Starbuck entered the Galactica's mess, immediately noting the hushing of voices all around him. Every set of eyes in the place seemed to settle on him and not all of them were friendly. He caught Boomer's amused expression as he started to pass by his table and paused before his squadron mates.

"You've been . . . busy." The right side of Boomer's face was fighting a grin while the left side was struggling to maintain his straight demeanor.

"What's wrong with your face? Are you having a fit?" Starbuck asked him. "You really should remember to take your medication, Boomer."

"What medication?" Giles asked, nonplussed.

"He's kidding, Giles." Jolly explained, shaking his head. "Watch out, Starbuck. Sheba is gunning for you." His eyes flickered to a table half way across the mess.

Starbuck followed his gaze to see Sheba and Athena watching him. Sheba's jaw was set and her lips were tight. She waved him over.

"Don't go, Starbuck. Don't go." Greenbean begged him dramatically, but quietly. "You're too young to die."

"Not as young as Luana though." Giles inserted with a grin.

"Is that what this is about? I thought it was Dracus' accusations." Starbuck commented as looked back at Sheba and Athena. Athena had angled her chair so she could watch him easier, her lithe form tensed like a felix about to pounce. No doubt so he couldn't escape her clutches. She drummed her fingertips on the table, clearly impatient with his lack of progress, and her eyes narrowed, keeping him in her sites. She had always looked so damn alluring when she was intent. Well, so much for the friendship they had renewed since she tutored Luana and Lia during their basic training. She looked almost as angry as Sheba. She just wore it better, he noticed.

"Well, it's not everyday you get engaged, Bucko."

His fleeting appreciation of Athena's beauty abruptly ended. "What?"

Suddenly, his heart was in his throat. How the frack . . . ?

Ama. He closed his eyes, shaking his head numbly. That woman. Not only had she deposited a sizeable sum of cubits in his account, she had also apparently announced their engagement. That interfering, crazy, old crone . . .

" . . . and I refuse to call you Prince Starbuck . . . " Jolly was saying.

"I'm not engaged!" Starbuck hissed.

"Fraid it's official, Bucko. It was on the IFB's Society Feature." Boomer told him as he pointed to the monitor.

"What in Hades is that?"

"You know, the who's who of the fleet and all their business." Giles informed him.

"Apparently, it's quite the scandal. A commoner proposing to an Empyrean Princess. Especially a notorious gambler and philanderer." Jolly told the table with a grin. "Used to be they would just execute the guy, but Colonial Law forbids that now."

"Too bad." Starbuck muttered.

"Are we invited to the sealing, Starbuck? Or is it just for the hoity-toity?" Boomer asked, his wide grin winning the battle over his facial features.

"Oh, you're enjoying this, aren't you?" Starbuck snarled at him. "Have you guys seen Luana?" He looked across the mess, but she was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't help but wonder if she was aware of her godmother's actions and how she was taking the news.

"Have you lost track of your affianced already?" Jolly ribbed him.

"Probably somewhere looking at dresses, I'd imagine." Giles joined in.

"Arranging caterers." Jolly suggested.

"Will the Imperial Necromancer perform the ceremony, or will you have the Commander do it?" Giles asked.

"Dang, I have nothing to wear to an Empyrean Ball." Jolly whined.

"Hey, I'll bet it will be an open bar rife with a fine selection of Empyrean Ales." Greenbean opined. "So, are we invited or not, Starbuck?"

"I'm not getting married." He looked back at the impatient women again. Sheba was now walking towards him, Athena right behind her. "Oh, frack. I've got to talk to Cassie." No wonder Sheba was looking at him like he was a Borellian Mong Beetle. Cassiopeia would have heard the news as well by now. He could well imagine the conclusions she would have drawn.

Boomer's grin faded and he nodded at his friend. "What's the story? I heard you two broke up, and then this comes on the IFB hot on the tail end of the Dracus accusations this morning."

"It's a long story." Starbuck groaned, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure it will be on the IFB's evening edition though, so I won't bore you with details now."

Boomer smiled in response. "Well, you're right about one thing. You should talk to Cassiopeia, especially if you're not really engaged. She deserves some kind of explanation. Oh, and if you want to do it in one piece you better move your astrum out of here before Sheba gets any closer."

"You want me to run away from Sheba?" Starbuck asked in disgust.

"Yep, I'd recommend it." Boomer told him, his eyes darting beyond his friend.

A chorus of "me too's" sounded down the table from the illustrious Blue Squadron, Commander's Adama's strike wing and defenders of the Human race.

"I'm not afraid of Sheba."

"That's good, because she's right behind you." Jolly informed him.

"And Athena's on her right wing." Greenbean added a little more quietly, as he hid behind his java mug.

A not-so-gentle tap on his shoulder indicated they were telling the truth.

"Armed and ready . . . " Giles muttered dramatically, averting his gaze from the doomed pilot. "I can't watch."

Starbuck sighed and turned around. "Ladies," he smiled pleasantly.

"Would you like me to tell you what I think of you here? Or in the corridor?" Sheba growled in return.

"I always like how you avoid the pleasantries and come right to the point. It's refreshing in a woman." Starbuck returned blithely.

"Here?" Sheba clarified, her eyes glinting dangerously.
He noticed her hand resting on the butt of her weapon, but assumed it was instinctive rather than premeditated. At least he hoped so.

"Move, Starbuck." Athena grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the comparatively quiet corridor. Despite what had just happened, they had actually gained some ground as friends in the past sectars. As his friend and former lover, she had a damn good understanding of his character. And she knew any answers he gave in front of the guys would be influenced by a certain amount of high-density testosterone induced bravado. To her relief, he followed them without comment. Until . . .

"Look, rumours of my engagement have been greatly exaggerated." He turned to them, relieved the only other person present was a sanitation technician cleaning the floor further down the hall.

"How surprising." Athena replied wryly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Really?" Sheba drawled. "And do you think that makes Cassiopeia feel any better right now?"

"No. I don't." Starbuck agreed. "I was just going to talk to her." His eyes flickered back to the cleaning woman. Something about her was vaguely familiar. Hades, he had likely seen her before. She was one of the multitude of workers who seemed to disappear into the background as the efficient machine that was a Colonial Battlestar ran on a daily basis.

"I really don't think she'll want to talk to you, Starbuck." Athena told him, shaking her head. Cassie would tear him to pieces, and then start stitching him up again the old-fashioned way. Without anaesthesia.

"Look Athena, I don't want her thinking that we broke up last night only to have me pop the question to Luana right afterwards."

"Well, that begs the question why the Empyreans released the announcement of your engagement to Luana." Sheba rejoined, her voice rising subtly.

"I had nothing to do with it. I'm not engaged."

"Well, something precipitated the announcement." Sheba ventured.

"Probably the same thing that precipitated the breakup." Athena guessed.

"You don't know what happened. You weren't there. This is between . . . " He watched as both women straightened their backs like wild equines about to rear up and crush him beneath their hooves. "Never mind. I know you feel like you need to defend Cassiopeia, but she can take care of herself. She broke up with me last night. And yeah, I deserved it. But that had nothing to do with some fictitious announcement of an engagement today."

"Starbuck, we were both there with Cassiopeia last night, so we do know what happened to a certain extent." Athena corrected him. "The point of all this is that last night Cassie told us you were taking a break. Not breaking up. She said you needed to figure out who you really wanted to be with, her or Luana. What kind of message does this send to Cassie? A damn clear one, if you ask me. You've made you choice. And you only needed one night of freedom to do it."

"That's not what happened. And just because Cassiopeia thinks I need to choose between her and Luana doesn't necessarily mean I do. That's her agenda, not mine." He ran his fingers back through his hair distractedly. Why in Hades Hole was he even having this discussion with them? Was he trying to win them over in some way? Attempting to make them understand his motivations. Frack, he didn't understand them himself for the most part.

"Ah, yes, the brave warrior—incapable of making a decision concerning his love life. Instead, he sits back and lets the hand play itself out." Athena told him acerbically.

He sighed. "Haven't we already done this?" The sanitation worker looked over at them curiously. He studied her in return. Dark hair swept up on top of her head. Mid- thirties. Her slender body covered by the shapeless uniform of her designation. She looked away quickly, almost guiltily. Obviously, she was listening.

"Ahem." Sheba was looking at him in annoyance as he assessed the woman.

However, Athena nodded knowing he was referring to the last time she tore a strip off of him when he was strapped to a stretcher on the way back from Alrin. The scene had been emotional, as Cassiopeia and Athena had warned Luana about the warrior and his seeming incapability to commit to a woman. Any woman.

Well, Luana had apparently taken their sagacious advice with a grain of crystalline sodium chloride.

"Yes, you're right, we did." Athena replied before poking him in the chest with her index finger. "And is that what it takes to get you to see things clearly, Starbuck? Do you have to be on a death bed before you realize what you're thoughtlessly throwing away?"

"I could help you out there." Sheba blustered, an angry flush on her attractive features. Frackin' porcine headed . . .

They paused for a moment as three cadets passed them by, their gaze flickering curiously over them and their envy apparent. "Some guys have all the luck," one of them muttered off-handedly.

Starbuck let out a short puff at the irony of their perception. They couldn't be more wrong. "Okay, you've said what you came to say."

"Yeah, but did you hear any of it?" Athena countered.

"Athena . . . "

"Starbuck, I've known you a long time. I'm not just trying to be meddlesome here. You and Cassie are both my friends. I care about you both. I just don't understand what it's going to take to get you to recognize this self-destructive behavior you've been playing out your entire life."

He couldn't hold her penetrating gaze and once again looked back at the sanitation worker. Why did they find it so enthralling to dissect his character traits? It was probably some women's course at each secton-end--Understanding the Colonial male's many flaws and failings, and exactly how to tell him about them.

The woman straightened up as she prepared to climb on the turbo lift. That was when it hit him. Dark hair, blue eyes, a little younger than he had first thought . . . she was the woman from the triad court!

"Hey!" he shouted, immediately striding towards her and breaking into a run as she entered the lift.

She furiously punched the control for her level and then backed into the rear wall, putting as much physical distance between them as was possible. The doors seemed to close a grueling millimetron at a time as the warrior closed the short distance.

Starbuck thrust his hand towards the rapidly closing space. His fingertips hit the smooth, cool surface of the door seam and he wedged them in waiting for the safety mechanism to trigger and hoping the routine maintenance had been kept up.

A slight pressure was all he felt as the doors swooshed open again. The woman's eyes, bigger than Cylon Base Ships, gazed at him in horror.

"Hello again," he gave her a fleeting smile as he stepped inside, the doors closing on Athena's frustrated cry of, "Starbuck!"