presidentpythia |

She uses the brief respite after Tyrol leaves to rub her temples, trying to push away the headache. Even though Lee's taking more and more of the responsibilities of the office on his shoulders these days, there are still some things that she, herself, has to do.

Signing Boomer's transfer order -- or, to be realistic, her death warrant -- was one of them.

This is another.

There's a polite rap at her door from the Marine guard stationed outside, and she straightens in her seat and raises her voice, calling out,

"Send him in."

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He's nervous, but trying hard not to show it. How, how it is possible that he, a mere lieutenant from Aquaria, has an audience with the President of the Colonies --

-- well, then again, a lot of things are the norm these days that none of them had ever thought possible. He manages to stop the yammering of his thoughts with that much more practical observation, and steps inside.

"Madam President." Hoshi jerks crisply to attention and snaps the best salute he possibly can.

"It's all right, Lieutenant," she says. "Thank you."

She doesn't get up; it would take too much energy, and she doesn't have any to spare. Roslin looks at him through her glasses, with more curiosity than she allows to show.

He asked my permission for the meeting, Bill had said, when she'd told him about the request she'd received. He's a good officer; a good man, too. You can trust him.

"I understand you're the Senior Officer of the Watch now for Galactica."

He doesn't wince. It's a reasonable question.

"Yes, ma'am. I am. Now."

"Mm. I see."

She beckons him the rest of the way in, and indicates a chair in front of her desk.

"It's not usual for a military officer to bring a formal request to civilian leadership," Roslin observes, mildly.

"No, ma'am. I know. But it's an unusual request."

He draws a quick, careful breath, and wills his voice not to shake.

"It's about Milliways."

It would have been a frak of a lot easier if Adama'd been the one to bring this request, but that avenue's closed, Hoshi knows. Admiral Adama had recognized the name, at least, and had even acknowledged that he'd been there in the past, but had also informed Hoshi that he wasn't able to reach it himself any longer.

Which leaves the matter up to him.

"Are you - able to go there, still?"

Roslin's eyebrows rise.

"I might be," she allows, after a moment's silence. "I haven't tried in quite some time."

A beat of silence falls between them, which she breaks with a sharp question.

"Is this about the message that you sent me after we found Earth?"

He startles, visibly.

"... er, yes, ma'am; I guess it is. In a way."

He knows it's not wise, but the question rises to his lips all the same.

"You received it, then?" Belatedly, he realizes how that might sound, and stumbles over his own words to add,

"I mean - no disrespect meant, Madam President, of course you did, I just--"

She smiles, a little; it's been a while since she's seen that level of earnest nervousness from anyone, as it's been a long, long time since she's been able to go out among the Colonial citizens, meeting them and hearing the stories of their lives. That, too, has been part of what's been peeled away from her as their overall situation got more desperate and as her illness progressed, leaving her nothing but an all-too-fragile core.

"I did, yes." She pushes her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and continues,

"I just didn't act on it at the time."

Hoshi takes that in.

"Oh."

He doesn't say anything else at first, and after a few seconds' silence, Roslin's eyebrows rise yet again.

"Aren't you going to ask me why?"

He shakes his head.

"No, Madam President. I'm not. I'm sure you had a good reason."

Roslin stares at him.

"You're sure."

"Yes, ma'am."

He hesitates for a second.

"Do you -- Madam President, do you remember when the food supplies were contaminated? And we were trying to make the passage to the other side of that star cluster?"

"Yes, of course I do."

Why he's bringing it up, however, is something she doesn't know.

"It was when - you were making a report. Over the all-Fleet channel."

He'd been running communications at the time, trying as hard as he godsdamned could to keep all the ships in contact with each other despite the constant crackle of radiation eating away at the signal, trying to dissolve the frail links between them all.

"...here we are, dwindling away out in space...
...It's very hard. For you all to keep... your strength and your determination, but your fates are no longer determined by what you do..."

"You said something then that I've never forgotten."

"...and the truth is that all we have left here is our belief in each other. All we have left is each other's trust."

"You reminded us all how important it was that we trust each other."

"...and so I'm asking you please, never let it go."

He meets her eyes.

"So yes, I'm sure. You had a reason."

For a moment, she's not certain she's going to be able to speak. Her vision blurs with treacherous mist at the thought of that desperate hour, of all the desperate hours since then, of how far they've come and how close they are now to the end of everything -- and still, still, there are people that need her so very, very much. That depend on her, despite her failings.

That trust in her.

She blinks furiously, fighting back the tears that threaten, and clears her throat.

"I see," Roslin says, quietly, when she's sure she's back in command of herself. "Thank you, Lieutenant Hoshi."

She allows another second of quiet to stand between them while she draws a breath.

"Now. What did you come here to ask me?"

And here it is: do it now or do it never, and either way there's no turning back.

"You know that Galactica's in very bad shape," Hoshi says. "She's got only a few jumps left in her at most."

A beat, as he flattens his hands out against his legs, just above his knees, unconsciously bracing himself.

"I wanted to ask if there was something we could do. With Milliways. Somehow. To ... to make another passage, or something like it. To -- I don't know where. To one of the other Earths, maybe."

Roslin is silent for what feels like a very long time, considering the possibilities.

"I don't know," she says, at last. "But I think we should find out."

The breath he hadn't realized he was holding rushes out of him in a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Madam President. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She pushes herself to her feet, biting back a hiss of pain, and starts toward the door.

"Come on. Let's go."

Hoshi hastily gets to his feet and hurries to join her.

"Go? You mean -- right now, Madam President?"

She glances over at him.

"I don't see any reason to wait, do you?"

Oh, gods. It looks as though he isn't going to have the chance to warn Felix about this, and if --

Hoshi spares a second to raise a silent plea for help to all the gods, then swallows hard and nods.

"No, Madam President. There's no reason to wait."

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