TM 173 - Write a fan letter.
Apr. 12th, 2007 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arrow_of_apollo173 - Write a fan letter.
((Contains spoilers through episode 3x20, "Crossroads, Pt. II"))
(A note delivered to the offices of Romo Lampkin, Esq., Attorney at Law.)
Mr. Lampkin,
I write this note not entirely sure whether I should be thanking you for the experience of assisting you as defense counsel at Gaius Baltar's trial, or if I should condemn you for being instrumental in some of the most emotionally and morally difficult days of my life. On further reflection, knowing what little I do of your personality, it's not likely you'd be satisfied with my letter unless I do both.
You're a liar, Mr. Lampkin. You're a man who takes the truth of a situation and if you cannot find a way to manipulate it into the outcome you prefer, you'll manufacture "facts" or circumstances whole cloth in order to tip the scales in your favor. The phrase "tip the scales", of course, is particularly apt, since this trait of yours is what makes you such a brilliant lawyer.
Is there anyone, Mr. Lampkin, who might have the luxury of immunity from your maneuverings? Is there a single individual in this fleet that you would hesitate to mislead, misinform or out and out lie to in order to achieve your goal in the courtroom? I expect not. But then, were I the one on trial, with my own life in the balance, would I be so squeamish about such an aggressive defense?
I don't know if I can answer that because, as you're well aware, I was another individual manipulated by your tactics in and out of the courtroom. How long, Mr. Lampkin, did it take for you to "have my number", I wonder? A few minutes? A day? Maybe even the moment you knew my last name was Adama? However long it took, I have to applaud you at your insight.
Now I don't claim to have been duped, or set up. I understood your original intention in putting me on the stand to testify-- to have me publicly and in a court of law condemn my father for pre-judging Baltar's guilt. And I'm sure you understand in turn that I had no intention of doing any such thing, not even in the service of "the system" or the "justice" that was intended to be meted out.
Right this moment, I wonder what possessed you of the instinct to allow me to talk, to somehow become the voice that laid humanity's sins out for us all to see so that we could finally move past them. Moreso, I wonder what possessed the tribunal to allow me to stray so far from actual testimony into speechmaking.
For that, I think, I have no choice but to be grateful. For a very long time, I was a man who despite titles and rank and a family name had no real identity beyond expectations and the definitions I allowed to be drawn around me. After Pegasus and New Caprica, after Dee and Kara and everything, I was lost and solitary. On that stand, I burned away all those things. Chipped and tore and burned, down to the core of something renewed. Me.
For the first time in a very long time, I picked up the mantle I had tossed aside, my flight suit and helmet, and climbed back into a Viper, and felt that the doing so was my choice and my choice alone.
I have no idea what you meant by saying my grandfather was a dishonest man, but if he was a liar in the way you're a liar, then I think I might just have an idea.
Take this the right way, Mr. Lampkin: I hope I never see you again.
Regards,
Lee Adama
(612)
((Contains spoilers through episode 3x20, "Crossroads, Pt. II"))
(A note delivered to the offices of Romo Lampkin, Esq., Attorney at Law.)
Mr. Lampkin,
I write this note not entirely sure whether I should be thanking you for the experience of assisting you as defense counsel at Gaius Baltar's trial, or if I should condemn you for being instrumental in some of the most emotionally and morally difficult days of my life. On further reflection, knowing what little I do of your personality, it's not likely you'd be satisfied with my letter unless I do both.
You're a liar, Mr. Lampkin. You're a man who takes the truth of a situation and if you cannot find a way to manipulate it into the outcome you prefer, you'll manufacture "facts" or circumstances whole cloth in order to tip the scales in your favor. The phrase "tip the scales", of course, is particularly apt, since this trait of yours is what makes you such a brilliant lawyer.
Is there anyone, Mr. Lampkin, who might have the luxury of immunity from your maneuverings? Is there a single individual in this fleet that you would hesitate to mislead, misinform or out and out lie to in order to achieve your goal in the courtroom? I expect not. But then, were I the one on trial, with my own life in the balance, would I be so squeamish about such an aggressive defense?
I don't know if I can answer that because, as you're well aware, I was another individual manipulated by your tactics in and out of the courtroom. How long, Mr. Lampkin, did it take for you to "have my number", I wonder? A few minutes? A day? Maybe even the moment you knew my last name was Adama? However long it took, I have to applaud you at your insight.
Now I don't claim to have been duped, or set up. I understood your original intention in putting me on the stand to testify-- to have me publicly and in a court of law condemn my father for pre-judging Baltar's guilt. And I'm sure you understand in turn that I had no intention of doing any such thing, not even in the service of "the system" or the "justice" that was intended to be meted out.
Right this moment, I wonder what possessed you of the instinct to allow me to talk, to somehow become the voice that laid humanity's sins out for us all to see so that we could finally move past them. Moreso, I wonder what possessed the tribunal to allow me to stray so far from actual testimony into speechmaking.
For that, I think, I have no choice but to be grateful. For a very long time, I was a man who despite titles and rank and a family name had no real identity beyond expectations and the definitions I allowed to be drawn around me. After Pegasus and New Caprica, after Dee and Kara and everything, I was lost and solitary. On that stand, I burned away all those things. Chipped and tore and burned, down to the core of something renewed. Me.
For the first time in a very long time, I picked up the mantle I had tossed aside, my flight suit and helmet, and climbed back into a Viper, and felt that the doing so was my choice and my choice alone.
I have no idea what you meant by saying my grandfather was a dishonest man, but if he was a liar in the way you're a liar, then I think I might just have an idea.
Take this the right way, Mr. Lampkin: I hope I never see you again.
Regards,
Lee Adama
(612)
