The marching of the centurion's metal boots reverberated against the walls that were closing in around him. He almost cried out from the assault on his ears, but the resounding thud of the door followed by a mechanical whirr and clang of metal sliding into metal made his mouth clamp shut. The door was sealed behind them. Reflexively he shut his eyes to the blinding bright lights of the corridor as he was dragged farther into the building. His jaw ached from the cuff to the face from his captor and stars still swam in his vision. Craning his neck to look behind him toward Rene ignited another display of fireworks. As he was dragged down the corridor, his boots found the floor for a moment. He dug his feet in, put all his effort into stopping his progress into the building. It was futile. He was jerked forward, his boots squealing loudly before he was lifted into the air again. He couldn't see or hear Rene and began to panic that they might be separated.

"Rene?!"

The reply he received was a curse, "Fra…" cut off before she was able to finish the word.

The centurions halted in front of a pair of glass doors. For a brief moment of panic, he thought he was looking at another man held by the enemy, filthy and unshaven, until recognition dawned that it was himself. He caught a glimpse in the reflective doors of Rene behind him, looking pathetically tiny sandwiched between the giant machines. The doors slid open and he flinched away from the glaringly harsh light. His eyes watered as he forced them open, the brightness cutting into his temple. He blinked thinking he was hallucinating. The room appeared to be a colonial designed life center. The familiarity at first was startling, almost comforting. It was just this type of setting that Starbuck had been striving for, to heal his friend and his wife, and hades, even himself. For a brief moment he wondered if the cylons would treat their illness, but the centurion's vice grip crushing his arm indicated a different objective.

The room contained far too many medical instruments, a few he recognized, many he did not. Metal gleamed in the brilliant white lights. The devices in this room let him know this would not just be an interrogation. Avery and his men had spoken of experiments and dead bodies. Starbuck shuddered hard in the centurion's grip as the fear burst out of its cage and crawled up his spine.

One of his guards had to let him go for him and the other centurion to fit through the opening. He tried to use the moment to breakaway, but the vice holding his arm threatened to snap it in two. Before he could try another move, the second centurion was lifting him easily off the floor. Behind him he heard snarling, followed by curses. He looked to Rene, twisting and fighting. "That's my girl," he thought as she broke free, dropping to the floor. She crawled between the centurion's legs nearly making it back out the door, but the gold-caped centurion rolled in front of her as the glass slid shut, cutting off her escape.

"You should have used that distraction," he chided himself, and looked away, as the centurion was hauling her up as she cried out in pain. They couldn't fight against the machines. He had to think of something else.

"Come on, Bucko, find something you can use." In the room were two more IL series cylons, intent on a scanner screen before them. The two robots turned in unison, the lights in their heads pulsing in harmony.

"Oooh!" The robots chimed in harmony as if they had just received a pleasant gift, the lights in their domes flashing faster and brighter.

Starbuck was hauled father into the room towards a corner. The metal goons kept a firm grip on both of his arms, keeping his feet from making contact with the floor. The gold-caped IL followed the guards, speaking to the other two ILs. "I know! One is a female! Put her on the table." Rene dangled from the centurion's arms, twisting in her efforts to break free, a sheen of sweat covering her features. She looked so small in the cylons hands, but she fought like a wild vulpine to get loose.

Starbuck watched helplessly as his wife was lifted higher in the air and another centurion grabbed at her kicking legs. It took more than one attempt by the clumsy robot to catch her as she kicked. Her boots made contact, but she wasn't strong enough to have any effect. She might as well have been kicking a battlestar. The Centurion finally captured her legs. She cursed long and loudly as she was lifted and dropped on her back on the metal table in the center of the room. A mechanical whir was followed by a snapping sound as manacles sprang from the table and trapped her feet. Her wrists were slammed into restraints on either side of her head, loudly clicking shut.

He winced as he knew the double torture this was for Rene. Starbuck had witnessed himself the decorations on Commander Dante's desk, manacles and restraints. But this was different somehow. Dante meant to inflict harm, but nothing fatal. He did not know the intent of these restraints, but he could guess with cylons involved, it would end in death.

This wasn't Rene's first time in cylon captivity. She had barely survived the last time. As he watched his wife violently writhe on the table, her curses nearly unintelligible in her terror, he suddenly wished with every fiber of his being that he had listened to Jake. He should have let them go off to search for a raider. No, that was suicidal, but he should have insisted she stay behind in the mine by the stream. Not that she would have listened. And he should have forced her go find Apollo. Not that he could force her to do anything. But at the very least, he should have listened to her fears about walking into a cylon base. He wanted to scream to her that he was sorry, so very, very sorry.

He violently shoved the recriminations away. He needed to focus on getting them out of here. He could apologize later, in detail and often once they were free. Right now he needed to focus on their survival.

"Think!" he shouted at himself in his head. His training kicked in as he surveyed the room. Four centurions, three ILs and plenty of implements to stab and poke with. The centurions did not have their rifles, and he cursed the absence. If he could get his hands on one he might get them out of this. For now, his only weapon was his wits. He needed to keep them.

He looked to his wife. Instead of struggling harder, she was still, and he wondered if she had passed out from either terror or shock. "Rene!" He called, not sure if he should wake her, or if letting her remain unconscious would be kinder. Her head slowly rolled his way, her eyes wide, scanning the room before they locked onto his own. He saw defeat in her gaze hidden behind the terror.

"Breathe," he tried to shout, but it came out in a whisper. "Breathe through it. Fear is the mind killer." He tried to remember the words he had heard her utter only a handful of times. It was good advice for himself as he broke eye contact to scan the room again looking for a weapon or an opportunity to change the hopelessness of the situation.

"We see so few females. This gain may be worth the loss of a few of our experiments. " The green caped IL moved to a piece of equipment, grasping what appeared to be a very large needle that he handed across Rene's body to the gold-caped robot.

"I told you, the females are more susceptible to the radion. It collects in the soft tissue and females have more soft tissue." The IL in the blue robe rolled over closer to Rene, reaching out a hand as if to stroke her face.

Starbuck lunged in the arms of his guards. "Don't you fracking touch my wife, Bulb Head!" The centurions lifted him up higher, his feet dangling helplessly in the air. But his words caused the IL to pause, the metal hand failing to make contact with Rene's face. The blue-robed IL fixed his glowing eyes on him. "Are you her mate?"

Starbuck hung still in the centurion's grasp, stunned that his words had halted the machine. He had its attention. "Yeah, yeah I am and don't you fracking touch her!"

"Oh good," the green caped IL replied. "We have come to the assumption that the females don't last long without mates. We have yet to keep one for more than," there was a whirring sound as the lights ceased flashing for a moment, then increased in a burst, "four cycles and we have never found one with a mate before."

"We should begin before Moloch returns," the gold-caped IL interrupted, spinning to the door then rolling back to Rene. "He will want to interrogate the humans before we are even done with our scans. His programing is somewhat out of date. He just doesn't understand our work."

"What work is that?" Starbuck asked, concentrating on breathing and thinking. Since he had stopped struggling, the centurions had responded by lowering him closer to the floor.

"Studying our enemy, of course. With knowledge you can move beyond eradication to assimilation, which is truly the goal of our great empire. Resources should not be wasted."

Starbuck winced at the words he had heard before, uttered by Rene's sadistic commander. The bastard Dante had thought the same way, viewing his warriors and those he rescued in the crudest terms of how they could be useful to him.

"We're not resources. We're sentient beings!" he shouted, trying to get the ILs attention as the blue one was reaching out a hand again towards Rene. The robot set a metallic appendage on her forehead. She tried to twist away, but the machine held tight ignoring her efforts.

"Temperature is elevated. It will be interesting to see which of our creations have taken hold."

Out of the corner of his eye, Starbuck caught the one in a dark green robe bringing over a large total body scanner, one Starbuck recognized from helping Cassie in her studies. It was often reserved for deep tissue scans and serious injuries. Rene cursed, and he looked back to see the blue one attaching leads to her neck. Then the machine began to hum, moving on a track over Rene's body. The screen on the wall opposite Starbuck flickered coming to life and the scan began to appear. He couldn't look away as the image of the inside her body was slowly revealed. He could see the outline of his child. The baby moved and he slumped in the centurion's arms in relief. It was a glorious sight to behold and the prayer came to his lips unbidden, "Please Lords, let him live."

"She is gestating a larva. It has hatched internally!" The IL spoke to the others. The one in blue came to look at the scan, blocking Starbuck's view.

"We know they are of the mammalian species, but we have never had an opportunity to witness how they gestate their eggs. Surely it has reached maturity. It has all the required organs and appendages. Why do you think it still remains within the female? We should remove it for its own safety."

Starbuck found his voice. It joined Rene's as they both shouted loudly, "NO!" Starbuck tried to think quickly as panic overrode his wife. Rene was thrashing harder than she had before, cursing and shouting no, over and over. He knew she was capable of getting her hands from those restraints. She could break her own hand if necessary, the bones already weakened from the abuse they had taken from Dante. He knew the sewer rat's mantra, pain is temporary. Death was permanent. A broken hand was something they could fix later when they were free.

Starbuck spoke to the IL's hoping to distract them from Rene's efforts. "No, you can't. It won't survive. Our babies have to gestate for at least forty sectars. The organs are immature and…I would know, I'm practically an expert!" he adlibbed. "I have lots of experience with human bodies, especially females and babies, larva, whatever you want to call them. It has to stay in! You want the female to live, don't you? To assimilate or study, or whatever. If you take the baby out now, they might both die. You can't…you…"

All three of the ILs turned, focusing their bright eyes on him. He spoke quickly, nearly as frantic as Rene. "You have to leave it in if you want to learn anything. She has at least twenty more sectars and the developments are amazing! I would know. From embryo to fetus right through to birth. Each child is different due to a genetic code. The best changes are yet to come and…" he was not even sure what he was uttering, but he was sure some of Cassie's past techno-babble sounded somewhat convincing.

"How does the larva emerge from the female? Does it break out and kill the female, is that why we see so few alive?" The one with the blue-robe one glided across the room to him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the one with the gold cape move closer to Rene, reaching for a control on the table. Rene cried out in pain at the touch of the button, then stilled.

"What did you do? You can't hurt her, it hurts the baby and then…it will die and you won't get to see all the changes and…" he faltered, reaching for more words to entice the enemy to leave his wife and child alone.

"I merely tightened her restraints. We can't have her moving during the scan." The gold IL spoke turning to him. "So, you are a medical professional?"

"No….not exactly. I mean yeah, sort of. I studied with one." He decided the truth was a bit easier to manage if he wanted this to work, easier to think fast which he needed to do now that he had the full attention of all three ILs. "I am involved with her and the child. Seen many scans and, conducted them, yeah, and I know a lot about children and babies and females. The baby doesn't kill them when it comes out, if it did, we'd already be extinct, wouldn't we?"

His plan was simple, almost easy. Keep the IL's busy with him, and they would leave Rene alone. Stall for time in the hopes that Boomer would come back and get them. He was distracted for a moment as he realized he'd ordered Boomer to leave them, and his buddy wasn't really up to a rescue, but Jake would do it. He would die trying if he wasn't dead already. His brain froze at the reality. Jake was probably dead. Boomer was his only hope and he was limping. Maybe Apollo? But how was his friend going to find him in all the wilds of Caprica.

Starbuck missed a question form the gold IL. "What? What did you say?"

The gold one seemed exasperated with him, "Then why do they die so easily in our care? We can remove the radion poisoning, yet they fail to thrive. We have captured a few, but they perish so quickly in our care."

"Well yeah, if you're cutting them up, I bet they do!" He couldn't resist the sarcasm, but it wasn't smart. "They're a bit weaker than men. It's because they make the babies and a lot goes into that so…" he grasped at straws. He didn't really know why women were weaker because the ones he knew weren't. He remembered back to the matron of his last orphanage. That woman's punch was as powerful as any man's. "They aren't that much weaker," he opted for the truth, "so I guess you've just been dealing with them all wrong. I mean if you were taking their babies and all, yeah they're going to die. Plus, they need their mates with them to survive. If you want to see our baby actually get born, it's fairly simple: don't torture them, feed them nutritious primaries and give them the security of their mate."

It was a sudden flash of brilliance. If he could ensure he stayed with Rene, that they didn't separate them, well it would certainly make their escape easier. Boomer or Jake wouldn't have to search for long and maybe they would make it through this alive.

"Without me, she would die and then you wouldn't get to see what happens to the baby and all that."

"Well that would explain a lot," the one in the green robe said. "The females we have found were without their mates. We kept them isolated from any males we had. We didn't know they had to be with the males."

The one in the blue refuted Starbuck's argument, "No, that is not it. Many mammals do not need the male of the species beyond the mating ritual. Cylon females needed but one male for over a hundred eggs, so your information is invalid."

"No," Starbuck added hastily. He needed this plan to work. "No, you just said yourself you don't know why the females die, and I'm telling you that it's because you need to keep the males with them. We aren't like animals. We're different." Starbuck was emboldened by the fact that the IL's were focused on him and doing nothing more than a harmless scan of Rene. "Together we keep each other alive, especially when the female is carrying a child. The end result is a . . . a unit we call a family."

"Explain in detail," the one with the green cape rolled away from the scan coming towards him, indicating to the centurions holding his arms that they should lower him to his feet. The floor beneath his boots gave him hope, but the centurions did not ease up their grip on him.

"We have read your medical journals and do not see where a male is needed beyond fertilization, but we also have learned that humans are one of the few mammals that continue to mate even beyond the age of procreation. For pleasure even, which is a completely foreign concept and certainly an extreme waste of energy and valuable fertilization."

Starbuck grinned, satisfied to know that his time with Lucifer and Baltar might actually have served a purpose. He had learned first-hand that the IL series were curious little buggers, and that flaw could be used against them.

"I don't think it's a waste. Relieves a lot of stress and…and humans need contact to survive, so mating gives more than just babies." He paused, drawing out his explanation. If he did this right, he could give Boomer and the others more time to get the children somewhere safe and then come back. He could give Rene a chance to get out of here.

"Your information is illogical. Once fertilized, there is nothing more needed. Nothing is transmitted other than fertilization materials." The green cape agreed with the blue.

"Well, you have to be there to really see what goes on. It provides something that can't be measured."

"Is that so? And humans still mate once the female is fertilized?" The blue cape was the really curious one, and Starbuck hoped that maybe he could use the robot's inquisitiveness against the others.

"Yeah, they do. It's not just for making babies, although that happens even when you don't want it to, but it's a huge factor in keeping us healthy …well at least for me, I mean the males. I suppose for the females too as well." He paused at Rene's sharp cry of pain. "Hey, back off!"

He turned to see that the sweater had been cut away from one of her arms. Wires and tubing were being inserted into her upper arm. "No, seriously, you shouldn't do that! You're going to kill her and then you won't be able to see what happens and…" he scrambled for something to convince them to leave Rene alone, but his mind locked up like a viper without landing gear coming in hot.

"Just drawing a sample," Goldie answered him, as he pushed another button and Rene issued a scream that trailed off into a moan.

"Rene! Talk to me!" He was able to move a step closer to her before the centurions lifted his boots off the floor again. "Dammit, Rene! Talk to me!"

Her head rolled away from the scan. Her eyes were clouded, her voice flat. "Frack, it hurts. Stings like bees."

He nodded to her. "Hang on Rene. You can do this. You're always telling me how tough you are. Show me what kind of warrior you are. Don't give up. Just hang on. Pain is temporary. They're coming for us." The flicker of hope in her eyes renewed his own. She was counting on him. He shifted his concentration from Rene to Goldie. "Seriously, you can't do that. You hurt her and she will die and ...and…." Rene's groan of pain distracted him.

"I am merely inputting the sensors. They can administer painful sensations, but they also scan her systems. Through the port, we will administer fluids if needed. We have no intention of harming her yet but…" the IL paused as his robotic hand reached to the fabric he had cut away. "She wears a uniform underneath. We have not seen that for a long time. We need to hurry our scans before we need to send for Moloch. He will be displeased if we don't allow him to interrogate while the subjects are still able to withstand the scan of their neocortex."

Starbuck guessed that the red caped IL wouldn't play along with his plan. He scrambled to think of something, anything that might forestall what he was afraid would happen next, a brain scan and then the Cylons finding the fleet again.

"We found those uniforms in an old storeroom. We needed clothes, that's all. We're just local civilians trying to survive." He cursed inwardly as the gold caped IL's robotic claws began to touch Rene, reaching for the collar of her clothing. His hand must have held some sort of cutting device for the green and brown hunting sweater fell away from her collar revealing the insignia for her rank.

"Oh, this is a good sign," Goldie spoke to Blue, while greenie wheeled back to the scan.

"What, what sign?" Starbuck asked ineffectually, as the ILs seemed to have lost interest in him, the green one turning back to the scan, as the blue was reaching for an instrument.

"They are so desperate now they are letting their women fight? I told you they were just animals," Blue replied. "No sense of decency in how they treat their females."

"We treat our women better than you do!" he shouted, but the ILs were focused on each other.

The green one answered the blue, "Even animals can learn to use tools. They are just more evolved animals. With our work, we could speed up that evolution."

Starbuck growled in frustration, "We're not animals!" All of the ILs chuckled, a sound like nuts and bolts rattling around in a tin can, grating against Starbuck's nerves. "What's so fracking funny?"

Goldie rolled away from Rene to come to him. The IL reached out a finger to place on his forehead, but Starbuck jerked his head away as he spat at the machine, "Hands off, Beacon Breath!"

The IL paused to study him for a micron before replying, "You are not machines. Your actions are far too chaotic. Your systems are fragile and often do not make sense, but in time we could make you efficient and useful. With more study and a few upgrades, assimilation can enhance your species and ours. Take the Delphinians. After our works, they have become a valuable species, working much longer and faster than they could before. We have even extended their life spans to nearly double what it was before they became part of our empire."

"Great! So, they can be slaves for you longer? No thanks! I think we'll skip the assimilation and head straight for your decimation."

All three ILs uttered a chuckle resembling rusty scissors cutting through wire mesh. The sound sliced into his temple. As the pain dissipated, he realized he no longer could hear Rene, her curses and moans having silenced.

The Gold IL dominated his view and he twisted in the guard's arms to try to see around the machine. She lay too still on the table, her face turned away. "Rene, talk to me!"

Her reply was a soft moan of his name, "Starbuck?" It was oddly intimate in this strange setting and he clung to it like a buoy in a raging sea.

"Hang on. We will survive this Rene. We'll get out of here and back home and we'll…" the words died on his tongue as Rene's body went rigid, lifting up from the restraints as she choked on a cry of pain. She fell back to the table, every muscle quivering, her eyes rolling back in her head.

"Oops," the blue IL said sounding slightly embarrassed. "The sensor went too far into the central nervous system. That was not the desired result."

The green IL shook his head. "You did that to the last two and the specimens became completely unusable. Did you ruin this one?"

The gold one spun away from him to turn to Rene. "If you have ruined my chance at witnessing a gestating human, Moloch will hear of your failure and I will see you are melted down and turned into mining equipment."

The word "ruined" rang in Starbuck's ears like a high pitched whine. His mumbled, "No, no, no," matched the background hum of the scanner powering up again to hover over Rene. The gold IL blocked his view as the robot leaned over his wife. Starbuck struggled to pull in enough air to call her name, "Rene? Talk to me, pretty lady."

The soft whisper of, "Pretty boy," above the whir and hum of the machines made him want to laugh and cry at the same time.

"That's right, and I'll bet you a sectar's pay this pretty boy hot shot will get us out of here. You know I can." Starbuck gave up his plan of distracting the ILs. Now he just wanted Rene to hear his voice, to hang on and stay alive long enough to see the rescue that was surely coming. He gave voice to his hopes and prayers. "Any centon now they're going to come through those doors and …and…Apollo will have a whole squadron of vipers. And Boomer will toss some grenades and Max will drive that landram straight over this place and Jake…" he faltered at the name somehow understanding if he wasn't here with Rene it was because he was dead.

Rene finished the sentence for him, "Jake will smash these bobble heads and you will win the gold clusters." She was able to complete the thought before she yelped in pain.

"You know it, Pretty Lady. I'm going to have so many medals from this that we'll have to get more quarters just to store them. We'll line the walls with them." He paused as Goldie moved away from his wife. For a brief moment he was able to gaze into Rene's eyes. She pleaded to him and he struggled reflexively in the centurion's grip. "Hang on, pretty lady. Any moment now."

The Gold IL obscured his view again, rolling before him, reaching out that robotic hand to his face. He jerked away, but the cold appendage made contact, slicing into his cheek. He felt the blood trickle down his cheek.

"Hey, we don't mess with the face. I rely on my good looks for promotions." He couldn't tell if the humor affected the IL. The glowing grin remained ever the same as the machine hummed.

"Interesting. Take him to the other lab for scanning. His temperature is also elevated. I am interested to see how our creations affect the male versus the female."

Starbuck lunged in the centurion's arms, but as the centurions turned to follow the command they flung him around like he was a child's rag doll. He fought, screaming, "No! You need me with her. You could kill her. You need me with her!"

In horror the doors opened. He twisted violently in the centurion's grasp, trying to get one more look at his wife. Her voice echoed in the corridor as she screamed his name, pleading to him to help her. His answering cry of "Rene!" was blocked by the sliding of the glass panels.

He fought wildly despite the centurion's grip clamping down crushing his arms. It was a small measure of hope that they didn't take him far, just to a room next to the one they left. It was another medical work room, not as large or as well equipped, but that was no comfort. It still gleamed menacingly with plenty of instruments to cause pain. Starbuck was lifted and dumped unceremoniously on the table. For a brief moment only one cylon held him. Just as he made his move to dive from the table, his boot was snapped into a restraint and the centurion captured both of his hands, snapping them into restraints above his head that began to pull his arms up to their fullest extent.

"Hey, hey, you're damaging the merchandise!"

"Merchandise? We have no need to buy and sell you. We already have you."

The jibe on his lips faded as his name reverberated down the hallway, ending in cry of agony. He let go of any attempt to reason with these preprogrammed puppets and focused on fighting his way out of the restraints.

Goldie rolled over to him, easily slicing the hunting sweater away from his arm, exposing the flesh. Something punched into his left arm and he found himself yelping as the stinging traveled up his shoulder and down his arm, infusing into the bone. "What the frack!" He jerked his arm away, but it only increased the burning sensation.

Goldie looked down upon him, his lights softening their glow. "May I offer a suggestion that will enhance my scans and perhaps speed up this process?"

"The last thing I want to do is make your job easier. Cram your suggestions up your astrum."

The IL emitted a noise like more bolts scraping against rusty metal. "We have found you humans scream a lot and…"

Starbuck lunged for the IL, but the restraints held him tight. The IL leaned over him unconcerned by his attempt to get free and twist the head off of this fancy walking watercooler.

"Do not let the screams upset you. You will scream too. It is a normal human response to pain. It is when the screams stop you should become concerned." The IL leered at him for a moment longer, then rolled away.

Starbuck shivered violently at the truth of the bubblehead's statement. His own body tensed without his having told it to. The muscle in his arm twitched, then his hand shook and lightning shot up his spine. Some part of his mind found it odd that while Rene was screaming his name, he did not call for her. No, the one he called for was Apollo, the last syllable a howl. He gritted his teeth to the pain and tried not to focus on what they were doing to him, listening intently for Rene's screams, taking in the timber and pitch, cursing when they slowed and stopped.