Crius entered the room, taking only two steps before halting and rigidly saluting. "Yeah, Copper Squadron won't be using this dining lounge", Starbuck thought as his lanky wing mate grew taller straightening his back and replicating the ramrod pose of Dante's Officers.

"Lt. Crius, it's good to see you. What can I help you with?" Adama addressed him casually, but rather than making Crius feel comfortable, the subordinate straightened his posture, his chest and eyes forward . Hadn't they moved past this with the mission to Caprica and the sealings Starbuck wondered. Apparently not as Crius met his eyes, avoiding the Commander's.

"Sir, I was looking for my Captain. I, uh, we need him for, um something, sir," Crius stammered while covertly flashing a Rat hand sign developed to indicate someone was in trouble.

Starbuck groaned. "What now? It's okay, you can say it. I trust everyone here. Would you relax?"

Crius tersely shook his head no, before reconsidering and shrugging as he dropped out of the military stance, "Yeah, whatever. They're going to find out anyway. They're towing in Brody's viper. He lost the seal on his canopy somewhere in his patrol. There weren't any breathers in his gear. He's dead."

"Frak." The curse slipped out as he shoved everything off his to do list, practically hearing the items crashing to the deck. Couldn't the Rats stay out of trouble for just one day? He had wanted to believe that Rene had stopped fracking with pilots a while ago and that this wasn't her doing. He'd tried to warn her that if she didn't stop someone was going to wind up dead. He hated being right.

"Cylons?" Apollo asked, coming to his feet as if the red alert klaxon was ringing.

"If only," Starbuck found himself fervently wishing for the first time in his life that the enemy had found them. It was not his lucky day as Crius shook his head.

"No. Mechanical failure. He slowly started losing air and he was too far out to make it back in time."

"One of your friends?" Adama asked.

All four of them answered in unison, "No."

"I have to go," Starbuck said, getting to his feet and grabbing Crius's arm, quickly making his escape before Adama could ask him anything else. Once again, he was avoiding his duties to handle a crisis created by the Rats themselves.

He waited until they were in a turbolift before he asked, "Who's idea was it to sabotage a viper?"

Crius was massaging his temples, not something Starbuck had seen the man do before. "No one as far as I know. I told you, they're not including me. I've asked what the frak is going on and they told me to watch my back. Like this doesn't affect me or Lizbet! I swear, I am going to laser whip her myself if she has involved Lizzy."

Starbuck closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the fatigue sink into his bones weighing him down. It was becoming too familiar a sensation since Caprica, the knowledge that despite his best efforts, he couldn't protect everyone. He was so damn tired of being helpless and at the mercy of others. A small voice whispered in his head, "She lies all the time."

He swallowed it down like bile, but he wasn't sure how long it was going to stay down. He was going to need some help with this.

"She claims she's not doing anything anymore, that it has gotten out of her control. Not sure if I believe her." He opened his eyes and gave Crius a good once over, noting the circles under his eyes, and the tremor in his hands as he rocked on the heels of his boots. "Lay off the stims, would you? I need you to be clear headed."

"I have! Don't snipe at me. I didn't do this!" Starbuck held up a hand in concession, ready to apologize despite the fact they both knew Crius was lying, but his wingmate lowered his voice and continued, "We have never fraked with the vipers before. We know they're needed, and they're traded around, especially here on the Galactica. You aren't always guaranteed you're going to get your own when an alert comes. You just grab and go. We don't mess with vipers. Not even for harmless pranks. Even the Rats know that. I don't think she did it, but Pallus and everyone else does. That's the problem."

Latching onto Crius's implications with the admission of "we", he asked, "Are you part of this too?"

"No! In the past," Crius hesitated, "Yeah, maybe, some. They were raping my gal! But we never fraked with vipers. Rene wouldn't do that."

"You honestly believe that?" he asked, hoping the words were true.

Crius sighed dramatically, "Frak if I know. Thought you were going to keep her in line?"

"And how would you suggest I do that?" Starbuck asked, seriously wanting to know what Crius thought might work. Several options came to mind, none of them his style and definitely not conducive for a happy marriage.

"Pallus is already accusing her. She's going to find out how spacious your brig is before the cycle is over."

"She already knows," Starbuck said and tried to sigh, but he needed to suck in a deep breath for that. It had been ripped away by the memory of another brig and Rene bleeding on the floor. There wasn't enough air in the lift. The Colonials were outnumbered in the fleet now by Dante's troops. What kind of brig would she find this time?

It was a relief when the doors opened and he could draw enough air into his lungs to be rational. If she was arrested, Adama would be there. No one would harm her. The Commander would make sure of that. She'd face a tribunal and she wouldn't be physically harmed, just detained. She'd be treated well on the Galactica. The worst punishment she would face would be time on the prison barge. But that was enough to make his blood run cold before he factored in that security already didn't like her. She wouldn't be treated well once in their hands. But if it looked like she was guilty, he'd have to step in before the tribunal was over and get her out of the brig before they took her to the prison barge..

"If she didn't do it, she won't be in the brig for long," he said, trying to think what evidence he would need to prove her innocence. Brody had threatened to hurt her. Pallus had literally said he'd kill her. Could she claim self defense when it was sabotaging a viper?

"And what if she did?" Crius asked, his voice low as they headed down the corridor.

"Didn't you used to work on a farm?" Starbuck asked, rethinking his own abilities to survive on Paradeen.

"Yeah, don't see the connection Buckaroo?"

"There are habitable planets. None of us are spending time on the prison ship if I can help it."

He swore Crius's shoulders dropped a metron in relief as his wingmate turned to him with an evil grin. "You'd risk those gold clusters on a prison break?"

He didn't answer Crius as he picked up his pace, hoping to make it to the landing bay before things got out of hand. Lords he hoped he wouldn't have to break Rene out of the brig. It had been hard enough getting himself out after Ortega. Could Apollo talk him out of leaving this time? His friend would have the time to think of the right words as it would take some effort to get the whole family off the Galactica. No doubt with the Rats there would be some explosions in the process. He had to hope it wouldn't come to that or that Rene could blackmail Adama into letting them leave.

"Lord's, please let her be innocent," he prayed to himself.

They entered the bay to find it already packed with pilots coming to watch the proceedings. He couldn't blame them. It wasn't often they actually got to see one of their own after their death. Usually pilots went up in a ball of fire and the funeral was held with an empty casket.

Adding to the spectacle was that it was a mechanical malfunction. That could happen to any of them. They had their cubits in the pot and needed to see how the game played out.

Across the bay, he could see Boomer and Pallus helping pull Brody's limp body from his viper, laying him out on the top of the steps as the med techs swooped in. Paye was in charge, administering the attempts to restart the man's heart while Cassie worked on Brody's breathing. Jake was there, but he remained off to the side, apparently just along for the heavy lifting of equipment. Even from this far away Starbuck could tell by the way Brody's body moved, too loose and limp, that it was a lost cause. The Medtechs would still do their best to bring him back. They didn't give up easily. The crowd of pilots would encourage them to do a little more than try.

Boomer backed away, giving the Medics the room. Starbuck was able to draw his attention, waving him over to find out what he might know about the situation. Unfortunately he wasn't going to be able to get his friend alone as the other pilots clumped around him. Starbuck didn't need to ask what happened. Boomer volunteered the information for all of them.

"He was past the last beacon when he noticed his oxygen was low and going fast. He wasn't sure if it was full when he launched. We can't get sloppy on our preflight checks. Had he checked, he might still be alive.." Boomer lectured. "He couldn't track down the leak and thought it might be the seal on his canopy, but there should have been enough air to get him back, and if not, he should have had a breather. It's missing. They're just beginning to check the other vipers. A lot of the gear isn't where it's supposed to be, or missing. The final check is your responsibility, not the hangar crew's. Even when trying to win drill speed records, you need to run your check lists. We do not need to help the enemy take us out with our own incompetence."

Starbuck looked across the bay again as Brody's body flopped with the stimulators, noting that Pallus hadn't left Brody's side. There was more than enough evidence that this might not be an accident, but deliberate sabotage. It helped that Boomer was right. Had Brody run his preflight checks, and double checked, a breather was enough to get you back even from a long range patrol. A pilot might be a nasty shade of blue and a little space happy, suffering from hypoxemia, but he'd be alive.. Brody had been on a routine picket patrol. With a breather, he would have been fine.

He shook off a shiver as he remembered the Rats telling him Rene's ex-boyfriend had bought it on a routine picket patrol. Scanning the bay looking for his wife, it took two sweeps to find her as she was closer to the launch tubes and back by the shop at a workbench. She had a good view of the proceedings while she pretended to be working on an engine part. Nodding to Boomer to continue his instruction module, he flashed a sign to Crius to hold position. He needed to talk to Rene alone.

He tried to replicate the Rat's ability to fade into the background before he crossed the bay to speak to his wife. He wasn't as good at it as Rene. She saw him coming and was ready when he reached her. Her eyes had been on him as he approached, but they dropped back to the part she was working on as he moved closer. For a moment he tried to look at her with an objective perspective. If he didn't know her, he would think she was incapable of any kind of violence. She was young, slim and short. Nothing about her build spoke of the ability to be threatening.. She was just now beginning to look like she was with child, not just putting on weight. With her hair up and out of the way in a messy knot on her head, she looked more like a fairy waif than a mechanic. The tools were large in her delicate hands. She was paler than when he first met her, but something about her still resonated with the idea of nature and days spent in the sun. Nothing about her appearance outwardly said, "If you cross me I'll hurt you."

But he knew better. He knew too much. It was what had him standing there, trying to decide just what he would say to a murder tribunal for his wife. Could he bluff his way through the question, "Is your wife capable of murder?"

Rene finally looked up, meeting his gaze with fire in her eyes. "I didn't do it."

He nodded as he searched her eyes, hoping they would offer him some hint of the truth.

"I didn't do it! I don't even work on Red Squadron vipers. The only vipers I prep for launch are Copper Squadron. The chief has me overhauling thrusters. Plus, I wasn't even on duty when he launched!"

"Okay," he replied trying to regroup. She must have read his silence as disbelief. He wasn't sure he believed her, but she was right on every point.

She slammed down the engine part and picked up a rag, wiping off her hands as she went on. "I had nothing to do with it and Pallus is already accusing me. I am going to have to miss that date tonight, handsome, because I am going to wind up in the brig by the end of my shift. Normally I wouldn't mind. Secure walls, a door that locks, pretty quiet, I usually get some good sleep there, only this time I don't deserve to be there because I didn't do it!"

He tried to let her sarcasm roll off him. If she was lying she wasn't doing a good job of it. He had to entertain the notion that this time, she was telling the truth.

" I believe you,he said, recalling how he had felt when he was in the docking lounge and they told him about Ortega. It had taken him a few moments to put the pieces together that they were accusing him of the murder. Once the truth blasted into him, he'd felt his chest shot through with the fact that his friends didn't believe him. Some part of him died that day. At the time he had turned to Cassie to resuscitate his life and his honor. Instead she suggested he claim self defense. Even she thought he was capable of murder. No one took him at his word.

Only one person believed him, maybe two, Apollo and Boomer. They were still the only people whom he considered his family. The rest, he'd let drift away, even Cassie. No, that wasn't right either. He'd walked away with purpose, maybe not right away, but the relationships in his life had never been the same after Ortega. Some part of him knew Cassie and most of his friends didn't trust him. They felt he was just a hot head who was more than capable of murdering a fellow warrior.

It was just another on the list of traits he had in common with Rene. Trust was important to him, hard won and easily lost. He understood the frustration Rene was expressing, that her words had no credence with anyone. Did he believe her? If he was honest with himself, no, he didn't.

He gritted his teeth hard, cutting off the thought before he voiced it out loud. He should just go rip up their sealing documents and move back into the barracks now if he couldn't take her at her word. If she didn't have his trust, they would never make it. There was no other choice than to believe her until he found out anything to contradict her. It's what he would want.

Her gaze was probing and he knew she could read him better than any instrument panel. "Do you?" she asked softly.

"I do." He put as much conviction into the two words as he could before he added softly, "but you can see where others might not, right?" He couldn't completely lie to her. She deserved the truth.

Wincing she nodded as she turned away. "I don't even work on Red Squadron vipers. I haven't touched Brody's viper, not even to wash it."

He nodded, taking into account all the evidence. It was a strong case. "So there should be no proof it was you. We don't arrest people on hearsay. There needs to be evidence."

"He outranks me."

"That doesn't matter here." Still, he nodded, reminding himself how things were in Dante's Dominion. In the Colonies, military courts had been abolished a hundred yahrens ago, but Dante had brought them back. Rank ruled and most crimes were punished by whippings or death. Those archaic codes had been abolished when the Colonies united Since those times, Warriors faced Colonial codes and courts, even here in the fleet. Martial law had been instituted the first sectons after the destruction, but only until the Quorum could be formed. While Adama was the President and Commander, he deferred to the courts, even when Starbuck was brought up on charges.

While Dante's Warriors outnumbered Adama's, they had all once been part of the same Colonial Service, vowing to protect the lives of the citizens of the Colonies and to follow the warrior code. He suspected many of those new to Adama's fleet were grateful to be back in the arms of civility and reason, while others would miss the tyranny they also exercised over their subordinates.

"You read the regulations. You will have the same standing and Protector in your corner as anyone who might outrank you. Apollo studied law. He'll be there for you.."

"Of course he did," Rene said, rolling her eyes. "So go get him before they put me in shackles. I didn't do this."

"If they do arrest you, you won't be in the brig long." Starbuck did not clarify what that meant as he didn't have all the details worked out on how he was going to break her out and get the family off the Galactica. Rene had enough to worry about, he didn't need to add to it as he tried to consider who would be against them leaving the fleet and finding a habitable home. Crius maybe? No, Boomer would be the hold out. The rest of Copper Squadron including some of Blue Squadron like Giles and Jolly would be all for it.

Rene's eyes left his, looking past him to the tragedy unfolding as the med techs were slowing their efforts, finally conceding defeat. Looking over his shoulder, Starbuck tensed at Pallus's glare. If looks could kill, Rene would be nothing but ashes.

"I think we both need to get out of here. This could get ugly." He took a step reaching for her, but she backed away. "Rene, come on, let's go."

"No. I'm done running. Besides, where can I go that you would go? I didn't do this." Her eyes were pleading with him, before they traced back to Brody's viper. Starbuck followed her gaze. Cassie was carefully arranging the body as Paye was getting to his feet. Pallus was grabbing Paye, shoving the man back down to Brody. Paye reached out a hand to Pallus, trying to calm the man. Pallus's voice cut across the bay.

"You're not done! He's not done! Dammit, keep working. You!" Pallus let go of Paye, pointing an accusing finger at Jake. "Don't touch him!"

"Rene, go home, that's an order!" Starbuck issued the command, as he turned to rescue Jake from a situation that was beginning to escalate out of control. Boomer beat him to the platform, leaping up the steps coming to Paye's aid, not that the Doctor needed it as he had a firm hold of Pallus, pulling him back away from Cassie and Jake. Maybe it was recently having been in a room of all the officers of the fleet, but reason kept Starbuck from coming near Pallus, where his fists might act on their own accord. Instead he reached for Jake, pulling him down off the platform away from the situation.

"Go home." He issued the same command he'd given Rene. Confusion registered on Jake's face before Starbuck recognized that for the Rats, home might mean Caprica or Dilmun, or a hundred places other than the quarters on the Galactica. "Take Rene, go to the Council Chambers. Stay there until I get there. That's an order, got it?"

Jake didn't move at first, not until Cassie echoed Starbuck's command, in words that the young man could accept, "We have this. You should go. Pilots don't take death well." it wasn't until Crius approached, his hands flashing signs faster than Starbuck could decipher that Jake finally turned, wading through the phalanx of pilots who were beginning to gather like a mob.

"Get Rene. Go with him," he ordered Crius. His wing mate hesitated as well. "Dammit! Don't make me strip and module all of you! When I give a command, you fraking follow it!" He winced as he knew the bark sounded too much like Dante.

"You're going to need back up," Crius gestured to the crowd that was growing. There were too many faces that Starbuck didn't recognize, but in the mix were ones he did.. He could count on those from Blue Squadron to keep this under control and keep him safe, but he wasn't so sure if they would protect Crius. While his new wing mate was affable, he spent the majority of his time with the Rats.

"I have back up," he said motioning to Boomer who had managed to get Paye out of Pallus's grip. "Get Rene home. Keep her there. Disappearing now is not going to look good if they decide she has something to do with this." He winced again, not missing the contradiction in his orders. Leaving the landing bay could be construed as guilt, but he'd rather deal with that point with Council Security than with this many pilots worked up into a frenzy.

"Do you trust me?" He tossed out the cubit that might finally get Crius to leave his side. The man was loyal, no denying that as he answered without hesitation.

"Yes siree."

"Then go. Council chambers. I'll be there soon. It's going to be okay." He clapped Crius on the back, hoping the touch would reinforce his words. Instead the connection seemed to root Crius in his place for a moment longer before he finally turned to go.

"This isn't right! Keep fracking working! Bring him back!" Pallus shouted at Paye.

Starbuck kept his focus on the Rats as Crius crossed the bay to gather Jake and Rene who had remained over by the shop. The crew chief was there as well. He was a good man who would see that Rene was safe.

It was the sound of a scuffle that made him look away from Rene. With fists up, Pallus had almost wrenched out of Paye's hold, but the Doctor had managed to shove Pallus back. Paye tried to reason with him, "Captain, he's gone. Even if we could bring him back, his brain was without oxygen for too long. He wouldn't be the man you remembered."

Wrestling his arm away from Paye, Pallus shoved the doctor, pushing him back so hard that Paye stumbled over Brody's body. "You let him die!" Pallus spit out the words like venom. "You all killed him!" Pointing to Cassie who was kneeling down by Brody, removing the stimulators. Pallus took a step towards her, his fists clenched as Paye and Boomer tried to intercept him. Starbuck reached for Cassie, pulling her to him awkwardly as she resisted for a moment before realizing he was trying to save her. He was able to pull her from the platform and into his arms, placing her on her feet before a voice cut across the bay.

"Attention! Colonel on Deck!"

As if they had all been shocked by the same live wire, Dante's pilots came to rigid attention. Starbuck couldn't stifle the same jolt that shot through his muscles, a command ingrained from the academy as well as the Colonial Childcare System. His spine pulled him upright as he hoped it had the same effect on Pallus. The man was still struggling in the grips of Paye and Boomer, but it was not with the same ferocity.

"Captain Pallus, stand down!"

Pallus froze at the command, although Starbuck suspected it wasn't the words themselves, but who was issuing the command. Colonel Mars strode across the bay and up the platform with a swagger that matched Commander Cain's. "No," Starbuck quickly reassessed, "better than Cain." Mars had the bulk to back up that swagger, larger than Jolly and built of hard muscle.

"Captain Pallus, explain your actions, now!" Under Dante, Starbuck wondered if it was the muscles that had earned Mars the respect that Pallus gave him now as he swallowed hard before moving. Slowly Pallus pulled away from Boomer and Paye as he brushed off his jacket before running his hands through his hair. Mars waited for the man to compose himself.

"They were giving up on him. He's…" Pallus faltered.

"He's dead." Mars uttered the facts as if he were issuing the orders of the day. "He was dead before they towed him in. I'm surprised they even tried to revive him. And what are you doing here? Are you not attached to the Zakar?"

"Yes sir," he finally answered, pulling himself to attention.

"What are you still doing aboard the Galactica?"

"Sir," Pallus hesitated, looking down to his friend's lifeless body. "I was preparing to launch when I heard Brody's viper had been sabotaged. I remained to help with his rescue."

"Sabotage? That's a strong insinuation Captain considering you are a pilot, or did you recently change to a viper technician?" Mars raised his eyebrows and waited while Pallus stammered a reply.

"No, but his canopy lost its seal and that doesn't just happen. It has to be..."

Mars cut him off. "I'm sure any qualified viper technician will tell you that it can happen, which is why vipers are equipped with breathers and every good pilot checks their seal before take off It seems Captain, the rescue attempt is over. Since you are not a viper technician, a medical technician nor a mortician, you may return to your command." Mars quickly surveyed those around the platform. "The rest of you, back to work. Now." Mars dismissed the crowd of pilots, assuming they would follow his commands. Starbuck, not so sure that the pilots would disperse, was surprised as they quickly moved away. Mars' tone seemed to indicate that if they didn't, they'd be the next dead men on the platform.

Pallus took two steps towards the platform steps and his new objective, an old ally he could count on. "Sir, his viper was sabotaged!"

Mars sighed and nodded. "I have heard the preliminary report of what happened, Captain. If that is the case, then it will be shown in the investigation."

Pallus paused on the last step. "Mars, come on, you know what is going on!" Pallus pointed accusingly to Starbuck. "You know Rene has been getting us and she…"

"Captain!" Mars cut him off, giving him a glare that could have melted a centurion's armor. As Pallus shut his mouth,Mars shifted his glare to Starbuck, taking some measurement of his own before nodding in resolution and turning back to his old comrade. Starbuck felt the sudden urge to bolt for his own viper, to get as far from this as possible. With Mars involved, revenge would be swift and it would be final. He felt his boots move of their own accord, taking a step back, beginning to take another before Cassie's soft touch to his arm stopped him. He looked at her and she slowly nodded.. He couldn't interpret the meaning in her actions, but she ignored his unasked question, turning back and giving Mars her full attention..

Mars looked at Brody's body briefly before speaking. " Pallus, I understand Brody was your friend, but even under Dante we followed procedures. There will be an investigation and if the evidence backs up your assessment, there will be consequences. They will be recognized by the courts and punishment delivered." Pallus visibly relaxed as an evil grin ghosted his features. Lowering his voice as he leaned in, Mars continued, "But we both know Brody was a sloppy pilot. He took too many short cuts, ignored protocol, and had he done his preflight check, he'd be alive right now. You saved him too many times already. This time his slipshod slapdash reckless attention to details caught up to him. If it wasn't this, then eventually a raider would have cut him down."

The evil grin slipped from a pale Pallus just as quickly as it lit Starbuck's features. Mars was on his side, well maybe not his, but at least the side that played by the rules.

"Captain, get back to your command. I have work to do. Captains Starbuck and Boomer," Mars shifted his attention to them. Starbuck felt his spine respond again from instinct, coming to attention. "Prepare modules for your squadrons on the importance of preflight checks and basic viper maintenance. Include Silver Spar and Copper squadron. I want to see maintenance logs on every viper on my desk in less than a centaur. That's an order. I will be meeting with the Flight Deck crew now. Do you need assistance Dr. Paye?"

"We will need help moving the body," Paye said.

"I can help," Pallus answered quickly.

"No Captain. You have a command to return to. Captain Boomer, if you would please."

Cassie moved away from Starbuck and he found himself awkwardly rooted to the spot watching as they shifted Brody's body to the litter. Pallus waited until they moved Brody down the platform before he shifted as if he was going to follow his friend. Mars stepped in front of Pallus, halting his trajectory.

"Mars," Pallus's voice was pleading, "he was sloppy, but not this bad. You know what is going on. Rene did this and she'll keep going until she gets revenge."

"And what would she need to get revenge for, huh Pallus?" Starbuck interjected. "No means no in this fleet."

This stops now!" Mars quickly shifted his gaze between the two men before settling upon Pallus. "We do not have the same arrangements we had under Dante. There is no truce with the Cylons. There never was. We do not have the luxury anymore of a defensible position. We don't have time for your games. Clean up your squadrons." Mars shifted back to Starbuck "It's time to get our houses in order. The Galactica is mine now. I don't care what happened in the past, only what happens now. I will cut down whatever stands in my way of making the enemy pay, understood? And are we clear on who the enemy is?"

"Yes sir," Starbuck answered, appreciating that Mars had been clear in his message. If this continued, Mars would make them all suffer and it was nothing personal. He had a mission and Starbuck could respect that, after all it had been his own personal quest since he was a kid, to make the Cylons pay for what they had done. To Mars, they were all wasting time and resources.

Pallus echoed Starbuck's agreement, "Yes sir. I didn't start this. You know that, Mars."

"That's Colonel to you, Captain and I didn't say I cared who started it or who did what. Are you in a school yard or a flight deck? I said it ends. Now. I've lost enough good pilots."

"You'll lose more than that if you don't put her in her place, Colonel". Pallus sneered the words turning to head for his viper, before turning back to Starbuck. "She'll regret this. If you are in the way, that's your problem, not mine."

Starbuck choked down a reply. He was sick of Pallus' taunts, and this time, he was completely out of line. Rene didn't do this. As he watched Pallus cross the bay and climb in his viper, he found himself still standing there awkwardly with his new Colonel as he felt the man's gaze upon him, sizing him up. Once Pallus was sealed in his craft, Starbuck met the man's scrutiny with his own. He thought he had known Mars and his loyalties, but like many of those from Dante's crew, the man had surprised him.

"Captain, your assessment of the situation?" Mars asked, but the tone was that of an order.

Starbuck thought for only a moment before he found himself offering up a small version of the truth rather than trying to craft a lie. "I don't have enough information to make an assessment. I arrived late on the scene, sir. But Rene didn't do it."

"I didn't say she did. So a technical failure? Or your best guess?"

This time it felt like an honest question, but he'd had too many officers before the Galactica who acted like your friend, then bit you in the astrum later to fall for that ploy. "I only guess on the cards, sir. The rest, I like facts. Fact is, had he run a preflight check, we wouldn't be having this conversation, sir." He added the last "sir" to remind not only Mars, but himself, he didn't trust the man, not yet anyway.

Mars nodded, dropping the pretense as he uttered, "We all have work to do. Dismissed."

"Yes sir," Starbuck tried not to mutter the words as he felt the weight of the changes he'd been analyzing all cycle settle on his shoulders.

He never thought he would be missing Colonel Tigh, but in comparison to Mars, his old Colonel was at least familiar enough to be considered on his side. A friend even? Before he took on a cylon base star with just him and Apollo, he wouldn't have gone that far, but since he'd survived that sacrifice, Tigh had loosened up enough to have a drink once or twice in the OC. He doubted he'd ever be drinking with Mars as he saluted the man and turned to head for his duty office.

In a space of a few centaurs the Galactica had gone from being home back to just a military vessel. The gray walls were stale and stark as he took the familiar route to his desk, knowing he'd better get together those modules and get them underway before he sought out Rene. If she had followed his order, she'd be safe and that was an issue that could wait. Mars wouldn't wait. If the deck crew had done their job right, the maintenance logs shouldn't take too long to gather up. If his pilots had done their job right, he should be able to verify they had done their preflight checks and signed off on the maintenance that was their responsibility to double check before they flew.

"If the stars aligned and all the felixes raised their tails at the midnight centaur while the comets kept their orbits then porcines would fly." He chuckled ruefully at his old flight instructors colorful words in reference to things going along as they should. He wouldn't bet even a cubit that the pilots had signed off on their paperwork, and he'd had the deck crew busy with all his drills. Maintenance logs would be lacking, he was sure of that. "Please Lords of Kobol, come through for me."

His steps faltered as he found himself doing it again, looking up to gods he hadn't believed in until his last trip to Caprica. "I should be saving my prayers for things that are important," he chided himself as the cold of the Cylon cell crept up his back making his shoulders shake violently. His prayers had come through then, sort of. He needed a drink and he looked wistfully down the corridor in the direction of the OC.

"Come on Bucko. You're just rattled from seeing death so close up. Pull it together. People are counting on you." It wasn't just a pep talk. If he wanted to be lucky enough to keep his wife out of the brig, he'd need the proof that Brody had just been unlucky. "One problem at a time." He reminded himself as he sent up something that wasn't really a prayer, just hopeful thinking. "I believe her. I hope I won't regret it."