Exactly twenty-one minutes after the explosion was reported from Colonial One, President Roslin and her security arrived in Adama's office in the CIC. Ignoring the small pang of relief that came over her when she realized the office was full of people, Laura Roslin nonetheless resolved to herself that she would not be the last one out of there. She wouldn't be left standing this damned office for a second time.
Bill was aware the moment the President entered the room. He glanced at her over the desk while the voice on the phone continued on. He handed the phone off to Saul without a comment and approached Laura. He looked at her and she looked back at him for a mere moment before glancing away and taking in whatever was happening inside the room.
"Madam President," he pulled up right beside her, taking her arm, "please have a seat."
"I prefer to stand, Admiral, thank you."
Damn it, woman!
Bill suddenly wished he'd ordered the room cleared the moment she walked in so he could figure out why the hell this infuriating woman was being so difficult.
Never mind that it was one of the things he usually loved most about her.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but there was an explosion reported on Colonial One about twenty minutes ago." Bill informed her. Hearing the quick intake of breath from Reynolds, he glanced at him. Reynolds' hooded expression told him more than an outward reaction would have. Laura Roslin was indeed blessed, and so was Bill by extension, to have such a quick thinker responsible for her life.
Laura's lips parted marginally even as her heart constricted in on itself at the thought of her ship, the people on it… She quickly collected herself and opened her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them when Bill's words hit her. "Were there any other ships involved?" she asked after only a brief pause.
"We're counting the bomb you disabled in the hangar deck, so two ships were involved in this." Colonel Tigh reported as he replaced the telephone and joined them at Bill's side. "Zarek's on his way over. It was just Galactica and Colonial One."
"Just Galactica and Colonial One." Jack grumbled in a murmur. "That's like saying New Caprica was just a mistake."
Laura turned to glare at him. She could do without his observations at the moment. "Casualties?" she asked, directing the question to Colonel Tigh, who was surprised to find her questions being asked of him. He quirked an eyebrow at Bill, whose expression had gone just as stony and blank as the President's.
Tigh cleared his throat, just barely refraining from rolling his eyes. Rough patch, my ass. "We've only just begun to round up preliminary reports. All the information we have is sketchy at best."
"Admiral!" Starbuck slammed into the room, rage apparent in her every movement. "The news just hit the wireless."
"Frak, that's all we need. We don't even know anything yet!" Saul exploded. "Tell me they haven't heard about the bomb on the Raptor."
"No, right now they're just reporting the Colonial One explosion." Starbuck replied, taking a look around the room. "How the frak-"
"You're dismissed, Starbuck." Bill interrupted. "Thank you."
Grumbling, the pilot turned on her heel and left the office, presumably on her way to lend a hand, any hand she could, to the rescue efforts underway to Colonial One.
"Casualties." Laura repeated, staring at the XO, who withered a bit under her cold glare.
"Madam President, we can't really-" he started.
"Ballpark it, Saul." she snapped. "I'm not a naïve little schoolteacher who can't handle hearing the number of people whose deaths are now on my head, so just frakking give me a damned ballpark figure! How many people did we lose?"
Everyone in the room looked up in surprise at the harsh words and the harsh manner in which it was delivered. Saul's mouth dropped open at the words and the flash of memory it evoked. Bill saw the look on Saul's face and immediately figured that she had managed to rattle the XO. Realizing the room had fallen silent, he immediately moved to salvage the situation.
"Madam President, we really can't say with any real certainty how many casualties there were until we receive preliminary reports from our search and rescue op." he informed her.
"Is there anything you can tell me?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"According to the pilot I spoke to," Lee replied, ignoring his father's silent protestations, "the bomb that caused the explosion was placed under your bed."
"Son of a frakking bitch." Jack hissed.
"I see." Laura seemed at a loss for words for a moment. Drawing herself up, she cocked an eyebrow at Apollo. "Rather direct, I'd say." She then turned back to Saul, an apology in her eyes. He nodded, tacitly accepting. "You said the Vice-President's on his way over?"
"The press is rounding themselves up as well." Helo reported. "Sounds like they're planning to get themselves over here as soon as they can."
"Oh, like hell." Saul grumbled.
"I'd like to make a statement. It's a good idea to get me in front of the press." Laura remarked. "If not, rumors will start circulating that I've been killed or injured."
"That's true," Jack remarked, mulling over the possibilities, "This trip over here this morning was off the radar. As far as anyone knew, the President would have been on Colonial One when that bomb went off."
"Which leads me to wonder which bomb was planted first." Helo mused.
Jack wondered sourly who the hell had asked Agathon for his input. A moment later, he was surprised when the President herself turned to the former XO.
"Do you believe it makes a difference which bomb was planted when, Captain Agathon?" she asked curiously.
"It might." Helo replied. "If the bomb on Colonial One was planted first, it could mean that the bomb underneath the Raptor wasn't planned."
"And if the bomb under the Raptor was planted first, then the bomb in the President's room could have been a back-up plan." Saul instantly picked up on the captain's line of reasoning.
"I still think this is a bad idea."
It had been nearly twenty minutes since the President had made her final decision to address the press onboard Galactica and it would take another twenty for the press to be gathered and wrangled into whichever corner of Galactica the XO decided was an appropriate place for a press conference. Jack knew that Colonel Tigh had very little patience for the press, and even less respect for them, which made him very glad that the XO had volunteered to stand in on the conference. Just in case things got too rowdy.
Before Laura could formulate a reply, sarcastic or otherwise (and at this point, it probably would have been the latter rather than the former), both of them were distracted from the conversation by a shout from halfway down the corridor.
"Madam President! Oh, excuse me!"
Jack grinned and just barely refrained from laughing as the young man speeding towards them nearly ran over two enlisted officers in his haste to reach the President. The sandy-haired young man, barely more than a boy and eerily reminiscent of a younger, less sure of himself Billy Kekeiya, took two bounding steps before skidding to a halt in front of them, nearly dropping the file folder he was carrying.
"Easy, Phillip," he remarked, eyeing him candidly. "The President's fine, see for yourself."
The sight of young Phillip Blake brought on Laura's first genuine smile of the day. While some of her staff had criticized her decision to bring the youngster into her fold after being reinstated to the Presidency, Phillip's abilities and natural aptitude to the position of Tory's assistant had quieted down most of the nay-saying. He had lost his sister, his only living relative, in the exodus from New Caprica and in hearing his story, a chord had been struck in Laura and so she had offered him a job. He had been even more unsure of himself when he had first started than he was now, but he was slowly coming into his own as Tory trusted him with more and more important matters.
"Phillip, you're hurt." She reached out to touch the small bruise on his forehead. "Have you been examined by a doctor?"
The answer she received was a sheepish look and a blush as he avoided her eyes.
"Actually, I didn't get this in the explosion." he admitted, embarrassed. "The pilot called a meeting for this morning and no one called me until five minutes after it started. I guess I was in too much of a hurry to get there and I almost knocked myself out when I tripped down the ladder."
Involuntarily, Laura let out a snort as her hand moved from Phillip's forehead to pat his shoulder. "Nothing is worth getting yourself injured over. Did Tory send you over?"
Phillip's eyes dimmed for a moment and he looked down at his feet, chewing his lip. "Well…" he remarked, stalling as he tried to find a way to tell her what had happened, "The pilots asked me to tell you that no one's been reported missing in the explosion. And there was only one person who was hurt seriously enough to warrant being transferred to Major Cottle's care here. Everyone else was being treated by the medics when I was leaving."
The President was silent for a moment as she did the math. If Tory had been able to bring this update to her, she would have. "Tory's in the sickbay right now?" she asked faintly. Reminding herself to fall to her knees later to thank the gods that the casualties hadn't been worse, she nonetheless had to wonder why, of all people, had it been Tory?
Of course, that explained why Zarek hadn't made his general nuisance of a presence known yet. He was probably in sickbay right now, sitting with her until she woke up.
"Tory was awake while we were on the Raptor." Phillip replied softly, glancing quickly from her to Jack, who nodded and smiled in encouragement. "She asked me to get this message to you. The Quorum's called a meeting on the Astral Queen and they require your presence."
"A simple request would have been more than enough to get me there," Laura mused as she took the file from his hand. "Thank you, Phillip. Will you be accompanying me to the Astral Queen?"
"Yes, ma'am. If you don't mind, ma'am."
"Then I suppose I ought to get this press conference over with before the Quorum starts thinking I'm avoiding them."
Jack cracked a smile and Phillip snorted before he could stop himself.
The press conference had not yet begun and it was already beginning to look like a strange one for several reasons, not the least of which that it had been called by the President and yet was being held on Galactica. But given the fact that Colonial One was currently being docked in Galactica's hangar deck for massive repairs, most of the press corps was graciously willing to let that go as actually out of the President's control.
The room was also crawling with marines, reminding every last one of them of another press conference that had taken place on Galactica, long before New Caprica. Most of them were dispersed through the crowd of reporters, at key positions all around the room. Some were standing at attention on and around the podium, which was empty at the moment as the press corps awaited the President's statement. Every single one of those marines looked ready to shoot the first person to make a wrong move, which only added to the murmured speculations already going on.
Of note to even the least observant in the crowd of reporters currently inhabiting the room was the absence of any senior Galactica officers, with the sole exception of Colonel Tigh. There had been a time, not too long ago, when President Roslin's regular escort to and from any of the sporadic public events taking place on Galactica was Admiral Adama himself. It had been weeks since the President of the Colonies and the Admiral of the Fleet had been seen anywhere in public together.
The scattered murmurings came to an abrupt end as the doors on the far side of the podium opened and Jack Reynolds entered, tossing a glare around the room before he had even fully entered it. Several journalists noted the sour expression on his face and wondered what it meant. Following Reynolds was Colonel Tigh himself, his own expression a blank mask. Following them and immediately stepping to the side, where he could observe but not be readily visible, was the President's aide. Everyone already knew that Tory Foster had been transferred to Galactica's sickbay due to the injuries she had received in the Colonial One explosion.
Everyone shot to their feet as the President entered the room. She took her place at the podium as the Vice-President followed her in, taking a surreptitious position beside Phillip Blake, who smiled at him.
"Good afternoon." The President greeted them smoothly. "I have a brief statement and then I'll answer whatever questions I can. There was an explosion on Colonial One an hour ago. According to what information we have been able to gather, it doesn't look as if there were any fatalities sustained in the explosion. The military investigation into the event has only just begun and on behalf of myself and the leaders of the investigation, I would like to request that speculation into the event be kept to a minimum. Your questions will be addressed as soon as we have enough information to answer them."
The reporters waited.
And waited.
That was it?
Taking a brief moment to compose herself, Laura pointed to the first hand that had shot up. "Yes, Playa."
The journalist in question stood up. "Madam President, do you believe this was an assassination attempt?"
Laura couldn't help the small smile that curved her lips as she considered the question. "I believe that it's one of many possibilities. However, I'm reluctant to assign a motive to an event that may have been a simple accident."
"Madam President, according to reports I've received, someone placed a bomb under your bed. It doesn't take a great leap of logic to assume that was what triggered the explosion."
"I also heard there was a bomb placed under the Raptor that was supposed to return you to Colonial One earlier today. Can you tell us anything about that?"
That question came from one of the tabloid reporters, who didn't even wait for an answer before following it up with, "And your trip over to Galactica this morning wasn't on your official itinerary. Were you summoned over here by Admiral Adama?"
"Admiral Adama requested an early meeting." Laura replied. "I had actually had to reschedule a meeting that was to have included the admiral, myself, and Colonel Tigh."
"So you don't think the admiral was calling you over to tell you about a plan to kill you?"
"I hardly think so." Laura replied. "Mr. McManus?"
"Madam President, I've been hearing reports that there's been an interest in testing the Cylon baby's blood for potential healing qualities for illnesses that we no longer have viable treatment options for, your fairly recent bout with breast cancer being one of them. Can we expect any sort of public announcement regarding these interests?"
You miserable frak, how the hell did you find out about that? The ferocity of her own reaction to the question startled Laura and she realized that someone from within those meetings had to have been feeding the press. A cold chill settled into the pit of her stomach as she realized that at least one member of the Quorum was now playing hardball. If the entire fleet at large was privy to any of these meetings, and the fact that she had shut most of them down, she was in for yet another fight when she was still licking her wounds from the last one.
"Sometimes rumors are just rumors, Mr. McManus." she replied.
"But I also heard that you're shutting down any attempts to even discuss the Cylon baby."
"There's nothing to discuss with regards to Hera. I've made the decision that she should remain where she is, in the care of Captain and Lieutenant Agathon. They are her parents, after all."
"Pardon me for being so blunt, Madam President," Playa cut in, her clipped tones growing sarcastic, "but if that was all there was to it, you wouldn't have removed her from their care in the first place."
Briefly thanking the gods that there was someone out there referring to Hera as a "she" and not as an "it," Laura nonetheless leveled Playa with an annoyed glare.
"Circumstances change." she replied carefully. "It's the way of things."
"That's not the only thing that's changed." The tabloid reporter somehow had gotten up on her chair to call as much attention to herself as she possibly could. "Madam President, are you really that intent on protecting the Cylon baby, or are you just trying to save face because Admiral Adama won't allow the government to interfere with his military?"
Tigh's head snapped up at that unexpected comment. What the frak is this all about? Looking at Jack standing beside Laura, and Zarek and the kid Tory had sent over in her place on the other side of the room, the XO was even more disturbed to see the exact same expressions of weary resignation on all three of their faces. Obviously, this wasn't the first time this question had been asked of the President.
"If Hera was truly a danger to the welfare of this fleet, Admiral Adama would be the first to realize the implications of those dangers, whether it made life more difficult for his people or not."
"Madam President, that sounds suspiciously like ass-covering to me, if you'll excuse the language." Playa remarked. "Is there anything you can tell us about these alleged closed-door meetings about the Cylon baby?"
"Yes. They're over." Laura replied crisply, folding her hands on the podium to cover their shaking. "There will be no action taken."
"And was that your decision or Admiral Adama's?"
"It was a joint decision by the military and the civilian government."
"If the Quorum's still dragging its feet, how can it be a joint decision?"
"Madam President, is there anything you can tell us about anything we've asked that hasn't been approved by Admiral Adama beforehand?"
Her head swimming and cursing herself for having lost control of the situation, Laura looked down at the podium and then over at the Vice-President, who was already stepping forward, looking concerned.
"I can tell you that there has been a Quorum meeting called for this afternoon, and I will be in attendance." she said, feeling the unmistakable beginnings of a slow churn in her stomach.
"And if they ask for your resignation, due to the explosion on Colonial One? Do you believe that you are responsible for the explosion, due to your stance on the Cylon baby? And do you have any idea who's trying to kill you?"
"If I started with the list of people who most likely want me dead, we'll be here well into tomorrow. And that's only the people I come into daily contact with. As to the question of the explosion, listening to your speculation, I'm forced to admit that yes, I do feel responsible for the injuries on Colonial One, and if the Quorum wants my resignation, they're more than welcome to it!" Laura finally snapped.
Reacting immediately, the XO stepped forward. "That's it! This press conference is over! Get your asses back to the hangar bay and off this ship!"
Without a second glance to anyone, Laura stepped down from the podium and quickly walked out the way she had come, with both Jack and the Vice-President shadowing her and the aide a few steps behind them.
"What the hell was that?" Zarek demanded as soon as they had gotten to a relatively private nook in the corridor.
Laura leaned against the wall, her mind racing with the implications of what she had just done. She had let her temper get the better of her and now there were even bigger cans of worms to deal with. Running a hand through her hair, her eyes darting all over the place, she suddenly realized that she was about two seconds away from full-out hyperventilation.
"I need a moment."
"You need to figure out a way to fix what you just said in there!" Tom hissed.
"I said I need a moment!" Laura snarled, wheeling on him furiously. "Are you frakking deaf?"