"Tell me what, Commander?" Starbuck asked again, his patience obviously waning as he awaited an answer.
"I'm not a man who beats around the bush, Lieutenant." Cain told him, but the look on the younger man's face cried 'bovine mong, you're doing it right now'. And they both knew it.
Cain had battled with the information from the time Talib had first knocked him on his astrum with it. It was impossible, he told himself. But the Chief Medical Officer had checked, and rechecked the results using both Dionian medical technology and Colonial, until Cain knew beyond doubt.
"Starbuck . . . you're my son."
For almost three sectons Cain had played this scene out in his mind, wondering how the lieutenant would react. But the other just stared mutely at him, as if he had suddenly sprouted a couple horns and a tail. Then Starbuck smiled slightly, looking at Cain dubiously.
"You're putting me on . . ." he suggested tentatively, looking around as if expecting a group of practical jokers to jump out.
"Now, why would I do that?" Cain asked seriously.
Starbuck shook his head in wonder looking to Dr. Talib. She nodded, confirming the news from the medical perspective. "But . . . that's impossible. How could I be your son?"
Talib sat on the chair that Cain had recently vacated. "Lieutenant, when you were first brought into Life Station, we ran every blood test known to Dionysus on you. From that we discovered that not only do you and Commander Cain share an uncommon blood type, but you also share a recessive gene that could potentially cause a blood dyscrasia."
"Come again?" Starbuck asked, looking from Talib to Cain and back again. "And who the frack is Dionysus?"
"My apologies, Lieutenant. Dionysus is one of our many deities, though that's hardly relevant to your concerns." Talib explained. "Commander Cain was one of a handful of people called upon to donate blood for you initially. As you probably are aware, your blood type isn't common. When I screened his blood, I noticed the rare recessive gene that strangely matched your own. It is of little concern, unless you had children with a woman who also carried the gene, and then your offspring could potentially end up with a blood dyscrasia resulting in a clotting deficiency. I can do some genetic counselling with you at a later time, to explain that more thoroughly." She paused, letting the information sink in. "Naturally, when time allowed, I did some genetics testing and discovered that Commander Cain is indeed your father."
"I checked Fleet service records, Starbuck. You're recorded as being an orphan, with no identified next of kin, unless that's incorrect." Starbuck seemed to smile ruefully, before he shook his head. Cain didn't understand the other's reaction, and the younger man wasn't forthcoming, so he moved on. "I admit I have been curious if you know where you come from."
Starbuck let out a short breath. "Wait just a centon! Are you saying that . . . Sheba is my . . . sister? But how did I end up . . ." His shoulders shrugged dramatically, his hands palm upward, his eyes wide; his body language screamed out his disbelief and confusion.
Cain knew just how he felt.
The young man had cut to the chase, just like Cain would have. When he had scanned over Starbuck's service record, he had seen many traits similar to his own, especially as a younger man. An outstanding pilot, commonly assigned to the most dangerous and challenging missions, a reputation for bravery and rashness, and not afraid to strategically amend his commanding officer's orders if he thought it necessary. Lieutenant Starbuck was a man who got the job done. A man that any father would be proud to have as a son. So, it was some reluctance and shame that he admitted to his son, "Half-sister."
"Half-sister . . ." Starbuck repeated, and he sucked in a deep breath as the realization hit him. "So . . . my mother was your . . . bit on the side?" He snorted derisively. "Do you even know who my mother was?"
He deserved that. But all the same, Cain wasn't about to let his subordinate officer—the man he was intending to lead his squadrons—get away with it. "You're way out of line, Lieutenant!"
"I'm out of line?" Starbuck snapped back. "I'm willing to bet that your wife, Siress Bethany, would argue that point!"
"Both of you, stop it now!" Dr. Talib stepped in. "By all that's holy, don't either of you realize what a precious gift you've been given? You, Lieutenant. You should be dead. Instead, by the grace of Asmodei, you've been given a second lease on life, not to mention a chance to know your father. A man, who I understand, is a great hero amongst your people. A man you should be proud to call father." Her face was intent, and her eyes appeared to darken, taking on an almost black appearance. She turned towards Cain. "And you, Commander. Doesn't every great man dream of a having such a son? Here he is. The answer to your long buried, but fervent wish. A gift."
Her words were so close to the truth that they startled Cain. Even Bethany had known his private disappointment when their first child was a girl. She had understood his need to continue the male line, to have a strong, strapping son to follow in his father's footsteps, perhaps even outdo him in accomplishments. Nothing would have made him prouder. And so they had continued to try, losing three more babies, all of them girls, in a seven-yahren period. Finally, Bethany's compromised health and depression from repeated miscarriages had ended their quest. Cain had admitted defeat, and had focused on being the best father he could to Sheba—while spending most of his time at war, far from his wife and child.
"Umbra."
The word was spoken so softly, that Cain almost missed it. He glanced at Starbuck—his son—to see blue eyes studying him intently. The young man swallowed anxiously, and Cain could tell that it meant a lot to him that his mother wasn't just some nameless, faceless one-night-stand from his father's past. Well, at least he could give him that much.
"Do you remember your mother, Starbuck? At all?"
The young man lowered his eyes in reflection for a moment. "Feelings. Images. That's all really." He met Cain's gaze once again.
"Her name was Rhea. She was the Strike Captain on the Columbia when I was a Colonel there."
"You're sure?" Starbuck asked hesitantly.
"Absolutely. Contrary to what you obviously believe, I only had one affair after I was married, and not a woman in every spaceport." He didn't mention that he had to give all those women up just before he had sealed with Bethany . . .
"A man of great restraint." Starbuck replied sardonically.
"Do you want to hear this, or not?" Cain retorted sharply. "I'm not telling this tale for my own benefit."
Starbuck let out a breath, his lips tight. He nodded, "Go ahead."
"We'd been friends for yahrens, having worked together when I was a Captain and Rhea was a brand new ensign on the Battlecruiser Cygnus. She was a fine pilot, and had a feel for her ship that I hadn't really seen in someone with her lack of experience, and especially in a woman. It intrigued me. She was also very attractive. Blonde hair, blue eyes . . ." He trailed off as Starbuck looked at him searchingly. "Yes, very much like Cassiopeia."
"Rhea and I became briefly involved on the Cygnus—this was several yahrens before I married Bethany, by the way—but as soon as my commanding officer became aware of our relationship, they transferred me off to the Columbia so quickly, I barely had time to say goodbye. They were much more strict about fraternization rules back then."
"Yahrens later, she was assigned to the Columbia as our Strike Captain." Cain smiled at the memory of the proud warrior saluting him crisply as she jumped down from her fighter. "I was sealed then, going through some difficult times with Bethany who didn't quite understand what she was getting into when she married an officer in the Colonial Service." Every time he had returned home he was met with a passionate, joyous woman who couldn't get enough of him. And every time he shipped out again, he left behind an embittered, lonely woman who felt abandoned and betrayed. "We shipped out for a six sectar tour that stretched into a yahren. After an especially harsh battle where we lost a lot of good pilots—a lot of good friends—well, suffice it to say Rhea and I started an intimate relationship that lasted until we returned to Caprica."
"I honestly didn't know what to do then. I loved them both you see. I truly did." Starbuck merely nodded, his expression neutral, as if he could somehow understand loving two women simultaneously. "Ultimately, my decision was made for me." Cain sighed, as emotions and memories from the past washed over him. "Commander Kronus took me into his quarters before I left on furlon. He told me that Rhea had resigned her commission for personal reasons. At the time, I was too dense . . . or too much in denial to realize why. Obviously, she was pregnant with you, Starbuck. I never even considered that. Then Kronus gave me some of the most oft repeated advice in the service. If I wanted to save my marriage—and my career—to forget about Rhea and get my astrum home, making sure that my wife was pregnant before I came back. He advised me that Bethany needed something besides resentment to occupy her spare time." In a Kobolian society, the scandal of fraternization was enough to blacken a man's personal record, obliterating his chances at ever commanding his own Battlestar. Kronus had been more than clear on that point.
"So, you really don't know much about how she came to be in Umbra . . . who her people were?" Starbuck appeared to be thinking it all over. Digesting the information. Actually, he looked like someone had just hit him up the side of the head with a shuttlecraft.
"I never met them, no. And I never saw Rhea again after my meeting with Commander Kronus." Honestly, he had been surprised that his rigid, by-the-manual commanding officer had given him another chance, considering their styles were so vastly different. Perhaps Kronus figured it would temper his impetuous nature, and do him some good, after being under his tutelage long enough. "However, I can tell you all about my people, Starbuck. Going back generations. Your people. You come from good stock, son." He smiled proudly. From an orphan without a past, to Commander Cain's son. No wonder the young man was so quiet. He must be counting his lucky stars all the way from Caprica to Adama's Earth.
"One more thing." Starbuck said after a moment.
"Yes?"
"Are you planning to tell Sheba? Or is this some deep, dark secret of yours?"
"Hades hole, Starbuck, I'm planning to tell everyone that I have a son." He couldn't help the cocky grin that spread across his face. He almost felt like he should be handing out fumarellos, however belatedly. "I just wanted you to know first. Of course, Sheba will require some special consideration when we eventually meet up with the Fleet again. Uh . . . you do get along with her, don't you?"
"Yeah," Starbuck nodded distractedly, as he looked contemplative, then confused.
"Is something wrong, Lieutenant?" Dr. Talib asked him.
"Wrong?" Starbuck asked wryly as he rolled his eyes. "What could be wrong?"
Talib looked at him in concern, running her biomonitor over him once again. "I think he needs to get some rest, Commander Cain."
Cain nodded. "I have a meeting with Tartarus anyhow."
"Tartarus?" Starbuck asked.
"My executive officer." Cain explained. "And Dr. Talib's lifemate."
Starbuck stared at him, his face again a mask of disbelief. He ran a hand through his shorn hair once again, muttering, "Where the frack am I again?" He was obviously overwhelmed with all the news
"The Pegasus, Lieutenant." And with that, Cain raised his swagger stick in farewell, and left.
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Author's note: Yes, I know that Chameleon was discovered to be Starbuck's father in the Man With Nine Lives . . . but Starbuck doesn't.