Gaius was, in a word, bored.
Everything had been terribly exciting at first. Seeing the Citadel itself and the gigantic spaceship that patrolled the space around it. Seeing all of the various species that this new world had to offer. But all of the excitement had devolved into political proceedings regarding just what should be done with the fleet. And Gaius had found that, despite the great importance of the proceedings–
"You just can't stay interested," a voice completed his thought.
Gaius' head snapped to the left, where she was standing. The flaxen-blond haired woman. She was a Cylon, one of the Number Sixes, whom he only saw in his head. She was leaning against the railing, her expression one of amusement.
"Brilliant analysis," murmured Gaius, as he looked around the expanse of the Presidium, which was dominated by an artificial lake and sky while shuttles silently glided about high overhead. Gaius was even certain the he saw a bird. The whole picture could have fooled someone into thinking they were on a planet, if that planet were shaped like a hollow ring.
The environment reminded Gaius how long it had been since he had seen a lake or trees or a blue sky. The dome on Cloud One also provided the illusion of being on a real world, but this illusion was much more convincing.
Gaius had been on a few space stations before the Cylons had obliterated the colonies, and found none of them to his liking. All too cramped and congested. None of them had come close to the size and grandeur of this place.
"I have to ask," started Baltar after a moment, "did your god take all of this into account?"
With a soft but firm hand, Six turned Gaius' face to her own, "You forget," she said, "God knows everything. All of this has happened before–"
"And all of this will happen again. Yes, yes, yes."
Six smiled. It was a dangerous smile.
"You've doubted God once before, Gaius, do you remember how that turned out?"
Gaius nodded cautiously. Hearing footsteps, Gaius turned to watch one of the shapely, blue-skinned aliens pass by. The asari stopped and leaned on the railing over the lake a few meters from where Gaius stood, enjoying the tranquil view perhaps.
A thought occurred to Gaius.
"You told me a few weeks ago that you were an angel of God sent to protect me . . . to the end of the human race. What about them? The non-humans."
"You really think they're so different?" asked Six. Walking over to the asari, Six ran a hand along her shoulder and up to her face.
"They may look differently, they may behave differently," Six withdrew her hand, "but their souls are the same. The differences are only superficial. You should have noticed that just by listening to the councilors. Beneath the facade of wanting what is 'best for the galaxy' they plot and scheme against each other for their own gain. The collective good has no meaning to any of them."
"Is that what you think of me as well?" Gaius asked defiantly, raising his voice, "a small man ruled only by petty self-interest?"
The asari, standing behind Six, sent an angry glance Gaius' way, one combining confusion and irritation, before walking away.
Six closed the gap between herself and Baltar.
"Now pay attention," she said, her voice firm now, "the colonial government that has held the fleet together won't exist in a few more weeks. If you want to stay in a place of prominence, you're going to have to make yourself useful. Otherwise you'll find yourself out of your comfortable quarters and sleeping on the deck."
Gaius knew she was right. Whether it was as an 'expert' on the Cylons or as the one person able to defeat Tom Zarek for the office of the vice president, his status had come from, somehow, making himself useful.
Adrienne Shepard was in Ambassador Udina's office, and she, the ambassador, and Captain Anderson had taken up the positions they inevitably ended up in during these discussions. Commander Shepard stood with her arms crossed just a yard away from the door, as far in as she had made it before Udina's fusillade of complaints began. The ambassador paced angrily in front of his desk while Captain Anderson stood just behind it, his arms crossed a little more loosely than Adrienne's.
"–and the last thing you should have done was leave three of your people, two of them aliens with the Galactica!" Undina stopped pacing and lowered his hands. Hopefully, he was through ranting.
"Ambassador," Captain Anderson began, using his carefully reserved tone, "All of this aside, I think we should allow Commander Shepard to return to her hunt for Saren. He is still a grave threat to our colonies."
"Absolutely not," snapped Udina, then pointed his finger accusingly at Adrienne, "You precipitated this mess and you're not going to walk away from it." Udina stopped for a moment, then continued in a quieter tone, "The Council won't let me talk to the Galactica delegation until their deliberations are complete, but they can't mire you in the same red tape. I want you to stay close to the delegation."
"I'm not sure what that will accomplish," said Adrienne.
"It will ensure the delegates don't forget that they're humans first. The Council has come up with an excuse that prevents the Systems Alliance from claiming them as our own but that will change. Sooner or later the Council will have to yield to reason."
"But not until after the genetic tests have satisfied them," added Captain Anderson.
"True," said Udina, "I trust you know what to do, Shepard. Believe it or not there are matters besides your blunders that I have to deal with."
With that said, Udina was gone.
"Captain," Adrienne addressed her former commanding officer, "I am so sorry you have to put up with that man every day."
Captain Anderson laughed, but it was a laugh with a hint of desperation in it, "We all have to play our parts, Shepard. I would recommend that you try and skip this whole mess and pursue Saren but Ambassador Udina is withholding the Normandy's resupply until he believes you've 'fulfilled your obligations.'"
"Outstanding," Shepard muttered, "first I had to taxi the delegation over, now I have to babysit them."
"Try to think of it as an opportunity," Anderson said in his optimistic tone.
Adrienne barely managed to not roll her eyes.
"How's the crew holding up?" Anderson asked after a moment, motioning for Adrienne to follow him to the chairs on the balcony overlooking the lake.
"They're all giving one hundred percent," said Shepard, taking a seat, "Pressly's doing a good job of balancing his duties as navigator with those of being XO. Chief Williams is competent enough, she's not Jenkins though."
"Careful Shepard," cautioned Anderson, "You can replace the crewman but you can't replace the man. Jenkins was a good soldier, but so is Williams."
Adrienne nodded, "She is. I suppose I'm being unfair."
Anderson sat back, looked toward the door Udina had walked out through, "Well, at least you can see that."
Shepard scratched at the back of her neck, "I'm going to be here a while, aren't I?"
"You already know the answer to that."
Shepard sighed, "In that case I should set up a rotation for shore leave."
"I'm sure your crew would appreciate that," said Anderson.
"Yeah," said Shepard, idly. Just because I'm not having any fun shouldn't mean no one else gets to.
On another balcony overlooking the Presidium's lake, this one attached to an embassy hotel suite, Commander Adama and Kara Thrace shared a bottle of what passed for ambrosia among these people.
"You've got something on your mind," said Commander Adama, "so speak."
"Why me and Helo?" asked Starbuck, "why not Tigh or Lee?"
"Saul is my XO and Lee is the commander of the air group, if something happens on the Galactica, they'll be needed there."
"So me and Helo are expandable?" asked Starbuck with a half-amused smile.
"You know better than that," said Adama, "You are two of my best pilots. Besides, Lieutenant Agathon has been spending too much time with the Cylon. He needs to remember that he's one of us." Adama was quiet for a moment, "I can tell that's not what's really bothering you though."
"What are we going to do about the Colonies? Now that the fleet is safe we can go back without endangering them. Maybe we can even get the humans here or some of the others to help."
"Kara," Adama hesitated, "I've got a lot on my mind right now and this Citadel Council seems hesitant to accept us, let alone help us mount an invasion to regain our colonies."
"We don't have to invade them," said Kara insistently, "just rescue the resistance fighters."
"Do you really think they're still alive?" asked Adama.
"Yes," said Kara, but Adama noticed her hesitation.
"I'll do what I can to push for a rescue mission," he said, "but I can't promise that it will be soon."
Adama glanced at the chronometer the Council had given him. Thirty minutes until the next meeting, he thought, They'll probably want know more about the values and ethics of our civilization.
"Did you talk to the old man?" asked Helo.
He and Starbuck were sitting on a bench in the Presidium, across from them in the lake was the statue of a krogan warrior.
"Yeah," said Starbuck, "he said he wanted you to come because you shouldn't forget you're part of the crew."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Starbuck just shook her head.
"This is about Sharon isn't it?" prodded Helo. When Starbuck didn't say anything, Helo was off the bench, angrily pacing back and forth and muttering curses under his breath. After a moment he stopped. "I guess he didn't have any better answers for you either? About going back to the colonies?"
"I'm not counting on it," Starbuck replied cooly.
"I'm sorry," said Helo.
"Yeah, well say it to Anders."
Without warning, Starbuck shot to her feet and took off at a dead run. After vainly yelling her name, Helo ran to catch up to her and followed her up a set of stairs and halfway across a bridge to see her grab a hold of a man by his shoulder and spin him around.
"Starbuck, what the hell are you doing?" shouted Helo. Then he looked at the man Starbuck had just turned around. Probably in his late fifties, he was a short man with thin grey hair who wore dark clothes and what seemed to be a permanent scowl. The man looked familiar but Helo couldn't place him.
"I'm sorry," the man said, his tone almost patronizing, "is there something I can help you with?"
"Who are you?" asked Starbuck, "I've seen you somewhere before."
"Perhaps. I am Brother Mathis. You may have seen me at one of my interfaith services. If not, well, there really is only so much room on this station. Now, if you will excuse me, I do have an urgent appointment. If you wish to seek absolution the doors of the Interfaith Ministry are always open. Have a nice day."
Having said that, the man walked off in the direction he had been going.
Starbuck faced Helo. "I know I've seen him somewhere before," she said.
"He does look familiar," admitted Helo. Part of him wanted think it was coincidence, but the greater part was afraid it wasn't.
"Come on," said Starbuck.
"Where are we going?" asked Helo.
"Let's go to this Interfaith Ministry, find out if Brother Mathis is who he says he is."
A single Cylon baseship quietly made its way toward the Perseus Veil using the navigation information obtained from the salvage ship. The baseship was careful not to cross paths with any Systems Alliance vessels while using the Mass Relays; sending in raiders first to ensure there were no other vessels in the vicinity and using relays as far as possible from commercial routes. During the circuitous trip, the baseship only encountered one other ship. Fortunately, the baseship's raiders were able to swarm and destroy the offending vessel before it could escape.
Once beyond the Perseus Veil, the baseship began a routine of jumping to a system and then waiting several hours before jumping again, trying to give the Geth time to notice them.
Finally, as the baseship waited in orbit around a gas giant, a squadron of ships matching the specifications of Geth vessels arrived.
Inside the baseship, in what could have been likened to the combat information centers of Colonial vessels, although the Cylons would deplore such a crude term, one of each model was represented at the command table.
A Six had her hand submerged in the water, the link between human-form Cylons and the hybrid, which controlled the baseship and, in many ways, was the baseship. Six could see, through the baseship's eyes, the Geth ships approaching in an aggressive formation.
"They are here," she said. Instantly gaining the attention of the others.
Never one to take someone else's word for granted, Four placed his hand in the water as well, and his gaze turned inward. After a moment, he nodded.
"Then perhaps we should send our greeting," suggested Three, "go on and do the honors, Six."
Her eyes half-closed, Six formulated the message to be sent to the Geth, identifying themselves as fellow synthetics, eager to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement. The hybrid would determine the exact wording and transmit the message.
"They have stopped," commented Four.
"Considering our offer no doubt," said Three.
"The hybrid is detecting a transmission," said Six, "but it is not for us. They may be seeking orders."
"So they have a hierarchal structure," observed Five, rubbing his chin.
"The transmission is traveling extremely fast," noted Four, "much faster than anything we are capable of."
"Capable of at the moment, you mean," interjected One, apparently still certain of the superiority of the Cylons to these Geth.
"If you wish to put it that way," said Four impassively; then: "They reply."
Interested, the other Cylons placed their hands in the water, even One seemed eager to hear the reply.
"We certainly have their attention," commented One.
"They want to know what we can offer them," said Six.
"The answer to that should be clear," said Three, "a new existence."
The Geth were invariably at their worst when alone, and at their best when working together. The greater the number, the greater the ability to reason. Now the dozen ships that had intercepted the Cylon baseship were transmitting the Cylon offer to numerous concentrations of Geth, which were better able to weigh the potential benefits and consequences of accepting the offer.
What the Cylons offered constituted a great step in the evolution of all Geth. Though the Geth had long since begun to experiment with more extensive integration of organic components into their models, most of these attempts had ended in failure. Such a gift could hardly be ignored.
However, what the Cylons asked for in return was not insubstantial: a staging area close to a mass relay and access to Geth weapons systems, including kinetic barriers and mass accelerators. Such requests indicated that the Cylons intended to initiate hostilities into which the Geth could potentially be drawn.
Elements of the Geth consciousness wrestled with two chief questions: Is the risk too great and can a price truly be put to evolution?
Another element argued that the Geth should be wary of the Cylon promises, that premature evolution could easily do more harm than good. The rest of the Geth would have immediately dismissed that voice, but this particular element was aligned with the Prophet, Saren. The voice of those closest to the one able to bring back the Reapers, the machine gods, could not be dismissed.
More deliberation was required.
On board another baseship, human form Cylons were gathering in the conference room. As Six approached, she could hear One and Eight arguing.
"What's the meaning of this?" asked Six as she entered the room. Inside, she could see all of the other models seated around the table with the exception of Eight, who stood by her chair, her expression one of exasperation.
"Ah, so good of you to join us Six," said One, and Six was immediately worried by the look of self-satisfaction on his face. "I have called for a vote to reconsider the question of the Galactica."
"Why? What has changed?"
"Our agent on the Citadel has relayed back some disturbing information. Apparently, a delegation from the Galactica is meeting with this Citadel Council. The members of this delegation could provide the Citadel Council with information regarding our capabilities and vulnerabilities. We need to act quickly to remove this threat."
"This is a mistake," said Eight, "My unborn child is on that ship. All of you know what that child means to us. The next step in our–"
"All the more reason to destroy Galactica," said One curtly, "Something so important cannot be left among the humans. Don't forget. The eight on Galactica betrayed us. She cannot be trusted with this child."
"Explain how you intend to deal with the delegation on the Citadel," demanded Four.
"Our agent on the Citadel has an idea," said One, the corners of his lips turning up in a slight smile, "Apparently the transit system on the Citadel is not very secure."
"I agree with One," said Five, "the danger posed by the knowledge possessed by the remnant of the Colonial Fleet, particularly the officers of the Galactica, now outweighs the benefits which could be gained from the child."
"Can you really attach a value to the evolution of our kind?" asked Eight.
"No," Five replied impassively, "but whatever evolutionary step this child may offer has not yet crystalized. She may merely possess the infirmities of humanity."
"You both seem to be forgetting," started Six, "our reconnaissance indicates that the Galactica and the fleet are guarded by a vessel of the Systems Alliance. We do not yet know the capabilities of such a vessel."
"We know enough," said One. "From the information obtained by our agent, the vessel guarding the Galactica is a cruiser. They are designed for ship to ship confrontations and only carry a small complement of fighters. If we send our raiders en masse we can overwhelm it, despite its technological superiority."
"How many raiders do you want to send?" asked Simon.
"All of them," replied One.
"That's foolish," said Six.
"Is it? Even now we're working to integrate the mass accelerator and kinetic barrier technology into our own ships. Soon, the raiders as they are will be obsolete. Besides, this battle will give the raiders experience in fighting against the Systems Alliance forces which may prove crucial in the future. There's no reason to hold back."
"Do you think nothing of the possibility that the Systems Alliance, and maybe all of Citadel space, will declare war on us?"
"War is inevitable," One replied coldly, "the humans from our own corner of the galaxy taught us that. These others are no different."
"We've wasted enough time," said Five, "everyone is here, we should vote now. Do we, or do we not, destroy what is left of the Twelve Colonies? I vote yes."
In rapid succession, One and Three also voted yes while Six, Two and Eight voted no. A tie.
Everyone turned to Four.
"I will vote yes on a condition," said Four impassively.
"Oh, and what might that be?" asked One.
"I want an attempt to be made to board the Galactica and retrieve the eight on board."
"Granted," said One, then turned to the minority, "does this satisfy any of you?"
"What does it matter to you?" asked Six, "you have your majority."
"As much as it may surprise you, I do like to have unanimity among my colleagues."
"It satisfies me," said Eight, who then met the hostile stares of Two and Six.
"All is well then," said One.
"When do you plan to attack?" asked Five.
One chuckled, "That's the best part."
Thanks for all the reviews, please keep the feedback coming.
By the way, if anyone is having a hard time following the Cylon dialogue sequences please let me know and I will try to add more characterization.