ABOARD COLONIAL ONE, DAY 389 OF THE EXODUS (3 JANUARY 2064)
President Laura Roslin watched as the members of the Quorum of Twelve filed into the cramped conference room aboard the star liner, COLONIAL ONE, which now served as the meeting place of the Colonial Fleet's legislative body. The destruction of the former meeting place of the Quorum of Twelve, the liner CLOUD NINE, had forced the Quorum to take up residence on COLONIAL ONE. This had not pleased Roslin, who was not on the best of terms with several members of the Quorum. When the Quorum had been safely ensconced aboard CLOUD NINE, Roslin had been able to govern without too much interference from the legislative body. Now they were right here, underfoot, aboard the vessel from which Roslin governed the last surviving remnant of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. It was proving quite frustrating.
As she watched Dr. Gaius Baltar, the Quorum representative from the planet of Caprica, enter the room, her thoughts drifted to the destruction of the CLOUD NINE. The investigation into the destruction of the CLOUD NINE was still ongoing, and no satisfactory answer had been discovered. It appeared to have been destroyed by the detonation of a nuclear device which had been given to Dr. Baltar to provide plutonium which would be used in the failed Cylon Detector which Baltar had attempted to build. Baltar claimed the nuclear device had been stolen from his laboratory…possibly by the terrorist group which called itself "Demand Peace," which had been responsible for a number of other incidents of terrorism and sabotage aboard the fleet. Roslin had her doubts. She strongly suspected that Baltar was somehow in collusion with the Cylons, but had been unable to prove it. And since she couldn't prove it, Baltar was still allowed to keep his freedom and to serve as a member of the Quorum of Twelve. Indeed, he had, several months ago, run against Roslin in the Presidential Elections which had been held by the surviving Colonials.
The idea that terrorism might have been involved in the destruction of the CLOUD NINE suddenly became a bit more credible to Roslin as she watched another member of the Quorum enter the room and take his place at the table. Tom Zarek, the representative of the planet Sagittaron, was a political extremist and a former terrorist himself. He had blown up a government building on Sagittaron, and had served most of a twenty-year prison sentence for that act. Indeed, if the Cylons had not attacked the Twelve Colonies, Zarek might well have been still behind bars. As it turned out, on the eve of the Cylon attack, Zarek was among a group of prisoners placed aboard the liner, ASTRAL QUEEN, for transport to Caprica for parole hearings. The liner had been one of the relatively few such vessels to have FTL drive, and as a result, she was commandeered and used to evacuate survivors of the Cylon attack which destroyed Caprica. President Roslin had refused the suggestion of the ASTRAL QUEEN'S Captain that the prisoners be euthanized, and eventually, after Zarek had led them in a riot against their continued imprisonment, the prisoners had been released. Zarek had continued his political agitation and had been a thorn in Roslin's side ever since.
Seated with Roslin was Admiral William Adama, and a small delegation of humans from Earth composed of Commodore Glen Ross of the U.S.S. SARATOGA, as well as Howard Sewell, Deputy Director of Aerotech Industries. Ross glanced over at Sewell as they watched the Quorum members come in. He had never trusted Sewell, an arrogant, mousy-looking little man who, it seemed to him, often put Aerotech's interests above those of Earth. Having Sewell assigned to this mission had grated on him, but there was nothing he could do. U.N. Secretary General Diane Hayden, herself a former Director of Aerotech, had ordered it. As a military officer, his duty was to obey those orders. And he could halfway understand the assignment. The humans from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol had offered their technology to assist the people of Earth in the war with the Chigs. Sewell was here to determine if that technology was worth the risk of accepting the Colonial refugees and their war with the Cylons.
But, before Sewell could inspect that technology, an agreement had to be made between Earth and the Colonials regarding blood-screening to locate any Cylon infiltrators who might still be at large within the fleet. The government of Earth had insisted on such screenings as a pre-condition of any agreement to allow the Colonials to settle on Earth. The idea of undiscovered Cylons running loose on Earth was simply not acceptable. And thus the meeting today.
The last of the Quorum delegates…Sarah Porter of Gemenon…came in and took her seat, and President Roslin called the meeting to order.
"Members of the Quorum of Twelve," Roslin said, "Thank you for meeting with me today under such short notice. Allow me to introduce the representatives of Earth, Commodore Glen Ross, and Mr. Howard Sewell."
"Given the extraordinary circumstances," Sarah Porter said, "no thanks are necessary. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Roslin smiled. Porter had sometimes been a formidable adversary to her administration, but she generally was a reasonable person. The same was not true of everyone here.
"Well, then," Roslin began. "Let's get down to business, shall we? As you all know, our last jump has brought us to a location within a very short distance of our objective, the planet Earth." Roslin waited while the members of the Quorum applauded, then continued. "The good news is that the people of Earth are strong, and are willing to discuss our settlement among them. However, they have set a pre-condition, namely, that every member of this fleet undergo a blood screening in order to find any undiscovered Cylon infiltrators who may be living among us."
Tom Zarek, the representative of Sagittaron, interrupted. "President Roslin, as you know, the people of Sagittaron are very traditional and many of them reject modern medicine. They will resist any attempt to force such screenings upon them. As their representative, I cannot vote in favor of this proposal." Several other delegates proceeded to get into a loud verbal altercation with Zarek, with one of them (Safiyah Sanne of Picon) going so far as to call the Sagittarons "stubborn root-sucking jackasses," leading Zarek to spit at Sanne from across the table.
"Shut the frack up and sit your asses down!," Admiral Adama finally shouted, moving to pull the delegates apart. He grabbed Sanne by the shoulder and physically pushed him back into his seat.
"Yes," Roslin shouted. "Stop this foolishness now!" Reluctantly, the delegates resumed their seats. With a frown, Roslin looked at Zarek. She had known that Zarek would find a way to disrupt these proceedings. But she had to admit, he raised a valid point.
"Mr. Zarek," she said, "I recognize and respect the traditions of the people of Sagittaron."
"Respect, Madame President?," Zarek said, shaking his head. "The history of my planet is not one of respect by the government of the Twelve Colonies, nor by the people of the other planets. I beg leave to doubt that you respect our traditions."
Roslin could feel anger rising within her, but she fought to control it, knowing that giving into it would be playing into Zarek's hands. She took a deep breath, and then smiled.
"We are aware of the unfortunate history of Sagittaron, and the exploitation of it's people by the other colonies," she said. "On behalf of the other colonies, I here and now apologize for this. It is time that we put ancient…and, I will admit, some modern…history aside. We, here on this fleet, are all that is left of the Twelve Colonies. We cannot continue to allow old hatreds to divide us. The Twelve Colonies are gone. The worlds where those hatreds grew are gone. The past is dead. Let it bury it's dead, and let us move on."
The response to Roslin's statement was a thunder of applause from the assembled delegates. Even Tom Zarek, irked though he was that he had failed to provoke Roslin, clapped with the rest of the delegates.
"Mr. Zarek," Roslin continued. "The blood screenings are not optional. If we are going to be accepted by the people of Earth, they must be sure that we are human, as they are. Are you, or people you represent, willing to jeopardize the survival of everyone in this fleet by refusing to undergo the screenings?"
Zarek frowned, but did not immediately answer. Instead, Gaius Baltar spoke up.
"How do we know this blood screening is even an accurate test to determine if someone is a Cylon or not?," he demanded. "My own studies indicate that detecting a humanoid Cylon is impossible. My own Cylon Detector, as we all know, failed."
"The medical technology of the people of Earth may be superior to our own," President Roslin said. "And our equipment to conduct reliable medical screenings aboard this fleet is quite limited. We had to flee into space quickly, and much that we had developed was left behind. Your Cylon Detector, as I recall, was not a medical screen, but a screening to detect synthetic elements at the molecular level. And I have seen convincing evidence that their test is a valid one."
"And what evidence is that?," Baltar continued to press. "How do we know these tests won't lead to false labeling of humans as Cylons?"
"We sent samples of blood taken, before their execution, from the various Cylons we have captured," Roslin replied. "Every Cylon sample contains the same unique genetic mutations which are never found in any confirmed human sample. The test appears to work with 100% accuracy."
Baltar was about speak again when he was interrupted by Howard Sewell. "Dr. Baltar," Sewell said, "we are very interested in examining your Cylon Detector. The principle of it seems sound, and quite frankly, we are mystified that it didn't work."
When Baltar heard that, he was terrified. For of course, his Cylon Detector DID work, but he had chosen to cover this fact up with a fabric of lies. And he had, albeit unintentionally, colluded with the Cylons…or at least, with one particular Cylon, who still haunted him even after being killed during the Cylon attack on Caprica. In his mind, the beautiful blonde Cylon known as Number Six was taunting him. "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive," she said, laughing. "Your secret is about to be revealed." Baltar shook his head and suddenly stood up. "Be quiet!," he muttered out loud…much louder than he'd intended.
President Roslin looked at him strangely. "What do you mean, be quiet, Dr. Baltar? To whom are you speaking?"
Baltar snapped out of the mental struggle with the Cylon whose, what…Ghost? Memory? Secret mind-control program?…inhabited his mind, and said. "I'm sorry, but you can't do that, Mr. Sewell."
"May I ask why, Dr. Baltar?," Sewell asked. "After all, President Roslin has agreed that all Colonial technologies are to be shared with the government of Earth."
Baltar's terror rose to a new peak. "Because," he said quickly, "I dismantled it." This was a lie, of course, and he knew it. In his head, Number Six was laughing louder than ever. "You're so pathetic," she sneered. "It's amazing I ever thought you could be God's instrument." Baltar ignored her as best he could, and pressed on. "It was a useless piece of equipment, and I felt that the components could be put to other, more productive use. Since then the components have been scattered as requests came in from other departments and ships. I have no idea how to reassemble them again." If I can just get time to go to my lab, he thought desperately to himself, I can make at least part of this lie come true.
Sewell looked disappointed. Roslin frowned, clearly suspicious. But neither of them challenged Baltar. Inside his head, Number Six stopped laughing. "Well, it appears you've fooled them again," she said. "Maybe you aren't so useless and pathetic after all." Baltar smiled and sat back down. He looked at President Roslin. "Madam President, to return to the subject at hand," he said. "Until I see the proof that this test really works, I cannot vote in favor of forcing anyone to undergo these screenings, either." Several other delegates nodded their head in agreement. Baltar glanced at Tom Zarek, who was smiling at him.
Roslin sighed. "Well, we appear to have a problem. Either we screen everyone, or the people of Earth will not allow us to settle among them." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke again. "All right, then. We won't force the people to undergo these screenings." Commodore Ross looked at her with amazement. Roslin looked back, and smiled. Then she looked at the delegates, one by one. Her face assumed a hardness that had only been seen when she watched captured Cylons being ejected into space through an open airlock door. "But know this…and make it clear to your people. No person who refuses to undergo screening will be allowed to settle on Earth."
"What is to become of them, then," Sarah Porter asked.
"They will be interned aboard one of your ships, whose engine will be disabled to prevent it's escape into space, and placed in orbit around our moon," Commodore Ross said, "until such time as they agree to undergo screening, or until after the completion of our war with the Chigs, whichever comes first. Once the Chigs are defeated, they will be settled on a habitable world in another star system…with no means of leaving said world. There they can build whatever society they wish."
"You see, delegates, there really is no choice here," President Roslin said. "Either we accept these terms or we continue our flight into deep space and forget about settling on Earth. So what will it be? Who votes in favor of accepting the terms?"
The silence in the room was almost tangible. Then one by one, the delegates raised their hands. Only Baltar and Tom Zarek refused.
"Well then," President Roslin said, "it appears we have a clear majority. Commodore Ross, the government of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol accepts the terms laid out by the government of Earth."
Commodore Ross stood, and offered his hand, which Roslin took. "Then we will immediately send over medical teams to begin collecting samples."
"They will be made welcome, Commodore," Roslin said. Ross smiled and sat back down.
Admiral Adama had his doubts. He knew that Tom Zarek had connections with some very unsavory elements within the fleet who could cause a LOT of trouble. I hope they will be made welcome, he thought to himself. Because if they are not, only the gods know what will come of it.