Starbuck examined the Empyrean talisman now hanging around his neck. He shook his head. Frack, that woman could throw him for a loop. Starbuck's rational side was insisting that Ama was a few cards short of a full deck, but his gut was telling him to prepare for another extraordinary sequence of events. He quickly tucked the talisman under his tunic and turned to find several sets of eyes watching him. Luckily, the turbo lift was again descending and somehow Starbuck knew Apollo would be on it.

"There you are. What took you so long? Did you talk to Lia?" The lieutenant was eager to get underway.

Apollo nodded. "Yeah. I couldn't get Ama though. Colonel Tigh is going to try." Starbuck looked unusually agitated, he noticed. "Are you okay?"

"Sure, just great." He ran his fingers back through his hair. He still wasn't sure how much he believed of what Ama told him. He should probably just spit it out and tell Apollo everything, however, there would be plenty of time for that on the way to the planet. "I talked to Ama. She already knew about Lu and Sheba being missing. I was sort of hoping you'd told her though." Starbuck still wasn't comfortable with the alternative. "I checked out your ship. Let's get going." He turned to head towards his Viper.

"Starbuck, wait." The Lieutenant stopped and looked at him. "Lia's coming too." The crew was already preparing another Viper for launch.

"What?" He snorted in disbelief. "Apollo, she doesn't have the experience. I think Luana and Sheba may be in real trouble. This is hardly the time to drag a brand new ensign into action." Ama's words suddenly came back to him. 'In combination with Lia and Luana's, your talisman will be a very powerful force against the evil you will encounter.' Oh, frack. He hadn't realized the implications of that. He knew he was hooped. The lift was again in motion and they both saw Lia jump off before it landed and run towards them with a pack slung over her shoulder and her helmet in her hand.

"Luana's her sister, Starbuck. She's coming." Apollo moved over to Lia's fighter and started pre-launch checks to facilitate a quick departure.

Starbuck sighed and walked towards Lia. "I hear you're coming. Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked in concern.

"Starbuck, I don't want to argue with you too." She started towards her ship.

Starbuck reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him in a tight embrace. "Hey, I'm not arguing with you. I'm just worried about you." He felt her arms encircle his waist as she held him tightly. "Tell me the truth, can you do this?" He loosened his grip to look into her dark eyes.

He was acting more like her old instructor and friend again. Thank the Lords he had dropped out of protector mode. She knew he wanted a realistic evaluation of her emotions and whether she was going to put any of them at risk. She nodded at him, "Yes, I can do this. I'm experienced at separating duty and emotion. After all, I was raised to be an Emperor."

He nodded at that. "Good enough. Let's go find our lost patrol."

----------

Luana sat up from where she was lying on the ground next to the lieutenant. Sheba was deeply asleep. She knew she should be as well. They must have walked for thirty kilometrons through the dense forest until it grew so dark they could barely see where they were going. They had been pulled along by the arm for the last centar or so until the ground disappeared beneath them and they landed unceremoniously on their backsides in their current location. Frack, it was dark! Not even a moon to shed some light on their temporary prison. Yes, temporary. We're going to get out of here . . . well, maybe after Sheba wakes up. She again looked around straining to see where they were. It was cold. She rolled slowly onto her back protecting her injured shoulder. Her head still ached dully. She could see the stars shining safely out of reach. They almost seemed to be mocking her. She sighed. Oh, how she had loved flying her Viper among those stars. She remembered the first time Starbuck had told her about flying. His eyes were shining and his face was so animated. She had asked him if there was anything in the universe he loved more and he had laughed. "How could anything else even compare, Lu?" he had asked her in reply. Starbuck. She sighed. She had never really sorted out her feelings for Starbuck. Well, now was hardly the time to do it.

Luana thought back to the sudden appearance of their captors. She and Sheba had felt increasingly uncomfortable even as they made the incredible discovery of the ancient Empyrean tome. They were actually ready to do a final cursory check and leave when Sheba heard a growl. Both women spun to spot three of the strangest creatures they had ever seen heading towards them. They must have been more than two metrons tall as they climbed into the flight deck. Overall, they appeared to have the shape of a human with the usual two arms and legs. However, that was where the similarity ended. They appeared to be avian from their feet, which had four clawed toes, up to their knees, with bird like scales wrapped horizontally around the legs. Silver reptilian scales extended from the knees throughout the trunk and arms and up to the neck. The immense head was out of scale with the slender build of the beast. It reminded Luana of a hairy male bovine complete with stubby horns on either side of its head; however, its lower jaw was twice as wide. Its two eyes were cloudy and appeared almost opaque. As Luana thought back, she now wondered how well the beasts could see. The most frightening feature though was their teeth. They must have been four centimetrons in length each and seemed to curve slightly inward with great gaps between them. These teeth were made for the tearing of flesh.

The warriors had quickly pulled their weapons on the advancing beasts, the ancient tomes cast aside. Luana had noticed small clubs held within the grip of their scaly hands. "Sheba?" Every fiber of her being was crying out for her to fire her weapon. Her eyes were glued to the largest creature slightly ahead of the others. Instinctively, the hunter in her knew that it was the dominant beast. Luana watched as the corner of a fat lip curled and its nostrils flared. It growled again.

"Fire!" Sheba yelled at the same time the beasts launched themselves at the women.

Luana fired her weapon hitting the leader squarely in the chest. It shrieked an earsplitting avian sounding protest, but continued to come at her. She hurled herself to the side avoiding it and fired at its head. This time the beast dropped where it landed.

"Aim for the head!" she called to Sheba as she rolled the other way and fired again at another creature. Again, it was a minor hit and the beast advanced, flinging itself on top of her. It struck at her weapon with its club knocking it out of Lu's grip. She managed to get her feet up between them and pushed against her enemy with all of her strength. It was surprisingly light and flew off of her. Luana noticed in despair that more creatures were climbing in through the flight deck. They leaped across the wreckage at her. She threw herself towards her weapon and felt another creature grab her around the neck. Her hand was scant centimetrons from the laser when she felt something tearing into the flesh on her left shoulder. She screamed in pain.

Sheba was fairing a little better. As soon as she heard Luana's yell to aim for the head, she blasted at the two approaching creatures and dropped them both. Like most Colonial pilots, Sheba had more experience at blasting Cylons in space than in ground assaults, however, she was a deadly shot. Unlike most marksmen, her aim seemed to improve under stress. Must be in the genes, she mused as she took aim on another target. Suddenly, she heard Luana scream. She whirled around to see a beast sinking its teeth into the ensign. Her heart raced as she dropped to a knee to improve the angle of her shot as she fired. The beast collapsed on top of Luana. Sheba was struck from behind and tumbled forward onto her stomach. Her weapon was trapped beneath her as she felt her hair grabbed and pulled sharply back. Tears filled her eyes as her head snapped back. She could feel pressure in the small of her back as her arm was wrenched behind her. Her other arm was also grabbed and they started to pull her roughly to her feet.

Luana heard Sheba's shot and felt her attacker collapse. She could still feel its teeth in her shoulder as she wrenched herself free and reached for her weapon. As her fingertips touched it she could feel another attacker fling itself onto her back. She gripped the laser and rolled herself to the right coming face to face with the enemy. It growled down at her as it opened its mouth wide. Lu shoved her weapon into the orifice and fired. Tissue fragments rained down upon her as she pushed the light creature to the side and rolled quickly to regain her footing. Stars suddenly exploded before her eyes as a blunt object hit the back of her skull. She swayed slightly and found herself again on her stomach being grabbed from behind by her arms. Her weapon was pulled from her loose grip as she was hauled to her feet. She reeled with dizziness as she was pushed ahead of her captors and almost fell to her knees. Her right arm was gripped to steady her and she found herself being contemplated by yet another of the hideous creatures. Her nose detected a musty smell as she looked into the large, cloudy eyes. It cocked its head slightly to the side and hissed at her as it held her gaze. She spat in its eye. A low growl started in its throat.

"Luana, are you trying to get yourself killed? Stand down, Ensign!" Sheba ordered as her guards pushed her roughly across the flight deck.

Luana heard her, but standing down really wasn't her style. She grinned inanely at the beast. It stopped growling and cocked its head to the side, studying her. Interesting. She imitated it and cocked her head to the same side. Luana suddenly detected a musk emanating from the creature. Its scales started taking on a reddish hue. "You think I'm kind of cute, don't you?"

"Luana, what the frack are you doing?" Sheba yelled as she was pushed out of the craft.

The ensign again grinned inanely at her guard and then felt it pull her gently forward to follow Sheba. She exited the ship to find Sheba flanked by two guards and the rest of the creatures gathering metrons away from them in a circle. Her guard led her to stand beside the lieutenant.

"Luana, can you reach your communicator?" Sheba asked her quietly. She didn't know why she was whispering. It wasn't like the creatures could understand her.

"Yeah, but who am I supposed to communicate with? The Lords of Kobol?" Luana asked.

"Set it to stand-by. That way if a search party comes they can use it to track us." Sheba explained.

"What do you mean 'if'? Starbuck will come. He wouldn't leave us here to die." Luana declared vehemently. She pulled her arm free of her guard. She noticed its right horn was broken off. It let her go and continued to study her.

"Neither would Apollo." Sheba reassured her. She just hoped they would be in time. This was the first real sign that the ensign was afraid. Sheba had thought that somehow Starbuck had also passed on his bravado. Perhaps the brain washing wasn't complete after all.

"Sheba, should we try the languatron?" Perhaps they should try and communicate a little more effectively.

"This far from the colonies, I'm not even sure it will work. After all, it's programmed to translate languages we're somewhat familiar with. I've never seen or heard tell of creatures like this before. I'm also kind of worried if we pull out the languatrons they'll notice our communicators and take them. Right now I'm more concerned with a search party being able to find us. Of course, if they suddenly look like they're going to kill us on the spot I'll probably realign my priorities." Sheba told her somewhat ruefully.

"I think if they wanted us dead, we'd be dead. You're probably right, looks like we're going for a walk." The gathered beasts had begun to growl and the noise level increased drastically. She looked back over to the assembly of creatures.

Enclosed within the circle were two beasts slowly swaying and watching each other. The assembly began to growl as they advanced on one another. Suddenly, one beast hurled itself towards its rival and swung its club. The adversary surprisingly leaned into the attack and took it full on the chest. Its vicious jaws opened wide and it lunged forward clamping its teeth down into the neck of its foe. The victim shrieked in pain as the aggressor shook its head from side to side ripping its flesh apart. The attacker pushed its prey to the ground and continued to rend the flesh with every motion. The victim slumped. The victor stood above it and growled in concert with the excited assembly.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sheba whispered. She looked in horror at the triumphant beast, blood running down its jaws and neck. Apparently, they had a new leader.

"Don't. It will make you look weak." Luana begged her. She also felt nauseous, but knew that these creatures would not tolerate weakness.