Two

Alone

Silence…..

No, not totally. There was a whistling. Like air escaping under pressure, a high pitched whine like a moan of despair. The sound undulated, making an odd counterpoint to the silence.

Through a fog of concussion and the mists of a long sleep the figure stirred. Aches and pains began to appear as her body made her aware of its existence. A twinge here, a cramp there. Confusion filled her mind as the brain, the body clawed it's way back to wakeful if not painful alertness. Finally a voice, a whisper came through the misty, sogginess of her mind.

"Wake up Kara...wake uuuuuuup"

"Awwwww Frak."

She groaned aloud…..To no one, she knew. Memories whirled in her pain addled mind. Lee's last transmission, images in the clouds and then an overwhelming darkness just after a flash of loss and desolation as, what she'd thought, death carried her to hades and beyond.

Kara Thrace cautiously opened one eye and then shut it quickly as the light of day blinded her, pain stabbing at her brain. What felt like an age later, had she passed out? She tried again. This time was not as bad, a dull throbbing behind the eyes the only initial manifestation, so, gingerly she tried the other eye. The pain still stabbed but was less than before. She breathed a moment, sat there in the dissipating gloom. Took in her immediate surroundings but not daring to look outside the canopy. It had been almost dark when she'd first opened her eyes. Now, Looking about her, she could see that she wasn't airborne any more. In fact the plane was sat on its landing skids, quite stable. As she finally dared to look outside she saw that the Viper was sat on a huge white landscape. Snow was beginning to fall around and was ppiing up on the front of the canopy. A moment of utter confusion hit her like a slap in the face. She'd been above a gas giant not a planet? Her head throbbed and she closed her eyes again. Opening them finally, she grimaced.

"Well if this is hades its not living up to expectations."

Looking back inside the cockpit Kara noted that the canopy was cracked, as was her faceplate. The plastic starred and warped. No surprise there considering the battering that she could just about recall. Also, with no small surprise, she saw that there were lights on in the cockpit. DRADIS was offline but the planes CPU seemed OK. She flipped a switch on her portside console, mentally crossing fingers. No wireless. Frak. She pounded the side of her console with a gloved hand, the stinging strangely welcome. Blowing out her cheeks she flipped a cover open, fiddled a little and then, fingers properly crossed this time, another set of switches and the environmental unit sprung to life blowing warmer air around her. A victory, small, but a victory nonetheless. The unit was showing on its screen that the outside temps weren't as cold as she'd first thought. Local conditions were not unlike autumn on Aquaria, cold but not arctic. Next thing on the list. She was mentally ticking things off. Filing some and discarding others. Despite the cracks in the visor on her helmet it had retained its integrity and she was, a quick check revealed, still on suit air, the gauge showing about half full. Pulling the small air test vial from its holder she pulled back the cover, a few seconds of nothing and then...Green! Breathable. Reaching up she cracked the seal on her helmet, tentatively sniffed the air and, when she didn't die, removed it completely and placed it in her lap.

She sat a moment gathering herself. Again mentally ticking things off. Her Viper may be mostly ok but her own internals were still fracked and she was exhausted. The effort of removing her helmet had taken more out of her than she'd realised.

With a start she jerked in the seat harness. She'd dropped off or blacked out. She rubbed at her eyes with her fists. Feeling a little better she decided it was time to get started. On what she had no idea but have to start somewhere.

Blowing a wisp of hair from her face she pulled a glove off, noting the chill. More switch flipping showed her the Vipers condition, not good, and her position, lost. Also not good. The DRADIS-like screen of the navigation system showed there were no star systems, no planets that matched anything from the Galactica's last know stellar mapping run. This brought her up short. Lost. Starbuck had never been lost before. Stranded yes, but lost?

"Well nothing like a challenge to kick you in the ass. Come on nugget."

She said to herself. She was getting nowhere sat her. Glancing about her at the now substantially lighter landscape she made a decision. Taking a breath she pulled the release on the canopy and pushed the assembly forward. Snow spilled in and flakes fell about her. She closed her eyes and swore softly. Again she noticed the cold. Frigid but not as bad as she'd thought. Gathering her strength she shifted her weight in the seat, unclasped the harness and placed her helmet on the cockpit foaming. Grunting she pulled herself upright and, standing carefully, took her first look about her.

"Hmm, the garden spot"

The area the ship had settled in, how?, was at the head of a valley. Tree lined, snow covered hills trailed off into the distance looking for all the colonies like a forest on Caprica. This caused her to grimace again, confused. She scrunched her nose up and smelled the air. Pine. Pine? Pine!? What the Frak? Again gathering her meager strength she grabbed the edge of the cockpit. After a few breaths she vaulted over the canopy rail and onto the ground. She steadied herself, tentatively tapped on the floor testing its solidit. As she stood straight and worked the kinks from her stressed body she noted the scorched earth about the ship. It had obviously landed under power. Curiouser and curiouser. A walk around of the Viper revealed much damage, panels were missing, there was a hole in the stabilator and she looked like she'd been through a flak storm. This caused her to pause. Was she actually dead? Was this hades? As she pondered this she started to circle around the ship and barked her shin on the front skid swearing loudly.

"nope Thrace, not dead yet."

Rubbing her leg she glanced up. There, on the nose, inexplicably, a gash in the skin covered in blue paint. Staring at it she suddenly felt a chill, turning about and looking for whatever she'd hit. Seeing nothing she touched it a moment. Suddenly an image appeared again in her addled mind. Doctor….. It vanished as soon as it had arrived in her subconscious, but the image of that smile, that smile…... inexplicably calmed her. Kara stood there, snow falling gently about her and shook her head grimacing.

"Godsdamned it. How the hades am I still in one piece?"

A grumble came from her belly and she returned to her mental list. Food. The Next, logical thing was a check of her survival kit. Did she have anything to survive on? Could there be anything to eat nearby? Animals? Gods only knew! Back to the list. She patted the holster at her side. Pistol. Check, thank frak, ok and two spare mags. Cigars? She grinned for the first time as she felt the pocket of her flight suit. Two at least and her matches.

Returning to the plane she bent under the wing. Kicking the release plate on the underside of the Viper revealed a small cargo bay, no bigger than a large suitcase, holding a sealed pod. Olive green and stencilled in yellow she crossed fingers once again. Her viper had been flying back when the boss was a pilot. Gods only knew what she'd find in it. She pulled it out, it bounced on the freezing ground and stooping she ripped the seal open. A small rucksack and a flight jacket fell to the ground. She grinned and pulled on the jacket almost immediately feeling warmer and more alive. Zipping it up she dipped again and picked up the rucksack. A shot of pain hitting her in the lower back reminded her of her condition.

"What have we in here? Argh…...ewwwww how old is this shit?"

The rations she pulled from the bag were about ten years old and the water bottles even older. Making a face she grinned and saluted with the bottle.

"Bottoms up!"

Taking a swig of the cold but sourish tasting water she looked about. Hills, pine, snow. Everywhere. Which way to go? Again she blew out a breath. Took one last look about and made a decision. Choosing a direction, just because it appeared that the sky was lighter, she set her mouth in a grim line. She clambered up the kick steps on the fuselage, reached back into the cockpit, flipped the mains switch off and pulled the canopy back into position. She caught herself standing there, one foot in the sprung access step and one on the cannon as she paused a moment. Almost immediately she started to hear the sounds of the forest about her. The wind in the trees, whistling through the holes in the airframe. Creaking branches, the gentle patter of the snow. Somewhere water flowed, she smiled at this, water she'd need. Then, other sounds. Wildlife. Birds called and animals replied. Growls, barks, twittering and howling. She wondered at this. New Caprica had had no animal life at all and other than the rare daggitts there were in the fleet it had been four years since she'd seen anything even resembling a bird or bigger since that last leave to Caprica when Zak…...Zak. That prompted a jolt of memory. Zak…..Lee…...Sam…...Lee. She shook her head to ward off the phantoms as she checked, finally, the Viper was secure. Satisfied she took the opportunity to use the elevated position on top of the plane to fix her direction. Down the valley. She thought for a moment she saw smoke curling into the sky. Or was it just vapour? No matter, even the remotest possibility of life here had decided her course.

With a grunt she dropped back to the ground, snagged the rucksack and swund it onto her shoulders. She removed the pistol from its holster, racked the action and replaced it. Finally ready to go she came up short. Turning she looked at the fighter. She felt something strange, walking back to the Viper she wiped an errant snowflake...or was it a tear, from her face and patted the fuselage. Looking up at the cowling she saw the numbers 8757NC. She ran a hand over the name stencilled under the canopy rail and smiled. They'd been through enough together over the years and she felt a visceral connection to this particular Mk II. It would be hard to leave her. Finally smiling once more but this time with more than a hint of sadness she breathed out.

"Don't worry old girl, I'll be back for you soon."

She turned and faced up the valley. What was out there? Wherever the frak there was! Reaching inside the pocket of her jacket she fished out a watch cap, pulled it on and with a jolt recalled her cigars. Pulling one out with a flourish and the trademark Starbuck cackle, she lit it and inhaled deeply. Savouring the taste of the smoke and the warmth it imparted she set the valley in her sights and headed off down the slope.

She'd be back, she reasoned, whatever it took.