Epilogue: Smoke and Mirrors

One Month, Three Weeks Later:

Caprica City, Executive Mansion:

"Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, the President will see you now," Clarice Madden, President Richard Adar's personal assistant, said as she motioned for Arthur and Louise Saunders to follow her.

The two got up from their seats in the waiting area and walked into the Executive Office where they were greeted by the sight of President Adar and Admiral Peter Corman. The President was sitting behind his desk while Corman was sitting on a sofa not far from the desk.

"Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, thank you so much for coming. Would you be so kind as to have a seat," Adar said as he motioned to another sofa that was nearby.

"Thank you Mr. President," Arthur said as he did all he could to keep his civility in check. He had no care for the man and after all his daughter had been through on Canceron this was the last place he wanted to be.

"If you don't mind me being direct," Louise said, "Why are we here meeting with the two of you?"

"If you'll allow me to introduce myself, I am Admiral Peter Corman and I'm the Chief of Fleet Operations for the Colonial Fleet," Corman said smiling with a characteristic curved lip indicating he enjoyed announcing himself as he stood and walked over to shake hands with the Arthur and Louise.

"A pleasure to meet you Admiral Corman, may I ask why you're here?" Arthur asked.

"Recently you made some inquiries regarding a certain flag officer in the Fleet," Corman said.

"Scott Tolan," Louise said in a way that made it more of a statement than a question.

"Yes he's the one we were told you trying to get information on," Corman said.

"Is there a reason why we should not try to get whatever information is on him; the man is from a crime family and he's now a flag officer in the Colonial Fleet…I remember when Admiral Stryker himself spoke against this man and I believe he was on to something."

Corman mentally cringed at the mention of that interview, "Yes well you see there was a chance that you would have uncovered something you were not meant to see."

"What would that be?"

"About five years ago then-Commander Tolan used his contacts with the Basileus to help in a rescue operation. For various reasons that information has been classified and not available for release to anyone who does not have the proper clearance. Truth is, you were close to discovering this bit of information and the idea of it being released would be embarrassing for various people, and that is a risk we can ill afford to take."

"What are you going to do?" Louise asked.

"That depends on you," Adar said before adding, "I know I instigated the investigation into your bank Mr. Saunders and I can call it off if you agree to a few simple things."

"What would that be?" Arthur asked as he wondered just what the President had in mind.

"First is that you need to stop trying to dig into Admiral Tolan's past. The second is that you provide him an audience so he can air whatever differences may have arisen over your daughter's trip to Canceron," Adar said and waited for a response.

"I do this and you will stop this investigation that's going on with my bank?"

Adar nodded, "I'm not an unreasonable man, a favor for a favor is simple enough in my opinion."

"You have a deal Mr. President," Arthur said as he shook hands with both the President and Admiral Corman before leaving the room with his wife.

When both were gone Corman turned to Adar, "That went well enough. As for Tolan…I always had a feeling promoting him to flag rank was going to be trouble. Maybe Stryker was right to question it."

Adar let out a small chuckle, "Perhaps but Tolan did me a favor when my sister and niece were kidnapped; even with the influence of his father-in-law I was able to return that favor."

Two Months Later:

Saunders Residence, Caprica:

The lake looked absolutely picturesque, a quality helped only by Caprica's clear blue sky. There was a boat out in the middle of the lake with two girls onboard enjoying the beautiful weather.

"If you look off to the distance that's the residence of Gaius Baltar," Melissa Saunders told her companion and hoped she did not sound like a tour guide.

"Do you know him?" Lacey Tolan asked.

"We've talked a few times. I think his interest may be more than friendly. How are things at the Academy?"

"I told my roommate I was going to be here for the weekend. She told me that she figured that with me being from Canceron I'd be on the beach somewhere."

"Now that you mention it, why aren't you on the beach?"

"Melissa, does it look like I tan?"

"Yeah you have a point there. Have you heard from J.D. lately?"

"We've exchanged a few e-mails over the past couple of months," Lacey said and she saw the concerned look on Melissa's face, "You don't have to worry about me wanting to date him, I think that would be sort of awkward now."

"Thanks Lace, it would be as awkward as it is with my friends I went to Canceron with."

"What are they doing nowadays?"

"Megan is only leaving her parents' house to attend therapy for what she went through. Jessi said she was going to Aerilon and wouldn't be back or speaking to anyone anytime soon. She didn't even leave a forwarding address with her parents. Helen…oh Helen is blaming me for everything that happened. She told her parents that I goaded a fight with a group of gangsters and got all of them captured and held hostage. Her parents gave my parents an earful and it got ugly. It got very ugly," Melissa said with a trace of sadness in her voice.

"What about the guys?"

"They have nothing to do with me and apparently prefer to keep it that way. It seems this whole trip was solely my idea and I antagonized the Basileus enough that they kidnapped everyone except for me and J.D. so him and I could have some alone time."

"What did J.D. say about all of this?"

"Would you believe that's why we broke up? He said he felt compelled to back up his friends on the issue and wanted to avoid a confrontation so it was best to break things off with me. He said he simply did not feel the same way towards me as he did before."

"I could send him an e-mail to put him in his place."

Melissa shook her head, "That's thoughtful Lace but I don't want to drag you into this whole mess. I heard your cousin was meeting with my parents to sort out what really happened."

Saunders Residence:

Formal Sitting Room:

In the formal sitting room of the Saunders residence, Arthur and Louise Saunders were finishing up their meeting with their guest.

"You're telling me that everything we heard about the trip was a lie?" Arthur Saunders said as though he could not believe what he was hearing.

Rear Admiral Scott Tolan nodded, "I had not met any of them before that day. I was simply on leave spending time with my cousin while she was on break from the Academy. Helen Octavia was the one who instigated things by trying to start a fight between her boyfriend and I. By the time I got to the docks where they had been abducted to Melissa was already under sedation at the hospital."

"Why would her friends turn on her like that?" Louise Saunders asked.

Tolan shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea unless they wanted to disguise their own failings in this story. It's common knowledge that Canceron can be dangerous, especially when you're dealing with the Basileus. Had it not been for my family ties I probably would not have been able to help them."

The Saunders stood up and Tolan did as well.

Arthur extended a hand to Tolan, "Admiral Tolan I know you've said you don't expect any compensation for what you did for us but if you ever need anything I promise I will do what I can to help you."

Louise broke her upper-class restraints by giving the admiral a kiss on the cheek, "You have to understand that as a mother I cannot express enough how grateful I am for what you did for our daughter."

"Mr. and Mrs. Saunders I'm glad I was able to assist her," he said as he turned and exited the house. As he headed to his car he looked out onto the lake and saw the boat that Lacey and Melissa were on. She did not know that he was here and he did not want to intrude on her.

Gray, Picon:

Ministry of Intelligence Headquarters:

"Major Malka and Captain Barron, I want to congratulate you on a job well done," Executive Director Joseph Shea said as he walked up and shook hands with the top two officers of the Eurylade.

"Thank you Director," Major Galit Malka said.

"Glad to serve Director," Captain Keene Barron said after Malka had spoken.

"It's taken a couple of months but we've managed to whittle down the defenses of Drake and Caelie Tolan and they've begun spilling information about the Basileus and its higher-ups that should prove valuable to us," Shea said as he began looking over the information that had been sent from Leonis.

"Do you think we'll get another crack at taking out Lydia Zeresi soon?" Barron asked.

"Chop off the snake's head and the body will die is that it, Captain? Yes you will, but there is one matter I need to clear up. What happened with Scott Tolan?"

"What do you mean sir?" Malka asked.

"You know what I mean, from the reports I read is that you had a clear shot at him yet all you managed to do was graze his arm."

"A case of the circumstances Director," Malka offered.

"Would you care to explain the part of your after-action report where you stated that he should no longer be considered a 'target of interest' by the MoI?"

"After doing further research I became convinced that Admiral Tolan does have blood ties to the Basileus but no actual involvement with them. It is one thing to kill Basileus higher-ups…it's another thing to assassinate Colonial Fleet officers based on their bloodlines."

"Captain Barron, do you concur with Major Malka's findings?" Shea asked.

"Yes sir I do. I feel it would be best to take Admiral Tolan's name off of the list of Basileus members who need to be assassinated."

"Malka I'm going to give you this one," Shea said after some mental deliberation, "However this is a one-time deal. The rest on that list are marked for death without any arguments."

"Understood," Malka said.

"Good, now I need you to take the Eurylade out to Tauron to investigate reports that have surfaced of weapons being smuggled off-world to the various colonies. You are to find them and put a stop to their activities," Shea said as he passed two large envelopes to Malka and Barron.

"We'll put a stop to it," Malka said.

"I was hoping to hear that," Shea said before adding, "You two are dismissed. Return to your ship and good hunting out there."

As the two are walking away from Shea's office, they passed another MoI agent and when Malka realized who it was she said, "Keene would you give me a minute."

"Sure," replied Barron as he walked away.

Malka turned to the MoI agent and asks, "So how have you been Arthur?"

"I have been good, I really can't complain. The Erebea mission is keeping me busy but it's some of the best work I've done since I joined up. It's always nice to see you, Galit," replied Major Arthur Wallace, as they exchanged a handshake. Galit had trained Wallace during his time at the "Ranch" on Leonis and they have developed a friendship however Wallace realized that he could not get too close to Galit. Few could without getting burned.

"Tell me Arthur, anything new in your life? For example, something like a woman name Whitney?"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Galit," Wallace said as he tried to put on his best Triad face. Something told him a seasoned veteran like Galit Malka could see right through it.

"Yeah right and you are next going to tell me you don't have some type of agenda."

"Everyone has an agenda and that includes both you and me," replied Wallace. Truth of the matter was that he hated the fact that she could easily tell when he was lying. Along with Elizabeth Stryker, she was one of the few people who could.

"Alright Arthur you go ahead and keep your secret. I will find out someday," replied Malka as she started walking away to catch up with Keene Barron.

'If you only knew what I'm planning; you would probably kill me,' Arthur thought to himself as he started to walk the other way holding a brown file that read Operation Death Knell.

Two Hours Later:

Executive Mansion:

"Admiral Corman, you sent for me?" Tolan asked once he stepped off of the elevator and onto the second floor of the Executive Mansion.

"President Adar wanted to have a word with you," Corman said as he started down the hallway with Tolan following.

"I have no idea what it's about, do you sir?" Tolan asked.

"It involved the Saunders family, I'm sure you don't need me to go into more detail about that," Corman said as he turned a corner on the right and headed to a door that was two doors down on the left.

"Say no more, I just finished talking to them not long ago. Seems they changed their tune about what happened back on Canceron."

Corman simply nodded and opened the door. He walked in and took a standing position to the right of Adar's desk.

Tolan walked in and closed the door behind him, "President Adar, you wished to see me?" Tolan asked.

"Admiral Tolan, I wanted to let you know that you have no need to worry about the Saunders family. I took the liberty of making sure that you won't have any hint of scandal breathing down your neck because of what happened on Canceron," Adar said with a satisfied smile on his face.

"I thank you for that sir, though I am not sure why you felt compelled to intervene on my behalf."

"You did me a favor some time ago. I wanted to repay you for what you did for me when you used your family connections during that hostage situation. Along with nominating you for flag rank I convinced the Saunders family to avoid any sort of investigation into your personal life."

"You did not have to do that Mr. President but thank you for your intervention. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to tend to some work at home before my battle group goes on its next deployment," Tolan said as he stood up to leave.

Pleasantries and formalities were exchanged. As Tolan was walking towards the door he heard Adar tell him that they were now even. Adar may have helped his career out but this was minor in comparison to the fact that Tolan was dealing with the consequences of coming to Lydia Zeresi, his aunt and the leader of the Basileus, for a favor.

"With all due respect sir, I don't think we'll ever be even on that account," Tolan said as he left the room.

He found a side entrance that would allow him to leave the building without having to mingle with the crowd. The more distance he could put between himself and the President's house the better he would feel.

It would be a couple more days until the Victorious and BSG-66 deployed again to patrol the area surrounding Caprica. The idea of spending it with Emily and their three children was something he was looking forward to. He put the car into drive and sped off down the driveway and onto the street.

It was time to go home.

Author's Note: With this chapter comes the end of Thrill Week. I hope all that have read the story have enjoyed it. I would like to take the time to thank Tony Wilkins aka The Wilky Bar Kid and Allen Knott for providing me with valuable input in regards to various parts of the story. Without them Thrill Week would have had a much different look to it. Also, I would like to thank all who have taken the time to read the story.