There were days when Vice-President Tom Zarek wondered exactly which lord of Kobol had possessed him to accept Laura Roslin's offer of the Vice-Presidency. And if he ever managed to answer that question, next he would wonder exactly what he had done to that particular lord to deserve this punishment. The Quorum had gathered once again, this time on the Astral Queen, for another discussion relating to the Cylon half-breed currently being housed on Galactica.

Tuning out some of the voices around him, Tom took a good look at the woman standing in front of him at the podium, shuddering as he realized how close he had come to inheriting this Pandora's box. Roslin was simply standing there, her hands folded on the podium, listening quietly to the same damn thing she had been listening to for the past three weeks since Galactica had rejoined the Fleet with the Eye of Jupiter and the baby.

Tom would rather have had Gaius Baltar and ten minutes in a locked room. That would have been a lot more fun than sitting through this ridiculous exercise again. Not only was it ridiculous and repetitive, but it was useless as well. Everyone was talking at once and no one was listening.

Compared to Baltar's crimes, would blowing up a room full of fourteen people really be that bad?

Chuckling to himself and sobering with the realization of what Roslin would do to him if she could read his thoughts right now, he sat up straighter and started paying attention.

"Madam President, I can't see why you refuse to understand that harboring that… that… thing onboard Galactica endangers the welfare of the entire fleet!" Sanne shouted, and Tom sighed again.

"You should've put it, and its Cylon mother, out the damned airlock when you had the chance!"

"She's not a thing." Maddeningly, infuriatingly calm, Laura Roslin kept her own voice deliberately low enough to force the rest of the room to stop shouting in order to hear her. "She's a baby and she's half-human. You're all forgetting that."

Everyone erupted at that, swallowing whatever Laura was going to say next. Yes, this would be a hot topic well beyond the time that baby was old enough to vote.

"As for her mother," Laura tried again as the eruption died down some, "I find it extremely sad that I have to remind all of you that, if not for Lieutenant Agathon's brave efforts during the rescue mission to New Caprica, none of us would be here right now. Admiral Adama has complete trust in her and I have complete faith in Admiral Adama's judgment."

"Forgive me, Madam President, but your faith in Admiral Adama is simply not good enough." Puasha stood up. "Let's not forget this is the man who allowed Baltar to bring us to our knees on New-"

"-not only that, but he left us to the Cylons for four months and when he showed back up, he managed to get the Pegasus destroyed."

"If I were all of you, and I am one of you," Laura said icily, "I would look around at where we are, recall that we're alive and relatively well and still finding our way to Earth. And after you recall that, remember the name of the man you have to thank for that."

"Adama got lucky!" Puasha protested. "If it wasn't for Pegasus, there'd be no one left alive right now!"

Everyone jumped as Laura's hand pounded on the podium.

"Enough!" she roared, in the first genuine show of emotion most of them had seen out of her in days. "Admiral Adama could have simply cut his losses and left all of us on New Caprica to die! I will not stand in this room and listen to a bunch of spoiled children second-guess his decisions!"

"I'm not promoting drastic measures here, but we've all agreed that allowing the Cylon child to remain on Galactica would be disastrous for the entire fleet." Porter called out, having the decency to shoot an apologetic look towards the President and Vice-President.

"The child will not be taken away from her parents a second time." Laura said firmly.

"So put all three of them in a frakking jail cell!"

Tom nearly groaned as he recognized his successor to the Quorum seat from Sagittaron made his presence known.

"Absolutely out of the question. Captain Agathon was standing in as XO of the Galactica during the rescue mission to New Caprica. Lieutenant Agathon has already performed above and beyond her oath in the relatively short time since her commissioning. These are two brave, decent Colonial officers, both of whom have taken an oath to serve and protect this fleet. I will not even consider throwing people in jail cells for fear of what might happen in the future."

"I'm sorry to have to bring this up, Madam President, but I believe your judgment on this issue is clouded."

Every head in the room snapped around to look at the relatively new representative from Caprica. Wallace Grey had enough conscience in him to look uncomfortable, but he refused to back down under the cool gaze of the President and the death ray he was currently receiving from the Vice-President.

'You frak-weasel,' Tom muttered to himself. He had seen enough back-stabbings in action to know that the one about to commence would be a back-stabbing of epic proportions.

"I'll hear what you have to say on the matter, Mr. Grey." Laura replied, gesturing to him to continue.

"The Cylon child saved your life. It's only natural that you should have a vested interest in its welfare." Wally remarked. "And if I remember correctly, the woman you placed the child with helped you while you were teaching on New Caprica. You had regular contact with it."

"If you're asking me if I developed a genuine fondness for Hera, the answer is yes." Laura replied. Over the gasps in the crowd, she went on to say, "But that's hardly the reason I won't have her removed from Galactica. She has parents who love her and want her and who are in a better position to care for her than they were when she was removed from their care the first time."


"Lock down all munitions lockers, now!" Tigh snarled at Helo, who was already reaching for the closest telephone to implement those orders. Looking over at Bill, whose face was set, the subtle lines brought into focus. "Admiral, I think we should-"

"Get on the wireless to the civilian ships in the vicinity." Bill ordered, almost reading his XO's mind. "Tell them to back away from this ship. If that bomb goes off down there-"

If that bomb goes off down there…

His own words hit him with almost the same force as two bullets had once upon a time. Without realizing it, Bill's free hand landed on his chest as an image filled his mind. Of grass and fresh air. Of controlled substances and the heady delight that came with the momentary freedom of being able to indulge.

Of a red shawl he had never seen before and hadn't seen since. Her muted giggles and her hand running comforting circles along his chest, dancing with the vague possibility of dipping lower. His determination to not give into his first urge, taking her right there on the ground by the river. Knowing that for their first time she deserved something better than a drunken, stoned frak in the chilly night air.

Had he known it would be his last chance, he would have frakked his noble intentions and then did the same thing to her.

An image of her cocked eyebrow and dismayed expression seeing the damage done to his face and, receiving his resignation, scrambling to soothe the damage done to his psyche and retrieve his self-confidence, knowing that he wouldn't have come to terms with his actions soon enough to do it himself.

Of the raw pain contained in her green eyes in the split second before she had turned away from him to run off with Starbuck.

His fist clenched on the console. Not like this.

"-knew just how long we have before that damn thing blows up!" Saul was shouting at Gaeta as Bill's focus returned to the matter at hand. "And tell whoever the hell you actually have on the phone down there to clear that corridor and make sure the President's one of the evacuees!"

"Yes, sir." Gaeta turned back to the phone, which he had been covering with his hand to consult with his superior. "Seelix, listen-"

"Starbuck still in there?" Tigh asked.

"Yes, sir. And Chief Tyrol." Gaeta replied, then went back to the phone. "And who else?"

The knot in Bill's stomach doubled in size as Gaeta's eyes went wide and the color bled out of his face. "What?" Gaeta demanded. "How did that happen?"

"Report, Mr. Gaeta." Saul ordered.

Blinking several times and staring at the phone as he hung up, Gaeta turned to the admiral and the XO, shaking his head. "Sir, the bomb's been defused and disposed of." he reported quietly.

The tension quickly leaked out of the room with his words. Saul relaxed enough to shoot a satisfied grin at Helo while sighs of relief and carefully muted whoops traveled around the room. Bill looked around, in time to see a visibly relieved Hoshi and Helo slapping each other's backs.

"'Atta girl, Starbuck." he remarked.

"Actually, sir, it wasn't Starbuck who defused the bomb." Gaeta reported. "It was President Roslin."


"Did you frakking see that?"

"I saw it, I'm not sure I believe it!"

"I didn't even know she knew how to diffuse bombs!"

"Way to go, ma'am."

Starbuck was the first to actually approach the President after the shockwaves of the incident slowly started to ebb off. Kara had never seen anything like what Laura had just pulled and was chagrined to realize that not only had she underestimated the President, but she had continued to underestimate the President even after she had proven to have balls of steel when necessary.

"Thank you, Captain." Laura accepted the handshake, still half-dazed, as people started to slowly file back into the hangar deck.

"Alright, I want every single Viper, every single Raptor, every shelf, compartment, nook, and cranny on this deck searched!" Chief Tyrol shouted, taking immediate charge of the situation. "If there are any more explosive devices around here, I'd like to find them before they detonate!"

"Hey, Chief, could your minions use some help?" Hotdog called as he came along with the crowd that was dispersing through the hangar deck. "Someone just tell me what to do and I'll do it." he added as he caught some of the wary glances being thrown his way.

His audience was not reassured.

"Aw, come on!" he complained. "One time I drop a couple of wrenches on someone's feet and I'm banned from the hangar deck for that?"

"Pretty ballsy move," Kara continued, ignoring the sudden chaos as Tyrol's deck crew sprang into action. "How did you know yanking every wire out of it wouldn't set the thing off before you had a chance to shove it in the tube?"

Laura wasn't sure if the expression she was gifting Starbuck with was an actual smile, because it had been a pretty damned long time since she had felt a real smile curving her lips, but this was closer than she had come in quite a while. She pondered the effects of adrenaline on one's mindset, because while she knew what the pilot was talking about, she didn't really recall all that much of what she had just done. She wasn't sure whether to be disturbed by that or not. "I don't remember if I ever actually heard Admiral Adama say this, or if the quote came to me secondhand, but I do believe that the admiral is quite fond of rolling hard sixes."

"I don't think this is what Admiral Adama has in my mind when he says that, ma'am." Jack remarked testily. Under his cool statement lay a tinge of white-hot anger that he was managing to mask. Just barely. He had no idea what his boss had been hoping to accomplish with that asinine move, but he would find out. He didn't give a damn whether it would be proper or not. He would get to the bottom of this if he had to find the nearest room with a lock and simply keep her in there until he had gotten some answers out of her.

And if that failed, there was always Admiral Adama to shake some sense into her.

Or perhaps Colonel Tigh, who was seeming more and more fond of the President lately, could talk it out of her.

Starbuck quickly glanced over at him in surprise at his tone. Her jaw dropped open and the expression on his face made her want to take a step back. A moment later, reason returned and she remembered that not only was it not her he was pissed at, but Kara was also reasonably sure she could take him in a street fight. But it was damned strange seeing Jack so pissed off.


Silence reigned in CIC for almost half a minute before Colonel Tigh recovered from his shock long enough to formulate a reply to Gaeta's bombshell. And even his reaction was something of a surprise to everyone.

"Didn't think she was paying attention when I was showing her how to put a bomb together," he mused thoughtfully, rubbing at his eye-patch.

"You did what?" Gaeta squawked, adding a hasty, "sir," when Tigh turned to glare at him.

"You were busy dropping things off for the Chief while I was teaching a bunch of people how to build bombs." Saul allowed carefully.

Gaeta shrugged.

"Son of a frakking bitch!"

Everyone's heads swiveled to face the source of that outburst, every single one of them disbelieving. Taking in the admiral's set jaw, the redness slowly spreading through his cheeks, his fists clenched on top of the table, most of those less courageous quickly turned away and went about their own work.

"I want her here." Bill hissed, turning his dreaded glare upon the XO. "Now."

His order was not to be followed with the usual speed and expediency, for in the very next moment, the ground suddenly rolled up underneath all of them, sending most of the officers flying into the nearest immovable object, or sprawling into the each other.

"Now what?" Helo groaned as he picked himself off Sergeant Hadrian, helping her to her feet with an apology.

"Sit rep!" Bill roared, sending everyone scrambling for information.

"Sir!" Dualla, having returned unnoticed in the middle of everything, waved him over to the communication grid. "There's been an explosion on Colonial One."