Battlestar Galactica, Engineering Room.

"By the gods, Kara," said a still surprised Helo as he approached Starbuck, who was still kneeling on the floor of the engineering section with her hands interlocked behind her head, he head hanging down, tears falling on the floor. Helo looked behind him and ordered the Colonial Marines to contact both Doctor Cottle and Commander Adama from the surface. Once the Marines had run off, Helo turned back to look at Starbuck, "what happened, Kara?"

"Captain Agathon, I…" Callie was about to say something when Starbuck interrupted her with a whisper.

"I killed him."

"Why, Kara?" asked Helo as he looked over the blonde's shoulder at Baltar's dead body, and then back at Starbuck, "did he try to hurt you?"

"Do your job, Helo?" whispered Starbuck as Helo shook his head confused at what she was talking about. It was when he looked down at Starbuck's trembling bloody hands that he realized what she was talking about.

"Kara," said Helo, knowing what she wanted him to do; to arrest her for the death of Baltar. However, Helo wanted to know why it was that she killed the man; and he then asked the question that was in everyone's mind.

"He was a traitor to the Colonies," said Starbuck as she looked up at the stunned Helo who was shaking his head while his face was etched with further confusion. Starbuck glanced over at the confused Callie, and then at the remaining Marines before her eyes shifted to Helo who was asking her what she meant. Starbuck recalled the Commander's reasoning back on the surface, just before she reached the ring platform, for keeping Baltar around. She remembered the man telling him that only a handful of people knew the truth about the scientist, and that they had chosen to keep him close so that there could be eyes watching him, so that he would be surrounded by the constant reminder of what he had done. He told her that it was one of the most difficult decision that he, the President, and the Vice-President had to make; keeping Baltar alive and on New Kobol, all so that he wasn't sent over to Eden where he could possibly conspire with the Cylons… or send him away to another planet where the Cylons could be able to find him once again.

"He should have been executed," hissed Starbuck back on the surface of the planet after discovering from Apollo that Baltar was a traitor, "he… I…"

"I didn't know that you and him were in a…"

"We were not in a relationship," said Starbuck while her hands were clenched into fists as she recalled Baltar's fingers brushing against her body just that morning itself, she recalled his tongue licking her neck while she arched her back – and a part of her felt sick. And then Starbuck wrapped her arms around herself before shuddering, "I…"

It was then the both of them heard Apollo scream. Starbuck and Commander Adama looked at each other, worry on both of their faces for Apollo, and then they ran back to the room where they witnessed his re-ensoulment.

Back in the present time, Starbuck had mentally come up with a story about how she knew that Baltar was a traitor. Part of her was sick and tired of everything; and it was that part wanted to just lie on a bed and sleep for all time, but there was another part of her that knew what the Commander had told her was the truth. That it was better to have Baltar close to them on New Kobol instead of killing him or sending him into exile on another world. Starbuck still saw the Commander as her father figure, and although there was a sense of betrayal in her that fuelled her anger at the truth being hidden from her, she still couldn't tell anyone that he knew the truth. So, she came up with an explanation which she hoped would make sense for the investigation that she was sure was coming.

"He helped the Cylons destroy the Colonies," whispered Starbuck to the surprise of everyone present.

"That… that's not possible," said a surprised Callie who had her eyes wide open while shaking her head. She wasn't Baltar's biggest fan, but imagining the scientist being responsible for the deaths of billions was hard to believe. She and the others listened in as Starbuck, ignoring Helo's request to stop talking until she spoke to a lawyer. Starbuck ignored him and started telling them that she had been sleeping with Baltar for the past few days, and just last night she heard him talking in his sleep. However, before she could continue further, Helo placed his hands in her cheeks, and raised her head until they were looking at each other.

"I…."

"Listen to me, Kara," said Helo interrupting what Starbuck wanted to say, "don't say anything, do you understand me. Listen, we can…"

"Karl," whispered Starbuck as she looked at Helo, "you know what needs to be done now. Do your job. Take me to the brig."

"Kara," said Helo while shaking his head, "you have to get to a lawyer, and…."

"Do your job, Karl," whispered Kara as she hung her head, "I'm so tired.. please, just do your job. You know what's supposed to happen."

"Captain Kara Thrace," whispered Helo as he looked at his friend. He knew there was more to what Starbuck had implied in regards to her involvement in what had just happened, but he knew that he wouldn't be getting any answers from the way she was acting at that moment. So Helo stood up, and then helped the blonde woman to her feet before telling her that there was going to be an investigation, and that he would have to notify Commander Adama.

"Do it," whispered Starbuck as she was slowly taken away, with Helo alongside her. Before leaving, he told everyone to keep what they had seen and heard to themselves for now. He continued that he would have to report what happened to the Commander, and that they may be called by investigators. Callie and the translator nodded, with the latter saying that he would have to report what happened to his superiors. Helo nodded his head, before gently placing his hand on Starbuck's arm, and escorting her away with the Marines. The translator and Callie then simply looked at each other while two guards closed the hatch, with Baltar's dead body remaining in the room, until it could be taken away for an autopsy.

New Kobol, outside Apollo's 'cell'.

Back on New Kobol, Commander Adama was staying with Apollo while Dr Cottle examined him, occasionally whispering 'amazing' upon not hearing any heartbeat from the Colonial pilot. He was about to check the vampire's reflexes when a Colonial Marine rushed into the room past Willow, Satsu, Faith, Colonel Carter, and Teal'c who were in the hallway talking to each other.

The Marine rushed to Commander Adama, and then whispered into his ear… it was something that Willow had mentally 'heard' when the Marine was thinking too loudly. She frowned while the Commander looked back at the Marine with eyes wide open in shock; at the same time, Willow mentally asked Faith to translate the thought she 'heard' from the Marine.

"The Baltar guy's dead," whispered Faith as she looked at Willow, and then at the surprised looks of the others before turning to look back into the room when Apollo asked what was wrong.

"Dad?"

"It's Kara, Lee," the Commander said, "Baltar's been killed."

"Gods," whispered Apollo as he looked away from the Commander and hung his head. He recalled wheat he told Starbuck before he got his soul back. He knew from the scent coming off her that she and Baltar had sex that very same day, and he pushed the knife in.. and then twisted it after revealing she was involved with the greatest traitor in the Colonies, "its my fault."

The Commander didn't know what to say; particularly because he knew it was because of Apollo that Starbuck found out the truth about Baltar's role in the fall of the Colonies. But he also knew that his son wasn't himself, that he was being occupied by a demon; however, the Commander was also painfully aware that it was partly his own fault for keeping Starbuck out in the front lines, even after the public incident at the peace meeting moderated by the Orban. He knew that he was responsible for all of his people, and that he should have taken action immediately.

'From the incident in Lozan where she took out her weapon during the peace meeting,' thought the Commander to himself, 'and ending with Baltar's death. I.. I saw the signs but did nothing. We needed the personnel to man the Vipers until we could get more people trained from the population but… but this… this is my mistake.'

The Commander then turned to the Marine while Apollo hung his head low and said, "inform the President about the situation. Ask her to meet me at one of the Raptors."

"Yes, sir," responded the Marine before he ran off.

With the Marine out of the room, the Commander then turned to Apollo and told him that he would have to remain in the underground room, at least until his soul was anchored to someone. The younger man then looked at the Commander with confusing on his face before asking what he meant. The Command placed a hand on Apollo's shoulder, and was about to explain what Tara was going to be doing in a few days when Apollo shook his head. The vampire told his father that they had enough time to talk once he looked to Starbuck, to make sure that she was going to be alright.

A reluctant Commander Adama nodded his head, and then slowly stood up before telling Apollo that he'll be back soon. Apollo nodded his head before the commander turned around, his mind divided between what Starbuck had just done on the Galactica, and his own role in not doing anything to help the blonde officer before this particular incident. The man was also thinking about having gotten his son back, something he was still having to come to grips with; his formerly dead son had his soul returned to him.

"I will return soon, Lee," the Commander said turning around towards his son once more, before he turned again and walked out of the door where he listened to Willow and the others getting a message on their radios in their strange language.

"Commander," said Colonel Carter while Faith translated, with Willow standing close by eying her with a small smile on her face, "we just received news of what happened in the Galactica. Colonel Finn would like to provide you with any assistance."

"Thank you, colonel," the Commander said nodding his head, "but this is an internal Colonial matter. I hope you understand."

"I'll contact Colonel Finn and let him know," said the Colonel, "and he would have to notify the SGC and Homeworld Security since one of our translators was present during the incident."

"I understand," the Commander replied, "I will speak with Colonel Finn. Perhaps the translator would have to serve as a witness to what happened; however, we will have to begin an investigation."

"I understand," said the Colonel before the Commander rushed towards the transporter rings. Willow and then others then turned just as the door to Apollo's room closed.

"What will happen now?" asked Satsu.

"Major Adama will be fed with the blood of the pig," Teal'c said looking at Satsu, and then at the closed door, "I suppose it is time we left New Kobol."

"We are pretty much done with what we need to do," agreed Faith as she crossed her arms over her chest, "but then again, what about the emergency upgrades to the Galactica. I thought the Baltar guy was the smartest in their fleet."

"We'll have to wait for the Colonials to come to a decision," said the Colonel as she turned and headed to the ring transport platform, with the others walking alongside her, "maybe we can have some additional people from the SGC sent up there, with a few others to train technicians on how to maintain the systems. Either way, we'll need to talk to General Landry and General O'Neill."

"What of the vampire?" asked Satsu as she looked over her shoulder while walking next to Faith, and then turning her head to look at face, "he is still not used to being a vampire. Would he not give in to his own instincts, even with a soul?"

"I think he'll be able to handle it," said Willow nodding her head, "I think sending Angel here periodically to check in on him would be useful though. The Major only killed one person, and that's not enough to make him suffer too much. Unlike what Angel had to go through."

"I'll let General Landry know," said the Colonel as the group stepped on the platform before the rings rose up from the bottom of the platform, surrounded them, and then vanished in a flash of bright white light.

Deep within Colonial space, aboard the experimental vessel Scorpion, at that same time.

Cain had her eyes closed while meditating at the foot of the bed in her quarters. With the experimental Battlestar, Scorpion, being prepared for another test firing of the Ori pulse energy weapon in a region of the Colonial systems surrounded by asteroids, Cain knew that they needed to iron out the kinks in combining the Ori systems with Colonial systems. She had the needed information in her mind, and had laid it out in the form of blueprints for her engineers to execute on the ship.

And finally, with the existing experimental energy weapons… and the discovery on Picon of a vein of naquada, they were ready to test the Ori upgrades. The only problem was that they were using the raw naquada instead of the weaponized version thanks to the destruction of the tylium refineries, which were being upgraded to refine naquada, by rebels.

For now, however, she cleared her mind of thoughts and recalled having spoken to Adria through the Stargate. Cain had given her an update on the re-education camps, and was pleased to know that the Orici was herself pleased at the progress so far. Especially when Cain told her that there were a small percentage of people in the camps who had to be killed since they were steadfast in their refusal of Origin. Unknown to Cain, however, Major Shaw, who was overseeing these camps, was really sending away the people who had displayed exceptional qualities to another camp in the Caprican forests – they were to be trained in guerrilla warfare techniques.

Back on the Scorpion, Cain looked over her shoulder at the moving lump that had released a groan from under the red coloured covers. A smirk appeared on Cain's pale skinned face before she slowly stood up, and then reached for the Prior staff leaning against the wall in a corner of her quarters. She walked towards the lump under the blanket, a lump whose orange hair was exposed with the bed sheet covering her entire body.

Cain looked down at the woman and tilted her head before reaching her hand down towards the woman, a gymnast recognized throughout the Twelve Colonies, who survived the Fall only by sheer luck… she was out camping with her husband when the bombs fell. He husband was a Colonial officer who joined the resistance on Caprica; a man whose life was saved by the forces of the Ori army and Pegasus personnel when they killed a Cylon battalion that had surrounded them. The husband joined Cain's cause, and was one of the leaders responsible for hunting down and capturing rebels while his wife, the gymnast, became Cain's temporary aide whenever Major Shaw was on Caprica overseeing the running of the camps. The Major was due to return to the Scorpion in three days, and in the meantime Cain made good use of her new aide.

Cain's pale eyes looked down at the lithe body of the former gymnast lying nude on the bed, with Cain having had mentally removed the covers. She took in the gymnast's body while remembering what they had done the previous night before she looked back over her shoulders at the hatch to her quarters. She knew that someone was coming; she could hear the thoughts of the young Lieutenant, who was sent by her temporary Executive Officer on the Scorpion to inform her that the new weapons were ready to be tested.

Cain mentally unlocked the hatch and swung it open just as the young man approached the entrance. She knew that he couldn't see her from where the door was located, and that was the way she wanted it to be. So Cain mentally ordered the young man to stop, and then demanded to know what it was that he wanted.

"We are ready to test the weapon systems, sir," the young man said facing the open entrance, "engineering says that the power source has been attached to our main systems, and the power flow is nominal."

"Begin the test," said Cain as she mentally shut the door before placing a hand on the woman's forehead. The lieutenant stared at the closed hatch, and then ran to engineering while back inside Cain's quarters, the woman snapped her eyes open and stared up at a smirking Cain.

"Admiral, I…." the woman stopped talking as she arched her back and felt a pleasurable sensation flowing through her body when a white light emanated from Cain's palm, and onto the gymnast's forehead. She started to pant while her hands rolled into fists, grabbing hold of the bed sheets while looking into Cain's eyes. Before long she closed her eyes just as Cain opened her lips in pleasure… and with their eyes closed, the both of them found themselves on a beach on the planet called Aerilon; the gymnast was caressing the pinkish skin of Admiral Cain who was whispering in her ear that she reminded her of a former lover.

The gymnast pulled her head back just as she saw an image of a woman who had a passing resemblance to her; an image of a Cylon that Cain mentally said had exploited her feelings to infiltrate the Pegasus just before the Fall.. and then to attempt destroying the ship. The younger woman saw the Cylon lying bloodied on the floor before the image switched to Cain using her powers to tear the Cylon apart limb from limb… her screams echoing throughout the hanger bay as the crew of the Pegasus stood witness to her death.

"Now you are mine," whispered Cain as she leaned down and pressed her lips against the woman's lips while they were lying on the beach in the mental simulation. In the real world, the gymnast's body was writhing on the bed and whispering 'don't stop' while Cain's glowing hand remained over the gymnast's forehead; the Prior panting in pleasure before giving off a series of soft moans.

The both of them would be completely unaware of the Scorpion firing a volley of orange energy burst at a few asteroids; an improvement over the first time they had tested the weapon over Caprica before moving it deeper into Colonial space. A few meteorites were destroyed before three more volleys were fired; and then suddenly there was a small explosion on one of the consoles at the CIC, followed by a small explosion on one of the power relay stations, followed by an explosion at another relay station.

With several other circuits exploding, the Scorpion lost all power, and floated helplessly in space while the Executive officer ordered a launch of a Raptor to the orbit of Kelana, a classified Colonial base on an asteroid, to call for assistance. In the meantime, he sent out a team of engineers to regain power. The Executive Officer didn't want to bother Cain with this, at least not yet, especially when Cain mentally showed him what she would do if he or anyone of her Executive officers came back to her with failure hanging over their heads; a bullet hole through their forehead.

The Beta Site, twenty minutes later.

Triana had been working with three hours of sleep every night ever since she received spare computers from the Galactica which contained a Colonial operating system. While she loved learning programming as used by the Earthers, she knew it would take longer to adapt for what she needed to do.. so having computers with the Colonial operating system was easier. She was working with D'Anna, Tori, Sharon, and Chief Tyrol to find a way to break the block that Triana theorized was blocking Colonel Tigh, Ellen, Chief Tyrol, Tori, and Anders from their true memories. Triana had a feeling in her gut that the memories were hidden deep down in their minds, and that there had to be a way to bring it to the surface.

While the three of them were working in the lab, Ander was being taught how to play basketball by a few of the base personnel. In the meantime, Ellen was baby-siting Hope who was sleeping in a stroller donated to Sharon by one of the base personnel. She looked at the baby, and wondered if being a Cylon meant that she couldn't have a child of her own… and she also questioned out loud if her attitude towards everything was influenced by being a Cylon. As she reached down and caressed Hope's cheeks, Ellen remembered asking Triana the previous night if her cheating numerous times on Colonel Tigh was a result of being a Cylon.

It was an admission that surprised Triana while they were having a late dinner in the Mess Hall; in fact, it was an admission that Colonel Tigh.. seated next to her, thought that she would never make. Triana looked at Ellen in surprise, and then at Ander who was unsure of what was going on… and then at Sharon, Chief Tyrol, and Tori. The three of them admitted hearing rumours that Ellen had slept with a majority of the fleet.

"And let's not talk about this," said the Colonel looking away in embarrassment. Sharon was holding onto the sleeping baby while watching Ellen looking away from the Colonel in embarrassment as well.

"I don't know," admitted Triana shaking her head, "maybe… I mean losing your memories may have changed you. All I know is that the Saul and Ellen Tigh I knew loved each other very much."

"Have we ever talked about having children?" asked Ellen glancing over at the sleeping Hope in Sharon's arms.

"Yes," Triana admitted as Ellen looked back at the Colonel who was still looking away from her.

Back in the present day, Ellen knew she loved her husband who was walking past the basketball court by himself with his hands in his pockets. She looked up and saw him with his head hanging down; he had been upset ever since waking up after her admission last night that the rumours were partly true… that she indeed did have affairs with several Commanders, Lieutenants, Admirals, and even a few Majors. She told him that there was a part that she was just trying to fill a part of herself with something to make her feel great – and then she stopped talking when she realized the double entendre of what she had just said.

"I still love you," Ellen whispered as she looked at the Colonel walking away, repeating what she said the previous night before he opted to sleep on the floor instead of on the bed with her.

Back in the lab, Triana had a pen sticking out of the side of her mouth when a smile suddenly appeared. She quickly got off her seat and called for the Chief, Sharon, Tori, and D'Anna.

"By the gods," whispered Chief Tyrol after a few minutes, "by the gods."

"What?" asked Tori.

"I… I think this is it.. I think this is the key to unlocking our memories," said an excited Tyrol before looking at Tori, and then at Sharon and Triana, and then back at the computer. The screen showed lines of code in Colonial Standard, code that Sharon leaned in to look at while Tyrol pointed at several of the green coloured symbols.

"Dear God," she whispered as she looked through all the code, "we should give it a try."

"Guys, seriously," said Tari with her hands up in frustration, "what's going on?"

"I think you, and the other Final Five can get your memories back," said Triana with a look of surprise on Tori's face, "I… I think we did it."

TBC.