Volume One, Scene Twelve
"We have to!"
The discussion had been going on in increasingly heated tones for half an hour before Lee pushed open the door to his Chief of Staff's office.
"There's absolutely no way around it," his brand new Secretary of Education was saying earnestly to Wren. "Absolutely none. We need Cylon rights written into the new Articles and we need it done now. There's no way I can design any kind of education system that doesn't first of all, include Cylon and part-Cylon children and second of all, emphasize that we all have our parts to play in a functioning society. I can't ignore this, Wren. We have to make them people!"
"We need a definition and a firm delineation," Wren said, her tone heated. "If people are to be equal, then we can't have any loopholes or ambiguities. You know it just as well as I do, Eliza."
"Ladies," Lee said.
"Mister President," Wren said, standing. Eliza got up too. Lee waved them back to their seats. Wren looked at him expectantly. "Did you need something, sir?"
"I was just wondering what the argument was about," he said.
"Argument?" Wren looked puzzled. "Oh, that. We weren't arguing."
"It sounded pretty important," Lee said.
"Sorry," Eliza said. "We do get a bit rowdy sometimes. But we weren't arguing."
"No," Wren agreed. "It was a discussion at most. You haven't even begun to hear us argue."
"I see," Lee said. "So what were you discussing?"
"Cylon rights," Eliza said promptly. "You need them. You need them last year, Mister President. There's no way to build a society if Cylons don't have rights."
"We need immediate legislation on this issue," said Wren, gesturing. She tapped the top of her desk, her voice getting louder as she spoke. "It affects all areas of policy. It's about time the Colonials gave up on blaming the Cylons for the exodus. We're all in the same boat now."
"We've been in the same boat!" Eliza said. "Our technology comes from the Cylons. Our industry comes from the Cylons. They say this whole bloody colony was Cylon, ages ago. We can't pretend any longer that a handshake will serve as enough of a show of good will."
"Not a handshake or an amendment," Wren said sternly, "but solid legislation. You can't budge on this point, Mister President."
Lee looked from one to the other of them. "Are you certain this isn't a fight?"
"Mister President," Wren said, "before we settle, we need this." Her fist came down to emphasize her points. "Either Cylons are people or we have to give up this alliance, and that would be the end of us."
"I agree," Lee said.
Eliza blinked. "As well you should," she said after a moment. "Because we're right."
"No question about that," Wren said. "This is going to be your first bold move since the alliance, Mister President. You're going to set an example. You're going to write history."
"Romo," Lee said to the air, "you and Laura Roslin knew what you were doing."
"One would hope," Wren said under her breath, and Eliza nodded.
"All right," Lee said, slapping his hands on his knees. "When are we doing this?"
"I'll assign the staff immediately," Wren said. "You'll see some drafts in a couple of weeks, I'd imagine. Setting up all the infrastructure at once does require a little prioritizing."
"What do I need to do?"
Eliza and Wren exchanged a look. "Nothing for now, Mister President," Wren said smoothly. "The staff and I will explore the legal implications and language, and you can suggest changes on the draft."
"Good," Lee said, nodding his head. "Good."
"Thank you, Mister President," Wren said.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm being dismissed?" Lee asked.
"You're not," Wren said, "but I believe that you do have a meeting in a few minutes with the delegate from Scorpia to discuss the apportionment of agricultural stores from the Stalwart. I suggest that you prepare a few stern remarks about putting the welfare of the civilization over the personal wealth of the remnants of one colony. We're all going to be citizens of Earth. It's time to overcome this Colonial partisanship."
"Better watch out, Mister President," Eliza said, leaning toward him, "if she keeps up with this one-Earth propaganda, it'll end in the dissolution of the Quorum."
"In which case, I'll attend to her closely," Lee said, standing up. They both rose from their chairs. "Ladies. I'm informed that I have a meeting."
"Thank you, Mister President," Wren said.
Lee went out, closing the door behind himself, not quite sure what had happened but feeling, at least, that he was in good hands.
+ + + +
"What are you working on so late?" Lee poked his head through the door to Wren's office.
She sat up and stretched. "Oh, it's that Cylon legislation 'Liza and I were on about yesterday," she muttered. "Just can't get this turn of phrase, feel like everything I write is imbued with some kind of bias from one quarter or another." She sighed. "It'll come right in the end."
Lee raised an eyebrow. "If it was ever right in the first place."
"Excuse me?" Wren stood up. "Do you doubt the necessity of this legislation, sir?"
"Not the necessity of it, no," Lee said, walking over and sinking down into her spare chair. "I question the veracity of it, certainly. And you don't have to call me sir. Call me Lee."
Wren thumped her papers. "I'm not dissembling when I say that we have to be a society, and that means more than papers or a handshake. Are you?" She eyed him suspiciously, sitting back down. "All those high-minded, impassioned speeches to the Quorum, and you don't even believe a word you're saying?"
Lee looked pained. "Wren, they destroyed our entire civilization. You can ask me to play nice and say pretty words and maybe even give them a damn seat at the table, but when it comes right down to it, we wouldn't have been forced into this position in the first place if it hadn't been for their unilateral actions."
"I don't believe what I'm hearing," Wren muttered. "I guess I was wrong. You really are a politician," she said, standing again and gathering her papers together.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to the Rising Star," Wren said. "I'd send you a letter of resignation, but I imagine you'll be too busy lying your head off to the Quorum to read it."
"That's unfair," he accused. "I can't believe you'd reasonably ask me-"
"Reasonable? What do you know of reasonable? Look, Lee," she bit out, "either we are what the Cylons thought we were, or we are better. That's the choice we're making. And I'm not working for anyone who's in the former group."
"Wait just one godsdamned minute," Lee shouted. "How is that line of thinking so righteous that you get to lord it over me? You want us to be equals, but you want me to get there by taking the moral high ground and granting them mercy from my lofty position of authority? How does that foster equality? If they're people, they're already people. I can't play the role of the wise man."
"I'm not asking you to be anything you aren't already," Wren said quietly. "I'm not asking you to be someone I don't think you're capable of being." She blew out a breath. "No one is categorically bad, Lee, I just can't live my life that way."
"You're talking about the Five," Lee said. "What do we really know about them?"
"What do we really know about any of it?" she parried. "You've seen Baltar's latest workup on the skeletons they found on the beach. If one entire colony was Cylon, I think you can follow the corollary there well enough without me having to spell it out for you." She crossed her arms at his resultant frown. "We've all just gotta get over it, sir. It sucks and I'm sorry. But it is what it is."
"Get over it. Just like that?" Lee blinked at her, incredulous. "Is this what they teach you in law school? To get over it?"
"They teach us to look at the facts. And the facts, Lee, as they stand, say that we are out here, we are orbiting this rock that we intend to make our home, our fledgling allies have technologies and skills and yes, people that we desperately need to make a go of it, and beyond that I don't give a damn about anyone's personal feelings either way, except as it pertains to swaying public opinion." She sighed. "Romo and I still haven't quite worked that one out. We keep having this same damn argument."
"Romo lost his entire family," Lee reminded her. "He lost his children. I doubt he appreciates you telling him to get over it."
"And so I didn't, in so many words," Wren sniffed. "I am possessed of some tact, you know."
"I had no idea," Lee said wryly.
Wren dropped back down into her desk chair and looked at him intently. "Are you really still angry about it?"
"Yes," he said firmly. "And I can't believe that you aren't."
She lifted one shoulder. "It was a thing that happened. I can't even be sure that the people responsible for that decision have not long since paid for it in blood. What I can be sure of, however, is that we could continue to demand blood until well after all of it has been spilled, and then what do we do with all of our hate and our need to blame?" She shook her head. "We'll pull each other apart, too, if we do that, and that will be our fault alone. I won't go down that road. Not for any of my dearly departed, who, though dear, are indeed departed, and therefore I assure you couldn't give a frak."
"That's cold," Lee said. "At least, that last bit was. The first part, though." He shrugged. "Point well taken, Wren."
"Lee, they're not getting any deader."
He stared at her. "You really believe that, don't you?"
"I do," she said, voice decisive. "I can only go from where I am, Lee. I can't be bothered to worry about how I got here. If I spend all my time retracing my steps, I'll trip." She bit her lip. "It's not that I didn't love my family and my friends. It's not that I don't miss real coffee, or the statues in the museum at Delphi, or the fields on Aerelon, or all the shoes I left behind. I miss all of it. And I do know that I can't just look at the facts and ignore the people that they represent. But you and I have to see the bigger picture. Some of us have to be better and we have to drag the rest with us whether they like it or not. Sometimes being right and being merciful are more important than being popular."
"You think I can do that?" He asked, standing and putting his hands in his pockets.
"Wouldn't have agreed to work for you otherwise," she said, and frowned. "Don't-- gods, don't, don't, don't take this the wrong way, okay? Swear to me you won't."
He shook his head. "Okay? I won't?"
"Lee."
"I won't!" He protested, faintly amused. "What?"
Wren shifted uncomfortably. "You have the best heart of anyone I've ever met," she said frankly. "You're doing yourself a disservice, telling me you don't mean those things you say to the Quorum."
Lee stared. "I... Wren, I hardly-- you don't even-- how long have you known me?"
"Long enough to have formed this high opinion of you, obviously," she teased. "Lee, it's dashed hard to miss, as much as you try to cover it up with practicality. Anyone who heard you in that courtroom should have known. It's what made you a good commander. It's what will make you a great President. Just keep listening to your better angels, and you'll be fine, Apollo." She smiled and folded her hands together. "Let the rest of us mere mortals worry about the lesser-than-lofty parts of governing."
"I had no idea you'd be playing the part of my conscience when you took this job," Lee said. "Wren, I'm not that great of a man."
"If this is about the Olympic Carrier, save it," she said. "That's a different conversation entirely."
Lee raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're sure that doesn't fall into the 'Get Over It,' category?"
"No, it falls rather securely into the space between, 'You Did What You Had To Do,' and 'There Are Too Many Factual Ambiguities To Worry Your Pretty Little Head About It,' actually, sir." She shook her finger at him. "Don't change the subject!"
"Which was?"
"Are you going to back this Cylon legislation with that golden heart of yours, or will I have to eat all of my carefully chosen words?"
"Tell you what, Chief," Lee said meaningfully, "If you'll be the brains of this operation, I'll play whatever part you think I should."
"As long as I don't have to deal with emotions," Wren said with disdain, and they both laughed. "By the way, 'Liza's taking a meeting with Baltar and the broadcasting committee tomorrow to get started on some educational programming and to talk him into writing a science book for her."
Lee sighed. "If she has to."
"Unless you're keeping some scientists in that coat closet of yours, Mister President," Wren said. "Which I doubt. Besides, it's good PR for your 'let's all play nicely together' campaign. Even Baltar can be redeemed."
"You're just determined to believe the best of us, aren't you?" Lee said, smiling.
"That's your job, sir," she demurred. "I'm just here to brace up all your pretty ideas with law and logic."
"Well, thank the gods for that," Lee said. "All right. Back to the people's work. I'll see you, Chief. Thanks for being my better angel."
She ducked her head and smiled to herself as he left.
The discussion had been going on in increasingly heated tones for half an hour before Lee pushed open the door to his Chief of Staff's office.
"There's absolutely no way around it," his brand new Secretary of Education was saying earnestly to Wren. "Absolutely none. We need Cylon rights written into the new Articles and we need it done now. There's no way I can design any kind of education system that doesn't first of all, include Cylon and part-Cylon children and second of all, emphasize that we all have our parts to play in a functioning society. I can't ignore this, Wren. We have to make them people!"
"We need a definition and a firm delineation," Wren said, her tone heated. "If people are to be equal, then we can't have any loopholes or ambiguities. You know it just as well as I do, Eliza."
"Ladies," Lee said.
"Mister President," Wren said, standing. Eliza got up too. Lee waved them back to their seats. Wren looked at him expectantly. "Did you need something, sir?"
"I was just wondering what the argument was about," he said.
"Argument?" Wren looked puzzled. "Oh, that. We weren't arguing."
"It sounded pretty important," Lee said.
"Sorry," Eliza said. "We do get a bit rowdy sometimes. But we weren't arguing."
"No," Wren agreed. "It was a discussion at most. You haven't even begun to hear us argue."
"I see," Lee said. "So what were you discussing?"
"Cylon rights," Eliza said promptly. "You need them. You need them last year, Mister President. There's no way to build a society if Cylons don't have rights."
"We need immediate legislation on this issue," said Wren, gesturing. She tapped the top of her desk, her voice getting louder as she spoke. "It affects all areas of policy. It's about time the Colonials gave up on blaming the Cylons for the exodus. We're all in the same boat now."
"We've been in the same boat!" Eliza said. "Our technology comes from the Cylons. Our industry comes from the Cylons. They say this whole bloody colony was Cylon, ages ago. We can't pretend any longer that a handshake will serve as enough of a show of good will."
"Not a handshake or an amendment," Wren said sternly, "but solid legislation. You can't budge on this point, Mister President."
Lee looked from one to the other of them. "Are you certain this isn't a fight?"
"Mister President," Wren said, "before we settle, we need this." Her fist came down to emphasize her points. "Either Cylons are people or we have to give up this alliance, and that would be the end of us."
"I agree," Lee said.
Eliza blinked. "As well you should," she said after a moment. "Because we're right."
"No question about that," Wren said. "This is going to be your first bold move since the alliance, Mister President. You're going to set an example. You're going to write history."
"Romo," Lee said to the air, "you and Laura Roslin knew what you were doing."
"One would hope," Wren said under her breath, and Eliza nodded.
"All right," Lee said, slapping his hands on his knees. "When are we doing this?"
"I'll assign the staff immediately," Wren said. "You'll see some drafts in a couple of weeks, I'd imagine. Setting up all the infrastructure at once does require a little prioritizing."
"What do I need to do?"
Eliza and Wren exchanged a look. "Nothing for now, Mister President," Wren said smoothly. "The staff and I will explore the legal implications and language, and you can suggest changes on the draft."
"Good," Lee said, nodding his head. "Good."
"Thank you, Mister President," Wren said.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm being dismissed?" Lee asked.
"You're not," Wren said, "but I believe that you do have a meeting in a few minutes with the delegate from Scorpia to discuss the apportionment of agricultural stores from the Stalwart. I suggest that you prepare a few stern remarks about putting the welfare of the civilization over the personal wealth of the remnants of one colony. We're all going to be citizens of Earth. It's time to overcome this Colonial partisanship."
"Better watch out, Mister President," Eliza said, leaning toward him, "if she keeps up with this one-Earth propaganda, it'll end in the dissolution of the Quorum."
"In which case, I'll attend to her closely," Lee said, standing up. They both rose from their chairs. "Ladies. I'm informed that I have a meeting."
"Thank you, Mister President," Wren said.
Lee went out, closing the door behind himself, not quite sure what had happened but feeling, at least, that he was in good hands.
+ + + +
"What are you working on so late?" Lee poked his head through the door to Wren's office.
She sat up and stretched. "Oh, it's that Cylon legislation 'Liza and I were on about yesterday," she muttered. "Just can't get this turn of phrase, feel like everything I write is imbued with some kind of bias from one quarter or another." She sighed. "It'll come right in the end."
Lee raised an eyebrow. "If it was ever right in the first place."
"Excuse me?" Wren stood up. "Do you doubt the necessity of this legislation, sir?"
"Not the necessity of it, no," Lee said, walking over and sinking down into her spare chair. "I question the veracity of it, certainly. And you don't have to call me sir. Call me Lee."
Wren thumped her papers. "I'm not dissembling when I say that we have to be a society, and that means more than papers or a handshake. Are you?" She eyed him suspiciously, sitting back down. "All those high-minded, impassioned speeches to the Quorum, and you don't even believe a word you're saying?"
Lee looked pained. "Wren, they destroyed our entire civilization. You can ask me to play nice and say pretty words and maybe even give them a damn seat at the table, but when it comes right down to it, we wouldn't have been forced into this position in the first place if it hadn't been for their unilateral actions."
"I don't believe what I'm hearing," Wren muttered. "I guess I was wrong. You really are a politician," she said, standing again and gathering her papers together.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to the Rising Star," Wren said. "I'd send you a letter of resignation, but I imagine you'll be too busy lying your head off to the Quorum to read it."
"That's unfair," he accused. "I can't believe you'd reasonably ask me-"
"Reasonable? What do you know of reasonable? Look, Lee," she bit out, "either we are what the Cylons thought we were, or we are better. That's the choice we're making. And I'm not working for anyone who's in the former group."
"Wait just one godsdamned minute," Lee shouted. "How is that line of thinking so righteous that you get to lord it over me? You want us to be equals, but you want me to get there by taking the moral high ground and granting them mercy from my lofty position of authority? How does that foster equality? If they're people, they're already people. I can't play the role of the wise man."
"I'm not asking you to be anything you aren't already," Wren said quietly. "I'm not asking you to be someone I don't think you're capable of being." She blew out a breath. "No one is categorically bad, Lee, I just can't live my life that way."
"You're talking about the Five," Lee said. "What do we really know about them?"
"What do we really know about any of it?" she parried. "You've seen Baltar's latest workup on the skeletons they found on the beach. If one entire colony was Cylon, I think you can follow the corollary there well enough without me having to spell it out for you." She crossed her arms at his resultant frown. "We've all just gotta get over it, sir. It sucks and I'm sorry. But it is what it is."
"Get over it. Just like that?" Lee blinked at her, incredulous. "Is this what they teach you in law school? To get over it?"
"They teach us to look at the facts. And the facts, Lee, as they stand, say that we are out here, we are orbiting this rock that we intend to make our home, our fledgling allies have technologies and skills and yes, people that we desperately need to make a go of it, and beyond that I don't give a damn about anyone's personal feelings either way, except as it pertains to swaying public opinion." She sighed. "Romo and I still haven't quite worked that one out. We keep having this same damn argument."
"Romo lost his entire family," Lee reminded her. "He lost his children. I doubt he appreciates you telling him to get over it."
"And so I didn't, in so many words," Wren sniffed. "I am possessed of some tact, you know."
"I had no idea," Lee said wryly.
Wren dropped back down into her desk chair and looked at him intently. "Are you really still angry about it?"
"Yes," he said firmly. "And I can't believe that you aren't."
She lifted one shoulder. "It was a thing that happened. I can't even be sure that the people responsible for that decision have not long since paid for it in blood. What I can be sure of, however, is that we could continue to demand blood until well after all of it has been spilled, and then what do we do with all of our hate and our need to blame?" She shook her head. "We'll pull each other apart, too, if we do that, and that will be our fault alone. I won't go down that road. Not for any of my dearly departed, who, though dear, are indeed departed, and therefore I assure you couldn't give a frak."
"That's cold," Lee said. "At least, that last bit was. The first part, though." He shrugged. "Point well taken, Wren."
"Lee, they're not getting any deader."
He stared at her. "You really believe that, don't you?"
"I do," she said, voice decisive. "I can only go from where I am, Lee. I can't be bothered to worry about how I got here. If I spend all my time retracing my steps, I'll trip." She bit her lip. "It's not that I didn't love my family and my friends. It's not that I don't miss real coffee, or the statues in the museum at Delphi, or the fields on Aerelon, or all the shoes I left behind. I miss all of it. And I do know that I can't just look at the facts and ignore the people that they represent. But you and I have to see the bigger picture. Some of us have to be better and we have to drag the rest with us whether they like it or not. Sometimes being right and being merciful are more important than being popular."
"You think I can do that?" He asked, standing and putting his hands in his pockets.
"Wouldn't have agreed to work for you otherwise," she said, and frowned. "Don't-- gods, don't, don't, don't take this the wrong way, okay? Swear to me you won't."
He shook his head. "Okay? I won't?"
"Lee."
"I won't!" He protested, faintly amused. "What?"
Wren shifted uncomfortably. "You have the best heart of anyone I've ever met," she said frankly. "You're doing yourself a disservice, telling me you don't mean those things you say to the Quorum."
Lee stared. "I... Wren, I hardly-- you don't even-- how long have you known me?"
"Long enough to have formed this high opinion of you, obviously," she teased. "Lee, it's dashed hard to miss, as much as you try to cover it up with practicality. Anyone who heard you in that courtroom should have known. It's what made you a good commander. It's what will make you a great President. Just keep listening to your better angels, and you'll be fine, Apollo." She smiled and folded her hands together. "Let the rest of us mere mortals worry about the lesser-than-lofty parts of governing."
"I had no idea you'd be playing the part of my conscience when you took this job," Lee said. "Wren, I'm not that great of a man."
"If this is about the Olympic Carrier, save it," she said. "That's a different conversation entirely."
Lee raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're sure that doesn't fall into the 'Get Over It,' category?"
"No, it falls rather securely into the space between, 'You Did What You Had To Do,' and 'There Are Too Many Factual Ambiguities To Worry Your Pretty Little Head About It,' actually, sir." She shook her finger at him. "Don't change the subject!"
"Which was?"
"Are you going to back this Cylon legislation with that golden heart of yours, or will I have to eat all of my carefully chosen words?"
"Tell you what, Chief," Lee said meaningfully, "If you'll be the brains of this operation, I'll play whatever part you think I should."
"As long as I don't have to deal with emotions," Wren said with disdain, and they both laughed. "By the way, 'Liza's taking a meeting with Baltar and the broadcasting committee tomorrow to get started on some educational programming and to talk him into writing a science book for her."
Lee sighed. "If she has to."
"Unless you're keeping some scientists in that coat closet of yours, Mister President," Wren said. "Which I doubt. Besides, it's good PR for your 'let's all play nicely together' campaign. Even Baltar can be redeemed."
"You're just determined to believe the best of us, aren't you?" Lee said, smiling.
"That's your job, sir," she demurred. "I'm just here to brace up all your pretty ideas with law and logic."
"Well, thank the gods for that," Lee said. "All right. Back to the people's work. I'll see you, Chief. Thanks for being my better angel."
She ducked her head and smiled to herself as he left.