Thirteen

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Inauguration Day

The Colonial populace aboard the station came to watch the swearing in of Laura Roslin and Tom Zarek to their respective offices. It was to be held in the amphitheater where the debates had been presented weeks ago. The bitterly divided campaign had polarized a lot of the populace, and the election was the peak of the tension. Then the combined fleet of the Cylons and the Drakh attacked, and the polarization vaporized overnight, especially after Zarek had proposed a deal that essentially cost him the election, but had also kept him where he could still do a lot for the people.

Since Zarek had been the Sagittaron representative, a new member of the Quorum of Twelve had to be elected, and that election turned out to be a real shocker indeed.

"How the hell did I get elected?" Dee Dualla said upon learning that she had been chosen to be the one of the twelve.

"Write-in campaign, of course!" Playa Palacios said upon arriving at her quarters to interview the winner. She told her that the other Sagittarons in the remaining populace had been so incensed with the three candidates who had stood election that there was a movement to find someone else. Since most had known that Dualla was a part of the Galactica crew, several people had decided to do a "Draft Dee" campaign, without her knowledge, since she was with the fleet that launched the attack on Picon.

So, she was no longer Petty Officer, Second Class Anastasia Dualla, but Representative Anastasia Dualla of Sagittaron. She had thought of declining the position, but Admiral William Adama had persuaded her to accept it. "The Gods sometimes work in ways we can't imagine, Dee. If they decided to put you in this spot, maybe there's a good reason for it."

"What were they thinking? Sir, I mean, this is too much!" she had said when she went to him for advice.

"We need young leadership, Dee, and, as much as this may surprise you, you are one. Especially among the crew, with the way you've handled yourself through this crisis. It didn't go unnoticed." Adama said.

"But why me? I never sought it! Hell, I didn't even know about the campaign because I was with the fleet at Picon! Speaking of which, why did you send me?" Dualla asked.

"Excuse me?" Adama asked, startled by the sudden change of subject.

"It's a fair question, sir. Why did you send me to Picon to be your liaison?"

"To set you up." Adama said.

Dualla did a double take and said, "So you knew about me and Lee?"

"Yeah, I know. Granted, it's against regs, but I let Boomer and Tyrol slide, so why not let this slide here, I thought. Of course, if you accept the position of Sagittaron representative, you two can date, since you'll be a civilian."

Dualla threw up her hands in exasperation. "I can't believe this. First, I get elected to an office that I didn't seek. Now I'm getting set up with the guy I want to be with, but knew I couldn't get involved with because of regulations! What's next: you have a thing for Roslin or something?"

Adama looked at her and said, "Maybe."

Dualla did yet another double take. "You're not serious?"

"Who the hell knows? Between you and me, yeah, I'm attracted to her. But that's between you and me. Tell her and I'll deny it."

Dualla shook her head and said, "You are a man of surprises today, aren't you?"

Adama laughed and said, "I guess you could say that!"

So, when the day came, Dee Dualla felt out of place among the Quorum of Twelve. She had few civilian clothes to begin with, so Apollo had taken her on a shopping spree to buy some. "I didn't know you liked shopping!" Dee had said to Apollo as they shopped in Lillian's on the Zocolo.

"I usually don't. But when it's with someone I care about, I make an exception." Apollo had said.

She was, by far, the youngest member of the Quorum at age 19, but she was also the most popular, and not only among her own constituency. In the hectic days after her election, she had come to realize what kind of support she had out there among the Colonials. She was constantly stopped by people in the hallways and told that they really liked her and hoped that she would one day run for the presidency.

"I must be in some sort of alternate universe or something!" she had said to herself after yet another one of these meetings.

However, she did gain one friend among the Quorum members: Sarah Porter, from Geminon. Porter had decided to take her under her wing, and Dualla wasn't about to argue, because she needed some help with her responsibilities. Also, Dualla had voted for Roslin, so the president was happy to have someone in the Quorum who saw things her way.

Roslin was dressed in a dark blue dress suit, styled much like those from Earth, but tailored with the wider lapels that were indicative of Colonial business wear. She walked into the amphitheater to a standing ovation, followed by Tom Zarek, who got one as well, albeit noticeably less vociferous. Zarek didn't pay any attention to it as he took his place by Roslin.

Since there were no members of the priesthood left alive among them, it was decided to choose Sarah Porter to administer the oath of office to Zarek and Roslin. Zarek took the oath first, then Roslin. Once that was done, the audience, as well as members of the Quorum, gave her another standing ovation. Roslin shook Porter's hand, then turned and shook the hands of each of the Quorum members. Finally, she turned and shook the hand of her vice-president, Tom Zarek. He leaned in to whisper, "This should be interesting, shouldn't it?"

"Indeed!" was all she said, then returned to the crowd, gesturing them to sit down as she was ready to give her inaugural speech. She looked over the crowd, seeing supports and opponents in the crowd, and she smiled as she noticed that they now intermingled, whereas before, they would have shifted to one side of the room or the other.

"I never expected to be here. None of us expected to be here, in this massive station, under the protection from those from the thirteenth colony of Earth, as well as the Interstellar Alliance. I think it's safe to say that we'd all wish we were back in the Colonies and that the Cylon attack had never happened. However, to paraphrase something I read in Earth literature: 'the universe is as we find it, not as we wish it to be'. We are here now, but we will find a new home for ourselves.

"But now, the Gods have blessed us with a new arrival." She gestured to the commanders of the twelve newly arrived battlestars, which had survived the Cylon attacks. "They somehow managed to survive the Cylon attacks, and are now being upgraded with the latest in Earth Alliance and Interstellar Alliance technologies. New Vipers are being built using the combined resources of all the battlestars as well as this station.

"Our goal is no longer to find a new home, my friends. Thanks to the efforts of Presidents Hollifield and Delenn, I can now say this: our new objective is to reclaim our homeworlds."

A buzz went through the crowd when they heard this. Dualla looked around at her fellow Quorum members, who, just like herself, were just as thunderstruck as she was. She knew they had plans to retake the worlds, but those were long-range plans at best. However, since the president had gone public with this, she wondered just how long it would be before they went after the Cylons.

"It will take time to ready ourselves for this fight, but, rest assured, we will be ready when the time comes. Our friends are readying themselves for this fight, and they need time to prepare for this. It will be a few years, but what we do now will help to liberate our worlds. As President Delenn once said, 'Wars are won or lost before they are fought, through preparation, attitude, strategy, and the selection of proper allies.' We are preparing for that war. Our military and our allies have the right attitude. Our strategy is being worked on at this moment by the best military minds in Earthforce, in consultation with Admiral Adama. Most importantly, we have those proper allies." She looked over at Delenn, who smiled back at her. Delenn had come in along with her husband for the ceremony.

Roslin turned back and concluded her speech, saying, "I would be lying if I said we can make things be the way they were before the Cylons attacked, but once we liberate our worlds, we can begin anew, and, through the guidance of the Lord of Kobol, we can rebuild our civilization once again!" The crowd stood up and applauded, strengthened by the message. She once again did the circuit of handshakes, this time in reverse, shaking the hand of Zarek first.

"I never saw that coming!" he whispered to her.

"You'll get used to that soon enough!" Roslin said before she moved on to the members of the Quorum. After shaking each of their hands, she made her way through the crowd, with Zarek following behind her, with the crowd clapping for her until she was out of the room. Once she had departed, they began to slowly disperse, and security personnel led the members of the Quorum out of another entrance.

Standing outside the exit was Apollo, who walked up to Dualla as she was leaving. "You looked nice out there!"

"I did? You sure you didn't see me nervous and sweaty out there?" Dualla replied.

"Nah. All I saw was a very beautiful woman who I would love to ask out to dinner tonight, provided she's available."

Dualla laughed and said, "I have a lot of work waiting for me back at my quarters, but, what the hell! What time do you want to pick me up?"

"1900 hours, station time, sound good to you?" Apollo asked.

"Sounds great! See you then!" Dualla said.

Apollo took her to the Fresh Aire restaurant on the station, which still did good business despite the fact that the station was not even half full these days. They had a candlelight dinner in a secluded corner, where they had a very nice conversation that lasted long after the dessert had been eaten and the espresso had been drank. He took her back to her quarters, expecting to only get a good night kiss in the best case scenario. She, on the other hand, had other plans, as she asked him in for a nightcap.

A couple of hours later, they were in bed together, cuddled and tangled in the bed sheets. They never got to the drink, as Dualla had kissed Apollo as soon as he got into the door. One thing led to another, and they were soon naked and making love in her bed. "I never thought you were someone who went to bed with someone on the first date." Apollo said.

Dualla kissed him on the lips, then replied, "Normally I'm not. Then again, I never expected to ever go out with someone I've had a crush on for a long time."

"Really?" Apollo asked.

"Uh-huh! I never let anyone know because I always figured you and Starbuck would hook up." Dualla said.

Apollo laughed and said, "Well, I will admit that she is attractive, but she's also not my type. Besides, she's got that guy Anders now, so she's taken. And anyway, I've come to find out that there's someone who's much more appealing."

Dualla raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh? And who would that be?"

Instead of answering with words, Apollo answered with his lips, as he kissed Dualla again, starting up another round of lovemaking that went late into the night and into the wee hours of the morning.