~ Bright, Shiny Futures - Chapter Sixty-Three ~
The pain from her incision stabbed white hot at each step but Laura Roslin didn't let that stop her as she strode through Galactica's corridors proudly. She had always prized dignity highly and lately it seemed to have been suffering a near-fatal blow. It was time to resurrect it and assume the mantle of her former self.
From the looks of heartfelt gladness on the faces of the people she passed, she sensed she was the only one aware of her crippled dignity. They all looked pleased to see her and up and about and had nothing but words of encouragement. It fed her sore heart and made her lift her head just a fraction higher as she walked.
"They do care about your well-being you know," Adama murmured quietly beside her.
She eyed him sharply. "I have wondered."
"I know, that's why I said it. But the people care about you and have all been pulling for you."
"That's surprising."
"Is it? I don't know that it should be."
"I've made many unpopular decisions as President."
"Which have later proven to be the correct choices. People have learned to respect you even if they don't always agree with you. They keep electing you don't they? And I haven't heard a single person say anything bad about you personally either."
She chuckled. "Not like they'd tell you."
He joined her and for a few moments the tension of the situation eased.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked a few minutes later as her steps slowed.
"It's now or never. I have to be."
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "You know I love you, right?"
"I know."
"Good."
* * * * * * * * * *
The elderly woman looked less frail than she had in the early hours of the morning when Adama had left her, perhaps due to rest. It pleased him.
"It's good to see you Billy," she said warmly. "And you've brought Laura along. I was hoping I'd get to meet you before it was too late," she added, turning her smile to the red-haired woman beside Adama.
"Likewise," Laura said, taking the proferred hand and shaking it gently.
"Sit," Adama said, pushing the lone chair in the cubicle up beside the bed for her.
She sat and the two women regarded one another in silence.
"So you say you're Bill's mother," Laura began.
"I am."
"You know that's pretty hard to believe."
"You're a skeptic."
"Damn proud of it too."
"Laura!" Adama interrupted.
"It's okay. I like it when people are honest. I'ts refreshing."
Laura smiled her first genuine smile. "Well we do have that in common. So tell me how it's possible that Bill could be your son. I have no love for the Cylons who tried to murder us all but apparently you're different and the man I love is one of you. I need to understand."
"Fair enough."
Zero began to tell her tale from the beginning, Adama interjecting now and then to share his part of the story that she'd been unaware of most of his life until only a few days prior. It was a lengthy story and by the end of it she was obviously weary and her face had paled several shades.
"Water," she said suddenly. "Pass me the water please."
A discreet cough drew Adama's attention and he turned to peek outside the curtain.
"You've been with her a long time sir. She's tired and needs to rest. You need to go."
Adama nodded just as the shipwide speakers came to life.
"Admiral Adama report to the aft Hangar Bay. Pass the word to Admiral Adama. Please report to the Aft Hangar Bay immediately."
"I think that's my cue," he said and turned back to the women, now silent. The atmosphere wasn't jovial but it was less tense than it had been when they'd arrived. It was a good start and better than he'd honestly hoped for.
"I need to go," he said, smiling apologetically.
"As do I," Laura said, rising from her chair.
The three looked back and forth at one another for a silent moment, then Adama stepped forwar and gave Zero a hug. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't go anywhere on me."
She returned his smile, eyes bright with tears. "Don't worry, I'll be here. You two go and do what you have to."
The two women shared and almost warm smile.
"She's a very sweet old lady," Laura said after they'd left LIfestation and were some ways down the corridor. "I want not to like her but I don't seem to be able to."
Adama smiled. "Another case where the heart rules the mind. When we first met you thought I was an awful person and you never thought you'd even be able to have a working relationship with me, yet look where we ended up."
"So true." She linked her arm in his and they continued towards the outskirts of the ship. "Do you suppose the summons is because Lee and Kara have returned?"
"I sure hope so."
* * * * * * * * * *
Even the all-too familiar hiss of the Raptor hatch opening set Kara's heart beating rapidly. Though she'd moaned and groaned about flying a Raptor instead of a Viper, the truth was she was as excited as Lee to be back in the cockpit again. The viper show-off demonstration for the Earth officials had been fun and had started her adrenaline flowing again, but there was something real about the danger of being on an actual mission that couldn't be matched by anything less. It was as much an addiction as smoking and drinking alcohol had been for her a decade earlier, one she obviously hadn't given up completely.
Lee too, had a flush on his cheeks and a glow in his eyes that she hadn't seen since before New Caprica. It made her feel young again.
They stepped out onto the Raptor's wing, watching as Adama and Roslin strode across the bay slowly. They looked like a king and queen at home in their realm heads held high and pride and purpose in their steps.
"We found it sir, exactly where the coordinates said it would be," Kara announced, too excited to wait for the question.
A slow smile spread across Adama's face. "This news deserves a toast. Ambrosia ... anyone?" He spread his arms wide, asking the question of the entire deck crew.
A few moments later, a bottle was passed forward. "It's not exactly ambrosia sir," one of the orange-jumpsuited knuckledraggers said, cheeks pink, "but it's the closest I've been able to come with what I've had to work with. Been working on the recipe for nearly two years now."
The crowd surrounding them chuckled as Adama popped the lid and took a long swig directly from the bottle. Kara's tastebuds tingled as Adama grimaced and wiped his mouth.
"Good stuff," he said and took another drink. Then he held up the bottle. "To Terra Nova, our new home. We've worked damn hard and suffered more than any people should have to suffer to find a place to call home. May it work out this time so all of our suffering and loss may not have been in vain."
There was a silence in the bay, as there always was when Adama spoke words of such gravity.
"So say we all," Lee said softly, nodding.
"So say we all," the people echoed.
"So say we all. So say we all."
* * * * * * * * * *
Are you sure you don't want to come to the meeting?"
"You're kidding, right?" Kara made a face. "You're going to try to convince the quorum that we should ditch all of our technology and live like our ancestors did thousands of years ago. That's an argument even I don't want to be a party to. And you know how much I love a good fight."
Lee smiled and kissed her cheek. "That I do, so long as it isn't with me anymore."
"No promises ... " She winked mischeviously. They kissed passionately then Lee pulled away groaning inwardly and shifting his weight.
"I'll see you on the other side then," he said throatily, a blush colouring the back of his neck where the too-long hair had begun to curl.
Kara's cheeks wore exactly the same shade as she bade him goodbye. "Good luck," she added in a whisper, though he couldn't hear it. "You're going to need it."
* * * * * * * * * *
Lee cringed at the looks that each and every one of the delegates gave him, remembering how just a few minutes earlier they'd welcomed him and hailed him a hero for finding a home for them. Now he saw nothing but disbelief and distrust, and a heavy amount of animosity mixed in there as well.
"You want us to what?" A small balding man whose name Lee habitually forgot spoke up. "What are you, crazy?"
"That is the most insane idea I've ever heard."
"Even more insane than that," someone else echoed. "Start over? Live like prehistoric people?"
"It's not that bad people. We have language so we can communicate easily. That already puts us way ahead of prehistoric people. We have the memories of how things used to be. We can use what we find on the planet to recreate that. It won't take us thousands of years to develop a similar civilization to the one we have now, it'll happen in only a few generations."
"Why wait that long? We have it all now."
Lee endeavored to explain, as he had to Kara, just how dangerous that made them to the aboriginal people.
"Just because we have the weapons doesn't mean we'll use them," a voice, heretofore silent, piped up.
Lee laughed harshly. "Come on, we're human aren't we? We can't even get along amongst ourselves. How do you think we'll be able to relate to a whole new group of people who are likely much different than we are? It's going to take time to develop a relationship with them and it won't be helped if we attack their people over some misunderstanding and wipe half of them out."
"What if they're not friendly? What if they attack us first?" A belligerent voice asked. "Surely you aren't suggesting we don't defend ourselves."
"Of course not," Lee said firmly. "But we fight on even ground if we have to. Use only the weapons they use and don't let ourselves have any advantage over them."
"How do you expect us to win then?"
The chattering grew silent.
"I expect us to find a way to live peacefully with them. I expect we won't have to fight, we'll strive to get along and work together. Our survival up to this point has been dependent on us being unified. Our future will have us sharing a home with Cylons and a whole new race of people. It's more important now than ever before that we work towards peace or we might just as well give up before we start and nuke ourselves now." He threw his arms up in the air as he spoke, as if to illustrate the futility.
There was silence around the table and for an elated moment Lee thought maybe the discussion was over and he'd won.
"Well you're quite the optimist, aren't you?" the Pythian Sun's captain said, his heavy brogue still unable to disguise the humour in his voice.
Lee smiled and shrugged his shoulders unapologetically. "Always have been, always will be. I guess it's just who I am."
"You make a convincing argument son and I'm ready to back you on this but for one point. How many medical supplies do we have left in the infirmary?"
Lee looked to his father to answer. "There's a modest amount of anti-bacterials and anti-virals. We were able to synthesize some a few years ago when we scoured one of the planets we landed on to restock our fuel. Everything else is down to almost nothing."
"I vote we take those with us. We've struggled to stay alive this long; it would be a shame if we settled on our new home and our people were wiped out by a plague that was curable."
"Any germs we'd be infected by there would be new and likely not curable with what we have," Lee argued.
"True, but we're all carriers of our known pathogens. We will be exposed to new germs in our new environment but we're also going to take our old germs with us. We should at least be able to fight those."
Lee's eyes held a touch of humour. "How does a ship's captain come to know so much about illnesses and curing them?" he asked, a smile breaking out.
"My wife was a virologist back on Virgon. I heard a lot about it, though I had no interest in any of it at the time."
Lee pondered it for a moment while the collective eyes in the room watched him. "I don't like the idea of taking anything with us," he admitted.
"We would only use what we have to and once it was gone we would start fresh with whatever we find on the planet. It gives us a better start, more of a chance to get established without being wiped out before we've barely begun."
"I think it's a good idea," Roslin chimed in. "Medicines to cure, not weapons to kill. I don't think it will give us an advantage over the Terrans in any way, just help us and the next generation to survive the change."
Lee met her eyes and nodded. "Okay. Fair enough."
"What are we going to do with everything else?" the Virgon Captain asked. "Our weapons, our ships ... how do we get rid of them?"
"Well, we're going to need them to land and get everyone on the ground. How to destroy them without leaving any remains ... " Adama stopped.
The room was silent for a good three full minutes before anyone spoke. "I have an idea," Lee said slowly. "It's kind of crazy and would take a lot of work to organize ... and we'd need a volunteer for a suicide mission ... " He stopped, feeling the tension in the room spike.
"What?"
"Fly them into the sun."
~ TBC ~
