Author's Note: Wow, I'm having so much fun with this! Anyways…ENJOY! :)
Disclaimer: I own…a butterfly ring. It's green, black, and blue – AND MAKING COLORS IN THE SKY! :D
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Sloane's P.O.V.
By the time I'd finished jumping in and out of the shower, running a brush through my hair, and yanking on my dress blues with almost no respect for the seams that held the damn thing together, I'd already missed the first few minutes of the decommissioning ceremony. It pissed me off to know that I'd been too busy in levelling a punching bag instead of being smart and getting ready for this, but I'd learned my lesson - prepare ahead of time, instead of waiting around until the last second.
Tired and completely out-of-breath (yes, I'm quite the fatass, aren't I?), I collapsed in a folding chair in the last row just as one Laura Roslin stepped up to the podium. Around this time, people were going abso-frakking-lutely BERSERK over her. It was pretty impressive, if you ask me.
Anyway, she stood in front of her fairly large audience, and quickly cleared her throat. She then took a deep breath, and dove into the speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, ensigns and officers alike; on behalf of the senior political cabinet of the twelve colonies, welcome, and thank you for joining us today," she began slowly. "It truly is an honor to have you here for this decommissioning ceremony."
Well, she's hooked me - the lady hasn't even started and I'm already interested in what she has to say.
Roslin pressed on with her speech. "Most of you at the moment are thinking, 'What is the Secretary of Education doing here?' Well, I'm here to give all of you a history lesson, and to make you honor the Galactica as one of the greatest war relics of her time." She readjusted the thin-framed glasses she was wearing before speaking again. "Years ago, during the first cylon war, I was wondering how humanity had managed to avoid being annihilated by the cylons in the first few moments of the war. My answer came to me in the form of newspaper headlines I saw in the morning paper a day after I had this thought - humanity had held it's own in the first wave of attacks because of ships like the Galactica. She, and many others like her, bravely charged into the fight to answer the call of duty, and to protect the millions of men, women, and children down on the planets."
Roslin paused for a brief second, and looked at the audience to see if she'd captured it's attention. Believe me when I say this, she DEFINITELY had everyone's attention, because there were people with an almost-spellbound gleam in their eyes. Yeah, good talking skills will do that to a person.
Satisfied, Roslin returned to the speech. "This ship, and all the men and women that served on it, have been through a lot of trying times. Officers that were a part of the first cylon war often wondered if they would live to see the next day, or if they alone were capable of fighting against a seemingly-invincible enemy. They did live, and discovered that they were capable of fighting the cylons; these officers stuck to their duties and tirelessly fought for humanity's survival." She spread her arms out wide, gesturing to the entire starboard flight pod proudly. "People wondered the same thing about Galactica; could a battlestar like this stand a chance against the enemy? Well, her sturdy build and amazing strength proved this right. The Galactica took hit upon hit from the cylons, but it never once backed away from the fight; like her officers, she remained strong, and constantly showcased her fighting capabilities. Back then, and to this very day, Galactica has been seen as a source of courage, power, and motivation - not just for her crew, but for the rest of humanity." Roslin smiled gently as applause began to fill the flight pod. "Now, as she's decommissioned, honor her as a monument, and treat her with the utmost respect, because the Battlestar Galactica deserves to be seen as a source of courage, power, and motivation. Thank you."
It was deafening as Roslin stepped off the podium, and sat beside a tall guy with curly brown hair. As soon as she sat down, the applauding ceased, and a guy with a weird combover and a gay teal suit stepped up to address the audience.
"I'd like to thank you all again for being here, and Secretary Roslin, thank you very much for those words. Next is a ceremonial fly-by by the last Galactica squadron, led by Captain Lee Adama."
So that's why Lee's here. Of course.
I looked up at the window just as brassy, military-style music flowed from the speakers hidden in the walls. On the cue of french horns and trumpets, an entire squadron of vipers appeared before my eyes.
They hovered in the air for a brief second, then charged forward like a bunch of tigers going in for a kill. The vipers then quickly pulled up and flew over the flight pod. Well, all except for one - the mark II that Lee was piloting. His viper hung behind the rest of the squadron, and from inside the cockpit, Lee seemed to be assessing and calculating what his next move was going to be.
All of a sudden, the mark II launched forward like a ballistic missile, and it looked like Lee had no intention of stopping or slowing down the bird anytime soon.
Holy hell, he's gonna crash.
For a second, I watched wide-eyed as Lee's viper divebombed towards the large museum window. My heart immediately swelled with fear; I was scared for Lee. Yeah, I didn't want anything to do with his stick-in-his-ass behavior and personality, but I sure as hell didn't want to lose the guy, either.
In one moment, Lee had shrank the space between his viper and the museum window to a couple of yards. But in the next, the viper yanked itself up, and flew away to join the rest of the squadron.
Angry, but relieved that the little moment of terror was over and done with, I exhaled a thankful sigh, and applauded with the rest of the audience. I'll tell you what, Lee definitely had no bones about scaring the living shit out of people and giving them a heart attack. Cocky dumbass, I mentally grumbled.
Gay suit man reappeared behind the podium, his forehead covered with a light sweat and a freaked-out glint in his eyes. Well, at least he had some company.
"And now, it is my great pleasure to introduce the last commander of the Battlestar Galactica - Commander Adama," the guy said in a low voice before returning to his seat.
More applause sounded as Adama took to the podium. "Thank you very much." He pulled his reading glasses out of his pocket, and slipped them on the bridge of his nose, which looked like it had taken it's fair share of breaks back in the old days. He then gave everyone in the audience a deadpan stare, and began to talk.
"The cylon war is long over, yet we must not forget the many reasons why we sacrificed so much. The cost of freedom...the cost of wearing the uniform...can be high. But..." Adama hesitated, making it look like he wasn't sure whether to go on with the speech or just stop in the middle of it. He made up his mind, then took off his glasses. "Sometimes it's too high," he finished in a throaty whisper.
That last part kinda' shocked everyone, me included. We didn't know if this was part of the plan, or if the old man was winging it this time and trusting his improv skills. From the flabbergasted gawk that gay suit man was giving him, I'd have to say it was the second one.
"You know, when we fought the cylons," Adama began, "we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question why. Why are we, as a people, worth saving? We still commit murder, because of greed, and spite, and jealousy. And we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept responsibility for anything that we've done, like we did with the cylons. We decided to play God, create life - and that life turned against us. We comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault. Yet, you can't play God, and wash your hands of the things you've done, that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore."
It was quiet in the museum as Adama got off the podium, and took his seat beside his X.O. For a moment, it seemed like nobody knew what to do, now that the old man had surprised everyone with a different speech. At some point though, Roslin gathered up the stones to give the guy some kudos, and got the rest of the audience to applaud along with her. I gladly joined in; the old man deserved the ovation.
Way to go, gramps, I thought, the idea of calling the old man 'gramps' giving off a mentally weird taste. It was odd, me being the daughter of a damn-good viper pilot and the granddaughter of a battlestar commander.
Speaking of my dad, I couldn't get my mind off of the little 'incident' me and Lee had. I'd started to wonder if I'd been a little too harsh with what I'd said to him.
He was acting like an ass to me. Why should I be feeling all 'remorseful'?
To be honest, I didn't really know why. I mean, Lee had no right to treat me like garbage; but then again, the poor guy had just found out I was his daughter...and Starbuck was my mother. As far as the stress of dealing with a woman like my mom went, I could sympathize with him for being all "WTF!" Hell, I would've done the same thing, if I were Lee.
"Well, I knew I would see you soon!" somebody behind me chirped.
I glanced over my shoulder, and was happy to see Roslin standing behind me with an easygoing smile on her face. She stuck her hand out, and I shook it happily. "Hi Laura. That was an amazing speech...I mean, wow! That was just insane!"
"Thank you," she smiled. "I thought it was rather nice, too. Usually my speeches turn out to be rather boring."
Boring? Gods, who wants to bet they're anything BUT boring?
"Nah, far from it. And actually, it was inspirational."
Roslin nodded her head. "Glad to hear that. It's always a good thing when someone finds a speech inspirational. Just a question though - why did you find it 'inspirational'?"
"You remember earlier in the gym? When you asked me why I was hitting the bag so hard?" I said quietly.
"Yes, I do."
I sucked in a nervous breath of air. "I'd just met my dad for the first time a few minutes before you showed up, and...well, I guess he was in trauma mode. He told me he didn't want to deal with me for a while, and he told me to 'run along' and to leave him alone. And it really upset me, so I hit him and shouted names at him. That's why you saw me pummeling the bag so damn hard."
A zen look bloomed on Roslin's face. "I see why." She clasped her thin hands together. "You two still need a bit of time to establish a level of respect between each other. It's the only way that you can have a solid relationship with him, and him with you. Understand?"
Wow, I really need a do-over with Lee.
"Yeah, I do." I got out of my seat, and proceeded to hunt down Lee in the other hangar deck. "Thanks a lot, Laura!"
She waved to me before I disappeared around a corner. "Anytime!" she called out.
I smiled to myself, then started to jog through the halls to the deck. I was gonna fix things with Lee, and hopefully get off on the right foot with him this time.
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AT LAST, THIS CHAPPIE IS FINISHED! HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY THIS ONE! REMEMBER, R&R, AND STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER 8! :D :D :D
