Word Count: 1,603
Date: 4/28/05
Series: Season 2
Rating: K+
Category: Character
Pairing/Focus: Lee Adama, Sybil, passenger on Colonial One,
Billy, Mother Eloshia
Warnings:
Summary: The fleet needs a hero. How does Lee Adama hold
up?
Spoilers/Disclaimers: Potential spoilers and/or misdirection
for Season 2 and beyond
I found a notebook two days ago. I read it. I turned it into the head stewardess as lost property. The notebook is about Captain Lee Adama. It says things about him that everyone on Colonial One already knows. He’s an elite pilot. His father is Commander of the Galactica, William Adama. He’s now Galactica’s lead pilot and adviser to President Roslin. He’s handsome, soft spoken, and polite to everyone: presidential aide, pilot or nameless survivor like myself doing some menial chore like cleaning the public lounge area. I’m reminded that I could actually see the Cylon missile coming straight at me as I sat in my seat on the transport headed home to Caprica. I saw Apollo put himself between the missile and me. He made himself a target into to save us. I’d forgotten. There are things in the book that we didn’t know.
I know things are beyond stressful. The President has been arrested. Captain Adama has been arrested for preventing the marines from firing on the president and her security force. We hear that Commander Adama has been shot. The Galactica was separated from the fleet. The Galactica provides Colonial One with water, fresh cook meals, and laundry service. Without Galactica our lives become uncomfortable quick. But Billy Keikeya, Mother Elosha, Colonial One’s pilot and Warren, head of the president’s security team, are insane spending time on this notebook. I don’t know who wrote it. I don’t know why. They ask me to speculate.
“We don’t have access to many books. Someone needed a good romance, so they took the best looking warrior they’d seen and turned him into a romantic hero,” I reply. ”If I had a good romance novel to read I might not have bothered to read the notebook.”
The book turns Lee Adama into a romantic hero with hidden personal tragedies and flaws. According to the book he the unknown savior of the fleet. Captain Adama tricked the Cylons into thinking Colonial One had been blown up by a 64-megaton nuclear device. This trick gave a temporary safe zone from which to launch rescue operations and transfer passengers to FTL capable ships. He knew when our time was running out and pushed the president to make the decision to jump to Rangar Anchorage. He organized the simulations jump of more than fifty ships.
The anonymous writer says that Commander Tigh and Commander Adama were planning to attack the Cylons and didn’t want to be bothered with the civilian fleet. Tigh had blown President Roslin off. The only reason the fleet was given emergency aid was because Apollo asked for the two pods. President Roslin didn’t convince the Commander on her own that the war was over and that Galactica and the fleet should run she needed Lee Adama’s help.
Colonel Tigh made Apollo lead pilot. He is new to Galactica and has never served as a CAG. He leads the Vipers as they protect the fleet as it escapes from Rangar Anchorage. He leads the vipers on two hundred and forty combat missions to protect the fleet as we are attacked every thirty-three minutes for five days. He leads the mission that destroyed Olympic Carrier when it was discovered that it carried nuclear bomb. In the last war a viper squadron was moved to the rear for rest after 100 combat missions. The Commander of the Air Group is responsible for all the vipers, raptors, and shuttles on the Galactica in addition to all the pilots. He managers all the material, spare parts, missiles, fuel, and staff necessary to maintain the ships. It’s a huge job. The President also asked him to be her advisor. He advises on military protocol, dealing the Commander, and security.
He handled the negotiations on the Astral Queen. President Roslin didn’t come to agreement with Tom Zarek, Lee Adama did. In this version of history, Tom Zarek planned on martyring the prisoners to bring down the government. Although a hostage and beaten, Captain Adama overpowered one of the guards. Rescued a crewman Cally from being murdered by a man named Mason. He not only save himself, the other hostages lives he saved the lives of many of the prisoners and the marines sent to quell the rebellion. He saved Zarek from being shot by a sniper. He got an agreement from Zarek that in exchange for self-rule on the Astral Queen and elections within a year, the prisoners would end their rebellion and organize a work fore to mine water. He saved other lives by putting the plan in place quickly and so the mining operations started and no one would die of thirst. Neither the President nor the Commander was happy with his deal. They didn’t want to have elections. He insisted that according to the articles Roslin was completing the last seven months of Adar’s term under the law elections were required. He made them see their responsibilities.
He flies through a conveyer to reach his target when the vipers cant get through the Cylons defenses to destroy the Cylons and supply the fleet with tillium for several years.
The writer is warned that the Captain has been pushed too far. He hasn’t had a day off except when bed rest was required by the ships doctor. His best friend and the fleets best pilot has gone AWOL, the president has encouraged his best pilot to leave with classified military hardware without discuss it with him. The Commander has staged a military coup because he is angered by the president’s betrayal of trust. The Commander has been shot in front of his son while his son’s hands were bound and he couldn’t protect his father. He was put in the brig and not permitted to be with his father.
When the Cylons attack he flies like a man possessed and shots down twelve raiders. He leads the team of marines that prevents the Cylons from causing a mass decompression on the Galactica. He has suffered a head injury both his physical health and emotional health are at risk. There’s a warning that the fleet won’t survive if Captain Adama suffers any permanent damage.
When I’m called back for my third round of questioning I see that Billy, Mother Elosha and Warren believe that the document is fact not fictions. They have a chart and are verifying each statement.
”Did you see anyone in the lounge when you found the book?” Warren asks.
“I remember the room wasn’t empty but I don’t remember who was there,” I say.
“If what you read is true what do you think it means for the fleet?” Warren asks.
“Captain Apollo’s a holy lord?” I suggest.
“More precisely a hero guided by the lords,” Mother Elosha corrects gently.
“Would you want to read this document knowing its fact?” Mother Elosha asks.
“Captain Adama is a real person. He’s suffering. He seems a very private person. I don’t think he’d be comfortable with people knowing about his own faults or that the Commander had been such a poor father,” I reply.
“The fleet is in disarray. Don’t you think they should know that the Lords are protecting us?”
Mother Elosha asks quietly.
“If this gets out it could under mine peoples respect for President Roslin, Commander Adama, Colonial Tigh and Tom Zarek. It could cause more chaos,” I say with a feeling of dread. I can’t stop myself from rattling on. “If everything is true, I wouldn’t want to piss off Captain Adama or the Lords of Kobol? The notebook said that Apollo has a temper and can hold a grudge. Shouldn’t we try and make sure that the Captain gets the best medical care? Try a figure out some way to make sure the Commander or the Colonel don’t try and court martial the Captain. We don’t know that the Captain would choose to reinstate the president? How do we know what the person who wrote this intends?”
My questioners look at me in stunned silence. I hope I’m wrong but an awful thought just past into my head. I through out it out without thinking. “The Quorum of Twelve, the military, and Tom Zarek’s supporters are likely to believe that this document was fabricated by the President’s supporters as a way get the civilian fleet to support President Roslin without being accountable for her actions. No one could function under the burden of heroic expectations you’d be sacrificing Apollo, for what a brief publicity bump for Roslin.”
I watch them. No one looks guilty but I can tell that they are starting see that this could be a disaster. I think that when they realized that a lot of what was written was true they actually hoped they we had an epic hero with us.
“Thank you for your thoughts, Sybil, we’ll be careful with the information. As you point out we don’t know the intentions of the writer,” Mother Elosha says sounding let down.
I’m relieved that they won’t be asking me any more questions. As I go about my dreary life on Colonial One I’m very comforted to that we just might have a hero. I wonder who could have access to all the information in the notebook. I play for the safety of Captain Lee Adama and the fleet.