"Can I?" Baker asked eagerly, at the final sound of the warning klaxon indicating the Clavis was about to be activated. "Can I really?"

Dayton rolled his eyes, shaking his head, and glancing over at Ryan and Porter. The levity in the Control Centre was welcome, especially considering the stress that the Endeavour's command staff was under. Would Malus' calculations and predictions about the Clavis prove to be accurate? Would they arrive safely at their programmed destination? Or would they fail in their mission, possibly destroying the Covert Operations Ship, as well as leaving Earth to a fate worse than even Hollywood could imagine?

After Apollo had been brought fully up to speed on the situation, they had disengaged from the Fleet, and accelerated to maximum speed, leaving the Fleet behind. In moments, they would use the Clavis to open a portal that should take them home to Earth. Dayton's guts twisted into knots, as he glanced at the young colonel. Apollo had been unimpressed, to say the least, that he'd been the last to know about the problems with the Espridian device. Much like Starbuck, he'd been outraged that Dayton had tried to keep the information to himself, and he hadn't hesitated to tell him so. Then again, Apollo had the most to lose if they didn't make it back. The woman he loved. A son. A father and sister. Friends and comrades he'd fought halfway across the galaxy with. It wasn't the first time that duty and personal fulfilment did battle in an officer's heart. In a way, Dayton couldn't blame the guy. He knew he'd be stewed, if he'd been in Apollo's place. Hell, he had, more times than he cared to remember. You ain't the first soldier ever to get screwed by the brass, Apollo.

Only now, Dayton was the brass. And he knew that, unpleasant as it might be, he was totally, absolutely right in doing what he'd done, in his own unbiased opinion. The problem being, of course, he'd been found out. So, in one way, only at Starbuck's insistence was the colonel stewing in his own juices, and there wasn't much anybody else could do about it.

He looked from the colonel, to the main screen. According to the engineering readouts, the ship's drive field was approaching optimum configuration for the Clavis' operation, according to Malus' computations. It was falling in line with the IL's sims like a hand in glove. The Endeavour's power utilization curve, now closer to Colonial norms than Cylon ones, was within a hair's breadth of where it was supposed to be.

"Activate deflection grid," ordered Dayton. "Full power."

"Deflection grid on-line," replied Coxcoxtli. Dayton watched as the grid enveloped the ship. According to Malus' calculations, the deflector shields were an integral part of getting the alien device to do what they wanted it to. He smiled, as the engineering readouts reached nominal status.

"Coxcoxtli? Distance from Fleet?"

"Passing one light-yahren . . . now."

"Excellent. Captain Dorado, seal all compartments. Damage control teams on stand-by. All decks on fire alert."

"Compartments sealing, sir. Damage control teams report on standby. Fire alert all decks."

"Very good. Malus, all scanners to maximum, all recorders on."

"All activated," replied the IL.

"Commander," said Cadet Sagaris, "now approaching one and one-half light-yahrens from the Fleet."

"Very good. Steady as she goes, helm. Activate Clavis."

"Clavis activated," replied Coxcoxtli. "Forty percent . . . sixty . . . eighty . . . Clavis now at one-hundred percent power, Commander."

"Go ahead, Baker," Dayton nodded. Maybe he was being overprotective, but he just didn't want his friends knowing that if something went wrong, that the next few minutes might be their last. Instead, he'd purposely tried to lighten the mood, especially after his recent confrontation with men that he'd considered as brothers for thirty years. "You'll love it."

Meanwhile, somewhere on the ship, he knew that Starbuck was with Luana, also anxiously waiting. Briefly, Dayton said a silent prayer that their countermeasure to Iblis' last, but more effective strategy would stand a chance. If John was listening, maybe he'd pass along his two cents to the Big Guy.

Baker giggled like a child, pointing a theatrical finger at Coxcoxtli, manning the Clavis control station. "Energize!" he ordered.