It was the pounding in her temples plus the drumbeat of the blood in her ears followed by the incessant whine of Jake's voice calling her name that finally brought her around. She stared down at the ground watching it sway below her as she tried to figure out how she got in this position. She knew better than to move too much. Agenor had a nasty habit of dropping you if you struggled too much, then kicking you, and picking you up to do it again. She stayed limp in his arms until she could figure out what to do next. She lifted her head slightly to find where Jake was, his voice still calling to her. As she located him, he tried to reach her, but was shoved back by some guy she knew, but just couldn't dredge up the name from her memory.

She lowered her head back down and closed her eyes in an attempt to swallow the nausea. She knew she wasn't going to win that battle as she swayed with each step, her stomach firmly on the man's shoulder, pressing into the trigger point that inevitably would lead to the eruption of the bilious contents. She was fighting gravity with each swallow, but she needed a bit more time to figure out if Agenor was armed, and if she could she reach the weapon. Vomiting would make a nice distraction and with a laser in her hand, she could make him see some reason. Maybe at least she could get him to change his mind about using his fists. Maybe she could even get Jake away before things got ugly and real. She should have kept her mouth shut, not laughed in his face when he called her his…Sagan's sake she couldn't even think the word. It was so preposterous that she would be his girlfriend or even his whatever he wanted to call it. How did the big lummox even get the idea in his head that she liked what he did to her? It had just been so damn outlandish she couldn't choke back the laughter.

She hung her head down and tried to focus on keeping her stomach down. "Not yet," she told her body and hoped it would listen this time. Jake was calling her name again, and the agitation in his voice was disrupting her concentration. She waved a hand at him, the sign for knock it off, let it go. But it didn't shut him up, just got him calling for her more loudly. She waved at him again, tried to sign for a weapon, but had no idea if he would read it right in her upside down position. He hollered at the big oaf carrying her to halt and let her go. Another voice joined Jake's, one more authoritative. That voice punched through her confusion, made her head swim. Where the frack was she? No, not Dilmun, but where?

She raised her head up again, choking back bile at the effort, looking back at Jake and …damn she should know the other guy's name. She knew him, the cute blond who was shouting angrily for them to stop and put her down. She shook her head, regretting the movement instantly. "No time for this," she thought, "it doesn't matter. Figure it all out once you are on your feet with that laser in your hand." She looked down to the lummox's belt, followed it to the holster. The weapon was there. She could do this. "Just reach and spew and he'll dump you on the ground. Just make sure you hang on to that weapon. You can do this," she gave herself a pep talk just like Crius would before each launch.

"You can do this, kid," he'd drawl so damn confidently while her hands shook on the stick. How many launches did it take before she felt like she wasn't just going to be another puff of smoke and debris? Far too fracking many, but she did it. She could do this. She didn't know why or where she was, who they all were. All that mattered was the fact that she was unarmed and a laser was within reach. So much could be resolved with that laser in her hand. She judged the distance from her hand to the weapon. She'd have to grab it with her left, hoping she didn't fumble it. "Okay, on three," she heard Crius's voice in her head, "One, two, three."

She reached down with her right, grabbing onto Agenor's belt while pulling the weapon with her left. The bile rising up that she let spill was just a nice coincidence. She had a firm grip on the laser as he dumped her on the ground cursing at the vomit that spilled down his back. A part of her registered that it hurt, the stones she'd been staring at knocking her in the head and her shoulder as she fell, but she had the laser. She wrapped both hands around the grip, quickly flipping on her back and aiming right at Agenor's back. He spun to confront her and she took aim.

She heard the voices yelling at her, most protesting what she was about to do. Jake's voice rose above the others, "NO! Rene don't fire!"

Starbuck's voice was now clear—that was his name, Starbuck—as he yanked at her jacket collar and reached for her arms. "NO! Don't fire, Rene!" His voice rang in her ears. He wrapped his free hand around her grip on the weapon, misdirecting her aim as she pulled the trigger, the blast missing her intended target.

"NO! Sweet heart, killing him won't solve anything. You don't want to kill him!"

"Yeah, I think I do," she said as she felt his hand let go of her collar and wrap around her, reaching for the laser.

"No, you don't, darlin'. Let it go." She yanked the weapon up and away from him in desperation to keep a hold on the only thing that was going to save her sorry life. They tussled in a game of keep away as she whipped the weapon away. He reached up for it shouting in her ear as he pulled her closer. "We don't shoot humans!"

She could argue the fact that Agenor was more monster than human, but she felt his fingers wrap around hers, gaining a hold on the laser. His grip was stronger than hers. He wrenched the weapon from her hands before she could fire again. He pushed her from him as she reached for the weapon. She was startled to find Jake's arms wrapped around her shoulders and her neck, pulling her away.

"No! Dammit, I had him. I could end him." She couldn't understand why everyone was shouting at her. Didn't they understand? They needed a weapon. She scanned the crowd of unfamiliar people surrounding her, confused as to why they would stop her. Agenor deserved to die!

Starbuck looked at her with something between admiration and concern as he got to his feet to face the man looming over them. He was not the oaf who had been carrying her. He had stepped aside trying to avoid being shot. No, this was the other man, the one she knew was the real threat. She couldn't dredge the name up from the bog of her mind, only the knowledge that he was the one who called the shots.

She was gratified to see Starbuck had the brains to point the weapon at the man. Everyone froze at the all too familiar sound of a centurion pulsar rifle powering up and she whipped around wondering why the drone didn't follow, but these weapons were held by men. Colonial lasers were drawn as well and aimed at Starbuck. Jake tried to pull her away from the fray, cradling her in his arms trying to protect her, but she fought his hold.

"Drop it or we'll shoot you." Their leader's voice was gruff as he took a step towards Starbuck.

"Just fire!" she screamed as Starbuck waved the laser around at the crowd before finally deciding he didn't need to shoot all of them, just one man. He aimed the laser at Avery—yes, that was his name. Rene's mind tried to stack up the chips, to organize some order out of all this. Jake's voice hissed in her ear to be quiet. None of this was right. It didn't make fracking sense, until suddenly it did. This wasn't Dilmun and the man carrying her wasn't Agenor. She trembled as she realized she'd almost shot some man she didn't even know whose only apparent crime was to carry her over his shoulder. Jake tightened his grip on her as she mumbled, "He's not Agenor. That's not Dante."

The words earned her a worried side glance from Starbuck before he thrust the laser menacingly at Avery. "You are going to let us tend to her. You're going to give us back our weapons, and we are going to talk about this right now!"

Avery didn't budge. "Come on, Brains, do the math, we outnumber you. You only have one laser. You shoot me and they shoot all of you. Hardly worth it, don't you think?"

Starbuck's aim didn't waver. "I don't think they will shoot me. Look, I'm not saying we aren't going to help you, but we need to know what we are walking into. We need a break so we can plan this out and not walk in blind, understood?"

Avery gave no reply, but Rene noticed that none of the men had moved from their positions to come to Avery's defence. In fact, several had backed away from the confrontation. It was only Boomer that had stepped closer trying to give Starbuck some kind of back up.

"If I have to shoot you to make you see, I will, and I really doubt any of your men are going to fire back. Face it, Avery, you might be their self-appointed leader, but you're also an equine's astrum. So let's say we talk this out, alright?"

The two men stared each other down. Jake tightened his arms around her in warning when she mumbled, "Just shoot him."

Starbuck did fire at her words, but it was in the ground at Avery's feet making the man jump back.

"I thought you said you don't shoot humans," Avery growled at him as drew his own laser, one that that had been taken from the Colonials. Starbuck fired once again at the ground, but a bit closer to Avery's foot this time. He jumped back yelping.

Starbuck took a step towards him. "I'm not so sure you are human anymore, not with the way you treat us and with what you have planned. So why don't you hand me MY laser, and we talk about what's really going on here? You have to the count of three before I find out if you bleed red or cylon hydraulic fluid green like some kind of changeling. One…"

A voice spoke up from behind. "He's right you know Avery. We should tell him. They could pull this off better if they knew what they were up against. They are warriors you know. Tactics, planning, infiltration. That's what they're trained to do." It was one of the men who often came with Avery and his wife to the mall to meet with them, but Rene couldn't find a name to go with the face, just the fact that this man had been at every meeting with Avery. He didn't speak much, but apparently knew to speak up when it mattered.

Avery kept his weapon trained on Starbuck as he answered. "Oh yeah, great Colonial Warriors and all they've done so far is lay around the cavern while our kids are dying in the Cylon camps."

"Kids? We got your kids out of here." Starbuck didn't lower his weapon either, but took a step back moving closer to Rene. He looked down to her, confusion and distrust clouding his instincts. "We got them out of here, right?"

She nodded but didn't trust herself to speak as the images flashed before her of the fences, the people, some in their teens, some younger, not many older, all crammed together. The rain fell upon them as they tried to huddle against the wind and the cold. The Cylons patrolling the fence line, walking in some rhythm that only centurions knew. The drone, night and day, the drone that just got louder, as the centurions gathered, the sound only hesitating for a micron as the red eyes would synchronize and then the drone would intensify. It seemed to permeate her very existence until she thought it would be with her for the rest of her life, like the sound of a human breath.

She winced at the mental image that she wasn't sure was hers. So much from that time was just shadows of memories. Her brain still itched from what they did. There was no other way to describe it, like a burr in your head, sharp spines that poked and prodded. The doctor on the Zakar said to think like a mollusc. It was just sand that you covered over, made smooth not sharp. It would always be there though, something lodged in her. The doc said it was worse because they didn't know anything, so the Cylons probed deeper. She could remember clearly everything from the destruction up until the day they took her and tried to probe her brain. She remembered everything until being forced into that machine and then nothing. She couldn't be sure if the dreams were hers or from someone else. The sectons in the cylon camp had settled in her mind as just an overwhelming drone and pain until Dante was at the gates. He stormed the gates, destroyed the Cylons and tried to rescue them all. If not for him, she shivered to think what would have happened.

There would be no Dante this time swooping in to save the day. Just the six of them limping on all they had. It was suicide and she'd rather die than face that again. She trembled at the memory of the fear, and felt Jake's arms become a bit tighter. "I want to go home," she whispered.

"Not yet, baby," he spoke softly, his focus on Starbuck and how he was going to handle Avery.

Starbuck must have heard her words as he called out loudly to those around them, "Yes, we do have the training to help, as well as the experience, and we want to help, but take a good look at us right now. Sick. Injured. Delirious. I keep telling you, we aren't up for this. But we can get more help. You have to let us go to do that. We are coming back, I swear to you."

"Right," the sarcasm dripped from Avery's words. "Right, just trust you, that's all you're going to do for us, offer some hollow words while you ditch us like before. No, I think you are staying here on Caprica until we have everyone together."

The man who had challenged Avery pulled his own pulsar rifle as he took a step towards Starbuck. Starbuck took a step back and then another moving even closer to Rene and Jake as he if he would have to shoot the guy. Surprisingly, the man aimed the rifle at Avery. Starbuck nodded a thanks to him and he nodded back before he spoke to Avery.

"They've done more than you have. They got our women and children free of here and they found some of the medications we needed. Just the fact that he doesn't want to shoot you proves his duty to his fellow humans isn't just a hack slogan that warriors profess. Cos he's right, you know, Avery, you are an equine's astrum. I'm siding with them."

Starbuck flinched as the large man who had been carrying Rene also moved closer. His size was intimidating, but Starbuck held his ground. Rene watched Starbuck's shoulders relax as the larger man said, "I'm with the Warriors."

"Thank the lords," Jake sighed with relief in her ear as the weapons of Avery's men were lowered one by one. Several men stepped towards Starbuck, surrounding Jake and Rene to provide support. Another man approached Boomer, the laser extended, but not as a threat, as an offering.

Pulsar rifles powered down as Avery cursed. He shifted his weapon to aim at the man who challenged him. "Frack it, Wylie! They are preparing to move or kill all of them right now! You saw that with your own eyes!"

The man ignored the weapon pointed at him. "Yeah, I know. But force marching these people into a trap isn't going to save our kids. It's not a good plan and you know it. We need their help and I'm thinking it will be better if we ask for it. This warrior is right, we're not human anymore. We've become animals."

Boomer aimed the laser he'd been given at Avery. "Drop your weapon and let's discuss this like allies, not enemies. Wylie's right, we'll help."

Avery cursed loudly. Starbuck stepped forward and reached for the laser, pulling it none too gently from Avery's hand as the man tried to hold on to it. Starbuck shot him a glare as he asked his friend, "You got this, Boomer?"

"I think he might be willing to listen to us, well maybe me. See to Rene," Boomer answered him, but didn't lower his weapon.

Rene was relieved when Starbuck holstered his laser and turned away from the confrontation with Avery, letting Avery's own men try to talk some sense into the boray. Starbuck handed Jake the weapon that had been in Avery's hand, then turned to Rene. She felt Jake's arms loosen around her as Starbuck knelt down taking her shoulder. She tried not to bat away the biomonitor that Jake waved over her as she attempted to focus on what was being decided between Boomer and Avery's men. Starbuck blocked her view of the group, willing her to make eye contact with him.

"Hey, you okay?" She shifted to look around him. He squeezed her shoulder, moving to block her view again.

"Where's mine?" she mumbled as Starbuck's hand came to the side of her face, his beautiful blue eyes too full of worry. "I want mine." He turned her face to his, his piercing look almost as penetrating as a cylon's.

"When I think you know where you are and who I am, we'll see about that, pretty lady. Wouldn't want you shooting anyone important, now would we?"

"I'm fine. I know where I am."

"Oh, so we're back to you telling me lies again?" His hand went to her forehead as he moved his face closer to hers, forcing her to meet his gaze.

She sighed in frustration, and gave him her full attention. "You're Starbuck. This is Caprica, and I want my weapon. I got it fair and square, now give it back." She heard the rumble in Starbuck's chest as he chuckled yet didn't crack a smile.

"You are one determined lady sometimes. How about I hold onto it for you for a while? What's the verdict, Jake?"

Jake had loaded up a hypo, placing it on her neck. She felt the warmth of the drugs, and the wonderfully familiar kick of the heart that let her know there was a little something extra of the stuff she liked in that dose. She gazed at Jake in shock, wondering where he found just what she needed.

"Just a low grade fever for now. She'll feel better as soon as she gets some food in her. We could all use a break for rest and some food, and planning our way off this planet. We may still need to carry her." He lowered his voice. "How is Apollo going to find us?"

He held Jake's gaze for a long moment, one that let Rene know Starbuck was going to tell a lie. "He's good. He'll find us and if my luck holds, he'll be in a viper. He'll come swooping down and save the day. He does that a lot. That's why he's the colonel."

Jake handed her one of the bland boring protein bars, but right now it looked better than a bovine steak. Around a mouthful she mumbled to Jake, "Starbuck's a good story teller."

Starbuck gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Yeah, maybe because my stories come true. You got her? I'm going to have a chat with the guys and then we are going to go find Apollo."

Rene held on to the fabric of the hunting sweater he wore as he started to pull away. She yanked him back and was rewarded by the back of his hand cradling her cheek softly. "It's going to be okay, sweetheart, thanks to you."

"I want to go home. I'm sorry I got us into this." She held his eyes, making sure he knew that she was okay. She was, she just wasn't sure how long she'd stay that way if the Cylons showed up again.

He held her to him for a moment, then jerked away as she reached for his holster. He started to curse, stopping as he saw the determined look on her face. She tried to wipe the fear from her eyes, but truth was she didn't trust these people to keep her safe. She needed to be able to take care of herself.

"I just need a laser in my hands to feel like I might survive this," she pleaded and he looked away for a moment debating. "Please," she spoke softly tightening the grip she had on his sweater.

He sighed shaking his head, then pulled the weapon from his holster, thumbing the setting to stun just to be sure before handing it to her. "This is despite my better judgment. See she doesn't shoot any humans, will ya Jake?"

Jake cast a look to Avery who was still arguing with his people. "I'll see she keeps it on stun, but that's the only guarantee I'm making."

"Fair enough," Starbuck said, as he tried to smile at her, but she saw the fatigue in his eyes. "I'll get us out of this, just follow orders, alright?"

She felt a thousand times better with the weapon in her hand, or was it the surge of adrenalin she felt coursing through her veins? "Yes sir."

Starbuck looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn't as he stood up to join Boomer and all of Avery's men.