Battlestar Galactica, Hanger deck, 1940 hours.
While the Cylons, and the archaeological team from Earth, were setting camp on Cylon Earth, The entire Colonial fleet was excited about arriving at New Kobol, and while many of the captains were eager to land their ships, they deferred to the President's request that all landings be put on hold until after the initial meeting between the two peoples. Back on the Galactica, the deckhands were buzzing about their arrival at New Kobol, with some of them describing the planet below after taking a looking at it through the viewing window at what could be only described as the Galactica's 'nose' section. Suddenly, every one stopped moving and remained at attention as Commander Adama, Apollo, Helo, Tory, Roslin, Colonel Tigh and Lt. Gaeta arrived in the hanger desk. They walked down the stairs as the Commander told them all to be at ease before he led the group towards a Raptor where Chief Tyrol, Chief Laird, Cally and a few other knuckledraggers were making final checks.
"Chiefs" said the Commander as both of them turned towards the Commander. Tyrol saluting the old man while Laird nodded his head, "is she ready to fly?"
"Yes, sir" said Tyrol as he looked back at the Raptor, and then back at the group in front of him.
"This ship will be the first to make history" said Laird as he nodded his head, "I mean again. This ship did land on the planet when there was that first meeting… I mean that this is the first official meeting on our new home and…."
"You're right" said the President as she nodded at Chief Laird. She recalled the meeting that Commander Adama, the Vice-President and herself had with the man after receiving the evidence from Earth on what the Pegasus had done to its own civilian fleet.
Colonial One, twenty four hours after the election, President Roslin's office.
The President was still reeling from the revelations that Baltar had made in regards to his role in the Fall of the Colonies. She knew that every fibre in her being was telling her to open the airlock that the man was in, and shoot him into space. It was taking everything to stop herself from killing him, something that she knew he thoroughly deserved. However, she continued to stop herself… she sat on her seat with her hands rolled into fists as she looked at her table. What was supposed to be a joyous day of celebration for her, turned into a nightmare come through overnight. True that she did go for the obligatory celebrations after the revelations, she didn't want others to know the truth about what Baltar had done since that would have possibly brought the entire government down and given Zarek and Porter more ammunition to seek an annulment of her presidency for harbouring the greatest mass murderer that the Colonies ever produced.
'It was for purely selfish reasons' thought the President to herself as she leaned back on her seat and rubbed her forehead in frustration. She not only had the former Vice-President to deal with, but also the requests from various captains that they would like to follow Zarek and Porter to the planet that she had dubbed Cylon Earth.
As she looked over at her should at the white board on which was written the total number of refugees in the fleet, she wondered how many of them would elect to leave for Cylon Earth. She wondered how big the split between this family that had survived numerous Cylon attacks would become.
'I will find out soon' thought the President to herself as Billy walked into the President's office, followed by Tory who told the President that Commander Adama and one of the survivors from the Scylla; one of the ships that the Pegasus had gutted was attaching itself to Colonial One's hull. The President had heard the rumours about what the Pegasus had done, and then to have the proof presented to her… to the Quorum, made her sick to her stomach.
'Those Earthers did what we were unable to do' thought the President as she nodded her head at her two aides, 'they went back for our people, while we were living in fear of the Cylons even though we suspected that Cain had done something. Well we were sure it was something, but never expected the rumours to be, in fact, true.'
"Madam President" said the Commander as Roslin stood up. The Commander walked forward, followed by a nervous man in overalls with short blonde hair as he stood next to the Commander and nodded his head at her. They were then followed by the Vice-President who introduced the man in overalls as Peter Laird, one of the two deck Chief's on the Galactica and former passenger on the civilian freighter Scylla.
"Mr. Laird" said Roslin as he walked around her desk and towards the Chief before shaking his hand, and then asking him, and the others, to take a seat. She told them that they had much to talk about.
"Thank you" said the Chief as he sat down, with the Vice-President sitting next to him, and the Commander sitting across from him on another row of seats. Billy and Tory were leaning against the hull of the ship together, listening to the ensuing conversation.
"Chief" said the President as she leaned forward onto her desk, "let me first give you my condolences on what happened in regards to the Pegasus. I can tell you that all of us have heard the rumours of crew from the Pegasus involved in actions that would be considered a war crime… but at that time, this was all still considered a rumour."
"I.. I understand" said Chief Laird.
"I'm sure you were listening to the broadcast of the Quorum meeting where the President laid out the evidence of these crimes provided by the Earthers?" asked the Vice-President as he looked at Chief Laird who nodded his head.
"I know this is hard to remember" said Roslin as Chief Laird looked at her, "but can you take us through the events of what happened? We have read the written reports of interviews taken of those on a ship called the Argus, but we'd like to have an account from you. Especially since…."
"The rumours you heard were true, Ma'am" said Laird as he recalled how they were excited when the encountered the Pegasus. That the fleet of ships had a powerful vessel of the Colonial military to protect them from the Cylons if they attacked the fleet. He told Roslin and the others of how, instead of protecting them, the crew from the Pegasus boarded the ship and made demands. He said that he was handed a piece of paper by a man claiming to be the Executive Officer of the ship, and on that paper were names of people who had a particular skill that was needed by the Pegasus.
"Military needs came first" said Chief Laird as he leaned forward and rested his elbows f his knees and covered his mouth with his hands, "that what the XO said, he said that was Admiral Cain's order. She wanted people like me, aerospace engineers, mechanics… name it. They wanted our FTL's, food, water, any spare parts… they wanted to clean us out and then go back to the fight."
At that, the President and the Commander looked at each other as they recalled the second night of the Cylon attack. The President wanted to leave the system with the Galactica protecting them, and the Commander wanted to continue the fight with the fleet staying in the Ragnar Anchorage. As they looked at each other, the President and the Commander knew that it was a twist of fate that the Commander made the decision to leave the system together with the civilian fleet. They made a jump calculation far past the red line, and passed the coordinates onto the other ships. Then as the Galactica protected the ships from a Cylon force that had been massing to attack the Ragnar Anchorage, the ships started to jump away while the Galactica, the Old Girl of the Colonial fleet, took a massive beating. But in the end, she escaped. Now, as the President and the Commander looked at each other… they both realised that the situation could have been very different.
They then looked at Chief Laird as he continued on with his story of how many people, including himself, refused to leave the ship.. especially since they had family on board. However, Cain just wanted those deemed to be useful.. everyone else was to be left behind to die.
"People couldn't take that" said Chief Laird as he shook his head, "we were ready to riot when we heard something we never thought we would hear; an order to shoot the families of those who refused."
The Chief then looked at the Commander and told him that the Pegasus Marines were confused by the order, that they couldn't believe the order to kill innocents… women, men and children.
"They hesitated" said the Chief as he wiped his eye and then looked at the floor of the office, "their fingers were already on their triggers but they were hesitant, and then… and then a shot rang out."
"Was it the XO?" asked Commander Adama as Chief Laird shook his head.
"It was a woman, I… I don't know her name" said the Chief, "but I'll never forget her face. Not her face, she was the one who shot my wife."
"I am so sorry" said the President while Billy and Tory could only look at each other in disbelief.
"She died quickly" said the Chief as he pointed to his own forehead, "shot through the head. She and I were…. Were…. It doesn't matter now. At least we didn't have any children. But families of a few others were then ordered to be lined up by the XO, and then the Marines shot them. Men, Women and children shot for nothing. The rest of the ships heard about what happened, and everyone surrendered. I heard crew on a few other ships still fought back but the same thing happened. After that, I was conscripted into the Pegasus deck gang."
"We are making plans to go after the Pegasus once everyone has been settled on the new planet" said the Commander as Chief Laird looked at the old man.
"Will you be going with us?" asked Roslin as the Chief looked at her and nodded his head.
Battlestar Galactica, Hanger deck, 1941 hours.
Shaking her head off the memories in regards to the conversations they shared later on, the president turned to the Commander and told him that she was ready. Commander Adama nodded his head and told the two chiefs two keep the Old Girl in the air safe and sound.
"Of course, sir" said Chief Tyrol nodding his head.
The Commander then turned around and told Colonel Tigh that he was in command while he, Apollo, Tory, Helo and President Roslin took the Raptor to the surface of the planet below. The Commander then looked at Lt. Gaeta and reminded him to continue pushing for the lists of people who needed the most urgent aid from the Earthers on New Kobol. Lt. Gaeta nodded his head and told him that he'll get things done while they wait for landing coordinates.
"Saul" said the Commander as Colonel Tigh straightened up, "notify me if anything happens, anything."
'Understood" said the Colonel; the man had served with Commander Adama long enough to realise that he wanted the ship ready for action at a moment's notice. That even though by all accounts the Cylon threat was mostly over, there could be Cylons out there who they could still encounter; which meant that all the gun batteries on the Galactica had to be armed, and the missiles ready for launch. Apollo got into the Raptor followed by the Commander who turned and helped Roslin up the short stubby wings of the Colonial craft. She was gently pushed into the back of the Raptor by Commander Adama while Apollo helped her inside and then took her to a seat. The Commander then helped Tory come up onto the ship and then gently pushed her into the back of the craft while Helo got up and then both he and the Commander walked into the ship. Everyone watched as the doors closed while the Commander walked up to the Co-Pilot's seat next to Apollo.
"We are ready for go, sir" said Apollo as he looked at his father.
"Take us out, Major" said the old man.
As the Raptor was taken to the elevator that would take the ship to the flight pod, Colonel Tigh turned around and saw that everyone was still laying about. The man then, in his trademark gruff disposition, told everyone to get back to work.
New Kobol, Earth Encampment, 1955 hours.
It had been a little over two hours since part of the Colonial fleet arrived in orbit of New Kobol. While waiting for the Colonials to come down with their delegation, Dr. Burke, along with Woolsey, Riley, and the leaders of the other four SG teams were talking together about what was going to be happening next. Riley, the officer who was currently in command of the camp, told Dr. Burke that the first thing that they needed to do was run the Cylon detector that Willow and Colonel Carter developed over the delegation.
"We tell them the truth" said Riley when one of the SG team leaders asked if that would cause the delegation to panic, "we tell them that we've tested everyone here, and they are all showing as non-Cylon entities. We tell them that we had Miss Valerii help in its development in the initial stages, but it has been made entirely by us. We can have Captain Thrace and Lt. Edmondson confirm.. Dr. Burke?"
"I'll talk to the both of them" said Dr. Burke, "it would be best to have them, as well as Commander Melik, with us."
"Miss Gallo's still injured" said Sam, Riley's wife, "I don't want her moving for a few days."
"Alright" said Riley nodding his head, "we have one of those detectors with us right now. Sam and her team will be the one running it over them."
"We know, from what Sharon told us, that at least three of the Galactica's crew may be Cylons… Cylon's from the planet that was nuked" said Woolsey, "the IOA, and Home World agree that once we have confirmed that they really are Cylons, then we will run a secondary blood screen.. and then we'll inform Commander Adama, the Vice-President, and President Roslin."
"Will we be getting more of those devices, sir?" asked Major Atwood.
"We should be receiving twenty more units with the shipment of supplies that will be coming through the Stargate from the Zeta site in a few hours" said Woolsey as he recalled Dr. Burke informing General Landry before leaving that they needed more of the Cylon detectors. The General said that he'll send the specifications of the device to the Zeta site so that the Asgard stationed there would see that they would require the use of the convertors for something that is not a weapon. It was only ten minutes ago that they were told that the Asgard approved the specifications, and that twenty of the devices would be sent with the shipment of supplies that would be sent directly from one of the Zeta site's buffer planets, with a vast majority of it being sent by ship."
"Once we've gotten them checked using the detector" said Woolsey, "and if any of them happen to be the three that Miss Valerii told us about, we will sequester them so that we could perform an additional blood test. If those three aren't among the people coming down, then we will obviously introduce ourselves…."
"Obviously" said Major Cutter from SG-23.
'Yes" said Woolsey continuing while frowning, "and then we'll show them the sites that were picked out by the Army Corp of Engineers. If they have any ideas on where to place the ships, and the living spaces, then so be it, we can change the plans; ours is just a recommendation after all."
"How about the towers?" asked Major West, the leader of SG-7, "I'm sure they'll have questions about them, and do we build around their ships as they land.. or…."
"We'll tell them what they need to know" said Riley, "we'll tell them about the towers. As for the ships, we'll have supplies sent up to them once we have received the food and medicines from the Zeta site. It would probably best to have the ships that have more pressing needs land tomorrow morning since it's already getting dark."
"Doctors without Borders, the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, the UNHCR are some of the organizations that have been informed about the Stargate Program as a prelude to full public disclosure" said Sam as she looked at everyone, "they'll be sending teams to back-up the med teams we have here tomorrow. I'd recommend we do this one ship at a time. That way we can take care of the people in each ship before having the next one land. If all of them land at once, then we'll have a huge problem."
"Agreed" said Dr. Burke, "we'll bring it up to the delegation that's coming down."
Just then, Riley's radio went off. It was a Captain from the communication room telling him that they were getting a message. Acknowledging the man, Riley and the others then ran to the communications room where a voice in Ancient Greek was speaking over the radio.
"Earth base, this is Major Lee Adama of the Battlestar Galactica. We are entering the atmosphere and are requesting clearance to land."
Riley told Major Atwood, and Major Cutter to take some translators and inform the Vice-President and his arty that the delegation has arrived. As the two officers nodded their heads and rushed out of the communications building, Riley turned to Dr. Burke and nodded his head. The linguist them headed for the radio in her blue shirt and slacks and leaned over before pressing the transmission button.
"Major Adama, this is Dr. Winnie Burke. Welcome back."
"Good to be back" said Apollo, "I have Commander Adama, President Roslin and her second aide, Tory Foster, and Lt. Karl Agathon with me. Requesting coordinates for landing."
"Stand by" said Dr. Burke while Riley was looking at a map before writing something down on a piece of paper. He then handed it to Dr. Burke who relayed the numbers to Apollo.
"Thank you" said Apollo, "we will be landing in three minutes. The President would like a fly by."
"You are more than welcome to check out your new home, Major" said Dr. Burke with a smile, "we'll be waiting."
The group headed out of the communications building as the sun started to set. They looked up as the Colonial Raptor shot straight overhead and went towards the towers in the distance.
"Here we go, guys" said Riley.
"Indeed" said the group together.
While the aircraft was circling the camp, Racetrack, Billy, Starbuck, Baltar, the Colonial Marines who had come with them, and the Vice-President, as well as Commander Melik and a few others walked over o the center field where Dr. Burke and the others were waiting. It was about four minutes later that the small craft hovered the patch of open green meters away from the communications building before making a slow descent down to the grass. Once the ship landed, the Colonial Marines who had come with Starbuck and the others rushed over to the ship as the side door opened. Dr. Burke, Woolsey and Riley walked towards the door as the Marines helped down Commander Adama who looked around his surroundings as he stepped onto the grass. While looking at the people in front of him, he then helped the President onto the ground, and they were soon followed by Apollo, Helo, and Tory.
The Commander and President then saw a dark haired woman walking towards them with the one they recognized as Woolsey. It was Apollo who then stood next to the Commander and introduced him to Dr. Burke, the chief linguist in the Earth encampment.
"Commander Adama, President Roslin" said Dr. Burke as she shook their hands, "welcome to New Kobol. You know Mr. Woolsey."
"Commander, President" said Woolsey as he nodded his head before shaking their ands once again.
"Standing next to me is the camp commander, Lt. Colonel Riley Finn, and next to him is Lt. Colonel Samantha Finn."
"Lt. Colonel's" said the Commander as the both of them saluted him before the Commander returned their salute. The whole while it was Dr. Burke translating for both Riley and Sam, "married?
"Married" said both of the Finn's as the Commander nodded his head while Dr. Burke translated.
Commander Adama then introduced the rest of the group behind him before Starbuck introduced him, and the President to Melik and a few of the other Colonials.
"President Roslin" said Melik as he shook her hand with tears in his eyes, "we were so afraid that there were no more of our people left. After the attack by the Cylons, and what happened with the Pegasus… we.. we truly thought that we were alone."
"We know now the truth about what happened with the Pegasus, Commander" said the president as she turned to Commander Adama, and then towards Melik again, "once we've settled down, we are planning on going after Admiral Cain."
"Madam President" said the Vice President as he stood next to her, "we do have to talk about Cain, but… I think we can hold off on that for a day or so."
"Yes" said Dr. Burke after she translated for the benefit of the Earthers present, "we do have some pressing matters to talk about right now, particularly where your ships could land, then we have to talk about emergency food and medical aid."
While Dr. Burke was talking to them, Apollo noticed that Baltar was standing next to Billy and the two members of the Quorum who had arrived with Starbuck and Racetrack. Their eyes meeting, Apollo nodded at Billy as he walked to one side of the group so that the both of them could have a chat without others noticing on why Balter wasn't sent to the Cylon planet.
"Billy?" asked Apollo when they were out of earshot from the rest of the group, "why is he still here?"
Looking at Baltar who had his hands in his pockets, and then at the President who also noticed Baltar and was looking back at Billy; the President's primary aide to Apollo that something happened soon after they arrived on New Kobol. Billy told Apollo that the Vice-President would fill them in, but he felt that having Baltar with the Cylons would be bad news… especially given the news that the Earthers had for them.
"Which is?" whispered Apollo.
"The vice-president will explain" said Billy as the both of them were being called back to the group, "it's both good news, and bad news. But he thinks having Baltar with the Cylons would be a bad mistake, and I think I agree with him."
"Whatever the reason is, it better be good" said Apollo as they walked back to the group while glaring at Baltar who looked at the officer, and then looked away at the surrounding area.
As they reached the group, the President and the Commander, who had just noticed Baltar was looking confused at Billy and at the Vice-President.
Dr. Burke, sensing that the President and Commander Adama were confused about the presence of Baltar in the planet told them that they had to discuss some things, but for the moment, they needed to get to more pressing matters. President Roslin could only frown as she glared at the former Vice-President of the Colonies and then looked at Dr. Burke, she wanted an explanation but knew that the linguist was correct, that they had more pressing matter to deal with. The situation with Balter would have to be put on the backburner for now.
"Before we continue" said Woolsey as he looked at the President and then at Commander Adama while Dr. Burke was translating, "we would like to ask that yourselves, and the others with you submit to a quick scan to determine if you are Cylons."
"Wait" said Commander Adama as he glared at Balter, and then looked at the bald man, "you have a working detector?"
"Yes" said Woolsey, "we have scanned every one present here and we have determined that they are not Cylons."
"We were surprised to learn that some of the Cylons managed to take on human form" said Commander Melik, "thank the gods that no Cylons were among us."
"That's right, boss" said Starbuck as Racetrack nodded her head as well, "they tried it on us and found us to be one hundred percent human."
Woolsey, Dr. Burke, Sam and Riley glanced at each other as they recalled the D'Anna who was used to test the Cylon detector when the survivors from the remaining ships were brought in. They hadn't told Melik and the others about her, and had no intention to. Woolsey told them that the detector was created in by two of their scientists in collaboration with Sharon who remained at another secured location. That was technically the truth as Willow and Colonel Carter used Sharon, with her permission, as a test to gauge the effectiveness of the handheld detector before finishing the text on New Kobol when they finally programmed the device with the range of frequencies that the Cylon nanites used..
"Sharon?" asked Helo, "is she alright?"
"Yes" said Woolsey, "but as we said, she is in a secured location."
"President Roslin, Commander Adama" said Dr. Burke as Sam took out the scanner from a pack attached to her belt, "it's absolutely painless. And… and by any chance anyone does happen to make the scanner go off, then we have another test that we could run to confirm."
"And if…" said the Commander as he looked at everyone who came with him before looking at Dr. Burke who was translating for the others, "if the tests show that someone is Cylon?"
"For his or her safety, the Cylon would be taken to a buffer planet" said Woolsey as Dr. Burke translated, "then from that planet, they will be taken to the Cylon's new world. They will not know the Stargate address to New Kobol."
Melik and the other Colonials who were in his group of refugee's were listening in surprise as this was news they were hearing for the first time. The man then interrupted the bald man, telling him that it was the Cylons who annihilated their people. He told Woolsey that the Earthers were human too, so why should they be helping machines that nearly wiped out twelve worlds that were populated by their own race. That it was an insult to the Colonies.
"We are aware that the Cylons launched the war that led to the fall of the Colonies" said Woolsey as he looked at Melik, and then at the others, "we are also aware of why the first Cylon War was carried out. We know that your people have suffered unimaginable horrors, and I do not envy what you have gone through. But the Cylons too have been nearly wiped out by the Ori."
"They deserved it" said another of the Colonials next to Melik.
"Perhaps" said Woolsey, "but we see them as a form of sentient life. And our people will not stand by and watch two cultures become extinct. Which is why we have offered your people this planet, and the Cylons another planet."
"Mr. Woolsey" said the President while Dr. Burke continued to translate, "Commander Melik is correct, protecting Cylons will be seen as an insult by the rest of the Colonies. But…"
Roslin then looked at Commander Melik, and the other four Colonials standing next to him, and told them that they were finally safe. They finally had a new home since the Colonies had fallen. She told them that with the Cylons being unable to find them, maybe the cycle of hatred between them could lessen.
"Make no mistake" said Roslin as she looked at Melik, "I can never forgive them for what they did, but we have to do what we can to continue living our lives on this world. We have our brothers and sisters back at the Colonies who are still suffering, and.. and we will get them home as well. We need to tend to the here and now; the Cylons can do what they want on their own."
Melik could only nod his head. He knew that the President was correct, that they had to live for the here and now, and if the Cylons were stuck on their own world… then it was possible that the Colonials would never see another Cylon.
Roslin then turned to Dr. Burke and told her that they were ready to be scanned.
Dr. Burke nodded at Sam who first ran the palm sized scanned over the President's body and then shook her head, indicating that the President wasn't a Cylon. While Sam was running the device over the Commander, the President asked if they had only one of those scanners, and if they were going to scan all the ships.
"Yes" said Dr. Burke as Sam went on to scan Helo, "we will be getting more units with the first batch of supplies that will be coming through the Gate to the Stars. We will talk about landing procedures once Colonel Finn has completed her scans."
"Very well" said the President.
"Ummmm…." said Sam as she ran the scanner over Tory. She looked at the dark skinned woman, and then at the scanner again, and back to the woman before she looked at Dr. Burke and Riley, calling them over to her. In the meantime, Sam ran the scanner over Tory once more as the dark skinned woman looked at Sam confusingly.
"Sam?" asked Riley as he stood next to her and looked at the screen on the scanner with showed the same frequencies emanating from her body as it did from the D'Anna who was on New Kobol earlier, "I thought Sharon said she saw only three?"
"Maybe there are more?" said Sam as she ran the scan once more while Woolsey and Dr. Burke walked over to her while the Colonials all stared at Tory, especially Roslin who's eyes were wide open in shock at the thought that her aide could be a Cylon. To be on the safe side, the Commander and Apollo pushed the president behind them while Helo had his hand on his side-arm, as did the other Colonial Marines. Racetrack and Starbuck reached from their weapons, but discovered their holsters were empty.. they had left their side-arms in their shared refugee unit. Major Atwood and the others noticed the Colonials reaching for their weapons, so she and the others from Earth in the group tightened their grip on their P90's.
"Everyone weapons down" said Riley as he looked at his people, and then at Commander Adama as Dr. Burke translated, "sir, please ask your people to put their weapons down."
"No" said Tory confused as she stepped back and looked at everyone, "I'm not a Cylon. I'm not… I was born in Delphi and…."
Balter was shocked at finding out Tory's status as a Cylon. He wondered at first if it could have been a mistake, but saw Sam trying the device on Dr. Burke without any reaction. She then tried it on Apollo once again, but there was no reaction. However, Sam then walked back to Tory and turned the device so that it was pointed at the panicked brunette who was looking at the President, and telling her that something was wrong, that the device was giving wrong readings. The device started to beep, indicating that Tory was a Cylon.
"Interesting, don't you think, Gaius" said Baltar's head Six as she appeared next to him while Dr. Burke was telling Tory to calm down, that they'll run another test to confirm, "who do you think she is? Gaius?"
"You should know" whispered Balter as the Head Six walked around the man while wearing military fatigues and shrugged, "you haven't seen her before?"
"I can't say I have" said the Six as she smiled at Balter who looked at Tory with her eyes wide open, "so who do you think…."
"It can't be" said Balter as his Head Six vanished while he walked past the Earth officers who still had their hands on their P90's in case the Colonials opened fire, "it.. it can't be."
Commander Adama noticed the shocked man walking towards them and, although he loathed the man especially after what he admitted back on Colonial One in regards to being the primary reason for the Fall of the Colonies, the old man still had to admit that he was the smartest man in the room. The Commander figured that Balter must have realized something that the others did not. But what still played on the back of his mind was the reason for the man he saw as a traitor to remain on New Kobol.
"Balter" said the Commander gruffly, "say what you have to say."
Baltar knew that many of the Colonials didn't know his role in the Fall, and he wanted it to be kept that way. He knew that if anyone outside the core group who was on Colonial One the day he admitted everything he did, then he would be instantly killed by a furious mob. The Colonials would kill him first, and then go on with their lives without a second thought as long as the other Cylons were kept away at arm's length.
"During my research into the Cylon humanoid models" lied Baltar as he glanced at the Vice-President, Billy, Apollo, and Commander Adama who were glaring at him before he turned away and walked past Sam to Tory, "the first humanoid Cylon we encountered…. The one who tried to place a homing beacon on the Galactica? I think his name was Doral….?"
"Yes" said the Commander remembering the incident where Doral, a Number Five, was captured after being revealed as a Cylon through Baltar's own Cylon detector. They had placed him in the holding cell during the second night following the Cylon attack. There the humanoid Cylon was questioned and then left to die in the Ragnar Anchorage before the Galactica and her civilian fleet left Colonial space.
"You liar" grinned Baltar's Head Six as she smiled at the man when she appeared suddenly next to him in a red dress, "oh Gaius, if you weren't a traitor.. you would have made an excellent politician. Again, I mean, a politician again."
"While I was interviewing Doral" said Baltar ignoring his Head Six, "he told me, just before he was taken away by the Marines from the Galactica, that there were twelve models of Humanoid Cylons… that we would never survive what was coming. I thought I could improve on my Cylon detector but…"
'But you lied' thought the Commander to himself as he recalled the Number Eight who pointed him out as a traitor, and then he recalled Boomer having been passed as not being a Cylon… however, she was later found to be a sleeper agent; the same sleeper agent who shot him, once in the chest, and once in the abdomen. Just remembering those thoughts made the Commander roll his hands into fists, 'you must have been the one who left me the note about there being twelve models of Cylons, but I know you never got that from Doral. You lying frakker… you were never there when we took out Doral and left him on Ragnar. That vision you have of that woman caused by the nanites must have told you. By the gods, how many times have you lied to us.'
"We know that there are twelve models of humanoid Cylons" said Baltar, "at least according to Doral. Look we know that we have at one point or another encountered six models, and we know that many copies of them exist and…"
"Tell them where you get your information from, Gaius" mocked the Head Six as she shouted while standing next to Roslin who was glaring at the man.
"And.. and…" said Baltar before shaking his head, "he said that there are seven models presently out there on the Colonies. So either Tory is one of those seven, or she is one of the five we have never encountered before and..."
"I am not a Cylon!" shouted Tory at Baltar and told him to shut up. She then looked at the President with tears in her eyes and told her that she wasn't a Cylon, that she had worked her whole life in politics while in Delphi, that she was once the campaign manager of the Mayor of Delphi, "Madam President, I've been by your side and…."
"Please, take her away from me" said the President softly as she turned away while walking towards Woolsey who had a translator by his side while Dr. Burke was standing next to Sam and Riley with a tearful Tory. Roslin then looked up at Woolsey and told him that they could do whatever they wanted with the Cylon, that they could even send her to the Cylon's world.
"Madam President" said Tory as Sam put her hand on the woman's shoulder and gently pushed her away with two of the present SG team leaders as escorts. As they were walking away, Tory was begging the President that none of this was true, that she was human… that she wasn't a Cylon.
President Roslin was shaking her head as the Commander walked up and stood next to her while Dr. Burke and riley came up to Woolsey before telling the translator to stay with Sam in the medical building. The translator nodded her head before running to the medical building while Dr. Burke translated what Riley was telling her, that they were going to run an additional blood test to determine if it's true that she really is a Cylon.
"And if she is" said Woolsey while Dr. burke translated, "we'll leave it to you to decide if you would like for her to be here, on this planet… or she be sent to the Cylon's world."
Woolsey then turned to Riley before asking Dr. Burke not to translate his next few words to Riley.
"Colonel" said Woolsey, "once we're done with selecting where the ships would land, and where we could have the new towers and refugee units built, I need for you to go to the Stargate, and dial the buffer planet. Have the personnel there then ask Dr. Gardner's team on Eden if the Cylons have ever heard of the President's assistant's name. Get a screenshot of her face and send that to the buffer planet as well, and then have them send it to Dr. Gardner at Eden. In addition, contact the Beta site and have the personnel ask Miss Valerii in the Beta site as well. Even if the Colonials are not interested to know, I am."
"Understood" said Riley before Woolsey turned to face the President. He then told her that they should get on to one of the tents where they could have some drinks, and something to eat while looking at maps of the area for their ships to land, and for building new units.
"And in the meantime" said Dr. Burke, "we will be running tests on your assistant."
Roslin, still partly in shock over what just happened, just nodded her head while walking with the others back to one of the lit tents. While the Commander and the president were looking at the maps, and with the help of Billy, Melik and Helo were picking out some suitable spots to land their ships. In the meantime, Starbuck grabbed a hold of Apollo's arm excitedly as Dr. Burke watched the man leave along with Racetrack before getting back to the matter at hand. She once again glanced at the two women who were pulling him excitedly towards the crystal towers.
"Look, Lee" said Starbuck as she pointed at the towers that were shining due to the lights that were on in some of the rooms that had already been taken over by the refugees. He looked at the lit towers with the stars shining in the evening sky before looking at Racetrack and Starbuck; he told them that they had flown past them and the President was impressed that the Earthers had managed to build all this in a short time.
"They weren't built" said Starbuck excitedly as Apollo turned to look at her in surprise, "they used crystal technology from an ally."
"Sir" said Racetrack excitedly, "those towers were grown."
"What!" said a stunned Apollo as he looked at both of their grinning faces, and then at the towers.
"Some can take up to one hundred people" said Starbuck excitedly, "while other models can take up to a hundred and fifty. They can grow it in a few days using programmable crystals.. Imagine… programmable crystals."
"We saw that far right tower grown in the time we've been here" said Racetrack as she pointed to a dark tower in the distance while Apollo looked on in shock.
While the two then took their senior officer to the refugee units, Roslin and the others were in the tent discussing logistics. Dr. Burke said that emergency supplies will be sent to the planet in a few hours, and then they would have to make arrangements to get the supplies up to the fleet. Commander Adama looked at Dr. Burke, and then at Riley, telling them that he could have one of the smaller cargo ships land so that they can carry the supplies up to the ships.
Once Dr. Burke translated what the Commander had said for Riley's benefit, the man then nodded his head. HE told the Commander that the crew should not land the ship until the extra devices have arrived on New Kobol. He continued to say that the crew cannot leave the ship until they had been checked out by the detector. In addition, since it was already dark, it would be best to conduct health checks tomorrow on each ship early tomorrow morning.
"So please ensure that the ship only has a skeleton crew" said Riley while Dr. burke translated, "it would also be best to have your medical staff come along so that our medical staff could brief them on the medical supplies that would be sent up."
"Agreed" said the Commander as Roslin nodded her head as well.
"We will be getting more medical staff tomorrow morning" said Riley, "then we'll begin having ships one by one land, have a medical and anti-Cylon check up, and then they will be assigned housing. Then the next ship will land and we'll start over again."
"I don't know about you, Commander" said Woolsey while Dr. Burke translated, "but while I'd like to make sure that you don't have any more Cylons in your midst. Having a full blown panic on board your ships wouldn't be helpful to anyone if the others know that the President's aide could be a possible Cylon."
"I will tell my people not to let out that Tory Foster is a possible Cylon" said Commander Adama.
"Please ensure that the Quorum members who were with us not let anyone know about this, Billy" said the President, "at least not yet. And once you've talked to them, I want you to observe Tory's blood test."
"Of course" said Billy as he got out of the tent.
"Commander Melik" said the President as she walked towards him, "I would like to ask you the same thing."
"Madam President" said Melik, "having Cylons who look like humans among us, I…."
"Which is why we'll be scanning everyone on the ships in orbit" said President Roslin, "Commander, I intend for this planet to be free of any Cylon presence. These people have the means to detect them, and we can have them sent over to the Cylon planet. We can be free of them once and for all."
"Madam…"
"Do you trust them, Commander?" asked the President as Melik looked at the soft spoken woman and nodded his head.
"Then I trust them to look after our safety" said Roslin, "but eventually we have to start looking after ourselves. And I'd like to have that happen without neighbours turning on neighbours accusing each other of being Cylons if they decide not to take a shower for three days. They have the means, we'll find out who else are Cylons and we'll send them to the Cylon world."
"Very well, Madam President" said Melik, who was still uneasy, but agreed that they needed to make a new start. He told Roslin that he'll talk to the others who were with him before he left the tent.
"I hope we are doing the right thing" said the President as she turned and looked at Dr. Burke, and then at the Commander.
"Tomorrow morning" said Woolsey, "we'll have President Hayes, along with General O'Neill and two other teams who will be accompanying them."
"Earth has one leader?" asked Roslin.
"It's complicated" said Woolsey as Roslin and the Commander looked at each other. He then told the two of them, and Helo to select the sites. Once that was done, all the needed to do was wait for the supplies to come in through the Stargate. In the meantime, Dr. Burke told them that they will be given a full medical and then a room in one of the towers. She saw that the President was about to say something when Apollo rushed back into the tent excitedly with Racetrack and Starbuck, and told them about the towers.
"Sorry" said Starbuck sheepishly as she looked at the smile on Dr. Burke's face while every other Colonial in the tent were looking each other surprised.
Dr. Burke told them that what the two female officer had said about the towers were true, that they were programmed that way.. and that most importantly, they were safe. It was Woolsey who said that they would be going into more detail over time, but for right now.. they needed to make their selections, and then have their medical check-ups. After which, they would call for a cargo ship once the supplies come through so that it can be brought back up to the fleet.
And that is what happened.
It was two hours later that multiple pellets of supplies were sent through the Stargate on Asgard anti-gravity platforms, a device that made both the Colonials and Human look on in surprise.
"Those guys have been holding back on us" whispered Riley to a surprised Woolsey as one platform after another of supplies was pushed through the Gate by personnel from the Zeta site's buffer planet before the Stargate was deactivated.
The medical personnel activated the scanners and tested it on the nearby Colonials and Earthers before testing the crew on the cargo ship who were told by the Colonial Marines, who accompanied the medical staff, Major Atwood and her team, and Apollo to stay calm and make no sudden movements; That they were going to be scanning for any Cylons on board.
Once everyone was tested clear, the crew used the machinery in the cargo ship to carry the pellets into its holds while the medical staff, using translators, informed the Colonial medical staff about the items in the food and the medical supplies. The entire process had taken an hour, after which the President was escorted by the Colonials to one of the towers where she was assigned a room with the other civilians. Dr. Burke had told the redhead that she had the room with the best view of the area.
President Roslin couldn't do anything else but smile as Billy and the Vice-President escorted her into the tower. The military personnel had agreed to stay in the refugee units until the civilians had been placed. Roslin looked back at the Commander before she went into the tower, the both of them smiling at each other before the man turned and headed to the unit he would be sharing with his son and Helo.
TBC.