DISCLAIMER: The writer of this story does not own either "V" or "Battlestar Galactica." He only owns his own ideas and story line.

Chapter Three

Welcome Back To The Colonial Fleet

Sheba sat in the cockpit of her viper waiting for clearance to launch from Flight Corporal Rigel. "Viper 2, cleared to launch" Rigel stated, and Sheba heard her engines coming on line, when she saw the line on the gage reach max she hit the turbo button and went slipping down the launch tube. After she left the Galactica she was joined by Starbuck and Apollo, and the three of them headed out to deep space.

Sheba took the east, Starbuck took the west and Apollo took the south. Sheba knew not to go beyond radio reach from the Galactica, and she had no plans to. She was still stewing over Apollo's obsession with her safety. While she admired him, and even had feelings of love for him, she was a warrior with the Silver Spar squadron long before they had ever met and she knew how to take care of herself. She didn't think she needed a body guard. What she wanted was a companion, and a friend. She understood that Apollo had lost Serena on the battlefield, but Serena was not an experienced warrior like she was; so there was no comparison and really no reason for Apollo to be upset when she took dangerous missions.

Sheba continued to think on this issue, not paying any attention to her location. When she looked at her gages she saw that she was way out from the Galactica. "Felgercarb" she thought "I have been so upset with my little spat with Apollo, that I did exactly what he was afraid I would do." She keyed her mic and said "Blue three to Blue one, come in. Blue three to Blue one come in." She listened but heard nothing. Then she said "Blue three to Blue two come in." Still there was no answer. For the first time since the loss of the Pegasus she was afraid. What was she going to do? How was she going to survive? She looked at her fuel gage and her fuel was over half gone: "How did I let this happen?" she wondered. Then she heard a faint voice filled with static "Silver…Pegasus…." Sheba keyed in "This is Blue three to anyone within the sound of my voice. Can anyone hear me?" Still there was no answer so she continued on to the direction of the last communication hoping that it was not a ghost signal bouncing through the star system.

"Blue flight one to Blue three, come in." Apollo was both furious and scared. He was scared he was going to lose Sheba. "Blue two to Blue one" Starbuck called. "Yeah, go ahead Starbuck" Apollo said. "Hey buddy listen we can't get too far out we gotta get back and refuel" Starbuck stated. "I'm not going anywhere until I find her Starbuck; it's just not going to happen" Apollo replied. Starbuck thought for a moment then said "Hey Apollo why don't you slow down, let me get back to the Galactica talk the Commander into letting me have a shuttle and I'll come back and we will have more fuel to search for her with?" "Sounds like a plan" Apollo said. "Now don't go too far, okay! I'll be right back" Starbuck added then he hit his turbo thrusters and roared out of sight. When Starbuck got back to the Galactica it was under full attack of the Cylons "Felgercarb the Commander will never let me have that shuttle now," so he took his place up in the battle.

The hours went by and Apollo could not reach Starbuck or Sheba, and he did not know what to do. His fuel was almost depleted and the oxygen in his tanks was down to 25 percent which was not good. He had shut down his engines and had decided to drift for a while hoping that he would be able to find a planet inhabitable for human life. Suddenly there was an explosion on his starboard side, and he restarted his engines and hit the thrusters. Another explosion appeared behind him and he knew that he was under attack. He hit the key on his console to see what he was up against. He saw several types of ships as the war book searched then it came up: "Colonial Vipers-Human." He yelled "Hey Starbuck what are you doing? Why are you shooting at me?" The reply came "Who is Starbuck? I am Capt. Lentz, who are you?" Apollo said "I am Capt. Apollo, Strike Leader on board the Battlestar Galactica. What Battlestar are you from?" Apollo responded. "We're from the Cerberus" the voice replied.

Apollo said "We thought all the new ships under construction at Picon were destroyed when Picon was destroyed. How many of you got away?" "All of the new ones: the Bellerophon, the Cerberus, the Olympia, and the Prometheus. We also have the Rycon and the Pegasus." Lentz replied. "Cain's ship survived?" Apollo asked. "Yep, and he found his daughter Sheba four centars ago." Lentz replied. "Is she alright?" Apollo inquired. "Absolutely, although she has been trying to convince Cain to looking after the Galactica. She said something about a message from Earth." Lentz replied.

Apollo breathed a sigh of relief and then looked at his fuel gage and said "Guy's I am running low on fuel." Lentz said "Well, I wouldn't worry about it because if you will look up ahead you will notice that you are coming up behind the Cerberus." As Apollo looked at the gigantic ship he noticed that the engines were different. Instead of one large engine the Cerberus had several smaller ones in an oblong circle, with one larger in the middle.

When he landed he was escorted to CIC. It didn't have a bridge like the Galactica or Pegasus did, it has a CIC which only held about 20 people at a time. There was a strategy table in the middle and he could hear all of the conversations going on between the battlestars in the fleet. Then one of the squares on the strategy table turned out to be a monitor and he saw Sheba. "Hi Apollo, sorry I got lost" she said. "Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you are safe" Apollo said. Then he saw Commander Cain: "Hello young man thanks for looking out for my daughter." "Not a problem sir" Apollo answered. Cain then said "We have the position of the Galactic and the fleet and we are getting ready to jump to their position." "Jump?" Apollo inquired. "It will take the Rycon and Pegasus a little longer, but we'll join up soon. Cain out." Then Apollo felt pressure against his body as the ship seemed to be stretching. His ears seemed to stop He up then it seemed as if time stopped. He could barely breathe, he could barely feel his heart when suddenly all stopped and everything was back to normal. The Captain patted him on the shoulder and said "You'll get used to it.

"Commander" Flight officer Omega called out "Sir four ships have just appeared in our space, no warning nothing." Adama looked out the glass and saw one of them had landed in front of the Galactica. He breathed easy and said "It's a Battlestar, one of the new ones. I thought they were wiped out at Picon. Everyone stand down." Then he looked down at his war monitor and saw the face of a man that he had known for a long time; Commander Locksley. "Hello you old war daggit! How are you?" Locksley asked. Adama couldn't help himself. He smiled and said "Look who is calling who old? We thought that all the new battlestars were destroyed when the colonies were hit." "Well, we heard that the outer planets had been hit so we moved the new battlestars out since their weapons weren't functional yet" Locksley stated. "Thank the Lords" Adama said slowly shaking his head. Then Locksley said "Oh yeah, we picked up a stray out there" and Adama saw his son, Apollo. "Whew, we were worried about you. When Starbuck got back we were under attack so he couldn't get the shuttle. Did you by any chance find Sheba?" Adama asked. "Sheba was picked up four centars earlier by Silver Spar squadron" Locksley said. "The Pegasus survives?" Adama asked. "It survives and will be here shortly with the Rycon to join us.

Omega called up "Sir you have a message coming in on the secure channel." Adama looked and saw the face of Commander Cain; the man who seems to out-smart the cylons at every turn. "This day just couldn't get any better" Adama thought. As they joined the other commanders on the Cerberus they sat around the table and shared a glass of Ambrosia. Cain then stood up and made a toast to the Galactica then said "Welcome back to the Colonial Fleet."