First of all, big thanks to my awesome betas WeAreCylons for proofreading this chapter.
Disclaimer: All these characters are property of Ron D. Moore, I own nothing. I just borrowed them in a while.
It's worth mentioning that even though this is an AU story I've used details up to Daybreak, so spoilers are to be expected. You've been warned ;) Enjoy!
People say you only live once, but people are as wrong about that as they are about everything.
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When the speakers of Fleet Headquarters called his name, Captain Lee Adama groaned once more. It seemed like everybody wanted to chase him down lately: he left his girlfriend back in Caprica City after promising they'd talk about their future when he got back, before literally running away from her. The Fleet ordered him to attend his father's retirement ceremony as part of the decommissioning of the ship he was in command of, which was the last thing he wanted at the moment. And now there was something else, Lee knew it. Why couldn't he simply be left alone for a few hours?
The communications officer informed him of a pending personal call and offered him a receiver, along with the name of the caller. Fortunately for Lee, it was the only person he would've liked to speak to.
And so, he picked the receiver up with a grateful sigh. "Hi, Mom."
"Lee," she said. "How are you?"
"I'm... fine, Mom," he lied. He wasn't ready to tell her about the mess in his love life.
But she knew him too well not to pick up his doubt. "Are you, honey? Really?"
"Yes Mom, I'm okay," he assured her. "I'm sorry, but is there a particular reason for your call? You know we don't get much spare time around here."
There was a brief moment's pause, the only sound coming from the woman's breathing on the other side of the line.
"There is, actually. You'll be on Galactica's decommissioning tomorrow, right?" she asked.
"How do you know that?"
"I asked the Admiralty to let you go. As a favor. I want to see you." And I'd rather not deal with your father on my own if I can, she added in her mind.
"Wait, you're going? Why?" he asked, puzzled.
"Galactica is being turned into a museum by my ministry and as secretary, I have to attend the ceremony," she said. "Weren't you aware of that?"
Lee remained speechless for a couple of seconds, as if processing the news. Then a new, big question popped into his mind.
"Does Dad know?"
"Of course he does, honey. Which is why I'd prefer if you went as well."
"Yeah, Mom, I don't think me being there will change anything. You know I'm not exactly on speaking terms with him."
"Neither am I," she joked. "But at worst, we'll be uncomfortable together." She then stroke a more serious tone as she continued, "And it'll mean a lot to him to see you there."
"Okay..." he agreed. It wasn't like he had any say on the matter anyway.
"And Val is going too."
"Val?" A faint smirk appeared in Lee's features. "I should've guessed she wouldn't miss it."
His mother chuckled. "Of course she won't."
"Okay. See you in a few hours, Mom."
Lee could almost hear her grin on the other side of the line. "See you tomorrow, honey."
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Commander William Adama had been counting down the days until the decommissioning for weeks. It was the most dreadful day in his entire calendar for all that it represented: saying goodbye to his career, his ship, his crew. The military life he'd been accustomed to for so long.
And being forced to speak with his ex-wife again only made it worse.
But as the day came, he had come to terms with it. It wasn't what he wanted but after the mission aboard the Valkyrie, it certainly was the best retirement he could have hoped for. His real objection was Galactica's final destiny— a museum, of all things; letting the Ministry of Education take control of the Old Girl was not what he wanted for his battlestar.
Still, there was nothing he could do against it. At least Galactica will not be scrapped apart, he kept reminding himself. CIC was eerily quiet this morning as he mentally practiced his speech one more time, and it wasn't until Dee received word of the arrival of the special guests that he moved out of his post. Not even when Lee came aboard just a solid half an hour before.
All Bill wanted was to drag his feet back to his quarters, but instead he purposefully strode along the way to the hangar bay: as the commander of the battlestar, he had to greet the secretary of education in person. He caught up with her and Doral —the man sent from Public Relations to mess up with his ship—, in a corridor, already talking about the retrofits implemented to meet the new purpose... And the very second he laid eyes on her, under the fluorescent light of the passageway, he had to stop dead on his track: she was exactly like Bill remembered.
Though, granted, he'd seen her on newspapers and TV news from time to time on his shore leaves, but it had been a while since meeting her in person.
Laura Roslin was a beautiful woman, as proper as one would expect from a member of the presidential cabinet, dressed up in a business suit both formal as to the occasion as well as not overdressed for the event. Adama distinguished the pair of creamy white legs he knew from memory and found himself staring at them for a couple of seconds before snapping back to reality; he had loved those legs long before loving their owner.
Still he also got a record of where they disappeared, a lavender —maybe purple— skirt with flowers in the hem, her curves around her hip and waist, her cleavage tucked behind the suit jacket, and her attractive face framed by short auburn curls. And again, those legs...
Laura stopped in front of him, followed by Doral, and she locked eyes with Bill as if challenging him to say anything out of place. He wouldn't of course, she didn't need to worry; instead, the commander offered his right hand to her before speaking. "Welcome aboard Galactica, Madam Secretary," he greeted her in the most professional manner he could muster.
Some part of him wished Laura would deny his gesture, but he knew well that wasn't an option. Laura was a professional. She shook his hand with little uncertainty but withdrew her own as soon as she could, a tiny detail he was sure only someone who had known her for years could have noticed.
"Thank you, Commander," she said. Bill also acknowledged Doral with a nod in his direction. "Can we go through some of the logistics before the ceremony?" she asked then.
"Of course," he agreed. "Though Mr. Doral here has been supervising the changes in person for two weeks, I'm sure his input will be much deeper than mine."
Bill was giving her an out, to make the procedure less awkward if she wanted to. But alas, she had a lot going through her head to even bother. "Actually, I want to talk to you about some... constraints Mr. Doral has found aboard this ship. He can accompany us," she determined.
Bill nodded and extended his arm toward the end of the hallway, inviting her to keep walking, which she did. He had an idea of what she was referring to.
He was correct.
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When the secretary of education boarded Galactica in search of the commanding officer, a young girl followed the group for a few minutes and until they fell out from the hangar bay and unto the maze of corridors that composed the battlestar. She had no intention of losing time aboard the vessel because of formalities just yet.
So she found an officer in blue uniform and approached him while the rest of the retinue, guided by Doral, kept walking out of her view. "Hello," she said. "Do you happen to know where to find Captain Lee Adama? He must have arrived some time ago."
"Captain Adama?" the man repeated. He either had no idea who she was referring to, or thought her confused on the title and talking about the commander.
"Yes, Captain Adama. Commander Adama's son." Then added, "He's here for the ceremony."
The officer's eyes widened slightly in understanding. He nodded. "I don't know for sure, Miss, but he might be in the ready room with the rest of the pilots."
"Can you point me there?" she asked.
The man told her to follow the hallway to the second exit to her right, then turn and go straight ahead until a hatch with the words Ready Room printed on it came into view. She thanked the young officer and kept walking; the instructions were clear and she was close enough to her destiny not to get lost on the spaceship. But since the hatch was closed and the sound of voices came from inside, she had to wait until the air wing of Galactica finished the briefing.
She stayed by the entrance when most of the pilots left talking between themselves a few minutes later, until she found a pair of blue eyes remarkably similar to hers inside the emerging crowd.
"Hi, stranger," she said when he passed by, a smile on her face. At the sound of her voice, Lee turned around, took her in and grinned as well.
"Val!" He gave her a kiss on her cheek as he approached. "Mom told me you were coming."
Born four years after Lee, Val Adama had the same wavy, long, dark red hair as her mother, along with her nose, lips and white-ish skin, yet hers was tanned a tone darker. In contrast, Val had inherited her father's blue eyes, a rigid jawline that grew harsher whenever she got upset, his same posture and gaze. The girl irradiated a certain determination and stubbornness for her young age, no doubt learned from her parents.
"You know I wouldn't miss it. History being made, remember?" she joked. "Plus, it's Dad's retirement ceremony too. I haven't seen him in a while."
"Of course, Dad," he echoed.
Val saw the discomfort on her brother's eyes and rolled her own, incapable of understanding the strained relationship between the two. Sure, she didn't have the best relationship with her father either, but hers was a field trip compared to Lee's.
But she knew it was better to just let it slide, as always. "Anyhow, since all battlestars share their core design, mind giving your little sister a tour? If you have the time, that is," she added.
"Actually, can you wait on that and come with me to the brig? There's someone else I want to say hello to."
"To the brig?" Val asked and he nodded. "Okay, I'll take my tour there for now. Who is it?"
"You already know her," Lee admitted. "Kara Thrace."
Val blinked twice before speaking. "The Kara Thrace? Zak's Kara?"
"The one and only," Lee said. "She was assigned to Galactica a few weeks after the funeral."
"I didn't know that," she told him. "And speaking of things we don't know, a word of advice: be careful when you speak to Mom. She's... distracted. I suppose the teacher's strike worsened this morning." Val sighed. "I couldn't get any details out of her on the flight here."
Lee frowned. "And speaking with Dad won't help at all."
Val shook her head. "I guess not. Let's just hope there's no reason for them to disagree here."
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"So you're still afraid of computers," Laura remarked wryly, a somewhat polite smile on her face.
Which was, at best, utterly exasperating for her. Bill had told her many times about his adventures during the Cylon War, but the Colonies had come a long way since then; surely networking the computers aboard the ship wouldn't be so bad, right? She understood his paranoia given what he had gone through, but Galactica was not going to be in service any longer. She was to be a museum now, nothing else!
Still, she had to admit this was the same stubborn Bill Adama she had married almost three decades ago. The stoic expression on his face, the wear and tear of his rough and manly features, his olive skin and what appeared to be the same firm muscles she had retraced with her fingertips many times, barely noticeable underneath the uniform— it was like talking to a living memory. The only change since then was the specs of grey in his hair.
But Laura's mind was in no position to reminisce about her failed marriage at the moment: The president wanted her resignation for her decision to take the citizens' side. She had been diagnosed with what could only be described as terminal cancer just before leaving Caprica, without any chance to come to terms with it yet. Her mind had spent the whole flight spinning around the tribulations her children ought to have ahead... and yet there she was, aboard an almost derelict battleship, trying to convince the stubborn soldier of her ex-husband to frakking link their computers together. Oh, Laura would've given a lot not to mind her tone and just tell him to shove it up his ass.
Instead, she tried to ease the building tension with a joke nothing close to ill-intended. And it was backfiring spectacularly, but she had to insist nonetheless: the teachers would appreciate to have a linked network to guide them and the tourists around a huge vessel as Galactica.
"Many men and women lost their lives aboard this ship because faster computers were created to 'make life easier'. It would be an insult to them to go through the same path instead of leaving everything as it is," he explained.
His argument was compelling, Laura had to admit that. She didn't agree with it —after all, what better way to honor the loss of lives than to ensure history be taught instead of forgotten?— but she knew already there was no way to change his mind, not when the Cylon War was involved. Bill Adama felt too strongly about the subject.
"I'm sorry that I'm inconveniencing you or your teachers, but I will not allow a network computerized system to be placed on this ship while I'm in command. Is that clear?" he said.
Well, that was it, wasn't it? The matter would have to wait for a while to be sorted out, until he was no longer in command. The transition would be harsh, of course, but once Galactica had served as a museum for several months, Laura was sure she would get her way with the network system: the ship would be effectively out of Adama's reach by then.
Her stomach shivered at the thought. By then. Maybe at that point it would be her successor's fight instead of hers: even if the cancer was gracious enough to let her go back to work several months from now, the president might not be so kind. The teacher's strike could be destined to claim someone's head, and if that was the case Laura knew it was hers. Adar always emerged from the political turmoil without even a scratch and that was no coincidence.
A good politician was prepared to let go of cannon fodder when necessary.
And one of the things she had learnt in her political career was that anyone could become cannon fodder when necessary.
One fight at a time, Laura reminded herself. There was no point in dwelling on it for now: once she was back on Caprica, she would have all the time in the world to think about how to get the president back to his senses. And if not... how to fight back with claws and teeth.
"Yes, sir," she said and with that, Bill excused himself and left.
"Perhaps you would like to see your guest quarters?" Doral asked a while after the commander had stormed out of view. Laura nodded and followed the man through the maze of corridors until he stopped at a particular hatch. "You can call the kitchen and have food delivered whenever you want to with the comm system inside. If that'll be all, I'll see you at the ceremony tomorrow. Unless you'd like a tour around first."
"I would like that," she agreed.
"Alright. I'll tell the... commander." Laura felt how uncomfortable he was about the last exchange between her and Galactica's CO, but there was nothing neither could do about it. As a member of the cabinet, protocol dictated that Adama should be the one accompanying her if available. "We have a press conference in fifteen minutes with him and his son, Captain Apollo, but I believe he'll be able to walk you around after that. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
She hoped the man didn't pick her blinking twice at the mention of Lee. The less people knowing hers and Bill's past, the better.
"Yes, two more things. It seems I've lost my aide," she said. The young man had gone missing a while ago, where was he?
Doral looked around in confusion, as if he was just then noticing the absence. "I'll tell the marines to look for him and bring him here," he agreed.
"Thank you. Could you also tell Captain Adama that I need to speak to him once you're done?" she asked. If Doral had been confused before, he seemed utterly lost now.
"Of... course," he said. He then told Laura he would be back in an hour or two with the commander for the tour, or even less if he happened to stumble upon her aide before the marines. With a few words of appreciation, she disappeared into her quarters as Doral closed the hatch behind her.
It wasn't the first time she'd been on a battlestar, not even the first time she'd been aboard Galactica, but it surely felt like it. She had seen from a hangar bay all the way to CIC four years after the Cylon War, when she was nothing but a student wanting to become a teacher and Galactica was Caprica's pride and joy. There was a certain irony involved, as Laura had a successful career now while the ship went into a loud retirement. Maybe it'll be the same for me when I get back. Full circle, she thought bitterly.