It wasn't that she meant to cause trouble, it was that being on the Galactica was just so deadly dull. There were no dinners or parties, or even other wives to snipe at. She didn't even have men to play with. Normally, when things weren't so desperate, she would have found a young male officer or two to have some fun with. However, Ellen Tigh was starting to realize that the Galactica was a closed environment. It wasn't so easy to get rid of a suitor once she got bored, and frankly it wasn't easy finding a suitor willing to brave her husband's wrath. The men were essentially trapped on the Galactica and that made them a lot more cautious. Of course, Saul's tendency to throw people into the brig made people a lot more hesitant to cross him.
And she wasn't getting any younger, damn it.
She had nothing to do with her time. Sure, she got over to the Ocean 9 as much as she could, and Tom Zarek was always up for a good time, but those trips were few and far between. Lately she had been amusing herself by watching the security tapes of the Galactica. In theory, she wasn't supposed to have access, but it was very easy to finagle access from Saul. He tried to act as though he was doing her a favor but in reality, she knew she was helping to make him look good. Or at least better. Her clandestine viewing had helped her husband catch any number of miscreants. Still, catching the crew people making booze or screwing wasn't going to make Saul shrine. She needed to find something bigger, more important.
She put in the security tape for the CIC more out of curiosity than anything else. No one ever discussed what had happened the day that the Cylon had shot Bill Adama. It was a frak up of monumental proportions but even Bill himself hadn't been curious to look beyond the obvious. On a first viewing, it wasn't anything special, Bill praising the Cylon, everyone gathering around to fawn upon her, and then the shooting.
It took a few viewings, and a glass of rotgut ambrosia, to see something odd. She rewatched the tape several times until she was sure. Then she put it aside, to wait for Saul to get off duty. It was interesting, and if she were right, then Saul would finally have a reason to go after that prissy little bastard Gaeta. Not that Saul had a problem with Gaeta, oh no. He was too blind to see that his junior officer was going to surpass him, but she could see it happening, and not just with Gaeta. The reality was that Adama was most likely going pass over Saul Tigh when the time came for him to finally step down. Command of the Galactica would go to one of the young men or women. After the fiasco on the Gideon, she had a feeling that Bill Adama had already made sure to cut Saul out of the line of command. In theory, Lee Adama had dirtied up his own record more than enough to make him unpalatable as a commander, but she didn't kid herself about that. Saul wasn't going to win in a fight between himself and the old man's son. No, when it came to Lee, a more… permanent solution would need to be found. She had already been hinting around about that to Zarek.
Of the remaining junior officers, there weren't many that would work. Cottle was the next ranking officer but he was a doctor, older than Adama, and entirely impossible. Captain Kelly, the landing deck officer, was an oaf who lacked imagination. A good man to manage the landing deck, but give him anything larger and he would be lost. He reminded her of Saul sometimes, but with less spark if that was possible.
The very fact that she had to reach down into the pool of senior lieutenants to find competition was sad enough. It was made more pathetic by how little competition there was. She had it narrowed down to Kara Thrace and Felix Gaeta. Thrace, like Lee Adama, was doing a great job of discrediting herself but she was popular and capable. Worse, Bill treated her like a third son. Thrace was likely to get herself killed in battle however, or get caught in bed with the wrong politician. She would take herself out of the running. Gaeta was a trickier piece of work. Much less likely to be killed in action. Certainly not as popular as Kara or Lee, and definitely not as special in Bill's mind… but still a problem. Competent, bright, and clever enough to avoid blame even when it should fall squarely on him. A clever little weasel in other words, who was far too close to players like Dr. Baltar, and while he might not function as one of Bill's children, real or otherwise, the problem was that along with his general competence, none of his mistakes ever seemed to stick to him. He had lost the fleet, for frak's sake, and let the Cylon virus into the ship, but somehow the blame for that had rolled off.
Plus, she needed a little ammunition in case he decided to mention some of her indiscretions to Saul. Not only had the prissy bastard refused her, she was pretty certain he'd caught her with a few of the less fussy junior officers
Lt. Gaeta needed a little dirt thrown onto his reputation, and the security tapes of the shooting promised to do just that.
She covered her smile as Tigh opened the door to their shared quarters. " Saul, honey, why don't pour a drink and come here? I have something to show you."