VENTURA:

The commotion had finally died down in Hector Alonzo's office. Now they all stood there in stunned silence. Kronus and Carter both stood in the doorway, blocking the way in or out of the room. Gloria and Louise Alonzo were huddled against the far wall, and Hector Alonzo was bleeding and unconscious on the floor near the desk.

"Let's get Hector moved out of here; it looks like he needs medical attention." Kronus spoke as he kept his eyes glued on Hector.

A group of medical corpsmen entered with a stretcher, then lifted Hector on it and carried him out of the room. When they had left, Kronus and Carter walked over to Tolan.

"Come on Scott; let's get you out of here." Carter put a firm grip on Tolan's left arm and began to lead him out of the room with Kronus following behind. All the way down to the hangar bay none of them said anything. It was when they reached the raptor and closed he door that Kronus spoke.

"Scott, what in the name of the Gods were you doing in there? Do you have any idea what kind of damage you could have done?"

Tolan looked ahead, as though he were staring into a void, "I had to do something John. It's because of that bastard that Emily is lying in a coma on theSolace. When I saw that Hector was in league with Demand Peace and helped plot the riots on Olympica I just snapped. All the emotions I've been dealing with simply consumed me and I had to take action. I may not have been able to save her but I wanted to avenge her."

"You did that Scott; you got a measure of revenge and made a statement to Hector Alonzo. Guess what? Emily is still in a coma, and we still have to convict Alonzo in a court of law before we can do something about him. Now can you stop acting like a man with a death wish and more like the man that I've been friends with these past few years?" Tyrone turned around in the co-pilot seat of the raptor and shot Tolan a serious look.

"Yeah Ty, I won't let that happen again. It's just that after all I went through these past six months with Hector, the riots and what happened to Emily proved to be the last straws. Just promise me that when you get your hands on William Arnold and the bastard that hit Emily with that pipe you let me have a go at them. I can save you time and energy if you do that."

"Will do Scott, we will give you first crack at them." Kronus laughed and piloted the raptor back towards Victorious.

VICTORIOUS:

Andre was watching the kids along with Lt. Jennings. That gave her all the time she needed to find the man she was looking for. Andrea Graystone knew that Reese "Spartan" Pittman was somewhere on the battlestar, it was just a matter of where. With the riots under control, and the vipers fromAchilles on patrol for the rest the evening, Pittman had ordered his viper squadrons to stand down for the night.

Spartan wasn't in the CAG office, an office that a few months ago the two of them had a wild night of passion that led to the reason for her searching for him. He also wasn't in his quarters with the other pilots from Squadron 1: The Blue Dragons. Andrea remembered a conversation she had with Spartan not long after the shakedown cruise of Victorious.

Spartan had convinced a young ensign that she could have a night of passion with him in one of the launch tubes. At the time the battlestar hadn't reached the point where the launch systems would have been tested.

She turned a corner and reached Port Launch Tube 3. The control station was empty and the lights were turned off. However the lights inside the launch tube itself were on.

'This looks promising…" Andrea said to herself as she walked to the glass window that looked out into the launch tube.

She saw movement in the tube and turned on the intercom so that she could hear what was going on inside.

"Oh Spartan just look at those abs, how many hours do you spend in the gym?" The woman's voice was familiar to Andrea but she couldn't quite place it.

"Maybe an hour or so, I don't have to spend too long there baby. I happened to be blessed with a body that's naturally a work of art." Spartan's voice was as seductively smooth as ever. When it came to who was better with the ladies, it was a toss-up between him and Magic.

"Well I got your shirt off, can I get the CAG out of his pants so I can see the rest?" The woman let out a giggle as she ran one of her hands over Spartan's chest.

Andrea had no desire to watch what was going to happen next. She found the button used for venting the coolant used to keep the launching system from overheating. She lifted the plastic covering off of the switch and then raised it. Almost immediately the cold air of the coolant began to vent in the launch tube. Shouts and screams began at the same time and Reese jumped to his feet, his shirt off and his belt already undone. Beside him Ensign Tonya Bryant, one of the new pilots that had finished training on the Melete.

"Playtime's over Spartan, we've got to talk!" She stopped the venting, and at last locked eyes with the man who had been her lover the past two months.

"Andie, what the frak was that all about?" Spartan shouted as him and Tonya came out of the launch tube and marched over to where she was standing.

"Were you trying to kill me you crazy bitch?" Tonya shouted as her as she started towards Andie as if she was looking for a fight.

In a flash Andie grabbed Tonya's arm, twisted it behind her back, and then slammed her torso against the control console.

"If I was going to kill you, then this crazy bitch would let you know about it. Now you get your clothes together and go find your rack. The CAG and I need to have a talk that's got nothing to do with freshly minted ensigns." With that she released Tonya and sent her on her way.

"You get the male ensigns drunk and you try to screw the female ones. Did you ever get it on with Cashew by chance?" She spoke to Spartan as he buckled his belt and tried to get his shirt back on.

"It wasn't for lack of trying I can tell you that much, she was so damn stubborn about wanting to stay faithful to her fiancé." He finally got his shirt on and then stared at her waiting for her to talk. When she didn't he said, "Alright Andie why did you want to talk to me. Considering the parts of my body I think you about froze off in there it'd better be good."

"I'm pregnant Reese, I'm two months along. I found out yesterday and the riots happened before I could tell you."

"You're telling me that you're pregnant and I'm the father?"

"Yeah, you're the only guy I've been with in the past six months. Are you having a hard time believing that?"

Spartan rubbed the back of his shaved head, "Considering you have a wild reputation Andie, yeah I guess I do. I figured you would at least be sampling the menu over on the Olympica when you were visiting Emily and the kids."

"Well you're wrong on that Reese. I haven't had the time to tend to those matters until that night in my office when Scott overheard us."

"You mean he heard us in there that night?"

"Yeah Reese, he heard me tell you how I'd been a bad little viper pilot. He heard part of that game of 'Who's Your CAG' that we played." Andie let out an exasperated sigh before she spoke again. "You don't have to marry me Reese, I just want you to know that I'm going to keep the baby and I want you to be involved in its life."

"Alright Andie, I'll be there for you and the baby. Let me go find my date so I can finish this business and we'll talk more about this later." Reese walked out into the hallway and vanished out of sight.

"Well that went better than I had thought." Andie said to herself, she then made her way to Tolan's quarters to check on Andre and the children.

TWO HOURS LATER:

The phone was ringing again as Mitchell Cain tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. However the person calling would not give up. Finally he reached over and grabbed the receiver with a snatch. He didn't even bother with any kind of niceness, "Just who the frak are you and why are you calling me?"

"I'm calling you because you did one of the most frakking idiotic things possible and at the worst possible time!" The voice, the very angry voice, belonged to Admiral John Kronus.

"Hello John, what's the matter?" Cain's voice was suddenly very subdued and he forgot about how tired he was.

"The matter is that I have just finished escorting Scott Tolan back to Victorious after he went to Ventura and just about beat Hector Alonzo to death. As if that wasn't my only problem, you went and made it possible for him to find out about Hector being involved with Demand Peace. I told you specifically not to let him get a hold of any information of that nature. First you address your report to the Admiralty and then…" Kronus was cut off by Mitchell.

"With all due respect Admiral I was really tired…" He didn't say more after Kronus exploded with anger.

"I could give a flying frak if you were exhausted or not. You, the man who was a great black-ops agent, screwed up like a damn rookie without a bit of sense. You get your precious sleep, and maybe by the time I've cooled down I may feel like I can have you within reach and not beat you to a bloody pulp!" Kronus hung up the phone abruptly.

Mitchell Cain sat there on his bed; suddenly he wasn't as tired as he was before he answered the phone.

ONE DAY LATER:

OLYMPICA:

Seated in the First-Class Dining Room were Admiral John Kronus and the newly appointed president, David Rush. They were there to discuss a very important topic, what to do about Hector Alonzo.

"I hope you understand Admiral Kronus that while I disagree with Hector Alonzo on many key issues I cannot in good conscience condone a trial for him." Rush buttered a crescent roll and took a bite.

"Well Mr. Rush I have an admiral that will be very disappointed to hear that, but even more than that is that there are so many people that have had their lives lost or traumatized because Mr. Alonzo went on the mother of all power trips. In the interest of fairness, we should allow him to answer for his crimes in a court of law."

"You see Admiral, I have made no bones about how I have a great intellect and can read the masses in a way like none other…"

"Is that why you finished third in the election?" Kronus muttered under his breath

"I'm sorry Admiral, were you saying something?"

"Not at all, please continue."

"As I was saying, a trial is going to divide the people worse than Demand Peace could have ever dreamed of. Have you thought of that?"

Kronus shrugged, "They appealed to a group of people who were very anti-establishment, and had a dim view of the military to begin with."

Rush grabbed the butter knife and used it to accentuate the points he was going to bring up, "Demand Peace more than likely brought more of the general population to their way of thinking, or at least created some sympathy for Hector Alonzo. We drag him out for this huge trial that will give him even more sympathy than what he had before. Especially if it takes him a while to recover from the savage beating Admiral Tolan gave him. I think we may want to quietly banish him to Carillon whenever we leave this planet, as well as the members of Demand Peace. I recommend that in order to heal our people and put this nightmare behind us we allow Hector Alonzo and his cronies to silently fade away and not be heard from again."

"You sort of have a point there. Tell you what, I will bring it to a vote with the Admiralty and if we vote to approve banishment without a trial then that will be the course we take. Fair enough, Mr. Rush?"

Rush put down the crescent roll and butter knife and extended his hand, "You have a deal Admiral Kronus."

TWO DAYS LATER:

One of the Marines stationed outside of his cabin doors turned on the speaker to let him know that his guest had arrived.

"Very well Corporal Hassib, please let her in." He stood facing away from the door, his gaze on the pictures of Emily and the kids that he kept on the top of his dresser. When he was away during the weapons test, before the Cylons attacked, he would look at them and wish he could be there with them.

"Hello Admiral Tolan, I'm not quite sure why you sent for me." Gloria Alonzo stood near the door, not wanting to move closer to the man on the other side of the room.

Tolan turned around and faced her, "Welcome Mrs. Alonzo, may I call you Gloria?" She nodded and then he spoke again, "There were a few things I wanted to say to you. First I wanted to apologize to you for the way I acted on the Ventura. It was your husband I was angry with, I had no right to lash out at you the way I did. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you Admiral; I understand how upset you would be with all that happened to your wife. I read the report on my husband and I would have never dreamed he'd be in league with a group such as Demand Peace. I know the two of you weren't on the best of terms, but I didn't realize the depths he would sink to." She moved over to a couch and took a seat.

"I did threaten him and everyone on Olympica with nuclear annihilation, that's not quite the way to endear oneself to someone. I had to keep him from removing me from my command. All I had worked to accomplish since the Cylon attack was going to be undone because of your husband. I couldn't let that happen." He poured himself a glass of water and poured one for Gloria, which she accepted and took a sip of.

"I'm surprised you didn't do worse to him." Gloria sighed, "You should have known him back when I first met him Admiral Tolan, and he was a different man then. He was young, idealistic, and just wanted to make a difference in the world. The problems started after he got a taste of power. It wasn't long until he was just like any other corrupt politician out there. I think the two of you would have been friends if you had known him before he got into politics."

"Maybe Gloria, but let's not get into games of 'What if?' that won't do either of us a whole lot of good."

"You're right Admiral…" Gloria was cut off by Tolan speaking again.

"I would appreciate it if you would call me 'Scott'; this formality can be a little suffocating at times."

"Very well then, Scott, I wanted to know how Chris was doing. I haven't seen a whole lot of him since the riots started. I heard he was going to be rewarded for his actions that day."

"Commander Sakura of the Helios recommended him for the Bronze Cluster for his actions of rescuing people on Olympica and transporting them to the Solace. The ceremony will be in a week or two. You're more than welcome to be there, along with Louise."

Gloria smiled at him, "That's very generous of your Scott, and you brought up the other thing I wanted to ask you about. How is it that Louise was able to stop you attacking Hector?"

"In all honesty Gloria it has to do with a couple of things. First is that I have a little girl, Lisa, and I thought of her when Louise came up to me to ask me to stop attacking Hector. The other thing she did was in her own way appeal to my better angels. What kind of example would I be setting for my children if I had gone through the rest of my plan and killed your husband?"

"You'd have probably been no better than the Cylons." Gloria took another drink of water, the mood in the room not quite as tense as it had been.

"Your family won't have to worry about any reprisals on my part or that of the Colonial Fleet. Any who attempt it will be dealt with harshly. My problem was never with Chris, Louise, or yourself. I'd have even tried to get along with Hector if it would have kept the peace, but events didn't take that course. I'm still trying to decide what to do with Hector. I'm going to consult with the Admiralty to see what kind of decision we come to."

"That's very generous of you Scott and thank you so much for that. Will you please let me know what your decision is?"

"Of course I will. I have a meeting with Admiral Kronus that I can't be late for. Thank you for taking the time to see me Gloria, I'm glad we could get things worked out between us."

Gloria stood up and sat her glass down on the table in front of her, "Thank you for being both an officer and a gentleman."

ATLANTIA:

Admirals Tolan, Kronus, Jonasson, Carter, and Kimmel sat at the large table in flag plot onboard Atlantia. In front of each was the list of Demand Peace members and those that gave support to them.

Admiral Kronus was the first to speak, "I would like to start off by informing everyone that as of 0800 David Rush has taken over Hector Alonzo's position of leadership within our fleet. Mr. Fowler was deemed too 'radioactive' because of his appearing to stand by Mr. Alonzo during the riots. Mr. Rush has informed me that he will be keeping Fowler as Vice-President as a way of reaching out to those who still support Hector Alonzo."

"That's fine John, but what has he recommended we do about Hector and Demand Peace?" Jonasson finished thumbing through his papers and looked up at Kronus.

"Well James, we are going to decide what to do with him and then President Rush will stand by our decision though he has informed me that he favors banishment as opposed to a trial and execution. Now we don't have to be unanimous in our decision but we must have a majority. So far I've heard suggestions from execution to banishment. I think those are probably our two best options, unless anyone else has an idea." When he saw that none were forthcoming, "Very well then, all those in favor of execution raise your hand." Tolan and Carter raised their hands.

"Those in favor of banishment, please raise your hand." Kronus, Jonasson, and Kimmel raised their hands.

"With apologies to Admirals Tolan and Carter, the move to banish Hector Alonzo and Demand Peace wins."

"May I make a suggestion John?" Tolan spoke up before Kronus could move on to the next item on the agenda.

"Of course you may Scott."

"We have some spots of Carillon that I think will work perfectly for what we have in mind. We can use our manufacturing capabilities to make a little camp for them. Just because we're going to maroon them doesn't mean we can't be nice. I read how Hector wanted his own personal kingdom on Carillon. I think we should give it to him before we leave."

Kronus put the idea to a vote and it was approved unanimously.

After discussing the rest of the issues on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned. On his way out though, Tolan and Carter were motioned back in by Kronus.

Once the door to the room was shut, Kronus spoke to the men. "I'm sorry you disagreed with our vote but you both handled the situation in a very professional manner. I wanted you to know that we picked up William Arnold on the Solace. He was impersonating a doctor and trying to gain access to Emily's room. The Marines guarding her room searched him and found a syringe and vial of some muscle relaxant used on surgical patients. We're sure he had a less than honorable motive. He's being held in a cell on the Styx. We also ran the fingerprints on the iron pipe used on Emily through a database and found that we have the culprit in custody on the Styx as well. His name of Ken Bryson, and he's been very vocal about how proud he is of his work."

Tolan's face was calm as he spoke, "Well then John, just what are you going to do with this information."

Kronus smiled slyly, "Well I'm not going to do anything with this information. I'm sure you two as well as Andre may have some ideas. I think if there were two sons-of-bitches who deserved to be executed it would be them. So feel free to go over to the Styx and teach these men a lesson. Understood?"

The two men smiled, "Loud and clear!" They saluted Kronus then left for Victorious.

SOLACE:

The laughter got louder in the room as Jamie "Cashew" Hamilton and Larsen "Magic" Banks listened to the story that Chris Alonzo was telling them.

"Ensign Martinez and Newton think they're landing on the Helios, only to discover once they've made it down to the hangar bay that they're in fact on the Ares. They go meet with Commander Nash and explain that with all the flying they've done that they simply got tired and made a mistake. He sends the two of them to find a rack that's not being used and get some sleep. They do that and when they wake up a few hours later they come down to find that the raptor has been covered in writing from the deck gang and the other pilots!"

They laughed and asked if there was more.

"Of course there is!" Chris began, "There were some wonderful little things written. Such as 'Sorry, they haven't delivered our beer yet' and 'Roses are red/Violets are blue/ This is the Ares/ Who are you?'"

"I'm sure they had a lot of fun washing that off of the raptor." Jamie said. She was feeling better than she had a couple of days ago. She no longer had an IV giving her pain medicine and if she felt like her head was hurting then she was given two pain reliever pills and some water.

"I believe it took them almost all day yesterday to get it off. Commander Sakura said she'd never seen like that in all of her years in the Fleet."

Chris then pulled out a paper he had his pocket, "If you would like to hear it, I have the results from that pyramid game on Victorious between the officers and the non-comms. You took part in that game didn't you Magic?"

Magic nodded as Chris unfolded the paper and began to read, "The pyramid game yesterday on Victorious was one for the ages. The officers powered their way to a second place finish. The best the non-comms could do was finish next to last."

Magic laughed, "I can honestly say that losing never sounded so good!"

It was then that Chris looked at his watch and announced that he had to leave.

"You take care of yourself Chris, come back and visit the first chance you get." Jamie smiled at him as he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"You keep an eye on our girl Magic; make sure she doesn't try to push herself too hard." Chris shook hands with Magic then left the room.

"It seems the two of you bonded fast." Magic gave her left hand a gentle squeeze.

"He's a nice guy, or at least he is now that Admiral Carter straightened him out."

"Careful there Jamie, I may have to start getting a little jealous here." He teased her playfully.

"Don't worry Larsen; you know you're the one for me. Besides you are kind of cute when you're jealous." She sat up and gave him a kiss.

STYX:

Scott Tolan, Andre Graystone, and Tyrone Carter walked the stainless steel corridors of the prison transport Styx. While all of the Demand Peace members had been rounded up and locked up, they were only interested in two of them. One was William Arnold and the other was Ken Bryson. They had spoken with Colonel Harrison Sydell to let him know of their intentions.

The two men were kept in separate interrogation rooms, neither of them had an idea of what awaited them. On the way over to the Styx they had debated which of the men to visit first. Tolan let it be known that he wanted Bryson, the bastard who caused Emily to be in a coma.

The door to Interrogation Room 42 opened and there sitting at the table was Ken Bryson. He was a bald man, with a thick mustache, and where his prison jumpsuit didn't cover his arms were many visible tattoos. He eyed them but didn't say anything.

"Hello Ken, I'm Scott Tolan. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before." Tolan said as he walked closer to the table and Andre closed the door.

"How's the wife?" Bryson said contemptuously

"She's alive, if you call being in a coma with severe head trauma alive."

"Too bad, I was hoping I had done worse to her." Bryson's smugness was unbearable.

"I'm sure of that Ken."

"Why did you move behind me, too scared to look me in the eyes? I thought you were supposed to be this brave warrior, instead you come in here with two guys who look even less intimidating than you do!"

It was then that Tolan put his hand on Bryson's head and slammed it down hard on the metal desk.

"What did you do that for?" Bryson moaned in pain.

"Just giving you a little idea of how severe head trauma feels Ken. Does it feel too pleasant?" Tolan's voice didn't raise a decibel, it stayed as even and calm as ever.

"Did you know these rooms are soundproof?" This time it was Andre Graystone who spoke.

"We're going to teach you a lesson Ken, one you won't forget anytime soon." Tyrone Carter pulled a knife out of his uniform jacket.

"What the frak are you monsters talking about?" Bryson tried not to let a sudden wave of dread wash over him.

"It's simple Ken, have you noticed anything different about the room?" Tolan gave Bryson a chance to answer.

"No, nothing about this room looks different."

"Sorry Ken, that's the wrong answer." Tolan then grabbed Bryson's head and slammed it repeatedly into the metal surface of the table.

"Let me make this easy for you Ken, look up at the video camera." Andre then grabbed Bryson's head and jerked it hard so that he could see that Tolan's uniform jacket was now covering the camera that was used to film interrogations.

Tolan leaned down to where he could whisper into Bryson's ear, "Well Ken the truth of the matter is that this isn't an interrogation. This is an execution. You are going to use these next few moments to wish you had never laid a hand on my wife you stupid frak!"

At first Ken Bryson begged the three men not to kill him, eventually that changed to him begging them to kill him.

The three men left the room Bryson's body was in and made their way to the room where William Arnold was being held in. His hands had been handcuffed behind his back, only he was still dressed up like a doctor and not in a prison outfit.

"How nice to meet you Admiral Tolan, were you afraid to come and see me yourself? I can't believe that the bravest officer in the Colonial Fleet would be afraid of me." Arnold smirked as he finished his sentence.

"You have no idea who I brought with me do you?"

Arnold shook his head, "Sorry Tolan, as far as I can tell you brought a thick-skulled Gemonese and a pampered pretty-boy Caprican to back you up."

Andre made a move towards Arnold but Carter grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back. Andre held up his hands to show Carter that he was alright.

"Let me guess," Arnold began, "You want me to testify against Hector Alonzo when his trial begins. I don't have a problem with that; I'll make him out to be whatever it is you want me to. Just cut me the sweetest deal you can and then I'll go along with whatever plans you have. How does that sound?"

Tolan had covered up the camera with his jacket the same way he had done to the one in Bryson's interrogation room.

"Commander Jane Guiros, the many people on the Olympica, not to mention the order given to assault Emily Tolan with the intent to murder. All of this can be traced to Demand Peace and you know it." Tolan was standing behind Arnold now, his right hand holding the knife that belonged to Tyrone Carter.

"Sure you can trace that to my group, but we all know it's Hector Alonzo you have the grudge against." Arnold tried to crane his neck to see what Tolan was doing behind his back.

"You've plotted our destruction Mr. Arnold. Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt." Andre Graystone's piercing gaze never left the leader of Demand Peace.

"That's fine but as you can see I haven't perished."

"You know what I should do. I should introduce you to my two friends. I believe you know Admiral Tyrone Carter, but I don't think you've recognized my friend here. Allow me to introduce you to Colonel Andre Graystone. He's not only my friend, he is also my brother-in-law."

Arnold's eyes widened as he became aware of the company he was in. He felt a sharp pain in his back as Tolan drove the knife into his torso. He let out a scream from the pain, but Tolan only laughed at him.

"Don't wear yourself out Mr. Arnold, we haven't even started yet." Tolan then leaned close to his left ear and whispered menacingly, "All the old knives that have rusted in my back, I drive in yours."

When they left the room William Arnold had been in, Tolan told his friends that he would meet them back at the raptor after he had made one more visit.

The solitary ward ofStyx was supposed to be the place where the worst of the inmates were to be housed. Tolan found the cell Hector Alonzo was kept in; the guard searched him for weapons then let him into the cell.

"To what do I owe the honor of your visit Admiral Tolan? Have you come to finish what you started on the Ventura?" Hector Alonzo lay on the bed in the corner of the cell, still in the clothes he was wearing when Tolan attacked him.

"No Hector, I've actually come here to apologize to you for what I did to you. Despite our differences, I handled things the wrong way."

Hector got up and walked towards him, his face badly swollen and bruised from the beating. "My right eye is swollen shut and my face aches from the pain. I made a deal with Demand Peace and this is the price I pay."

"You're going to pay more than that Hector. The Admiralty has discussed our plans for you. The vote came up on you fate and you will not be executed. That is all I will say on that one. I wanted you to know that you won't be facing death. I have also spoken with your wife and have assured her that there will be no reprisals on either her or your children."

"That's not like you Scott Tolan, where is the revenge I've been expecting from you since I found out about your wife?"

Tolan smiled at him, "I've gotten even in a way that is almost cruel. I've forgiven you." He let the words sink in with Hector as he called for the guard to open the cell door and let him out.

ONE DAY LATER:

Mitchell Cain was dreading the conversation that he knew was coming. He had planned to avoid Kronus for as long as he possibly could. That changed an hour ago when he was visited on the Olympica by one of the Marines stationed on Atlantia. It appeared that Kronus wanted a face-to-face meeting with him immediately.

'If he's calmed down then I should be fine, but if he's still angry then I might be a dead man walking.' He thought to himself as he made his way to the Admiral's quarters.

He was now standing in front of the door, wanting to press the button for the intercom but not quite having the will. At last he pressed it and spoke, "Admiral Kronus, Mitchell Cain here. Are you ready for me to come in?"

"Yes Mr. Cain, please come in." Kronus' voice wasn't like it was the last time they had spoken.

"Yes sir, you're not armed though I hope."

"I'm not Mr. Cain but if you don't get in here in the next five seconds I can remedy that." A trace of irritation was more than a little obvious.

Cain opened the door and walked in; he quickly turned and closed the door once he entered. John Kronus was sitting at the rather large desk in the center of the room. He had on his reading glasses, and shuffled through some papers he had taken out of a folder.

"Please have a seat Mitch; we need to have a talk." Kronus said as he looked up and motioned to one of the two leather chairs situated in front of the desk.

He sat down to the one on the right of Kronus, "I know why we're here and I just want to say how incredibly sorry I am for what happened the other day. I had spent so much time trying to stay hidden while the rioting was going on, and I underestimated the physical toll it took on me."

"You're apology is accepted Mitch, but if you think that's what we're going to talk about then you had better start making more correct assumptions."

"Very well then, what is it you want to talk to me about?"

Kronus pulled a piece of paper out of the folder and slid it across the desk to him, "I'm going to put you to work. I've spoken with the Admiralty and with President Rush. We agree that there should be a law enforcement agency established to prevent another incident like this from happening again. Effective as of now, the Colonial Fleet Investigative Services has been formed and you are to be the Senior Field Agent. You can pick anyone you want for your team and you will answer only to the Admiralty and the President."

"Thank you Admiral, I don't what else to say." Cain was too stunned for words.

"You can thank me by getting your people together and making sure we can police this fleet and keep it from descending into anarchy." Kronus stood up and extended his hand, "Congratulations Mitch, you're going to do one hell of a job."

"Before I leave Admiral, why do you still have the belongings of the previous commander? Wouldn't you want those to be gone?"

Kronus smiled, "Commander Wesley Anson was a good man, and in a way it's sort of a tribute to him and those who died at the Battle of Virgon. I don't know if you believe in spirits or not, but I would like to think that if his spirit is here then maybe he appreciates me trying to honor his memory and those that were lost on board."