Disclaimers:  'Battlestar Galactica', Adama, Tigh, Starbuck. Apollo, Cassiopeia and the others are owned by Universal City Studios, USA.  Jason, Bri, Aaron and Cronus are mine.

The Question

by

AJ Marks

Starbuck walked down the hallway in with a bit of anger in him after Apollo had gone to sickbay to see his father. They had not been able to catch who was behind the attack on Commander Adama, and the one suspect they had was dead. This meant that either someone thought that they knew who it was, or that they were getting to close for their comfort. Either way they had decided to eliminate a weak link.

The recent events had gotten Starbuck to thinking about his own life and everything that had happened to him in his lifetime. He had seen the fall of the twelve colonies and the fleeing of what was left of humankind. It was a bit of a sobering situation to him. He fingered his pocket again for what he was looking for and his fingers brushed the metal that he knew was there. It was something he had managed to buy on one their missions shortly after the fleet had left. He had just been waiting for the right time to bring it out.

He walked into the med lab where he noticed Cassiopeia was working with Adama. He crossed the room quickly to make sure that nothing was wrong with Adama and was relieved to see that they were only talking.

"Starbuck, Apollo told me that our one suspect was killed," Adama stated and the pilot could not tell how Adama felt about it.

"That's right," Starbuck replied. "We're not sure where to take the investigation now. The only suspects left are a few council members and their staff."

"I've know many of the council members for a long time, and murder doesn't fit any of their profiles," Adama said thinking about the council members. There were a few that did not always see eye to eye with him, but nothing so major that they would want him dead.

"It looks like we are going to have a mystery on our hands for a while now," Starbuck said noticing that Apollo was already gone from the room. "I thought Apollo was going to be here?"

"He forgot that he had date with Boxey, he was to teach him a new game," Cassie said from where she had gone to sit down, for her it had been a long day already.

"Been a long day Cass," he asked although he already knew the answer to his question as he walked up behind her. He started to give her shoulders a massage and Cassiopeia let her head drop in response. Starbuck stood quietly letting enjoying the feel of the woman he loved as he massaged her shoulders.

Starbuck glanced around the room and noticed that the commander was lying quietly just resting from the attempt on his life. Starbuck noticed that they were about the only ones in the room except for the commander. He took a deep breath and released it. Cassiopeia heard the breath and wondered what was going up with him. It usually meant that he was about to do something that he did not like, or was really nervous about.

"Cass," Starbuck said breaking the silence that they had been relaxing in. He moved around to the front where she could see him. He knelt down and she had a feeling that she knew what was going to happen. "Uh, I know that this isn't the best time, or the proper place, but, ah, well," His voice trailed off as he fished out something out of his pocket. "Will you be my wife," he finally asked before his courage failed him completely.

Cassiopeia sat there a bit stunned even thought she knew it was coming when he had knelt in front of her. Words seemed to fail her as her emotions overwhelmed her and a tear made its way down her cheek. She mutely nodded her head that she would.

Starbuck gave her a large hug as they stayed that way for several minutes. Adama from where he was lying had been able to hear everything tried not to eavesdrop, but it was too hard. He opened his eyes when he heard Starbuck propose to Cassiopeia and he had not heard a response. Glancing at the couple he could see that she had said yes. He knew Starbuck and even thought of him as part of his family but knew that he was a very private person. This was something Starbuck had to do when he and Cassiopeia were alone.

When they finally broke apart Starbuck glanced over to where Adama was lying and noticed that he was watching them.

"Its about time Starbuck," Adama said with a smile happy for the couple. He was glad that Starbuck had finally gotten the courage to ask Cassiopeia to marry him. He and his son and been betting each other as to when Starbuck would do it. He glanced at the clock in the room and noticed the time. "Starbuck, when you see my son again, tell him I win."

"Alright," Starbuck said wondering if the Commander would elaborate but had to drop it when he said nothing else. He turned back to Cassiopeia and looked into her eyes. "You've made me the happiest man in the fleet." He said to her giving her another quick hug.

Starbuck then kissed her one more time before heading off to find his friends to tell them the good news. Adama watched as he walked out of the room.

Cassiopeia walked around the room with a large smile on her face as she thought about how her life was going to change. She walked over to quickly check on how Adama was doing. He was watching her with a twinkle in his eye and she knew that he was happy for her. She had begun to wonder if Starbuck would ever get up enough courage to ask her hand in marriage. Now he had.

"I knew he would ask you," Adama said as Cassiopeia continued her duties.

Cassiopeia sighed a bit then turned back to Adama. "I guess I did as well, but there was always a lingering doubt that maybe he wouldn't ask," she said truthfully.

"He's a proud man, and he doesn't like to be pressured," Adama said as he looked back up to the ceiling of the med lab.

"I know, something I've been working on," Cassiopeia said with a smile as she turned and walked to the other side of the room with a bounce in her step.

Starbuck walked quickly back to the fighter's quarters. Walking inside he noticed that Apollo had rejoined the group there and they were eating their food and relaxing a bit. Jason noticed Starbuck walk in to the room with a bit more bounce than he had when he left the room earlier and wondered what had happened.

Apollo and Boomer noticed their friend at the same time. Apollo saw the look of joy on his friend's face and had a small idea as to what had happened.

"So what did she say," Apollo asked when Starbuck came up to the table. Aaron just looked lost as he heard Apollo's question and missed the look that Boomer was giving Starbuck.

"She said yes," Starbuck replied seeing the grins break out on Boomer and Apollo's faces. They were both happy for Starbuck.

"Of course she did, she's been with you for a while," Boomer said then added, "She was probably wondering why it took so long."

"Nah, she knows him well enough to know that with things like this Starbuck is a bit shy," Apollo replied as they teased their friend.

"Starbuck finally asked Cassiopeia to marry him," Boomer said to Aaron and Jason as they were just looking on with clueless expressions.

"Oh, congratulations Starbuck," they both said to him.

"Have you thought about when to have the ceremony," Apollo asked.

"I'm going to leave that up to Cass," Starbuck said. "She's better at that type of stuff than I am."

"Good, now at least we will have some sort of organized wedding for you," Boomer said with a smile at Starbuck.

"Very funny, very funny," Starbuck replied as laughter broke out among the group.

"Just think of all the broken hearts all over the fleet," Apollo said in a teasing voice.

"Yeah, your wondering days are over my friend," Boomer chipped in.

"Yeah, yeah," Starbuck said but they all knew the real truth. Since Cassie had stepped into Starbuck's life he had stopped his wondering ways. He had finally found the one for him.

"Does my father knew yet," Apollo asked.

"Ah, yeah, he was the only witness to my proposal. He said that he wins as well," Starbuck said.

"You asked her in the med lab," Boomer said a bit shocked at that. He would have thought that Starbuck would have done something a bit more elaborate than that.

"Okay I'm ready dad," Boxey's voice said as the boy walked into the room interrupting any type of reply that Apollo was going to say.

"Okay Boxey," Apollo replied then excused himself and walked out with Boxey in tow who had a grin on his face. "Oh and Starbuck, I had a feeling that my father would win."

"What's that all about," Boomer asked wondering what Apollo was talking about.

"Not sure, just that Commander Adama said the he won, I guess its some bet that they had going about this," Starbuck said shaking his head.

"It really is about time," Boomer said giving his friend a slap on the shoulder bringing the subject back to the present.

"I know. Sometimes I'm surprised that she stayed with me as long as she did. I thought that sometimes all my wondering might push her away," Starbuck said truthfully.

"Starbuck, have you ever watched both of you. You were a pilot who looked at every pretty woman that came by. And Cassie was a socialite remember," Boomer said. "You two were made for each other."

"She's not a socialite anymore," Starbuck said.

"I never said she is, I said she was. You feel the same way about her past as she does yours," Boomer told Starbuck.

Starbuck sat down at the table and thought about it all. He knew that Boomer was right. Cassiopeia did love him, like he loved her. It had stung when she had gone to Commander Cain. He had talked with Cassie about it later. She remembered the last time she had seen Commander Cain he had told her that Starbuck was a good warrior and man. Cassie said that it was his way of telling her to go to Starbuck and forget him.

Now here they were about to get married, it was a large step for Starbuck to make. He had thought about it for quite some time before finally making the commitment to her. He wanted to make sure that he could make that type of commitment to her. He had begun to think about Cassie whenever he went on a mission and how much he wanted to come back to her.

It was after the last encounter with the Cylons that he had really begun to seriously think about Cassie. He knew that she had loved him a lot, and her actions before the mission to the Cylon basestar had confirmed it to him.

Starbuck also knew that what Boomer had said was also right. He had changed in the past couple of years. He had taken to any woman that he saw. Slowly his relationship with Cassiopeia had changed him. He no longer was looking around as much as he did. He knew of Cassiopeia’s past and it had never bothered him before. He knew that she had a past relationship with others, like Commander Cain, but as far as he was concerned all that was swept away by the events that had happened to the colonies.

"Boomer, do we have any records of the councilors before the destruction of the colonies," Starbuck asked suddenly having an idea about the investigation.

"I don't know, we can check into it, why," Boomer asked wondering what was going on in Starbuck's head.

"Nothing much, in fact I'm not sure I'll understand until I see it," Starbuck said. He had a gut feeling about a background check into the councilors.

"We'll go and look into it," Jason said grabbing Aaron and leading him out of the room.

"You want to tell me what got you started about that," Boomer asked once Jason and Aaron were out of the room.

"I just had a thought that we might find a clue about who was behind all of this from a background check. Everyone started out with a blank slate with the destruction of the colonies," Starbuck stated.

"And one of them might of had a shady background," Boomer replied understanding where Starbuck was headed.

"Right," Starbuck said watching as Boomer followed what he was saying. It was a long shot and they both knew it, but right now anything would be helpful.

Apollo walked with Boxey down to the med lab where his father was resting. It would still be a couple of days until he was up and going again. The poison would take that long to exit his system and the best medicine after the antidote was rest.

Walking into the room he noticed his father and Cassiopeia talking. Not sure if he should interrupt them or not he quietly cleared his throat to gain their attention. They both turned at the same time.

"I hear that congratulations are in order," Apollo said directing his attention first to Cassiopeia then to his father.

"Thanks Apollo," Cassiopeia said as she got up from her seat near Adama to allow father and son to talk. "Hey Boxey."

Boxey was about to reply when Muffet, his robot daggit, suddenly went running out of the room. Boxey went running and shouting after it. Cassiopeia looked at Apollo for some explanation of the daggit's behavior.

"He's trying to teach it to be more daggit-like," Apollo said with a grin then turned to his father. "How are you feeling father."

"I should be up in no time," Adama replied. "At least I should be up in time to perform the union ceremony."

"Not if you don't rest," Cassiopeia said looking at the commander. They both knew who was in charge right now as Apollo laughed.

"I won't keep you up father. We are checking out some leads, but we may never know who was behind this," Apollo said grimly.

"I know. We will have to keep our guard up on this. It saddens me to think that one of our own is responsible for this," Adama said. "I always thought I would die at the hands of the Cylons, not by my own people."

"I promised Boxey I would spend some time with him," Apollo said as a way of apology to his father for leaving.

"Go ahead, they grow up too fast," Adama said with wisdom in his voice.

"I’ll be back by later on," Apollo said leaving the room in search of Boxey.

"The plan did not work," a man said as a woman sat down next to him. She did not say anything for a few seconds then turned her head to look at him.

"Then we'll think of something different," she told him. "There are lots of ways to get rid of people."

The man thought it over and realized she was right. It only set them back a little bit. Adama's people still did not know who was behind it all and their only suspect was dead. The man smiled at that thought. Warriors were so easy to fool with their simplistic minds.

"We have someone on board the Agamemnon who will tell us when the time will be right for the next attack," the man said.

"This time we do not fail," she told him.

"It was unexpected," the man replied. "Somehow the poison did not work."

"No, it worked, the doctors were smart enough to look for it," she replied.

"Then we have a spy in our midst," the man said with a growl in his voice.

"Quite possible, but unlikely," she replied. "The doctor was probably doing some training."

"Doesn't matter, either way we will be ready next time," the man said.

"What about the council," the woman asked.

"There is a meeting soon, and Adama will still be too weak to attend," the man said with a smile.

"Then its time to contact the councilor and let him work," the woman replied.

"I'll let him know," he told her. The woman nodded her head and left him sitting there.

Omega leaned back in the shuttle as it approached the new battlestar Hyperion which was almost done. The construction robots were just finished up and would be done by the time all of the crew was on board. He had spent the last couple of hours on the Agamemnon talking with Commander Tigh about how to operate a battlestar. He had watched Adama and Tigh but now he would no longer have the two men to lean on as much. This was going to be his ship.

Omega could see the large landing bays of the ship and glanced around to see a young woman with blonde hair sitting across from him. She wore a bridge outfit and realized that she would be working with him.

"Hi there," he said to her. "I'm Commander Omega."

"Oh, I'm Bri," the woman said.

Omega thought about it for a second as the name seemed a bit familiar to him. It took him a little while before he realized who she was.

"You’re my new flight officer," he said.

"Yes," she replied.

"I've heard good things about you," he said knowing that she was taking his job and had been recommended by Rigel.

Bri blushed a bit at the compliment while mumbling thanks. They felt the bump as the shuttle landed on the flight deck of the battlestar that would be their new home. No one would be able to know for how long they would be there or if they would ever reach Earth.

Omega stood after the shuttle has stopped and stretched his back. Long periods of sitting made his back tense and it felt good to stretch. He told Bri that he would see her later on the bridge and walked off the shuttle heading for the bridge. His personal belongings had already been brought on board some time ago and now he could concentrate on his job.

Bri followed him to the lift where they left the landing area. He could tell that Bri was a bit nervous and then remembered for someone new with the lifts they could be scary.

Omega could see that she was gripping the rail a bit tighter than most people would. It quickly went out of the landing bay and stopped on the first floor which was part of the living quarters. Bri got off and the lift continued to the bridge.

The bridge was full of activity as the last minute preparations were being made for the first flight of the battlestar to join up with the fleet and the Agamemnon. The computers were being updated with the latest software so the communications would be secure between the battlestars.

Omega glanced around the room bridge feeling a bit nervous and excited at the same time. Everyone on board would be looking at him for command decisions on what the ship will be doing. Part of him felt like he was not ready for such a step, yet he knew that he could get this chance one day.

"Commander Omega," a voice said off to his left. He turned to see a balding man walking towards him. His hair was cut short and he had a muscular physic that showed he kept in good shape. The hair on the side of his head had turned white with age and he recognized the man almost right away. He was a lieutenant on the Galactica in the engine area who was also a career military man. Glancing at his uniform he noticed that the man was now a colonel and would be his second in command.

"Colonel Williams," Omega said shaking his hand.

"I just heard that we should be ready shortly," Williams said.

"Good," Omega replied. "I'm going to settle in at my office, let me know when we're ready."

"Yes sir," Williams said as Omega walked off the bridge.

Omega walked into the office and felt a bit strange at the fact that he would be the one sitting behind the desk this time. He went over and sat down behind the desk to try and get comfortable with being behind the desk. The air in the office was different than on board the Galactica and it was actually the first thing he noticed. He would need some things to make it his own personal office.

Glancing around him noticed a great place for a model of the Theseus. There was a few places for a few of the pictures he had that would make the office his. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned back a bit to get comfortable.

Omega had just gotten comfortable when his door chimed and Williams walked into the room. Omega could guess that it was time to get the battlestar underway.

"What's up Colonel," Omega asked to the man already sure he knew what it was.

"Everything’s ready commander," Williams said.

"Right, lets get to the bridge and get this gal moving," Omega replied as they headed towards the bridge.

It took only a few moments to reach the bridge which was full of activity like it had been the last time Omega had seen it. He noticed that this time everyone seemed to be at their posts waiting for his command.

"Tell the tanker that we are moving out," Omega said turning to the communications officer. "Engines, ahead one quarter helm get us out of here and back to the fleet."

Everyone jumped to do their duty as the big ship began its maiden voyage and join the fleet.

End The Question

Next: The Emperor

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