"Man, this sucks," Starbuck griped, as he fiddled with the straps on his seat.

"I agree, but you know it's necessary." Apollo gave his shoulder harness a final tug. He wasn't too satisfied with the fit, but it would do.

"So they say," Starbuck muttered darkly. His harness twisted into a tighter knot than ever and Apollo tried not to laugh.

"Maybe if you-"

"I'll get it, Pol," Starbuck swatted his friend's hand away with a growl. The recalcitrant harness untangled suddenly, as if by magic, and Starbuck strapped himself in. "See? Told you I'd get it. Now when are they going to get this bird in the air?"

"Any time now, I'm sure- that's why Captain Harris went up front."

Starbuck snickered. "Didja hear who's flying this run?"

"No, who is it?" Apollo thought he heard the faint click which signalled the shuttle's magnetic landing gear being released.

"It's Jareth- they busted him back a couple ranks for that little stunt he pulled."

The two boys snickered, trying not to attract the attention of their instructor, Lieutenant Mitcham. Then any sound they might have made was drowned out by the roar of the engines engaging.

"Here we go!" Apollo shouted over the engine noise. Starbuck's excited grin matched his own. Then the g-forces of liftoff smashed them back in their seats.

Too bad they think cadets need to experience this, Apollo thought, as his flesh tried to compress into a pancake. I know the luxury liners- hell, even most military craft- have wonderful inertial dampers...

After precisely two centons and forty microns, the g-forces eased and the shuttle achieved orbit above Caprica. There was a brief flare of the maneuvering thrusters as Jareth corrected their course, then Captain Harris drifted into the passenger cabin.

"All right, Cadets, you may now undo your harnesses and acquaint yourselves with freefall. Try not to hurt yourselves." He secured himself to a handhold on the wall to watch the antics of the twelve cadets.

For all his difficulty in fastening the harness, Starbuck wasted no time getting out of it. He pushed off the armrests of his seat and drifted straight up, nearly to the roof of the shuttle. Apollo giggled madly at the startled look on his face, then followed- with a slightly softer push.

The next few moments were a chaotic jumble of boys and laughter as the cadets flipped about the cabin. Then Apollo noticed Starbuck plastered against a viewport. He bounced off a classmate, ricocheted off the wall, and snagged a seatback. He pulled himself hand over hand until he reached the portal.

"Whatcha looking at?"

"This," Starbuck replied, voice unusually soft.

Hanging below them peacefully was the brilliant sphere of Caprica.

"Wow..." Apollo said, entranced. "That's home..."

"Home," Starbuck repeated. "Just hanging there, like a jewel against velvet, a big fat emerald in the sky..."

"Yeah." Apollo filled his eyes with the sight of his home world. "Look- the clouds, they've got texture!"

"Yeah," Starbuck agreed. "Never thought clouds would have texture."

"Me either. I mean, sure- they're fluffy and all, but these have, like, hills and valleys and plains and stuff."

"All right, boys, back to your seats," came the unwelcome voice of Lieutenant Mitcham. Still quiet and awed, Apollo and Starbuck returned to their seats for the beginning of the lecture.