Another centaur or more rolled by before the Rats called it a night, packing up their instruments before beginning to join the others in the crowd. When Rene came over to the table, Starbuck started to get up to give her his chair, but she waved him down, choosing to sit on the arm of his chair. He wrapped an arm around her, mostly to verify for himself this was still his wife, before pulling her down onto his knee.
"That was amazing," Apollo announced, but was cut off by his father.
"Apology accepted. You are all quite good and you made a good point this evening. We need to schedule more times to just have fun. It might be time we reinstituted the Morale and Welfare department. I may be asking for volunteers to be in charge."
"Here here," Boomer applauded the proposal.
"Thank you for taking on that responsibility," Adama said to him.
"Wait, uh, Sir?" Boomer said, but Adama waved him off.
"We can discuss it tomorrow in my office. I would assign the role to Starbuck, but I think you might keep things a bit more appropriate. I hear you are in charge of the send off?"
Starbuck objected, "I don't want a send off. I'm already sealed, can't send me off, I'm already gone."
"It's not for you," Rene said softly.
"Then they can hold it without me," he groused, but both Boomer and Apollo clapped him on the back laughing.
"I need to take back my sealing speech. Seems you have died Bucko when a night out with your friends seems like torture," Apollo laughed.
"It won't be so bad," Boomer added, "But don't worry, I am keeping in mind you would like things to be a bit more low key since you seem determined to be a good role model for the first time in your life. No one wants to look at that miracle too closely. I was thinking a good meal, strong ambrosia, fumarellos and a pyramid game. A guy's night Galactica style."
Starbuck had to concede that didn't sound too bad. "Add some bovine steaks and I might show up."
"Done," Apollo added. "Seems the crew from the Zakar had time to rescue some livestock from Dilmun in all the commotion. A few steers and some fowl, plus hares and other small animals. I didn't have the heart to take them away from the families that saved them, but they have shared their efforts with the crew," Apollo explained and began to go into detail on some of the changes that had happened to the Zakar.
Starbuck figured the speech was for Rene's benefit, but she got up and left them abruptly in the middle of Apollo talking. She went over to help Jake and Nik pack up for the evening. The three sent Jolly off to join the table.
"Thanks, that was a lot of fun," Jolly said pulling up a free chair now that the club was clearing out.
"I think you got that flipped backwards. I need to thank you. Jake was a bit frantic," Starbuck said sliding his new drink over to Jolly.
"Yeah, Nik never said a word about it. I tore into him for it. I thought he and I were getting close. He knows I play, chews my ear off about music, but he never asked."
"Well, the sealing was kind of a sudden decision," Starbuck answered keeping his eyes on Rene as she and her friends talked low amongst themselves, laughing at some joke. He watched them banter with each other, Jake and Rene arguing with each other over something that he couldn't hear from where he was sitting. He supposed they had plenty to fight about since she had shot him, but the argument didn't seem to be escalating, just good-natured ribbing as Crius joined in laughing. It became obvious once the cases were stacked the Rats were lingering across the room and away from the brass all sitting at this one table. Starbuck cast a glance to Adama, wondering if he had noticed, surprised to find the man's fatherly gaze upon him.
"Sir, I…" Starbuck began an apology.
"She asked for time. Please thank them for me. This was a delightful evening." The Commander got to his feet, bidding them good night.
"Father, wait for me. Starbuck, I'm just a short ride away, you know that, and I'll see you at the send off." Apollo placed a hand on his shoulder and Starbuck felt a bit foolish for focusing just on his problems. Apollo had hiked all over Caprica trying to find them a way off the planet. He suffered just as much radion as the rest of them and had to jump right back into a complicated command.
"See ya later, buddy," he placed his hand over his friend's.
He was right about the lingering because once the door closed behind Apollo and Adama's departure, the Rats came over to the table taking up the empty seats. Rene came back to him, pulling up the seat Apollo had vacated and reaching over to pluck the fumarello from his hand, inhaling deeply. He resisted the urge to tell her she shouldn't be smoking; besides it was half gone and the least of the things she could be doing.
He appraised the Rats as they got comfortable, showing no indication they were in a hurry to get back to the kids. "Everyone must be more tired than usual." He thought as the room grew quiet. Things had been chaotic since their return, the kids clingy since their unexpected and prolonged absence. Just based on Rene's performance and shooting her friend the evening before, it was obvious everyone was on edge and welcomed this small moment of calm. Or maybe they were just enjoying the lack of noise. Since coming back from Caprica, Starbuck had found it hard to deal with the crying babies and squealing toddlers.
It seemed Boomer and his cousin, Max, were more used to the hubbub of all the children, having grown up in a larger family. Starbuck knew that for many of the Copper squadron, it was a bit too much. Like himself, they were for the most part solitary individuals, having maybe just one or two siblings, or one or two friends. He'd already heard the numerous complaints from the other warriors about how closed mouthed these recruits were but Starbuck had figured that command was doing what command did, ordering and assuming. Nobody but he and Boomer seemed to be asking them any questions, content to let them remain in their small sphere of connections.
But with this public sealing, their small sphere was about to expand rapidly. It was time for the fleet to get to know them and hopefully see what he saw, kids who hadn't been given a chance. He knew more than anybody, as he asked and he listened. What was shocking to him was that sometimes, when they were in a mood like this when they felt comfortable and safe, they would answer, often in great detail.
Slowly the family was beginning to talk about their pasts. He had found if he asked about Caprica, that eventually wove a path to the Zakar and Dilmun. It often opened up the connection to finding out more of the secrets about their command and how things were. Rene's song let him know once again, far more occurred than he knew. About the only thing he did know is that the more he and the other Colonials learned, the more they could help the family recover from the abuse.
His own words earlier in the evening had got him thinking. What if Dante had recognized the potential he had before him? He must have noticed something as most of the Copper Squadron were more than decent pilots. Jake could not only fly nearly as well as Rene and Crius, he was a damn fine medic. Rene had performed a save on Boomer's damaged viper that rivalled legends of pilots greater than himself. What would they have become without Dante's torturous training? Without the destruction, where would they have been?
Starbuck pulled out one of his own fumarellos, leaving Rene to finish his as he turned to Max, half Colonial half Rat, a good conduit to tap into the Rat's way of thinking.
"Back before the destruction, you ever think of being a pilot?"
Max shrugged, looking to his cousin Boomer who answered for him.
"I remember that you always wanted to be a landram driver. You loved the toy hovers, the bigger the better. You had that red dump truck that you dragged everywhere with you, loading it up with whatever was lying around."
"Oh yeah, I remember that. Remember the day that we built roads in the back garden, digging up all of Mom's seeds just after she'd spent all morning planting them!"
"Yeah no one was surprised when you joined the service to drive landrams." Boomer turned to Starbuck. "You always wanted to be a viper pilot, didn't you?"
"Oh yeah. Never thought about anything else. Couldn't wait to hit the skies."
Boomer turned to Rene, sensing Starbuck's direction with the conversation and knowing she was the key to getting them talking. "What did you want to be when you grew up? You dream about vipers too?"
The room had been quiet before. He was not expecting that this simple question could show him the difference between quiet and silent. He almost regretted beginning the conversation, but in his quest to get to know his new family, had forgotten a crucial key to their past. They were drafted into the service, almost as indentured servants. Vipers had not been their choice. It was more than a few microns before Rene answered. Her words were not directed towards Boomer as she turned to her close friend Nik.
"You remember that last winter on Caprica? We were trying to stay at your friend's place and she ended up kicking us out."
Nik smiled wistfully. "Yeah, we had eaten all her food and drank all her ambrosia."
"Who's this we? You ate her chips, not me," Rene tossed back.
Jake spoke up with a smile on his lips. "You should have fracked her like I told you."
Starbuck assumed the comment was directed at Nik, and nearly choked when Rene replied, "I'm just not into girls. I mean, what would I even do down there?"
Jake laughed. "Oh, I would have been happy to show you."
"Yeah, I bet you would have." Rene smiled back, obviously not uncomfortable with the topic. "Remember how we had to fight that old guy for the steam grate? I mean, there we were out in one of the most epic blizzards in the last ten yahrens, fighting some old guy missing half his teeth for a steam grate. Remember how we piled up like daggits, trying to tell jokes to make sure we didn't fall asleep and die." Rene sighed for a moment and the image chilled the room. "What did we want to be when we grew up?"
There was a momentary pause before Nik answered quietly, "Meteorologists."
"Yeah, that was it. Meteorologists, so we'd always know when a storm was coming, and could make sure we never had to sleep in the snow. Who the frack would think I would actually miss the snow." She reached for Starbuck's glass raising it to the others. "To never having to sleep in the snow."
Rene took a small sip, but no one else drank. They were all quiet for a moment before Rene realized what she had done to the mood of the table. She sighed again before asking, "Anyone want a drink, I'm buying." She didn't wait for an answer as she got up and went over to the bar, ordered and grabbed a tray to carry over their drinks. She placed them around the table, started to gather up the empties.
"Rene, have a seat, the staff can do that," Starbuck said reaching for her, but she took a step out of his reach.
"They need some help. We kind of sprung this on them and they weren't really prepared," she said placing the glasses on the tray. Starbuck watched as she carried them to the bar, before she came back and began to gather empties from other tables helping the servers as they cleared the room as the crowd had cleared out.
"Are you going to do something about that?" Jake's voice broke the silence, his voice nearly a growl.
Starbuck took his eyes off Rene who was laughing with the bartender and turned to answer seeing that Jake suddenly had an intense stare directed right at him.
"I didn't tell her to do that. I don't tell her what to do. I asked her to come back to the table."
Jake just stared at him for several moments before Nik cursed and shoved his drink towards Starbuck, nearly spilling half of it as he got to his feet. Jake was next as he took his drink and slammed it down on the table then pushed it towards Starbuck. The two walked to Rene, Jake taking the tray from her hand and setting it roughly on the table she was at. Nik took Rene by the arm, not roughly despite his angry mood, but as if escorting her. Lizbet leaned over to set her drink in front of Starbuck before she said quietly to her husband Crius, "Find somewhere else to sleep tonight."
Starbuck was surprised when Crius just drawled in his fake country boy twang, "Yes ma'am."
Lizbet joined the two men, and the four of them left the OC, Rene looking back for just a moment. Starbuck saw the look of confusion followed by a flash of anger in her eyes before the door closed.
Starbuck closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "I'm in over my head." He tried to keep his voice neutral as he asked Crius, "So what did I do wrong that time?"
"Ya got me, Bucko," Crius replied his drawl thick, "but I done figured out for myself that when you don't know what ya done wrong, ya just agree with 'em. Then you find somewhere else to bunk down for the night."
"They've been testy since we got back from Caprica, even the ones not trying to recover. I think it's just them letting go of the stress," Boomer said.
Max chuckled lightly. "You really don't get it? They're sewer rats."
"I think you might have to explain a bit more than that cousin," Boomer replied. "I'm as lost as Starbuck. Maybe more."
"They were on the streets. They didn't have career aspirations and they certainly weren't planning on joining the Colonial Service. They couldn't. They all had arrest records. I'd bet my balls that they were about to do jail time if the cylons hadn't shown up. They aren't kidding when they say the destruction was the best thing that ever happened to them. Rene wasn't going to serve revenge on the cylons. She was going to serve drinks."
Starbuck felt his own anger rise through the ambrosia fumes. He'd asked a simple question and wandered into a minefield without any warning. No way to go forward but to set off a few more explosions.
"She's better than that! She is an excellent pilot and Jake could actually become a doctor and Lizbet is a great teacher with the kids and Nik, he's lazy sure but so is Giles. Nik can fly like the best of us. I don't treat them like they're beneath me, because they're not! Maybe they skipped a few trainings and they're not used to the fleet, or how a decent command works, but they survived Dante for sagan's sake. They're smart and…"
Max cut him off with an exasperated sigh, "Man you guys really don't get it? Your heads are so far up your astrums you must be licking your own tonsils. They were from the streets!"
"So am I!" Starbuck got what he was saying, he just knew there were more smarts needed on the streets than anywhere else. It was those skills he learned in the back alleys that sometimes made him a better warrior. He looked to Crius to see that he also understood, but Max continued.
"Yeah, but you went to the Academy, got a recommendation and everything. They barely graduated secondary school, in fact, I bet Jake didn't. Sure, Ari got into the academy, but that's due to Adama's brother Oren recommending him. But the rest of them? They didn't shoot for the stars and vipers and gold insignias. Their version of high is pretty low. A roof over their head, something to keep the addiction fed, maybe a meal a day and if they got lucky. I mean no wonder they wound up in the sewers. Rene just showed you her career aspirations. Had she gotten lucky, she and Lizbet would maybe get a job serving drinks. If they got unlucky, well they're pretty girls. Plenty of gentlemen clubs around Caprica City would hire them. Dante saw that potential and he …
Crius's growl cut him off, "I get it. I was there. You don't need to elaborate."
Starbuck shook his head trying to chase out the images he already had of Rene doing what she had to do to survive on Dilmun. He said soft and low, "They're better than that. They were then, they are now. We don't treat them like Sewer Rats."
"I know that. I'm just saying, they know where they come from and what they could have been. Don't mistake their surliness or silence for ungratefulness. Do you know how hard it is in this fleet to know that the destruction was the best thing that happened to you? They've been on the other ships, a lot of them actually. Jake's made it his quest to visit each one. Before we headed off to Caprica, Rene put in paperwork for more orphans to come over to join us so she can sign them up for your academy. She's been recruiting for Frak's sake! And your fleet isn't the paradise you think it is. Many have it pretty bad, in makeshift quarters and broken-down derelicts. It ain't all shiny and shipshape like you think. They see that!"
"It's better than having to frak on command and getting your hands broken when you disobey. I experienced Dante's style of discipline myself," Starbuck leaned forward, his back burning at the memory of the lashes he'd received. He lowered his voice as other memories more recent surged forward making his hands tingle as he tried to clench them, "It's no paradise, sure, but it's better than the alternative at the hands of the Cylons."
Max leaned back, taking a breath before holding up his hands in surrender, "Look, I know you get it, you just kind of forget sometimes. You dig through their past and that is a pile of mong you don't want to be mucking around in. You guys have it good but some of the others, it could be better. They know they have it good, we know, but it still could be better. No one even really talks about making it better."
"That's what the sealing is about," Boomer said, "joining us all together in making the best of a bad situation."
Crius snorted in derision. "You seen the guest list? Not exactly packed with anyone not wearing a uniform. Max has a point, as long as you're a warrior, things are good, but I've seen a few of the other ships."
"So, what are you saying? I misrepresented the fleet? You all want to go back to Dilmun?" Starbuck asked, suddenly feeling very tired.
"Not for a million cubits," Max answered before directing his answer to his cousin Boomer, "I'm just saying they still don't have a lot of choices. Stay a warrior or go back to before the destruction. They are making the best of a bad situation, but Rene doesn't have to. She can go anywhere. She can take us anywhere. I've been through her rift, a lot actually."
Starbuck leaned back as the weight of those words dragged him down, feeling like the surface of the water was a hundred metrons over his head. The thoughts escaped his mouth as he asked softly, "If it's so awful, then what's keeping her here?"
Crius reached over taking one of the drinks from in front of Starbuck, raising it to him as if toasting, "You." He took a drink, draining what was left in the glass before placing it on the table and reaching for another.
The answer should have lifted his heart, made him appreciate the sacrifice Rene was making in the name of love, but it didn't. It left him feeling like a weight was dragging him down. He couldn't live up to the legend he had created.
Crius reached out, seeming to offer to carry the weight, "She thinks about the kids first. She knows that they need schooling and doctors and all that comes with the fleet. That's why she didn't leave Dilmun. She's making sure they have what they need and well, we help with that, right? It's not all bad. We got a good thing going here on the Galactica. I mean, even if they took away the council chambers, we would manage. The corridors are wide, we could take over a whole hallway and call it home."
"Best of a bad situation," Starbuck repeated Boomer's words, wondering if that's what he was for Rene. They had been fooling around, having some fun, and then she was pregnant. She was making the best of a bad situation. "I think I understand."
He looked at the half full drinks before him, having lost count as to how many he'd had that evening, trying to drown his own troubles, worried just about himself. "Suck it up, Bucko," he thought as he straightened his uniform and ground out his fumarello. He got to his feet, realizing he was more than a little intoxicated. "I need to go find my wife before I make a bad situation worse. Good night."
"Whoa there Buckaroo, you might need some help," Crius got to his feet, putting an arm around Starbuck. "No one goes into the lion's den alone."
Boomer got to his feet as well, tossing Starbuck's arm around his shoulders. "You're making things better. This will all work out."
"Right, about that," he drawled in Crius's thick country boy accent. "Seriously guys, I've got this."
"Yeah, but you don't have to do it alone," Crius said before directing over his shoulder, "You coming Max?"
"I got your back," he said before physically placing a hand on Starbuck's back.