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I feelfor you."
The-Starbuck sounded almost mechanical. The edgesof the simulacrum seemed to blur.
"I believe, Lieutenant, that your day to turn and face uswill never come. Your commander is headed on a
coursethat will result in the final annihilation of your race. Whenit comes into range of our weaponry upon
Tairac
"We've beaten you before. We'll do it again."
"This trap, Lieutenant, is what your people call foolproof."
The Starbuck's eyes seemed to narrow as he said:
"Well, with any luck, Imperious Leader, perhaps youcan catch yourself a couple of fools."
Pressing a button on the side of his throne, ImperiousLeader made the Starbuck simulacrum disappear.
Itsvague outline seemed to remain for a moment even afterthe image had abruptly vanished.
FROM THE ADAMA JOURNALS:
I never knew Lieutenant Starbuck during his cadet days.However, stories myths and legends of the
academy have come back to me. I can't verify their truth.
I heard that, on off-duty hours, he would often unlockthe war-game room (with "borrowed" keys, of
course)and turn the area into a vast amusement arcade,conducting lotteries on how many hits could be
scoredwithin specified amounts of time by a mock-flight vehicleshooting at images of Cylon ships, hiring
the best hand- to-hand fighters to hold matches under simulated battleconditions (again, a certain amount
of gentlemanlywagering was supervised by Starbuck), and using the numbers of randomly selected spot
quiz questions of a testing computer for some sort of roulette-styled game.Even though he conducted the
arcade with a clientele of about one-third of the students attending, nobody on theteaching staff could
ever nab him. They tried. But eachtime they tried to catch him in the act, they entered a war-game room
that was dark and silent.
Another time, it's said, a cheating ring developedamong many of the cadets who were under so much
pressure to succeed that stealing tests or sending in betterstudents as substitutes to take the exams began
to seemlike the most reasonable way out of their plight. Theyfigured that Starbuck, with his reputation for
engaginganyone around him in a con, would go along with theirplan and help them.
"Sure," he said, I imagine with that sometimesirritating sly smile on his face. "What do you need,chums?
What's coming up? Let's see IntermediateMilitary Strategy I, am I right? Tomorrow? Okay, you guys
meet me in the Cylon throne room just before thetest, I'll have copies of the answers ready for you there.
Nosweat. See ya around, kiddies."
("Cylon throne room" was an academy euphemism forthe communal bathrooms at the academy.)
The next day the cadets in the cheating ring showed upin the throne room and, sure enough, Starbuck
was there,a twinkle in his eye and a set of answer papers in his hands.He told the cadets that this first
instance of the answerservice would be free of charge, they could discuss termswhen the students had
evaluated the worth of the service.
I don't know how the cadets got the answers into thetesting rooms. Perhaps they merely memorized
them, orsneaked them into the place in some ingenious cadetfashion. Anyway, the tests were fed to each
individualtesting cubicle by the exam-transmission system. Thetests had been kept under lock and key,
and guarded,since the previous morning when instructors made themup. The examiner who told me this
anecdote said therewas no way any intruder could have gotten near theexams or discovered the answers.
At least the staffthought so.
The cadets from the cheating ring eagerly set to work,marking answers with their electronic pencils at a
ratethat no monitor had ever before seen from a cadet class. Itlooked like many of the students would
finish the test wayahead of time, something of a phenomenon with the monstrously difficult academy tests.
A feeling of great confidence swept among the cadets who'd received theanswers from Starbuck.
Then they turned to the last page of the test booklet. Atthe bottom of the page was scribbled a note
which wasunmistakably in Starbuck's handwriting. This noteappearedonly in the test booklets of the
cadets who werepart of the cheating ring, another maneuver which led theexaminer to tell me he believed
the story might beapocryphal. Anyway, the note read:
All of the answers which I supplied you in thethrone room are incorrect. If you filled in each andevery
one of them, you just achieved a zero on this exam. However, since this is a test of intermediatemilitary
strategy a fancy term for grace underpressure or the successful use of reason and instinct to stay out of
trouble those of you who deserve topass, who deserve to succeed beyond cadethood, have this
option: there is sufficient time for you torush back through this exam, change your answers,read the
questions properly and choose the correctanswer, and if you got my kind of luck-successfully achieve a
passing score on this exam.But, before you do that, first erase this note. Blessyou all. S."
The examiner who told me this story swore up anddown that it couldn't possibly be true.
I have observed Starbuck closely, ever since he cameaboard theGalactica as a green but crafty young
ensign. Ihave watched him starbuck everybody in sight, includingmyself.
I believe the story.
CHAPTER THREE
If the tension on the command bridge had beenflammable, one spark could have destroyed the entire
Galactica.Athena, in an instinctive affectionate move,edged closer to her father, just out of range of his
peripheral vision, simply to be there in case he needed herfor anything.
Starbuck's hands had nervously fumbled with hisflight helmet as he and Boomer reported in to the
commander. Their words, although properly formal andmilitary in phrasing, came out in angry bursts. At
onepoint, Tigh put a calming hand on Starbuck's arm to steady him. Apollo could not stand still and he
paced asmall area of the bridge, sliding one hand along a railingas he walked. At the end of Starbuck and
Boomer's report, Adama broke the shocked silence by saying to Athena:
"Show the tape of what Starbuck picked up fromCree's scanner."
Everyone on the bridge cringed visibly when thepictures of Shields's viper being blown up were shown.
Then, as Cree faced his ship toward the summit of the mountain and the awesome laser cannon was
revealed,everyone inhaled sharply or swallowed hard or simplygaped in wonder.
"Good Lord!" Adama cried. "Athena, freeze on thatweapon."
Quickly Athena stopped the tape and reversed it a fewframes, then adjusted the resolution of the
picture.Knowing her father would want figures about theweapon, she worked out the calculations
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