Seven Witnesses - Part One


Kara "Starbuck" Thrace Anders and Samuel Theodore Anders

"Frak me!"

Karl and Kara were sitting at the table in her makeshift home on New Caprica, her surprisingly clean and tidy home. Karl knew this was Sam's doing, for though their marriage had mellowed her, in all the time he had known Kara domesticity had never been one of her strong points.

"Karl, why do this, people aren't going to suddenly accept Sharon because you marry her."

"Still think I'm a frakking idiot, even after all that's happened?"

Kara looked across at her husband who was lying stretched out on their bed. He was very good at knowing when to keep quiet and let her get her feelings off her chest. Then he would make a telling remark which made everything all right again. His strength and the certainty of his love had had a profound affect on Kara. He acknowledged her searching gaze with a smile but kept his counsel.

"No way Karl, you're a fool in love," Kara paused grinning widely at him before adding, "Just like me. Gods look at us, after Zak I thought I never be happy again. And now you've got the girl who broke your heart."

"So Kara will you do this for me, and stand with us?"

"Why the frak not, even if it's some weird dissenters' ceremony. The Old Man suggested it too!"

"You can count me in," Sam added in his usual straightforward way. Kara felt her heart soar when he did things like that, no drama, just the right thing. Around him, she could sometimes forget to fear the feeling of simple happiness and instead let it wash over her, with her guard down.

"Five more and you've got your wedding party!" Kara exclaimed looking genuinely excited for him.


Galen Tyrol

"Why do you have to do this?!"

Cally's face was contorted in anger as she faced her husband. Galen turned his back on her trying to collect his thoughts. While Helo was there she had stood still and quiet, listening intently to their awkward though thankfully short conversation. And all the time Galen knew she was saving herself for this confrontation.

"I thought you'd let go of your feelings for her!"

"She had a name, Cally. And Helo's Sharon isn't Boomer."

"Helo thought that she was Boomer when they were on Caprica. So she can't be that different."

Galen could feel his wife's naked jealousy eroding his self control. He really didn't want to hurt Cally; he just needed her to stop. To contain his anger Galen clinched his fingers into fists, digging his nails hard into his palms.

He spoke very deliberately, forcing each word through clenched teeth, "When I first saw Sharon on Kobol I knew she wasn't Boomer…"

"Everyone will know that you're a part of this. People are suspicious of you because of her. They say that you're a frakking Cylon lover. How can we move on if you keep…?"

"I don't give a frak what people think Cally, and I'm not ashamed that I loved her, not any more!" Galen then turned his back on his wife who had been silenced by his outburst, and strode out of their home to make certain she knew this conversation was over.


Doctor John Cottle

"How are the settlers doing Doc?"

John Cottle turned round smartly from writing up his patient notes after another visit to New Caprica. Standing in front of him was Admiral Bill Adama, hands behind his back.

"Gods that planet gets bleaker each time I visit. How the settlers cope defeats me."

He reached over and retrieved his smoke from the ashtray sitting beside his notes, inhaling deeply as if trying to clear his lungs of the depressing planet's atmosphere.

"You saw Sharon this morning?"

John Cottle signalled that he had by a slight nod of his head. He had indeed carried out his regular medical check on their Cylon prisoner. Sharon seemed to trust him, she certainly did not resist when he examined her. He would listen to her heart which pulsed just like a human one, take her blood pressure which was the same as a healthy human and while tapping her back listen to her human sounding lungs. Doctor John Cottle knew of no other way but to treat her as human even though she wasn't.

He knew her trust in him was misplaced. The terrible deceit he had perpetrated haunted him each time he faced Sharon in her cell. For he had carried their living child away and replaced Hera with a dead baby girl another mother also grieved for. And he, Doctor John Cottle broke his solemn oath as a Doctor and man of healing when he did this shameful thing in the name of the greater good.

As a doctor, he had had to master the art of detachment which he did in his gruff plain speaking way. However when he had to betray Sharon, her reaction breached his tough façade and pierced his soul as her desperate sorrow quickly turned to violent angry accusations. That day John Cottle saw the searing agony of Sharon's loss in her eyes and that image would not leave him in peace.

"I can't see her as one of them. I should have every reason to hate her, but Sharon's one of mine." Adama paused, slowly shaking his head as though this admission was causing him physical pain. Doctor John Cottle could tell he was stripped raw; the shooting had profoundly changed him and he still struggled to cope with the emotional wounds.

"I can't keep Sharon locked up and I can't destroy her. So I've decided to let her live and I need you to do something for me Doc."