Once in the Commander's office, Starbuck quickly detailed what Rene had told him with Crius filling in some of the missing pieces. Adama was surprisingly calm after hearing Rene's suspicions about whom she thought might be behind the attack. He seemed more concerned with what she had acquired on her covert missions to Caprica and how she chose to distribute her illicit goods.
"It will be easy to check to see if Pallus made any stops, but I suspect you may be correct that if he is behind it, he was not the one at the altercation. He has many allies at his disposal if half of what you are intimating is true. I have requested the vids from the docking lounge for the time of the attack and Security has found a suspect that they are questioning. As to the matter of the substances being provided, I am beginning surprise tox screenings starting this morning. Addiction therapy sessions are scheduled for the next cycle. I expect to see your names top the list of volunteers for the first session." Adama fixed his fatherly disapproval on Crius who only squirmed a little before Adama shifted his gaze to Starbuck.
"That means you too, Starbuck."
"I don't have a problem, sir. I didn't sample any of her stuff," he stated boldly, but Adama kept the pressure upon him.
"Rene has many allies as well. You were aware from the beginning that she had a problem, were you not?"
Starbuck found himself doing the Sewer Rat shrug and tried to shake it off. "Yes sir, but we were working on it and I didn't know about everything, sir."
"You knew enough to become complicit, and that indicates a problem. Plus, your ambrosia consumption has been quite substantial the last few cycles. Understandably so, but it was witnessed by many." Adama shifted his reprimand to one of encouragement. "I'm sure if you volunteer, others will see it as a sign of your growing maturity and ability to lead. As a Strike Wing Captain, you are responsible for the health and welfare of your squadron and sometimes that means being the one who goes first in admitting one's mistakes."
"I'm not a Strike Wing Captain," he started to protest, a little slow to catch on to what Adama was really saying.
"Not yet. I had hoped to make the announcement when you returned from your honeymoon. It is long overdue and with your family transferring over to the Zakar to fill the billets, it seemed appropriate."
"Thank you, sir," Starbuck said before adding, "I'm assuming it's contingent on my being a good role model and going first?"
"I'm sure you won't find it too difficult now that the ambrosia is gone and then there's the need to cut back on the fumarelloes with a baby on the way."
"Yes, that is true," Starbuck conceded before shifting the conversation. "I'd like to be able to go over to the Gemini Freighter and find out what happened and confirm our suspicions."
"I have my hesitations on allowing you to be on the investigation team. You and Pallus have had your disagreements in the past and at this point, your suspicions are conjecture."
"Sir, I was there when Brody threatened Rene recently," Crius spoke up. "He told her to find what he needed or he'd kill her."
"And you're just now telling me?" Starbuck spun on Crius. "Don't you think that might be something I needed to know or the rest of the Rats before they went gallivanting around the fleet?"
"They know," Crius said before realizing his mistake.
"Everyone but me, is that it?" Starbuck turned to his Commander. "See, I'm not complicit."
Crius shrugged and slid into his country boy twang. "Don't get your undies in a bunch. We didn't yodel it for everyone to hear, just the vermin needed to know so Brody or Pallus didn't lasso them into the slaughter house."
"Cut the mong, Crius. This is serious," Starbuck replied.
"Yeah, I know. We didn't think it would get serious, not here in the fleet. We trusted you on that," Crius said accusingly.
"You trust me? Really? With what? You couldn't trust me enough to tell me that Brody and Pallus are threatening my wife!" Starbuck shouted before shaking his head in disgust. "And the fleet is pretty safe, assuming you're not dealing illegals goods with criminals."
"They're not criminals, they're Colonials," Crius amended.
"That the Rats have had problems with in the past? You don't think that might be something you might need to trust me with? I thought you and I had…" He didn't finish the sentence, a familiar sense of betrayal biting back the words that he had thought they were more than wing mates, even more than friends. "How stupid are you, Crius? You thought all this would work out fine? You didn't think I might need to know that Rene's dealing on the black-market? Or that Jake and Nik have been testing some limits like they do, am I right?"
Crius lost his jovial country boy cocky grin as he took the brunt of Starbuck's anger before he gave a shrug, full of the surliness he'd acquired from hanging out with the Rats. "I thought you knew seeing how close you are to Rene. And if you count mixing with the general public of the fleet as testing limits, then yeah, they're kids, they're going to test the limits. They're draftees to the service. Don't expect them to be oorah and spend all their time with warriors."
Adama interjected before Starbuck could. "You have a point, Lieutenant. They should have been safe in the fleet on any ship regardless of their rank in the service. But I think their dealings in illicit goods have brought them into contact with some less than desirable elements of the fleet. Is that a fair assessment?"
"Maybe." Crius shrugged again, this time in honest ignorance. "I haven't been with them when that happens. I was just as in the dark about Caprica as Starbuck. I only know about what is going on with Pallus and his buddies, and I thought that was just left over felgercarb from Dilmun. I didn't know about the dealings until after Caprica, and she is putting a stop to it."
"It shouldn't' have begun!" Starbuck shouted, but Adama gestured with a hand for him to calm down.
"This is not Crius's fault. You are close to Rene and you didn't know."
"Yes sir," Starbuck grumbled. "I knew something was up, but you're right, I had no idea how deep in she was. I just thought it was for her own consumption and the family."
"In a way, she was doing this for the family," Crius reasoned. "She was probably trying to get some favors out of Pallus and Brody."
"She was trying to get my astrum out of trouble," Starbuck reminded Crius, as well as himself.
"Yeah, that too."
"But the distribution of illicit goods has stopped?" Adama asked.
"Oh yeah. Definitely. I was there when she told Brody she wouldn't be giving him anymore drugs," Crius replied.
Adama still looked sceptical as he turned to Starbuck. "When did you learn of this?"
"As we were waiting for Jake and Nik on the Rising Star. I knew she was…" he hesitated, his natural inclination to not get his own wife in trouble, but Rene had brought this on herself despite his best efforts guiding her down the right path. "I knew she was consuming more than she should. I think Dixon might know more. I just thought this was her own problem. I had no idea until tonight it extended beyond her."
"I see. But you didn't think to seek help in the matter?" Adama asked.
"Talked with Dixon and Salik. She's been cooperating, but then the sealing and…things have been busy."
"Yes, and now there are more complications to keep us occupied. Understood." Adama leaned back, his fingers tented under his chin. "Perhaps we have all been misguided in our assumption that the problems of the past could be resolved without intervention and assistance from those higher in authority."
The feeling of drowning had become familiar to Starbuck in the cycles since Caprica. He'd struggled on his own to swim against the undertow that threatened to drag him down. The expression on the Commander's face felt like a life ring thrown to him that he could cling to. Along with a sense of relief, however, was also the sense of shame that burned like lungs starving for air. He should have trusted his original family with what was going on his life. He'd wanted to be worthy of those gold clusters the Rats teased him about and be the one who rescued them all.
He shivered remembering back to the moment waking up alone in that cold cell, not knowing how long he'd been there, if Rene was alive or dead, and if anyone was going to come back for him. He looked at Adama, focusing on the old man's face to remind him he had made it out of that predicament alive. Starbuck was hoping the Commander was coming up with a solution to the problem as things were pretty far out of hand if Pallus and Brody were willing to commit the same atrocities they had on the Zakar and Dilmun. Rene and the others had given him a fairly clear picture of the abuses the girls had gone through. He'd not gotten specific details, hadn't wanted them after what little had been shared with him. He'd witnessed the broken bones and taken a flogging, and yet he still had a hard time wrapping his brain around the things Dante did, using his rank and power to satisfy his own sick desires. Agenor's comments about shackles and entertainment in the Officer's Club was enough to make Starbuck see red and condone a few more Zakar warriors taking a laser blast to the face. It was not just one man the gals had to avoid, but most of those in command.
While abhorrent, Starbuck hadn't found what happened on the Zakar surprising. The Colonial Service had always considered men superior especially when it came to warfare. There were few female pilots before the destruction, and no women he knew of in command. Sheba had been an oddity. Many of the Galactica pilots had been squeamish about the women learning to fly, including his well educated friend Apollo. The old boys club ruled and boys will be boys when it comes to women.
Dante had been king of the boy's club. Starbuck had seen the proof of that himself at the dinner Adama held as Rene poured Dante's drinks and lit his smokes. It was a short step from demanding servitude to demanding sex. Rene had admitted that many gals had offered first as a way to gain favors and better treatment. Offers had turned into expectations. He thought that's probably more of how it happened for Rene, an expectation that she would give in to demands rather than be brutally forced. At least he hoped that's how it went as a he couldn't deal with the alternative scenario. It was still rape and abuse, still awful, but not as violent as a typical assault.
That's what he wanted to believe, but recognized that he might be biased on the matter. He knew he was assuming this was about satisfying an urge and making babies. There weren't as many women in the fleet Dante first assembled, and surely most guys just wanted to get their needs met, and if they had to force someone to do it, they would. But it was still just regular fraking, the kind sanctioned by the Book of the Word, after marriage of course, but the normal variety of preference of male and female relations. Still unwanted by the woman, but Rene had said it herself multiple times, it was just fraking.
Lords he wanted to believe it had been just that, a quick centon or two with as little violence as possible. Rene was pretty savvy. She'd have found a way to keep the damage to herself to a minimum.
"Then what were the shackles for, Bucko?" a voice in his head whispered.
No, he knew better. Rene would have fought, but she was small and light. She would have been easily subdued and they didn't want to hurt her, just frak her.
All of that was bad enough, but men abusing other men was something Starbuck had not dealt with much before. Sure, there were isolated incidences he'd heard about in the orphanages when he was a kid, but that was usually adults abusing kids. In Caprican society, men didn't often frak with other men. It was fairly common on other worlds, but Caprica was behind the times and a bit conservative. Capricans didn't follow the Book of the Word as closely as the Gemons, but Caprica wasn't too far behind in their attitudes about copulation. Abstinence was still the basis of the sex education he'd received in his public school, and the message that a sealing should occur before sex was why he usually dated older girls who had moved beyond the brainwashing. Same gender couplings were taboo, based upon a couple of obscure passages in the Book of the Word that had been translated several times over and the average Caprican couldn't decipher the original anyway.
In the Colonial Service where you found more diversity with the mixing of citizens from all the worlds, it happened, it just was not discussed. "Don't ask, don't tell" seemed to be how Command dealt with it. On the ships Starbuck had served on, the practice was frowned upon where warriors relied on each other for their very lives. Fraternization created problems, and no guy wanted to walk in on two of their buddies in the bunkroom in the middle of a tryst.
It wouldn't have bothered him if he found out one of his squadron mates preferred men. He was a bit more open about any subject when it involved pleasure, but he sure as hades wouldn't have wanted to witness it. Sure, he'd had his moments of experimentation when he was younger and crammed into dormitories with too many hormonal boys and no girls around. As long as everyone was having fun, he didn't judge. But this was so much more than an alternative sexual preference. This wasn't consensual. He became much more critical when it came to forcing someone into a situation they didn't want. Maybe it was because he'd never had a problem finding someone who was willing, he didn't ever feel the need to be aggressive.
He knew that wasn't completely true. He'd coerced a few girls with his promises of a commitment, but had they said no, he would have moved on, not used his muscles to get the answer he desired. Maybe it was because he'd been forced into arrangements he didn't want. He'd had so little control over most of his life, he didn't appreciate anyone taking control of his sex life. He had figured most people felt the same way. When younger he'd had a few situations that had gone farther than he wanted, but it had been easy to extricate himself. Was it that he avoided all commitments, or was it his ability to use words to charm himself out of any predicament? He suspected his natural ability to survive was the reason that he'd not had too many problems despite the seedy bars and chanceries he often frequented with the predictable clientele.
Some of those uncomfortable occurrences had involved men, but when he explained that he was flattered but he preferred women, that usually resolved the dilemma. He thought he knew Jake well enough to know the guy liked girls and wouldn't welcome a man's advances. But this wasn't about Jake being propositioned. This was violence, with a touch of humiliation thrown into the mix. If you wanted to bring a man's reputation down in conservative society, a sexual assault was a good way to do that. No man wanted to admit that he'd been raped. It wasn't just admitting that you had lost a fight to another man. You lost your dignity and what made you a man. Added to it all was the implication that you brought it on yourself, that you were willing and somehow enjoyed it. It was a taint that followed you, and could ruin a man.
Starbuck swallowed the bile that rose at the idea of it happening to himself.
"How often did this happen on Dilmun," he asked Crius. His wing mate looked at him confused for a moment.
"Taking drugs? Daily. Prescribed and administered by the doctor sometimes."
Starbuck shook his head. "No, the attack, the…" He still had a hard time saying the word aloud.
"The raping?"
"Yeah, that."
Crius shrugged again. "Not uncommon. Depends who you are talking about. With the gals it was…"
"I'm talking about Jake," Starbuck quickly clarified. Right now he didn't want to think about how it might have been for Rene. That had stopped, it was over and would never happen again, not while he was still drawing breath in this universe. But this attack was perversely different. It had happened here in the fleet and it had happened to a man.
Crius turned to meet his eyes. "He doesn't like it, but he doesn't win every fight. He's a scrapper, but he's small and once the kids came along, they had more leverage to make him."
Starbuck tried to keep the curses under his breath remembering all too well how Dante was able to coerce him into agreeing to a flogging in the hopes of saving Rene's life. What would he be willing to do for the kids? That? Hades no, but as Crius often said, he wasn't there. He didn't know what he might do in the same situation. He wouldn't have given in, that's for sure. He couldn't picture Jake ever agreeing even with his kids' safety involved. The head injury indicated this was more than just a satisfying an urge. They'd had to beat him into submission.
Crius continued, "After Keenan was gone, the Rats lost some protection and it happened more often. Pallus would threaten to put him on report if he didn't or to take the kids away."
It helped to explain why Jake might keep some distance between himself and his own kids. He may have sacrificed a lot for his children, and the closer he was to them, the more that might be asked of him.
The string of curses Starbuck tried to keep inside made his lip curl into a snarl. "I want to be there to help investigate."
Adama stared at him with that probing gaze of his, evaluating him and his motivations.
"Sir, this is my family," he pleaded his case.
The words seemed to tip the scale. "Alright. We can discuss this further in the morning on our way over to the freighter. I also have a vested interest in getting to the bottom of this. We will go first thing. Now try to get some sleep, and Starbuck..."
Starbuck had begun to rise, but kept his seat at the mournful look the Commander cast his way. "Yes, sir?"
"I want to thank you for your participation in the sealing and all that the IFB asked of you and Rene. It has already reaped some benefits. It was an excellent celebration and I am sorry at having to cut your honeymoon short."
"So am I, but we have a whole life time to enjoy ourselves."
"That's the right attitude, son."
Starbuck should have been getting to his feet, to leave before the Commander changed his mind, but there was one more important piece of information the Commander of the fleet might need.
"She's been dreaming about Count Iblis."
He watched the breath freeze in Adama's lungs before the commander slowly nodded.
"And what does he want?"
Starbuck shook his head. "She says the same thing he wanted at Dilmun. She hasn't seen him in…in person…just a dream."
"Just a dream," Adama echoed his words, but it was heavy with the knowledge that with Rene, dreams were often something more. "You will tell me if she dreams of something I should know about?"
Starbuck nodded wishing he'd not said anything. "It was just a dream."
Adama nodded again before dismissing them, leaving Starbuck feeling conflicted about having shared the information. It had seemed to disturb Adama more than finding out that half his new pilots might be addicted and warriors weren't safe to wander the fleet.
Starbuck kept his thoughts to himself as he walked Crius back to his quarters to finish off the few centaurs they had until first shift began. He headed back to the Life Center to find Rene.
He stopped by Nik's biobed first, noting that the young man was asleep, his wife by his side, a hand upon his chest but also asleep. Salik came up to Starbuck his voice low. "He's doing better."
"And Jake?" he asked, but Salik looked a bit grimmer as he delivered the news.
"He took a beating and his concussion is more severe. He's going to need some time. He won't be flying for a while and it will set back his medical studies."
Starbuck nodded to the Doctor taking in the information. He looked at Rene sitting by Jake's bedside, a hand on his shoulder as a regenerator worked away at both of Jake's hands. Her hair was still a mess from having been dragged from sleep and all they had been doing before they'd collapsed in exhaustion. It had been a good day until this. He suspected he'd be spending whatever was left of his honeymoon here in the life center by Jake's side. He noted that it was Cassie that was tending to Jake's injuries and wondered briefly if that was going to be a problem. It wasn't Cassie he was worried about, but rather Rene. He'd thought Rene was over most of her jealousy, but if Cassie wasn't at the sealing, it had to be that his wife didn't invite her. One complication just led to another.
He shook his head and sighed. He was getting tired of swimming against the tide. He wondered briefly what would happen if he just let go and let the current drag him where it wanted. He shook his head again at the thought realizing that it was probably how things got so bad on the Zakar and Dilmun. They got tired of fighting and gave in. That wasn't him.
He squared his shoulders and dredged up a smile as he took the steps to Rene's side. "How bad are they?" Starbuck asked Cassie as he pulled up a chair to sit on the other side of his wife.
"His hands? Not too bad, but we are taking the opportunity to fix some of the past damage done by breaks healed without proper medical equipment, much like we did for Rene when she was in our care. Jake has been resistant to the treatment, but he's not disagreeing now." Cassie winked.
"Hard to disagree when you're unconscious," Starbuck added.
He reached for Rene's other hand, pulling it to him. "How are you doing?"
She shook her head in answer, her eyes still burning with anger and vengeance. "They got to him."
He didn't need her to explain what that meant. Jake had lost the fight and they had made sure he knew it. He felt his own smile turn to a sneer. "Frak," he cursed, not knowing anything else he could do or say to make this go away. "You get any information out of him?"
She shook her head again. "He said it was Agenor and his cronies."
"You killed Agenor," he said before realizing it might be something they shouldn't be discussing in front of Cassiopeia.
"He's not making much sense," Rene replied.
"No, I suppose he's not. Speaking of not making sense, when were you going to tell me Brody threatened your life?"
She shrugged before casting him a guarded look. "I didn't think he was serious."
"And now?" he asked as the image came into his mind of Pallus's burly boray of a friend putting his hands on Rene like he probably had with Jake. None of the Rats were large, Nik being one of the tallest, but he was thin as a wire. Jake was not only thin, but he was short as well, only a little taller than Rene, just coming up to Starbuck's nose. All of the Rats had been eating as much as they could and spending time in the gym trying to add some bulk, but it just never seemed to stick to their bones. While Jake had speed on his side, if Brody got his hands on him, he could fling the scrawny kid around like a rag doll. Nik was clear there had been more than one or two of them. It wasn't a fight, not for long anyway.
In his mind a memory surfaced, of being in the land ram as Agenor picked Rene up by her neck like she was a scrawny fowl, one handed slamming her head into the side of the vehicle while she dangled there choking for air and clawing at his arms. He'd held her like she didn't weigh anything. The idea of his wife in the brute's bunk was unsettling, the difference in their proportions bordering on the absurd. Agenor had been four times the size of her. The man could have easily crushed her with his body weight alone.
It helped to explain the panic attack that had ambushed Rene the day before. The lummox could have restrained her with just with his bulk, trapping her beneath him. Her efforts to fight him off would have been ineffectual, or worse, brought more harm as he suffocated her.
Starbuck tried to shake the image from his head. He couldn't get to Agenor anymore, the man was dead, but there were others he could take on.
Brody wasn't as big as Agenor, but big enough. Then there was Pallus, not much larger than himself, but Pallus didn't need bulk on his side when he had large friends to do his bidding. Jake was a good enough fighter, he could take Pallus on his own, and that's why the boray had needed more than himself to intimidate and pummel the two Rats. Six against one wasn't a fair fight. Pallus was a coward. It's why he had to threaten children.
The images weren't hard to conjure of Jason being pushed around, followed by an even more horrific thought of little Lara grabbed by the wrist and dragged down a corridor. Even worse than his imaginings were the real memory of Agenor yanking at Rene's arm, locking it into shackles on Dante's desk. She'd not been able to fight the man. What would have happened if there were six of them? Jake could at least fight, but they had still gotten to him. If it were Rene, what damage could they do? The sound of breaking bones echoed in his mind.
He shook his head violently. This needed to stop. He checked his chrono. He had just enough time to make it to the Zakar landing bay before Pallus's patrol ended. Alone, Starbuck could easily take him.
"Frak it. Being Captain just means more paperwork," he thought to himself before turning to Rene. "You good here?"
She nodded and looked back to Jake. "Yeah. Not leaving until he does. Why, you going to talk to the Commander again?"
"No." He got to his feet heading for the door.
He didn't realize the anger he had punched into the word until Rene asked in concern, "Where are you going?"
"No one fraks with my brother."
He half expected Rene to follow him, but he should have known she wasn't going to leave her friend's side. He made it to the flight deck and had his viper in the launch tube before anyone questioned what he was doing, and then it was just one of the flight deck crew asking him how his honeymoon was. He launched with no problem, and was on the Zakar in a matter of centons. He expected to be denied when he asked for clearance to land, but he received approval and nothing more.
The flight over had not cooled his wrath, in fact, it stoked it to a dangerous inferno. His sense of right had him convinced he was doing Apollo a favor, resolving the problem his friend mentioned he was having with Pallus becoming part of a team. The images that kept playing in his head like an x-rated horror vid of what happened to Jake and could occur with Rene kept him thinking this was the right course of action.
Recognizing one of the flight tech crew, he convinced him to have Pallus land alone, and wave off his wing mate Brody, just for fifteen centons.
"I just need a moment alone with Pallus. Fleet business," he lied easily.
Each centon he waited for Pallus, his thoughts became more murderous. Yes, there was that voice in his head reminding him that Adama would not be pleased with his actions, but it was easily shouted down by his pounding heart that was proclaiming, "This is my family. No one does this to one of mine. Adama will understand."
The viper glided in and he waited for the Captain to descend from his craft. He seemed a bit surprised to find Starbuck waiting on him, and he looked around at the empty landing bay before approaching Starbuck warily, a sarcastic grin on his face.
"Honeymoon over?" Pallus asked.
In answer Starbuck reached out grabbing the man's jacket in both his fists drawing him close as he snarled in his face. "You ever threaten or lay a hand on anyone from my family ever again, I will kill you!"
He wasn't expecting the move as Pallus brought his fists down on his left arm breaking his hold as Pallus's other hand twisted Starbuck's grip off his jacket.
"Get the frak out of my face!" Pallus pushed back, blocking the fist that Starbuck brought up. "They're not worth it, Lieutenant."
"Yes, they are!" he shouted reaching out to grab at the man again, raising the fist which was blocked again. This time Pallus stepped close, coming nose to nose with him.
"You'd give up your career for them? Because you land that punch and I will bust you so far down you'll be crawling in the sewage of this ship!" Pallus hissed.
In the moment of his hesitation, Pallus pushed him away, bringing up his own fists.
"No one's going to bust me in rank when they find out what you've done. You'll be the one crawling," Starbuck growled back.
"And what have I done that you haven't? Fracked your wife? Is that what this is about? Ancient history."
"You beat up Jake and fraked him! You are not going to get away with it!" He took the step towards Pallus, fists ready for the fight.
Pallus watched him warily as he stripped off his jacket tossing it to the deck. "Find out about that did you? You ask him how much he likes it?"
Starbuck growled as he threw the series of punches that landed before Pallus landed his own, pushing him away. Starbuck pushed back, landing another blow before being jerked back by a firm hand on his collar.
"Starbuck!" a voice yelled in his ear.
He was dragged farther away, almost yanked off his feet as he lunged for Pallus. He was jerked back harder as Pallus stood his ground, letting the fight end as Starbuck was pulled another step away.
"Mother fraker, stay out of this!" he barked at whoever had the hold on him, but he was yanked again as hands pulled him back. He tried to shake them off, but the grip was firm. He spun in anger, lashing out at the hands that gripped him. "Get your gallmonging hands off me!"
Colonel Gage met his anger, shoving Starbuck back. "Stand down, Lieutenant! This is not how we handle things in Adama's fleet!"
"I see the Rat's rabies has spread," Pallus said straightening his tunic and running a hand through his hair to smooth it back in place.
Starbuck snarled, but Gage pushed him back another step, leaning into his face. "You want to go down with him, is that it? Warriors get justice, not revenge. Stand down, now!"
Starbuck cursed as he pulled himself away. "He's not hurting another one of them if I can help it!"
"What the frak is he raving about, Gage? You need to shorten his leash if he's going to keep hanging out with vermin."
Gage spun on Pallus. "I need to see your flight recorder, now."
Pallus actually flinched in shock, but to Starbuck's view it appeared a staged performance.
"Why? Nothing to see, a picket patrol that was uneventful," Pallus replied.
"Two warriors were attacked tonight on the Gemini Freighter and based on the threats you've uttered to fellow warriors, you are implicated. Your flight recorder, now Captain!"
Pallus held up his hands in surrender. "I haven't threatened anyone. You have me confused with someone else and I can prove it. I was on patrol."
"You just admitted you beat him and fraked him!" Starbuck shouted, but Pallus shook his head as he put an innocent smile upon his face.
"Ancient history, like I said. I'm a changed man thanks to my new commander. All sins washed clean. Amnesty granted as long as I stay in the service protecting the fleet and out of trouble, that's what Adama promised. I haven't done a thing but defend myself."
Starbuck bit back bile. He'd not agreed with the Commander's decision to ignore the abuses of the past for the sake of an easy assimilation of Dante's warriors.
"I still need to see your flight recorder," Gage said. "Brody's as well when he lands." He turned back to Starbuck. "You need to go. Now, before I put you on report myself. Take my shuttle. I just picked up Jason and Cain to bring them home. They are waiting there to be transported to the Galactica."
"I need to see his flight recorder," Starbuck replied trying to step around the Colonel but Gage blocked him, putting a hand to Starbuck's chest ready to shove him back again in needed.
"No, you don't. You need to go home, now. Don't make me pull rank."
"He's behind this. We need to protect them." He tried to appeal to Gage, but the Colonel shook his head.
"Then we'll prove it. Now go home and do your job and protect them. I will be over later with the data."
Starbuck still hesitated, searching for the words to convince Gage, but the Colonel pushed him back a step before turning him around, pointing in command towards the shuttle. "Go before he actually decides to press charges."
He turned back seething, "You're going to let him get away with this like you did on the Zakar? You don't have the backbone to stop this?"
A quick flash of anger seared across Gage's face before he took a menacing step towards Starbuck, looming over him. "No. But I learned from Dante that if we take matters into our own hands, we are nothing more than animals. f we want things to be civilized then we have to do this right. By the book. Adama taught me that."
Starbuck wiped away his sneer and choked down the sharp words he was about to hurl.
"Are you strong enough to trust that together we can follow the rules and do this right?" Gage demanded indicating so much more than pinning the attack on Pallus. Starbuck wanted to growl out a no, but Gage upped the ante. "We're Colonial Warriors. We live by the creed."
Starbuck seethed for just a moment, wanting to shout out the obvious, that the Zakar and Dilmun warriors had forgotten the creed, twisted the rules and regulations to their benefit and the detriment of others. Why couldn't he do the same? He'd at least be doing it to get revenge for the warriors who had been unable to defend themselves.
Gage leaned closer, his voice going low, "Don't sink to their level,(comma) Starbuck. You're better than them. We're better than them and there are consequences now."
Starbuck looked away, not wanting Gage to read his reply that he didn't give a frak about being better. But the Colonel was right, there were consequences. If he ended Pallus's life, it would end Starbuck's career as a warrior. Not to mention he wouldn't be there for Rene or the kids, to protect them, to watch them grow, to guide his family.
"Fine. Don't let me down like you let the Rats down," he tossed out the criticism like a hand grenade before turning away. Grinding his teeth, Starbuck stalked towards the shuttle, punching the button to shut the hatch.
Both Jason and Cain stared at him, a mixture of awe and fear.
"Dad?" Cain asked, but Starbuck cut him off.
"Don't. Just don't say anything right now." Starbuck felt a wave of shame rise up. This wasn't how he wanted the boys to view him, hot headed and out of control. "Did Gage tell you what happened?"
Both boys nodded, Cain opened his mouth to speak again, but Starbuck interrupted. "Take your seats. We're going home and you two are going to stick close to the other kids. You don't go anywhere without me, understood?"
They both nodded again. "Everything okay, dad?" Cain asked and Starbuck cringed pulling at his collar, strangling on the rage he was trying to choke down.
What kind of a role model was he if he solved all his problems with his fists? He wasn't going to win any awards for father of the year with that performance. He wished the boys hadn't seen his outburst, although he didn't regret taking the steps to protect his family. But Gage was right. He knew better. He'd been lecturing the Rats on how things were done in the Colonial Service, that they needed to learn to trust those in command. He hadn't taken his own advice. He swallowed again, shoving down the desire to take matters into his own hands and just kill Pallus. No, he was a Warrior and he'd have to trust the system wouldn't let him down, even though it had so many times before.
He shuddered as he remembered back to the look on Adama's face when he had to relegate Starbuck to the brig for the termination of Ortega. He'd been innocent then and still almost wound up on the prison barge. This time, he wouldn't even have the claim of self defense. Even recently when Pallus instigated the fight on the Rising Star by calling Rene nothing more than a common whore, it was Starbuck that would have been busted in rank. Was the boray going to get away with this again? Not if he could help it.
He held up his hands to stall Cain as he asked again, "Dad?"
"Don't call me that. Not right now. I'm not in the mood for the joking. We have a problem. Just do what you're told and stay close."
He didn't wait for their reply, heading to the pilot's seat and strapping in. He focused on the controls for the shuttle, vowing this would be one of his better jobs of flying and landing, because he had certainly fraked up facing Pallus.