "are you sure your…assistants back there are trustworthy? If anything happens to the President or the old man, I'm holding you personally responsible."

Zarek smiles, "Zora is my most trusted aide. She will protect the President with her life. Plus, she's a member of the Militia, so no one should hassle her. And Derek has a knack for keeping out of harm's way. He'll take good care of the Commander."

Starbuck growls, "it was stupid to split up."

Once Zarek had filled them in regarding the plight of the Galactica and the incoming cylon Base Star, Adama had decided to split the group. Zarek and Starbuck were to go after Helo and company, while Adama and Zarek's male associate attempt to make it to Colonial One's cockpit and contact the Galactica. The female Militia member working for Zarek would stand guard over President Roslin.

Zarek responds, "I was actually very impressed with how quickly the Commander shifted to guerilla tactics. Splitting up into smaller cells gives you a higher probability of success. It's standard operating procedure."

Starbuck blows his explanation off, "You would think it was a good idea."

They both freeze as a large blast goes off somewhere on the deck. Starbuck begins rushing towards the sound. Zarek tries to slow her, "Major, are you sure we should be hurrying towards an explosion…on a space ship?"

Starbuck calls back, "trust me, whenever something blows up, you can usually find Jordan somewhere near by."

Jolly manages with great discomfort to sit up to see most of the smoke clearing from the room. There is a large hole in the industrial glass of the air lock's door. Behind it several militia members lay on the ground having caught the brunt of the blast and shattered glass.

Jolly calls out, "Helo, are you ok?"

Helo leans on his good arm and attempts to drag himself up, "I'm either ok or dead. I'm kind of hoping for dead, actually."

The last thing Jolly can remember is watching Colonel Hadrian's hand on the air lock control panel, as Helo fired the explosive round at the door. The blast had been partially reflected back at them by the industrial glass of the door and knocked them all for a loop. But that was nothing compared to the blast that caught the mob. The broken glass had effectively acted as shrapnel. So if the blast didn't kill or wound them, then the shattered glass did.

Several Militia members also slowly begin to stir. The Sergeant that had led the mob manages to get to his feet having somehow held onto his sidearm. He is bleeding heavily from his left ear and dozens of nasty looking cuts, he lifts his pistol and just begins shooting blindly through the hole created by the blast in the door. Both Jolly and Helo dive for the ground as bullets fly wildly into their area.

In between shots, the Sergeant hears the crackle of broken glass behind him and he spins to see Starbuck and Zarek entering the room. He fires just barely missing Starbuck's head as Zarek fires his pistol hitting the man squarely in the chest. The Sergeant falls backwards dead.

The other Militia members that have gained consciousness quickly raise their hands in surrender. They have no interest in continuing the fight. Zarek instructs them to take a seat by the far wall of the room.

As Helo and Jolly get up from the ground, they hear in a weak voice behind them, "Helo, please I need your help."

They turn to see Boomer lying on her back holding her chest, which is bleeding. One of the Sergeant's rounds found her. Forgetting himself, Helo moves quickly to help her and places his working right hand on her wound to help stop the bleeding. She smiles slightly, "just once I'd like for us to be together and no one gets shot."

Her eyes begin to glaze over, as Jolly limps over, "Boomer, how do we reverse what you did to the Galactica?" She doesn't respond, so he tries again, "how do we fix what you've done?"

Boomer replies looking off in the distance, "you can't. Only God can." And after a last look at Helo, closes her eyes.

Sharon says to Jolly, "she's gone."

On the other side of the air lock, a raspy and weak voice asks, "is she dead?"

Everyone turns their gaze to Colonel Hadrian lying against the wall underneath the air lock controls. Starbuck walks over to her while aiming the rifle she took from the cargo bay shoot-out.

Hadrian is even more burnt and wounded than before, with a large section of flesh from her face missing. She asks again, "is she dead?"

Starbuck nods, "yeah, she's dead."

Hadrian actually smiles,giving her facea skull like appearance, then drops her head to the ground and dies.

The Raptor's ECO, Vandal manages to pull the power lines through the soft hatch connection to the Galactica. He looks over at Baltar, "sir, are you sure this is going to work?"

Baltar manages to smile at him, "in science, few things are absolute. But I have high hopes."

Vandal doesn't appear too reassured by his comment, and takes a deep breath. He then goes to connect the cables to the Raptor while asking, "how exactly is this going to work?"

Baltar takes a seat at the ECO's station and begins working on calculations as he replies, "this virus, for lack of a better term, seems to be running through the Galactica's electrical supply. Somehow the electrical current itself is carrying a signal that has shorted out the Galactica's systems. Now if that's true, then if we were able to filter the Galactica's power, we could effectively pull the virus out and send the power back, thus jump starting the Galactica's systems." He adds after a few moment, "well, hopefully a couple of systems anyway."

Topper asks, "how will we filter the virus out?"

Baltar thinks, "well, we'll need an outside power source to start the flow of power that also just happens to have the necessary equipment that could be used as a filter. Your Raptor." Then you also need a genius who understands the nature of artificial intelligence and can create and monitor this contraption. That would be me. Of course, that's assuming that I have correctly ascertained the nature of the virus."

Vandal asks, "and if you haven't?

Baltar replies ominously, "I think it's best to think positive."

Both pilots go back to their duties, as Six sits back on the ECO station, "why are you doing this? This is so unlike you."

Baltar attempts to keep working, while he replies, "you mean saving my own ass? I would think you've seen that many many times."

She responds, "I can think of a couple of different ways to get out here with minimal risk to you. You're in a ship with an FTL drive…you could fix it, then leave. Let the cylons take the Galactica and Colonial One and we can start over. All of your enemies will be gone."

Baltar thinks for a moment, then slams his fist on the station, "NO!" He realizes that the pilots are watching him, so he collects himself. Once they have moved onto their jobs, he answers her in a whisper, "do you or do you not believe that God is guiding me for some higher purpose?"

Six seems taken a back a little by his question, so after a brief pause, "yes. I do believe that God is using you. Or at least, wants to use you, when you let him."

Baltar says in an almost philosophical voice, "I don't understand what God's will is. But here is a situation that calls for talents only I can provide. Am I supposed to believe that's a coincidence?"

Six smiles nervously, "God doesn't want you to save humans. Why call for their destruction if he intended to have you save them? Gaius, God doesn't change his mind."

Baltar replies, "am I not human?" She nods, "then if what you say is true, why preserve me? Why use me as an instrument at all?"

Six is silent for a moment, so Baltar concludes, "if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

The voice of Colonel Tigh comes over the radio, "Doc, you ready yet?"

Baltar sighs and replies sarcastically, "no Saul, I'm not."

Tigh warns him, "that Base Star istwo minutes out. So unless you'd like to show them around, we need to move fast."

Baltar hits a couple of buttons quickly and then says to Vandal, "you need to get going. I'll need you to monitor from inside the Galactica."

Vandal nods and then slides through the soft hatch in the floor made by the Raptor to connect it to the Galactica. Baltar then says to the pilot, Topper, "are you sure this thing is secure? What I'm doing will probably rip this ship apart and destroy all of its systems. When it's done, we're probably going to be forced into a very quick retreat."

Topper replies, "when the cylons show up it might be a rough ride, she was never meant to take fire, but I can get it to hold long enough."

Baltar calls on the radio, "Dualla, are you ready to begin?"

Dualla calls back, "yes sir. We're ready."

Baltar replies, "ok, I'm beginning the charge…now." And he hits a button on the console. He is forced to brace himself by grabbing the station desk as the ship jolts and a loud humming sound begins.

In the ongoing battle, the remaining Raiders suddenly make a straight line towards the Galactica and Colonial One with no regard to fire from the Vipers or the Nebula Chaser.

Giving chase, Apollo calls out, "RaceTrack, alert Colonial One's escort to be ready. They have incoming."

RaceTrack replies, "they're…gone. The only fighter anywhere near Colonial One is Slider. And she's not responding."

The Chaser's rail guns pummel two Raiders and the Vipers chase down another three, but four other cylons manage to make it past and begin firing at the Galactica with the Vipers hot on their trail.

Apollo calls out in desperation, "Slider, respond!" After a moment, he says to the entire battle group, "this is Apollo, it appears that Slider…is a cylon agent…do not approach, but if you are forced to…take her out."

In the cockpit on board Colonial One, Starbuck and Jolly enter quickly and report on the events that took place at the air lock. Commander Adama thinks for a moment and then gets them up-to-date on the Galactica's condition.

Jolly blurts out, "you're not really putting all of our lives in Doc Cylon's hands?"

Starbuck replies, "shut up, jack ass."

Jolly looks at her, "you know in that uniform, you look like a giant turd in a blonde wig."

Adama barks, "knock it off, both of you. We're not in a position to turn down assistance from any corner. What we need are solutions."

Colonial One's pilot reminds them, "our flight deck, is blocked by your damaged Raptor, so no one is getting off. And it'll take at least thirty minutes to finish repairs on our FTL drive."

A weak but distinct voice from the doorway says, "I believe this ship still fits onto the Galactica's flight deck."

They all turn to see President Roslin standing in the doorway leaning heavily upon a female Militia corporal. Roslin continues, "I believe our best bet will be to get onto the Galactica and jump with it."

Adama looks at Starbuck. She comments, "without power to the flight deck, getting this boat stowed is going to be a bitch."

While Starbuck moves past Colonial One's pilot, she stops, "if you don't mind?"

He looks relieved, "going in blind on a dark flight deck? It's all yours." He adds, "we've been having some trouble with our radio as well. Haven't been able to make any radio contact with our escort for the past few minutes."

Starbuck takes a seat and begins looking over all of the control panels, as she sees Jolly following her she says, "want to watch how a real pilot does things?"

Jolly moves towards the chair, "we need to somehow hail Lee." And he falls heavily into the chair as the entire ship shakes, as if it were hit with something. Jolly quickly quips as Starbuck looks over at him, "don't look at me."

Starbuck checks her screen, "where's our escort? They're gone." She yells at Jolly, "why didn't you warn me! It's the co-pilot's job to warn me about these things."

Jolly replies defensively holding up his chained hands, "I just got here. And I'm not your co-pilot. Technically, I'm still a prisoner."

With the cylon Base Star in visual range and almost close enough to launch a missile strike, Apollo watches the specks drop from the Base Star's wings. The specks that meant hundreds of Raiders were coming to finish the job their friends had started. Apollo calls out to his pilots, "finish off those last two Raiders and gear up for the incoming Base Star, I'm going after Slider." And Apollo pulls away at full speed towards Colonial One.

Apollo quickly sees the Viper with the familiar black streak running down its side heading at full thrust towards Colonial One. He calls out to Slider, "this is Apollo, pull up or I'll have to shoot."

He is greeted by silence as the Viper continues towards its apparent target. Apollo gets the Viper in his sights and places his finger on the firing mechanism. Apollo calls out to Colonial One, "this is Apollo, you have a cylon agent coming your way. Take any evasive maneuvers you can." Even as he says it, Colonial One begins to move in a way that he's never seen the ship move before. It begins to dive and move away from the oncoming fighter.

But there is no reply to his call to Colonial One. Someone's jamming his radio. He hesitates firing on the Viper, and slides his finger off of the trigger, as a moment of indecision overtakes him. But he clears his head and convinces himself that Slider must be the one jamming his radio. He places his finger back on the trigger.

It's then that the light flashes begin from Colonial One's signal beacon. He reads their message as he attempts to get the now defensive Viper back in his sights. It reads, "C-Y-L-O-N" there is a brief pause, then it continues, "P-I-L-O-T" Apollo thinks, 'I know, I know, stop distracting me.' He manages to get Slider back in to his sights and depresses the firing trigger, as Colonial One adds, "S-A-B-E-R."

Apollo swears and jerks up on his stick causing his rounds to fly wide. But at least one round catches the side of Slider's Viper, and her ship begins spinning out of control.

As Apollo regains control of his ship, Saber emerges from his hiding place behind the now maneuvering Colonial One, and heads straight for Apollo firing.

The Raptor attached to the side of the Galactica bucks knocking Acting President Gaius Baltar off of his chair. The pilot, Topper fights with the controls to keep the ship attached to the Galactica.

As he struggles back into his chair and straps himself in, Baltar says to him, "that wasn't a power surge."

Topper scans his Dradis screen, "some Raiders have broken out and are taking pot shots at us. Looks like our fighters have them under control though."

Baltar says sarcastically, while holding on tight and looking over his monitors, "that's under control?"

Baltar studies one of his screens and appears concerned, "hold on, the power's overloading the Raptor's system." Suddenly the entire ship begins to shake and shudder. Baltar calls on the radio, "Galactica, we've isolated the bug, and I'm ready to reallocate power. Try your first system."

Dualla looks over at Colonel Tigh, who simply nods affirmative as his response. Dualla says to Baltar, "roger Raptor One. Initiating system re-set." And she begins flipping switches at her station.

On the outside of the Galactica, the ship's gun turrets begin to move and track the incoming Base Star to the sound of cheers and applause inside of the CIC. Dualla calls back, "re-set successful. We now have gun control. Repeat, we now have gun control."

Tigh calls out, "well, done Doc. This will buy us some time, but we need the FTL drive."

Baltar is not sure what is causing him to shake more; fire from the cylons, the power surges or his own nerves. He frowns as the ship bucks again, "working on it."

Tigh calls out to the crew members manning the gun controls, "waiting for the coffee makers to come on? Start shooting! The cylons are going to have to earn it today."

With Jolly's warnings about a cylon agent haunting her, Slider remembers watching the familiar Viper suddenly exit the battle area and immediately had a sickening feeling that something was very wrong. She observed the Viper, as it took a round about approach behind the Galactica towards Colonial One.

She couldn't help but appreciate how good Saber was at hiding behind the larger ships to mask it from all but the most thorough Dradis search. And everyone would be far too busy tracking Raiders to do a thorough search, any Viper not immediately found would be assumed lost in the fight.

When it became apparent that Saber was clearly up to no good, she attempted to radio Apollo, but received nothing but dead air. Someone was jamming radio communications around Colonial One. Slider fought the temptation to head back to an area where she could contact Lee, but there just wasn't enough time. Colonial One's escort never saw him coming.

Slider was forced to watch the cylon agent sneak up on her comrades and friends, knowing she wouldn't be there in time to help them. Slider screamed in desperation, but it doesn't make any difference…not for Whiplash or Rebel. She is forced to watch, tears running down her face, as someone she counted as one of her family stalked and killed her friends.

Saber's Viper turns and makes a run on Colonial One, when she fires.

She is too far away to possibly hit him, but she hoped to get his attention and distract him from the civilian target. It seems to work momentarily as the fire from Saber's Viper misses Colonial One and he pulls up. Slider rushes forward to take him on.

She had been so intent on tracking and taking on Saber that she just notices Apollo has come up behind her. Her moment of relief at seeing him on her screen is quickly replaced by confusion and fear, as Lee appears to be attempting to target her. As Slider is forced to make defensive maneuvers, Lee doesn't seem to see that his chasing her is driving them both directly into Saber's path.

She attempts to maneuver them away from Colonial One, in spite of the risk that it further opens her up to being fired upon by both Vipers. But deep down she knows that Lee won't fire…until he does. Or at least, he begins to. A stray round catches her Port engine and forces her into an uncontrolled spin. Thank the Gods Lee pulled up.

Slider watches as Lee veers away from Saber's charge. He escapes unscathed, but his forced fall back leaves her open and wounded. Slider manages to pull her Viper out of its spin and scans her monitors to determine the amount of damage. She yells, "FRAK!" as she quickly begins trying to revive her ships systems and hits the distress beacon.

From the cockpit of Colonial One, Jolly yells, "that frakin' idiot! He fired on Slider!"

Starbuck replies while steering Colonial One closer towards the Galactica, "he thought she was attacking us. He was doing his job."

Jolly looks incredulously at her, "since when do you defend Lee?"

Starbuck just continues flying, "since some damned toaster can't keep his trap shut." After a moment, "it's called growing up. You should really try it."

Jolly sees the Galactica in the windshield as Colonial One comes around. He objects, "didn't you see Slider's beacon? Go back. We're not leaving her. "

Starbuck still refusing to make eye contact, "we have the President, the Council of Twelve and hundreds of civilians to look after, not to mention the old man. We don't have time…or a flight deck. Hopefully one of the Raptors can tow her in."

Jolly snaps, "so you're just going to leave them?"

Starbuck replies through gritted teeth, "yes. There is a cylon agent loose…who was your pilot, by the way… a Base Star coming in fast and we don't even have a spitball between us to throw at them. Our only real option is to get everyone on the Galactica…Lee can handle things for himself and his girlfriend."

Jolly replies sarcastically, "what a mature decision. You really have grown up. But I prefer the old kick ass leave no friend behind Starbuck."

Starbuck answers bitterly, "really? That's funny because the Old Starbuck would have killed you by now."

As the cylon Base Star moves in, a salvo of missiles launch towards the only Colonial ship returning fire, the Nebula Chaser. Its four rail guns fire frantically, but two missiles escape past its firing solution and make their way towards the cargo ship.

Lieutenant R-n-R Rise calls to his crew, "brace for impact!"

Just before the missiles strike the Chaser's hull, the Galactica's guns open fire and destroy the two remaining projectiles.

R-n-R and his crew all breath a huge sigh of relief as the Galactia's firepower joins the fight. Their relief is but for a brief moment, however as hundreds of Raiders streak towards their position. The wave of Raiders briefly wavers as the Galactica's Vipers enter the fray.

R-n-R instructs his crew as the ship shudders having taken some fire, "move us behind the Galactica and tell the fighters to prepare for combat landings." Turning to the Chief, "time to open the doors and pick up the kids. Let's hope the Galactica's pilots are fast learners."

As the Chief moves towards the back of the command area, a rogue Raider crashes itself directly into the side of the Chaser. The ship is thrown sideways as the crew member at the helm fights to regain control. There is a momentary loss of power and several screens around the command center go dead as the crew surveys the damage. R-n-R calls back, "that was a bad one, Chief. What's the bill?"

When there is no reply, he looks back and sees that the Chief was thrown by the blast and lies dead in the doorway. Without hesitating he calls out, "Sebastian, get in the back and see what we can salvage. We need to get those fighters stowed."

A crew member rushes past, stepping over the Chief's body and towards the cargo bay. R-n-R hails the Galactica, "if you have a plan B, this would be the time to let me in on it."

Colonial Militia Air Wing pilot and cylon agent, Saber swears as he brings his Viper around to take a shot, but misses as Apollo manages to roll and escape. Saber understands that he's disregarding his programming to go after Captain Adama. He should be shooting or ramming his ship into either the Galactica or Colonial One to insure its destruction. But he can't help it, his desire to kill Apollo is all that his mind will hold on to.

It was a hard moment, when he realized who and what he was. That his memory of family and friends was a delusion simply to provide him with a cover story. It had brought him great pleasure to shoot the loudmouth Rebel, but Whiplash had been like a brother. Whiplash was the better pilot of the two and Saber knew the smart thing would be to take him out first, but he just couldn't do it. However, once he killed Rebel, he realized that there was no going back.

After killing the escort, he was in a perfect position to destroy Colonial One, but when Slider took a pot shot at him, it made him pause. How could he fire on Frankie? Just like every other pilot on the Chaser, he had developed a crush on the small brunette and had felt the sharp pangs of jealousy when she took up with Jolly. But now her new boyfriend Captain Adama was swooping in to save the day. And an idea came to him that if he played correctly, would have Apollo doing his dirty work for him…and it worked. Apollo shoots at Slider, thinking she is the cylon only pulling up at the last minute.

The tall bald pilot watches as Slider manages to pull her Viper out of its spin, but she's been hurt. He watches as her Viper limps along like a bird with a broken wing. Too damaged to fight, which seems just perfect. He wouldn't have to pull the trigger on her, let a Raider be the bad guy. Perhaps she could even be taken alive. And then…he stops himself, best not to get too far ahead. First he had to finish off Apollo, and then Colonial One.

Saber doubles back onto Apollo's tail. He expected more from a pilot so arrogant that he allows people to refer to him as the son of a God. But Saber knew that just as the false Gods fell before the one and only God, Apollo would fall before him. Those are his thoughts as he lines Apollo up in his sights. He stares in disbelief as Apollo flies in an almost straight line, as if daring him to shoot. Saber caresses the firing trigger with his finger waiting for the exact moment that Apollo slides into his crosshairs, when suddenly a large shadow crosses his cockpit.

He looks up to see Colonial One bearing down on him at a completely vertical angle. Like a missile, its path is on a collision course with his fighter. He doesn't even attempt to escape, but simply closes his eyes accepting his fate. Perhaps it is God's will for him to pass with out killing Apollo, but at least he would have the satisfaction of sealing the fate of the complete leadership of the humans with his death. The damage of a head-on collision, if not enough to destroy it, would undoubtedly be sufficient to make escape for Colonial One impossible.

With eyes still closed he lifts his hands waiting for the explosion that will send his soul to his next body…but there is no collision as Colonial One veers at the last moment and passes by just inches from his ship. Saber can't believe his eyes, as Colonial One rushes past him and right into his sights. He moves his finger to the firing mechanism, but that's the moment that he sees the Viper that had been hiding directly behind the larger ship.

With Saber dead center in front of her, Slider depresses the firing switch and sends rounds streaked in red straight into the cockpit of Saber's Viper. Saber dies instantly as his fighter explodes around him.

A deck officer informs Colonel Tigh that the Nebula Chaser has taken damage. Tigh turns to Petty Officer Dualla, "how long on the FTL? The Chaser might not be able to get the fighters out of here."

Dualla shakes her head, "the Raptor's having a hard time managing the power flow. It's taking awhile."

Tigh responds, "well, we don't have awhile. Remind his majesty that his only hope of saving his own ass is that FTL drive. I have a feeling that he'll manage to find a way if he knows his head is on the line."

Ensign Solon calls out, "sir, Colonial One is requesting permission to land on our flight deck."

Tigh looks at Dualla, "D, how long on the flight deck?"

Dualla just shakes her head, Tigh replies, "tell them, negative. They can't land anything that big until we've got power."

Solon talks into her radio piece, then says to Tigh, "they're quite persistent."

Tigh picks up the receiver, "listen hot shot, I know civilian pilots think they can do anything the military can, but that's not exactly a shuttle you're trying to bring in on a dark flight deck."

Starbuck replies with a smile, "Colonel Tigh, so nice to speak with you again."

Tigh rolls his eyes to the heavens, "I should have known only you would try to pull that kind of stunt. Do you have any idea what kind of damage crashing that bus onto our flight deck will cause? You are to keep yourself behind us until the flight deck has power."

Starbuck protests, "maybe you haven't noticed all of the guests we've been having, but the Base Star is on our doorstep. When exactly will you have power?"

Tigh hangs up the receiver on her. Ensign Solon's voice comes on, "please hold, Colonial One."

Starbuck comments to Jolly as the anthem of the colonies begins playing over the radio, "the bastard put me on hold."

Jolly smiles, "now that was the old Starbuck. You're just lucky Lee and Slider picked up on the plan."

Starbuck fights her smile, "yeah, I have to admit little miss Slider did a pretty good job pretending to be out of commission."

Jolly nods, "you're handling Lee's new love much better than I expected. Maybe you have grown up."

Starbuck scowls, "love? Who said anything about love, toaster? I merely mentioned that she managed to not screw up my amazing maneuver." She adds, "they're not right for each other. You know he's been crap as CAG since they got together."

Jolly nods, "yep, the old Starbuck, that's more like it."

Lieutenant R-n-R Rise lifts himself with his one working arm from the ground while scanning the cockpit of the Nebula Chaser. His whole side feels like it's on fire. He must have broken every rib on his right side. His crew lies among the ruins of the Chaser's command area.

The last thing he remembers is one of his crew shouting out a warning as a second Raider slammed itself into the side of the large armored cargo vessel. His ship was tough, but never meant to go head-to-head with a Base Star and a full accompaniment of Raiders. The damage caused by the first Raider had stopped the Chaser from making it to cover behind the Galactica.

And now no guns, no engines or thrusters, but through it all, R-n-R manages a smile. He held his own and the Galactica would have a chance since he took the brunt of the cylon assault. He finds a Dradis scanner still working and sees the Raiders rushing past his position with no regard for the Chaser. Now that his guns were silent, they would finish him off once the battle was over. But R-n-R had one last weapon to throw at them.

As the Raptor attached to the Galactica shakes up and down wildly, the pilot, Topper calls out to Baltar, "the bug is shutting down our systems! And the Base Star is in range…she's starting to throw the big stuff at us. I can't hold her in position! We could lose our air seal!"

Baltar yells back, "not much longer. I just need a few moments."

Six says standing next to him genuinely worried, "get out! The only way to save your self is to run! Don't you understand that you're going to die here?"

Six is shocked as Baltar shouts, "Topper, get out! As soon as the FTL is on-line, help Vandal snap the cables and seal the hatch!"

Topper seems confused, "Mister President, what about you? How do you get out?"

Baltar looks determinedly at Six, and then replies, "I don't." He explains, "I have to make sure the bug doesn't get back into the Galactica's systems. I have to be here until the cable connections are severed."

Topper adjusts the ship's controls and says "you're the bravest man I ever met, Doc." And heads towards the ship's hatch connecting it to the Galactica. Suddenly he is thrown as the Galactica is hit by a large explosion just next to the Raptor.

The side of the Raptor is breached by shrapnel which hits Topper in the lower leg. He screams in pain as he falls to the ground. As Topper's blood spatters across the floor, Baltar stares with an expression frozen in terror. Topper yells, "grab the suckerfish!" Baltar continues to stare at him, until Topper explains while pointing, "on the wall…the big suction cup looking thing…now Doc!"

Baltar finally sees the device he is referring to and once realizing that he can't reach it without removing his seat's harness, quickly undoes the latch and while holding on to the station desk in a death grip with one hand, reaches out and grabs the device with the other. He tosses it to Topper, who immediately seals the hull breach with it.

Baltar quickly and nervously attempts to get his safety belts back on as Toppers holds onto his lower leg attempting to get the bleeding to slow. Topper slowly and painfully lowers himself through the floor hatch as Baltar goes to working on the computer system attempting to get enough power to the Galactica's FTL drive.

He watches the red light indicating the FTL's status as it powers up. He mutters, "come on, come on, come on." Suddenly the light changes to green and he calls out on the radio, "Galactica, you've got an FTL drive!"

His smile is quickly lost as another large thud hits the Raptor and several of the monitors blow out. The ship begins sliding back and forth and fear overcomes Baltar. He undoes his harness and jumps for the hatch, but stops in his tracks as he sees that it's been sealed. He falls upon it and begins banging with his fist as the Raptor is ripped from the side of the Galactica and begins falling away powerless out into space.

Officer Dualla shouts out to the CIC, "our FTL is online!"

Colonel Tigh picks up a phone receiver, "this is Colonel Tigh to all ships, looks like were not going to get a powered flight deck…so it's combat landings in the dark. Everyone is to come home immediately."

He commands, "D, the moment all ships are stowed, we get the hell out of here."

Tigh sighs, "who would have thought I'd end up thanking the Gods for Doctor Baltar." He looks at Dualla, "tell that pompous dandy to get up here, we may need his help again."

She replies losing her smile, "Topper and Vandal severed the cables and sealed the hatch. Toper was wounded…Raptor One has been lost. Doctor Baltar didn't make it out."

Tigh drops his head for a moment, "what's the status on the Nebula Chaser?"

Dualla shakes her head, "we lost contact after it took another Raider in its side. Its dead in the water, it won't make it out."

Jolly says to Starbuck, "how do you plan on landing this boat on the Galactica without taking out our own fighters? Just curious."

She smiles at him, "unless my math is off, the Galactica has two flight decks. And one of them isn't being used at the moment."

Jolly adds the question, "you do realize that flight deck isn't really a flight deck anymore? I mean, it's a museum…and a badly damaged museum at that."

She replies, "that's the beauty of it. Colonel Tigh can't blame me if it was already wrecked before I got there. If you have a better plan, I'm all ears."

Jolly shrugs, "no, I actually don't."

Apollo calls out to his surviving Vipers and Raptors, "this is Apollo, we've got the call. Everyone head back to Galactica. I'll escort Colonial One in. There's no power to the flight deck so it's combat landings in the dark."

A pilot calls out, "probably the easiest thing any of us has done all day."

Apollo asks, "how we doing Slider?"

Slider struggles with her joystick, "I'll make it. It'll be a rough landing, but I'm sure not sticking around here. This neighborhoods sucks."

Apollo then calls out, "Colonial One, this is Captain Adama, I'll do what I can to guide you onto the flight deck. It won't be eas…"

Starbuck replies, "really? I thought I would guide you in. I could do this in my sleep."

Apollo smiles, "I should have known when Colonial One did a roll that somehow Starbuck had something to do with it."

Starbuck responds, "well, just make sure your rocket jockeys are out of my way, cause I don't think this thing handles quite like a Mark VII."

Apollo answers, "roger that. We'll try our best to stay out of the way." He hesitates then begins to ask, "is…"

Starbuck answers his question, "we've had some troubles, but the old man is fine."

Jolly adds, "I'm ok too, Lee. Thanks for asking."

A large cylon transport ship attaches itself to the Nebula Chaser and dozens of Centurions unload. They rush through the ship towards the command cockpit finding only one human already dead in the cargo area.

They encounter another deceased crew member lying in the entrance way to the command cockpit, where they find one elderly man in the uniform of Colonial Lieutenant sitting at a station watching the Dradis through a cracked monitor. The old man turns and blows the smoke from his last cigarette at them, "I didn't think you boys would make it in time."

One of the Centurions fires killing R-n-R, who's body falls onto the station he had been observing. The lead Centurion in gold, walks over and throws R-n-R's body to the ground and turns to the screen he had been viewing. It shows their Base Star moving into a colored circle around the Chaser. The moment the Base Star is completely within the circle the room around them breaks apart in a huge explosion.

R-n-R's last task had been to rig the Chaser, which had been stuffed with munitions and fuel by Colonel Tigh for the Galactica's fighters to explode the moment the Base Star entered the estimated blast radius. As close to a nuclear blast as he was going to get, the cylon transport attached to the Chaser explodes in a ball of flame that encompasses a large area. Dozens of Raiders also are caught and destroyed. The Base Star takes damage as one of its spikes is completely vaporized. But it isn't destroyed and it continues its course towards the Galactica.

"What the frak was that?" Starbuck yells out.

Jolly answers soberly as he views a screen, "that was the Chaser. She's gone."

Starbuck responds, "well, looks like it bought us some time. We're going in."

Jolly points to where the flight deck opening should be, "uhm…when did they seal it up?"

Starbuck smiles, "don't worry. We should break right through pretty easily…I think."

They watch as the oncoming wall moves closer and closer. There is a large crash as Colonial One breaks through the sheet metal used to close up the flight deck and the ship slides through the museum area. Jolly calls out, "brakes! Brakes would be good!"

Colonial One bursts through three separate rooms sending thirty years of Galactica artifacts and memorabilia flying. The ship continues plowing through until Starbuck manages to land on top of a large recreation of a Base Star. Starbuck and Jolly look out the windshield to see that they have stoppedcentimeters from a large banner hanging down from the ceiling. The banner reads, 'THE GALACTICA: 30 YEARS OF KEEPING THE COLONIES CYLON FREE!'

With the Vipers and Raptors landing, the Base Star bears down and sends a volley of its full arsenal at the Galactica. As hundreds of projectiles stream towards thenearly powerlessGalactica, suddenly there is a flash of light and it's gone. The missiles and Raiders fly through the space occupied by the Galctica just a moment before.
Colonel Tigh looks over at Petty Officer Dualla, "well?"

Dualla smiles, "we're back with the fleet. All contacts accounted for."

Tigh asks, "Colonial One?"

Dualla responds, "she's on our alternate flight deck. She's seems to have made it intact."

There is a general cheer from all of the crew in the CIC. Tigh comes over to her, "what's the butcher's bill, D?"

Dualla begins counting ships on her screen, "we lost a total of eight Vipers and three Raptors…and the Nebula Chaser. I haven't received a casualty report fromMajor Cottle."

Tigh looks concerned, "three Raptors?"

Dualla replies, "yes sir, Tantrum and Racetrack didn't make it out."

Ensign Solon calls out, "we have a contact jumping in." She scans her monitor, "its a Raptor. It's Tantrum and Racetrack, sir."

Dualla says on her radio, "good to have you back, Raptor 367."

Tantrum's voice fills the CIC, "sorry, we're late Galactica. We decided to grab a souvenir, so you should really be calling us, Colonial One. We managed to pick up the Acting President before we jumped out."

Commander Adama asks, "any idea how you are going to explain all of this?"

Roslin replies dryly, "I was hoping you could explain it to me."

Starbuck leaves the cockpit area, "not my smoothest landing, but any landing you can walk away from…"

Two Militia soldiers escort Helo into the seating area, one has a pistol drawn. Commander Adama challenges them, "what are doing with my pilot?"

The soldier with the pistol replies, "we caught him messing around the auxiliary air lock." Then glaring at Jolly, "and the body of the female cylon is missing."

Everyone looks at Helo, until he explains, "she was pregnant with my child. I couldn't stand the idea of it being dissected and put in a jar. So I sent them both out the air lock."

Adama gets angry, "you did what?"

Helo has trouble keeping eye contact but manages to reply, "she was dead. We have another dead Sharon to study. I couldn't handle them being cut up, sir."

Starbuck looks at Helo then Jolly, "she was dead…I mean, we know she was dead, right?"

Jolly responds obviously confused, "I didn't check for a pulse or anything. She seemed dead."

Starbuck yells at him, "you didn't make sure? You idiot!"

Jolly yells back, "since when did I become the cylon coroner? I had a pretty good source that told me she was dead."

They all turn to him, as Jolly realizes he's going to have to explain, "my gut…I mean, my gut told me that she was dead." Jolly stares at Helo, "she was dead…wasn't she?"

Helo defends himself, "like I said, I just couldn't handle seeing my own child dissected. I just couldn't do it."

Starbuck scolds him, "Helo, tell me you didn't help her escape. Tell me she was dead and you really sent her out the air lock."

Helo just stands defiantly and silent.

Adama orders, "you're in the brig, Lieutenant…until I can decide what to do with you." He then orders, "I want every inch of this ship checked. If the cylon is still alive, we need to find her."

Roslin corrects him, "I believe this is my ship, Commander."

Adama nods, "of course. My apologies."

Roslin then orders, "you heard him. Check every inch of this ship."

Helo nods reluctantly, as the Militia soldiers begin pulling him away. Starbuck steps up and pushes them away from him. "Commander Adama charged him; that means it's a military…not a Militia matter. I'll take him."

Starbuck stands at attention and addresses Commander Adama, "sir, requesting permission to report for duty and secure the prisoners, sir."

Adama responds, "permission granted…Lieutenant."

Roslin leans into Adama, "what Militia?"

TEN HOURS LATER…

In the Galactica's brig, Jolly sits alone with his back to the door as Vice President Gaius Baltar enters. Sharon mutters to Jolly, "the snake is here."

Baltar says to the guard, "if you'll excuse us, I need to speak with the Lieutenant…alone."

The guard replies, "I was instructed…"

Baltar cuts him off, "now, I'm instructing you to leave us."

The guard reluctantly leaves and Baltar walks right up to the bars to talk to Jolly. In aquiet voicehe says, "funny how things work out, isn't it?"

Jolly refuses to respond, so Baltar continues trying to sound sincere, "after everything is said and done…you still end up in a cell and I receive rewards for saving the day."

Baltar nervously continues, "listen, I know mistakes have been made…I've made mistakes…but we're all just getting by the best we can."

Jolly still refuses to turn to him, so Baltar offers his deal, "Lieutenant, I can fix things…make up for…past errors. I can get you released."

Without turning Jolly asks, "how?"

Baltar takes a deep breath and then explains, "we tell the truth. I have a more than reasonable explanation for everything that transpired. Shooting Lieutenant Gaeta was a horrible regrettable accident."

Jolly snorts, "the truth."

Baltar begins to get irritated. "Look, I'm trying to help you. I'm the hero of the day! I don't really need you. You're just another fraking toaster that they'll either throw out an air lock or allow me to dissect while you're still alive." He stops himself, "but…but, there are questions that linger. And things would be a lot smoother for me if you and I came to some sort of agreement…a meeting of the minds. We can help each other."

Still without turning, Jolly asks, "where's the disk?"

Baltar startled by the question replies, "you mean the cylon disk you brought back?" He thinks for a moment then responds, "well, the Marines managed to shoot up everything in the room, but the actual disk. I deciphered it and it contained nothing but the virus, so I flushed it out an air lock. Sorry that you were duped. Apparently, the version of Sharon Valerii that gave it to you was using you to sabotage the Galactica. Lucky thing I was able to thwart her plans."

Sharon cries out, "that's not true! He's lying. That disk contained several recurring DNA sequences that can be found in every humanoid cylon. It would have cleared you and would have cut cylon detection to a matter of minutes."

Jolly asks Baltar, "you threw it out an air lock?"

Baltar smiles smugly, "yes, I did. Very dangerous little thing to keep as a souvenir don't you think?" After another awkward pause, "so you see, you don't really have a lot of options, Lieutenant. I have a large meeting of the press to get to and I need to know whether I am going tell them an awful mistake has been made and you're human or whether all of the horrific death and losses that occurred can be placed squarely on your shoulders. It's your choice."

After Jolly gives his decision, Baltar turns to leave the brig. Jolly calls out, "I'm going to kill you someday, Doc."

Baltar turns to see that Jolly has finally turned around and is standing gripping the bars and staring at him. Jolly repeats, "just so you know, someday I'm going to kill you."

Baltar smiles smugly, "I'll keep that under advisement."

Jolly adds as Baltar reaches the doorway, "and tell you're blonde friend that I said 'hi.'

Baltar freezes in his tracks, but then leaves without another word.

President Roslin walks with the help of Billy Keikeya towards the podium set up aboard Colonial One. The room is packed with the press and members of the Council of Twelve. She takes particular notice of Tom Zarek standing along the back of the room.

Roslin smiles weakly and then begins, "I am here because I know that there are a lot of unanswered questions about recent events. Questions that require answers, if we are to continue living, working and striving for survival together."

She takes a drink of water from a glass set upon the podium, then continues, "it appears that one of the pilots from the Nebula Chaser was a cylon. This pilot that went by the call sign, Saber, somehow managed to infiltrate Doctor Baltar's lab and corrupt test results. He managed to implicate another pilot, Lieutenant Jordan Nevlin…" She smiles, "although everyone calls him, Jolly…Jolly was falsely implicated as being a cylon agent."

Roslin looks out over the crowd, she can see Vice President Baltar at the back, moving his lips as she talks as if going over the story again. It makes her nervous, but she continues, "when a second test was ordered and it became apparent that Saber would be exposed, he attacked Doctor Baltar from behind and destroyed most of the lab. As Doctor Baltar was recovering, Jolly entered the lab with his sidearm drawn. Obviously Doctor Baltar assumed that Lieutenant Nevlin was the cylon agent come back to kill him. Command Officer, Lieutenant Gaeta showed up and attacked Lieutenant Nevlin and in the melee while fighting over the gun, Lieutenant Gaeta was shot. A terrible accident rising from a truly regrettable and unfortunate misunderstanding."

Both the Vice President and Lieutenant Nevlin have validated these events and I believe we can place this matter behind us. I would like to offer Jolly our sincerest apologies and wish him a speedy recovery from his wounds. It appears that Lieutenant Gaeta will also make a full recovery in time, and we hope that you will keep both of them in your prayers."

Roslin looks back to Billy, who hands her a large soft box. She takes it and says, "I know word has spread quickly regarding the heroic actions of our Vice President and I don't want totake any more time before we show our appreciation for his selflessness and bravery. Doctor Baltar, please join me up here by the podium."

Vice President Baltar acts convincingly as if he didn't expect the honor, waltzes up quickly to shake the President's hand and stands smugly over the crowd.

Roslin continues, "this man was willing to sacrifice his own life to save all those on board the Galactica and Colonial One. None of us would be here if not for his talent and courage. So Doctor, we have decided to honor you with the highest award a civilian can receive." She opens the box and shows the crowd the large gold medal inside. She says to the crowd, "we award Doctor Gaius Baltar, Vice President of the Colonies, the 'Valor of the Gods' medal for your courage and strength of character. Congratulations Doctor."

The crowd gives Baltar a standing ovation as he bows in humility and graciously accepts the award as Roslin places it around his neck. He mouthes, 'thank you…thank you," to the crowd as he takes his place beside the President.

Reporters rush forwards yelling out questions. Roslin points at one male reporter who asks, "if what you say is true, then Lieutenant Nevlin actually escaped from a cylon Base Star. That's truly amazing. He's a hero."

Roslin begins to respond, but Baltar interrupts her and moves to the podium, "certainly, Lieutenant Nevlin is to be commended for having a high aptitude for survival, but it seems that the cylons may have aided his escape. They allowed him to leave, so that he could deliver the virus which would have led to the destruction of the Galactia…had I not been there."

Roslin gives Baltar a discerning look as that had not been something they had agreed to discuss to the press. She leans back to take back the podium, which causes him to apologize and step back. She adds, "I don't think there's any shortage of heroes in the fleet."

A female reporter quickly asks, "how are you feeling?"

Roslin smiles, "I'm doing much better thank you. Doctor Cottle isn't sure what happened to me, but I seem to be making a full recovery. As we have so many reasons to thank Doctor Baltar, I would like to thank him for attending to the office of President while I was out."

Six whispers seductively in to Baltar's ear, "she'd be singing a different tune if she knew it was you that caused her collapse. Not to mention your ever watchful care that kept her from coming around while you were President. You think she wonders why she made almost a full recovery only a couple of hours after being rescued? Probably not, but you never know when the light bulb will go on."

Baltar continues smiling and whispers back, "just an unfortunate episode of her disease. I only wish I could have done more to end her suffering."

Another reporter throws out looking at Baltar, "will there be any disciplinary action against members of the military or Militia for the violence that occurred?"

Roslin thinks soberly for a moment, "certain hostilities that took place between the Militia and the military were unfortunate byproducts of the misunderstandings created by the cylon agent." She continues hesitantly, "it appears that Colonel Hadrian, commander of the Militia, as a side affect of the mounting stress might have acted in a manner that escalated the violence. I think we will all agree that she more than paid for any misconduct on her part."

As other reporters try to get her attention, they all stop and turn as Tom Zarek throws out a question, "what about the Militia? Do you plan to dissolve the Colonial Militia?"

Roslin strokes her hair nervously, "no, we actually plan on maintaining and expanding the Colonial Militia." As all of the reporters go into a frenzy, she raises her hands to get them to stop and listen, "I believe the central idea of creating a Militia to deal with issues such as civilian security and peace keeping duties was a good one." She takes off her glasses, "let me be clear. I am not challenging the military. The scope of the Militia will be strictly civilian security issues."

A reporter shouts, "what about the pilots…the Air Wing?"

Roslin replies, "after assurances that no disciplinary action against them would be taken, the pilots will be assigned back to the Galactica's fighter squadron."

As Roslin speaks, Six purrs into Baltar's ear, "you are amazing. God must truly love you. You're his choice…you're the one."

Baltar shrugs, "just doing what I can, where I can…for a higher purpose."

Six asks, "Jolly's a dangerous loose end. Particularly now that he has a partner in crime. What should we do about him?"

The corners of his mouth curl into a sly smile, "we'll deal with him…when the inspiration hits us."

Apollo follows Slider out on to the flight deck, "Frankie, will you at least talk to me?"

Slider turns around, "you shot at me, Lee!" She shakes her head, "what am I saying? You didn't shoot at me, you shot me! Not the sort of thing that's easy for a girl to forget."

Apollo grabs her arm, "listen, I pulled up. Shouldn't that count for something?"

She pulls her arm away, replying, "only because Jordan told you who the real cylon was."

Starbuck who had been working on a Viper watches them smiling. She calls out, "speaking of cylons…"

Everyone on the flight deck turns to watch Jolly approach in a wheelchair. A few people nervously wave or nod in greeting to him, but he wheels right past everyone without a word.

Starbuck begins walking with him, "I knew you were human. No machine could smell that bad…" He smiles but chooses not to reply and continues rolling. Starbuck stops in surprise as she obviously expected some sort of retort.

Slider hugs him quickly giving him a quick kiss, but he wheels past even her until he comes to what looks like the skeleton of a once living Viper.

In fact, the Chief is just finishing pulling a part off the bottom of the Viper, when he looks up to see Jolly. He comes over, "sir, I want to thank you for what you said the other day. About Sharon's last moment…I've thought a lot about it and I'm glad you said something."

Jolly responds, "just felt you should know."

Sharon says next to him, "at least he cared. Glad to know that he cared. Even if I never said those things."

Jolly whispers, "doesn't matter now does it?"

She answers, "no…not unless you and he were open minded to trying…"

Jolly replies quickly, "not a chance. And I'm pretty sure I'm speaking for both of us."

The Chief looks Jolly over, "excuse me, sir?"

Jolly shakes his head, "nothing, Chief, nothing." After a moment, Jolly asks, "what are you doing with my Viper, Chief?"

The Chief looks at it confused for a moment, "sir, that Viper's not good for anything but parts. It's a goner."

Apollo has walked up and comments, "Jordan, Major Cottle said you probably wouldn't ever fly Vipers again. You're wounds will never heal enough."

Jolly replies matter-of-factly, "that's my Viper. And by the time the Chief and I can get her flying…I'll be ready too."

Jolly forces himself out of the wheelchair and limps over to a tool cart and pulls a can of black pitch used to seal engine parts. He limps over to the heavily damaged Viper and with great effort manages up the ladder to the side of the cockpit. He dips a finger in the pitch and on the area that once read the name of the pilot, which has long since worn off, he writes…'Lt. Jolly.'

Congratulations, You Have Reached the End of the Story.