"I love the smell of dead terrorists in the morning, though admittedly not as much as the smell of dead toasters."

- Cecil Marks.

Chapter 17: Colonial Day

One ship had been absent throughout the discussion of the survivors of the twelve colonies (or at least the ones known to him). Adama was reading the report that specified what was going on with Cloud Nine. The special luxury liner, the only one in its class, had been undergoing major upgrades to allow it to be a ship capable of hosting a newly picked set of the Quorum of the twelve colonies. The facilities to properly manage the government were installed, and sealed in an armored part of the ship on the outside with its redundant life support system. There were new administrative offices and crew quarters to support this, relatively luxurious spaces for the members of the quorum, and several meeting rooms. A few different parts of the government would be located on other ships such as the Colonial One to prevent the destruction of it due to a Cylon attack. Protecting the ship, like the Colonial One, was a large priority.

Meanwhile, in Colonial One, Roslin was busy listening to the first radio report of 'Colonial Gang', a radio show that would be covering politics within the remnants of the colonies. While one of the journalists had been glad due to a new quorum being put together, others lambasted her. Roslyn's presidency was proving to not be nearly as noncontroversial as she would have originally hoped. She sighed and turned it off. Even with this limited information, it would be clear that she'd have to deal with some trouble at the fleet. She would need to be able to deal with a political fight.

"Madam President, I have some bad news from the Saggitatarons," Billy said, walking into the room. "They picked Zarek as their representative."

"They picked a terrorist?" Roslin asked incredulously.

"So. He was fairly popular before he and his men got freedom and he's been helping the other Sagitarons. He's been giving them food that's farmed on the Astrel Queen and his men have been helping maintain their ships. The implicit price there is political support, and that he is getting."

"Doctor, I'm to be the head of security during the proceedings on Cloud 9." Colonial Marine Captain Cecil Marks said. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay." He would be greeting other guests who were arriving, and he also had to make sure that no one was going to try and kill anyone. He had been given a platoon to do this, and all of his men and women were glad to have a break from heavy combat missions. In their downtime, they even would be able to enjoy the amenities onboard the ship. He was glad that they would get a break after their battle at the Cylon asteroid, where they had taken heavy casualties. It had been unavoidable but that didn't mean that it was good or something anyone would fondly remember the incident. Many units had to have been reorganized as they had taken often severe casualties, but they would be able to compensate with fresh soldiers who had once been either reservists or had joined the Marines to find purpose after losing everything.

A young woman in a colonial fleet uniform walked up to him, one that he had not seen before. This must be the intelligence officer that he had been given who had come with Cunningham. Highly rated, and had done a lot of good work with that battlestar, figuring out what to do during several high-profile missions and making sense of difficult situations.

"Captain Marks, this is Captain Christine Rendino reporting for duty." She saluted, and he returned it.

"Alright Captain, you've been assigned to me to help keep this place safe and catch people that we don't want here. I know that you just got here, but do you have a threat assessment?"

"Well sir, I wouldn't want to be in your position. The most immediate threat is Tom Zarek, for what I hope are pretty obvious reasons. If he gets to become vice president he or one of his men are surely going to try something. I'd watch out for him for this reason, and the people around him as well as he could use one of them to do something without getting blamed for it. But if we watch him too closely, well he's going to get nervous and can build a case around being suppressed by Roslin. But he isn't the only threat. If there is a Cylon agent aboard, then it would be a great time to try something. And without unreasonable searches, we can't find every potential weapon that could be smuggled in on this ship."

"What do you propose then?" He asked.

"Well, keep your guard up, and have your men do the same. If anyone tries to smuggle weapons in, detain them. I can interrogate them as I have experience doing just that on multiple occasions. I have another proposal however which is for me to go undercover. Zarek wouldn't be as nervous as he would be if a colonial fleet officer had decided to get close to him. I've gone undercover before, in fact, this bag has some clothes I can use to do it."

"Will anyone know you?"

"No, I just got here. And the administrators can get me a pass into any place I need to go with a fake ID." She said. "I can just be added to the guest registry."

"OK then." Marks was starting to like this woman. She was intelligent, and experienced, and had thought this out before presenting it to him. And more than a little bit attractive, though he shoved this thought to the side for now. "Go ahead and do that, I think I know a place you can change. There's a public restroom right over there and this place isn't crowded yet. If any of the security on here gets suspicious take out your patch. Try to get close to Zarek and his people, and see if they're planning anything. If you can call in backup but if you can stop any criminal activity do so if you are safely able to do so. Will you still be able to be armed?"

"Of course." She replied, producing her sidearm. It was a standard issue of five to seven handguns used by every branch of the colonial military. Rendino's had several upgrades and modifications, including a custom-designed grip, 25-round extended magazine, red dot sight, under barrel flashlight, and a small suppressor."

"This baby has gotten me out of trouble more than a few times." She said. "I've got a thigh holster and I'll be wearing a dress so I can easily grab it, though doing so is going to make me a bit indecent." They both chuckled. "I also have a little Derringer I keep on the other side, but that's strictly a backup weapon. I even have a few extra mags that I can hold in here."

"Alright, I think that you can handle yourself according to your file, at least the part of it that isn't classified. I'll give you the go-ahead to go and get close to Zarek."

He said. "Good luck."

"Thanks, with Zarek and his people I'll need it." She said, walking into the bathroom with her bag. There weren't many other people around and no one was suspicious when she emerged about five minutes later, looking different, in formal clothes that one would expect someone attending this type of event would be wearing.

"So then, good luck Captain." He said to Rendino.

"Likewise Captain. I'll report regularly with my status on the situation." She said, walking away.

"Sergeant Kinser to Captain Marks, I have something that I think you should see. Someone tried to smuggle a handgun aboard in a briefcase. Now he's trying to declare that he forgot about it and didn't plan on doing anything." The sergeant said over the radio to his commanding officer.

"Where is he from?" Marks replied.

"Sagittarion originally, and he currently resides with the Astral Queen. Got locked up after joining the SDU, going to Caprica, and trying to shoot a bunch of government officials. He had a handgun that was one of the ones onboard the Astral Queen before the ship got taken over. Quite frankly, sir, I think that he should be in jail or at least back on the Astral Queen at the very least." He said.

"I agree with the sergeant, and I wish he were still imprisoned as well. Have two marines escort him to the holding cell and see if they can get anything out of him. I might need to get our local intelligence agent to come out and see if they can interrogate him."

Meanwhile, Christine Rendino was making her way towards where Tom Zarek would be. The terrorist or freedom fighter depending on your definition was giving a speech in front of a group of Sagittarians, people he wanted to get votes from if there ended up being a direct election for Vice President. His speech was rousing, but not necessarily factually accurate. People didn't always care though, and depending on the audience generally preferred emotional appeals to factual ones. And Zarek was charismatic, knowing how exactly to please a crowd.

Hopefully, this didn't end poorly. She was watching out for people who were trying to kill the President, and hopefully, no one was trying to do so. Several dozen people had now gathered around Zarek and were shaking his hand, eager to meet him.

She guessed that she would have to follow suit. She had helped track him down earlier when he had commuted several of the bombings that he had ended up doing.

So hopefully she wouldn't be recognized.

"Tom Zarek, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said and offered her hand which he shook. "I'm glad that someone is fighting for the rights of the average person here, unlike certain people in power.

"Well thank you, ma'am." He replied with a smile.

"What's your name, I haven't seen you around.

"Christine Carson." She replied. "I'm just a concerned citizen of the fleet, I recently came in with the fleet that was a part of the Cunningham's task force.

"That's good to know, I hope to see you in the future." Deep down Zarek did suspect there were some ulterior motives with her coming to see him as she looked vaguely familiar but she wouldn't find anything if she tried to get information out of him. He had told his men to not tell him about any plans that they might have against the president, which would ensure that he would not be prosecuted as no one would be able to prove that he knew what was going on.

But he was not going to stop anyone from doing anything to the President. Christine was pretty sure that he would be smart enough to do something like that but she would be able to listen in on any conversations that took place. Some people who would be planning something might be around Zarek, and she was eager to find them.

"I heard that Valance failed to get on board and got arrested." One man said. "They found the gun."

"Not a surprise, he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed." Someone else replied and there was some laughter.

"You got the stuff though?" He asked another person.

"I'm smarter than Vance." He glanced down at a briefcase and chuckled. "More things got past the colonials than they might imagine, but we need to be careful. They're jumpy and know that this is an opportunity that we have to deal with the president. "

"One that I think that we can take."' The other man said. Rendino got a good look at the two men, making a mental note of their appearance and their physical characteristics. She stood around a little bit longer but didn't get any other useful information, as their discussion changed to another topic. But based on their large briefcases they had somehow smuggled weapons aboard. Rendino had heard that rifles that were being held in the Astrel Queen had foldable stocks, which she reasoned could fit in the briefcase. She wasn't sure what the vulnerability of the security on the ship was but there was a vulnerability nonetheless.

She moved into an isolated part of the ship and contacted Marks, whom she told about the current situation. He said that he would take a look and keep an eye on the two and instructed that she should do the same thing. That would be unfortunate as if she got into a firefight with them she would likely be outgunned with them having superior firepower and outnumbered. And she simply couldn't start shooting at them, as while there definitely was suspicion that they had done something they didn't have any proof. It wouldn't be justified to shoot them until they brought their guns out if they even had them. She'd just have to observe them and hope that she would have the opportunity to stop them if shit hit the fan.

Meanwhile, President Roslin was looking around at the people who were trying to talk to her as she was escorted into the main auditorium. Wallace Grey came up to her, who was the candidate that she wanted to be the vice president. She was an old friend who had done good work on Caprica as a local administrator and was an effective governor. He had been one of the survivors from Carpica and immediately was thrust into a senior position in the fleet by Roslin, and when the topic of Vice President came up he was an obvious choice in her mind. He had done a good job so far and she had been hoping for a nonpartisan and fast election that would allow her to gain the power that she needed to keep the fleet alive. This wasn't a matter of being anti-democratic or wanting power, it was that discussion and debate would have to be put on hold while the Cylon threat was so large. There was a reason that Adama had taken control of all military affairs and she had no authority on it; she would just be a hindrance in the military chain of command during a crisis and she didn't have any experience or much knowledge on the subject. Those who opposed her were right, she was just a schoolteacher.

However, this was starting to look not good for her. From what it looked like she could not win decisively with Grey as a VP. He simply was not good enough in front of the camera. It wasn't charisma that had gotten Grey into the positions he was in, it had been hard work and competence. And unfortunately, the media didn't value that as much as what he sounded like. This was a problem for politics as old as the concept itself, where people cared far more about what people said than what they did.

So she'd have to play their game if she wanted to stay in power. It would be possible for Zarek or someone else in opposition to get into power. She would not only have to deal with the Cylons and all of the trouble that that provided but also opposition from her government itself.

So she needed someone to win. And by the looks of it, Gauis Baltar would be a strong choice. She wasn't exactly a major fan of his; he was full of himself and the CNP was the reason that they were in this situation, to begin with, but he also was charismatic and smart. There was a reason that he was her top science advisor, he knew something about what he was talking about. And he did have the claim to fame of making the Cylon detector if nothing else. And while he was ambitious he also lacked experience and knowledge in politics, which was both a good and bad thing depending on where you looked at it from. On one hand, it would make him less effective at his job, and on the other, this lack of effectiveness would make him an easier opponent if they ever came to blows. Though for better or worse he was a good leader, which meant that he would get better over time. This was either good or bad depending on how one viewed it, but hopefully, he would be satisfied with the power that he had known.

Sorry Wallace, but you'll have to stay an aide. She said to herself. They were going to have to be effective if they wanted to stay in power, and if the only way of doing that was by picking Baltar, then so be it.

Meanwhile, Christine was keeping an eye on the two people who looked like they wanted to kill the president. They had ducked into several corners where they would not be found on multiple occasions but she had a keen sense of hearing. But she also had to avoid making the people suspicious about what she was doing, as blowing her cover would be a major issue.

She checked the time on her watch and noticed that it was almost time for Roslin to make a speech about her pick for vice president. There were a few marines near her, four in total but no one screening the people who were coming into the place. It must have been assumed that anyone who had gotten in would not have any weapons on them. So therefore she would need to watch out for the two people who wanted to try and kill the president.

She followed them until they ducked into a bathroomfor a few minutes. Christine managed to avoid being seen, but she could still hear them as she pressed her head to the wall. The bathroom walls hadn't been fully finished yet and therefore she could hear what sounded like tactical gear being put on.

"Alright, are you ready to pull this off?"

"Of course. Long live Sagittarion."

Rendino was faced with a full dilemma. She could pursue the two, and hopefully stop them from doing anything. Or she could waste valuable time trying to contact the Captain as they tried to do it. She made the decision to do the former, which was the best way of going about it.

She increased her pace to a fast walk as she followed the two men. They darted around corners and when they saw no one else around them they broke into a run. After a second of contemplation, she ran after them, her knee-length skirt bouncing around her. She hadn't exactly brought running clothes for this but her white top wasn't causing any issues and her skirt was short enough to not restrict her movement. However, her ballet flats suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable and they slowed her down as she fought to keep them on. She considered kicking them off as it would make her faster but it wasn't necessary so she wasn't going to do it.

Well, at least it beat wearing heels. That would not be a fun experience. She was a bit behind them, far away enough to not be seen or heard but close enough to keep them in sight.

However, as she ran she felt one of her shoes fly out from behind her. The flat was of the Dorsey type, which was far from the most stable for running. She quickly slipped it back on and continued.

They made their way into a maintenance hallway, and now there was little that she could do without them noticing.

They opened a hatch and headed up a ladder.

She knew that this ladder would give them access to several gantries that could be used as a firing point onto Roslin, and a great way of killing her. There was a large lake below it, which was made of recycled water residue clean enough to be used as a lake but not clean enough for drinking. It would probably be recycled later, but with a limited recycling capacity, it was decided to make the environment look as nice as possible.

Hidden behind a small pillar, she watched as the two opened a bag and got out a rifle and two pistols. Yeah, she knew exactly what they were going to do.

She grabbed her handgun and lined up several shots. She was trying to kill them with minimal issues.

However, the gantry had not been particularly well designed or had been constructed with few resources. It rocked and rolled, and when she began shooting, many of the shots went wild. That wasn't good as she needed to conserve ammunition. They returned fire inaccurately as well. One of her rounds managed to hit one of them in the leg, but that was it. Her 20-round magazine was soon out, and she reloaded behind the cover.

The marines guarding Roslin had seen what was going on and returned fire on the two Sagittarians trying to kill the president. The marines all knew that Christine was undercover and therefore wouldn't try to kill her. The president had been rushed out of the room, and there was mass panic in the audience as people trampled others while they were trying to run away.

The two Sagittarians were pinned down between both the marines and Christine, and she had managed to get a shot on one of them. However, the automatic fire from some of the marines was somewhat liberal. The two people who were trying to kill the President threw a grenade at them, which looked to be improvised by the brief look that she got at it. She saw that a couple of the marines had been killed or wounded by the attack but that they were still returning fire. However one of the explosions damaged the beam that was supporting the catwalk, which had been weakened by the bullets that had hit it as well. With a massive creaking noise the structure fell, hitting a walkway that had several fleeing civilians on it and sending both into the water below.

Christine knew that she would be unable to get back up, and predicting the path of the falling objects jumped as the gantry was about 10 feet from hitting the water. One of the annoying flats she had been wearing fell while she was jumping and she kicked the other off when she got into the water. The shoes that had given her so much grief while running were gone, though she should be able to retrieve them later.

Unfortunately, her gun was as well, which is a major issue right now. Fortunately, she noticed that the same had happened to the Saggitarons, but that both of them were grabbing wreckage from the platform and gantry to use as a blunt weapon. Meanwhile, Rendino had to dodge a variety of objects coming her way, including people who were falling off of the platform, wreckage from the platform and gantry, and personal effects of these people. She grabbed a metal pipe and began swimming towards the Saggitarion, who also had grabbed some. She was headed for the edge of the water though, if she could get out she would have the high ground and be able to throw stuff at them or get the Marines to do something. She was trying to find where they were.

They began flinging their sharp metal improvised weapons at her, and what began was a very awkward battle as she retreated towards the edge of the water, jabbing and parrying blows like a swordsman of old. She managed to hit one with her pipe but it did only minor damage and seemed to only minorly irritate her opponent.

"Get away from her and drop your weapons?" Several of the marines had regrouped and threatened to begin firing at the incoming Sagittarians. They both dropped their weapons, seeing no way out. They were about to have a liberal use of bullets applied to them.

Captain Marks helped her up and out of the water, and other marines helped get the prisoners and civilians who had fallen in as well.

"Is the president safe?" Rendino asked.

"Yes, we got her to safety as the bullets began flying. It looks like the two were only shooting at either us or the president so I don't think we have any civilian casualties, but we have two marines dead and another two in critical condition." He said.

"And a lot of wet civilians."

"Indeed." He chuckled. "You did a good job up there captain, if you hadn't been on their case I don't think we could have stopped them."

"Thank you, sir, though I would have liked to stop them with a lot less damage to the ship."

"It can be repaired." He said. "The captain said he is going to temporarily drain the lake so any items that fell in can be retrieved. Did you lose anything there?"

"Just both of my guns and my shoes." She laughed and he handed her a towel that had been thrown to him by another marine.

"Well major, do you know where my bag is, because I'd honestly like a change of clothes right now?"

"I'll get it if you come with me. The president wants to see you after this, I think she's a bit thankful for you saving her life."

"Well, it's called duty, Captain." He smiled. "I'm just doing my job."

He returned the smile. "Now that's what I like to hear."

Author's note: first of all I'm splitting this chapter into two parts, the second of which will present the dance and a few other events. This chapter was getting a little long so I decided to split it into two for this reason.

Both Marks and Rendino are equivalent in rank, as captain is the same rank between both the Navy and the Marines. I always found the colonial fleet's ranking system to be a bit weird, but I do think it's useful for giving the audience more of an idea of what rank someone is.

It has always bugged me that Apollo and Starbucks got used as security and generally for just about everything else that was needed. I talked about this earlier with Bastille Day but while it's understandable that they are used in the role of marine officers early on on the show as Galactica has very few of these officers, it makes no sense that she would have this problem when Pegasus shows up. Or that there aren't any retired marine/army officers in the fleet, considering that the first Cylon war was only a few decades ago, there would probably be at least a few people with the required experience. In this series, I have no justification for having these people employed in a role that they aren't supposed to be without a very good reason. (You definitely will see them in ground combat if Cylons end up landing on the hanger deck) This is because this fleet has a sizable marine complement, with thousands of marines and lots of officers from 2nd Lieutenants up to a friggin General. I'll probably be showing a lot of a certain marine captain, as he certainly played a role in this episode.

We're starting to get to the end of season 1, which by some definitions would mean that this should stop. However, I intend on covering at least some of season 2 in this fic, though as time goes on this series is going to become a lot less directly relevant to the series. Certain things will still happen (I'm looking at you, Pegasus) but needless to say they are going to have significant changes. And certain aspects of the show, like the religious mumbo jumbo are going to have a lot less of a role to play.

As we get to the end of season 2, this story is going to start to radically depart from what happens. I won't reveal what it is yet, but it will be answered in another BSG series (no it won't be a continuation of Reap the Whirlwind, though that is coming eventually as well) If you want clues, go read the last chapter (I think it was called epilogue) of said fic Reap the Whirlwind. Something about a Cylon expedition somewhere. I'd also consult some of the other stories that I've written. So give or take this fic is somewhere in the about halfway done category, though probably on the shorter side as I won't be going through all of the plotlines during the second season. But that is going to be balanced out by the fact that there will be some new episodes, centered around new characters.