FIC TITLE: Instrument of the Gods
WIP
Author- PTBvisiongrrl
Part- 10/?
Date- 01-05-08
Rating – R, just to be safe
Pairings/Characters- Lee/Kara, of course!!!!
Word Count- 1793
Category- Short Story
Genre- Angst
Archiving- The Fallout Shelter, Apollo/Starbuck Fan Fic, All others please ask!
Warnings- Not really- just language…
Spoilers- THROUGH FINALE OF SEASON THREE; AU after that
Disclaimers- Unfortunately, I don't own any of these characters, and make absolutely no profit from taking them out to play…
Summary- As we know, Kara didn't die in the mandela. But we don't know what happened to her yet- so here's my version. A sequel to my Malestorm Fill-Ins.
Chapter TenKara forced herself awake, knowing that she had to get that Cylon bitch away from her daughter immediately. The drugs in her system slowed her down, but the fear for her daughter burned them off quickly. Shaking off the stupor, lurching up from her knees unevenly, Kara whirled to face the secret Six.
Six wasn't as quick- Cassandra was still in a trance, a fact of which Kara quickly took advantage. Ignoring the confusion over the plain priestess appearing as the femme fatal Caprica Six in the Place Between, Kara planned. She could easily disable Cassandra, but she did not want the toaster unconscious- not while Six was still with Tierra. Quickly scrambling to find a weapon- back but not fully reinstated to duty, she did not have her regulation fire arm in quarters- Kara settled on her heavy military boots. Careful to only hurt, and not disable yet, Kara kicked her full force in the stomach, knocking the air out of the Cylon and sending her crashing back onto the sofa.
Cassandra/Six bounced as she landed, blinking in fury when she realized that she was back on Galactica and not in the world of the Gods. "You are going to regret that, Thrace," Cassandra/Six growled menacingly, coughing while trying to catch her breath and rise.
"Make me," Starbuck smirked at the machine, feeling some of the fear leave as she realized that Tierra was now alone, and safe. The knowledge that this Cylon had somehow put her daughter in danger- her daughter who was untouchable, or so the gods had promised- angered Starbuck. Anger brought out her cocky, mean streak. "I've killed you once, you know. At least I think I did, back at Delphi." She stepped towards the woman. "Or are you a different model altogether? 'Cause Six is way hotter than you."
Rising and circling Starbuck, fury on her face and tension in the stance she struck, Cassandra/Six laughed. "I am she. I am Boomer. I am Simon." A slow and dark smile spread across the Cylon's face. "I am Leobon as well, Kara. I am all."
Kara felt her chest tighten. "You are the One." Knowledge half-remembered filled her. "You are the final Cylon model."
Cassandra/Six laughed again, a deep dark scary laughter that echoed against the walls and made Kara's skin crawl. As Kara watched, Cassandra's features began to shift and replace themselves with the visage of Six; her form filled out, lengthened; her clothing changed into a form-fitting red dress. "I am all." And her image continued to change, morphing rapidly into all the known Cylon forms before changing into Sam Anders.
Caught off guard, not believing that she could have been so stupid as to marry a CYLON to escape Lee, Kara hesitated.
That was all Cassandra/Six needed to reclaim advantage. She threw herself at Kara, tackling her to the ground and pinning her by the throat to the metal decking. Kara scratched furiously yet unsuccessfully at the vice-grip, tearing long bloody weals into the priestess's wrist. Kicking repeatedly from the side, into Cassandra/Six's ribcage, hard enough to hear a bone crack, Kara valiantly tried to unbalance the thing choking her.
At that moment, there was pounding on the hatch, and Lee's frantic voice calling her name. She looked away from the Cylon for a moment, trying to call out to Lee but unable to gather enough air to do so. Turning back to fight her way loose enough to let Lee know there was a Cylon in their quarters, she found Cassandra back, a deadly look in her eyes, not a hint of any other form there. "What the frak?" Kara thought as she passed out, lack of oxygen winning out over her natural tenacity to survive.
Kara awoke abruptly and rapidly, surging up into a sitting position and looking frantically around her. Instead of Lee's quarters- hers now, too, but she didn't think of them that way yet- she was in the Place Between, Tierra kneeling beside her. "Mother! You are still alive!"
"What's going on, Tierra? What the frak is she?" Kara asked, looking around frantically to assure herself that Cassandra/Six was gone.
Tierra sighed deeply. "You have met the final Cylon."
Fear gripped tightly around Kara's heart; she had lead the Cylons right to her what she held most dear- Tierra. "Why did she want to come here?"
"Their scriptures- their prophecies- tell of you, and what you know." Tierra clasped Kara's hand tightly. "The Cylons do not know the way to Earth. Their god did not give them the means to find it, other than through you."
"And I led them right here-" Kara slapped the ground, annoyed and impotent.
Tierra smiled at her mother. "She cannot come back here. Not on her own- because she does not believe in the gods who own this place."
The fear gripping Kara lessened. "So you are still safe?"
"Yes," Tierra reassured her. "I am as safe as ever. The Final Cylon has been revealed. She can show you the other four models. You will be safer for this."
"The Final Cylon- she is ALL the cylons…" Kara trailed off. She was beginning to have trouble focusing; Tierra began blurring at the edges. "And Sam-" she gasped. It was beginning to darken, as if night was drawing near.
Tierra cupped her mother's face, helping her to lay back down on the mossy ground. "Hold on, please hold on- Mother, don't let go. Father will be there in just moments-"
"Tierra!" Kara tried to cry out, wrapping her arms around her daughter.
"She's killing you, Mother. Father is trying, I can tell, but he can't get the hatch open. You need to fight- you need to win- please-" Tierra pleaded.
Kara gripped her daughter tightly. "I tried- she's stronger than me-"
Tierra pulled away from her mother, and with a terrified face pleaded, "Go back, go back now. You have to live."
And with Tierra's voice echoing in her mind, Kara forced herself back into consciousness. The grip on her throat had loosened slightly after she had passed out; she took advantage of that, gasping for as much air as possible to break Cassandra/Six's hold on her throat, along with Cassandra/Six's arm. The surprise advantage of being thought dead, Kara reflected wryly before continuing her pounding attack on the Cylon who had threatened her daughter.
Cassandra/Six fought with a disadvantage now, slowed by her injury. Kara continued to reign blows down on her, stomping on Cassandra/Six visciously as Lee continued to try and open the door that had obviously been meddled with. Kara hadn't even locked it behind her earlier; it should not take Lee that long to get in here.
Cassandra/Six tried to act as if she were the injured party when Lee and the marines finally broke through. Guns pointed at her, and Lee pulling Starbuck off, Cassandra/Six pleaded, "Commander- Starbuck- she attacked me-"
"We know better, you toaster bitch." Lee spat out, surveying the damage on Kara. Angry red welts encircled her throat; she had the beginnings of a black eye, as well as a bleeding, split lip. The knuckles of her left hand were already swollen enough to make moving her fingers difficult. "Restrain this thing and take it to the brig," he directed to the men. Kara noted that many of the marines had also been on her protective detail to the Admiral's quarters upon her return. Those were the marines who were less than gentle with shackling Cassandra/Six and pulling her to her feet with the noose.
Cassandra/Six hissed a threat at Kara as she left, conceding that Kara had won and her cover was now blown. "I know what you know, now, Kara. I know what you're hiding, and how to find it."
Lee turned to the thing and aimed his firearm. Firing, he took out the Cylon's left knee. As she sagged and the marines shifted to accommodate, Lee turned back to Kara. "Stop at Life Station on the way."
Watching Cassandra/Six limp away, Lee held Kara in his arms. "I was on CAP, zoning out, and then I found myself with Tierra. She was screaming at me to get to you, to get there as quickly as possible because you were in danger-"
"Tierra reached you on CAP?" Kara asked in amazement.
Lee nodded. "Not as clear as while we were dreaming, but I felt her near, and heard her- didn't see her-"
"She told you to save me?" Kara asked, surprised. Here Kara had thought that she was saving Tierra, and Tierra was trying to save her.
"She was very stubborn. I was confused, briefly-" Lee looked sheepish. "I'm not used to hearing voices while I'm flying unless they come from the comm. What exactly happened here?"
Kara smiled, cracking the fissure on her lip open. "You saved my life."
Lee nodded, grinning a little as the emotion of the rescue began to dissipate. "For once, I pulled your ass out of the fire." Then he turned serious. "But Kara- what happened? How did Tierra know?"
Kara went over to the small refrigerator in the corner, and pulled an ice pack out of the freezer. "The toaster was teaching me how to meditate. I could never manage it as a child in temple school- I told her that. So she used some herbs to 'help' me, burned them- some type of narcotic, I don't know what. Worked well, because I found Tierra."
"That's how she knew!" Lee exclaimed.
Kara nodded. "Cassandra found her, too."
"Did she hurt Tierra?" Lee asked, concern evident in his voice.
"No," Kara stated grimly. "I made myself wake up, went after the bitch. Pulled her out of there, but she was stronger than me."
"How did you know she was a Cylon?" Lee asked.
"In the Place Between- she was a Six." Kara licked the blood from her lip. "Back here- she was all of them. All the cylons we know- she changed from one to another, and then-"
"What?" Lee blurted out, interrupting. "What do you mean?"
"Cassandra admitted- and Tierra told me- that Cassandra is the final Cylon, different from all the others." Kara flexed her hand, studying the bruising growing across the knuckles and wondering how to break the news that Sam Anders was a Cylon, too.
Lee took her hand gently to inspect it, turning it this way and that before placing a kiss on her palm, enclosing it within his own. "Are you sure that's what you saw? With the herbs-"
Kara pulled away from Lee and made him look her in the eye. "She's the Final One. Tierra agrees." Taking a deep breath, shame flooding her face, she added, "And so is Sam Anders."