North shore, near the Northwest lighthouse...
"I expected Phelan, not you." Elizabeth didn't even turn as Vladimir Ward approached.
His derisive snort at the Khan of the Exiles...the former exiles, was mentioned. "I drew the short straw." Vladimir told her.
"I saw the report, your house is no longer divided against itself." she turned around, "making one of you Sakhan, but I can't tell which."
"Phelan is...the senior partner." Vlad said in disgust. "your intelligence is good."
"Yeah. so the Crusaders folded back in, that's gotta piss you off."
He laughed. "Nice try, Duchess Ngo. I have heard about your...view of Phelan Ward."
"Phelan kell, traitor. yeah. Collaborator, sell-out." she said, "quisling."
"Some forgiveness." he said, noting her public stance.
"I named the knife 'Forgiveness'." Liz told him, and flicked the blade out of its hiding place, "See? engraved right on the blade. I don't have to hate someone to have to kill them."
Vlad's laugh faded a bit, until she presented her blade to him hilt-first.
he examined it, "used." he said.
"Several times." she said, "haven't had to since the last time someone tried to assassinate me. It was childish, having that engraved."
"Well, the short straw I drew, was your attitude." He told her, "we agreed that sending a Khan you did not hold in low esteem...lower esteem, might be better for all concerned, and the matter is core to Clan society, which I am a stronger advocate for, than my...fellow Khan."
"I love the way you say that, like you're soiling your tongue." she beamed up at him. "So, how long before you're at each other's throats again? will things even get a chance to stabilize? Will you even bother to rebuild before tearing it all down again?"
"you have a VERY low opinion of us."
"Your culture encourages destructive, fratricidal behavior." she shrugged, "Not stability, if our progress is any indicator, we'll be up to you in technology in less than thirty years, now that we're somewhat stable and nobody is killing engineers, burning books or assassinating scientists..at least, for the moment."
"I could say the same of yours-minus the thirty years prediction." He said.
she laughed this time, "You would be right, unfortunately. It's one of the things I'm trying to push the other way-at least, keep the knowledge by making too hard to lose a second time, in case some other jackhole thinks 'operation:Holy Shroud' is a good idea."
Vlad turned serious, "That is what really offends you, isn't it? the thing you can't forgive-you can forgive the killing, the torture, but..."
"but then they tried to cover it up." Liz said, "Sloppily tried to conceal what really happened by gutting the records with a chainsaw. that's guilty behavior, Khan Vladimir Ward. it is what criminals do. I can't decide if I find the actual attempt as offensive as how ham handedly it was done. At least the Brotherhood tried to come up with workable patsies and misdirections, but even that bunch of morons understood that hiding the truth from themselves was a short ticket to making the same mistakes."
"And your own mistakes?" he prodded.
"I will die with, but I won't insult some future investigator by trying to hide what I've done, or why I did it. when I face god and he sends me to hell, I will at least know why, and nobody will doubt what I am damned for. Someone else, in the future or even in the now, will be able to look and say, 'see? don't do this!'."
His laugh didn't reach his eyes, and stopped too soon. "You really believe that-it is not an irony."
"I know what I am, Khan Vladimir Ward, I know what I am damned for. I will be cursed and condemned, and I will absolutely be guilty, but I won't pretend I'm not. I murdered two men with my very own hands to keep that blood off someone else's, and did it again with fifteen more. I envy, I am wrathful, yes, I am prideful. I know it. You can ask Roshak if I'm lustful, the only thing I don't have time for is sloth, that's six out of seven paths to hell and I'll rack up more before it's over."
"victor and Phelan both said you would say something like that." He told her.
"Victor's known me since I was fourteen." Liz said, "And Phelan's dad is one of my best customers, both of them know me better than I ought to let them." she rolled a cigarette, and lit it. "I am skipping down that road to hell, because someone has to...and I'm disposable, defective."
"Defective? you have accomplished quite a set of feats." Vladimir said, "gained the trust of those above you, turned your world into a veritable fortress..."
"And gotten a thousandth of the work I set out to do finished, this treatment that lets me walk around like a normal person? it can fail. probably will fail." she stated, "I have a lot to do before the inevitable collapse, and I'm wasting that time on someone else's problems because it's the only way forward."
he chuckled grimly, "someone else's problem." he said.
"My view: your Clans could have solved this centuries ago." she said, "You could have declared victory and been done with it, even if you waited to the third generation to do so-instead, you saddled yourselves with a lie, and a bottomless mission, wasted resources and time on a task already declared complete, and burned your own records so that you can't actually look at the situation logically, instead burying your collective heads in a bunch of superstitious nonsense and legendary poetry."
"And you don't do the same with your...'image'?" he countered.
"I'm too busy working to save people I don't even like, to worry about making legends for people who won't care when I'm gone. I know you got up close and personal fighting Cylons. where do you think my priorities should be?" she took another pull on the cigarette, waiting for him to respond.
"So...you do not even like the Wolverines?"
"They're foreigners." she said, "so are your lot, so are the Lyrans, and everyone else-I don't have to like them to try to save them, Khan Ward, because sometimes you get the choice, right?"
"the choice?"
"Sometimes the right person for the job is the one who sees it needs to be done, and is willing to eat the shit to do it. That's not the most qualified person, that's not the person with the right training, or background, or talents, it's not the most perfect, it's the person willing to do the job. Victor's willing, I'm willing. You're here but I don't know if you are willing. I know most of them, the ones who attended by remote, aren't."
"Which job are you speaking of, so we are both...how is it, 'on the same page'."
"Resisting Extinction, Khan Ward. Stopping the bastards who want to end all humankind in the name of god." she told him. "if you're not on board with resisting extinction, you're not the man for the job. we are at war with entropy, the enemy is, for all intents and purposes, god, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and absolutely on the other side. If you aren't up for that fight, and it will be a fight, you're just one more ****** person I have to try and save."
He smiled, "I am in." he said, "you should have saved that summation for the meeting. If there is one way to get a very conservative Clan Khan to change their vote, it is to accuse them indirectly of being too much a coward to see things your way." with that, he turned and headed for the East side of the island.
"thanks for the advice...I think."