Chapter 34

Colonial One – Conference Room – Colonial Fleet

"Madame President, these aliens, whose existence you've only revealed to us minutes ago, are not only citizens of the Thirteenth Tribe, they're in charge of Earth's government, too?!"

Marshall Bagot, the Virgon representative appeared to be seething as he sat in his chair after he'd practically hurled his rhetorical question at Laura Roslin. At the moment, nearly two-thirds of the Quorum representatives were plainly upset either by the existence of alien citizens in the Alliance of Planets or hearing about it only a few days after Edmonson and her ECO had encountered the Thirteenth Tribe. Actually, she was somewhat happier that the group apparently had decided to table the discussion concerning the religious practices of the members of the Thirteenth Tribe, the issue that Sarah Porter, the Gemonese representative, had raised at the start of the meeting.

After Laura had managed to communicate to everyone in the room that the Alliance government was secular like their own and that neither government imposed a particular religious view on its citizenry, she had pointed out that the Alliance's approach was nothing new. Indeed, it was similar to that of the Gemonese where there were monotheists living alongside those who believed or chose not to believe in worshiping the Lords of Kobol.

Although Porter and Miksa Burion, the Aquarian representative, were hesitant to concede the floor regarding the religious discussion, the rest of the members had decided to move on once Laura had assured the Quorum that pockets of worshippers of the Lords existed on Earth herself, as well as on several planets in the Alliance.

She knew she'd dodged a bullet just then. She'd stretched the truth a wee bit about the extent of recognition of the Lords of Kobol in the Alliance to the Quorum members. However, she'd fervently wanted to avoid communicating any tension about her people's religious concerns to the members of the Fleet currently protecting them from both the Cylons and the lizard aliens.

Now she removed her glasses and shot a hard look Bagot's way. "Marshall, allow me to repeat myself so there will be no further misunderstandings," she offered patiently as if she was teaching a class of first graders. "Earth is the location of the capital for the Alliance of Planets. Earth, herself, is not governed by the Alliance for her day-to-day planetary matters. Indeed, each planetary member of the Alliance has a representative governing body with complete autonomy over all matters, as well as the selection of their senators to the Alliance, with the exception of raising taxes to support the Alliance government, setting interstellar tariffs on trade, legislating civil rights that govern all Alliance members, and directing the use of Alliance armed forces. Those last four obligations of the state are reserved for the Alliance government where the Senate elects one from its number to serve as the President of the Alliance, a function that is both the head of state and the head of the government. Although I shall concede that the current President of the Alliance is an alien, the human planets of the Alliance, in particular, Earth, are governed by humans."

"Be that as it may," Bagot blustered, "that still doesn't change the fact that these…creatures appear to have much influence on the members of the Thirteenth Tribe!"

She narrowed her eyes at the man while, inwardly, she sighed deeply. Bagot, and she suspected, Alisander Asiel of Aerilon, as well as Eladio Puasha of Scorpio, had made her almost wish that Gaius Baltar had shown up for this meeting even though Tom and she had stuck to the cover story that the man was deathly ill. Although she couldn't trust Baltar as far as she could throw him, she had a hunch that he would have been fascinated by the presence of sentient alien life forms in the Alliance. He also would have been quite adamant that they needed the Alliance's protection from the xenophobic Sakqua, the intelligent lizards who presented a threat to their people like no other. However, her wishful thinking in this regards had no basis in reality. Baltar was exactly where he should be, in the Galactica's brig undergoing interrogation by both Jackson and Stenger.

She snorted under her breath now, shaking off her sense of melancholy. Although she'd once told Commander Apollo she hated the axiom that 'beggars can't be choosers,' she knew that it applied in a large degree to their current situation. So she needed to do whatever she could to derail this clusterfrak of epic proportions that was happening right before her very eyes.

Surprisingly, at that moment she received help from an unexpected quarter.

"Madame President, may I address the Quorum?" Tom asked.

"Please do, Representative Zarek."

"My fellow members of the Quorum," he announced, "we need to accept that there is nothing we can do about the presence of aliens in the Alliance of Planets and their impact on the Thirteenth Tribe. If we don't accept that fact, in effect, you shall be signing the death warrant for every man, woman and child in our fleet!"

"Why do you say that, Tom?" Robin Wenetu of Canceron asked.

He smiled at the woman who reminded Laura of a primary school librarian. "Well, Robin, these aliens, or as the Alliance personnel in the Fleet refer to them as 'non-humans,' a term we should begin to use from here on out if we know what's good for us, are citizens of the Thirteenth Tribe's interstellar government. It would do us all well to remember that Earth and her colonies had chosen to align with these beings for mutual protection and commerce. The Thirteenth Tribe, however, has not had any contact with us, according to our own Sacred Scrolls, for more than four thousand years! Hell, until they found our scout Raptor in that nebula, most of our people believed the existence of Earth was merely a myth. Considering there are six trillion of them and only forty-five thousand of us, we are fooling ourselves if we believe they're going to join this body as the thirteenth colony. And if we don't change our attitude about their non-human citizens pretty frakking quick, they may decide they shouldn't allow us to join them and may tell us to go away and leave them alone!"

Sarah jumped out of her seat and snapped, "Why should we join them? They have allowed those…creatures to lead them away from the teachings of the Lords of Kobol! They must not be allowed to force us to change our way of life and destroy our culture!"

"They don't have to do anything to destroy our culture, Sarah!" Laura exclaimed. "The Cylons have nearly accomplished that!"

The other woman merely blinked like an owl at Roslin for several moments before she meekly took her seat once more while Laura continued her remarks. "With the notable exception of the representative of Sagitarron, I believe you all are missing the big picture here. The small number of people we have in relation to the Alliance isn't even a drop of water in the sea of humanity. If they simply integrate us among the population of a planet where many of the people who already live there worship our gods, our legacy, in all probability, will be lost. There will be no Sagitarrons, no Gemonese, no Scorpions or Taurons any more in a few years' time…unless we do something about it."

The entire mood in the conference room sobered at that. "What can we do, Madame President?" Robin asked.

"We can swallow our pride. We can work with the Fleet to weed out the Cylon infiltrators aboard our ships so we can all go to the planet Xanadu where our people can find some respite from running from the machines for a little while. And depending on what Lieutenant Thrace may report after she returns to the fleet, we can tirelessly seek out patrons in the Alliance who will help us mount a massive and comprehensive search and recovery mission back to our colonies to save as many people as we can who were left behind. If we can save another fifty thousand, or dare I say, a hundred thousand of our people, we may have enough people to be given a continent on one of their colonies or even provided our own world to settle."

As the body considered her words, Tom said, "You all know that it is rare when President Roslin and I see anything eye-to-eye. However, her assessment of the situation we face with the Alliance and the possibility of rescuing more of our people, are spot on. We cannot go it alone any more. The non-humans in the Alliance aren't the only aliens out there. Those lizard creatures that are at war with the Alliance would come after us like Cylons on steroids. And the only refuge we have available to us is the Alliance. Finally, if President Roslin is able to find powerful friends in the Alliance who can help us recover more of our people who were abandoned by us when we fled, I say we give her our full support in that endeavor!"

She offered a grateful smile to the former terrorist and he apparently was kind enough to acknowledge her with a genuine smile of his own. It certainly felt wonderful to have him working with her for a change. "Thank you, Tom," she said then shot a hard look at each and every representative. "The Alliance task force commander expects us to travel to her vessel and meet with her to discuss the scans they will conduct on every person in our fleet. The purpose for these scans is two-fold. First, they will be used to uncover any Cylon infiltrators. Admiral Adama has informed me the Alliance scanning devices are a hundred percent reliable in regards to finding Cylons. Second, the scans will be used to determine the health of our citizens and any medical treatment they may require. Of course, any of our citizens may refuse medical treatment that is counter to their religious beliefs unless they have a communicable disease that threatens the health and well-being of other members of our society or the Alliance. Know this; if the scans are not done for any reason, we will not be allowed to go to Xanadu and we will not be allowed to move further into Alliance territory. Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded indicating they understood her.

"Admiral de Ruyter, though, does not expect that we will discuss any feelings you may have about the Alliance's non-human citizens or the religious practices of the Alliance's citizens during tomorrow's meeting. So, I strongly advise that you all play nice with the woman. If you don't…well I don't know if our military would be able to protect you from constituents who believe you care nothing for their well-being by condemning them to remain on cramped ships ultimately to die at the hands of either the Cylons or the Sakqua," she observed, the expression on her face as serious as a heart attack.

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Heavy Destroyer Witchcraft – Small Craft Bay – Alliance Task Force

"Atmosphere in the small craft bay has been normalized. All hands may now enter the small craft bay and prepare for Rear Admiral Jackson's inspection," the newly minted Captain Sarah Nelson of the Fleet announced over the brainship's intercom.

After she'd handed over her heavy destroyer's operations to the backup AI, she transferred her consciousness into the biochene body that had been modeled after her original body, the one she'd lost after she'd saved six cadets from a flood of toxic plasma coolant on an old training corvette years ago.

When she exited her cabin, she found Commander Macklin Brown waiting for her outside in the corridor.

"That dress uniform looks great on you, Sarah!"

"Thanks, Mack! You clean up nicely yourself," she noted with a winsome smile on her face.

They walked together toward the small craft bay in companionable silence for several minutes until he asked, "So, how do you feel about carrying the flag of a newly minted admiral?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, really. I suppose it's a feather in our cap, Mack," she observed. She was careful to include him in anything that brought glory and honor to Witchcraft. Although she'd been happy as a pig in slop for the recognition she'd received from Admiral Amato after leading the Sakqua formation into a trap at Dead Star 81, she wasn't thrilled that Mack hadn't been rewarded as well. Despite their rank differences, they'd always worked together as equals. That wouldn't change even after the brass had skipped her two grades ahead if she could help it.

Moments later, they strolled through the hatch leading into the bay itself and found nearly all of the members of the Marine Reaction Company that had been sent by Brigadier Roosevelt from the Hermes to her destroyer standing there on the deck.

"Ship's captain on the deck!" the Marine major announced crisply and his people all snapped to attention.

"As you were," she said and the Marines returned to at ease status.

"Captain Nelson, Commander Macklin," the stocky Marine major said in greeting as they approached him.

"Major Glakos," she responded. "Are we ready to receive Admiral Jackson's party?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Very good then. It should be any time now."

Suddenly, the doors to the standard Fleet shuttlecraft slid up and open. Then the AI piped aboard Jackson and his party by using an electronic version of the boatswain's traditional whistle. Jackson stepped down from the craft followed by an incredibly beautiful woman dressed in an impeccable business suit and a Fleet commander in the Medical Corp according to the service patch on his dress uniform.

Jackson first saluted the Alliance flag that was displayed on the small craft bay's wall then stepped forward to exchange salutes with Nelson.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain?"

"Welcome aboard, Admiral."

"Thank you, Captain Nelson. May I introduce you to this Sector's Chief Administrator? Captain Nelson, this is Ms. Alexandra Schlein."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Ms. Schlein."

"Thank you, Captain. I am certainly pleased to finally meet you. I wished to personally thank you for leading the Sakqua formation that had intended to attack my world into the trap you set for them at the dark star. I have already informed Admiral Amato that I will attend the official promotion ceremony for you once we return to my system."

Although the woman spoke with an air of formality, Sarah found she was quite taken with Schlein's pleasant smile. "Thank you, ma'am. I look forward to seeing you there."

"Oh, and Captain," Jackson said, "May I also introduce Commander Ian Dalle?" Ian will be the lead physician assigned to the Seventh Fleet's Joint Services Task Force. Actually, it is my pleasure to inform you all," he said, his voice quite louder, "that Witchcraft and all the personnel currently assigned to her are now assigned to the Joint Services Task Force under my command."

"Welcome aboard, Commander Dalle," Nelson said. "And, thank you for the new assignment, Admiral. This ship and her crew will never let you down."

"Of that, I have no doubt, Captain Nelson," the tall man offered with a friendly smile.

"Thank you, sir," she said. "Admiral, may I introduce my officers to you, even though I believe you are familiar with Major Glakos."

"That's true, Captain. Please continue with your introductions."

"Sir, may I introduce the officer who serves as my Brawn, Commander Macklin Brown?"

The admiral stepped forward and shook Mack's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Commander. I've heard wonderful things about both Captain Nelson and you."

"Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

"Admiral," Nelson announced, "may I reacquaint you to Major Glakos?"

A huge grin dawned on Jackson's face then. "Nick! You old reprobate! Have you been well?"

"For the most part, Admiral. I had a little trouble recently – but Sergeant Florcyzk helped me out of it.

"Really, Nick? What kind of trouble was it?"

A slightly uncomfortable Glakos exchanged a glance with the tall Amazon who stood at attention resolutely by the major's side.

"Shore leave, Admiral, sir!" Florcyzk barked.

While Ms. Schlein fought to stifle a giggle and Commander Dalle smirked at Florcyzk's response, Jackson merely smiled and nodded. "Ah. Hopefully, Major, you've recovered from your experience by now."

"Indeed I have, Admiral!"

"It must be a comfort to have Sergeant Florcyzk still watching your back, Nick."

"I couldn't agree more, Admiral!"

"Well, shall we start with the area where you've established quarters for our Cylon guests?

"I believe you'll find all is in order, sir," Nelson stated.

"I'm certain of that, Captain. I have it on good authority that Commander Brown and you run a tight ship."

She blinked twice, stunned by the newly minted rear admiral's personality. She'd heard the man was a spook and had expected the typical cloak and dagger attitude most Fleet Intel ops showed to the world at large. However, this guy had managed to impress her. He appeared to respect everyone he'd met and was on good terms with Marines, in particular, Reaction Company hard cases like Glakos who seemed to have a 'bromance' with the Admiral. That was quite unusual because Marines typically couldn't stand anyone in the navy. Even after only spending several minutes with the man, she knew she'd go through hell and high water to carry out his orders. "Thank you, sir. Oh, and sir, just before you came aboard, the Colonial president contacted us and asked for you to call her as soon as practicable. Also, Admiral Czmbor called to inform us to expect a scout boat carrying a humaniform Cylon who the crew rescued from a Sakqua attack on her landing party on a moon in the lizards' territory."

"I see. Well, I will return her call once we've toured the area where our guests are being quartered and I am pleased we've finally stumbled across a Cylon who hasn't infiltrated the Colonial fleet for a change. Please inform me when the scout boat rendezvous with Witchcraft."

"Absolutely, sir. Now, would you care to make the call from your stateroom? In the meantime, I can see to it that Ms. Schlein is settled into her stateroom and that Commander Dalle is shown to his quarters."

"Actually, Captain," Alexandra Schlein drawled with a-cat-that-had-eaten-the canary face, "the Admiral and I will be sharing quarters, if you do not mind, Admiral Jackson." The woman's eyes twinkled as she shared a gaze with the flag officer.

In response, Jackson smiled and his eyes twinkled as well. "I don't mind whatsoever, Administrator Schlein. I believe it would be most…efficient for us to share quarters." Then his attention returned to Nelson. "After the inspection, I will call President Roslin from our stateroom, Captain."

A smile dawned on Nelson's biochene face. Any fool could see these two people were deeply in love and she wasn't about to do anything to stand in their way. "Very good, sir. Now, Admiral, Administrator, and Commander Dalle please follow Major Glakos and me."

"We would be delighted to follow you anywhere, my good captain," Alexandra Schlein said, the tone of her voice both seductive and friendly, Sarah thought. Despite the woman's formal tone, Sarah felt a chill run up her biochene body's spine.

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