Thinking Starbuck had other intentions when he pulled her into the room, she began to shed her jacket and was reaching for the fastening for her tunic, but Starbuck had focused on removing his own clothes, barely giving her a glance. He reached for the spigot and got into the warm water rather than reaching for her. Scrubbing furiously, he began to outline his plans for the Zakar.

"We can rip out the brig and convert it into living spaces. Heck, those clear doors might even come in handy with the kids, keep an eye on the troublemakers and if I recall, the beds weren't half bad. Could definitely use them for the kids at least."

Her hand hovered awkwardly at the fastening to her own clothes, cursing under her breath that the three cycles of not wearing clothes as her husband had proclaimed, was ending much too soon. The fact that she was missing him and what he could do in bed, stunned her more than any words of love he could have said. "I trust him," she thought to herself, trying out not just the words but the concept of it. "Frak, maybe Jake's right, I really do…" Even in her head she didn't say the word love. She'd never trusted that word, but she did trust the man in the shower. He could point a blaster at her right now and pull the trigger, and she knew he wouldn't hurt her. Gazing at him, she objectively tried to figure out when it had happened. What exactly had she done, and could she replicate it with someone else if she needed something from them?

She couldn't puzzle it out, and gave up chasing down the enigma that was Starbuck. As he kept talking, Rene thought about joining him in that shower, but changed her mind when she noticed the frantic and very thorough cleansing he was giving himself. She understood the need for it, had done her own scrubbing earlier as the attack on Jake had brought back memories of her own struggles with Dante and his warriors. The turbos helped wash away the unwanted touch on your skin. But did Starbuck have his own dark moments to wash away? She would have to ask sometime, but not now as Starbuck talked excitedly about his ideas for the Zakar. It was a one sided conversation and she wondered if it was a Colonial quirk as Crius did the same thing when he was nervous or had something on his mind he didn't want to share. Her friend would overshare about every other thought that came to mind except what was really bothering him. Starbuck was doing the same thing. Was it something they trained into them at the Academy? Perhaps a way to avoid giving away information to the enemy?

Hopping up on the counter of the sink, she tried to pay attention to his ideas. It was easier than dealing with her own emotions about him and her past and the problems Jake and she were still dealing with. At first, she thought Starbuck was joking about using the brig, but he was serious. He didn't understand the irony of what he was suggesting. She didn't get a chance to object as he ignored her attempts to interject, and despite trying to focus, she only half listened as the glass to the shower began to fog over blocking a very nice view. As the droplets of water ran down the glass, she heard a voice.

"Everything you build, I will destroy. It will all melt away."

She spun her head to the door, expecting to find that Jake had come into the room, uttering some sarcastic quip, but the door was closed and locked. In the shiny metal, a face leered at her and a white robe. A cold wind blew across her shoulders, rippling the robe in the reflective surface.

"You will follow my demands, or everything you build, I will destroy."

She tore her eyes away from that face, mumbling to herself, "It's not real. He's not here." She tried to fix her gaze on Starbuck, but his own form was hazy and incorporeal in the fog of the turbo. A cold wind suddenly blew across the room, and she heard it howl as an image of Starbuck lost alone in the middle of a barren landscape appeared before her in the mist. The voice was within the moan of the wind, "Everything will be lost."

Dropping her head to her hands, she closed her eyes, muttering softly, "Go frak yourself. I've got enough to deal with in the here and now. You want to get me to do something, then make all of Dante's cronies go away."

"Rene?" Starbuck's voice echoed reassuringly in the small room as he wiped the steam from the glass, before he finally shut off the water. "You okay? You get something to eat yet?"

Scrubbing at her face, she shoved down her thoughts and feelings, mentally banishing Iblis to the barren wastes he seemed to be promising for Starbuck. Wondering if she could get to her stash of stims without Starbuck noticing, she fixed a grin she'd been practicing the last few cycles on her face as she answered him, hoping for once he wouldn't call her on the lie.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Guess I should eat. Baby's starting to suck some of my energy, that's all." Mentioning the coming baby worked as a diversion, a little too well as Starbuck's eyes shifted from her face to her belly.

"I've been told to expect you to be tired and moody."

Shaking her head, she thought about correcting him. Starbuck had been told a lot of misinformation from guys who had never even held a baby, let alone stayed with a woman as long as it took to incubate one. Pilots were squeamish when it came to things that weren't mechanical. Starbuck had already dealt with more than his fair share of bodily fluids today between Jake's concussion and bruises.

"I'm okay," she said again, but Starbuck was still distracted as he shifted to talking about how they could use the brig's wide reception area and communal turbo for hydroponics.

It wasn't until he was getting out and drying off that she finally noticed his face held the same haunted look of worry she remembered from Caprica. He hadn't been himself since their mission, becoming distant at odd moments, and then hanging on to her extra tight.

"What's wrong?" she interrupted his description of using the brig's doors to build pens for some fowl if they could afford the birds for eggs rather than for the stewpot.

Turning away to throw the towel on the rack, he took the time to straighten it, hesitating before speaking. "We didn't steal them. They were damn soft."

It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about as he was changing subjects faster than a viper running through the maze of mines they created. "We can next time we're there. The Rising Star's not going anywhere. What's wrong?"

Staying on the target of his thoughts was like trying to chase down a raider in an asteroid field.

"Nothing. Just wishing I had been on the recon patrol. They would be reaching coordinates by now where their scanners might be picking something up. If they run into any trouble, well, Bojay just got his father back. I should have gone instead of him." Starbuck's gaze was as far away as those coordinates.

"You just got your father back too," Rene tossed out hoping to draw his attention back. "And you were just sealed, still technically on your honeymoon. Plus, be honest, you're still recovering from Caprica. And what about finding the guys who attacked Jake?"

"Adama kicked me off the investigation. Besides, it's not who you think did it."

"You don't know that," she bristled at being so easily brushed off.

He surveyed himself in the mirror, touching a hand lightly to his own healing bruise on his ribs. "Yeah I do. They pulled the flight recorder for Pallus. He was flying the whole time. Brody was on duty or in the bunk room, accounted for the whole time." He reached for a clean uniform, tossing his old one into the refresher.

"Doesn't mean they didn't' do it."

Pulling on his tunic, he was fastening the collar when he finally faced her. "Actually, yeah it does. Sure, they may have had someone else do it, but do you think the two are going to admit that?"

"So that's it? That's the end of it?" She tried to keep her voice neutral, but Starbuck caught the hint of disrespect for the authority of the fleet.

"No, it's not. Just means they dig deeper. Last I heard they found someone. Besides this won't be a problem anymore with Apollo's plan."

"The one you haven't given me many details about, except moving to the Zakar, and that doesn't solve the problem we're having with Dante's lackeys." Rene pointed out, wondering about what Starbuck might be hiding as he turned away to put on his boots.

"Apollo thinks if we break up the fleet, scatter in different directions, it will make it harder for the enemy to find us, or we can use some of the other ships like Cain did." He finally turned to meet her, a confident grin on his face that she knew was anything but genuine.

"What does the kid have to do with this?"

Starbuck shook his head, "Sorry, you probably don't know. Commander Cain. When we found the Pegasus, Cain used the battle star like the cavalry in the old days, swooping in from out of nowhere to save the day. It worked and we had the Cylons on the run."

"And the Pegasus has never been heard from again. That's what Sheba told me and I would think she'd be the one to know if it is still out there." Rene didn't speak the words about how she didn't think this part of Starbuck's plan would work, shifting the topic instead. "And where do I fit into all of this?"

"Peryton thinks you can guide the Zakar through your rift. You perform a little magic and we see what's out there. Maybe find earth."

Starbuck's grin was hopeful, and she wanted to bask in the light of it, but her vision had been a strong one, not just a dream in the dark of night, but bright and vivid while she was wide awake. That wasn't going to be how they found earth. Starbuck and Apollo wouldn't find earth. The truth of it rocked her and she had to grip the counter to not fall off. Could she cheat the visions? Is that where she could use Iblis? Her mind reeled as her stomach grumbled loudly.

"You need to get some food." Starbuck's grin was gone as he stepped towards her, reaching out to lightly stroke her face. She leaned into the touch and didn't answer suddenly feeling very tired. It had been a long day. "Let's say we talk about this later. Have you seen the kids yet?"

"I didn't want to leave Jake alone." She let Starbuck evade the conversations. She'd dealt with enough of the harsh reality of her life for one day. He must have read her thoughts, as he came to her leaning forward to give her a kiss.

He was about to say something, but didn't get a chance as the chime for their quarters sounded once before they could hear the door opening.

"Does everyone have the code?" Starbuck groused, before his eyebrows rose at the shout of his name from his new wing mate. Jake must have pointed Crius to the door and Starbuck quirked an eyebrow as Crius didn't bother with knocking before opening the bathroom door.

"You mind?" Starbuck asked annoyed.

Ignoring Starbuck's words, Crius began shouting, "You need to fraking fix this right now before I slit the son of Sagan's throat! I am not doing this! I'll resign if I have to. No fraking way am I doing this!"

Starbuck sighed elaborately, one that spoke volumes about how there was never a dull moment with the Copper Squadron before shifting his full attention to Crius who was practically foaming at the mouth. Crius was frantic, and there was real fear in her friend's eyes, something she hadn't seen since the brig on Dilmun.

"Slow down. What's wrong? Can we talk about this in the other room at least?" Starbuck backed up as Crius took a step towards him with clenched fists.

"I am not doing this and that guy Omega just keeps feeding me felgercarb about learning how to be a member of the team. It's a death sentence, and he thinks I'm just having a problem fitting in? Fraking fine, I will fit in civvies if I have to!"

Starbuck raised his eyebrows at Rene, hoping she could explain what was going on, but she shrugged, just as confused. He took a measured breath letting Crius vent his fear and frustration. Rene wondered when he had gotten good at this, dealing with hot headed viper jocks, or was it that he treated Crius the way Starbuck wished others treated him? Despite the somewhat embellished stories about Starbuck's own temper, Boomer and Giles had confessed that as a leader, he had a natural way of dealing with people and problems. He employed some of that leadership now as he listened to Crius as if the words weren't nonsense.

"Okay, that's an option," Starbuck held up his hands trying to get a word in. "We could use a farmer in the family, sure, but not you. You're a good pilot, so why don't you slow down and explain to me what happened. Do you need a drink?" Starbuck placed a hand on Crius's shoulder gently turning him around and guiding him back into the main room, while nodding his head to Rene, an unspoken command to get some ambrosia.

She bristled again at Starbuck's attempt to remove her and deal with Crius himself. Sure, they were wing mates now, but she'd known Crius for almost five yahrens now. He was the first friend she made on the Zakar and she knew him better than she knew herself. But there she was, following Starbuck's lead while Crius blustered a bit more about leaving the service if he had to. He slowed down when he saw that Starbuck wasn't kidding about the drink reaching for the bottle on the table and disappeared into the food prep area for two glasses, shouting over his shoulder, "Crius, sit down. Let's talk."

The gesture Crius flashed her one handed needed no interpretation. Each of them had a symbol in their silent sly sign language, often just the first letter of their name, but Keenan's had been more complex than that. She hadn't seen the flash of Keenan's name in a long time, and it brought back the memory of Crius and Keenan crafting the hand code around their makeshift table in a corner of the male barracks. It had been a brutal night and the only one not bleeding or bruised had been Lisbet, who had seemed to have lost her mind instead from the fear and worry as she rocked in a ball at Crius's feet while the warriors quickly taught them combat signs so they could communicate when trouble was coming and learn to hide. It was the first night she had slept in Keenan's bunk as he held her, told her he didn't care she was used and damaged goods, he wanted her any way he could. It wasn't love, not exactly. It was a touch of vengeance with a touch of fear, and she let it touch her heart.

Crius had been beside them, Lisbet in his arms. He had made no promises, not to Lisbet anyway, but his gaze had locked on to Rene's, pleading for some solution, promising Rene and the Lords almost anything to make things better.

That same look was in his eyes now as he flashed Keenan's sign, telling her with one motion that things had gone from bad to worse, and someone was really going to wind up dead.

Starbuck started to pour the drinks, but Crius shot out a hand over his glass. "No, I can't. I was stupid and told Lizzie. Now she's having a full blown meltdown, and it ain't pretty. You," he snarled, jabbing a finger at Rene, "have to fix this!"

"Easy, buddy, slow down. Tell us what happened," Starbuck said calmly.

"I'm tapped to fly the next long range recon, and it comes with an emergency transfer to the Zakar, just me, not my wife," Crius stated, but Starbuck cut him off holding up a hand.

"I was going to tell you at dinner. I assure you, Lisbet is coming too. There's been a lot going on and I haven't been able to track you down, but" Starbuck hesitated and Crius jumped into the gap, only he spun his attention back to Rene as he found no traction with Starbuck.

"I'm supposed to be flying the mission with Pallus. There is no fraking way I am falling into that crawlon web, not after the message we got from his cronies!"

Grimacing, Rene realized the message left in her quarters wasn't the only one. She quickly flashed Crius a hand sign that was meant to hold that information until later. He narrowed his eyes at her audibly grinding his teeth.

"You knew you'd have to fly with some of the guys from the Zakar eventually," Starbuck added, and Rene was thankful Starbuck missed the comment about a message. "It's a new fleet and we need to get over the past and move forward to…"

Crius growled, "Does Buckaroo not know what happened to Keenan? You too busy playing kissy face to fill him in on the horror vid he walked into? I gotta do everything?"

"Crius," Rene warned, but there was no dealing with the man if Lisbet was in danger.

"I know what happened," Starbuck said as he stepped in front of Crius in an attempt to deflect his anger. "That's not going to happen here."

"You want to take that bet, because this loser knows not to play that game." Crius jabbed a thumb into his own chest. "You're not that lucky, Sire Gold Clusters. No one is, least of all me!"

Holding up his hands again, Starbuck took another deep breath, nodded in agreement with something in his own head before speaking in a voice of command. "You are not flying that recon. I am."

"No!" The words were out before Rene could pull them back and a shiver wracked her body as she gasped.

"Told you so," Jake mumbled from the couch, as Crius added, "Over my dead body!"

"ENOUGH!" Starbuck's shout was new, the shock of it stunning them all into silence. He lowered it just an octave as he said it again, "Enough! No one is going to die. Warriors do not take out other warriors, not on the Galactica. We will sort this out without everyone losing their damn minds, you got that?"

When no one replied, Starbuck took it for agreement. "Good! Now let's go deal with everyone else and then we calmly talk to the Commander. I'm the new Strike Wing Captain so I will take the recon," Starbuck held up a hand as Crius opened his mouth, "with my wing mate, which is you, not Pallus. That is what I meant before," he said shifting to Rene. "This is not the Zakar."

"It soon will be," Jake muttered.

"Then we will rename the damn ship!"

Rene flinched. This new side of Starbuck was almost as scary as Dante because she knew the stories about Starbuck were mostly true. He was a creative genius at times, and if he couldn't solve the problems of Dante's old fleet, then he'd destroy it trying, taking himself out in the process if he had to.

But her husband also was perceptive as he read all their faces and the single thought that was running through their minds. He lowered his voice, taking on the smooth tones of the pretty boy Colonial Warrior. "It's been done before, and "The Starbuck" sounds so much better than the Zakar, don't you think? Or if we want to win some favors, we'll name her after one of the members of the Council of Twelve. "The Tinia" has a nice ring to it too. But what we are not going to do is panic and act paranoid, because then Jake, they really have won the fight, and that is not happening while I'm around, got that?"

"Yes, sir," Jake answered half serious.

"Work on that. Your strike wing Captain likes a little respect. Rene, let's go deal with the rest of the family, and then I need a very captainy like nap before I take on a long recon. You are ordered to get food and rest. And you," he said, turning to Crius. "Stay on my wing like you are supposed to."

Starbuck didn't wait for any replies as he donned his jacket and headed out the door, his back straight and head high. It took Rene and the rest of them a micron to realize he was leaving, and she held out a hand for Jake to get him to his feet while Crius nearly sprinted to catch up.

Crius's quarters weren't far, but the sound of wailing reached her and Jake before they'd even made it into the corridor.

"Oh frak," Jake muttered as he tried to keep up with Rene, using the wall for support.

The quarters were in chaos and Starbuck stood amidst the turmoil, his hands up as if he were trying to block his ears. She sighed, the man could face a whole Cylon Base Ship, but crying children reduced him to a first yahren cadet ever since Caprica. What had changed, she wondered, although she couldn't really blame him this time. It was bad.

Lisbet was curled up on the floor rocking, tears streaming down her face as she gazed off at some unknown part of space. Jason was kneeling by her trying to calm her down, while Cain jostled baby Zac who was screaming as if in pain. Leia was howling and crawling in circles, while Lara stood paralyzed, eyes as wide as saucers. Kiff had latched onto Starbuck's leg for dear life, and Daniel, Calliope and Kalea were nowhere to be found. Crius had taught the kids to hide at any sign of trouble, and they did it a little too well. Kiff was just too high strung to stay hidden long, letting Rene know this scene had been playing out for a while.

She brushed aside Starbuck, telling him softly, "I've got this. Go."

She was able to get down to Lisbet and to draw her focus back into the room as she wrapped an arm around her and cooed reassuringly, "No one is going to die. He's not going out with Pallus. Starbuck's taking care of it."

The words didn't halt Lisbet's tears as she moaned, "No, not Starbuck. Not him too?"

"It's okay Lisbet. He's going with Crius. It's going to be okay." Rene felt the sharp pang of guilt as the old wound flared up. Lisbet wasn't supposed to be with them that night on Caprica. Her foster parents, ones she'd been with since she was ten, wanted her to stay home with them to celebrate, but Rene had convinced her they needed her on keyboards that night, couldn't make any coin without her, and then used her to talk Kalea into sneaking out. Kalea would only go if Lisbet went, not trusting Rene ever since she had run interference keeping Nik from making any moves on Kalea, since Ari wanted her so badly. Neither of the two gals should have left home that night. Sure, they'd probably be dead along with everyone else, but maybe not. Maybe had they been home they could have shown their parents all the secret ways through the city to get to the spaceport and get off world. And maybe being dead with a loving family was better than what Lisbet had gone through since the destruction?

Rene looked away from Lisbet's anguished and pleading eyes to Starbuck who was still standing there, at least not paralyzed as he'd drawn Lara to him, had her tucked under his arm as he listened to Cain while stroking Kiff's head reassuringly.

"Dad…uh Starbuck, they moved up my training. I can't go. Not with this going on. You need to delay it or maybe put me in a later class or…"

Starbuck cut him off. "No. Rene had you join the family so you could be a pilot like you wanted. Son, you're going to that training. Everything is fine. I'll take care of it. You show up, like you're supposed to, you got that?" Starbuck turned to meet her gaze. "You got that?"

It was an order, and she registered a tinge of contempt in his voice before he softened and asked, "Can you take care of this, alone I mean?"

The hand sign she flashed him said for him to take care of the problem that created all this, but she modulated her words with a "yes dear," that had the right effect. He nodded.

"Have Jake stay here. I'm serious about needing that nap before I fly." He picked up Kiff, handing him to Jake, then patted Lara on the head and told her it was all going to be okay before he pulled Crius from the room. His departure brought fresh tears to Lisbet's eyes.

"I liked him."

Rene sighed before taking a seat on the floor, pulling Lisbet into her arms. "I know. I do too. I'll fix this. I promise. Forever."

"We really should," Jake said cradling Kiff as best he could even though the kid was suddenly all knees and elbows moving about. "We have enough warriors, we could lose a few."

Rene nodded. "Not getting caught might be the issue now. But…" she trailed off, thinking bigger than just a few equine's astrums, thinking of a lot of Borays including one that had been ghosting her steps for far too long. "I think I know of a way. And what the guy wants in return might be just what everyone wants. They've already chosen a path to Hades. Maybe I should just take them there and shorten the trip."

Jake gave her a puzzled look before asking, "I thought when you jumped us all here, he went away?"

"Like a bad Orion check, Iblis keeps turning up. Might be time to cash that check in."

Jake didn't ask if she was sure, he didn't ask anything. Unlike others in her life he trusted her completely. And that might be the only complication in her plan: no one else did. How the hades had she let herself fall for a Colonial Warrior, again.

"I've got this," she said aloud before turning back to Lisbet. "No one is going to die. Well, someone is going to die, just not anyone we care about. I promise."

Maybe two people trusted her as Lisbet reached up to dry her eyes, seeming to find the strength she needed to pull herself together. "And not get caught?" she asked, but seeming to know the answer.

"No one ever blames a rat for being a vermin, now do they? The mouse gets caught, but the rat…" She let Lisbet finish the phrase.

"The rat knows its way out of the cage."

"Cage, what cage?" Jason asked grinning to Lisbet.

Cain's words followed. "Lock, what lock?"

Jake chuckled. "The mouse must have done it."

"Or the cat," Rene added grinning.