Starbuck would tell him that he might have to give it another go at the chancery next time he had a chance to visit the Rising Star, as his luck had definitely changed for the better. Despite the weak charge on the hoverbike, he was able to cover almost the whole distance he and Max had travelled the whole day before in just a few centaurs. The bike didn't quit on him until he was almost to Avery's cavern campsite. Even the dying of the hoverbike's motor had been a fortunate occurrence, as he discovered Avery's hideaway to be crawling with the enemy. Zooming over the hillsides without any warning could have been disastrous, but instead his having been forced to hike in was a stroke of good fortune.

Anything the cylon's had learned about subtlety had to have come from Baltar, and they had forgotten it once Baltar left them. Apollo could hear the enemy before he came over the hillside. He sought cover and watched the cylons mill about the opening of the cavern looking much like the insects that were their ancient predecessors. He took it as a good omen. The enemy's continued presence meant that his team and Avery's men had managed to get away. The question was to where? Apollo observed the hideout below hoping the enemy would lead him to his friends or, at the very least, provide some clue where to begin to search.

Raiders streaked across the sky, coming from Caprica city and fanning out over the hillsides. Another sign from Starbuck's lady luck. Apollo would have to consider changing where he directed his prayers. His friend's patron goddess might have more sway than he previously thought. "Let's hope I get to make that offering at Starbuck's favorite temple, the card table," he noted to himself as he realized that Avery's men had headed deeper into the wilderness. Where exactly still remained the question, but it gave him a direction to begin searching. He just hoped that Boomer had been able to convince his temperamental buddy to follow Avery and not have the team strike out on their own for the city and a possible raider.

Starbuck was certainly smarter than that. Their recent foray for medications had been fraught with plenty of enemy encounters to serve as a warning that the city that had once been their home was now lost to them now. They had merely ventured to the outskirts of the city and any penetration deeper into town had been impossible. "He'll be worried about Boomer and Rene. He'll think of their safety first. Neither of those two are up for a run for a raider."

He knew his friend. If he went for a raider, he probably went alone, leaving Jake, a damn good medic, to care for the other two. Starbuck didn't like Avery, that was true, but the warrior had the training to understand that injured and ill, his wife and friend would be safer with the armed survivalists than trekking back into the city. It was a certainty that if Apollo followed the path that was most likely Avery and his men's, he'd at least find Boomer and Rene. He just had to hope that if Starbuck took off on his own, he knew what he was doing.

He had second thoughts now about his own trek to find a viper. He should have taken his team with him, but he reminded himself that when he left them, his objective had been a long shot. He had travelled hard and fast. Boomer would not have been able to keep up, Rene was close to death. But had they come along, they would be inside Peryton's home, warm, safe, and well fed.

Hindsight was always clearer than the options of the immediate situation. No, he had to follow the same advice he often gave Starbuck, you can't look back and second guess yourself. You have right here and right now with which to contend. He had at least found his objective. Salvation was still waiting for them.

Another raider zoomed low over the valley and headed in a straight line towards the mountains. Apollo kept low and stuck to the brush as much as possible as he followed the raider into the hills. The cylons were hunting something, and instinct told him that it was Avery and the rest of his team.

Tracking had been one of the skills that Apollo had studied while in the Colonial Scouts. Every kid joined the scouts in elementary school, but many dropped out before secondary school. Apollo had kept with it long after it was cool or popular to be in the organization. It had provided him with something to do while his father was away. He looked up to his troop leaders, regarding them as father figures in the absence of his own. One of them had been a survivalist much like Avery and his men, quoting from the book of the word often about preparing for the wrath of the gods. Apollo hadn't paid much attention to the religious utterings of the man, but he had taken note of his exceptional outdoor skills. Apollo had earned his merit badge in tracking from him, considering it high praise from a true outdoorsman. The skills had been surprisingly useful, even in the cockpit.

"You are looking for what doesn't belong, what is disturbed, disordered. The universe has a pattern and so does the forest floor. You want to look beyond the ordinary, to see where the pattern is disrupted."

He followed the enemy and set a course, pausing only to avoid detection from the raiders in the sky. He only had to go a kilometron before he saw the trail. It wasn't hard to miss actually and told a tale of a hasty retreat of several people. He waited for a break in the skies before he sped towards the route. He spent the day following it before he found himself in an area where the trail disappeared into a large swath of disturbed earth. The valley had suffered from a recent fire and there were many trails that wandered off, including a few that appeared to be created by centurions. The sunlight was fading and he was beginning to think he was off track. The raiders had thinned in the sky, and were heading off in directions that varied from his current course. He climbed to the top of the next hill as the sun set below the horizon. He hoped to catch a glimpse of something that might show him the way, even if it was just another raider's trajectory to follow.

He dug the oculars out of his pack, scanning the hills. "Come on Starbuck, you're usually not this shy. Most of the time I just have to follow the explosions and chaos. Now you decide to be covert or did you find yourself another chancery full of beautiful women?"

He suddenly felt bad for the tasteless quip, even if Starbuck wasn't around to hear it. Just a few cycles ago he was standing up at his best friend's sealing, something he thought he'd never see. But this gal was different. For one, Apollo didn't think Rene put up with Starbuck's roving eye, or his womanizing. As far as the cards, the drink and the fumarellos, well she supplied most of those so he had no need to search for them. She even supplied a bit of danger as evidenced by this honeymoon trip she had planned. Apollo hoped that his friend and his wife survived this vacation so they could laugh about it later.

There was little to see in the waning light, and he was worried he would have to stop for the night, afraid to go forward and losing track of his team completely. He scanned the horizon one more time as the light faded and night rapidly approached. Then suddenly, there it was, off in the distance, not more than a kilometron or more was a soft green phosphorescent glow. "What the hades?" He zoomed in and from this distance it had the shape of an S. Apollo chuckled to himself imagining the dinner with his father with everyone in attendance when he would tell this story, "and there off in the distance, he put up a neon sign. Starbuck is this way."

He pocketed the oculars and took off running as fast as he felt was safe in the descending darkness. He didn't slow down until he made it to Starbuck's sign where he pulled out an illuminator, flashing it briefly at the ground. He found a clear path visibly leading down to a ravine. He guessed another mine was down in the valley and briefly wondered which one of Avery's men had worked in the ore mining industry. Once in the ravine, he risked using the illuminator again. The opening of the mine was not as well hidden as the cavern Avery had been using for a base. Another lucky break. "I could get rich at the chanceries with a streak like this," he mused. As he entered the tunnel he risked shouting Starbuck's name, hoping against hope that he had reached the end of his quest.

The tunnel was empty, but recent food wrappers littered the ground, all with markings from the Galactica. He ventured back to the opening, looking for their tracks leaving the mine, but they weren't there. All the tracks led in to the tunnel, but not out. He reasoned there had to be another opening, lit his illuminator again and followed the breadcrumbs.

It didn't take long before he reached a cave in, and followed the rocks up to the open sky, quickly extinguishing his light before he led the enemy right to him. He was getting close, he could feel it. The tracks were fresh. He followed, covering the illuminator with his hand when he checked every fifty steps to make sure he stayed on the right course. It was more than a kilometron he followed having to move more slowly in the dark when he began to wonder if he had lost the trail again.

He found himself mumbling in the dark, suddenly very aware that he was very alone. If he became lost or injured, no one would come for him. He had broken one of the basic rules of a mission, stay with your team. Had he been a first-year cadet, he would have received quite a reprimand. Only this was no training mission and he was galaxies away from any instructor. Usually in these situations it was Starbuck by his side.

"Where are you, buddy? You don't like being alone and I don't like you being let loose on the world. Seriously, did you find a chancery somewhere, or are you curled up in a cosy little bar with a good ambrosia, is that why I can't find you? I'm getting tired here. Just give me a sign."

He lit his illuminator again to check the trail, as he faced another hill to climb, with an even taller ridge behind it. He scanned the ground around him, then shut the light off in frustration. He had lost the tracks as the ground became rockier. He didn't think Boomer or Rene would make it this far, but then again, he hadn't really considered the possibility that either might have succumbed to their injuries and infection. It was a distinct possibility, and if either of them had passed, Starbuck would be a dangerous force to contend with. He'd go ballistic. Boomer had been Starbuck's bunkmate for almost as long as himself. The two were closer in many ways that even Apollo could be. If he lost Rene, Starbuck wouldn't be seeing straight. He'd just gotten his mind back to normal after he had crashed head long into the relationship. The family he was creating balanced him out, but without that, there was no telling what he would do.

He discounted the thoughts. There was no way to know what had happened to his team, but he could tell that Starbuck had left him a sign. He debated stopping where he was until dawn so he could pick up the trail again in the light.

"Go back, go forward, or sit tight, which is it? I'd flip a cubit if I had one. Come on, Bucko, I could use another sign."

Starbuck had never been one to disappoint him. The ground rumbled under Apollo's feet from an explosion. He took off running in the direction of the sound, cresting the hill as another detonation shook the ground beneath his boots. Racing down the hillside, he stumbled in the darkness, felt his ankle buckle under him, pitching him face first into the dirt. He didn't have time to wonder if he'd twisted it or worse. He picked himself up and continued running, now a loping limp that slowed him down.

He reached the valley floor in time to watch laser fire begin to pummel the ridge before him. He had no idea who was on that ridge, but as the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. He began to climb the ridge, to lend his support to whomever was there now being targeted by cylons. When he was only half way up, he felt the earth slide beneath him, propelling him back down the hillside. He looked to the ridgeline watching the hill calve as if it were an iceberg, the earth falling away from him.

The cylon pulsar fire ceased with the ridge's collapse. He renewed his efforts to reach the top to gain a view of what was occurring on the other side. He was again half way up what was left of the hillside, when a voice rang out in the ravine behind him.

"RENE!"

It was not the familiar sound of his friend, but he knew the voice. "Jake!" He called to the young man as he looked to the valley floor, searching for the human figure in the dark.

"Colonel?"

Apollo let himself slide back down the rocky slope to meet his medic climbing up the hill. He wondered briefly if the look on the young man's face mirrored his own when Starbuck would swoop in for the rescue. "Colonel? Where did you come from?"

He gripped the young warrior, halting his progress. "What's happening, Jake?"

"Where's Rene? We have to go. The transport was full and they're coming. We have to get out of here!"

"Slow down, Lieutenant. I need a briefing," Apollo opted for the authority figure that might get some focus from Jake. It had the right effect as Jake's wide eyes shifted away from the top of the ridge to Apollo.

"Avery and his men…they brought the cylons down on us to get us to agree to rescue the kids from the base and…" Jake paused to suck in a breath, "Starbuck is down there trying to get the kids out, Boomer's taking out communications. Rene is supposed to be here and then take off into the hills once she takes out the guards and I…" Jake paused again, looking off into the darkness behind them then back up the top of the hill. "Where is she?"

"And your assignment?" Apollo tightened his grip on his arm.

"I…I was supposed to be getting the transport but," the young man paused again, shivering in Apollo's grasp. "It was full, centurions powering up. More than a couple dozen. They're headed this way and into the camp and…Where's Rene? Where did you come from?"

"I didn't see her. Where's Starbuck?"

Jake pointed up to the top of the ridge. "Down in the valley."

Apollo nodded, and pulled Jake with him as he began to climb the hill. The young warrior tried to pull away as he shouted, "I have to find Rene!"

"She's not here and Starbuck needs our help."

Instinctually he knew that Starbuck would have chosen the most dangerous aspect of themission for himself. His friend had spoken often of not totally trusting Jake. Plus, in the condition Rene was in, he would assign the easiest task for his wife. If Jake had failed, and Rene was gone, then Starbuck's mission was most likely in danger of failing as well. He did not let go of Jake, dragging him a few steps before the young man began to move on his own, joining Apollo in the attempt to climb the ridge.

Apollo gazed down on hades, or at least a very good imitation of how one of the sermons at the academy had described the land that awaited sinners. Fires were waging, barrels of fuel were exploding, and beneath those sight and sounds was the wail of children. He fumbled for the oculars at the side of his pack.

"Where did you say Starbuck was headed?" He reached out to push down the weapon Jake had aimed to fire down at the encampment. "Too far, Lieutenant. We don't want to draw their attention and we need to make sure of our target. What was the objective?"

Jake pointed to the fenced area at the bottom of the ridge, a type of enclosure that now appeared empty. "The kids, they were in there."

Apollo aimed the oculars away from the base, more towards the mining operations. He scanned the opening of the mine. Finding it devoid of movement, he swept the valley floor. He could make out human shapes, large and small disappearing into the darkness as they fled the encampment. He breathed a sigh of relief. The children had been released. While their survival was still in question, at least they were out of the enclosure and free to run.

"I think they got away, but," Apollo was distracted by the centurions gleaming in the bright lights, heading for the hillside below them. He shifted the focus of the oculars at the same time that Jake flinched.

Below him, close enough he didn't need the enhanced vision, he saw Starbuck leaning over a body, appearing to be kissing someone in the dirt. It took a moment for Apollo to realize that it wasn't a kiss, but an attempt to revive someone. From Jake's shout of her name, he knew it had to be Starbuck's wife. They were lucky that the clanking sounds of over twenty centurions headed for Starbuck drowned out Jake's voice, as the young man shouted again, "Rene!" Apollo caught a glimpse of Starbuck's unruly blond locks as he turned to deal with the enemy. The sight crushed the air out of his lungs as he witnessed one of the bravest men he knew, on his knees, arms raised in submission as over twenty centurions surrounded him. The centurions blocked his view, but despite that he couldn't look away for fear he would miss the moment when his friend met his death. He cursed the fates as the legendary pilot would not find his death in a viper as it should be, but on his knees in the dirt of their conquered home world. The fates were cruel.

"I'm too late." The thought ricocheted in his head, growing louder drowning out any other thoughts.

Jake's shout, "NO!" jolted Apollo into action. If he didn't do something, they were all going to be joining Starbuck in that next adventure that is death. He dropped the oculars, reaching to grasp Jake to keep him from going down the cliffside into the enemy's arms. It wasn't just the inexperienced warrior he was fighting, but his own desire to speed down that cliffside, lasers blazing, to save his closest friend.

"NO!" the young man screamed again, as Apollo wrestled him back from the edge as he registered Starbuck's own shout of "NO!" echoing off the hillsides. He nearly let Jake free, cursing that the young warrior may have made Apollo miss the most important moment of his life, witnessing the heroic death of the legendary Starbuck. But another loud "No!" echoed again down in the valley. His friend was still alive for now.

Apollo tightened his grip on Jake while at the same time respecting that the young man fought like a wild boray against the hold. It was a testament to the loyalty Starbuck had instilled in his new family, but loyalty demanded that Starbuck would want Jake to survive. He tried to remind himself of that fact as he fought back against his own need to show his allegiance to his friend in a desperate but futile attempt to overpower a far greater force.

Jake nearly broke free before Apollo could seize him around the neck, dragging him back down. The young man still fought valiantly in his grip, screaming up in Apollo's face. "NO! They are going to die!"

"You can't help them if you're dead too!"

Jake twisted in his arms, a move used in wrestling, as he broke free of one of Apollo's hands. The experienced warrior used a move of his own, pulling Jake close to his body into a choke hold, much like he had witnessed Crius use on Rene the first time he met the man on the Galactica. He hoped the familiarity of the position would bring some sense into the young man's frantic attempts at saving his friend.

"Lieutenant, stand down!" He hated to do it, to use the fear and idolatry this warrior had for his commanding officers, but to let him race down that cliff side would mean his death, and maybe Starbuck's. Apollo had been listening for the pulse rifle blast that would mean the end for his friend. But so far all he had heard was the centurion's metallic voices.

"Stand down, that's an order! We observe and…and then we…" Apollo didn't know what they could do. In the brief glimpse where he was focused on Starbuck, he had counted more than enough centurions to make going down to rescue his friend a suicidal mission. He leaned in close to Jake, speaking to his own desires to solve the situation. "We pull it together. We watch and we wait for an opportunity. But we have those kids to think about first. Starbuck's a warrior. He can take care of himself. He's been captured before, and walked away unharmed. He'll do it again, this time with Rene...and a little help from his friends."

Jake struggled beneath him, his eyes desperately looking up at the ridgetop, before he slumped in defeat.

"That's it Lieutenant. Calm, and focused. That's how we win this." Apollo slowly released his grip, on the young man's neck, patting Jake on the shoulder before he completely let go. "We take a look. We think this through." Jake nodded, but didn't turn to meet his eyes. Apollo patted Jake's shoulder again before he cautiously raised his head above the top of the ridge. The centurions had cleared a path and he watched as Starbuck raised his hands in the air surrendering to a strange looking robot with flashing lights and garish red grin.

"See, they're not shooting him." Jake eased his way up to Apollo's side.

"No, worse. Taking them captive."

Apollo realized as he watched the centurion pull Rene up from the dirt, that the passion spurring Jake, was not for Starbuck but for his ex-lover. He wondered briefly if he would tell his friend about this moment or would it incite the infamous Starbuck to display his notorious jealousy? He'd need to save Starbuck first, and he hoped by then it would be a moot point.

"How are we going to get them out of there, just the two of us?" Reason had finally seeped into the young warrior, and he began to mumble as he counted the number of centurions that were illuminated by the lights below them. "It's too many."

Apollo nodded, feeling his own shoulders sag in defeat. To have come so far, and yet arrived too late. It was a regret that had become far too familiar since Zac's death. He had no idea how he could continue to bear the weight of that guilt now doubly compounded with the death of his friend.

"I should have stayed with my team," he mumbled, realizing that there was no point in a viper if Rene and Starbuck were dead. The only comforting thought was that he wouldn't have to live with the remorse for long. Staying on Caprica would quickly mean all their deaths. There was no hope without Rene, or was there?

He was heartened to watch as Starbuck and Rene struggled in their captives' clutches. They weren't dead yet. They were very much alive, and the enemy had kept the children alive, for the most part anyway. Maybe they had time. With the firepower of at least one viper, and maybe some ordnance, he could blow this base wide open. There were no raiders after all, just a troop transport. Whatever was going on here wasn't important enough to warrant a full complement of raiders to protect it, but at least two dozen centurions to keep the slaves in order. The base would be vulnerable from an air assault. He brought up the oculars to scan the base, noting the weaknesses and where he should most likely strike. It could be done, he decided.

He focused the oculars back on Starbuck. He could almost read the words on his buddy's lips as he negotiated for his life. He prayed that Starbuck's silver tongue was up to the task ahead and could buy them all some more time. He kept watching until he witnessed Starbuck and Rene being dragged into the nearest building, he patted Jake on the shoulder again. They had done all they could do from here.

"Where were the others headed?"

It took a moment or two for Jake to answer him with a voice that was low and beaten. "To find you, sir."

"Alright, we meet up with them and see those kids to safety." He turned to climb down the hillside, looking back up for a moment to make sure Jake was following. He hadn't moved and Apollo patted the young man on the back again. "Lieutenant, we're warriors. We have an obligation to those children you just saved."

Jake nodded as he looked away, his eyes narrowing with barely hidden disgust. Apollo gripped his jacket, pulling the warrior to where they were nose to nose. "Right now, the enemy outnumbers us. If we go down there, we'll just be captured too. So, we gather Avery's men, see the kids to safety, rearm and then we come back and get our own. We aren't leaving them behind, you got that, warrior? They are our family!"

There was a brief spark of hope as Jake's eyes met his before he mumbled a more confident, "Yes, sir."

Apollo would take that spark. Maybe he could do something with it, at the least keep his own hope alive for his friend. He added fuel to that ember, "I found a viper. It's safe for now."

He patted Jake again, and moved down the hillside, allowing Jake to make his own decision as to his next action. He sighed in relief when he found the young warrior following him, choosing a saner and safer route than joining his friend in cylon captivity.

When they reached the valley floor, several of Avery's men had come running out of the darkness. Each man held at least one child in their arms, sometimes two as other children followed them, all of them looking far too small and vulnerable in the dark.

"Over here," Apollo shouted. They needed to know where they were going, and he briefly debated whether they were safer in a large group, or scattering providing multiple smaller targets for the cylons rather than one big one. He opted for the scatter approach as he doubted they could gather all the terrified children into any semblance of organization. Apollo reached for the first man he could get close to, nearly yanking him from his feet as he approached. He shouted coordinates in the man's ear, pointed in the general direction. "Look for an electric grid, a home in a hillside."

He shouted the same directions at ten more men before he finally saw Boomer limping out of the darkness. Avery was with him and both held a small child in their arms.

"Apollo? Thank the lords!" Boomer tried to hug his friend to him, but the child in his arms made the move awkward. The small body flinched away from both men, and Apollo looked down at the terrified eyes looking up at him. He registered that Boomer, called his name, but the child had him transfixed. The child so closely resembled Boxey that he shuddered in revulsion at the thought of his son in the clutches of the cylons.

"Apollo did you find it? Is there a viper?" Boomer pulled his attention away from the child.

"Yes. Several. Not enough fuel to bring it here though. But he has enough for a launch of at least one of them. His home is secure."

Apollo gave Boomer the direction and coordinates, but Avery interrupted, "The old man in the hill? He's not friendly."

"And your charm and hospitality make you a good judge of character?" Apollo found himself throwing out an accusation that he'd heard often from Starbuck about their host. The recognition felt like a stab in the heart. He pushed the pain aside, focusing on Avery, "Well I'm thinking you didn't ask him very nicely, nor did you sing him a song. He likes the Fabulon Four, and he's agreed to help us. Get your people there. We'll follow and get us all out of here."

Avery nodded and took off running after his men, but Boomer held fast to his position, the child almost forgotten in his arms. "Starbuck went back for Rene. He saw the ridge come down and…"

Apollo shook his head knowing what his friend was going to suggest. "We watched the cylons seize them. They took them alive. We'll come back for him later, once we know everyone is on their way to safety."

"But we could…" Apollo cut him off with a hand to his shoulder.

"They're surrounded by a couple dozen Cylons. It's too late for them right now, but not for these kids. He's distracting the cylons for now, so don't make his efforts wasted. We'll come back for him, although I don't think I can manage a clean uniform this time around."

A glimmer of a smile touched Boomer's lips as he nodded resolutely and Apollo reached for the child in his arms. It was a boy, almost the same age Boxey had been when he had met him and Serina during the destruction. The child looked up to him with wide eyes, too frightened and disoriented to speak.

"I've got you. You're safe now," he whispered to the child confidently. "Jake, help Boomer. Let's go."

Apollo looked back to the ridge, debating briefly staying behind to keep an eye on things, to look for an opportunity to sneak in and rescue his friend, or at the very least make sure he wasn't moved from this base. The laser fire that rained down on them from the centurions in pursuit solidified his decision. He followed Boomer and Jake back into the hills.