The child in his arms had fallen asleep somewhere around dawn, and, in a way, so had Apollo. The day did not brighten as inky storm clouds rolled in from the sea. It provided some cover, but also made it tricky to tell the time. His chrono had stopped working somewhere along the way and he hoped it would be the only Colonial casualty of this mission. Even without it, he knew it was well over twenty-four centaurs since he'd seen anything resembling a rest period and at some point, the adrenalin ran out. Despite his concern for these children and the friends he'd left behind in the care of the enemy, fatigue enveloped him, making his limbs feel as impossibly heavy as the waif in his arms. It seemed they had evaded the enemy for now and with that realization came a bone-numbing exhaustion. He had pointed out the direction when they had fled in the dark, and verified by the light of dawn they were on the right course, but the weight of the child as well as the responsibilities of command grew heavier until he moved woodenly onward, each step wondering if it would be the one where he collapsed. His feet still marched, but his mind was on autopilot, just following those in the lead. Maybe he could keep up this pace in his academy days, but it had been many yahrens since his graduation.

"Flying a desk has made you soft," he heard Starbuck's voice in his head egging him on. That should have been the moment he called for a halt so they could rest and plan their return. When his consciousness sounded like Starbuck, it was usually his sign that he had slipped over the precarious edge between sane and not.

"Flying a viper has made you over-confident, thinking you can save Rene and everyone else from two dozen centurions. What were you thinking, Bucko?" he argued back hoping that his friend hadn't given up on him yet.

"What you should have been thinking, but command has made you lose sense of your priorities." He could almost see Starbuck's mocking grin.

Perhaps had he been more alert and not arguing with Starbuck in his mind he would have caught the warning that his medic was about to bolt, but his first sign was Boomer shouting at Jake that he wasn't going to listen to him anymore.

"Once we have these kids to safety, then we can think about it! Until then, shut up and act like a Colonial Warrior! You keep marching until we get them to safety."

"Frack that! I resign." Jake pulled away from Boomer. Apollo shifted the child in his arms so he had a hand free to reach out and detain the young man, but Jake did not head in his direction back towards the base. Instead, Jake stalked towards Avery, pulling his weapon with one hand while yanking at the rifle on Avery's back with the other.

"Fracking hand it over!" His shout echoed off the hillsides.

Apollo quickly handed Boomer the child in his arms. He needed to get to Jake before the man started a fight or worse, shot someone. He hoped Avery would reason with the young warrior, but he had given the older man too much credit. Avery pulled away from the young man, but Jake didn't let go of the weapon. Using all his strength, he yanked at the rifle pulling Avery nearly off his feet. The older man used the momentum to turn towards the kid, but Jake was ready for the move. His fist was cocked, punching Avery in the throat as Jake's knee came up in the older man's groin, not once but twice, dropping the big man into a crouch.

Apollo had learned first-hand when Rene challenged Bojay to a triad match that the Sewer Rats didn't fight fair. Starbuck had tried to explain to him how over the yahrens they had relied on other skills, and to some it might seem like unfair tricks, but all of the Copper Squadron were small, even the tallest among them was thin, lacking any bulk to stand up against the type of warriors that Dante recruited for his ships. "Some would call it unfair. I would call it evening the odds," Starbuck had clarified. Apollo hadn't condoned Rene's actions, but he had to admit she had won the match in her own way.

Jake had gone for a surprise punch and a low blow. Plus, what Jake lacked in size on the big man, he made up for in speed. Before Apollo could get to him, Jake had taken advantage of Avery's crouch and brought the butt of his weapon down on the back of the man's skull. Knocked out cold, Avery crumpled onto the dirt. Jake already had a knife drawn, slashing at the strap for the rifle to free it from Avery's back.

The other men had turned at the commotion, but seemed too stunned after watching their leader fall to think to turn on the warrior. Apollo was able to reach the conflict just as Jake spun to stalk off, a rifle in one hand, his blaster in the other.

"Wait!" Jake paused mid-step but without hesitation levelled the rifle at him. He ignored the weapon, walking past Jake, briefly brushing his hand on the young warrior's shoulder. "Just wait for me. Wylie, give me your rifle. Does anyone have any ordnances left?"

Boomer had caught up to them, trying to shush the child that was awake in his arms, eyes wide in fright. "Apollo, what are you doing?"

Wylie looked briefly to Avery unconscious on the ground before he handed over his rifle and a bandolier of solenite charges. Apollo mumbled his thanks before he turned away to face his friend.

"I'm going with him." He took a side step to move around Boomer, but his friend matched him, standing in his way.

"What? Have you gone mad? Apollo….Colonel…You need to think like a Colonel. It's suicide. You said that yourself. We need to get to safety and then we can plan a rescue and…"

"Frack that!" Jake shouted, beginning to walk away again. "Every centon we take is one less they have!"

"Jake, wait!" Apollo called, hoping it didn't sound too authoritative. He was done ordering around the Sewer Rat warriors. This wasn't about being in command. This was about seeing his friends live. With the impromptu sealing before this mission, Jake had become one of Starbuck's brothers, and now Apollo's. Plus, he had to give the young warrior credit; he had waited until there seemed to be no sign of pursuit before he decided to turn back. Apollo knew Starbuck would not have made it this far, even if it was Jake in cylon captivity instead of Rene. Ever since Cree, his friend left no one behind even if he had to sacrifice his own life. Letting Zac take his patrol had scarred Starbuck and clouded his decisions long before Rene and his Copper Squadron family had changed his life. Apollo wondered what scars Jake might have for him to consider walking into a cylon base alone. Only, he wasn't just walking, he was racing headlong into a disaster.

"Jake, for Sagan's Sake, stop!" Boomer called out and Apollo was reminded of how close Boomer had become with the Copper squadron as his words held more power. Jake halted in his steps, but did not turn back. He bounced on the balls of his feet like a coiled spring. "I can't. I won't! I don't care if it's suicide. If she dies, I die."

"You have kids to think about Jake, these ones and your own!" Boomer became the voice of reason and Apollo wondered at what point they had all switched places. Was it in the rift they fell through to get to here, swapping their personalities all around as they slid through a wormhole.

Jake turned to look at Boomer, but his boots were still pointed in the direction of the cylon base. "That's why we have a list. You have Max waiting for you. The Rats will raise my kids. I'm going to get their mother and you can't stop me."

Boomer uttered Jake's name again, but he hesitated, searching for the right reasons to convince the young man to abandon his reckless plan. "Don't throw your life away. Rene wouldn't want that. Once we get to something resembling a safe place, we will go back for them."

"And it will be too late!" Jake turned away and started walking again.

Starbuck's voice echoed in Apollo's head, "Reckless gets results sometimes." He found himself moving forward with the fear that in his mind might be the only place he'd ever hear his friend again. It solidified his decision as he felt a new burst of energy.

"Boomer," Apollo placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Jake is not going alone. I owe it to Starbuck. You know the way. If the old man gives you any trouble, just sing Yellow Submarine and remind him his wife would want him to help. We'll be back."

"Apollo, this is madness. There's a whole platoon of centurions and…"

Apollo shook his head at his friend. "It's Starbuck." It was the only explanation he could offer. His family was as safe as they could be on the Galactica. They would go on like they had after grieving their mother and Zac. He wasn't sure he could go on if he lost Starbuck and Rene, not to mention there was no returning to the Galactica without Rene and her abilities. They would either wind up like Avery, half crazed from radium poisoning spending their days moving from one hideout to another, or like Peryton, biding their time until death finally came for them. No, Jake was right; every centon was one more centon closer to a harsh lonely reality. He walked past Boomer to catch up to the young warrior.

"Apollo?" Boomer weakly tried again.

"Starbuck's right, command has made me lose sense of my priorities. Just get the kids to safety. I will meet you there."

"If you take too long, I'll bring a viper for you," Boomer called to his retreating back.

Apollo turned briefly, "No, just stay safe. Peryton has enough supplies to last a while if we don't come back…" he shook his head defaulting to the only argument he could make, "Its Starbuck. We'll be back."

Boomer nodded, "Good luck and I'll be there soon."

Apollo nodded, and turned to follow Jake who had sprinted away. "Jake, wait." He'd had to run to catch up with the young warrior. He realized that in a way Jake had waited as once Apollo reached him, Jake increased his speed. Apollo let him run, hoping that it would burn off some of the anxiety clouding his brain and when Jake tired and slowed, he could work out a plan with the kid. But Jake was just that, a kid, and he kept up the pace far longer than Apollo could. He was finally forced to reach out a hand to physically force Jake to slow down for him.

Panting he asked, "Do you have a plan other than running until we're too exhausted to do anything when we get there? We are going to run into our pursuers at this rate and not even make it to the base."

Jake looked over at him scornfully, but he slowed his pace. "You Colonials try to lecture me all the time about what a better training you received. That's a ton of felgercarb. You spend all your time sitting on your astrums planning. Maybe you should spend more time running? All I've learned from your fracking trainings and your gollmonging tests is how to sit and waste time."

Apollo choked back the lecture he wanted to give, partly because for just a moment, Jake sounded so much like himself when he was younger and his father tried to lecture him on how he should pay more attention to his studies. Contrary to Starbuck's and now Jake's opinion, he wasn't any smarter than the other students or pilots, he just studied longer. He rewrote most of his papers not just once but twice. He had one advantage over others, and that was his father. When he was home, his father insisted on updates and going over many of his papers and projects. Apollo remembered how he had become frustrated after rewriting a paper for what felt like the tenth time. He shouted at his father nearly the same sentiment. How was all that writing going to make him a better pilot?

He now knew it was a common complaint of all young warriors. It took time, wisdom and experience to help cadets realize that the lessons and tests did make a better warrior.

Apollo knew those rescued from Caprica had received a far different flight training program than any academy graduate. It was abbreviated and brutal. Failure was fatal. Despite all of those facts, he was left wondering if maybe he would have preferred some aspects of Dante's accelerated course. It was more hands on and less concerned about using a text book. It produced results, but was it worth the high loss of life?

Plus, while Starbuck had been dealing with the lesser ranks of Dante's command structure, as Colonel he'd been dealing with the Captains and other senior officers. Many had not only agreed with Dante's decisions, they had been complicit in making them, and they weren't all bad. They had streamlined many processes that any pilot could agree was cumbersome, such as the requisitioning of supplies and tools needed for viper maintenance. Things moved faster for the Dilmun warriors, and in some ways, more was accomplished.

But that streamlining had opened up other avenues for abusing power. Captain Pallus was a prime example. It took a man who had no biases about training female pilots as equal to male pilots, to a man who had no compunction with chaining that same female pilot to abuse for his own pleasure.

There had to be a middle ground, a different way of doing things that would work for everyone without leading to abuse of power. With that thought in mind, Apollo tried again. "Jake, I'm on your side. So, I would like to know what you plan to do. That way I can help."

The approach worked as rational thought finally caught up to Jake. He was quiet for a few paces before he slowed and stopped sighing heavily. "I don't have a plan other than to sneak my way in and get them out."

"Okay, I get that, but I think you know better what we're facing, so why don't you tell me what happened. How did things go wrong with the last plan?" Apollo dug out a canteen of water, shaking it realizing there wasn't more than a swallow or two left.

Jake sighed heavily again. "Sir, when we first laid eyes on the compound, we didn't see more than a dozen centurions. We didn't think the transport would be full." Jake shivered and tried to shake it off.

Apollo handed him the canteen. "Jake, I'm not your commanding officer, I'm Starbuck's friend. Drop the 'sirs'. You're in charge of this mission. Your plan, you have one, right?"

Jake nodded while guzzling the last of the water before handing the empty canteen back to Apollo. "For one we don't go in blasters blazing. That was our mistake last time. The kids weren't guarded that well. We could have snuck in and just taken out a few guards. I'm thinking with the enemy combing the hills for us, there might be even less of them."

"What if they called in for back up?"

Jake shook his head at him, not liking that Apollo was picking his plan apart, but Apollo ignored the surly look. It was his job to point out the flaws in a mission.

Jake sighed again and looked up to the sky. "Then we're fracked."

Apollo nodded realizing that the strategy that Jake was relying on was one of desperation, but he and Starbuck had made plenty of those plans over the yahrens. Until now, they had all been successful. Even when he was captured before, Starbuck came home without a scratch. He had to hope that the famous Starbuck luck would see his friend through this capture too.

Jake began to list off the points in their favor, reassuring Apollo that while the young man's test scores might be low, he had paid attention at some point. "The base is small. The one we were all in before Dante was bigger. This…this is …" Jake shook his head and looked back to Apollo. "I don't know what this is but I know it can't be good. They had a lot of centurions in that troop transport but there weren't any raiders. They haven't rained down any raiders on us. I don't think they called another base for help. So, let's hope they are all looking for us and the numbers are smaller so we can sneak in, find Starbuck and Rene, and we sneak out. And we hope Starbuck kept his mouth shut because if he was his usual annoying talkative self, then they are going to shoot him."

The lack of sleep was catching up to Apollo as he laughed out loud. "So, living with Starbuck hasn't endeared him to you?"

A hint of a smile ghosted Jake's lips before he angrily chased it away. "He has his moments. Constructs a good still and well, he's easy to con into taking your duty, but does he ever shut up?"

Apollo laughed again, couldn't seem to stifle the laughter. "I bunked with him for yahrens. He even talks in his sleep. You're right, we'd better hurry before he convinces the centurions to play pyramid and he blabs all the fleet's secrets and steals all their cubits." He clapped Jake on the back and the two took off running again. The plan was risky and rough, but he tried to remember that Jake had survived this situation before, and Apollo had snuck onto a base star once. It was just a small base and they were just trying to get to two people. No, not two people. They were going back for their family.