Starbuck and Apollo returned to their quarters after having dinner with
Apollo's father and sister. There had been many stories from Adama and
Athena about Apollo's childhood before he and Starbuck had met in the
Academy. 

"You know. Star," Apollo mused as they lay in their bed that night, "you
never say anything about your childhood before the Academy. I just
realized I know nothing about what you did before I met you." 

Starbuck shrugged. "I was in an orphanage. You know that. Nothing to
tell." 

"But what was it like?" Apollo wanted to know. "Who were the other kids?
Did you have friends? How were you treated?" 

"It was an orphanage. It was like any other orphanage. No, I didn't have
friends. How were we treated? Like orphans." 

"I don't understand. What do you mean, 'treated like orphans' ?" 

"I don't want to talk about this, Apollo. As far as I'm concerned, my life
began when I was fourteen and I won that scholarship to the Academy. When
I met you." 

"But, Star - " Starbuck shut him up with a kiss. The kiss moved lower, as
Starbuck began nipping and sucking on the sensitive parts of his lover's
body that he knew so well. Apollo moaned as Starbuck licked circles around
his nipples before gently biting each of them. Then he moved down and took
Apollo's cock in his mouth, using one hand to play with his balls. 

Apollo bucked and writhed under the ministrations of Starbuck's mouth.
Finally, with a muffled cry, he came, and Starbuck swallowed the semen as
it spurted into his mouth. Then he gently turned his husband over and
applied lubricant to the opening in his ass, pushing in with his fingers
as he did so, to loosen and prepare him for entry. Finally he applied the
lubricant to his own penis, mixing it with the pre-cum that was already
leaking from him. Then he carefully penetrated the other man. relishing in
the gasp of pleasure that Apollo gave as he did so. They'd done this
enough times that there was no pain for him, and Starbuck was not entirely
gentle, thrusting deep and hard before coming himself, containing the
wordless cry as he did so, not wanting their son to hear him. 

Starbuck remained where he was, lying on top of his husband, for some time
before finally, reluctantly, withdrawing and rolling back on to the bed.
Apollo propped himself on one elbow and gave him a long, studious look.
"Did it work?" he asked. 

"Huh?" Starbuck wasn't feeling too coherent quite yet.

"Did making love get rid of whatever it was you didn't want to think
about, what you didn't want to tell me?" 

Starbuck groaned and rolled on to his stomach, hiding his face in the
pillow. Apollo gently stroked his back. "Whatever it is, Star, I wish you
could tell me. I love you. I'm your husband. I'm here for you just like
you've been here for me." 

"Pol, there are some things it's not that easy to talk about."

"Whatever it is, my love, you can tell me. I'm not that easily shocked,
you know. It's something about the orphanage, I take it? Look at me,
Starbuck, please." 

Slowly, Starbuck sat up, a pillow behind his back. He said in a quiet
voice, "All right. I'll tell you. But I've never told anyone about this
before ... you have to be patient with me. It's - it's going to be
painful." 

Apollo put an arm around him and pulled him close. "Take your time, Bucko.
We have all night.  Neither of us is on duty tomorrow. I'm right here and
I'm not going anywhere." 

Slowly, choosing his words carefully, Starbuck began. "Well, you know I
was sent to the orphanage when my mother died. I was so young, I don't
really remember her." 

"That must have been a scary experience for such a small boy," Apollo
commented, remembering how it had been for Boxey when his mother had been
killed. 

Starbuck nodded. "The first few yahrens were okay, I guess. I mean, it
seemed like we were always short of food, and we didn't have any toys or
anything, but we were pretty resourceful kids, and we played with whatever
we could find. Some of us turned beggars and begged for food on the street
to supplement what they fed us at the orphanage. Sometimes a stray felix
or daggit would hang around for awhile and we'd adopt it and share
whatever food we had with it.  We had to be careful, though, or the
administrators would find out and chase it away. 

"When I got to be a few yahrens older, about nine or ten, that's when ...
when it started." 

Apollo felt a chill wash over him. "When what started?" he asked. 

"Some of the men who ran the orphanage had a - taste - for young kids,"
Starbuck answered. 

"Oh, Lords," muttered Apollo. "What did you do?"

"Well, there wasn't really much I could do. At first, I didn't even know
what they wanted. They were nice to me, they were always nice to the
pretty ones, girls as well as boys. Sometimes they brought me presents or
took me out for meals in restaurants. I think they were courting me. 
Maybe they thought I would submit voluntarily, I don't know." 

"Even if you had consented, it would still have been wrong," Apollo told
him. "Grown men don't do that to young boys." 

"Well, these grown men did. At first it was just a touch here and there
that seemed kind of strange, out of place. Then the touches came more
often, and in more ... delicate places. Pretty soon they were - using me -
at least once a secton. I thought about running away, but where would I
have gone? I was a kid, and kids from the streets just ended up back in
the orphanage, or in jail when they were older. So I decided to work my
way out. I started spending all my free time studying. I took all the
advanced exams that were offered in the school they sent us to. I applied
for a scholarship to the Academy, and thank the Lords I got it. And I met
you, and the rest is history." 

"I don't know how you could have let me touch you after what they did to
you," Apollo said. 

Starbuck smiled. "Pol, with you, it wasn't at all the same as with those
men. I loved you, and you loved me. The way you touched me was completely
different. I was never afraid of you, never disgusted by you. You never
hurt me. I don't think you'd even know how to hurt me. What I felt for you
then - it was all new to me, but it was right. I'd never loved anyone
before. I'd never been loved before. Do you remember the nightmares I had
the first year we were at the Academy?" 

"Yes. Were they about the men who hurt you?"

Starbuck nodded. "But when I had them, you just held me. You didn't get
mad at me or tell me to be quiet like the matrons did in the dorms at the
orphanage. You held me and you talked to me and you told me you were there
and you would protect me from whatever it was that scared me so badly.
That was love. " 

"I wish I could have protected you before it happened," said Apollo sadly.
"Those men - what were their names?" 

"Why?" asked Starbuck.

"In case either of them is still alive, I want to see them prosecuted for
what they did to you, and to all the other boys and girls who were there." 

"Pol, that might not be a good idea."

"Why ever not?" Apollo asked.

"Pol, it was so long ago. And it could bring up some pretty ugly
accusations. Like the fact that you and I are together, and that we were
together in the Academy, so soon after it all happened.  That could be
used as proof that I consented." 

"Surely being intimate with a boy your own age is different from being
with an adult man, someone yahrens older than you!" exclaimed Apollo.
"Especially someone who had power over you." 

"Some people might not see it that way," stated Starbuck matter of factly.
"You and I might, but there are still plenty of people who think that
anyone who likes members of their own sex will extend that desire to
children. And some think that if you let someone do that to you without
fighting tooth and nail, you must have wanted it, even if the person was
bigger or more powerful than you." 

"Well then, we'll have to find others who were there when you were, who
endured the same abuse and don't have same sex lovers. Surely there must
be some who survived the Destruction." 

"I don't even know how many of them survived long enough to be around at
the Destruction. So many of them didn't make it ... some of them became
prostitutes, drug addicts, drunks, and those were the ones that didn't
take their own lives before they even left the orphanage." 

"Why didn't anyone notice what was going on? All those kids ending up dead
or on the streets - surely someone must have asked questions." Apollo was
angry. 

"Pol, we were orphans. Poor kids. We didn't come from wealthy or powerful
families. Nobody noticed us or cared what happened to us. Once in a while
someone would visit the orphanage for a photo opportunity or something,
and the administrators made certain that everything looked good. They also
kept a sharp eye on us so that nobody had a chance to say anything." 

"What were their names, Starbuck?" Apollo asked again.

Starbuck sighed. "Damon and Nomar," he finally answered.

"I'm going to check the passenger lists tomorrow. And you can try to think
of any names you can remember, those who might have survived like you
did." 

"Why are you doing this, Apollo?"

"Because somebody has to. Those men should pay for what they did. And for
one other reason, the most important one - they might still be doing it.
There are plenty of children in the fleet, and there are some very
vulnerable ones on the Orphan Barge. From what you've told me of those
men, they'd be quite likely to repeat their pattern." 

Starbuck closed his eyes and swore under his breath. "I never thought of
that. I never thought they could still be doing it. I don't want anyone
else to go through what I went through, Pol.  Those kids on the Orphan
Barge, some of them are Boxey's friends. The thought of Damon or Nomar
touching any one of them ..." Suddenly, he jumped out of bed and ran to
the turboflush.  Apollo could hear sounds of retching. He got up and went
in to the small room in time to see Starbuck washing his face. "Are you
okay?" he asked. 

"No," Starbuck admitted. "But I will be. As long as you're here." 

"I wouldn't be anywhere else," Apollo told him, leading him back to bed. 

The next day the two warriors began their search. Apollo wanted to tell
the Commander what they were doing, but Starbuck wasn't ready to tell his
father in law such personal information yet, and his husband respected his
wishes. They didn't find the names they were looking for, but that didn't
mean neither of the men was in the fleet. "Plenty of refugees changed
their names when they came aboard," Starbuck commented. "Especially those
with shady pasts." 

Their next stop was the Orphan Barge. The staff there wasn't very helpful.
"There's just too much turnover," explained the matron. "People are always
coming and going - staff, volunteers, people looking for children they
were separated from in the Destruction. I can't really tell you if one
specific person has been here, especially if you haven't seen him in so
many yahrens." 

"Do you talk to the children about adults who - who might want to hurt
them?" Starbuck asked.  "Do they know that if someone touches them the
wrong way, or makes them feel uncomfortable, it's okay to tell another
adult about it?" 

"We don't, but the teachers talk to all of the children about it during
Instructional Period," the matron told him.

The two men figured they would have to be satisfied with that. They had no
way to know if either Damon or Nomar was anywhere in the fleet, or if they
had approached any of the children on the Orphan Barge, but at least the
kids were taught that they didn't have to tolerate inappropriate behavior
from adults. 

For a time, Starbuck and Apollo did their best to forget the uncomfortable
revelations of Starbuck's past. They went about their day to day routines
as they normally did. Then, one night, when they went to a party on the
Rising Star, Apollo saw the look on his lover's face suddenly change, as
if Starbuck had seen a ghost, or something worse. "What is it, Bucko?" he
asked in concern. 

"That's him," Starbuck said in a choked whisper. "That's Nomar."

"Where?" Apollo asked. "Show me."

Starbuck pointed to a heavyset man at the far side of the room.  

"Are you sure?"

"I'd know him anywhere, even after all this time. It's him, Apollo."

The two warriors made their way across the room, stopping several times to
ask about the identity of the man Starbuck had identified as Nomar. 
Apparently he was going under the name Tamor now. Suddenly, he looked up
and saw Apollo and Starbuck coming toward him. He grinned lewdly. "Well,
if it isn't little Bucky!" he exclaimed. 

Starbuck turned completely white. Apollo stepped in front of him
protectively. Starbuck gently pulled him back. "It's okay, Pol. I have to
face him. He can't hurt me anymore." 

"So, I see you made something of yourself after all. Or did you sleep your
way to your current rank?"  Nomar asked. "Perhaps with this handsome
Captain?" 

Apollo glowered at the man. "Starbuck earned his rank, the same as every
other Colonial Warrior," he said. 

"Are you the one who gets to enjoy Bucky's favours now?" Nomar said with a
leer. Starbuck stepped forward and slugged him hard. Before the other man
could hit back, Apollo had stepped between them. "Come on, Starbuck. Let's
get out of here." Reluctantly, Starbuck complied. 

When they were on the shuttle returning to the Galactica, Apollo finally
spoke. "We should call Security and have them arrest Nomar - Tamor,
whatever he calls himself." 

"On what charge? I'm the one that hit him, remember," Starbuck pointed
out. 

"What he did to you and all those other kids back at the orphanage."

"Apollo, we have no proof. My word against his. I have no way to trace any
of the others from the orphanage. They might not even want to talk about
what he did to us, especially not in court.  Unless someone has some
evidence that he's still hurting kids, there's nothing we can do." 

Apollo sighed. "When I think of what he did to you, Star, it tears me up.
I hate it. I hate what he did to you." 

Starbuck wrapped an arm around his lover and best friend. "I know that,
Pol. I wish it had never happened, but it did. And I survived. He'll never
hurt me again. And if I have my way, he'll never hurt anyone again." 

The two warriors didn't notice the man sitting behind them, listening to
everything they were saying. 

As they left the shuttle, Apollo asked, "What do you mean, he'll never
hurt anyone again?" 

"Now that we know what he looks like, and what name he's using, I can warn
the staff on the Orphan Barge to keep an eye out for him. I should be able
to get a picture of him from the computer, too. I can pass it around to
them and to the teachers who take the Instructional periods." 

True to his word, Starbuck did just that. Soon everyone in the fleet who
had children, or who worked with children, had seen the picture and heard
an edited version of Nomar's crimes.  Starbuck didn't say that he had been
one of the man's victims, just that he had 'heard stories' of what had
occurred when Nomar had helped run the Caprican orphanage. 

Of course, Nomar heard about Starbuck's accusations. One day he approached
the Lieutenant in a corridor near the officer's quarters. "Lieutenant!" he
shouted as he grabbed Starbuck. "How dare you make these accusations
against me!" He was holding one of the information sheets that Starbuck
had handed out to all the teachers and staff of the Orphan Barge.

Boomer pulled Starbuck from the other man's hold. Starbuck calmly brushed
himself off. "How dare *you* accost a Colonial Warrior like that?" Boomer
demanded. 

"He's accusing me of doing - doing horrible things to children!" Nomar
growled. 

"Why are you doing that, Starbuck?" Boomer asked.

"Because it's true," Starbuck stated. "I know it for a fact."

"You know nothing," Nomar growled.

"I know plenty! I know exactly what you did in the Caprican Orphanage
because I was there. I couldn't do anything about it then, but I can do
something about it now. I can make sure that you never do to any other
child what you did to me." Suddenly, he laughed. "And if you want to take
me to court for libel, please go right ahead. I'll be happy to tell
everybody exactly what you did - in great detail. In fact, the publicity
might even bring out some of your other victims. There must be other
Caprican orphans in the fleet somewhere." Starbuck didn't feel as
confident as he sounded, but Nomar didn't need to know that. He'd just
have to take the risk that Nomar wouldn't want a public trial. 

Nomar left, still muttering under his breath. Boomer watched him go, then
turned to Starbuck.  "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" 

"No, I'm fine, Boomer, thank you."

"What the frack was all that about?" Boomer wanted to know.

"It's a long story," Starbuck sighed. "Buy me a drink and I'll tell you
about it." 

When Starbuck had finished his tale, Boomer sat back and shook his head.
"Man, Starbuck, I am sorry that happened to you. I wonder how many others
out there have stories like that?" 

"I don't know, Boom. I don't have any way of finding others who survived
the orphanage,"  Starbuck answered. 

"It's not just orphans, Bucko. Kids who have families don't always escape
that kind of abuse." 

"I never thought of it that way." Starbuck was surprised. "I always
assumed that bad things happened to us because we were orphans. You mean
people do that to their own kids?" 

"Sometimes," said Boomer. "Sometimes it's stepparents, or family friends,
babysitters. I had an uncle who was strange like that. He was always
looking at me kind of funny. A few times he tried to touch me but I
managed to get away. After he tried that, I made sure I was never alone
with him. He freaked me out." He gave Starbuck a sympathetic look. "I
guess you didn't have anywhere to get away to." 

"No, we didn't. But I am not going to let Nomar get away with what he did.
I only wish I could catch Damon too. And find some way to prove what they
did." 

"Do you know if anyone else from the orphanage is in the fleet?" Boomer
asked. 

"All the records were destroyed in the Cylon attack," Starbuck sighed. 

"Frack," Boomer swore. "I have a patrol. Time to go." He hesitated. "Are
you okay?" 

"I'm fine, Boom Boom. See you later." The two warriors hugged briefly and
Boomer left for his patrol. 

Later that evening there was knock at the door of Starbuck and Apollo's
quarters. Apollo opened the door to find Reese, Galactica's head of
security. "What can I do for you?" Apollo asked him. 

"I need to talk to Lt. Starbuck," Reese told him.

Apollo let him in and Starbuck came to see what he wanted. "Do you know a
man named Tamor?" Reese asked him. 

"I know him as Nomar, but I do know him," Starbuck answered.

"When did you see him last?"

"Earlier today. He approached me outside of the officers' quarters. Why?" 

"Did you get into a physical altercation with him?" Reese wanted to know. 

Starbuck shrugged. "He grabbed my arm. Boomer pushed him away. We had a
few words, then he left." 

"I'll have to ask you to come with me, Lieutenant," Reese said as he
pulled out a pair of handcuffs. 

"Go with you? Why?" Starbuck asked as the security man put the cuffs on
him. 

"Tamor, or as you call him, Nomar, was killed this afternoon. Murdered.
You were the last person we know of to see him. You had an altercation
with him, and your recent accusations against him are well known." 

Stunned, Starbuck allowed Reese to handcuff him. Apollo looked stricken.
This was not the first time Starbuck had been arrested. He could remember
how frightened he had been last time. "I'll call my father, Starbuck. I'm
sure he'll take care of it. Don't worry." He hesitated, looking at the
security men who had accompanied Reese, then turned back to Starbuck and
said, "I love you." 

Starbuck smiled at him. "Love you too," he said as he was led away.

Apollo frantically summoned the Commander to his quarters. He explained
what had happened, including Starbuck's childhood in the orphanage. He
also called Boomer, seeking an explanation of Starbuck's encounter with
Nomar in the corridor that afternoon. As the three of them conferred,
Boxey appeared out of his bedroom. "Dad?" the boy asked. "What's going
on?" 

Apollo considered lying to him, but he knew how gossip spread on the
Galactica. "Starbuck's in trouble," he told his son. "But we're going to
get him out of it. Don't worry. Everything will be all right." 

Boxey frowned. "What kind of trouble?" he asked.

Adama took over. "Security thinks that Starbuck did something wrong. We're
going to prove that he didn't." 

Boxey smiled in relief. "If anyone can prove Starbuck is innocent, it's
you and my dad," he said.  "I know that 'cause you did it last time,
right, Dad?" 

Apollo didn't want to think about the last time Starbuck had been on trial
for murder. "Right," he answered. Boxey gave him a hug. "Starbuck will be
okay," he stated confidently.

"Of course he will," Apollo replied, wishing he felt as confident.

When Boxey had gone to bed, the three men considered their strategy for
defending Starbuck.  "Who else would have had a motive to kill this Nomar
character?" Boomer asked. 

"Most likely another one of the orphans who saw the pictures Starbuck was
handing out," Apollo suggested. 

"Unfortunately, there's no way to trace any of the former orphans from
Caprica," Adama pointed out. "The records were destroyed. All we have is a
few names that Starbuck vaguely recalls." 

"Then we should try to find whoever belongs to those names," Boomer said.
"First thing tomorrow, we'll start looking." 

Boomer and Adama left, and Apollo was alone. He hated feeling alone. It
was stupid - he'd spent most of his life alone aside from the brief time
he'd been married to Serena. But he'd grown used to having Starbuck with
him. And now Starbuck was in the brig.  He probably wasn't having much
luck sleeping either. 

The next day, Apollo and Boomer started looking for names on the list
Starbuck had provided when they'd first started looking for Nomar. They
didn't have much luck. The few orphans who'd made if off Caprica hadn't
kept a very high profile. Many were involved in fairly shady dealings. 
Finally, though, someone recognized Apollo from reports on IFB about his
marriage to Starbuck, and agreed to talk to him. 

"Yeah, I knew Nomar," said the young man, who went by the name 'Meta.' "As
a matter of fact, I was blackmailing him until Starbuck told the entire
fleet what he did." 

"You blackmailed Nomar? And got away with it?" Boomer asked in surprise. 

Meta shrugged. "It didn't seem to be a big deal to him. I didn't ask for
much - a few cubits every secton. I think he had something going on
himself." 

"Something going on like what?" Apollo wanted to know.

"I think he was blackmailing someone."

Apollo took a few cubits from his pocket. "Any idea who his target might
have been?" 

Meta stared hungrily at the money before finally shaking his head. "Nope.
Wish I did. Now that Nomar's out of the way I might be able to make some
money from him or her." 

Apollo handed him the coins. "Well, thank you anyway," he said.

Meta brightened as the money clinked in his hand. "Hey, wait a centon. I
have an idea who might know Nomar's blackmail target." 

"Who would that be?" asked Boomer.

"Her name is Mana. She was an orphan too. And she knows everything that
goes on around here.  What she doesn't know isn't worth knowing." 

Apollo handed him some more cash. "Thank you," he said again.

"Hey, Starbuck was a good kid. He did better than most of us. Tell him I
said hello." 

So Apollo and Boomer went looking for Mana, finding her on one of the
refugee ships. "So, you're friends of Starbuck. Goodness, haven't seen him
since we went our separate ways on Caprica. And he's in trouble? Well,
what can I do to help?" 

"We were wondering if you knew anything of a former administrator of the
orphanage, name of Nomar, though he may have been using the name Tamor." 

Sure enough, Mana knew exactly what Nomar had been up to. "Damon and Nomar
weren't the only ones who took advantage of us orphans," she told them.
"Some of the rich men on Caprica who had more - unusual tastes paid him to
provide them with children. After the destruction, he blackmiled his
former clients. I can give you names." More cubits changed hands, then the
two warriors went back to the Galactica.

Marching into Reese's office, Apollo presented him with the evidence. Only
one of the names Mana had given them was on the Galactica. "Search Sire
Talman's quarters," Apollo told him. "I think you'll find some very
interesting information there." 

"Captain, I can't just search the quarters of a member of the Council of
Twelve," Reese grumbled. 

"What about Tamor's quarters?" Boomer suggested.

"Didn't really see a need to search them," Reese admitted. "Since we
already had a suspect." 

"Go search them now," Apollo told him. Reese tried to argue, but Apollo
and Boomer were quite persuasive. The way their hands rested on their
weapons probably didn't hurt. 

While Reese searched Nomar/Tamor's quarters, Apollo went to visit
Starbuck. His spouse looked tired but unhurt. "How they treating you in
here?" Apollo asked. 

"Okay," Starbuck answered. "Can't seem to get a good game of Pyramid
going, though." 

Apollo placed a hand on the glass that separated him from Starbuck. He
wished he could hold his lover in his arms. "I'll get you out of here. I
promise." 

Starbuck lay his hand on the other side of the glass from Apollo's. "I
know," he said. 

"I miss you," Apollo told him.

"I miss you too," Starbuck replied.

Boomer cleared his throat noisily to let them know that Reese had
returned. The security officer showed Apollo and Boomer what he had found.
It was a ledger, in which Nomar had recorded his blackmail accounts,
indicating the name of the person being blackmailed, their crime, and the
amount paid. Sire Talman was noted as someone who had paid Nomar a lot of
money in order that the man not reveal the Sire's taste in young boys.
"Still doesn't prove he killed him, though," Reese noted. 

"We'll find some evidence," Boomer told him.

"Starbuck's trial is scheduled for the day after tomorrow," Reese informed
Boomer and Apollo.  "So if you're going to find evidence, you'd better
find it before then." 

"Who's representing Starbuck?" Boomer asked Apollo as they left the brig. 

"I am, of course," Apollo told him. "Starbuck wants me to. I'll admit I'm
not too certain of my abilities as a Defender, but it's what he wants." 

Their next step was to visit Sire Talman. Apparently, however, the Sire
was nowhere to be found. No one could remember having seen him. "Frack,"
Apollo swore. "Now what do we do?" 

Boomer smiled mischieviously. "I think that since the Sire is missing,
someone should take a look in his quarters, just in case he's in trouble
and needs help." 

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting, Boomer?" asked Apollo
with a grin. 

"Not suggesting anything at all, except that Sire Talman might be in
danger," answered Boomer.  "After all, there is a murderer on the loose." 

"In that case, we should look in his quarters," agreed Apollo.

Boomer was able to re-wire the lock on Talman's quarters, and he and
Apollo stepped inside.  What they found sickened them. Talman had pictures
of young boys, naked young boys, all over the place. Some of the pictures
depicted young children taking part in sex acts. "How can anyone look at
pictures like this without getting ill?" Apollo asked. 

Not having an answer, Boomer didn't bother to reply. He just shoved the
pictures inside and looked in Talman's desk. But he could find no evidence
of Nomar's blackmail. Neither could Apollo. 

After searching the Sire's quarters, both men needed to clean up, so they
went to the Bachelor Officers' Quarters to shower. Then they met Commander
Adama in his office to tell them what they had, and hadn't, discovered. 

"We have to get Security into Sire Talman's quarters to see those
pictures," Boomer told the Commander. "But how? Our presence in there
wasn't exactly authorized." 

"I'll deal with that, " Adama told them. "I'll tell Reese that I
authorized you to go in there, believing that the Sire might be in danger,
and you discovered the pictures." He picked up a handheld communicator and
called Security with the information. 

When Apollo got back to his quarters, he discovered that Boxey was there
with a friend. "Dad, this is Yuri," Boxey said, introducing the other boy,
who was a bit bigger than he was. "Yuri has something to tell you." 

"I knew Mister Tamor," said Yuri. "He hurt me."

"Yuri, can you wait while I ask Boxey's grandfather to join us? He's the
Commander, and I think he'd like to hear this." 

Adama was summoned, and Apollo introduced Yuri to him. Then, they asked
Yuri to tell his story. 

"Boxey told me what his other Dad is accused of doing," said Yuri shyly.
"I wanted to tell you that he didn't do it." 

"And how do you know that?" asked Adama gently.

"Because I did," answered the boy.

Yuri told them his story. Tamor had approached him in the Rejuvenation
Center, where he had been playing with some of his friends. The man had
told him that he had some daggit pups to show him. Surprised to hear that
there were real daggits on the Galactica, not just Muffit, he had gone
with Tamor. Unfortunately, there were no daggits, and Tamor had tried to
hurt him. 

"What did you do then?" Apollo asked, trying not to sound impatient.

"He had a pistol on his belt. I grabbed it, and I pointed it at him - I
hoped then he'd stop what he was doing. But it went off, and he fell down.
I ran away." 

He'd heard from Boxey what had happened to Starbuck, and had told Boxey
his story. Adama contacted one of the staff from the Orphan Barge to come
and accompany Yuri to the Security office, where he told his story to
Reese. 

Yuri was then taken to see Dr. Salik, who examined him and found evidence
of Tamor's assault, and gave him some medication to promote healing of his
injuries. There was no reason not to believe his story. It was not the
kind of story a child would invent. But Yuri agreed to be connected to a
machine that measured his vital signs when he told the story again. The
machine showed signs of anxiety in the boy, but that was normal. There was
no evidence that he was lying. 

Starbuck was released from the brig, and the first thing he did was take a
trip to the Orphan Barge to thank Yuri for telling his story. He also told
the boy some of what had happened to him when he was in the orphanage,
trying to reassure him that Tamor's assault was in no way his fault. He
told Yuri that Tamor had been a bad man. 

Reunited with his husband and son, Starbuck was happy. He still had some
bad memories, and they would take some time to heal. But Nomar had been
stopped. Sire Talman had been found and arrested for possession of child
pornography.

Apollo and Starbuck sat down with Boxey and told him about bad people who
like to hurt children. They told him that if anyone ever touched him in a
way that made him uncomfortable, to tell them, or the Commander, or
another adult he trusted. Boxey solemly promised to do so. 

As Starbuck and Apollo prepared for bed that night, Apollo took his
husband in his arms and held him tightly. "I missed you," he said. "This
bed was so empty without you." 

"It will never be empty again," Starbuck promised.

END