That morning Cassiopiea felt rested and at ease, peaceful,
as she strolled
down the corridor towards the Lifestation.  With a slight
smile, she
reflected that it had been a long time since she had felt
like this -- not
since before the Great Destruction and their endless flight
from the Cylons,
she realized.  Maybe, just maybe, she thought, they had
finally lost their
pursuers.  They had seen no trace of them in over six
sectars.  Maybe.
Hopes were soaring in the Fleet and lives were settling into
somehwat normal
routines.  With the fear of imminent attack no longer
foremost in everyone's
minds, great strides had been made towards improving all
living conditions
and assuring everyone that they were being cared for as best
as possible.

Cassiopiea noted that her own life had settled into a fairly
pleasant
pattern; Lieutenant Starbuck was spending more time with her
and less time
chasing after all the eligible young women in the Fleet.
While he was far
from proposing any permanent commitments yet, she could
sense that their
relationship was growing and maturing, or so it seemed.  And
she was looking
forward to getting together with him on the Rising Star that
evening.

As Cassie neared a turn in the corridor, the sound of voices
interrupted her
thoughts.  Familiar voices.  Curious, she stopped to listen.

"So, what's on your mind, Cadet?"  That was Starbuck's
voice, all right.

"Well, you know a lot of people have been kind of
disappointed lately,"
answered a feminine voice that Cassie recognized as
belonging to Cadet Brie.


"Really?  How so?"

"Well . . ."  Cassie could picture  the cadet moving closer
to the
lieutenant and putting on a coy grin.  She knew Starbuck
would be enjoying
this little exchange.  "We thought,"  said Brie, "that you
would never give
up your reputation as the Fleet's biggest lady-chaser, but I
guess we were
wrong."

"Oh?"  She was baiting him, Cassie knew, and he knew it,
too.  She could
picture the mock surprise on his face as he teased her.
Cassie was curious,
not jealous, she told herself.  It was his wild, free nature
that she loved.
She certainly had no claims on him, or he on her.  That was
part of the
reason they were so comfortable together.  Still, Cadet
Brie's implications
were just a tad irritating.

"We're just surprised that you would let yourself be  . .
.tied down."  Brie
said carefully.  That probably struck a nerve, reflected
Cassie.

"What makes you think I'm tied down?"  Yep, definitely
struck a nerve.

"We can't help but notice how you're always with the same
person.  To be
honest, there's a lot of talk among the pilots."

"Such as?"  He was giving in, Cassie could tell.  He no
longer sounded
playful, but rather worried.  Cassie suppressed a sigh.

"That it's only a matter of time . . ."

"Time?"

"Until we'll just have to consider you off limits."  Brie's
voice was filled
with mock resignation.  Cassie narrowed her eyes as she
listened.  She was
about to get him, hook, line, and sinker.

"Look, just because I --"

"There's an easy way to settle this, you know."

"And that would be?"  Bait swallowed.  Piscis caught.
Cassie couldn't
decide whether to interrupt and just get on her way, since
her shift started
in ten centons, to keep listening, or to leave them alone
and take an
alternate route.  She was decidely annoyed -- annoyed that
he would be so
easily influenced and annoyed that the cadet would be this
bold.  Probably a
lockerroom dare, even.  And for all of his pretense and
bravado, he could
still be so . . .

*********

Brie couldn't believe how easy it was.  "Wow, they
were right about Starbuck."  Brie hadn't believed
Dietra and Athena when they started talking about how
predictable Starbuck could be, how easy he was to
figure out.  Brie didn't see Starbuck that way at all.

In fact, Brie was pretty well convinced no one really
knew Starbuck that well.  They had all laughed at the
idea of Starbuck being in charge of the new female
cadets, that it would be just a matter of centons
before he'd be flirting with all of them and a mere
cycle before he'd be called to the bridge for his
improper conduct.  They had predicted that Starbuck
wouldn't take their training seriously at all and
probably wouldn't even bother to teach them anything.
Or that he would just spend the simulator sessions
showing off how great he was.

But it hadn't been like that at all.  In fact, he had
started off right away asking them to show him what
they knew.  And then he added suggestions on where
they should concentrate their studying, or ideas on
how to improve their technique.  He'd ask the other
cadets for ideas and suggestions.  He wasn't arrogant
and boasting when he did it.  He was sincere.  He was
concerned.  Brie could tell that he cared, he really
did.  When he did show them something new, something
that Brie was sure was second nature to him, he didn't
act like it was easy.  He didn't make them feel stupid
for not being able to do it.  In fact, he would talk
about how hard it was, how it took lots of practice
for him to be able to pull off the maneuver.

Everything was hard for Brie.  She wasn't even sure
she was cut out for the program.  She wondered at
times why she had even applied to be a shuttle pilot.
She wasn't good at that either.  But everyone else was
applying for positions in the fleet.  She couldn't
just sit around and wait for some man to come rescue
her like she had her whole life.  Besides, all the men
were busy protecting the fleet.  So she thought she'd
try something easy like shuttles.  She hadn't planned
on being a viper pilot.  She spent everyday in class
learning just how bad she really was at being a viper
pilot.

Starbuck was the only thing that made going to class
worth it for Brie.  "Lords he was handsome." She often
thought to herself.  But even more than that, Brie
thought about how nice he was to her.  He never
laughed at her questions, and he made everyone else
stop and think about it when they laughed at her.  He
never said to her that she should quit.  In fact, what
he did was encourage her to keep trying.  She knew
that if it weren't for Starbuck she wouldn't have made
it.  She also knew though, that if it weren't for
Starbuck maybe she wouldn't have made so many mistakes
in class too.  He would walk beside her and she would
get so giddy and nervous she'd forget what she was
doing.

Brie was surprised that she had kept herself together
while talking with Starbuck in the corridor.  She had
done everything Dietra and Athena told her to do
without messing up. "Athena had been right, it was
easy to get a date with Starbuck.  All you had to do
was challenge him."  Brie thought to herself as she
walked away from Starbuck, casting him a smile over
her shoulder.

"All you have to do," Dietra had said, "Was make him
see how trapped he is with Cassie."

"Oh yeah," Athena added, "remind him of his reputation
to uphold.  Make him see just what he's missing out
on."

"And then walk away."  Sheba remarked coming in on
their conversation in the bunkroom.  "Make him think
that it's all unattainable, and then he'll want it
even more."

Sheba was the one that had turned it from just girl
talk to an actual bet.  Brie had been a little
uncomfortable with everyone making Starbuck sound so
despicable.  Brie thought he was sweet and really
didn't mean it when he two-timed someone.  He just was
so nice he didn't know how to let someone down.  But
Athena said Brie had it all wrong, that Starbuck was a
womanizer, predictable in every way.  Dietra had said
he was just with Cassie because nothing better had
come along.  That's when Sheba suggested that maybe
Brie should make something better come his way.  Brie
couldn't help herself, she was so excited by the idea
of a date with Starbuck that it gushed out of her
mouth.  "Do you really think he'd go out with me?"

Brie smiled to herself as she thought about how
Starbuck had smiled at her and watched her walk down
the corridor.  "And it worked!  In fact, it was easy.
I didn't even have to try that hard.  Tonight I have a
date with Starbuck!  Oh my gosh, what should I wear?
I'm not wearing my uniform over to the Rising Star,
not on my first date with Starbuck!"


=====