Chapter 10:

Regulus Mountains, Cylon-Occupied Virgon

Day 3, 11:31 PFT

Dirt and pebbles spat down from the cliff-face as it was pounded by Cylon bullets. Gaia Jenkins dropped to the floor and covered her head with her hands as more rounds flew in, getting closer and closer as they ran. The cover the trees was providing her, and her sister Selene, was running out fast. Between wincing from the impacts of the bullets around them and checking that her sister was in fact still with her. The two had always been close and had decided to trek up to the mountains near their home for a short camping trip to celebrate Selene's graduation as their mother had been called to Boskirk city for work.

That was when the Cylon's attacked. From their vantage point in the mountains they had seen the flashes from both Boskirk and the cities all around them when the bombs dropped. They had felt the ground beneath them shake as the deafening booms hit their ears and in that moment a feeling of emptiness like nothing else they had ever felt overtook them both. Their mother was gone, that was for certain. The city was the first place to be hit and without any kind of warning signs, there was no hope for her. The planet had fallen, that too they knew and – as far as they could tell – so had each of the 12 Colonies as no counter-attack or rescue ever came.

Their father too, they assumed, one of the highest-ranking Admiral's in the Colonial Fleet must too be gone. It had been three weeks since they had last seen him, after they joined him and the crew of his Battlestar – the Battlestar Hyperion – for shore leave on Canceron. It was about the fifth time they had visited Canceron for a holiday, but something had seemed off about their father, as if he knew something of what might soon happen.

Gaia had to quickly put those thoughts out of her mind as more bullets rained down around them. This time though, instead of the feeling of dirt and soil raining down on their heads from the cliff above them, the ground around them seemed to spit and shake.

"Selene let's move!" Gaia shouted, reaching out to grab her sister's hand as more shots rained down from a pair of Centurions who had taken up position on the hill above them. They charged, heads down across the open ledge in front of them, their hearts pounding, and their teeth clenched as they ran until they reached the other side.

As they got close to an overhang protected by a boulder between them and the Cylons shooting at them from below, Gaia fell to her knees and rolled onto her back as the shooting continued behind them. Selene, her dark curly hair mostly covering her face, collapsed down next to her and caught her breath. The air, however, was thick and coarse as they breathed. It had so far been enough to keep them moving but the radiation from the bombs had now reached the mountains and they needed to find meds fast, or else face a choice between being killed by the pursuing Cylons or the radiation that now filled the air around them.

"Selene are you okay?" Gaia asked feeling her own body for any wounds being disguised by her adrenaline rush.

"I am, I am…" Selene said, coughing. Their water had run out about a day ago and they were now starting to feel the effects of a lack of water quite strongly. From years of talking to their father, who like them had been chased by Cylons through these same mountains in the First War, Gaia and Selene knew that water was easily irradiated and had spent the last day trying to find somewhere to collect supplies.

The first place the pair had visited was a Colonial Fleet flight training base in the mountains they had stayed at briefly when their father visited. Being nestled in a forest in a valley floor meant that in the hours following the attack the base was still occupied by Colonial forces and was unknown to most people. Gaia and Selene themselves had almost stumbled on it almost by accident, as they didn't know exactly where it was.

While they did manage to retrieve some supplies (including food, water and a couple of maps of the area), a small Cylon army appeared down the valley and the base had soon been surrounded. One of the base's marines managed to help Gaia and Selene escape out of the back fence while the Colonel in charge of the facility attempted to negotiate a surrender with the Cylon forces. Needless to say, he did not return. Soon after, the staff at the base launched a heroic final stand that Gaia and Selene caught a short glimpse of as they escaped.

Alone and without medicine to keep them alive, Gaia and Selene began following their map to what appeared to be a bunker about half-way up one of the tallest mountains. While at the base in the valley, they had heard about a small group of survivors that had also made it up into the mountains towards the same bunker they were headed towards. Gaia believed the bunker to be military, so it was likely there would be supplies there to help them survive in the fallout the planet was covered in.

As they lay, their bodies drained from being constantly on the run since leaving the base, the gunfire that had previously rattled around their stone chamber seemed to stop, only briefly to return before being silenced by a short flurry of explosions. Gaia and Selene lay silently for a few minutes, waiting for the gunfire to return. But it didn't.

Gaia rolled over and dragged herself behind the boulder that was sheltering them from the valley below and as Selene followed her over to it, she stood up to a crouch and peeked out above it. Between the trees below them Gaia could make out three figures standing over a fallen centurion. They were certainly human and were speaking to each other, although they were just too far away for Gaia and Selene to hear what they were saying.

After a few moments spent checking the Centurion over, one of the figures – who Gaia could now see was dressed in the combat gear of a Colonial Army soldier – looked right at her and pointed. Instinctively, Gaia ducked below the rock and pulled Selene down as well, but Selene shook off Gaia's hand and climbed back up. "They saved us Gaia," Selene said as shook off her sister. "What do you think they're going to do if they spot us?"

Using both of her arms, Selene pulled herself up and on top of the rock before standing up and waving down to their saviours. Gaia waited, wincing, for a few seconds before a voice called up to them. "Are you alright up there?" Came a young-sounding female voice.

"We are!" Selene shouted in reply.

"We?" A second, young – this time male – voice called.

"Yes. Me and my sister!" Selene shouted again, gesturing to Gaia to reveal herself. Gaia reluctantly stood up and clambered onto the boulder. She had to shield her eyes from the harsh light as it shone across their faces.

"Is it just the two of you?" The female voice called up to them.

"It is." Gaia confirmed. Through the trees below she could now make out the two people calling up to them as a young man and a young woman, both about Gaia and Selene's ages.

"Can you two find a way down?" The man dressed in combat uniform shouted from behind the two Gaia and Selene were already talking to. Selene looked back at Gaia for an answer as Gaia herself looked for a path or more level ground they could use to get to the valley below.

"I can't see anything." Gaia called back, unable to find anywhere they could climb down and uncomfortable about leaving their high position. "You should come up here, we can see much further from up here!"

A short period of silence followed Gaia's response, as the people below discussed a reply. "I'll have a scout around, you two stay here," Gaia heard the soldier say to his companions as he checked over his shoulder and headed back down the path the three had come down. The two pairs stood in silence for a few minutes before the soldier came running back. He spoke again to the pair below Gaia and Selene, but they couldn't make out exactly what he said.

Eventually a consensus seemed to be reached by the group below them and the girl called back up. "We've found a way. Stay right there!" Gaia and Selene climbed down from the top of the rock while they waited for them to appear and soon enough a couple of minutes later the three people that had been down below them were jogging towards them.

"This is quite the defensive position you two have here," The soldier said, surveying the small cavern Gaia and Selene were in as they approached. "Finding a place like this takes some proper strategic planning."

"Our father taught us about military manoeuvres," Selene said proudly.

"Did he fight in the war?" The soldier asked.

"He did, he was a pilot. Stayed in the Fleet until…" Gaia trailed off as her mind filled with the dreams she had been having since the attack about what happened to her father.

"Was he high up in the Fleet?" The solider asked as his two partners came up from behind him.

"He was an Admiral. He commanded a Battlestar,"

"A Battlestar?" The young man piped up, who they could now see was quite short and had bright blond hair. Gaia guessed he was no older than 19 or 20 years old, if that.

"The Battlestar Hyperion," Selene confirmed. "One of the biggest in the Fleet!"

"Won't have saved him though, not from the toasters." The soldier said harshly through gritted teeth. Gaia and Selene were taken aback by the brashness of the soldier's comment and Selene shyly diverted her eyes and tried to ignore the conversation.

"That's a bit harsh Adam. I'm sure he stood a chance, especially if his ship was that powerful," The girl, who was slightly older, taller and had dark hair, said as she tried to diffuse the situation that was clearly causing Gaia and Selene to become suddenly very uncomfortable.

"No, no-one stood a chance. The Cylons hacked into all our ships, all our equipment before anyone had a chance to fire a single shot," The soldier – or Adam as the young woman had called him – told them forlornly. "I'm sorry but it's the truth," He added after a short pause.

"I'm sorry for Addam, he's been through a lot." The girl said.

"We all have," The boy added.

"I'm Jess, this is my friend Chris. We were out with a friend when the bombs dropped," Jess told them.

"Your friend, what happened to them?" Gaia asked, quickly realising that was just as much a sore spot for them as their father was for her and Selene.

"I think we'll leave that story for later," Chris said, seeing Jess pause.

"That's fine," Gaia agreed, imagining they too wanted to keep focused on the task at hand. Survival. "There's a bunker further up in the mountains. We heard that there might be other survivors there,"

"This bunker, where did you hear about it?" Adam asked, still scanning the area around them for hostiles.

"At a base down in the valley we visited before years ago. That was before it was attacked," Gaia explained, pointing back down the valley as she told them about the base.

"Green Fist base?" Addam said quickly, his attention suddenly being focused on Gaia.

"I think so yes, it was attacked by a whole Cylon army a few hours after the attack." Addam's face dropped as Gaia confirmed the fate of the base.

"That was my base. I was out on patrol when the attack came, but I couldn't make it back in time."

"It was a bloodbath, there was nothing you could have done. Besides, we should get moving, it won't be long before it's dark." Gaia said, attempting to focus everyone's grief into something productive.

"Yes, let's move. We can't stay here for much longer," Jess concurred, looking to Chris and Addam for confirmation before nodding to Gaia.

"This bunker you speak of, it's an old arms bunker. I know exactly where it is, but it's a bit of a trek," Adam told them as they started moving. "It's probably 20 klicks away from here. We should be able to get there in the morning," As Addam spoke the group stepped out from the shelter of the overhang and entered back into the harsh sun. Gaia and Selene, who had been hiding in the shade of the overhang for a little while now, had to shield their eyes as they readjusted to the light.

The five survivors had only rounded one of the first corners around the cliffside when Addam, who was leading the group, called back to them. "I've found something!" He shouted. Gaia and Jess sprinted up to him with Chris and Selene close behind them. As they reached him and rounded the corner too, they saw the bloodied and blown in body of a young woman, not too much older than them, lying with her back up against the wall; a gaping bullet hole in her forehead and blood dripping all down her, through which they could see she was wearing some kind of Colonial uniform.

"Gods…" Gaia gasped when she saw the bloody remains of the woman.

"I think I might have known her," Addam said, setting his rifle aside and bending down over the body. He started rifling through her clothes and came back up clutching a set of dog-tags. He handed the dog-tags – still covered in blood – to Jess, who held them up so both she and Gaia could read them. The inscription on the tags was hard to make out, but between the blood they could just make out LT. SHARON VALERII.

"Her name was Sharon, she was quite new at the base. Wanted to be a pilot," Addam told them. "I don't know how she got caught out here though. She's a long way from home,"

"Obviously she got away the base, same as us. I've no idea how she out ran us though," Gaia said thoughtfully. She checked over her shoulder for any danger and turned back to the group.

"Can we get moving again? I don't think it's going to be light for much longer," Chris said tiredly.

"Yes, let's get going. C'mon Selene," Jess confirmed, waving Selene forward over her shoulder as she spoke. Together they stepped off again as Addam led the way, rifle aloft, around the ever-narrowing cliff-side.

Regulus Mountains, Cylon-Occupied Virgon

Day 4, 03:16 PFT

Selene ducked and covered her ears as a mortar round hit behind them. They were within spitting distance of the bunker and had seen it through the trees a couple of times before they got to their current position at the foot of the mountain in which the bunker resided.

Unfortunately, they weren't the first to discover the bunker and, as Selene could see and hear all around her, the Cylons had arrived and were trying to gain access to the survivors who were presumably still inside. For about 10 minutes, they had been in a long-range shoot-out with the Cylons and as far as Selene had seen or heard there were only four Centurions engaging them.

While there may have been five survivors in their little group, they certainly didn't have any advantage over the Centurions. With only one rifle and two handguns between them (one of which was given to Chris by Addam and the other taken off of the body they had found the day before by Gaia), they knew without assistance from the people inside the bunker they wouldn't stand a chance.

As more fire ripped overhead, Addam dropped down behind the log they were using as cover to reload. As the tall soldier pulled his magazine from his rifle and looked up to Selene who was ducking below a standing tree just behind the log. "You comfy down there, little mouse?" Addam asked with a smirk over the gunfire around them. Selene glared back at him sarcastically. He had taken to calling her a 'mouse' every time she went quiet, which was only a little more often than the others.

To Addam's right, Gaia too ducked down, gun in hand, to reload her weapon. "We can't keep this up," She told them as she slid her own magazine out of her gun.

"We've got each other pinned but they aren't trying too hard to stop us," Addam commented. "If they were trying to kill us they would have done it by now."

"Do they not know where the bunker is?" Selene asked, catching onto an idea.

"Probably not. There would be more of them if they did. But it is possible they don't know a way in or have a trap set for us," Addam explained.

"Then someone needs to get up there," Selene said. Jess, who was hunkering down next to her looked over in surprise.

"Don't look at me!" Chris shouted over his shoulder as he continued laying down fire.

"Are you volunteering then, mouse?" Addam asked Selene as he finished loading his weapon and brought his arms back up to rest on top of the log and began to fire.

"Actually… I am," Selene said, drawing looks from everyone else. Addam stopped firing and gave Selene a look that almost resembled respect.

Nodding to her and reaching down to his belt, Addam said to her "Well, that case…" and handed her his last grenade from his utility belt. "Make it count kid. Get to the bunker and try and find help. If not… there's nowhere any of us will be going anyway."

Selene took the grenade in both hands and took a deep breath. Addam was, annoyingly, right. If she couldn't get help they would all die out here, so she'd just have to try. "Run as fast as you can and don't stop until you find it," Her sister told her, giving her the tightest hug she could, almost suffocating Selene in the process. "Good luck little sis. Do Dad proud!"

With that Gaia gave Selene one last kiss on the head before clambering back to the log and beginning to empty her ammo towards the Cylons, which was copied by Addam and Chris. Selene slid down the short bank behind them and – with her heart racing faster than it ever had and her teeth gritted tightly – stepped out from the cover of the mound they were on and ran.

Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. One after another as she ran, jumping over logs, keeping her head down and trying her best to modulate her breathing. Initially she didn't draw any fire from the Cylons but as the soil around her started getting thrown into the air, she began to hear more rounds hit all around her until the next thing she knew. The ground was flying up to meet her and the world went black.

Cracks and thuds filled the air as the gunfire continued. Every noise was blurred in Selene's ears by buzzing and she lifted her head the world too seemed blurred. She was alive, she could tell that much but everything seemed numb.

She eventually rolled herself over and lay, staring up at the forest canopy above her as her senses returned. Soon feeling returned and Selene could feel her ankle throbbing and she started to panic.

Did she get shot? How long had she been out for? Were the others okay? These questions spun in her mind as she regained enough strength to feel along her left leg and touch her wound. Though her finger tips still felt slightly numb, she was pretty certain that she couldn't feel any blood. While her ankle was throbbing with pain, she mustered up enough strength to lift her head and could see just a bit back from her foot that a fallen branch lay just off of the ground, presumably at ankle height. Looking to her left, Selene could see she had landed behind a bush which she thought must have saved her from any further Cylon fire.

After lying still for a few more moments, Selene pulled herself back onto her front and, with the help of one of the bush's branches, she manged to get herself to her feet. Though red-hot pain shot through her when she stood on her left foot, she managed to reach down, grab the grenade and begin hobbling forward; careful not to alert the Centurions to her presence.

One foot after another, Selene began up the hill, holding on to anything she could to speed up her transit as she moved. Through the trees ahead, she could just make out the concrete tip of the bunker they had been searching for and headed towards it, hoping there was still time to save her sister and their new friends.

Regulus Mountains, Cylon-Occupied Virgon

Day 4, 03:32 PFT

This was going to be it. The Cylons were on them now and Gaia's gun was empty. She sat, slumped against the log they were still using for cover and was staring into the forest where her sister had run, a plucky hero, to her fate in the hope she could save them. Addam, who had been firing rounds one-by-one since they covered Selene's charge so as to save ammunition, slumped down next to her and threw his weapon away. The two did not speak, but one long look at each other told them everything they needed to know. This was the end, but at least they weren't alone.

On Addam's other side, Chris sat back and threw his gun as hard as he could towards where the Cylons had been firing from and joined Gaia, Addam and Jess behind the log. Gaia shuffled forwards and turned to face her companions. She outstretched her hands to both Chris and Jess, who took them and offered their hands to Addam, who was sat between them. With some reluctance, Addam took their hands and closed his eyes as the guns fired one last volley and fell silent.

They sat, holding hands in a circle for what felt like hours before they heard footsteps approaching them from both sides. Gaia subconsciously squeezed her new friend's hands with all her might as the footsteps neared. "Hold on," Addam whispered, his eyes whipping open. "Those aren't metal feet…"

Sure enough, seconds later there came a voice all too familiar to Gaia that made her heart leap. "Gaia?! Gaia?! Jess?!"

"Selene!" Gaia said, leaping to her feet and opening her eyes. Just around the corner of the mound, Selene and four armed men and a woman were poking through the undergrowth. Gaia charged up to Selene and grabbed hold of her, drawing a couple of raised weapons as she darted up to her sister. "You're alive?!"

"Of course I am! The bullets never hit me, I just tripped over a branch!" Selene said excitedly, returning Gaia's hug.

"Come out guys!" Gaia shouted over her shoulder, though not letting go of her sister. Behind them, Jess led Chris and Addam over to the two sisters, still hand in hand.

"We need to get back inside before a control comes. We can do introductions there," The woman, who was older and looked in charge told Selene.

"Of course, thank you so much for your help," Selene said, finally managing to escape her sister's grip. The woman simply nodded and indicated to her men to return back the way they came. Giving the others a big smile, Selene followed on and was soon also followed by Gaia and the others as they headed up to the bunker.