Starbuck is smiling, so much older, as she checks in with the SAR ("Search And Rescue") team. A bunch of pilots check in with the usual awesome names ("Eeyore." "The Secret History." "The Virgin Mary." "My So-Called Life Lunchbox." "My Mom's Old D&D Figurines") and it's the whole mishmash of how exciting this mission actually is, since it's been almost the full season coming. In the back of the Raptor -- where Helo is finally doing actual ECO stuff instead of cuddling manfully with Boomer and/or Chief as his full-time job -- Boomer is like, "I cannot believe you talked me into this," and Helo assures her that it's important and that he'll be with her the whole time: "It's you and me from now on, no matter what. Just like we agreed." He smiles like the dreamiest, most protective, bestest boyfriend in the world, and Boomer's like, "Sorry. Sorry about my issues, I do appreciate that." Close-up on her face: "I just can't get her out of my head." Helo looks away, down. "...Our little girl." You wanna jump through the screen and fucking shake Roslin till her teeth rattle. Boomer notices the Marines watching, and Helo sees Boomer see them, and turns to tell them to fuck off. They look moderately chastened. Fuck them. Don't you know the real pilots got over the toasterfucker thing months ago?

Racetrack checks, and I believe that her co-pilot is named Skull ("The Peacekeeper Wars"), and then Kara tells Sharon, note, that she's on. It's more intimate, but really less, because "Boomer" is a callsign, and that name is gone now. Forever. Ouch. Even Ron Moore doesn't ever say "Boomer" anymore. Sharon flips switches and buttons and shit connected to the huge throbbing nasty brain, and then inserts a cable into her arm. I forget what they call it on medical shows: a "port"? She has a thing already in her arm, like an IV. I'm glad she's getting to help the Fleet again in some kind of capacity, but that's still rough. She's unavoidably a Snow Crash gargoyle, you know? USB ports and crap. It hurts her. Starbuck gives the mark to the twenty Raptors, and they jump away, beautiful to look at.