Wireless Broadcast by Major Stanton - Exodus +408

About an hour following the emergency council meeting, Eddard Stanton goes live on the wireless system to broadcast to the fleet:

'Ladies and gentlemen of the fleet. This is Major Stanton of the Battlestar Myriad. I am conducting this broadcast in order to, uh, speak to you all following the sad events of the last twenty-four hours.

It is with reluctance and sorrow that I have taken up Commander Darius' post following his death. I did not agree with many of his actions or his beliefs, but... I respected him as a man of deep convictions, and many of his decisions have meant a great deal for the safety of the fleet. His death is but one of many for which I feel a deep regret this sad day.

It is a fact that regrettable actions took place on practically every ship during the uprising of the New Believers, committed on all sides, some of which I ... I witnessed first hand. However, despite the horror that has occurred, it cannot be denied that the uprising that took place was a great threat to the stability of the fleet and to the survival of us all; many of the actions taken, particularly those by the late Commander Darius, were taken in heat-of-the-moment response to this threat, and ultimately moved the situation towards some kind of resolution. I would have done things differently, I have no doubt; but in this case I have to ... reluctantly concede that some of Darius' actions may have saved the fleet.

In answer to my detractors in the Free Press Coalition I have decided to give, uh, my side of the story regarding some of the specific insinuations and accusations that have been put forward. I have nothing to hide, and as I have stated on numerous occasions I feel that the entire fleet needs to work together to survive; it would be remiss of me to ignore Daan Mathers's broadcast and to shut off the military world from the civilian. So I will do my best to bridge any, um, divide that has developed.

As I said, I witnessed some terrible things first-hand; the death of Captain Nestra Duvalli at the hands of Darius was the first. I could not have prevented this, I was at the same moment struggling with Captain Nicteus Phileman, which can be verified by any of the other Council members present at the time. The context was one of violent struggle during a hostage situation, and as such was unsurprising, if deeply unfortunate - we will all miss Captain Duvalli, she was a competent and valued member of the fleet, and one of the main reasons that the fleet is as extensive as it currently is. We would not have found so many ships had she and her crew not acted so bravely during the genocide of the Colonies.

Mathers is correct; I chose not to arrest the Commander following this violent incident. The time was not right for reprisals during the midst of a fleet-wide emergency. This emergency took hold of all my attention as I returned to the Myriad, and I unfortunately, uh, lost track of the Commader. I did make an effort to locate him, but, unsurprisingly, my attention was required elsewhere in dealing effectively with the emergency - I did not 'fail to act'; I do admit was unable to act in this matter to the full extent of my abilities before it was too late. I will not try to justify Darius's actions during this period, but I do believe that they may well have expedited a conclusion to the uprising and possibly prevented further bloodshed.

I refer of course to the torture and murder of Captain Nicteus Phileman. It is true, I was present with the Commander in the raptor as we returned to the Myriad, but I was not aware of his specific intentions. I am sorry for the loss of Captain Phileman, particularly in such a... a violent way, he was an honourable and passionate man, and for much of his time with us an invaluable presence; I regret deeply that we could not have worked out his differences, and those of his followers, with the rest of the us via other means.

However, this did not happen. Violent uprising took place, and had to be responded to. Extreme measures took place, but were not premeditated, and on the whole were attempts to resolve the situation. I even believe, uh, that the Commander's suicide was a recognition that, this time, he had gone too far - at least in the eyes of the fleet. Thus he attempted to pay for his crimes, once the coordinates of the Steropes were provided; a final act which allowed us to stop the cylons from possibly locating us.

[sound of throat clearing]

As to other accusations that have been made, I feel some were so slight as to merit little response. I am not a cylon. I did not 'allow' the escape of cylon prisoners. However, I will say that, should anyone in the fleet - in my crew - believes that I had a hand in the poisoning incident of a few months ago, they should come forward, and bring any evidence they believe they have. As I said, I have nothing to hide. I am innocent of this, and am prepared to fight the accusations should they amount to anything. Whoever Mr Mathers's source is is entirely welcome to come forward with their views, they have nothing to fear from coming out of the shadows.

If people wish to judge my conduct as an officer of the fleet, that is their right. However, looking back with the intent of indicting anyone for past failures seems to me a retrograde step, an attempt to lash out at somebody for all that is wrong with the world; one that has now been rendered moot by the Council's decision to declare a general amnesty following the uprising.

I give my word to the people of the fleet that I will do my best to move forward in a positive manner and to work closely with Governor Ward, the Council, and with the fleet as a whole to ensure our survival. The Myriad is part of this fleet, and we all- all - need one another to survive. It's time that we all recognised this fact.

Major Stanton out.'