'Previously on Battlestar Galactica...' Your doctor back on Caprica was right, it's too late to operate, the cancer's too far advanced. Have you ever heard of... kamala extract? It means that you're still acting like you're everyone's best friend. We're not friends. You're the KAG. The chief wanted me to kick your ass outta bed but you need the rest. So take your time. No rush. I need new pilots and I want you to train them. I can do that. They slipped through. How? 'She thinks she loves him now that she can't live without him.' That bothers you, doesn't it? We'll get them in the end. I can assure you the fuel shortage is our number-one priority. Galactica has ships scouring the nearby star systems and we can anticipate they will soon find tylium. Hamilton. Madam President, tylium ore is extremely rare. If we don't find any, how long before the fleet runs out of fuel? That all depends on how well we conserve. Isn't it a fact, Madam President, that we only have enough for two more jumps? That is correct. Do we have a contingency plan if we run out of tylium? You, uh... If, uh,... if that were to happen we would use our last fuel... ..to jump to the nearest planetary system. And pray we're lucky enough to find a habitable planet? Madam President, without fuel to take even the most basic evasive manoeuvres - No. Uh... Wouldn't we be like ducks in a Cylon shooting gallery? Yes, we would. I'm... I'm sorry,... ..uh,... that is all for now. (PRESS CHATTER AMONGST THEMSELVES) (RADIO) "Commencing sweep 87 of asteroid field." Any luck? How many times are you gonna ask me that, Boomer? Oh, until you find some tylium ore. What, don't you wanna be a hero to Ensign Davis, hm? (GROANS) Oh, you haven't noticed how she always sits next to you in the mess? (SILLY, FLIRTY VOICE) "How's it going, Crash?" "Oh, you're so cute!" Dammit, there's so much debris in the system the DRADIS is useless. This is gonna take a hundred years. Yeah, I heard about how you found water, how you saved... C'mon! (SIGHS) Jackpot! Boomer, that asteroid dead ahead has a mountain of tylium! (GASPS / LAUGHS) Holy! Check it! Oh! Thank the gods! We're heroes! Yeah! We're heroes? Never fails. Great, Boomer, the second that I score the bus driver jumps in and takes the credit. So who's the one that we suggest- What, what? Cylons. The rock's crawling with them. We're well and truly fracked. The only tylium within 12 light years and we gotta kiss it goodbye. Yeah, along with our asses if we don't get out of here fast. "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" THEME It figures the Cylons'd be sitting on the only source of fuel within our reach. Still staking out every water hole in the desert. Only this time it's a lake with enough tylium to last us a couple of years. This must be a conveyor belt to get the ore from the mine here into this cracking plant here. A refinery this far from their homeworld? They need fuel as much as we do. Now they've got it. And enough fire power to keep it. Alright, so we forget this asteroid, find another source. You can bet your ass the Cylons'll be guarding that one, too. So we send the raptors out farther. 10, 15 jumps. Find a source they haven't reached yet. And use up all our fuel doing it. How are we gonna get our refinery ship - We take the tylium from the Cylons. With all respect, this is hardly a time to attack a superior force. It's exactly the time. We know where they are, they don't know where we are. We'll catch them with their pants down. If we fail... End of game. So we don't fail. When the missile gets close enough, you'll be pulling maybe seven Gs but to catch you the bastard's gonna have to pile on 40 to 60. Its guidance system can't hack it and he'll miss. Most of the time. Exactly how often is most of the time? It depends on your judgement and how well you pray. Attention on deck. As you were. Lieutenant Thrace, can I have a word? Of course. Take five, guys. What's up? How are they doing? Wobbly as newborn colts but, uh,... they're getting stronger. That's good. Hm. I've got a job for you. The rumour mill has it that you're planning an op. The rumour mill's right for a change. Captain Adama and Colonel Tigh are working on the plan now and I need some serious out-of-the-box thinking. Out of the box is where I live. I-I have been taking kamala for a medical condition. Oh. So, what have you seen? It started out as dreams of the Cylon that we had executed but I had the dreams before we captured him. The images were... Prescient? Uncanny. And now I am... seeing things while I'm awake. What kind of things? Snakes. There were... snakes crawling all over my podium during a press conference. How many? About a dozen. You're kidding, right? You read Pythia and now you're having me on. No. Who is Pythia? One of the oracles in the sacred scrolls. 3,600 years ago Pythia wrote about the exile and the rebirth of the human race. "And the lords anointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland." "And unto the leader they gave a vision of serpents, numbering two and ten, as a sign of things to come." Pythia wrote that? She also wrote that the new leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. But you're not dying. Are you? And that will allow the attack force to wipe out these installations. Now, if we do it right, there will not be any Cylon survivors... ..and the, uh, asteroid will be ours. What do you think, Starbuck? It's a textbook-perfect plan... which is why it won't work. (CHUCKLES) Of course, we bow to your vast experience in strategic planning(!) Refresh my memory. What year was it you graduated from war college? I fully expected - That's enough, both of you. We're not gonna win this one by the book. I want Starbuck in here because she's not weighed down by conventional thinking. All due respect, gentlemen, we're not as crazy as she is. OK, so, what would you do differently? To start,... jumping Galactica in behind the planetoid to hide it from the Cylon base is an obvious move. You think they'll be covering that blind spot with recon patrols? I would if I were them. What we need to do is make their patrols part of our plan. You know,... make their tactics work for us. Here's what I would do. At position code Deacon we'll need three civilian freighter ships to use as decoys. Which means those passengers will be relocated to other ships which are already overcrowded? Yes, if you approve. The decoy ships will jump into the enemy star system in extreme radar range from the Cylon asteroid. Galactica will jump here, close enough to launch its vipers at the base. As soon as the decoy freighters arrive in the system they'll break wireless silence. They'll be posing as a mine fleet coming after the tylium and pretend to be unaware of the Cylon presence. The Cylons will hear the messages and send raiders after them. This will leave the base relatively undefended. We'll have raptors prepositioned to keep an eye on the Cylons. When the Cylons move towards the decoys, Galactica's vipers will come in from behind and obliterate the base. Without the base they'll be unable to rearm, refuel... We'll mop them up and then we'll take the tylium. What happens to the crews on the civilian decoy ships? They'll keep their FTL drives spooled up and just jump clear first sign of trouble. How many casualties do we anticipate? It'll cost us. If you succeed, what's to prevent the Cylons from coming back with reinforcements? Nothing, but if we get a chance to knock out that base it'll buy us some time. Why? If you keep running from the school-yard bully, he keeps on chasing you, but the moment you turn around and you punch him really hard in a sensitive spot, he'll think twice about coming back again. So it's either this or run out of fuel and be annihilated? Sometimes you have to roll the hard six. Well, the freighters are yours. Good hunting, everyone. The operation starts in 48 hours. This is our target. The Cylon base. You're the Cylon expert. We need to destroy their military facilities. Without harming the tylium ore under the surface. Exactly. A nuke would destroy the Cylons. But the radiation would render the ore inert. Unusable. That's your dilemma. Well, you're in luck, you know. Refined tylium contains tremendous enthalpy to the order of half a billion megajoules per kilo. If subjected to the right heat of compression, say from a conventional warhead, you should get a devastating explosion without the radioactive fallout. All we have to do is hit the right spot. Specifically, you need to hit the staging tanks for the refined tylium precursor. It's a lot more... unstable than the fuel itself. And where would they be? I need your advice on this one. I'm flattered, Gaius, but I don't know the first thing about tylium refineries. Neither do I. Oh, c'mon, you must have an inkling where I should tell them to bomb. No. But God does. Oh, good. I suppose God doesn't want me to destroy the base because... ..he's the Cylon God,... right? God doesn't take sides. He only wants your love. Open your heart to him and he'll show you the way. It'd be a lot simpler if he told me. You must remember to surrender your ego. Remain humble. Well, if you ask me, God could do with cleaning his ears out, then, he might hear what I have to say. Relax your neck. Why, what are you gonna do? I said relax. Alright, but don't - (CRACKING) Where would the staging tanks be, Doctor? Um... Uh... There. Right there. Hit any one of them and the place would go up like a three-kiloton bomb. Well done. So forceful, so decisive. Delivered with such elan. He didn't speak to me. God didn't speak to me. So I was totally lying. I just picked those spots at random. He doesn't always speak in words, Gaius. So the fate... of the entire human race depends upon my wild guess? - Attention on deck. - As you were. How's the knee, Starbuck? It'll be ready. I'm not missin' this party. Apollo's leading the strike force. You're gonna have to sit this one out. (SIGHS) I'm the best pilot that you have. Not right now. In combat you gotta pull six, seven Gs. The doc says your knee won't take it. Well, then, he's wrong. Is he? A viper thruster pedal... requires... this much force... ..to activate. (INHALES) Now you're on your attack run. You launch your missiles, so you gotta... jim that pedal... You're the firewall. ..and hold a six-G turn... ..for ten seconds or you die. (PANTS) Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four... This is only three Gs, Starbuck, not six. I'm sorry, it's a tough one,... but you're stayin' home. Keep your entrance low and fast. Use the terrain to stay hidden till the last second. Give the flak suppression unit enough time so they can weaken defences. You don't think I'm up to this. Of course I do. You'll be fine. Look,... you're worried that I'm not gonna pull it out of the fire with some high-risk retina-detaching move the way Starbuck would. Look, Kara, I'm sorry you're not suiting up because, believe me, everyone would feel so much better, me included, if you were riding along with us. But this isn't an ego trip, this is my job. And don't think for one moment that I will not get it done. I hope so cos we've got one shot. Don't frack it up by overthinking. Nice thing about being on the run after a nuclear war, nobody left to complain if we hide out in their barn or raid their pantry, while you're on your way to steal a ship and get off the planet. It's odd, isn't it? What? That we haven't seen a single living human being since the one you shot when you rescued me. I mean, we're still alive, why nobody else? Probably holed up in the fallout shelters or something. Lovely view, what could be better? A feather bed and silk comforter. (SIGHS) Are you hungry? I dunno. What have we got? Peanut butter,... ..baked beans, corn... How about some chilli? Bleurgh! (COUGHS) A simple no would do. Sharon, have you been taking your anti-radiation meds? I think it was those cold beans we had this afternoon. Are you OK now? Yeah. How far do you figure to Delphi? Eight, maybe ten days if we move fast. If we start early we can be there in no time. Can't sleep? I couldn't either before a big op. Mark II. A good ship. Got me out of a lot of tough scrapes. I got somethin' for you. It belonged to your grandfather. My mom bought it for him when he was at law school. You see the engraving on it? Yeah, I can... barely make it out but... He was a better father than I was. Dad used to carry that into court cases. Claimed he never lost. Must have left it behind. So you're worried, too? About what? You know, sometimes it feels like the whole ship thinks, uh, Starbuck would do better. I don't. How can you be so sure? Cos you're my son. Get some rest. You're gonna need it. Dad. I'll bring it back. You'd better, or I'll kick your ass. It's a good lighter. Sharon. Sharon, wake up. Huh? What the frak? You killed her. Lemme see. We gotta go right now! Wait a minute, I saw her on my lap. I saw her blood spilled on my lap. Let's move, mister. What the hell is going on?! I don't know! We'll figure it out later! Jump complete, sir. DRADIS reports nothing but hash. Just as we expected, can't see a thing. We are now within the launch range of the Cylon base. (RADIO) "..jump complete at station point Deacon." "Initiate search pattern Delta." "Four Flight Bravo, Delta, Wilko." "Four Flight Nebula, Delta initiated." Ball's in play. You can bet they heard that. Now they'll try to locate the decoys. And when they do? If they take the bait, all hell breaks loose. Until then? We wait. Galactica Boomer, tally 90 plus, headed Deacon. "Speed 250." "The Cylons have seen the freighter." They took the bait. Mr Gaeta, launch Strike Force One. Aye-aye, sir. Launch Strike Force One. Attention. Pilots, man your planes. "Pilots, man your planes." How hard did they bite? Boomer's report's at 90 plus. They've launched most of their fighter force. Give 'em hell, sir. Fire it. Our attack force is away. I just hope that Lee can... Lee isn't the problem. You should take a good look at yourself. I had to go through the same transition. When you're in the cockpit you're in control. It's hard to give it up. It would just be a lot easier if I was flying with them. All you can do now is wait and hope you didn't make any mistakes. I never wanted this kind of responsibility. The Cylons never asked us what we wanted. Welcome to the big leagues. Galactica Crashdown, tally 50 plus on an intercept course. Repeat, 50 plus inbound. What's that mean? It means that a Cylon patrol spotted our attack force. The base sent out 50 more raiders to intercept. 50 raiders? That means we're outnumbered now five to one? Weren't the decoys supposed to take care of that? The Cylons are too smart for that. (Frack.) Estimated time to strike intercept two minutes. Fireball, multiple bandits left. 10 high. Range 40. Weapons free. Committing. (GUNFIRE) Hot Dog, visual tally. Press! Hot Dog, brake right! Fireball, your ship! (ALARM BUZZES) I'm hit, I'm hit! (SHOUTS) "Stop!" "Deadbolt, Spinner, two bandits closing your right side." "No joy, no joy!" (SCREAMS) "Galactica Hot Dog, heavily engaged! Mission outcome doubtful!" This sounds fracking awful. They're getting cut to pieces out there. (SCREAMING) "Get outta there! Move! Move!" - What if we gave you free power... to use however you like whenever you like, just for being a customer? "Deadbolt, fly vertical. Now! Now, now!" "Dammit! Take the shot! Get him off me!" Mr Gaeta, abort Strike One. Strike One Galactica, return to base. Repeat, abort your mission and return to base. "Galactica Stubbs. Strike force is turning away from Deacon "and inbound to Galactica." The Cylons heard our transmission recall, didn't they? Does that mean the first wave of raiders is ignoring the decoys and is,... is coming after us? That's exactly what it means. So, when are we going to launch the reserve vipers to defend Galactica? There are no reserve vipers. Everything is on the board already. Now we play for all the marbles. Starbuck, it's your plan. (Mr Gaeta,... will you please tell Dee to get on the scrambler and inform Apollo the back door is open?) (Aye-aye, Lieutenant.) Dee, please send a scrambler to Captain Apollo. Message reads, "The back door is open." Apollo Galactica, back door is open. Back door is open. Godspeed, Apollo. (ENGINE WHIRRS) Lieutenant Thrace, why didn't you tell me we had another attack force hidden in the freighters? We, uh` It was my decision. I routinely restrict tactical details to those who need to know. Old habits die hard. So you still might pull this off? If Dr Baltar's target information is correct. And whether we get blown to pieces by those Cylon raiders heading toward us. Speaking of which, I'm needed in CIC. Initial point in five seconds. Flak suppression unit clear and hot. "OK, let's do this." (C'mon, Lee, it's all on you.) Incoming, incoming! "Weapons free! By the numbers, people!" Target acquired. Tone and lock. Firing. Tone and lock. Firing! What's got into these fracking missiles?! C'mon! They're jamming the guidance system! Strike Two Apollo, then, we, uh, get close enough so we don't need the guidance systems. Blow it manually. Going in. Chuckles! Chuckles! (ALARM BEEPS) Oh, frack. Chuckles, he's going down! (EXPLOSION) (SCREAMS) "Now they've got our attack axis zeroed in." "There's no way to fracking get close!" There's gotta be. "We gotta get out of this flak." "Let's go down below the deck." I've got an idea. I'm gonna take a closer look. Commander on deck! As you were. The first wave of Cylons will be on us in three minutes. Notify the Strike One vipers that they can stop running and blast those bastards to hell. Sir! "Engaging Cylon fighters!" "Target acquired. Tone and lock." Oh, no, don't do this, Lee. The conveyor tunnel's clear. I'm going through it. You're outta your frackin' mind, Apollo! What's going on? Captain Apollo's flying... into the conveyor tunnel, hoping it'll lead him to the refinery. Has he gone raving mad? There's no way to ensure it does anything of the kind. C'mon, keep it together, Lee. Keep it together. Keep it - Oh, Lord. Ugh! "OK, I'm through the tunnel. They can't get a firing solution on me." There you are. OK,... I've got you, I've got you, I've got you, I've got you, I've got you... (LAUGHS / PANTS) Uh, Galactica... Apollo,... ..mission... accomplished. (ALL CHEER) Whoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo! You can tell Dr Baltar he was right on the money, it's one hell of a fireworks show. And there's plenty of ore for us back in the canyon once this place is history. Congratulations, Doctor! It worked! (LAUGHS) It did. It worked. Oh! Sorry, Madam President. I'm sorry. (LAUGHS) No need to apologise. Thanks to you, we have enough fuel to last us a few years. "Commander, Strike One reports inbound Cylons are bugging out." "Request permission to go after them, sir." Tell our people to pursue and destroy. Affirmative. Strike One, tear 'em up. (CHEERING) Apollo, you magnificent bastard! That was one hell of a piece of flying, and I couldn't have done it better myself. Sorry, I didn't hear you. (LAUGHS) I said that I couldn't have done it better myself. Well, thank you. I had my doubts. So did I. Hm. I wasn't sure that crazy plan of yours could even possibly work. Hmm. You deserve this. Crash! Wh`? Have you read the Pythian Prophecy, Gaius? Not since the sixth grade. I can't say ancient history is my favourite subject. You should have paid closer attention,... hm? To what? "All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again." Everyone knows that verse. What are you getting at? Remember this one? "Led by serpents numbering two and ten..." The vipers. They're the serpents. There's a later verse, Gaius. You should read it. "Though the outcome favoured the few, "it led to a confrontation "at the home of the gods." Are you telling me that God guided my finger to that target for some... arcane scriptural purpose? You are part of God's plan, Gaius. So God wanted me to destroy the Cylon base? You did well. You gave yourself over to him. Yeah, I suppose I did. I... There's really no other logical explanation for it. Uh... I was... Am. I am an instrument of God. "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" THEME IMS Subtitles Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Captioning NZ 2005