Title- The Redemption of Colonel Tigh

Work In Progress

Author- PTBvisiongrrl

Part- 12?

Date- 9-3-06

Rating – R

Pairings/Characters- Lee/Kara (eventually), Tigh/Kara relationship (non-romantic!)

Word Count- 1277

Category- Short Story, for now- but let's see what everyone thinks!

Genre- Romance (eventually), Angst, Action, Drama

Archiving- The Fallout Shelter, Apollo/Starbuck Fan Fic, All others please ask!

Warnings- i.e. death, language, violence, rape, torture, etc.

Spoilers- Season 1 through the rumors of Season 3

Disclaimers- Unfortunately, I don't own any of these characters, and make absolutely no profit from taking them out to play…

Summary- Tigh comes out of the Cylon Occupation a better man, thanks to Kara Thrace.

Chapter Eleven

Tigh sighed. Such a burden of sorrow Kara- Kara, and not Starbuck, he mentally differentiated- carried. The girl just never got a break in life. How could she just sit and so calmly acknowledge that she would probably be repeatedly raped throughout their captivity, and not try and DO something about it? Taking a deep breath, Saul asked the question he needed her to answer. "Kara- when he- when they- if they are going to come back, what do you want me to do? I can't just stand there and let them-"

A sniffle was cut-off and Kara wiped her nose on her sleeve. "You have to. If you fight it, they'll kill you. And I can't do this alone. I won't survive." Kara's eyes widened and a look of panic settled into her features as she searched out his eyes. "You can't die. You can't leave me alone!"

Grabbing her hand, afraid to touch her anywhere else, he spoke to her as if calming a child. He needed her calm and rational, and able to take. She could not break down now, not until she answered him. "I will not leave you alone, Kara, as long as I have anything to do with it-"

"Lee left me alone, of his own free will," Kara muttered, her eyes cloudy and unfocused. Tigh recognized the after effects of today's trauma beginning to hit; and she probably wouldn't even remember this conversation tomorrow. He decided to let her go, instead of trying to follow her logic, and hope that he could get her back and thinking-plotting- before Anders resurfaced. "At least Zak had no control over his leaving…"

"Didn't you leave Lee first?" Tigh asked, seeing a chance to get her back to reality as soon as possible.

Kara grasped her knees with her arms and rested her cheek on her back knee. "No. He had left me long before I left him. I just got married first, that 's all. He and Dee-" she hiccuped, and Tigh interrupted.

"Lee and Dee didn't love each other, Kara. Nice front they put up, but neither one was really happy." Tigh couldn't believe he was going to say this- not because he didn't believe it, but because he was going to use the information to get Starbuck back in place of 'Kara.' Kara was useless right now; Starbuck would kick ass. "He was only happy when you were around and could give him all your attention. It was obvious for anyone with eyes- even the drunken XO."

Kara barked a short, Starbuck-esque laugh, cut off by a rustling in the corridor beyond the door. Then cell door slid open, before they could ready themselves to fight, exposing yet another Sharon Valerii copy. This one, however, was very different looking. This was not Boomer; this Sharon wore a sheer white, floor-length gown covered with a pale orange robe and a silver choker studded with amber. Even her voice was different- less harsh?- when she spoke. "Your birth was foretold to us, as well as your life."

"What the frak?" Kara stated, her eyes wide in fear and surprise.

"Our God speaks in prophecies, which if we are but strong enough in faith we will understand. You are the greatest of his prophecies." Sharon practically beamed at Kara, who momentarily doubted the copy's sanity. That would certainly explain the pronounced differences between the copies Kara had known and this one. "You are one of God's chosen, the vessel to bring forth a new world for us, wherein the parents and the children are reconciled once again."

Tigh positioned himself between the copy and Kara. "How do you know that she is chosen? What are you talking about?"

The Sharon made her way over and placed a hand on Kara's forehead momentarily. "Her whole life has prepared her for this duty. God has prepared her for this."

Kara wrenched away from the Boomer and hissed at her, "And suppose I don't want this duty? What if I refuse to let you manipulate me?"

The Boomer crouched down and looked Kara over. "I cannot manipulate you. I am merely a voice for God's plan; only he can change the plan. Any action you take, it was meant to happen. Others may misinterpret the plan, but your destiny is still yours, regardless."

"No," Kara spat out, turning away and folding her arms around herself again. "I make my own destiny."

"You don't really believe that, Kara." Boomer sat next to Kara, not getting the Go away! hint. "I can prove it."

Kara's lip curled in a Starbuck glare of disbelief. "End the mind-frak and go away. You can't prove it, and I don't want to hear your lies." The force behind her voice made Saul's skin prickle. He had a feeling that, Cylon or not, Kara was inches away from launching herself at the model and smashing her wiring.

Boomer gave Kara a look that Tigh couldn't describe. Peaceful, accepting, at the same time regretful- almost like the face of an idol. It chilled him almost as much as Kara's reaction to the Boomer's next words, as she trailed out of the cell. "Your father left the day after you turned four; the next day, your mother gave you a black eye, the first of fifty-three."

Kara blanched- difficult for one so pale to begin with. Her mouth opened and closed without a sound; the Boomer took Kara's silence as a chance to push her unexpected advantage. "One week later, she gave you your first hairline fracture-the left radius." Boomer reached and took Kara's left arm carefully, brushing it gently just where it had been injured.

Kara did not pull her arm out of the Boomer's grasp. Tigh's own skin prickled in revulsion.

Taking the lack of reaction as an invitation, Boomer continued, "She hit you for the last time the day you turned sixteen and you told her that you were pregnant by her latest boyfriend. She took you for the abortion and told you not to come home. You signed up for the academy the next day."

Kara's hand unthinkingly fell flat against her stomach. "How do you know so much about me?" Her eyes were unfocused, her thoughts obviously distracting her, as she had begun to fall under the spell of more Cylon lies.

Or, Tigh considered, were they truth, to a degree?

Boomer smiled, nodding. "You begin to see, then. I am not lying. You remember these things like it was yesterday, yet you've never told anyone about them, not even your fiance. How could I know these things, unless God told me, Kara?"

Tigh had to break the spell Boomer was weaving around the traumatized Starbuck. "Shut the frak up-"

Boomer whirled to meet him, a much different and more blood thirsty look on her face, just for him. Her voice was much harsher and angrier as well. It was like split-personality Cylon. "You are not part of the prophecy- you are dispensible. Remember it."

He stopped short of the Cylon, who was blocking his access to Kara. Kara, hearing the Boomer, snapped back into reality. "You want me to fulfill my destiny, you better leave him alone." Kara's voice was low and menacing.

The Boomer immediately became contrite. "I am sorry, Kara. I did not realize that he meant anything to you." Again, Boomer kneeled down . "That makes this harder to say, then. I came to tell you that I can save you. I can get you out of this cell." She leveled a look at Tigh that Kara could not see, full of seething hatred. "But only you."