Everything was a frakking mess. "Due to current circumstances I am declaring martial law until the President recovers." Adama had declared martial law an hour ago and he still had no idea what it had accomplished if anything. "The Vice President will remain aboard Galactica for his safety." Zarek had remained onboard involuntarily for further interrogation. He was sitting in the brig while Adama resumed his seat beside Roslin in sickbay. He knew he was trapped in a stalemate waiting for someone to make their move. He needed answers. Now he knew how Saul must have felt like after the governmental collapse that had left him in command of the Fleet.

Bill had returned to sickbay for a moment of reassurance and perhaps to search for inspiration too. He held Laura's hand and watched her breathing. She still hadn't woken up and when he had expressed his concern to Cottle the doctor had replied that she was in a stable condition, probably enjoying the vacation and would wake up when she decided that she was rested enough. Knowing how exhausted she had been lately, it would probably be a while. What a way to get a break from Fleet business. Maybe next time we should plan to take our "vacations" together.

He smiled momentarily at his private joke and tried to relax, but it was proving rather problematic. There was still a dull ache in his shoulder from Leoben. At least that frakking machine is no longer on my list of problems. The fall he'd taken hadn't helped that injury any and it wasn't liable to go away anytime soon. His knuckles on his right hand were definitely bruised and made his entire hand stiff. To top it all off the cramp in his neck was back. Oh, to be young again…

He would give anything for the past twelve hours to have simply been a dream, to be back at his desk with Laura massaging the knots out of his shoulders, with no concerns except for paperwork from the night watch that he couldn't concentrate on. Or to be back to the night before, sitting down to dinner with a good bottle of wine. If he had known that this is where they would end up today he would have stayed to finish their dinner. They would have talked about the books they wished they had more time to read. He would have made her smile—dear Gods he missed her smile—with some spontaneously romantic gesture or she would have laughed when he failed miserably at it. So many little sacrifices made for the good of the Fleet, but such was the nature of ensuring humanity's survival and protecting the lives of the 41,000 people entrusted to them.

Bill felt better just being in the room with her while he tried to clear his head. The man with the answers was Gaius Baltar, but normal interrogation methods and even some abnormal ones had failed to yield any results. There had to be a way to get the information he needed. Think this through Bill. You're not an idiot either. You can figure this out if you just think.

Baltar had managed New Caprica poorly. He had gotten people into situations that could leave them in trouble now that everyone was back in space. Those people could be trying to kill Baltar to guarantee the safety of their secrets lest they come out at trial. People like Zarek would know that the only way to get to Baltar would be to plunge the Fleet into chaos and keep the leaders distracted. Exactly that had happened, but Gaius was still alive in his cell and the security around him had been increased. Short of blowing up the Galactica, no one was going to get to him now.

It followed then, that if someone like Zarek or one of his followers were going to kill their former President they would have made their attempt after Colonial One had been blown to bits or in the midst of the assassination attempt. It would be much too late now. So logic says that no one's trying to kill him, at least not with this kind of elaborate planning and that includes Zarek. That left three options; a mysterious third party with unknown motives was merely trying to terrorize the Fleet, Azron Tane just had a personal grudge against Roslin to settle, or—or Baltar was blackmailing people and the assassination attempt wasn't meant as a distraction, it was a genuine attempt on Roslin's life.

Adama leaned over to kiss Laura on the cheek, whispered a quick thank you for the moment of inspiration and had Saul meet him down in the brig for a little conversation with Gaius. The Admiral stopped off at his quarters on the way and consequently arrived in the brig after Saul.

-xxx-

"Colonel Tigh, Admiral Adama, to what do I owe the inestimable pleasure of your company?" asked Gaius from his cot on the floor of his cell.

"Open cell," ordered Adama without looking at Gaius. A Marine private stepped forward and opened the cell. "Get him on his feet and hold him still."

"What're you doing?" Baltar tried to scramble away from the two guards that went in to secure him. "Excuse me what do you think you're doing? Get your hands off me!"

"Colonel Tigh."

"Sir."

"If you'd do me a favor," said Adama. He handed Saul an old service revolver that he kept loaded in the second drawer in his desk. The weapon had gotten him out of some tough scrapes in the past and he hoped it could manage the job again. "I would like you to remove the bullets from the chamber except for one. Choose which one at random." Gaius continued to struggle while Saul followed the Admiral's orders. "I said hold him still! Saul, the gun please." Tigh handed Adama the revolver and the extra bullets with a slight nod and a downward glance.

"Thank you Colonel." Adama pocketed the extra bullets. "That'll be all." Tigh nodded again and left while Baltar finally settled down. The Admiral looked down at the gun in his hand. "There's a game the Viper pilots played back when I used to fly. I know it's a little before your time, but you've probably heard of it," he said nonchalantly. "Someone would put a bullet into the empty chamber of an old issue service revolver—" Adama cocked the weapon. "And we'd take turns firing the gun at the nuggets that had just joined our squadron. We used to call it—"

"Caprican roulette," finished Gaius. "I'm familiar with it. It was banned after it put six pilots in the Delphi Academy morgue. If you think you can intimidate me into, into—well into what I don't know exactly, but if you think I'm going to tell you anything you're sadly mistaken."

"Normally you'd be right Doctor," replied Adama. He looked up from the revolver and fixed a calm stare on Gaius. "I wouldn't expect something like a death threat to bother you at all because…you think I won't do it." Adama stood in front of the open cell door, raised the gun and pointed it at Baltar's chest. "Normally I wouldn't, but you see Doctor these aren't normal times. I've declared martial law so you no longer have any right to a trial. And everyone knows that ever since I got shot by a Cylon I've been a lot more prone to emotional outbursts than I used to be. Now here I am at the end of a long day of trying to bully answers out of people because I've been very upset today with the President of the Colonies being in sickbay and I think, I still just might be feeling a little emotional about that. So here's what's going to happen; I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer them or I'm going to pull this trigger."

"You don't honestly expect me to believe—" Adama squeezed the trigger and there was a click.

"That's one," he said. "Now being a genius I'm sure you can calculate the odds of your getting shot if we try this again, but don't forget that Colonel Tigh does not like you very much. So odds are, this bullet is a lot closer up in the chamber than you think. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he left more than one in." He cocked the weapon again.

"Have you gone raving mad?" He pointed the revolver at Baltar and squeezed the trigger again. Another click.

"That's two." Adama cocked the weapon again.

"All right! All right, I believe you, what do you want to know?" Baltar's voice had taken on a slightly higher pitch. He believed. Good.

"Are you responsible for the destruction of Colonial One?" Baltar glanced to his left and stared at a spot in midair as if it contained something important. "Doctor," snapped Adama. "Are you responsible for the destruction of Colonial One?"

"How could I be?" he mumbled in reply. He looked back at Adama. "How could I be? You've had me locked me up, locked up for how long now? I can't believe you, you're asking—"

"Did you blackmail Azron Tane into trying to assassinate the President of the Colonies?"

"I have, no idea, what you are talking about." Adama dropped the angle of the gun and squeezed the trigger. There was a flash and the familiar ring of a gunshot. The bullet had hit Gaius in the kneecap. Baltar cried out in pain and collapsed. The Marine guards held him up.

"Ah!—What? You—oh, God—" Adama checked the chamber. He tapped out a second bullet and showed it to Baltar.

"I told you Saul probably left in more than one," said The Admiral. Tigh's downward glance and his second nod had told the Admiral all he had needed to know. Two empty chambers. Two bullets. Such was the advantage to having close friends.

"He really must not like you." Adama put the bullet back. "Now are you going to tell me the truth or do I have to put the next one higher up?"

"I—oh, God, oh God—you frakking bast—gah—" The Admiral cocked the gun again. Baltar heard it and started to mumble gibberish.

"Gaius! Tell me the truth or the next one goes through your head," barked Adama. The Doctor started to hyperventilate and had to visibly get himself under control.

"All right," he breathed. "I, did it. Are you—satisfied?"

"Tell me how."

"I just, sent a message, though my lawyer—I threatened to expose—I—told them to do, whatever it took. That bitch—she—the pages. Oh God my leg—" Bill's expression finally darkened at that remark. Apparently Roslin's hatred for Baltar was matched by an equal hatred of her by Baltar.

"Who else is involved? Zarek?"

"No—I knew you would assume he—ah —Warner—Nathaniel Warner—Jago Antares—Ryan Halvar and Tane, that's it—I swear. They were, NCP. They were NCP. Oh God I'm going to bleed to death—really, would you—"

"Thank you Doctor," said the Admiral. Adama stepped into the cell and pushed Baltar down onto his knees. "I'm sure Tom will be pleased to know that he's been cleared. Now that I know he's innocent I have no qualms about taking his advice."

"What? What are you talking about—No, no I—" Tears and panic were written all over Gaius' face. Adama raised the revolver level with Baltar's chest. "Please—I told you—" Bill had decided to spare himself the trouble of a trail. There were probably a lot more former NCP officers that Gaius could blackmail and he wasn't going to risk allowing Baltar to try again. He wasn't going to risk losing Laura again.

A second gunshot rang out in the brig and the former President of the Colonies Gaius Baltar fell dead onto the floor.

The Admiral ordered Zarek's release. The Vice President most likely still had his secrets, but Adama suspected that they were somehow much less dangerous to Roslin than Gaius Baltar's had been.

Bill went to his quarters to return the revolver to its hiding place and clean the blood off his hands. Then he would return to sickbay to wait for Laura to wake up. He was done with having his buttons pushed and wasn't going to deal with anyone else today.

Note: And this chapter started out so nice… but um, yeah. Really people should know better than to upset the Admiral, eventually his patience wears out completely and someone ends up dead… Oops. I've suspected he did some crazy stuff back in the good old days.