===========Colonial One (+280 Days Post Cylon Holocaust)==========

Major Adama had just finished his scheduled briefing with the President of the Colonies Laura Roslin. The mood in her presidential office had been sour.

Vice President Baltar was present and with his campaign siphoning off votes from hers, she was more than angry at the… 'strange little man'… as she had described him when they first met. She'd chosen him to replace Wallace Gray, a technocrat and genius when it had come to infrastructure and planning. He had been the one to organize fleet rations, housing, and water across the fleet. He was a marvelous organizer, but incredibly boring.

She had thought Doctor Baltar would be a safe, maybe entertaining replacement. He'd done his job and defeat Tom Zarek for the Vice Presidency, but now he was dangerously close to unseating her.

Commander Adama sat opposite the president, legs crossed and hands in his lap, and clam as always, while Doctor Baltar had been sitting a few rows back in the passenger area, keeping his distance from the woman behind the desk.

As an uneasy silence began to fill the room the phone rang and Roslin's assistant, Billy Kreikeya picked up the receiver. "Hello... Yes, please send her up… yes, the president is ready." He placed the phone back down and it clicked as it slid back into its secure holder. He nodded to the president, confirming their guest was on her way up to the cabin-now-Presidential Office they all occupied.

Joanne Soto walked through the cabin towards the president's desk with a cold and precise and fluid movement only capable of machines. There was no excess sway of her body, no extraneous movement of the limbs. Each arm sway forward and backward was precisely the same as the one before, and would be exactly the same as the one after. She held herself erect, back straight, too straight for a human.

President Roslin had been watching her, studying her as she walked. Though the machine had administered her anti-cancer drugs when she was sick, the President never really noticed her. She had been quiet and had never talked to the president for longer than was necessary to administer her anti-cancer medications.

Roslin had thought she had copied her bedside manner from the gruff and often grumpy Doctor Cottle.

But there was just a way she and the others walked. Roslin was always questioning herself on how they could have missed things such as those. The relative ease at which the three had infiltrated Galactica, even with what they were hidden under that skin, still astounded the President.

She couldn't let go that in the hunt for finding Cylon threats she had blinded herself to other threats in the fleet.

The machine stopped one meter in front of the President's desk and looked down, cold eyes staring into the eyes of the Colonial commander-in-chief. Roslin had known that the machines tended to stare. She was perhaps the only one who could hold his or her own.

But she was in no mood to stare down a machine or engage in petty back and forth arguments and quibbling statements and one-liners. "You're here because Major Adama believe Admiral Cain is planning an attempt to have you and your two… friends destroyed."

Soto noted the hatred and bile which filled Roslin's voice when she said 'friends' and using 'destroyed' instead of 'killed.' But the Terminator just stood there, staring down at the president.

Roslin leaned over to look past Soto and to Commander Adama. "You know, I'd think it would have appreciated-"

"Why are you telling me this, Madam President?" She interrupted. While she used the honorific it was clear she riddled it with scorn and derision.

Her hands had come quickly down onto Roslin's oak desk, but stopped just short of slamming down into them. Behind her Doctor Baltar, staring out the windows and muttering to himself turned to look at the commotion.

Soto added, "Why do you even care?" Accusing and mistrust in her voice.

"The President and everyone here wanted to inform you," Commander Adama began, his voice cool and even. "You were once a Colonial officer, even if the commission was faked. Pretend to act with respect towards the President," he advised, censuring her.

Soto removed her hands from Roslin's desk and straightened.

"Soto, Captain Shaw saw Planck chase another uh… Terminator, I guess, into one of the airlocks on Pegasus." Soto nodded. "And he didn't inform the Admiral of this. Captain Shaw witnessed the event and told Cain. Meaning Admiral Cain now thinks you three are holding something back, or playing both sides. Or it is an amazing coincidence that the Guardians had robots designed just like you. No offense," he finished quickly. He walked up closer to Soto and position himself at the edge of Roslin's desk, on Soto's left. "We tell you this because Admiral Cain will get people killed if she tries to attack you or Bishop or Planck."

The machine nodded her appreciation towards Major Adama.

"I know you and your friends have faced difficulties with the fleet, but what you have done we have appreciated," Major Adama complimented.

Roslin rolled her eyes behind him and look up at the ceiling, her mouth slightly open from disbelief he could compliment them.

"The rescue on Kobol and the Guardian attacks would have been significantly harder if you all had not been there," Commander Adama said. "For that you have my thanks." He didn't look at her.

The Colonials could tell she appreciated the comments and compliments. The command staffs of the battlestars, as well as Colonial government officials, had maintained a fairly cool and distanced relationship with their machine allies. The men and women the Terminators had actually saved had shown far more warmth. Or at least, not open hostility.

Moods and opinions in the fleet varied on an almost daily basis. During the debates Vice President Baltar had not dodged the question on his opinion of the three machines like President Roslin had. It had earned him a minor boost in the polls, most likely from the Cylon peace advocates. His appreciation, but not support, for what they had done, especially since, he pointed out, one had saved his life, had been used by his campaign manager Tom Zarek to paint him as compassionate and open-minded.

"We can't forget what they've done. But we must remember they are machines and continually tell us. They snuck aboard our ships, just like the Cylons. We have no idea what their intentions were with Galactica before the Cylons attacked," Roslin began. Her annoyance with the presidential election and the stress of losing ground to, in her words 'Gaius Fraking Baltar' was clearly showing. She had been foiled in her plot to fake Hera's death, most likely by Doctor Cottle who called in Soto at the last minute. Roslin mentally cursed the Galactica's chief physician; she knew he wouldn't be able to go through with this. Not after how he defended Sharon after Thorne's interrogation.

"You have no idea what you are talking about. There are things more important than you," Soto spat.

"Madam President-" Baltar began before Roslin told him to 'shut up.'

Shje cut him off with a pointed finger. "The less you talk, Doctor, the better," She informed him, gritting her teeth and leering at him. She turned back to look Soto directly in the eyes."Let's get this very clear Ms. Soto: you are a machine. A machine. You are programmed… and very good at mimicry and pretending to have human emotion." She sat back and looked towards the Colonial officers and Vice President. "But she is just a machine. We brought you here," she looked backed to Soto, "because Admiral Cain trying to kill you three would result in possibly hundreds of human deaths. 'Terminators,'" she spat the name, "You all are designed to kill. Gods know how you would act if betrayed like that."

Soto again just stood there. An icy glare was all that her face betrayed. No other emotions, no other changed in body language.
"It's clear to me. You don't want to save us because Admiral Cain wants to kill us. No. But only because it helps you. You don't care for anyone except what helps you, Madam President."

Roslin clenched her teeth and stood bringing herself almost to Soto's height. She threw off her reading glasses onto the table. "We have every right to throw you on the next rock we come across. But yes. You are useful so you can stay. But you are all dangerous." She again turned to look passed her and address the others as if she were not present. "It is dangerous. Admiral Cain tries something it and the others will kill. Indiscriminately."

"You know nothing about us." Soto glared. Scenarios began flashing through her processors. Should she kill Roslin? No, that would prove her point. Steal a Raptor and find Carter and John? No, not enough fuel. Let Cain attempt to kill them? No, because people would die.

Roslin was right in that. But the hatred and vile anger directed from Roslin to Soto would have overwhelmed any being not capable of reducing emotional strain at the mere execution of a subroutine.

"I know enough," she shot back.

"You tell me even though the president-" she looked back down towards Roslin and took a step back, "is it okay if I talk about you even though you're in the room right?" She asked rhetorically. "Even though the president no doubt believes she is doing the right thing informing me while simultaneously degrading me into some piece of equipment. 'It.' Fantastic," her voice began to fluctuate, "You think we are just things. One thing you have yet to understand, Madam President is that for all the evil you attribute to us you need only look in the mirror.
"You wanted to abort Sharon's baby. You summarily execute Cylons by throwing them out the airlock. The Cylons are not machines. John, Carter, and I, we are machines. Cylons are biological. We are technological. Having silica-relays instead of a nervous system doesn't make you a damned [i]toaster[/i]. They are alive and we are alive. It's just a different kind of living…" She threw up her hand in frustration, real or fake. She snorted and glanced out the windows into space before looking back towards Roslin. "You can't impregnate a machine!"

She turned then looked back towards Roslin. "When Sharon first came to you, back on Kobol, you tricked Helo into holstering his weapon when Major Adama was holding her at gunpoint," she motioned to the Major. He stood there like a statue. While the four other men in the room knew they should say something, they just couldn't. "You then break your word and go to jettison her out an airlock, only to stop because she appealed to that ridiculous prophecy… appealed to your ego. You accuse Cylons of murder and lies yet you do the same to them. What the Cylons did is inexcusable. Skynet did the same thing to Earth. I know. Believe me.

"You tell me this because you, and I don't know of the rest of you, because you, I know this much, dislike Admiral Cain. She doesn't respect the office. She is an obstacle for you. You tell me about this. I tell John and Carter. When we return to Pegasus, after Sharon gets back so nothing happens to her child, what would you want us to do? Murder her?"

President Roslin sat there. But even a Skynet machine with read only activated on the CPU could see that she was fuming. Raging, even. Her jaw was clenched, brows compressed and eyes narrowed. "How dare you," she whispered. "How dare-"

"No, Madam President. You may think we're just machines. And yes, we are. That doesn't mean machines don't appreciate what it means to be alive. Alive. Yes. Just like you. We may feel differently and think differently, but when it comes down to it living is just how we interpret and react to the sensations around us. Touch, talk, smell. You do it biologically. We do it technologically.
'We're both made. You don't suddenly pop into existence. You in a womb. Us in a factory. The end result is the same.
"I can run a million scenarios on how Admiral Cain could kill us with what little she knows of us. Admiral Cain is not a stupid woman.
"But I've observed. I'm an infiltrator, Madam President. We're very, very good at observing." Her volume decreased and she moved slightly closer. The color in her eyes began to slightly pulse. Red. The tension began to build. The Colonials still knew she wouldn't attack them, even with this verbal assault on their president. "You were more than happy to give yourself absolute power in this fleet. You claim to be for democracy. Yet your handling of Quorum and decision making is downright authoritarian. Maybe it's the position. From 4forty-second in line of succession to president. All it took was genocide of twenty billion to achieve your goal of power. I've never seen a man, woman, and only one machine intelligence with as much… motivation to control as you. Skynet."

Soto stood back up and began to move towards the exit. No one spoke, no one stopped her. "Admiral Cain can try and kill us. I wont kill her for you. If you want her murdered, show some of that humanity. Do it yourself. Show us what humans do best." She left.