"Okay, Lieutenant, let’s have it..." Apollo eyed the man sitting across
the desk from him.

Starbuck blew an exasperated breath. Every sectar, they would play this
little show over and over again. When the time came to hand in the
sectarly reports to Commander Adama, Apollo would summon each of his
warriors to his small office, look them in the eye, and in matter of
minutes, had them confessing their sins.  The usual litanies were
nothing out of the ordinary, but this one had Apollo squirming in
anticipation.  Starbuck never failed to surprise his Captain, and Apollo
suspected this time won’t be different.  The way Starbuck saw it, it
always ended the same way. They could have just assign him to a few more
patrols to begin with, and be over with it.

"Starbuck, this is where you start telling me exactly which parts of the
mischief on this ship were your handiwork, I assign you to a couple more
deep probes, you get away from the Commander’s ‘Are we Colonial Warriors
or little children’ lecture, and everyone’s happy. So..." Apollo was
quite surprised Starbuck wasn’t talking yet. The lieutenant usually went
through the list quickly. 

"Oh, come on, Apollo, what do you want me to say?"

Apollo looked down at his notes. "Well, you can start with your regular
curfew violations, and finish with oh, losing half my cubits when I was
on patrol." 

Starbuck gave him a vicious glare. "Oh, bless me, Captain, for I have
sinned."

"You sure have. But I’m willing to forgive and forget if you can come up
with a reasonable explanation.  Or what passes as reasonable with you."
Apollo leaned back in his chair, and looked expectantly at his
lieutenant.

"Oh, come on, it’s the same frakkin’ list as last time, can’t you just
duplicate my explanation from then?" Starbuck growled. 

"I suppose I can. But then, where would the fun be?" . . . . . . . . .
------------------------------
Starbuck glowered at his best friend, but remained silent.  

Apollo sighed, realizing he was getting nowhere with the questioning.  If he
ever wanted to be able to finish his report, he'd have to get the information
out of Starbuck somehow.  

"All right.  I'll make you a deal: I'll write off the other violations, you
tell me what happened on the Rising Star last secton."  When the other man
seemed as though he would not respond, Apollo prodded, "You know, when
security went looking all over the ship for some 'Prince Aegus of Ithaca' when
it was you all along?"  

Starbuck couldn't help but smile at the reminder of the greatest prank he had
ever pulled on Reese and his buddies.  "That was a masterful plot," he grinned
gleefully.  "Apollo, you shoulda been there . . ."  

"I'll say.  I might still have the other half of my pay voucher if I had."  
"Aw, that's not fair.  How was I supposed to know the power supply was low on
the handheld I was tracking my figures on.  If that thing hadn't failed, we'd
be rich now!"  

"Sure we would," Apollo replied dubiously.  "The Prince?"  

"You promise you'll let me off lightly?  For, uh . . . good behaviour?"  

"Well, I'll have to do something.  How about a deep space probe and a couple
of extra patrols?"  

"Okay, I guess that's the best I'll get from you.  Well, when I realized I was
about to lose my . . ." Starbuck caught the glare his friend gave him at his
description so far.  "Uh . . . _our_ cubits, I realized I had to do something,
so I looked at my chronometer and yelled something about being late for
escorting the Prince and how the Commander would kill me.  I managed to grab
about half my . . . _our_ bet back and ran for the door without letting the
dealer finish playing his cards.  He almost bought it, but must have decided
to call security because I didn't get halfway down to the shuttle bay and
there was Reese and Cursor."  

Starbuck stopped for a micron as Apollo shifted in his chair, getting
comfortable for the rest of the story.  Apollo thought his friend was probably
taking the time to make up the rest of the story, but decided to be patient
and wait.  When it seemed as though Starbuck would never continue, he cleared
his throat loudly to let the lieutenant know he was waiting.  

"Don't rush me.  A story this good deserves to be told in its own good time." 


"You mean, as you make it up?"  

"I didn't say that.  Now shut up, or you won't find out what happened."  

"Mmm hmm." Apollo leaned back again and put his feet up on the desk.  This was
going to be good.  

"All right.  So, when I saw Reese and Cursor, I knew if I tried to make a
break for it, they had me, so I had to be cagey.  I ran straight towards them
. . .

<<Reese crossed his arms officiously as he saw Starbuck dashing toward him,
looking panicked.  

"Reese, ya gotta help me, I'm in big trouble!"  

"I'll say, flyboy.  I'm told you just ran out in the middle of a game in the
Chancery.  That's against the house rules . . ."

"Never mind that!  If we don't find him, the Commander's gonna be furious! 
And you'll get it too because _you_ should have found him!"  

"Found who?"  Reese was not the smartest hammer in the toolchest, but neither
was he a complete fool.  One thing he was sure of, though, was that he didn't
want to get himself in trouble with the Galactica's commander.  Maybe he
should check a bit more closely into whatever it was Starbuck was babbling
about.

"The Prince, of course!"  

"What Prince?  Starbuck, if this is some sort of . . ."  

"Reese, where have you been the last few days?  Haven't you seen the reports
on the IFB?"  

"No, I . . ."  

"Prince Aegus!  Of Ithaca?  You should know him- he's from one of the royal
houses of Sagitara.  They found out that he escaped the holocaust and has been
lying low within the fleet for almost a yahren!"  

"Well, okay . . . but what does that have to do with . . ."  

"Do I have to spell it all out for you?" Starbuck cut off the confused
security sergeant again.  He continued, in a patronizing tone, as if
explaining something to a small child.  "I was assigned to escort him while he
was on the Rising Star.  He wanted a few moments alone to, uh, visit a friend,
so I told him I'd go play a hand of pyramid or two and then meet up with him
again.  Except I forgot and he didn't show!  Now if we don't find him, we're
all in big trouble!"  Starbuck looked directly at Cursor to drive home the
point.  

Reese mulled this over for a micron.  He still wasn't sure about Starbuck's
story, but if Prince Aegus was on board the Rising Star, it wouldn't hurt his
position to help escort the Prince himself.  Maybe there'd even be a promotion
in it for him if he could finish what Starbuck had started and apparently
couldn't handle.  Leave it to Adama to ask a warrior to do something that was
obviously a security matter.  If they had assigned him in the first place, he
certainly wouldn't have to go looking all over the ship for a man he was
supposed to protect.  

"Okay, well . . . where would he go, then?"  

"I don't know," Starbuck replied, exasperated.  "He said something about the
Star Class Lounge, but I don't have the clearance to get up there."  

"We do," Reese said, decidedly.  

"Uh, Reese?"  It was the first time Cursor had spoken.  "Maybe we should check
. . ."  

"Look, we've got to get going!" Starbuck interjected.  "The Prince is supposed
to be at an official reception in the Empyreal Lounge in . . ."  He looked at
his chrononmeter.  " . . . fifteen centons.  We don't have time to waste!"  

"Let's go then."  

Reese took charge of the search.  They took the elevator to the topmost deck
of the Rising Star.  When they reached the lounge, Reese assured the
suspicious guard that Starbuck was with them on official business.  Starbuck
smiled and lit a fumarello as the guard reluctantly passed them into the
opulent room.  

"What does he look like?" Reese asked.  

"Huh?"  

"The Prince, Starbuck.  What does he look like?"  

"You mean you don't know?"  

Reese shuffled his feet nervously and glanced away.  "It's been a long time
since I was on my home planet, Starbuck.  He's probably changed a lot since
the last time I uh, saw him."  

"Oh.  Well, he was dressed all in red."  

"All in red.  Okay."  

"And he has dark hair."  

"Good."  

"And big feet."  

"Big feet?"  

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious.  You'll know him when you see him."  

Starbuck reached for a pastry as a waiter carrying trays of various delicacies
passed by.  

"Maybe we should split up to look for him," Reese suggested.  

"Tha wouf be a goot idea," Starbuck replied, trying to swallow his mouthful of
food.  "I'll head toward the bar, you guys go that way."  >>  

"So what happened?" Apollo asked, sensing the story was almost over.  

"Well, I ordered a glass of ambrosia and watched two of Council Security's
finest trying to find a non-existent, big-footed, Sagitaran prince dressed in
red."  He laughed, "They must have accosted every dignitary in that room."  

"Did they manage to find anyone?"  

"I left after I finished my Ambrosia.  By the way, did you know that
everything is free up there, once you get in?  And the food . . ."  

"Starbuck!"  

"Oh yeah.  As I was boarding the shuttle to come back here, I heard some guys
talking about two Council Security guards who got thrown out of the Star Class
Lounge for trying to drag some Tauran ambassador to the Council out of the
room.  Apparently the poor guy was dressed in red."  

Apollo couldn't help but laugh.  "So you let them get in hot water just to
keep yourself out of trouble?"  

"Uh, yeah."  

"Get out of here, Bucko."  

"No patrols?"  

"How could I live with myself if I punished you for doing something I wish I
could get away with?"  

A big grin broke across Starbuck's face as he rose to leave.  When he paused
in the doorway, Apollo was still chuckling.  

"You know, buddy, if I'd known it was this easy to avoid those extra patrols,
I would have done this a long time ago."  

"Go before I change my mind."  

"You sure you won't get in trouble?"  

"I'll think of something to write down."  

"Uh, tell you what.  You've got patrol with Boomer tonight, right?"  

"Yup."  

"How'd you like a free evening to spend with Boxey?" 

Apollo looked up from his reports.  "I'd like that."  

"Okay.  Call it, punitive damages or something."  

"Thanks, Starbuck.  And try to stay out of trouble, huh?"  

"Who me?"  

*******************The End*************