Colonial Thunder
Sequel to 7 Points
By Chaoseternus

Chapter 29: Uncivil War Helo's War

Helo grimaced, his eyes momentarily flickering up to the bright unnatural dawn that was flickering over the night sky before warily flicking around the depths of the small forest he was hidden in, his eyes missing nothing, seeing everything. His eyes, once bright and firm now cold, dark with a hidden streak of desperation and determination, showing clearly to those with eyes to see that he, Helo, Colonial Warrior off the Battlestar Galactica had become a survivor in the truest, most primitive sense of the word.

He saw nothing to suggest that he had been discovered or even that a Cylon patrol was in the area. Strange that, the patrols had dropped remarkably the last few months, as if the Cylons had diverted every warrior and fighter they could to other tasks.

It had gotten so bad he had caught glimpses of survivors moving about in the distance far more openly then before. It had been so easy watching them to just pin-point their hideouts, that was why he was staying hidden, these new Cylons had brains and he wouldn't put it past them to deliberately appear to withdraw just to encourage survivors to come out into the open.

A slight whimper made Helo glance down, and with a slight hint of a smile buried in the corner of his eyes, Helo gazed at his one reason for living, the one person who had kept him sane all this time.

Sharon Boomer' Valerii.

How she had found him, why she had returned for him he didn't know but she had. Had kept him sane, helped to find supplies and medication as soon as they realised they had no way off of Occupied Caprica, something she had always had incredible luck with. Almost as if she could sense where the Cylon patrols would be.

A frown ticked his face, as a stray thought flickered once more into his conciousness. Or maybe she told them not to get in her way. Maybe she had use for him yet.

He dismissed the thought, he had been shown all to clearly that humanoid Cylons or at least Cylon sympathisers existed and were on Caprica, after all Boomer had rescued him from one but the idea of Boomer being a Cylon, or working for the Cylons didn't fit in his mind.

In truth, he didn't want it to fit.

A flash made Helo glance up, in time to see more debris rain into the atmosphere. That had been happening for months now. The Cylons had destroyed or pillaged any of the orbital installations or ships they wanted too but most were dead and had been left to just rot. There orbits, now uncontrolled had rapidly decayed, raining their burning wrecks all over Caprica.

A week ago, he had seen a Battlestar falling through the atmosphere, its molten hulk crashing into the sea of Caprica City, sending a minor tidal wave to deluge the city, the water pouring over the sea defences for several moments before falling back to normal, if a little rough levels.

The sight had brought tears to his eyes, the thought that that once proud ship had fallen so easily, all those people gone, their ship just left to rot, not considered worthy of being cleaned out' by the Cylons.

It spoke all to plainly of their sheer contempt for humanity.

However, Helo rather suspected these weren't old wrecks falling into the atmosphere, not today.

There had been too many flashes in space, too many surprisingly large nuclear detonations, too many small pin-prick like flashes of light heading in all directions and constant lights, like massive ships were burning high above him.

That alone ruled out old Colonial wreckage, they had run out of oxygen a long time ago, there fires snuffed and out. No, this showed all to clearly a new battle was still ongoing in orbit.

Had been ongoing for almost twelve hours now, like too sides evenly matched were fighting it out, each too stubborn to retreat and concede victory.

He doubted it was a Colonial attack, they had been hit too fats, too hard for enough ships to remain to launch as massive an attack as this but who else could it be?

Cylon would not fight Cylon after all; they had a common enemy, a common task. Eradicate humanity, wherever it may hide.

A hand lightly dropped onto Helo's shoulder, and he glanced nodding at Boomer.

They still haven't stopped

Boomer shivered, "its cylon fighting cylon?"

Helo frowned, "It might not be, it could be an attack be surviving Colonial Forces, it's remotely possible that somebody new has gotten involved"

"no" Boomer replied, and Helo had to wonder at the firmness in her tone, almost as if she truly knew what was going on, "Its Cylon fighting Cylon, Civil war within the Empire"

Helo's eyes flickered around the forest again, ever searching for a threat. Once again he found none; once again, he stayed alert, not relaxing for a moment.

His ears pricked up, a familiar whining growl reaching his ears and in a flash, his pistol was in his hand.

"Raiders!"

Boomer nodded at the snapped warning, her own pistol snapped with the razor sharp instincts of long, painful experience into her hands. They shifted, moulding themselves to the nearest tree, thanking the lords that they had not lit a fire which might be noticed by the sensors on the cylon fighters.

A Raider raced past and puzzled, Helo followed it with his eyes, It seemed strange, as if it had been modified beyond the Raiders he had seen up until recently.

A second, a third Raider flashed past and Helo gaped as they fired, brilliant yellow bolts of energy tearing into the first Raider, causing it to spin of, uncontrolled and burning into the forest.

He glanced at Boomer a little awed, how had she known?

"Civil War" Boomer said, and Helo frowned, dots beginning to add themselves together in his mind. She should have been happy, Cylons killing Cylons was a great boon for the survivors, it greatly increased their chances at rebuilding, at maybe even finding a way out of occupied territories and yet Boomer's tone was not that of hope, of jubilation. It was one of despair, of a great weight being placed on ones shoulders.

He shrugged it off, he didn't know anything for certain, yet.

He would just have to watch her more closely, that's all.