Thirteen
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Resettlement
When Ellen Tigh finally arrived on Kobol, she realized things were better than she had expected them to be. That being said, she still didn't want to be here. She liked Babylon 5. It was safe and well protected. So what if it was a spinning tin can in space?
But the Earth Senate had decided and the place was to be shut down. No fight back from the Quorum. No protest from the president. Not even any opposition from Tom Zarek, who was on the outs with her. Ever since taking the vice-presidential slot, they had drifted apart, and Ellen, for her part, didn't mind that one bit.
She had drifted apart from most of her old friends. The Galactica crew despised her because of her influence on her late (and, in her mind, unlamented) husband. Admiral Adama had pretty much shunned her ever since she took up with Tom Zarek, and ever since they split, he had yet to even attempt to rebuild the bridge between them.
So she was quite lonely these days, but she didn't mind it as much. She would stay here a while, then, if they would let her, she would move on to Earth and start anew there. From what she had seen and heard on the station, it was a very cosmopolitan place, with a vast array of cultures that intrigued her more and more everyday.
She had been annoyed, though, at not being allowed to stay behind and emigrate to Earth. The choice had been made for them, and she still didn't understand why no one stood up and opposed them about this. Everyone, it seemed, was just happy to go with the flow and come to this world.
She did have to admit it was a rather nice place. The temporary shelters were quite nice, and would eventually be used in some other fashion in the permanent settlement, which was being constructed on the other side of the City of the Gods. From what she had heard, they had simply cut down some of the weeds and grasses so that the ruins could be much more visible to them. It reminded her of the photos she had seen of Greece and Italy, places that she hoped to visit one day.
They gave her an apartment near the ruins, and her assignment was a simple one: liaison with the Earthforce officials who were helping the Colonials to construct the new settlement. This meant she would have to work with Roslin and the others in the Quorum, but she would grit her teeth and bear it.
The next day, she got a briefing with the president, and to say the atmosphere was icy would have been an understatement. "Madam President, what exactly do you want me to do with the Earth officials?"
"It's pretty simple, Ms. Tigh. You will work with the EA officials as well as the Earthforce officers to be sure that the plans for the new settlement go along with the way we wish for them to go. If they have problems, you bring them to us, and visa versa."
"Okay, great!" Ellen said, not really meaning it. "So what do I do after this is over with?"
"You can go to Earth and be our liaison there. It's what you want, isn't it?" Roslin said, knowing it would catch her off-guard.
Ellen wasn't shaken, though. "Why not send me now?"
"Because we need you here to help out. We need you here to help us work with the Earthers."
"Permission to speak frankly, Madam President?" Ellen said.
"Go ahead." Roslin said with a little smile on her face.
"Why are we here? I mean, for all we know, there's battalions of Centurions out there, waiting to attack us once the Earthers leave! We're vulnerable here!"
"And we were just as vulnerable on Babylon 5, except that at least here, we have a chance to escape and fight back! If the station went down, we'd have died in the vacuum of space! Would you have wanted that?"
"Of course not! But how would we escape them if they came after us?"
"Ms. Tigh, you're not saying anything that I haven't heard before! For Gods sake, do you honestly thing we'd be here if I didn't think we'd be safe here? The Earthers won't abandon us here, and neither will the Interstellar Alliance. Besides, they took out as many of the Centurions as they could find before we even started constructing the temporary habitat! But that's not the real issue, is it?"
"No it's not! Why wasn't I allowed to go to Earth like I wanted? When I asked Tom about it, he said that I had no choice and that I had to come along!"
"I didn't know that!" Roslin said. "I'll ask him about that next chance I get."
"Thank you, Madam President." Ellen said, not knowing what to make of it.
A couple of days later, in her liaison office, Vice-President Zarek came in to speak with her. "About damn time you showed up!" she said.
"Sorry, I'd only known that you came in with the new batch of emigrants this morning. In case you forgot, I happen to be the vice-president."
"I never knew! Now, smartass, would you please tell me why you're here?" she said with some heat in her words.
"Where the hell did we go wrong?" Zarek asked.
"When you sold out and became that bitch's lapdog!" Ellen replied.
"Sold out? Sold fraking out!" Zarek said, standing up and throwing up his arms in disgust. "You hardly know me, Ellen! You seem to think I should just walk up to the president, hold a pistol to her head, blow her brains out and take charge myself! Geez, you're just like most of the rest of them! You know nothing about me!"
"If that's the case, then why not have the Quorum decide the election, according to the law?"
"Because we were becoming more and more divided, Ellen, and now is not the time of division! If I had been elected, the first thing I would have done was to keep Roslin in the government, because I would have needed her just as much as I knew she would need me as part of the Quorum!"
Ellen thought about that for a moment, then said, "All that work, though! What about how your supporters worked so hard to get you elected?"
"They're still around, Ellen! I'll have another go at it in five years! And who knows! Roslin might decide not to run again and just hand things off to me! And you still haven't answered my question!"
"I know. I don't know myself." Ellen said, honestly.
"Is it true that you want to go to Earth?"
"Damn straight it is!"
"Then there's no future for us, because I have to be here for the people." Zarek said.
"For the people? You don't get it, do you?"
"What do you mean?"
Ellen sighed and said, "How can you rebuild an entire society with less than fifty thousand people? C'mon Tom, there's no way! We might last here for a century or two, perhaps, but our people know what's out there! They've had exposure to Earth, and some of them wanted to move there, only to be told that they couldn't!"
"How do we know if we can rebuild it unless we try? Ever thought of that? You have to decide what is more important, Ellen: your people or yourself. If you want to go to Earth and live there permanently, that's fine. If you truly want to help our people, then you'll stay here with me and help out!"
"If I stay here, is there a future for us?" Ellen asked.
"I hope so, Ellen. But I can't be yours if you leave here to go to Earth and stay there!" Zarek said.
Ellen didn't know how to answer, so Tom interjected and said, "Look, if you want to go to Earth to visit and see the sights, that'd fine with me. Hell, we may need someone to be a permanent liaison officer with them, so you'd be perfect for the job if it comes up!"
"Okay! If it means that much to you, Tom, I'll stay!" Ellen said.
Zarek smiled and walked around the desk to embrace her. She put her hand behind his head and pushed it down so that his lips met hers for a kiss. When they parted, she smiled and said, "I've missed that!"
"So have I! So, any plans for tonight?"
"Nope. Only question is whether we go to your place or mine."
Zarek laughed and said, "I'll be glad when we get some restaurants opened, so we can go out to eat. So your place or mine?"
"Let's make it mine tonight!" Ellen said as she kissed him again.
Months later, Garrison Hollifield came to the planet for an official visit. The permanent settlement was well on its way to being completed, while the Ranger compound and the spaceport were already finished and in service. It had been decided by the Quorum to convert the temporary site into a residential area for off-world visitors. It would still be another couple of years before the permanent site would be completed, but they were well on their way to finishing the new city.
The Forum was not completed, so the president and his aides met with the Quorum in the temporary headquarters of the Colonial government. The meeting was going well, until Starbuck entered the chambers where they were meeting looking as if someone had died.
"Ranger Thrace, what is it?" Roslin asked.
Instead of saying anything, Roslin walked over to President Hollifield and handed him something. "This just came in, sir!" she said solemnly. From the look on his face, he knew what it was as soon as he saw it. He took the envelope, opened it, and he grunted, then handed it back to Starbuck. "Sheridan is close to death. I hate to cut the visit short, but he's asked me to visit Minbar before the end."
The members of the Quorum went silent, stunned by the news. "And this on top of the decommissioning ceremony too!" Roslin said. "May I join you to pay one last visit to Sheridan?"
"Sure, and I'd like Admiral Adama join us, if possible." Hollifield said.
Adama replied, "Thank you, Mr. President. I'd be honored!"
Later that day, Hollifield escorted Roslin and Adama onto the Whitestar that Starbuck commanded. They took off and headed towards the Minbari homeworld to pay their respects to Sheridan, then head to Babylon 5 for the decommissioning ceremony. No one knew what to expect when they got there, but they knew that an age was ending. Adama and Roslin had only known him for roughly a year, but he, along with the rest of them, had made a huge impact on their lives.