Chapter Thirty-Seven.

President Roslin's Residence.

"As you are aware, Madame President," Ambassador Richard Crispin said as he sat across the coffee table in Laura Roslyn's office, "the Cylon delegation has arrived and are currently being held in quarantine until their inoculations have taken effect. During this time we got some good security recordings of the delegation and we can tell you that they consist of a Six, and Eight and two we aren't familiar with."

Laura Roslin and her aide, Tory Foster, looked at one another and then turned back to Crispin. "Do you have any photographs of the delegation?" Roslyn asked.

Crispin nodded. "I have them on chip," he said. "May I use your holoviewer?" At Roslyn's nod he got up and walked over to the holoviewer. Taking out a chip he put it into the interface designed to take it and came back to his seat. Roslin handed him the controls and he activated it. Going through the menu he came to the file he wanted and, after opening it, opened the first picture file.

The holographic image of a Six appeared above the holoviewer. "This is the leader of the delegation," Crispin said. "She introduced herself as Caprica Six. Apparently, according to the Cylon defecters Fleet Intel has shown these images to, she was involved with some covert operation on your planet Caprica before the attack."

Roslin's face took on a thoughtful look. "Perhaps she played a part in placing the backdoor in the Colonial Fleet's Command Navigation Programme, thus allowing the Cylons to launch their attack virtually unopposed."

Crispin nodded. "I understand the Fleet techs have managed to eliminate any possibility of that happening again on those ships that have so far been serviced by them." He used the controls and another image was thrown up. "This is the Eight. She, like many of her kind, displays some familiarity with military protocol. She, however, did not introduce herself. We're thinking of asking Admiral Adama if he could allow your Lieu... ah, Major Agathon to be seconded to us, or at least have her in the vicinity when we begin negotiations. That is, of course, if you agree to our putting this request forward."

Roslin looked at the image as it floated in front of her. "I wonder..." she said. "That could be Boomer."

"'Boomer', Madame President?"

"Lieutenant Sharon Valerii. She was an infiltrator on board Galactica. Her hidden programming caused her to shoot Admiral Adama. She was later killed by one of her shipmates while being transferred to a holding area for interrogation."

Crispin nodded. "I see," he said. "We'll keep that in mind during the negotiations." He looked at Roslin. "I assume you'll still be taking part, Madame President?"

Roslin nodded. "And I have to say that I am grateful that you've included us in these negotiations," she said. "Doubtlessly you have your own motives for such a gesture, but it is appreciated."

"As you say, we do have our own motives," Crispin replied. "Including showing the Cylons that the Imperium will stand foursquare alongside our cousins in pretty much complete solidarity against any threat to the human race." Another image flashed up, one of a somewhat dishevelled male.

Roslin spoke. "Ah! Now that is most definitely not a Cylon. That is Doctor Gaius Baltar."

Crispin leaned in towards the image. "So this is the mysterious Gaius Baltar you've mentioned." He shot Roslyn a look. "How come he's with the Cylon delegation?"

"We left him behind on New Caprica," Roslin said. "It looks like the Cylons brought them with them. I wonder why?"

"Well, we may find out during the negotiations," Crispin said. "Now for the last member." Baltar's image was replaced by the image of a fairly attractive, blonde haired woman who appeared to be of late middle age. "Again, she doesn't match anything you've told us about the Cylons..." Crispin's voice trailed off as he saw the stunned look on both Roslin and Foster's faces. "Madame President? Is everything all right?"

After a long, stunned silence, Roslin spoke. "My Gods. That's Ellen Tigh!"

"Ellen Tigh?" Crispin said. "Is she connected with Colonel Tigh?"

Roslin nodded. "She... well, she was involved in betraying the resistance on New Caprica to the Cylons," she said. "She was sentenced to death by the resistance command... To drink hemlock, if I recall aright. Colonel Tigh volunteered to tell her of the command's decision and to administer the hemlock to her." She slowly shook her head. "And now we learn that she's a Cylon! And possibly one of the Final Five!" She looked at Crispin. "Your people did say that the remains they found in the base star's main control complex was female?"

Crispin nodded. "And, although we did succeed in extracting some DNA from its remains, we haven't been able to get a match with anybody in your population." He looked at the image. "So your surmise could be correct, especially given what you've told me just now."

"I wonder if they included her in order to throw off Saul Tigh?" Roslin said. "That could have an effect on how well he operates as Bill's XO."

"Well, she hasn't asked to be separated from the rest of the delegation," Crispin said, "nor has she asked to meet any particular person." He looked at Roslin. "So the question is: will you be informing Admiral Adama of this development? And will you be also informing Colonel Tigh of his... May I ask just what her connection with Colonel Tigh is?"

"She's his wife," Roslin said. "And I may need some time to think about this."

Crispin leaned back into the couch he was sitting in. "This could make things interesting." He looked at Roslin. "Interesting to note that the ones we found in that main control area are only somewhat more responsive to outside stimulus than the Cylon hybrid that helps to drive their ships. I wonder why?"

Foster spoke. "I take it you're holding them for seventy-two Terran Standard hours, the same as you did when we arrived in Sandoval?" Crispin nodded. "Then, Madame President, we have at least three Terran Standard days to work out what we're going to do. Remember that Sir Simon has arranged a 'dining in night' on Sandoval Hub for yourself and Admiral Adama, as well as Ambassador Crispin and Undersecretary Kinga the night before you're scheduled to meet with the Cylons."

"Thanks for reminding me, Tory," Roslin said. She turned back to Crispin. "Ambassador, thank you for coming to me with this information. It at least gives me sufficient warning to be able to come up with a strategy for my part of the meeting. Especially given that Ellen Tigh, whom I though was dead, will most likely be present." She looked at Crispin. "Would you object if I consult with Admiral Adama and Vice-President Zarek on this matter? I'm sure they may have something positive they can contribute to this."

Crispin inclined his head in agreement. "You really don't need my permission, Madame President," he said. "And I think your idea is an excellent one." He got up from the couch he was sitting on, with Roslin and Foster following him up. "Now, unless you have any other issues you wish to raise, I had better get going for my meeting with Sir Simon. And I can inform you that your information on this latest development will be of great importance."

Roslin smiled. "Thank you, Ambassador," she said. "If you like, Tory will show you out." Crispin gave Roslin the Terrans' habitual half-bow-and-heel-click and followed Tory out.

Roslin sat back down and, picking up her mug of coffee (This is much better than the equivalent we had back in the Colonies, she thought as she started sipping it. I wonder if we can get the Terrans to include this in the 'colonisation package' they're putting together for us?), began to think over what she had learned from Ambassador Crispin.

Tory Foster's voice came from the doorway. "Are you all right, Madame President?"

Roslin turned her head in Foster's direction and gave her a little smile. "Just mulling over what we've just heard." She indicated a seat opposite her. "Tory, please sit down."

As Foster sat Roslin said, "Interestingly enough, I was going to ask you if you were all right. I mean, discovering that Ellen Tigh, of all people, may be a Cylon..." She looked at Foster. "Did you have even the faintest suspicion?"

Foster shook her head. "It was a shock to all of us at the Ionian Nebula to discover that not only were we Cylons but to discover who else were." She slowly shook her head. "I have to admit that I am trying to see if there are any, well, memories or anything that could indicate that Ellen Tigh is possibly one of the Final Five, but..." She let out a sound of frustration. "It's almost as if there's something preventing me from accessing this!"

Roslin looked at Foster. "Could it be that there is a block of some kind on your memories?"

Foster sat back and thought for a moment. "That is what it feels like, Madame President," she said. "And I'm wondering if I shouldn't call on one of those Inquisitor-psychiatrists to see if he could remove the blockage." She looked at Roslin. "But I have to admit that I am somewhat scared at what he might find."

"Understandable." Roslin finished her coffee and stood. "In any case, I think I'll inform Admiral Adama of this development. He, at least, deserves to know." She looked at Foster. "And I think that Colonel Tigh also deserves to know, and that it may be best if it came from you."

"Me, Madame President?"

"You." Roslin gave her a small smile. "After all, you're both members of the Final Five." Roslin moved to her desk. "But I'll leave in your hands any decision to inform the others." She stopped and looked at Foster. "I think that, at least for your own peace of mind, you should talk to one of the, ah, Inquisitor-psychiatrists, about the possibility that there is a block of some kind on your memories." She shrugged. "Who knows? It may provide some answers to at least one of the several mysteries that are plaguing us."

Foster though on Roslin's words. "I think I'll take your advice, Madame President," she said. She then grinned. "But I think I'll call them after I've made a decent-sized dent in some of the paperwork that's clogging my desk."

********************

Fleet Hospital Complex 1223.

My Gods, thought Gaius Baltar as he looked around the palatial suite that had been made over to the Cylon delegation. If this is a military hospital then what in the names of the Gods must one of their civilian hospitals look like? Let alone a hotel!

The luxurious surroundings were only one aspect of their surroundings that had completely blown him away as he stood in front of the magnificent picture window and took in the incredible view. This puts Cloud 9 to shame, let alone a hotel on Caprica. It also allows us a particularly good look at what they've got in this system, not to mention just how frakking huge their warships are. Quite clearly, in a spacedock near the complex, he could see a Terran capital unit being worked on, with small points of light indicating areas where Terran yard workers, invisible at this distance against the huge hull of the vessel, were repairing damage on the massive vessel.

Baltar felt someone come up next to him. "Boomer tells me that type of ship is called a battlecruiser," said the person next to him. "Apparently they're used for scouting, raiding and hunting down commerce raiders." Baltar turned to face the person who was speaking. "Somewhat similar," continued Ellen Tigh, "to the Colonial Fleet's Tiger-class base star destroyers or the 'Fightingstar'-class ships, I suppose."

"But infinitely more deadly, I daresay." Baltar gestured at the holoviewer. "I take it you've been accessing the Terran databanks?"

Ellen nodded. "Definitely not what one would expect from the Thirteenth Tribe. That is, if they were the Thirteenth Tribe."

"You believe their claim to be humanity's senior branch?"

Ellen paused for thought and then nodded. "Everything I've seen so far, and, save for their military files, they've been pretty open in allowing access to their files, seems to indicate it," she said. "Which makes me wonder about Kobol."

"So you believe this story about these mysterious 'Precursors'?"

Ellen nodded. "Somehow, it makes sense," she said. She gave Baltar a look. "Incidentally, Caprica Six wants to have a quiet word with you. Didn't say what, but I suspect it may be related to our parts in this little embassy the Cylons have been forced to send." Baltar simply nodded and went to Caprica Six's room.

Entering it, he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, looking out at the starscape that was displayed in the massive picture window, watching Terran vessels moving to and fro. Baltar stood at the end of the bed and, for a little while, watched the view himself. "Impressive, isn't it?" he finally said.

Caprica Six jerked and turned to face Baltar. "What, the view, or the Terran achievement in taking this base from the Raptors and turning it to their own use?"

"Both I suppose." Baltar walked over to a chair and sat down in it. "Boomer says, and I agree, that this 'forward base' makes Picon look like an outpost. And the yards they have here put the Scorpion Yards in the Colonies to shame." He looked out the window. "Makes one wonder what their major fleet bases look like."

Caprica kept looking at Baltar with a strange look on her face. After a moment, Baltar said "Ellen Tigh said you wanted to speak to me about something."

Caprica Six, still with that strange look on her face, said, "Gaius, have you had any... visions?"

What the frack...? "Visions? Of what?"

"Of... seeing a person standing near you or in front of you that nobody else can see but you," Caprica Six said. "You must understand that I haven't asked any Cylons this: only you."

"And why are you asking me this?"

Caprica Six hesitated, and then said "Because something is telling me that you have been seeing something similar to what I've been seeing... until recently."

"And how recent is 'recently'?"

Caprica again hesitated. "When we encountered the Terrans."

Baltar hesitated. This was sounding uncomfortably like what had happened with his own 'inner Six', who had disappeared from his consciousness not long after the Cylons had encountered the Terrans. And he could easily understand Caprica Six's hesitation to speak about this to her fellow Cylons: hero of the Cylons or not, they could decide to have her boxed if they felt she was being delusional, something that was also hanging over D'anna Biers' head. Still, he was understandably reluctant to discuss his own 'vision', as Caprica Six put it, with her, even if her claim could be proven. "What did this, ah, 'vision', look like?"

Caprica paused, and then, looking Baltar straight in the eye, said, "He looks and sounds exactly like you, Gaius."

For a moment, Baltar said nothing. Then, hesitantly, he said, "Looks like me."

Caprica Six nodded. "I know what it sounds like, Gaius, but it's the truth. Why, I don't know, but he looks like you." She hesitated, and then said, "I think he's one of God's angels." Again an awkward silence fell between the two.

Then Gaius Baltar drew in a breath, looked at Caprica Six, and said, "I believe you." For a third time there was a silence between the two as they each absorbed what Baltar had just said.

Then Caprica Six said, "You believe me, Gaius? You really do believe me?"

Baltar nodded. "I believe you, because I have also seen one of these angels. She even called herself that: an angel of God."

"'She'?"

Baltar nodded. "She looks... well, she looks like you." A pause, and then, "Why they have chosen to appear like this, I honestly have no idea." A second pause. "And, I have to admit that she seems to have also disappeared."

"Could it be something to do with the Terrans?"

Baltar slowly shook his head. "Unfortunately, that I can't tell you."

********************

Unnamed System, Edge of the Conflict Zone.

The being that bore a resemblance to a Six walked through the deserted streets of the village that had been established by the survivors of the Raptor boarding party that had boarded Nike. Everywhere she saw deserted buildings that had been constructed from both materials that had been found on the planet and from bits of spacecraft. She also saw the signs of a carefully managed evacuation.

Entering what was apparently the settlement's main square, she saw, standing across from her and leaning against a structure that, from its design, appeared to be a religious structure of some kind, her colleague. He had, for some reason, opted for the appearance of Gaius Baltar.

"So good of you to come," he said as his colleague walked across the square.

"Well, you certainly picked an... interesting venue for this meeting," she said as she stopped in front of him. "I take it your choice of location has something to do with the current situation?"

"You mean about the Plan apparently going out of the airlock thanks to both the Colonials and the Cylons encountering the Terran Empire?" he said. "Not to mention the Raptor Domain."

"Well, the Terrans have shown a somewhat annoying facility for upsetting the carefully laid plans of our kind," she replied. "No doubt they've at least informed the Colonial leadership about humanity's real origins, and I wouldn't put it past them to have also informed the Cylons as well."

"Makes one wonder if we shouldn't have simply exterminated them when we had the chance," he said. "Their discovery of the observation base in their system, complete with technical information on our technology made that option moot. Now, we've got to watch this little war between the Terrans and the Raptors and hope that the right side gets up and wins. Which, unfortunately, does not seem to be happening, even with any assistance we've been giving the Raptors."

"Anyway, what are we going to do about the current situation," she said. "Personally, I'm not all that keen on appearing in front of Gaius Baltar when he's in the middle of a Terran outpost. And definitely not if there is a chance of an Inquisitor being in the vicinity."

"Yes, their developing that sort of an ability is worrying," he said. "But unfortunately, we may not have a choice in this matter."

"He wants us to stay close to them, doesn't He?"

He nodded. "As for being caught by an Inquisitor or, worse, a team of Inquisitors... well, He thinks that there would be little chance of that. It's more likely that they've got teams from the Terran Empire's Foreign and Contacts offices, given that this is a First Contact situation. No real need for Inquisitors."

"Despite the existence of the Colonials' Sacred Scrolls, telling all about a time when both the Colonials' ancestors and their gods all lived on the same planet?" She snorted. "I think He's just lost the plot! That would be a red rag to a Terran First Contact Team!"

"Nevertheless, the chances of there being a team of Inquisitors in that system is considered to be so low as to be virtually nonexistent," he replied. "So, you and I are to go and observe what goes on and, if possible, speak to our, ah 'contacts' there."

She snorted. "Well, I do hope He know's what He's doing."

He smiled back. "Has He been wrong before?"

The look she gave in reply spoke volumes.