The punch to the gut knocked the air from him and he gasped as the weight settled on his chest. The rude awakening was made worse by Rene's cursing, "Kiff you mother fraker, dammit get off him! I fraking told you not to do that!"
Groaning, Starbuck tried to orient himself as the weight on his chest shifted, a warm wiggling body, not the cold stone of his dreams. Full consciousness hit hard when the gleeful laughter of the child was cut short with a slap.
"You little Son of Sagan!"
Starbuck tucked the child to him like a triad ball and rolled away while instinctively reaching out a hand to block another blow. "Rene!"
His eyes snapping open, he saw her hand raised for another blow. He recognized the look in her eyes, a cross between anger and fear, a look the Rats often held as they dealt with those in authority. Is that how she saw him now, an authority figure that shouldn't be bothered with? Kiff yelped as Starbuck pushed him out of arm's reach. "Rene!" "It's okay. I'm fine. He's fine!"
The anger quickly fled from her features, but it only highlighted the fear that was slower to fade. Lowering her hand, she began to explain, "I'm sorry, you were sleeping so soundly and I was hoping you could get a few more centons before…he needs to learn to behave. If he doesn't, someone is going to hurt him and then..."
"But it doesn't have to be us. He's okay. I'm okay." He held up his hands, hoping to calm her down. It took a moment before she nodded.
"Sorry," she mumbled, looking away. "Just wanted you to get some sleep."
"And I did. Calm down."
Rene nodded, but reached for Kiff. Starbuck wrapped a protective arm around him as Kiff clung to him, latching on for dear life.
"I've got him. Do we have Java?" He checked his chrono. It was still early, he had time for a turbo and some food before he needed to report for the command briefing and the start of another long day. Did he have time to deal with this, whatever this was that he had landed in the middle of. Looking up he took note that Rene was already dressed for the day, and the chambers were beginning to fill up with the family working on getting some food and kids ready for the day. "You should have woken me. Is Cain still here? I wanted to see him off."
As he struggled to his feet, Rene offered a hand up, one he found he needed since Kiff wasn't letting go. He couldn't blame the kid. While Rene could bark like any parent, she didn't often lash out physically, not with the little ones anyway. She also wasn't meeting his gaze; another sure sign something wasn't right this morning. A familiar unease enveloped him; it felt as though he had crashed in enemy territory.
"You okay?" he asked, but she flew by the question taking evasive action.
"Cain's still here. I'm sorry about Kiff. I told him to leave you be and…"
"Rene, it's okay. It was better than being tossed from my bunk by Apollo." He reached a hand down to shift the kid's weight. He was getting too big to be held easily. "I'm going to grab a turbo. Does he need one too, because it looks like he's my new wing man, aren't you, kid?"
"Yeah, he could use one. I'll have food waiting for you when you're done. Shine up the brass. IFB will be here any centon."
And there it was, the threat finally appearing from behind the moon, revealing itself on his scanner. Having stayed close to home on the Galactica, the IFB did not have the opportunity to continue to chronicle their relationship, but he knew from the amount of ribbing he'd received from the squadron, Starbuck's sealing was still the most talked about programming in IFB history. The adoption of the teen orphan had been a sweet gesture that the IFB was able to exploit. Rene fell for the trap because it highlighted an issue she cared about, three yahrens and they still had a separate ship full of war orphans. Instead of numbers decreasing on the ship, the ongoing conflicts of their journey kept increasing the parentless population. It was past time to give them homes, even if that meant bringing them into the military family.
"Understood," he said, loading the word with all the hidden meaning the rats could in one word as he flashed the combat sign that he'd take point. "Thanks for the warning. We need to talk about last night…"
Abruptly he stopped speaking as Rene's shoulders jerked like she'd been shot with a laser. Her eyes darkened. "Easy," he heard a voice in his head whisper. It wasn't his own, but held the same timber as what he'd been hearing on Caprica. It had served him well there, so he chose to listen. Their fight in the corridor needed to be continued, but it didn't have to be right now. He regrouped.
"Thank you for last night. It was nice, the music and all of us being here. I slept better because of it" He tossed out his gambit, hoping Rene would realize he wasn't trying to be her foe, not today anyway.
Rene merely nodded, and Starbuck took it as his cue to retreat. He had enough battles to keep him occupied for the day, and with the IFB in their sights, Rene was going to be on the defensive no matter what he said or did. "Okay. Save us some food. Come on, kid."
Starbuck kept a hold of the boy until they were out of the Council Chambers, when Kiff finally relaxed enough to let Starbuck put him down. He guided Kiff down to their quarters to find Jake coming out, freshly turboed tossing on his jacket.
"Did you leave me some hot water? And what's up with Rene, other than the IFB?"
He hadn't really expected an answer. While not being quite so secretive as before, Jake and Rene still didn't often betray each other, thick as thieves. Surprisingly, Jake offered some insight to the start of his day. "She said you too had a fight. She didn't sleep much last night."
"Really? Did she tell you about it? You know it involves you, right?"
The words came out harsher than he intended and Jake took a step back, answering quickly, "I'm not fraking Rene."
It was so ridiculous he found himself laughing sarcastically. Jake wasn't an idiot, he knew exactly what was going on. If truth be told, Starbuck figured Jake was probably the mastermind behind the whole "drug them and get them kicked out of the Colonial service" scheme.
"And who said you were? Don't even try that distraction felgercarb that you Sewer Rats do. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're not fraking her, your fraking with my pilots and fraking their careers." He couldn't resist pulling up a hand and jabbing a finger in Jake's chest. "Quit drugging the pilots. I don't care if they are the dregs of Dilmun, I'm going to need them if the enemy finds us."
He expected an angry response, or at the very least for Jake to slap the finger away, but instead Jake took a quick look around the corridor to make sure they were alone before he took a step forward, reaching for the lapels of Starbuck's jacket. Starbuck's first instinct was to take a step back, but he was curious if Jake would take an actual swing at him. A few sectars ago, he would have thought it was long overdue, but now, since the attack on the Celestra and Jake moving in, they'd found some common ground. Brothers maybe? But he also remembered brothers threw punches at each other.
Jake pulled him in even closer, wrapping a hand around the back of Starbuck's neck, a familiar move among the rats, but not one they used with him. It was close, and more intimate than he'd thought Jake would ever be. The young man whispered low, "It was only four and I talked her out of more. She's got a fraked up plan. She wants them dead. I'm trying to keep you out of it. It's not about you or me, or…"
As Jake hesitated, Starbuck uttered the name the Rats had been avoiding, "Ari, it's about Ari."
Jake shook his head vehemently. "No. It's about Keenan."
In shock, he tried to pull away. His dead rival just kept being resurrected. Holding on tight, Jake began, speaking fast.
"Dante killed Ari, or at least he ordered it, and Agenor carried it out and she killed them both. But Keenan, that wasn't Dante. Commander was pissed about losing him. He was a good pilot and other than hanging out with us, a loyal warrior from the Zakar. Dante didn't kill Keenan, someone else did, a lot of people. It was…personal."
"And Ari wasn't?" Starbuck asked, trying to ignore the fact that Jake knew about her shooting Agenor while the man was unarmed and unconscious.
"Yeah, but, she got those guys."
"And now they almost got you, is that it?"
Jake shook his head as he eased his grip on Starbuck's neck, "Believe it or not, I'm not that important. They threatened to kill you."
This time Starbuck did step away and Jake let him, but the kid's eyes held him there as Starbuck scanned them for the truth. "You're serious. Who? Pallus?" Jake nodded and began to speak, but Starbuck cut him off, "I'm not worried about him. You guys know I can take care of myself."
"Keenan thought he could too. He's dead."
Jake tossed the words like a bomb, but Starbuck quickly diffused them. "I'm smarter than he was and I have more powerful friends. Nothing is going to happen to me, and," Starbuck held up a hand to stop Jake from speaking. "If they did anything, they'd pay and you and my family would be protected. So you need to stop her. Keep her from doing anything, you got that."
Shaking his head, Jake voiced his doubts, "I don't know if I can. She's talking to that guy again."
Starbuck choked down a groan as he felt every sore muscle in his back come alive. "What guy?"
"I don't know, she just talks, like someone's there and…
"Iblis," he thought to himself, but didn't want to say his name aloud. Instead he brushed it off. "She's been doing that since she set foot on the Galactica. I assume she's always done that. She does it when people are around. She's just got a lot on her mind, and pregnant, and…" He found himself shrugging, a movement that Jake mirrored.
"I don't know. But she's taking off duty to talk to Dixon, a lot of time."
It was news to him, but he didn't track her movements through the day. It seemed Jake did. Starbuck took a breath, remembering that Jake disliked the therapist and the things Rene might be telling him.
"That's not a bad thing, you know that, right? And he would report it if she were talking about killing anyone." The sudden tightness around his thigh reminded him that he and Jake were not alone in the corridor as Kiff clung to his leg again. This wasn't a conversation they should be having, and definitely not around the kid who was smarter than the average four yahren old. Starbuck sighed heavily, pulling up his mental to-do list, now so overloaded he had no idea how he was going to get to it all.
"Okay. I understand. We should talk about this. You should have told me sooner. After we drop off Cain, and my briefing, I'll find you. And tonight, you're taking the kids and sleeping in the council chambers. Rene and I need to finish our fight and then make up."
Jake nodded and Starbuck waited for a smart remark from him, but the young man clapped Starbuck on the back as a way of agreement as he moved away down the corridor.
"The mong just keeps getting deeper and deeper," he said aloud looking down to Kiff. "Come on, kiddo, one problem at a time. First, wrestling you into a turbo."
He reached down to pick up the child, flying him into the turbo like he was in a viper, getting the boy to laugh so Starbuck could at least have one person happy in his life this cycle. It also made it easier to wash Kiff up if it were a game. In record time he was able to get him to agree to being scrubbed and dressed. Lingering in the turbo wasn't an option as the water turned cold. Just another indication that the day was not going to go his way.
"Come on, lords, can you just cut me one break?"
His uniform was clean, and his boots polished. While he wanted to count that as a mark in his favor, he recognized it was Rene who should get the credit for the task. Did she do it to be nice, or was it just so he'd continue to be her camouflage for all her other schemes? That thinking wasn't going to help him with her today, but neither was lying to himself. He had to stifle the urge to scuff the shine.
Making it back to the Council chambers, he had just enough time to chug down a mug of Java and scrape up what was left over from breakfast. Taking a seat, he couldn't help but chuckle when he leaned back like he was going to make himself comfortable and stay awhile. Cain was bouncing from foot to foot in anticipation.
"Are you in a hurry to go somewhere?" Starbuck teased.
"I just don't want to be late, that's all."
Looking around, Starbuck replied, "They won't start without you. Where's Jason?" The two boys had been inseparable since Cain had shown up, and his absence now was concerning.
Cain shook his head, looking toward Rene. "You missed it. Big fight. She won't sign for him to join and Jake is backing her decision. He left."
Starbuck sucked in a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh. He couldn't put off the day and the battles ahead any longer. "Okay, let's get going. Don't worry, I'll work on her. She'll come around."
He downed the last of the java as he got to his feet, carrying his dishes to the food prep area where he found Rene loading up the dishes in the washer. He debated a thousand things to say to her, but the voice in his head was whispering to him to be patient, or at the very least not to be an idiot and antagonize her while she was armed.
"I'm ready when you are," he said softly and she turned to him nodding. He almost asked if she was okay, but he knew she wasn't just by the distant look in her eyes. She started to turn away but he reached for her, pulling her slowly into his arms. It was like pulling in one of the Dilmun mines, small canisters that if handled too roughly could end your days in a micron. "You're doing a good thing here," he whispered into her ear. "Cain's going to be a good warrior."
She nodded sighing a little. It was a crack and he flew into it hoping it would lead behind her defenses. "I'm knocking off early today. I told Jake to clear out of the quarters for tonight. You and I need some time with the lights low, what do you say?"
"We have a fight to finish," she said grimly.
"Or not," he said, pulling back so he could see her eyes. "Maybe not fighting, just talking. You," he hesitated, "had a point I could probably listen to. Maybe we can find some other solutions that don't lead to anyone dead or in the brig. Especially, because if you wind up in that brig, I'm joining you. You don't go anywhere without me."
Nodding she looked away. "Talking doesn't hurt I guess, or maybe we could skip the talking? It's not often we're alone lately."
She had him there, and while in many areas they may disagree, in their bed they often found common ground. "Maybe we could start by not talking. My lips might have other things they need to attend to." The flirty banter was safe and a good place to land for now. "Let's get the kid sent off and then I can clear my schedule. I'll manage the IFB."
"You've got the clusters for it," she agreed, leaning up to plant a soft kiss on his lips. It was progress, or was it? She always left him wondering, but for now he'd have to trust her.
He thought they were all taking Cain down the corridor to his training, but the others peeled off to drop kids off at the care centers and then to their various duties for the day, leaving just Rene and Starbuck accompanying the young man. Even Jake had just given the boy a clap on the shoulder shaking his head almost in disgust before he fled in the opposite direction. The Rats were acting like they were sending the kid off to a penal colony. Starbuck tried to remember that most of the Rats were unwilling draftees. Plus, Cain had been Rene's idea, an impulsive whim made while Starbuck had been relegated back to the barracks.
It had been one of her smarter decisions in his opinion. The kid was a nice addition to the family and would make a fine warrior. Starbuck would try to remember that when they talked that night. Following her gut had served Rene well while on the streets and on Dilmun. If channeled in the right direction here in the fleet, she might become a decorated warrior like himself.
But he wasn't sure if that's what he wanted. She was a good pilot, but she was also a mother, a duty Starbuck considered more important. By the way she acted, hades how all the Rats acted, they didn't want to be warriors, and that was fine by him. Once they took over the Zakar, they would sort it all out and make it work for the family.
It was a short walk and turbolift ride down to the recruit quarters. The IFB was waiting for them and Zara was trying to get shots of all the young recruits, commenting for the piece she was filming that it was one of the youngest groups ever trained in the history of the Colonial Fleet.
"Not since the early days of the war have we resorted to sending children into battle, but with our Council of Twelve unable to reach a consensus on colonizing any of the several habitable planets we have found, we are once again desperate enough to sacrifice our progeny to ensure the safety of the fleet on our never ending journey."
Wincing, Starbuck turned to Rene. "Ignore her. It's not like that."
"Uh huh, you sure about that?" Rene mumbled before plastering on a fake smile as Zara turned their way.
"Lieutenant Starbuck! Married life agrees with you. And look at this." Zara spread her arms wide. "The adopted son ushered into the service by his proud foster father. You two are a true testament that the system works for the benefit of everyone."
It should have been a compliment, but instead it felt like a bitter pill going down as he swallowed and gritted his teeth into a grin. Zara had no idea what the system was like, the yahrens he had spent being shuffled from one home to another, just another burden to be dealt with, just another nameless child, turned into a number that was soon forgotten. He had worked his whole life to make sure he was not overlooked. She had no idea how hard that had been as a scrawny short, toe headed kid.
"It's 'Captain' now," he found himself correcting her as if it mattered.
"Yes, yes, let's get you two over here so we can get a shot. Now if you put your arm around him like you're proud…"
"I am proud," he said for Cain's benefit. It had the right affect as the kid blushed, suppressing a smile. The vid man snapped a few shots before Cain said softly, "Rene should be in these. She sponsored me."
"Oh yes, of course," Zara said off hand, reaching to almost shove Rene off to the side of the shot, but Starbuck pulled Rene gently between himself and Cain. Zara frowned as she tried to rearrange the trio, but Starbuck held his position and sighed with relief when the Duty Officer called for the recruits to line up.
"While I have you here, Lieutenant, what are your thoughts about the upcoming Triad tournament? You have some new competition with the addition of the players from Dilmun. I hear they have a different style of playing. Care to comment?"
Triad was the furthest thing from his mind since the enemy began ghosting their path, but he had agreed to take point on this mission. He gave Zara the sound bite she was wanting for her primetime news, while he kept an eye on Rene as she pulled Cain down to speak to him, giving him a short embrace before turning away. It was hard for Starbuck to stay focused on what he was saying as he witnessed Rene perform her disappearing act. She took a step to the side, lowered her shoulders and then her head, and blended easily into the wall at her back. He looked away for just a moment to answer one of Zara's inane questions, and when he looked back, he couldn't find her, worrying she had slipped away before he found her, a few more steps away down the corridor.
Zara was asking him something else, but he rudely interrupted the question, stating, "I have duty." He ignored her call to him as he stepped towards Rene, touching her lightly as he guided her away from the reporter. She let him usher her down the corridor towards the duty office, sighing audibly as soon as they had put some distance behind them. He kept walking towards the Blue Squadron duty office, even though he knew he should be heading in the other direction towards a briefing in the Commander's war room. He didn't care if he was late. What would he miss? The pronouncement that they still didn't know anything yet about where the enemy might be? They could wait on him for once. This was more important.
Both their steps had slowed as neither seemed eager to start their day. Rene broke the silence between them. "Promise me he will get some real training before they toss him into combat."
"Almost as good as the Academy," he answered her, knowing it was nowhere near the yahrens he had spent honing his skills. But they also wouldn't just throw the kid in a launch tube with only a rudimentary knowledge of his craft the way Dante had with those he rescued from the Colonies. Cain would at the very least know his viper, even if he would lack the centaurs of flight time Starbuck had before he'd first seen combat. The recruits would be ready before they launched.
For a moment Starbuck tasted the fear of the first time he'd catapulted out of a launch tube. He'd been twitching with excitement as he climbed into the cockpit. The wait in the tube had a way of chilling the thrill so that when he received the command to launch, his nerves had caught up to him. He'd wanted to puke, and that had just been a training drill performed in a protected and familiar sector of space. It would be different for Cain lacking that sense of a secure perimeter.
A shiver shook his spine as a he caught a small glimpse of the terror the Rats must have experienced in their abbreviated training. How had Rene survived that first launch straight into the arms of the enemy? The only advantage she'd had was that the wait in the tubes must have been blessedly brief. He'd learned from Crius that Dante shot those kids out like flak, hoping they'd distract the enemy and force the raiders to use up ordinances before the real pilots joined the fight. Once again Starbuck found himself looking at Rene with a new perspective. She'd not just survived but had thrived when the odds were against her.
She must have misinterpreted his look as pity as her eyes flashed with anger before she looked away.
"Hey, what's wrong pretty lady?" He reached for her, hoping to draw her close, but he almost let go as she yanked her hand away. "What did I do wrong now?" he asked, wishing he'd not said the words aloud as she shot him a glare that made him flinch.
"You don't get it! We don't have options like we did before. It's this or…" she paused waving her hands at the military gray walls as she looked away mumbling, "We get what you let us have and that's it."
"Hey, that's not fair. When did I get lumped in to representing the whole Colonial Service? Plus, you've been around the civilian ships. There are lots of careers to be had. You know this isn't the only option."
"It is if you want to live. If you get lucky and…"
She shrugged, and he wasn't sure if she would continue. Cautiously he reached out again, placing a finger to turn her chin so he could at least see her eyes.
"I'll check on him, I promise. If his skills aren't where they need to be, he won't see a cockpit. I can promise you that."
Nodding, she ducked her head. "It's not that. I believe you."
"Do you?" he asked, wondering when he'd lost control of his words as they came without thought.
It was Rene's turn to flinch and he had the satisfaction that he'd scored a point in their ongoing debate about trust. He pressed his point, as he lifted her chin to make sure she was listening to him., "Look, we make sure all our trainees know what they are doing. We don't send just anyone out in a viper who's not competent. You know that. This isn't just about Cain, is it? I know about the fight with Jason. I know you don't want him flying, but we would make sure he knew how."
Sighing, she leaned into his touch as he cupped her cheek. He reached out again for her hand, and this time she gripped his tight. Her voice was so soft he almost didn't hear her.
"But It's not like it was before, is it?"
Lords, he wanted to lie to her and tell her it was exactly like back on Caprica. It wasn't. At the academy he'd had a flight instructor with over fifty yahrens of experience in all kinds of combat. Now they had those that had been lucky enough to survive Cimtar.
Rene grimaced at his silence. "Ari had almost a full yahren at the academy and he'd not even been inside a viper. Cain will at least get a few sectars, but," she paused shaking her head.
"He will be ready, my word as a Warrior. You know I won't let him out there until he is. There are other jobs he can do as a Warrior if he's not cut out for the cockpit. This isn't his only option you know."
Rene shook her head again in disagreement, letting him know her opinion was close to his own. Being a pilot was the only job worth doing. It was on the frontlines that you could do the most for winning the war and gaining their security. She'd sponsored the kid because she understood they needed pilots, didn't she?
"What's going on Rene?" he asked, hoping for a clue as to what had her so on edge that morning. He waited watching the thoughts clouding her eyes.
Shaking her head again, she cast her gaze up to the ceiling. "It just sucks you know, knowing how badly I got screwed by Dante and the whole damn crew of the Zakar. They wasted a lot of us. They didn't have to put us in the cockpit, or at least could have given us some decent training. Just imagine what I could have done?"
She may be right, Starbuck thought, but his hand reached up her arm to the kills she'd engraved on her skin. She'd taken on the enemy and made them pay. He wanted her safe, but couldn't deny that the safest place might be in the cockpit where to some extent you controlled your own future. She was an adequate Flight tech and viper tech, but had Dante not put her in a viper, she would have been another example of wasted potential he'd often seen back at the Academy on Caprica. How many pilots had washed out over low grades in a history course, or a wrong decision on a night out on the town? Good pilots denied the cockpit on a technicality.
"You're a natural. Not sure it would have made a difference. All that training would have just slowed you down," he said, but she shook her head at his attempt to compliment her.
"There's gaps in my knowledge, even I can admit that. But it's not just Dante. I wasted my shot back on Caprica. I fraked it up and almost fraked up Ari's. Our foster father only agreed to sponsor Ari if I stayed out of trouble, and I couldn't even do that. I could have gone to the Academy and I can't even blame the destruction for taking that away. I did it. And I'm not even sure if given a second chance I wouldn't screw it up again."
It was a rare admission for Rene and a sentiment that he knew all too well. In his youth he had done some pretty stupid things. It was pure blind luck he'd scored high enough on his exams to encourage the Academy to not look too closely into his own checkered past. Her words were also an opportunity to ask about what he had learned from the IFB at his sealing reception. The various mug shots came into his mind, but as seemed to be the case since their sealing, now was not the time to follow that trajectory. Their turbos were locked on full and he just couldn't change course without tearing the whole thing apart.
His to-do list gained another entry as he offered, "We can fix those gaps. With what you already know, you can keep up with me, and I'm the best. But you could retake the Academy exam, for real this time, and then we could study together. I'm probably low in the same areas too."
A small smile of gratitude tugged at her lips before fading away. "With what time? Plus, they already shoved us in trainings. Besides, you don't even want me to fly. Just forget it. I won't be seeing the inside of a viper any time soon unless I'm cleaning it out." She shrugged despondently before placing a hand on her belly. "I should go. I'm already late to the flight deck, and don't you have a command briefing?"
She started to turn away but he held on fast. "So we make time. Tonight. You, me, a simulator. Then we can have that talk about you flying, and this time, I'll listen."
"And you think the enemy won't interfere with those plans?"
"Maybe, but the thought of a night alone with you will give me even more reason to finish the fight. Tonight. It's a date."
Her lips quirked up at his words as she raised an eyebrow. It was almost a smile. "If you are dating your wife, it might make her wonder who else you are dating."
"Meet me tonight and you'll find out. You, a viper and the stars, all my loves in one place."
"Simulated stars and a simulated viper. Do you want me simulated as well?"
"Did you say stimulated?" He cast her one of his smiles that used to drive the girls wild as he turned on the smolder to his eyes. "Because that's what you do to me. I'm all stimulated."
Ruefully she shook her head. "Is that so, flyboy?" Her smile was faint, but it was something he could work with. "And my flying in the future? Is that only going to be simulated or do I get to stimulate my career?"
"I never said I wanted you to quit flying forever. Once our child is born, then..." he didn't finish the sentence, instead giving the rat shrug. The gesture had the right affect as she shook her head in an effort to hide her grin.
He leaned forward to taste her lips, a kiss that lasted longer than either of them really had time for before he had to break it off. He was pleased to see Rene was just as breathless as he was.
"Frak, I wish we could just go back to our quarters and…but I am late. Commander might notice. I'll see you later? Midday meal maybe?"
She nodded as she pulled away, "Go and whip the rest of the fleet into shape, hot shot." The smile on her face barely touched her eyes and he felt a sharp pain in his chest as she turned away.
For a moment he wished he'd fraked up his promotion and stayed a lowly Lieutenant like the rest of blue squadron, ignorant of the dangers that were lurking just beyond the fleet. He could skip out on the briefing and let others determine the course. He would be content to follow blindly if it meant he had just one more day to enjoy the small pleasures in life, like ditching work for more time in the arms of a beautiful woman. That voice in his head whispered ominously, "But it might just be a day, and then no more if you don't attend to your duty."
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya," he said aloud to his conscience. He'd get it done just so he could rest a bit easier tonight and maybe the next knowing he'd done what he could to keep his family safe. He turned and sprinted down the corridor, checking his chrono and noting that if the corridors were clear and the turbolifts in his direction, he might actually be on time.