A/N: Hey, guys, I'm back again… I've written this part on my holiday at the beach. But when I got back, my computer refused to work… So I have to use my brother's until our new computer arrives, which will hopefully be by Tuesday… Anyway, enough, on with the story and have fun!

They had to do a long-term patrol and quickly they were out in space. Stars and some planets flew by as they chatted and joked to pass the time. However, it wasn't long until a call from the Galactica caught their attention. Flight Sergeant Omega ordered them to come back, because a cylon basestar approached. With high speed they turned and raced back, towards the next fire fight. But soon Starbuck noticed something wasn't right with his viper. Apollo saw it too, because Starbuck couldn't hold it straight. It dived, got up, dived again…

"Star, what's up? What are you doing?"

"Got some major malfunction, Captain…"

"Think you can hold on until we reach the Galactica?"

"Negative… Gotta bring this baby down soon. See that planet there? According to my scanner it's safe, I'll take her down there… Wish me luck!"

"Ok, but be careful!"

With a worried glance to Starbuck, Apollo stayed on his path back to the Galactica, his eyes never leaving the viper that was still jumping up and down. He just hoped his lover could make a safe landing and remain safe until they could get him. Apollo wished he could wait until he knew Starbuck had landed safely on this planet, but with that cylon attack he knew he couldn't. His duty was to lead blue squadron, even if it was without his wing mate and lover now.

Once he had eavesdropped accidentally on Jolly and Greenbeam and had heard Jolly say: "The Captain would never put his private wants and needs before his duty". True, no doubt about that and Starbuck knew and respected it, even when it meant Apollo sometimes didn't have much time for him.

Right then the brunette heard a loud crash over his speakers making him flinch. His voice anxious he asked frantically:

"Starbuck, report! Are you okay?"

But the speakers remained silent except for some static noise. Apollo closed his eyes, forcing himself to think positively. Star was only unconscious, he had to be… How badly was he hurt though? It definitely hadn't sounded like some "easy" crash…

Meanwhile Apollo had reached the battlefield. "This is blue leader. Starbuck had to do an emergency landing, he's hurt. Let's kick these cylon asses and get him back!" All pilots agreed with him. Starbuck was their friend and the desperation in their leader's voice did the rest to urge them on. They took down cylon after cylon, but their foes didn't seem to diminish, in fact they grew larger and larger. "Damned" The Captain muttered under his breath. "Another basestar must have joined them!" The only good thing was that the two basestars hadn't joined their forces from the beginning, then the Galactica would have been doomed…

Starbuck awoke with a pounding headache. When he tried to open his eyes, he failed. When he had them opened for just one split a wave of dizziness overcame him, so that he had to close them again. Only the second time he succeeded.

The Lieutenant saw his viper had crashed against a huge rock with strange familiar ornaments. It seemed to be a pretty planet, Starbuck could see a forest and a clear lake, but he didn't linger long. He needed to get out for his own safety, he couldn't know who had noticed his crash and how long he'd been out. The cockpit was jammed, so it took him some difficulty to succeed in that. After he had gotten out he did a quick check on himself: He seemed to be all right except for a few bruises and two nasty still- bleeding cuts on his forehead and left upper arm.

As fast as he could he moved away from the viper, leaving tracks only Apollo would find as he went. Thankfully the bleeding wasn't hard enough to leave a trail. Another positive thing was that the ground was too stony to leave footprints. Trying to move as noiselessly as possible he searched for a cave or another nearby shelter, his laser in hand the whole time. Soon he found a small, hidden cave. At the back was a small light well next to which he lay down. He closed his eyes and curled up, his strength completely spent, just focusing on breathing. He clinged to his laser as if it was his only lifeline, but it slipped out of his hands when unconsciousness once again took over.

Blue and red squadrons had done a good job. After a few centars all of the cylon fighters were destroyed, but now the basestars emerged, they were already on the Galatia's radar. Apollo headed to his father to report and to work out a strategy for meeting them. Against one they were undoubtedly superior, but against two it was doubtful, at least without a trick. The brunette already had one in mind.

"Apollo, any idea?"

Adama got straight to the point, not being one to waste time.

"Yes, father. I thought we could send the vipers to destroy their lasers. Then it would be easy for us to finish them off."

"Don't you think it's too risky?"

"It's our only chance." Apollo avoided the direct answer.

"Okay, let's do that."

Adama was about to turn around and leave, when his son stopped him.

"Father, what about Starbuck?"

Both knew that soon a shuttle wouldn't be able to carry enough fuel to get the Lieutenant and bring him home. The Commander remained silent for a centon, contemplating the situation.

"Son, we need all our people here, I'm sorry."

Adama laid a sympathetic hand on Apollo's shoulder trying to decrease the brunette's inner turmoil. The decision had been one of the hardest he'd ever made. He loved the incorrigible Lieutenant almost like his son. Stunned Apollo whispered:

"We can't leave him there! We can't do that to him, that would be his death sentence!"

"Apollo, calm down. You saw the resources on that planet. He will be able to live there."

Trying to make his father understand, the Captain decided to tell his him what he and Starbuck had kept a secret for weeks now.

"I have to tell you something… about Starbuck and me."

He had his father's attention, he saw that from the manner he looked at him.

"We are in love, have been for a long time and for almost a month we've been together."

"Oh, Apollo… Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The Commander hugged his son tightly.

"We just wanted to see if it worked out."

Adama didn't need to ask if it did, you could see in his Apollo's eyes that he was happy. It wasn't such a surprise, somehow he'd always felt there was something special between the two friends, a bond that only these to of his warriors shared. They could fight as hard as worst enemies, but in the end they were always best friends again, each of them would sacrifice himself for the other.

In Apollo's eyes he could also see the desire to leave to get Starbuck and let Boomer lead Blue, confident his friends wouldn't need their Captain now. Knowing Apollo Adama was certain he would obey his order, no matter what it personally meant for him, no matter if it ripped his heart out. But he also knew what it would do to Apollo if he had to leave Starbuck on that planet. The Commander's heart ached for him, remembering how hard it had been when he had lost his wife and later his other son.

Starbuck regained consciousness feeling a hellish thirst. In his cave was no water to be found, what meant he had to go out again. Slowly he got up and checked his cuts. Angry. Great. S slight headache had also settled deep in his head making it difficult for him to focus. He just hoped his famous luck wouldn't turn its back to him now. Always alert with laser in hand he carefully checked the surroundings for a stream.

It wasn't long till he found some sort of a path and decided to follow it. Like he had hoped it lead to a stream and crossed it with a neatly made wooden bridge, which almost seemed to be made by humans. Starbuck drank greedily the cool water and sat down with his back against a tree to summon his strength. The water had helped a little, but he was still very weak.

His short rest however was disturbed by to metallic voices, voices that were by now far to familiar to him. Cylons. Not enough he had to do an emergency landing on this damned planet, no, this planet had to be a cylon base. At once the Lieutenant retreated to his cave and reached it unnoticed. Those two plate heads had certainly been sent to examine what kind of spaceship had crashed and to find survivors. Starbuck just hoped Apollo would find him before they did. In a corner he curled up. He felt so cold… The blonde started to shiver. It seemed like centars that the Lieutenant lay there, but in reality it probably was only half a centar.

Footsteps approached, came nearer and nearer. They weren't Apollo's, that was for sure. Apollo's were light, you could barely hear them and sometimes, when the Captain took care he could sneak up on anybody. He had often teased Starbuck with that, then had covered his friend's eyes, turned him around and kissed him, his eyes showing his deep love and happiness.

From his angle the Lieutenant could only see two shadows as the cylons entered the cave. Starbuck grabbed his laser at once and aimed carefully. He still shivered and almost dropped it again. The shot hit its target, right into the first cylon's chest. But before he could aim again to finish the second one off the cylon had reached him and had taken the laser easily, because the blonde wasn't strong enough to put up much of a fight. Then he was thrown over the cylon's shoulder like he weighed nothing and carried away to the base of his enemies.

After Adama had given him permission to take a shuttle for Starbuck's rescue, Apollo almost jumped from joy, but settled for a bright smile and a sincere "Thank you!"

"Hurry, son, I have a distinct feeling Starbuck needs you badly. May the Lords of Kobol be with you two!"

Apollo hurried out to get the smallest shuttle prepared and to tell Boomer he was in charge of Blue. Half a centar and good wishes from his friends later Apollo was given permission to launch the shuttle. Shortly after him Blue and Red started, divided and headed towards the basestars. The brunette already missed the easy-going conversation with Starbuck, the only thing which had kept the otherwise boring flights interesting. You could never know what the Lieutenant came up with.

When he reached the planet finally Apollo being careful did a complete scan on it first. Unlike Starbuck he was now interested in finding out more about the inhabitants of it, not just in getting to know if he could survive there. His crystal clear eyes widened in shock and he cursed, this was definitely time for swearing, even if one – like him – rarely did so. It just had to be a planet with a cylon outpost, right? And time was also pressing… He had two centars, then the Galactica would be out of reach for them. The brunette wondered if his plan hat worked. It had seemed simple and effective theoretically, but in reality a hundred of unpredictable things could have happened… Too often the Captain had seen "foolproved" plans go wrong. He pushed these thoughts aside, he couldn't change anything now and focused on the task at hand.

The scanner had shown one human life form surrounded by cylons. They headed towards a big building, probably their base. Apollo took the shuttle down in a considerable distance. Certainly they had seen him coming, so he could count on a welcome patrol. Behind a few trees he found the perfect hiding spot and waited alert. A quarter of a centar later two cylons arrived. Apollo aimed quickly, taking down the first one from his hiding spot. The second one reacted immediately, firing in the direction from which the shot had come. That was exactly what the human had expected. The cylon's shot hit its target, but Apollo was already elsewhere. He had already aimed and fired again right at his enemy's belly. Sheeting his laser the Captain began to mask the shuttle as well as he could.

He headed for the cylon base now and reached it in 15 centons. He waited outside, soon a bigger patrol would come looking for the other cylons and he intended to profit from that. Indeed he didn't need to wait long until the doors opened to reveal 20 cylons. When they were out of sight Apollo sneaked in. He kept close to the walls, proceeding further into the lion's den. Thankfully cylon bases were always similar, so he knew where he had to go. The stairs down to the cells were in the middle of the building, very well guarded of course. The Captain had no idea how he could get Starbuck out and back to the shuttle within the centar that was left. To make his way to the stairs was possible, but from there? His only chance was to lure the guards away and hope they gave him enough time to save his friend and disappear. He went further inside, laser drawn and listening careful for noises indicating approaching cylons. So far he'd been very lucky but he didn't expect that to last.

A/N: Did you like the start? So, drop a review and I'll try to update quickly!