The men arrived in Aft Damage Control and hastily constructed a makeshift barricade from supply crates. Lee reminded the others that the heavily-armored centurions must be shot in the head in order to be destroyed. Jammer, a deck hand they'd met up with on their way, was clearly nervous, telling Lee he didn't know anything about fighting centurions. "I'm not really cut out for this, sir!"

"Neither am I," Lee confessed. "But sometimes you just have to roll a hard six."

Jammer was bewildered not encouraged. "What does that mean?"

Lee realized he didn't exactly know. "I'm not sure. It's something my dad says." Lee surprised himself with his easy reference to his father. A day earlier, he had been furious with his father and felt overwhelmed with his feelings of shame, anger, and despair. Now all that was forgotten; he just wanted to survive the next five minutes. He realized he did hope to see his father again. He thought perhaps his career was irretrievably damaged, but perhaps his personal relationship with his father might be salvaged. He pushed those thoughts aside as they could now hear the centurions in the distance. He started talking quietly to himself. "Headshot...reload...headshot. Headshot...reload...headshot."

The centurions moved closer. They were distracted by something in an intersecting corridor and Lee gave the order to fire. He hit one of them but the other Cylon continued to advance.

The other men fired but missed. Two of them fell to the Cylon's return fire. Lee reloaded his weapon as quickly as he could. The Cylon was almost upon him. He aimed and fired at almost point blank range and the Cylon exploded in a shower of sparks and metal fragments.

Jammer looked at the dead Cylon, lying in pieces around Lee Adama. "Hey, they don't look so big now!"

"They look big enough," Lee breathed, still trying to get himself under control. Someone once told him bravery was just when no one else knew how scared you were. Now he understood. Even in a viper in combat, he'd never felt terror like that. Wow that was close, he thought. He glanced down at his hands to make sure they weren't noticeably shaking.

Laura Roslin climbed to her feet and emerged from her hiding place followed by Corporal Venner. Lee wondered why they hadn't gone to sickbay but didn't ask.

"Well, it seems I once again have the opportunity to say thank you Captain Apollo for saving our collective asses." Laura and Lee smiled at each other, sharing their private memory of the last time she'd said that to him. The others appeared either bemused or shocked at hearing the normally refined president say such a thing.

Corporal Venner contacted CIC. "The remaining centurions have been destroyed by Captain Adama. This area is secure," he reported.

Colonel Tigh's voice came over the phone. "Good work. Now take your prisoners back to the brig."

Lee rolled his eyes. "You're welcome," he muttered towards the ceiling, handing off his weapon to the corporal.

"This isn't right. He just saved the ship!" Laura was indignant on Lee's behalf.

"I have my orders, ma'am."

"All right. You take Captain Apollo back if you must, but I'm going to talk to Commander Adama right now."

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, I can't let you do that."

"If you remember, he requested to speak to me in private before he was called away. I'm just following his orders." She smiled sweetly, daring him to refute her logic. "One of these other marines can escort me to his quarters."

Corporal Venner nodded to confirm that the Commander had indeed said that, and so they did as Roslin suggested.

In CIC, everyone cheered at the news that the ship was safe. Gaeta broadcast a message to the fleet informing them that Galactica had been secured and normal fleet activities could now resume.

Commander Adama ordered search and rescue teams to explore the decks where the Cylons had been, to bring aid to the injured and remove the dead. Seeing that things were under control, he turned to his XO.

"A few hours ago, before all this started, I was about to have a discussion with the President about..."

"She's not the President!" Tigh interrupted.

"Saul, I can't let this go on. Lee was right. Removing her from office was illegal."

"Lee also put a gun to my head, or are you forgetting that fact?" Tigh spat.

Adama took a deep breath. "No, of course not. But perhaps things shouldn't have gotten to that point," he finished very quietly.

Tigh took the hint and didn't say anything else.

"As I was saying, I need to talk to the President. You have the conn."

Bill headed to his quarters, intending to freshen up a bit after the intense situation before going back to the brig. He couldn't have been more surprised to see a marine escorting Laura Roslin down the corridor.

"Excellent. You're here," Laura smiled as if she had summoned him, rather than the other way around.

Adama quickly found his voice. "Yes, I'm here. These are my quarters after all. Now, why are you here? Why aren't you in the brig?"

"I thought you wanted to meet with me," she replied innocently. "Here I am, reporting as ordered, sir." Her tone wasn't quite sarcastic, but it was far from respectful. Playful might have been the best word for it, had Adama been seeking to describe it.

"Wait outside," he instructed the marine, and he and Laura Roslin entered and closed the hatch.

The Commander of the Galactica and the President of the Colonies stared at each other for several moments. Finally she spoke.

"I'm waiting."

"Oh?" Adama knew exactly what she was waiting for, but it galled him to give in to her.

"You said you had something to say to me. I'm listening."

Adama turned and walked a few steps away from her, and the picture of Lee and Zak on his desk caught his eye. Okay, Lee had the guts to take a stand, even though his actions were criminal. Let's see if his Old Man can do any better. "I have...reconsidered my position. I was angry that you broke your word to me, that you incited one of my best pilots to disobey orders and that you cost this fleet a valuable military asset." He paused to let his words sink in. He knew he wouldn't get her apology first, but he could remind her that he wasn't the only one who had made mistakes. "I have decided to forgive you."

Laura almost laughed out loud. Adama should be on his knees begging her forgiveness and here he was granting his to her. The audacity of the man astounded her. Outwardly, she only smiled. "I didn't ask for your forgiveness."

Adama clenched his teeth. "Well, I'm forgiving you anyway."

"I'm honored. I presume I'm supposed to follow suit?"

Adama just looked at her.

"You want me to say 'don't worry about that little coup thing. I know you didn't mean any harm' is that it?"

Frak. She was going to make him say it. "I may have overstepped my bounds."

"May have? You aren't sure?" Laura sounded much more like a teacher than a politician at that moment leaving Adama feeling like a schoolboy caught chewing gum or passing notes rather than the military leader of what remained of the human race.

"All right! I was wrong. I shouldn't have attempted to remove you from office. Are you happy?"

"No, actually. But I will accept your apology. I presume I am no longer in custody?"

"That's right." Bill affirmed.

Laura smiled, genuinely this time. "Well, for my first official action I will pardon you for treason. No charges will be filed against you."

Adama was taken aback. He hadn't considered that she could still have him court-martialed even though he had released her.

"And my second action will be to pardon Captain Adama and see that he is reinstated to his position with no further repercussions."

"You can't do that."

"I just did."

"People will think he's being shown favoritism."

"He isn't. He's being shown justice. He's personally saved my life more than once. He saved the ship today. His record is exemplary. He only acted as he did on Colonial One out of desperation to save the lives of innocent civilians."

Adama sighed. Secretly he was pleased. He knew there was no way for him as commander to officially overlook such a serious infraction, yet they needed Lee. There were too few pilots as it was. Not to mention that he couldn't bear the thought of passing sentence on his son. But he was still concerned about how it would look. He also knew Saul would be furious. He opened the hatch and spoke to the marine. "Bring Captain Adama to my quarters."

On their way back to the brig, Lee and his marine escort encountered Sharon Valerii. Lee couldn't contain his suspicions any longer. "Lieutenant? Would you care to explain why two Cylon centurions just walked past you without harming you, and why you didn't attempt to fire at them?"

Sharon froze. She remembered seeing the Centurions, being terrified they would kill her, then feeling no danger whatsoever as they passed by. She had no idea anyone had witnessed that! Oh gods, what WAS she? What would they do to her if they knew? But it couldn't be true, could it? She wasn't a Cylon! She wasn't! Was she?

Sharon's racing thoughts were interrupted when one of the marines spoke.

"What are you saying, Captain? You think Boomer's a Cylon?" He sounded incredulous.

Lee hadn't meant to come right out and blatantly accuse her, but now that the marine had voiced Lee's suspicion in no uncertain terms, Lee looked expectantly at Boomer for an explanation.

Sharon was totally panicked inside. She tried to hide her fear, tried to think of something to say, something rational. Believable. "You…you think I'm a Cylon? Well, well...maybe YOU'RE a Cylon!" Sharon cringed internally. That wasn't rational or believable. What in the twelve worlds made her say that? However, she noted the marines regarding Apollo with sudden suspicion. He was after all, under arrest for mutiny.

"Come on! You know I'm not a Cylon! That's absurd!" Lee protested.

Suddenly Sharon was shouting accusations at him and he was shouting back, each maintaining their own innocence while accusing the other. Within moments, the marines intervened, ordering them both to cease and desist.

Corporal Venner had no idea what to do now. Despite the fact that Captain Adama was his prisoner, he respected the man, and he'd just watched him nearly single-handedly save the ship. But why would he say such a thing about Boomer? And the same went for her. He had no idea how to even begin to sort this out. He found the nearest phone and contacted CIC for instructions.

Gaeta's jaw dropped slightly in disbelief as he listened to what was being reported. "Colonel? Corporal Venner is on the line. He says Captain Adama and Lieutenant Valerii are accusing each other of being Cylons." Gaeta spoke quietly but several people nearby looked up from their workstations with expressions varying from curious to shocked.

Tigh walked over and grabbed the phone in disgust. He had had just about enough of one Captain Lee Adama. His brow furrowed as he listened to the report. He wanted to tell Venner that they were being paranoid, to just put Apollo back in the brig and forget the whole thing but he saw the looks passing between the crew. He couldn't allow there to be any rumors started over this. He had to erase any doubt that Boomer could be a Cylon. Apollo couldn't be, he was the Old Man's son after all. For a brief moment, Tigh thought it was too bad Lee wasn't a Cylon. Then they could just put him out the nearest airlock and be done with him.

"Bring them both to Baltar's lab. I'll meet you there. We'll nip this in the bud right now!" He slammed down the phone. "You have the conn, Mr. Gaeta," he said as he stormed out of CIC.

Gaius Baltar sat happily in his laboratory. Six was on his lap tracing imaginary patterns across his face and chest in between passionate kisses. Suddenly she sat up, as if she'd remembered something. "You lied, Gaius."

Baltar's eyes widened. What was she talking about? When did he lie to her?

Seeing his confusion, she explained, "You lied to Sharon. You told her she was human."

Oh that, Baltar thought. "But you said she didn't know she was a Cylon, that it would be...upsetting to her, to find out. I...I thought you wanted me to tell her…what...what she wanted to hear." Baltar finished defensively.

Six stood and walked a few steps away. "I never told you to lie, Gaius. God hates lies. They always come back to bite you in the..."

Six was interrupted as the door opened and several marines entered, along with Captain Adama and Lieutenant Valerii, followed just a few moments later by Colonel Tigh. "All right! What is the meaning of this?" Tigh thundered at the warriors.

"I was wondering that myself," Baltar ventured. "Why are you all here? I am a busy man, you know. Quite busy! Very busy, actually..."

"If you will be quiet, you will find out!" Tigh silenced the doctor's ramblings and turned back to his officers, wanting to hear this from them firsthand.

Lee spoke first, explaining what he'd seen in the corridor. "I just think it's more than a little odd," he finished.

"You know what I think? I think you realized just how badly you screwed up and now you're trying to draw attention away from yourself by making these outrageous accusations!" Tigh bellowed.

Lee blinked in bewilderment. That had never entered his mind.

Tigh continued his rant, wagging a finger at both officers. "I think you're both human but since half the ship has heard your paranoid allegations, I want the doctor to prove it. Then we can get on with your court-martial!" He poked Lee in the chest with one finger to punctuate his last remark.

Baltar absently noted that the Colonel didn't ask for Boomer's explanation. The man was obviously still furious with Apollo. Even Baltar had heard the talk about how Captain Adama had committed mutiny while he and the others were marooned on Kobol. He found it hard to imagine the straight-laced officer doing such a thing.

He felt a hand on his shoulder which moved to his neck and then ran its fingers through his hair. "Well Gaius, what are you going to do? If you reveal her as a Cylon now she'll tell everyone how you tested her before and said she was human," Six spoke softly in his ear. "At best, they'll think your Cylon detector is worthless..." she trailed off as she twirled his hair around her finger. She didn't need to spell out what the worst case scenario would be.

Baltar swallowed hard trying not to think about that and fumbled in a drawer for a tourniquet and a syringe. Finding them, he held them up and smiled inanely. "All right then. Who's first?"

Sharon boldly stepped forward looking back at Lee defiantly as she did so. "I have nothing to hide," she locked her gaze on Baltar as she continued, "Right doctor?"

"Oooh. Was that a threat, Gaius?" Six mused.

Trying to ignore Six, Baltar indicated for Boomer to sit and gave her a small ball to squeeze. Soon he had collected a vial of her blood. He nervously tried to press a gauze pad against her arm while placing a label on the specimen and collecting his rubber ball. He was quite attached to his ball. There weren't a lot of balls left in the universe, after all.

Lee wasted no time taking her place in the chair. He certainly had nothing to hide either.

As Baltar tightened the tourniquet around Lee's arm, he realized his eyes were only inches away from the largest biceps he'd ever seen. Not realizing he was speaking aloud he exclaimed, "My gods, those are huge!" Lee looked at him oddly and he hastily added, "Veins. Those are huge veins."

Six draped herself over Lee's shoulder and smirked at Baltar. "Interested, Gaius? I didn't think he was your type. Or are you just jealous."

Baltar didn't respond to that but started looking around for something. "Where's my ball?" he muttered.

"I've been wondering that myself," Six taunted.

"Oh, very funny!" he huffed.

"What? I don't have it?" Lee was baffled.

"Ah. Here it is." Baltar held up the object of his search. "Silly thing seems to have a mind of its own."

Lee raised his eyebrows. "Can we get on with this?"

"Oh. Yes, yes of course. Just squeeze my ball," he instructed, placing it in Lee's hand.

"You didn't just say that, Gaius!" Six feigned shock.

Oblivious to Baltar's imaginary playmate, Lee found a spot to study on the wall. He hadn't had much interaction with the Vice President and he feverently hoped it stayed that way. The man was a loon!