Chapter 32
Office of the President – Colonial One – Colonial Fleet
"Madame President," the intercom on Laura Roslin's desk announced, "the Thirteenth Tribe's admiral is holding on the wireless for you."
Roslin smiled even though the man on the other end of the speaker couldn't see it. "Thank you, Captain Russo. Please put her through."
"Yes, ma'am," the master of her liner said.
Soon, the voice of the woman whose accent reminded Bill and Laura of a refined Leonese noblewoman sounded through the intercom's speakers. "Good morning, Madame President."
"Good morning to you, as well, Admiral! It is a pleasure to speak to you once again."
"The pleasure is all mine, Madame President and I thank you for taking my call. We have a great deal to discuss. Before I continue, may I inquire whether Admiral Adama is with you in your office?"
"Indeed, he is, Admiral de Ruyter. In addition to the good admiral, we have also been joined by Tom Zarek. Mr. Zarek is a leading member of our Quorum of Twelve. I invited him to join us so he can provide us with another perspective."
They heard the other woman's heavy sigh over the speakers. "Very well, Madame President, if you wish to involve Mr. Zarek at this stage, I have no objections. I have been asked by the Sector Commander, Admiral Amato, and the Sector Administrator, Ms. Schlein, to inform you that there are certain conditions that must be agreed to by your leadership before we can allow your ships to proceed into Alliance space. I am also required to tell you that these conditions are not subject to negotiation."
A grimace crossed Laura's face then. I suppose the time has come for us to pay the piper, she mused inwardly. "Very well, Admiral de Ruyter. Please continue."
"Both Sector leaders are concerned about the presence of Cylon infiltrators among the people in your fleet. If these infiltrators have the ability to provide your fleet's spatial coordinates to the Cylon ships in pursuit of your people, particularly if they are within the download range of their so-called Resurrection Ships, we cannot allow them to know Xanadu's location. Therefore, we must insist that all infiltrators who are currently in your custody must be surrendered immediately to us, including the infiltrator that is presently traveling with your search and rescue team. We will place these infiltrators aboard our heavy destroyer Witchcraft where they will be guarded round-the clock by an entire company of our Marines. They shall also undergo interrogation by Malcolm and Lena to assess their intelligence value."
De Ruyter paused momentarily then continued speaking. "We also require that you allow the medical personnel from my task force to come aboard each one of your vessels so my people can scan everyone aboard your vessels to ferret out all the infiltrators. The medical personnel shall be accompanied by a team of Marines from both your fleet and my task force for security reasons. Of course, to avoid any cultural difficulties, we will only assign human Marines for this task."
Laura shot a look at Adama and he simply nodded in response. Then he asked, "Admiral, I take it that your people will use the same device Dr. Dalle demonstrated to me aboard my ship, is that right?"
"That is correct, Admiral Adama," the other woman said. "I'm certain that Admiral Adama can attest to the fact these scanners can detect an infiltrator by the amount of silicon that is present inside that individual's body."
"That's true. I saw the device in action in our own morgue on the Cylon corpses. It works like a charm," Adama noted.
"I understand that Dr. Dalle also used it to scan the infiltrator who gave herself up, as well, Admiral," de Ruyter observed. "It worked on her, too."
"I see," Zarek said. "So, how will the process work?"
"We'll dispatch teams to every ship in your fleet, Mr. Zarek. Each team shall scan each individual until the vessel has been cleared of infiltrators if any are found to be present. Infiltrators found during the scans shall be taken into custody and transferred to the Witchcraft. Cleared vessels shall be positioned away from ships that need to be scanned. Once your vessels are all cleared, the fleet shall proceed to the Xanadu system while Witchcraft will be sent to a secure area far from Xanadu."
"How many people will be assigned to conduct these scans, Admiral de Ruyter?" Roslin asked.
"We have two hundred medics and eight hundred Marines designated for this undertaking. With your complement of Marines, we believe that we can form one hundred teams and these teams should be able to screen your entire population while we await the return of your search and rescue mission."
Adama nodded slowly. "That sounds about right," he agreed.
"I have a question for you, Admiral de Ruyter," Tom said. "Do you intend to airlock the infiltrators after you've extracted all of the information you seek to gain from them?" Zarek asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Mr. Zarek, if we do not execute prisoners of war in the Alliance, we certainly would not execute the members of a race that the Alliance has just encountered."
Laura shook her head then. She had to make these people understand how evil the Cylons really were! "Admiral de Ruyter, these machines…these…things killed nearly every man, woman and child in our Colonies! They won't hesitate to come after you. They believe every human being is a flawed creation of their One True God that must be destroyed so they can take our place in the entirety of creation!"
"Even if they believe that to be the case in regards to you people, madam, at the present time, we do not have any evidence the Cylons would view the humans of the Alliance in the same way. My people did not create them. We did not enslave them. We did not try to destroy them when they questioned why you treated them as your servants rather than as your children. It is our hope that, with the proper approach, they will be able to understand those distinctions. If not, we will teach them a bitter lesson."
"I hope," Adama said, his voice raspy, "you're right about all of that, Admiral de Ruyter."
"I hope I am, too, Admiral Adama," she drawled.
"Admiral de Ruyter," Tom snapped, "what about the Cylon agent that assassinated Admiral Helena Cain, the Pegasus' prior commander?"
A wide-eyed Laura glared at the man and motioned for him to be quiet. Tom…stop! she screamed in her mind. Trust me, you don't want to go there!
However, he ignored her non-verbal warning and continued. "Surely, you should toss that murderous thing out the nearest airlock! If you're not willing to do so, at least allow us to try the thing and execute it."
The steel in de Ruyter's response was vividly plain to the three people in Laura's office then. "Mr. Zarek, under no circumstances is that woman going to be executed. Frankly, sir, it is my view that the Cylon performed a valuable service for your people by removing a despicable pirate from our universe who'd abused her position of authority to betray the very people she'd sworn an oath to protect."
Roslin sighed deeply and hoped she could repair the rift that Tom's foolish comments had caused with the Thirteenth Tribeswoman. "Admiral, if we had known about Admiral Cain's despicable acts before her death, we assure you we would have arrested and tried her for her crimes, as well as those under her command who carried out her unlawful orders."
"Madame President, I am certain that is the case," the other woman said, although her answer sounded more like a diplomatic way out rather than a vote of confidence.
Laura shot a glimpse at Bill and saw the guilty look on his face. Although he had no idea what the lieutenant that Cain had sent to the Galactica had intended to do to the Model Eight that had been in the ship's brig, she knew Bill held himself accountable for everything that happened aboard his 'Old Girl.' He'd believed he had failed to protect the Cylon from a horrible violation. That was something she knew he would live with for the rest of his life.
However, she had difficult things in her past she'd had to bear, too. Leaving behind those people…leaving behind that little girl…on the sub-light ships in Helios to the tender mercy of the Cylons was the hardest thing she'd ever done. All of the sacrifices, the tough choices, though, had led to this moment and she wasn't about to let her people miss their chance. "Admiral, thank you for your understanding. In the spirit of working closely with your people in helping my people find a new home, we humbly accept your terms in regard to the disposition of the Cylon infiltrators."
"We appreciate your cooperation, Madame President, gentlemen. We would also like you to know that we have thought of a cover story for the scans that should reassure your people. The scans, in fact, can also discover any medical problems that may have inflicted some of your people. In those cases, we can assist in providing treatment for their ailments."
"That would be a very good thing," Roslin agreed.
"To facilitate implementing the scans, I invite you and your staff, the entire Quorum, and your media representatives to the Hermes. Once aboard my ship, Ms. Schlein and I would be happy to meet with you and the Quorum. We can discuss the medical scans as well as the fact that the Alliance has non-human citizens. We can also answer any of their questions or concerns about the temporary disposition of your people on the planet Xanadu at that time."
A sly smile dawned on Laura's face then. "Admiral, can you tell me if Ms. Schlein has any influence with the merchants and the contractors in her systems?"
"Indeed she does, Madame President. Xanadu is a booming port of call for many merchant ships. In fact, the Sector Administrator's family business is well-known for, shall we say, being aggressive in the pursuit of commerce."
"Well then, I look forward to having a discussion with Ms. Schlein. I believe I may have several business matters that may pique her interest."
"I shall inform Ms. Schlein about your plans then. Now, as for the joint meeting, afterwards, you and I can give a press conference where we will reveal the plan to scan your people to the media. Then, to show everyone there is nothing to fear from the process, I'll have medics scan you, me, members of your staff, the members of the Quorum, and finally, the members of the press. If by some chance, we happen to uncover an infiltrator at that time, we will surreptitiously isolate that individual in the least intrusive manner possible and take him or her into custody. Of course, if we find any serious medical conditions as a result of the scans, we will discuss the matter confidentially with the individual in an appropriate setting at a later date."
"The plan sounds fine to me, Admiral de Ruyter." Then she shot a glance at Adama then Zarek. "Bill…Tom, what do you think?"
"I like the idea of the press conference," Zarek said. "However, the meeting prior to that may not go as well as you may like, Admiral. Some of the members of the Quorum may inquire whether your people are willing to take up arms against the Cylons. A few may push so far to insist that you must help us retake our Colonies. Others, though, may want to know where your people stand in regards to your religious beliefs concerning the Lords of Kobol or forcefully state that the presence of aliens in your Alliance may be blasphemous in the eyes of the Lords."
"Mr. Zarek, I think it is fair to say that the answer to the questions about the possibility of the Alliance entering into a state of war with the Cylons or sending a fleet to retake your colonies must come from our civilian leadership. It is not for Admiral Amato or me to decide policy on behalf of our government. As for the religious issue, I think it is fair to say that our government adopted as its principle the concept of laïcité from one of our ancient Earth nation states. The concept is defined as the complete absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. Although we understand that your government was somewhat secular in that citizens were not forced to believe in a particular religion, our government is probably stricter in regards to its secularism. Although we respect anyone's religious beliefs and would not ever think to infringe upon their right to practice them, we will not allow anyone to dictate that our government must change its stance either on the role of religion in our society or the status of our non-human citizens in the Alliance."
Laura narrowed her eyes at Zarek and made a sign that he should zip his mouth shut. For Gods' sakes, couldn't he tell from the hardness in de Ruyter's voice that he was getting on the woman's bad side by challenging her about her people's core beliefs? Didn't the man realize that, at the present time, all of the leverage undeniably belonged to the Thirteenth Tribe? Speaking rapidly now, desperately attempting to salvage the situation, she said, "Admiral, I can assure you that Admiral Adama, Mr. Zarek, and I understand your government's position on these issues. However, these questions may arise during the proposed meeting, so I think it's a good idea to have answers prepared if it comes to that."
"That does sound like a prudent course of action, Madame President," de Ruyter agreed. "Now, if there is nothing more, I suppose this would be the appropriate time to end this call. I shall have my flag lieutenant coordinate with your personal assistant to arrange a convenient time for the meeting and the press conference. Again, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to discuss these matters with me. De Ruyter, over and out."
When the channel to the Earth ship had closed, Laura regarded both men and said, "Well…it looks like we're back on the clock, gentlemen. I think it would be a good idea to break the news about the sentient aliens to the Quorum members before we meet with the Admiral aboard her vessel."
Zarek nodded sullenly. "And hope they don't freak the Hell out."
"So say we all," Adama whispered.
Bill's pronouncement had almost sounded like a prayer to her. Then Laura smirked. Well, hopefully, she mused to herself, the Lords of Kobol will accept Bill's words as such.
Indeed, her people could use all the divine help they'd get to keep the fleet from falling apart when they were confronted by all the changes their immediate future held in store for them.
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