== Part 4 – Follow the Leader ==
"Sir! Colonel Sharon Tyrol reporting as ordered, sir!" Sharon barked as she came to attention and saluted the Admiral as he stepped out of his office.
"Relax, Colonel, you're not in trouble," Admiral Adama told her. The way he said it strongly reminded Sharon of his father, her first CO who Sharon still strongly remembered even after twenty years, and Sharon almost involuntarily relaxed. The memory was that comforting.
Ever since Gina had broken the news that the military had found out where the Cylons had gone, Sharon had been feeling stressed, almost paranoid, as all the old fears of being found out had come flooding back. Did the government and admiralty know about human model Cylons? Were they going to discover that Sharon was a Cylon? Should she make plans to disappear? Would making such plans be the very thing that gives her away?
Sharon hadn't known what to do, so she had thrown herself into her world and her family, tried to be the perfect officer and mother and hoped like hell she didn't do anything to cause anyone to look too deeply into her and her past.
Then Admiral Adama had summoned her to his office with no explanation given and Sharon's imagination had become her own worst enemy. Had she been found out? Was she about to be arrested or worse? Well, given Adama's reassurance, that didn't seem to be the case.
"Mindy, I'll be out of the office for about an hour or so. Page me if something that needs my immediate attention comes up," Adama told his secretary. He turned to Sharon and gestured to the exit. "Come walk with me."
"Yes, sir," Sharon replied as she followed him out the door.
"So from your record, your first duty station was the Galactica, wasn't it?" Adama asked once they were walking down the corridor towards the lifts. Clearly, he was making small talk.
"Yes, sir," Sharon replied, wondering where they were going but too polite and honestly, too afraid to ask. "I believe we actually first met during the decommissioning ceremony."
"Did we?" Adama asked, surprised. They stopped at the lifts and he hit the button to summon one. "I remember that. I was just there for a stupid PR stunt simply because my father was the Galactica's Commander. Forgive me if I don't remember meeting you."
"That's alright, sir, I understand," Sharon replied. "There were a lot of pilots you met that day and you didn't have any reason to remember any of us."
It was true. Despite Ron's show, no one from the Old Girl considered Lee Adama to be a member of the Galactica's last crew. None of them had really known him back then and he didn't get any invites to the irregular Galactica reunion parties. Quite honestly, Sharon expected that Adama would have turned down any invites if he were sent them. Maybe if the Cylons had really attacked that day like in Ron's show, that would have changed, but neither of them lived in that universe.
A lift arrived with a ping, a door opened and they stepped inside.
"Speaking of the Galactica," Adama said as he punched in a destination for somewhere in the docks and the lift began moving, "have you seen the show based on it?"
"Uh, no sir," Sharon said neutrally. Internally, she was cursing Ron in the privacy of her own head. She was coming to really hate that show. "I don't watch it."
"Ha, lucky you," Adama told her with a small laugh. "Show finally ended, thank the gods. But not before making me look like a total moron."
"Sir?"
"Ooh, we finally found Earth! Let's throw away all our technology and live as one with nature!" Adama said mockingly. He grunted in disgust. "Everyone probably died of exposure not long after. And the character who came up with that idea? The son of the Galactica's last CO."
"Oooh," Sharon said, understanding. "I thought the show was bad when I had stopped watching it. I had no idea it had gotten that bad."
"So say we all," Adama agreed. "In any case, have you heard any rumors that we've found Earth?"
"Uh, no sir," Sharon said slowly. Earth? That threw her for a loop. She had been expecting him to talk about Cylons. If for no other reason that the President had already announced to all the Twelve Colonies that government had found out where the Cylons had gone, although she hadn't specified where. Wait, was that where...
"Well, we found Earth," Adama told her. "And we're going to go there. And we aren't going to be throwing away our technology when we get there."
The lift arrived at one of the docks and moved out into an open area. Through the clear walls, the two Colonial officers were presented with a gorgeous view of a shiny new Lords class battlestar. And clearly printed on the side of the battlestar's flight pod was the name GALACTICA.
"Oh wow," Sharon breathed, impressed.
"And you, Commander Sharon Tyrol," Adama continued, "will be leading the way aboard the Battlestar Galactica."
"Wait, what?" Sharon said in surprise, Her head snapped over to look at the Admiral and she saw he was holding up an open jewelery box containing a set of Commander's insignia.
"Congratulations, Commander, you deserve it," Adama told her with a smile. The lift came to a stop and the doors opened as Sharon was still trying to process this new development. "Come on, we're holding the promotion ceremony on board the Galactica and your family's going to be there. Let's not keep them waiting."
As they stepped off the lift, a stray thought occurred to Sharon.
"Sir?"
"Hmm?"
"The old Galactica despite being decommissioned and turned into a museum is still technically owned and operated by the Colonial Fleet," Sharon pointed out. "So if we commission this ship with this name, doesn't that mean the Fleet now has two battlestars named Galactica?"
"Commander," Adama said with a sigh. "Have I mentioned how much I really hate the Fleet's PR wing?"
