Tighten the Knots – Part I

"We men are in prison all that time which we choose to call life.
For this soul of ours, being bound and fettered in a perishable body,
has to endure many things,
and be the slave of all the affections which visit humanity."

Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Leoben stood at the portal. All around him Cylons worked to run the gigantic Battlestar with methodical efficiency. The last few months had gone smoother than he'd ever imagined. The formidable Caprica Six and Sharon Valerii spearheaded the movement away from destruction towards something different, something more forgiving for the errant children they chased. Errant children, as though Nya was some type of innocent who deserved to be bound and regulated by Cylon law.

His lips curled angrily and he fought to control them. Nothing could get in his way now. They were too close. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the bulkhead. He'd lost something on Kobol and it burned at him to admit that he now had some human failings that hadn't been there before. Perfect recall was a Cylon trait. And it meant that Nya's face grew blurry in the tenuous grip of his mind.

Dark hair, he remembered that much, and grey eyes that were simultaneously dark and light. Light when she sat at the helm of the Journey, one hand poised on the controls while the other cupped the sigil of Leucothea. Nya was not gorgeous, but a subtler, more handsome quality existed in her face. A face that would age in slow increments until it was impossible to tell her age. A face he could grow old with.

But it was the details that avoided him. Even in the dark of night when he dreamt, and thought that she was with him, everything remained in shadows.

Purity of heart, he reminded himself, that was my price. I will see her again soon enough.

"What are you doing?" Caprica Six touched his shoulder and he jumped. The black circles under his eyes did little to alleviate her concern.

"We'll find them." She told him softly. "It's just a matter of time."

"Time." Several Centurions swerved to miss them, almost subservient in their demeanor. "They are human. How much time can we waste?"

"Lifetimes is what I tell the others…" but she didn't seem to take the words seriously. "We don't have that long. Not for the ones we're going back for. Do you miss her?"

"Everyday." The honesty surprised him, but Caprica Six was on his side, not like the lethal and sabotaging D'anna.

"She'll wait for you."

"I know." Leoben's eyes moved back to the portal to space and looked out across the expanse of stars. "I promised her I would come back."

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Thirteen months later….

"O venerable Goddess, hear my prayer and make benevolent my life thy care. Send, blessed queen, to ships a prosperous breeze and waft them safely over stormy seas."

"Any more superstitious and they'll lock you up."

"Superstition is not religion, and last I looked, the Fleet doesn't persecute that." Nya grinned at Hazard as the RAPTOR cycled up. They both had standard flight gear minus the helmets. Regular transportation runs didn't qualify as combat ops and everything was more relaxed.

"I still like the modern version better." Hazard popped the DRAIDS screen with her fist, the last set of repairs hadn't taken as well as they would have thought.

The two women spoke in chorus. "O Goddess of the stars and night, hear my prayer through the darkness. Send, blessed queen, our ships the stars to guide them by and see them safely through the darkness - into the light."

"But…" Nya starts.

"…old prayers work best." Hazard finishes for her. "Man, I can't believe we're almost done with these runs. Galactica is a frakking ghost ship."

Nya doesn't answer at first. She disagreed with their move to New Caprica from the moment Baltar made it his election platform. It hurt almost as much to see Tom Zarek as the snake's right hand man.

Things went to hell just as soon as he took power. But neither Nya nor Hazard had the time to care. Baltar's first order had been to require all essential personnel to leave for New Caprica and moving nearly 50,000 people and equipment took every RAPTOR and cargo vessel pilot they had. Luckily, they'd both wanted to stay with Galactica instead of immigrating to the planet's surface.

"Well?" Muttered a grumpy voice. "You two gonna fly at some point this morning?"

"Roger that, Colonel Tigh." Nya gave him a saucy wink as his wife glared at her. "Just waiting for our turn in the queue."

"Looking forward to being planet-bound, sir?" Hazard chirped as they got the confirmation to take off.

"Of course we are." Ellen answered for him. "It's better than being stuck on Galactica while it falls apart around us."

"Of course, ma'am." Hazard answered softly. "Since it's the only thing protecting us if the Cylons find us."

"But they won't, Lieutenant." Mrs. Tigh snapped back. "This is our new home."

Hazard and Nya shared a quick glance. The RAPTOR exited the flight deck into space and turned toward the planet below them. Although neither pilot, nor Tigh, said it, the consensus was that everyone on the planet was a sitting duck. They just had to hope that their luck held.

"Thirty minutes to planet, sir. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Four of Tyrol's men were waiting for the RAPTOR to touch down. The weekly allotment of restricted goods were onboard, for all the good it did anyone. Tyrol's men, as well as everyone else on New Caprica, knew they went to the President and didn't come back out again.

"Need any help?" Nya asked as she came under the wing of the RAPTOR toward them. "We've got four hours of leave before we're due back."

"That's okay, Lieutenant." The lead said, protective of their union rights. "We've got them."

She nodded and gave Tigh a jaunty salute as he descended. "Colonel Tigh."

"Archer."

"It was a pleasure serving under you, sir."

One eyebrow raised up in disbelief at her words. "Thank you."

"Saul…" Ellen whined from his shoulder. She was exquisitely made up, as usual, and Nya wondered again where she got the new clothes from. Everyone else had to make do with old uniform rations and scraps that could be begged or paid for from the legitimate market. Items from the black market had disappeared from the Fleet still in orbit, as everything was on the ground.

"Duty calls." He said whimsically as he turned to follow his wife.

"Doesn't it." The words were said to herself. Four hours seemed like an eternity. Already there was a division between those on the ground and those in the sky. As though the civilians had forgotten who'd fought to get them this far.

"Nya."

She jumped and smacked her head on the RAPTOR. "Ohh." Immediately, pain and swelling shot up in the flesh and she cupped her hands around the ache as though that would help.

Hands grabbed her waist and helped ease her to the ground. Through the flashes of pain she managed to get one eye open. She hadn't been wrong. Tom looked back at her.

It hurt to admit that he looked good, although that might have been the pain in her forehead. The lump was definitely getting bigger as she pressed fingers into it gently.

"So you're trying to kill me now?" It was supposed to come out as a joke, but there was too much bitterness in it.

"You've been avoiding me for a year. I guess I was going to have to resort to violence sooner or later."

She pulled away from his hand. "Don't, Tom."

"I'm sorry." The sincerity struck her physically. Mountains of distrust had grown between them and it was shocking that two words could change all of that.

"You…." The words didn't want to come. "You know what he did. And you helped him. Against me…of all the things to hurt me, why choose that one?"

"I didn't believe you. Cottle gave me all the official explanations. That you were suffering from post-traumatic shock and shifting the blame to everyone else was a coping mechanism."

"You believed that pile of frak?"

"Yeah, I did." The self deprecation isn't something that she's ever heard from him before. "You wanna smash my head into the RAPTOR for awhile?"

He makes her laugh.

"I've missed you, Nya. I know I can't make up for the past. Or for the baby. But I'd like to try."

Above them the blue sky of New Caprica is full of clouds and the wind that bites at them is frigid. But at that moment it reminds both of them of the balmy Sagittaron winds. Her eyes soften and the pain subsides.

"You've missed me?" The question is said almost teasingly.

"Only in the sense that…" He chuckles as she pushes him away in mock anger. "Yes, Nya. By all the Gods, yes."

She doesn't close her eyes as he kisses her, not at first. Instead she lets them travel over the new lines in his face. What he doesn't know is that Zeke cast a foretelling for her, three weeks earlier. Without it, she would never have taken Zarek back. But the bones and the sacrifice spoke of a great change. A reversal in the way of things. A time to rejoin old loves and forgive them their sins.

"Lucky bastard." She whispered to him and then didn't say anything else at all as she kissed him again.

----------------

"Prepare for final jump."

The words sent a chill down Leoben's back. This was it. They were within reach. She was waiting for him.

"We're ready." Caprica Six turned to look at her co-conspirators and gave them a nervous smile. "This is it. Fleet, jump."

This is it. Will Nya welcome Leoben home? Will he be exposed for what he is?

Are you ready for the occupation?