Chapter 3

Kara wanted to curse her luck but instead found herself praising it. She had found herself on a devastated planet after a nuclear catastrophe but she was alive and in much better condition than she could ask for considering her circumstances.

She entertained these thoughts from her vantage point where she was secured with Helo and his binoculars. The morning was clear and she could see for meters in all directions. She and Helo now found themselves in the position of needing supplies if their group of survivors was going to have any chance. While their instincts told them that the mountains provided the best protection from any possible attacks, they were going to need a supply of anti-radiation medication, not to mention food, if they planned to live. Kara and Helo had roused themselves early to scout out the area from this vantage point.

"I don't know anything about you." Helo announced suddenly and Kara glanced at him quizzically. "I mean, I know all these stories, but I know nothing about the real Kara," he finished with a slight chuckle. She looked at him appraisingly for a moment and gave him a half smile.

"And I don't know anything about you. Let's start with the most important. So why raptors?" she asked. He looked at her, puzzled.

"What?"

"Why do you fly vipers? If you want to know more about me you're going to have to play."

"I'm good at them. No desire to vie for the glory in a viper," he answered, smiling. "Why vipers?" he countered.

"I'm good at flying them. Simply, really, intrinsically good at it." She responded.

"From what I've heard I don't doubt it," he said. "Give me a random fact." He looked at her, his expression serious but his eyes playful.

"I've been married for 2 years," she supplied quickly.

"Something I don't know," Helo responded in an earnest manner that Kara was quickly discovering to be a fundamental part of him.

"This is not my husbands baby," she announced and met his gaze challengingly, uncertain of what his response might be. He surprised her by letting out a dry laugh.

"I should have known you'd cut out all the bull shit. All right, I'm in love with my co-pilot," he answered.

"Are you fracking your co-pilot?" she asked.

"Who's the father of your baby?" he countered. He stared at her for a moment and then answered her question, leaving his dangling.

"Boomer's sleeping with the chief mechanic," he answered slowly. She paused for a moment and then spoke.

"I slept with Lee Adama," Kara said carefully.

"You win the fracked up contest for today." Helo announced in an attempt at levity.

"Have you stopped to think that none of this matters? If I survive, if this baby survives, if we somehow manage to get back to the Galatica and it's still in the air, do you think anyone will even care who the father of this baby is?" Kara finished quickly and met his surprised gaze.

"You are something else." Helo said genuine surprise registering on his face.

"None of it matters. All that matters is surviving," Kara spoke in a harsher tone than she had intended. She picked up the binoculars that had fallen to the ground in between them and continued her search.

Suddenly Kara saw a lone figure on a rock outcropping in the distance. She recognized the rock as one they had traveled over the day before. She zoomed in closer and registered a colonial flight suit on the figure, which appeared to be a slender young woman, as she watched, another figure joined the first. The second was also a slender woman with dark hair, although she wasn't wearing a flight suit. Kara tapped Helo's arm and handed him the binoculars carefully trained on the rock. Helo let out a strangled sound of surprise.

"Frack!" he exclaimed. "Kara, that's Boomer, my pilot. Frack. They both are." Kara let out her own startled exclamation and took the binoculars back. He was right; the women on the rock were identical.

"I don't suppose there's any chance Boomer has sisters?" she asked softly and then swore herself.

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it. We need to get the group together and move now." Helo stated slowly.

"That can't be Boomer." Kara sadly voiced his unspoken sentiment. They both stood up and picked their way slowly across the rocky terrain.

Kara closed her eyes for a moment and conjured up Lee's face. She imagined him as she'd last seen him. Glancing over his shoulder, shooting her one of his megawatt smiles, with just a trace of sadness in his eyes. But it was just a flash, a memory, and he was gone too quickly. She could only hope that he was still alive. But really other than a feeling in her gut, she had no idea. So she'd pray to the Gods and continue on simply living.

Kara shook herself slightly and hurried after Helo, the slope of his broad shoulders clearly visible in front of her. His very presence was very reassuring somehow. Maybe together, they could make it through one more day.