Chapter 16:

Regulus Mountains, Cylon-Occupied Virgon

Day 37, 14:44 PFT

For five weeks they had been running. From bunker to bunker, over hill after hill. They'd been running every day and barely stopped. The Regulus mountains were large and gave them plenty of space to hide but hiding from an enemy like the Cylons is no easy feat. Gaia and Selene had been so extraordinarily lucky to even make it this far that for them every day was a gift; albeit the hardest and most stressful gift anyone could dream of.

They did not see the Cylons every day anymore, far from it. It had been five days since the last sighting and some people in the the group Gaia and Selene had joined had been starting to think they might be able to settle down somewhere for a while. That night – the third in the same bunker – one of the men, a former banker from Boskirk, never came back from his patrol. Gaia had taken initiative that day and dragged every last one of them out with the help of Abigail; a woman only a couple of years older than Gaia who had come to Virgon from Aerilon to become a schoolteacher. Together the two of them had become the de facto leaders of the group after the two people who initially took the lead disappeared on their way to a new bunker about a week after Gaia and Selene joined them.

That seemed to be the fate that awaited them: to 'disappear'. Almost no one they had lost had died in front of them or been found, rather they just never returned from whatever route or detour they took. Eight of them had been lost so far, usually the adventurous ones who took off in the lead to scout. Gaia and Abigail had been one such group about a week ago, but Gaia and insisted on staying with Selene and the main group after her leg was hit in an encounter with a Centurion.

For the next few days Gaia had been forced to stay at the back of their group with Selene and the Professor. The Professor was old man from Caprica, as far as Gaia could tell. He didn't speak very much or move much for that matter, but when he did it was either extremely wise and potent or completely nonsensical. Some of the more desperate members of the group had originally tried to leave the Professor behind, but somehow, he always gave them a sudden bit of essential information that helped them escape or simply caught back up by himself.

Selene was the youngest of all eleven of them, but not by much. With the exception of the Professor and a middle-aged dad called David, no one was older than 35. Luckily, this meant they were all fit – an obvious reason for the group's survival – and we hardy enough to survive on the few radiation meds they could scavenge. Selene had spent more time than anyone else with the Professor, so anything he did say usually came to the rest of the group through her. That morning he had spoken, as they left the bunker they had been staying in. Gaia didn't always welcome the Professor's input, often it was nonsense or detrimental to the group's morale, but this time I had been different. Selene hadn't been sure of exactly what the Professor had said, she had been busy helping another member of the group at the time. What she did know was that the Professor recalled something about a "caravan of the heavens" in a prophetic way that made Selene go straight to Gaia before anyone else heard about it.

Gaia and Abigail had been leading the way through a bit of woods off the beaten track when Selene caught up, having made sure the Professor was properly looked after. Selene had pulled the two of them into the bushes to shield them from the rest of the group as they followed on a little way behind.

"A caravan?" Gaia asked after Selene had got her and Abigail up to speed.

"A caravan. I suppose I know what that means but I didn't get any context," Selene replied.

"You heard nothing other than that?" Abigail asked, constantly glancing over her shoulder and off in the distance like they all were. Selene shook her head in response.

"Nothing."

"How did he sound when he said it? Sometimes he can seem a little… out of it," Abigail asked.

"Yeah, like that and well…" Selene trailed off. Abigail and Gaia gave each other a cursory glance and waited for Selene.

"Sel?" Gaia said, gently pushing Selene to carry on. "Did he say something else?"

"Yes, something about finding… something. Us maybe? A place?"

They all paused for a few moments to think, Gaia and Abigail again glancing at each other, almost for a silent exchange of ideas. Abigail turned and scratched the side of her head as she thought. "The scriptures talk about a caravan that carried the first colonists from Kobol. Maybe someone out there survived?"

"We haven't heard anything about the other colonies yet. Or really anything other than what's happened here." Gaia said.

"Maybe some of the Fleet survived. Maybe Dad's out there," Selene hopefully said to Gaia.

"There's been no attempt at landfall, at least not on Virgon. In over a month there's been nothing. I wouldn't get your hopes up too much Sel," Gaia replied. Beside her, Abigail was watching them both with slight hesitation and curiosity.

"You never said much about your father," She said, stepping to the side to block Gaia's path. The two sisters looked at each other and then back to Abigail.

"We didn't." Gaia said defensively, taking a step back from Abigail. She could tell Gaia was uncomfortable, and she wasn't the only member of the group that had avoided speaking too much about their past, but Abigail could tell that there was more to it, something Gaia hadn't wanted to bring up.

"He's in the Fleet. An Admiral," Selene blurted out, pushing her sister aside. "He commanded a Battlestar, the Hyperion."

"His name is… was, John Jenkins. He was one of the highest-ranking Admiral's in the Fleet," Gaia explained. Abigail was surprised. She had a feeling he was something to do with the Fleet, but nothing like that. It surprised her that Gaia and Selene hadn't brought it up before now, after all didn't the fact that he was in the Fleet give them hope that he might have been able to survive.

"Do you think he made it?" She asked tentatively. Gaia solemnly shook her head and Selene said nothing.

"Someone else might have done," Gaia said softly. "But whether they've made it this long…" She gave a shrug as she walked past Abigail. Selene again said nothing and followed on behind her sister. As Selene passed Abigail she gave a quick, shy look. A look asking for hope. Abigail wanted to give it to her but knew her sister was right, the chances were slim. Instead, she quietly followed them back to the group.

Regulus Mountains, Cylon-Occupied Virgon

Day 37, 19:42 PFT

The sun was getting low enough to blind the group even through the tree cover. They had stopped by a river and had begun to purify some water for what was probably a night or two out in the wilderness. They had covered more ground than Gaia had expected, and they had not encountered any Cylons in the forest, but that was no reason to be complacent. No one spoke as the group refreshed themselves and the only sound that could be heard was the trickling of the water over the pebbles. Gaia was sat, a little way above the river on the stump of a fallen tree, assault rifle resting across her knees. Abigail was walking up the bank to meet her, her mousy her glistening in the sun. Gaia watched Abigail as she sat down next to her and the two sat in silence for a few moments. It was not an unpleasant silence, not worrisome or uncomfortable, just companionable. They may have only known each other a few days now, but it felt like they had almost never been apart. Below them, Selene was helping the Professor out of the water, where he had climbed into of his own accord but now could not get up from on his own.

"I came here once," Gaia said quietly, finally breaking the silence. "We did. As kids."

Abigail did not respond, instead continuing to stare silently across the scene.

"My father loved it out here, and my mother loved it because he loved it. We came when we were, probably… 10 or 11. There's a monument we came to see. A Raptor full of Colonial troops crashed just down the river in the Cylon War… the first one, anyway. He wanted to come and pay respects. I think he knew the people on it, but he never said."

"My father served in the war too." Abigail spoke up, finally. "So did my mother actually. That's how they met. They were both way too young to be fighting, but they were anyway. My mother came in from Libra about a year before the end of the war. She and my father met at a base here, just a little way from the mountains. They got together after the war and moved back nearby. This place always was special to them."

Gaia looked away from the river in front of her and stared down at her feet. She felt a warmth, a happiness that she thought the war had taken from her forever. She glanced up at Abigail, who met her eyes immediately. They sat for a moment. It might have been longer than that, but Gaia briefly lost all track of time. Her mind was blank but after what was probably a few seconds, she pulled herself back and got to her feet.

"We need to get moving," she spurted. Abigail hurriedly stood up next to her and – along with another brief glance – stepped back onto the path and walked along to the others. Gaia, after collecting a few stray thoughts, stepped straight down the bank to meet Selene as she waded with some of the others in the river. They were collecting up their things after cleaning and refreshing themselves. Summers could get very hot on Virgon and summer was just coming. It only took them a couple of minutes to get packed up and for everyone to get back to the path along the ridgeline.

Regulus Mountains, Cylon-Occupied Virgon

Day 37, 23:27 PFT

Though they had had a nice long respite at the river, they had walked for almost four hours afterwards. It was dark, properly dark. A couple of small pocket torches was all they could really afford, with the brightest being a single rifle-mounted torch at front of the group. Firstly, they hadn't been able to find and keep hold of any better ones, and secondly, they couldn't have any too bright or risk giving away their position to any Centurions in the area.

"How much longer are we going to go for Gaia?" Selene asked, speaking very softly up close to Gaia's ear. "We're not going to be able to find somewhere when it's this dark."

Gaia didn't respond. They walking aimlessly. She had remembered, from the trip they had as children, seeing a big bunker in the trees above the path, obscured from the rest of the valley by rocks and trees. She had seen it whilst playing off of the path. She wasn't sure how she was going to find it now, but she was certain that she would. Somehow.

They were coming up to a turn in the path. It was quite a wide path – more like a road – and it began to twist to the right when they came to a halt. Though she could see little, Gaia panned her light across the steep valley side to her left and surveyed it. She was pretty sure this was where they should be. The group all stayed silent for a few moments while Gaia checked it over. It wasn't the first time they had stopped like this, but they had stopped longer this time than they had on any of the previous occasions.

"Is there something up there?" Abigail asked in a whisper from just behind Gaia.

Gaia stayed silent, waving her torch through the trees once more. She was about to give up, but caught a glint of… something in the trees. She froze and pointed ahead. One of the members of the group, a fairly young lad, in his twenties, followed where Gaia was pointing. He silently rushed to the edge of the path and took a look ahead into the trees. Gaia began to slowly come up towards him but suddenly found herself lying on her back.

Her ears were ringing and above her she could see nothing as her eyes reeled from a bright flash. Within a few seconds her eyesight returned and she realised she was looking up at the few stars peeping through the smoggy clouds above her. It took her a minute to calculate her surroundings, but she felt a hand grab hers and pull her to her feet.

Ahead of her lay a smouldering mess. A few small flames had set light to a couple of ferns and the soil thrown back onto the path. Only bits and pieces were left of the boy who had stepped on the mine and set off the explosion. Gaia – and everyone else in the group – stood in shock for a few moments; just processing. However, whatever mourning they might have wanted to interrupted by Gaia's mind suddenly grasping the repercussions of the situation.

"We need to spread out, find cover… somewhere to hide!" She shouted. The group was silent and for a moment did neither move nor speak.

Abigail, guessing where Gaia was leading, reinforced her. "Get to ground, all of you. But be careful." They realistically only had a few minutes before the Cylons would be onto them. Their Centurions were all over these woods and they could move far faster than the group of stragglers Gaia and Abigail were trying to lead.

Gaia, flipping on her torch – turned and ran past Selene, grabbing her hand on the way. To the right of the path the slope continued sharply down, sharply enough for the ridge to provide cover. Though it was dark, Gaia managed to guide Selene down into the ditch and handed her the gun that Gaia had tucked in the back of her cargo trousers. Selene took it, still somewhat in a daze, and Gaia ran back across the path to where the boy's remains lay. The lad had been carrying one of the groups three assault rifles and Gaia searched for it amongst the embers of the bushes, hoping it would still be in one piece.

Within the remains of the bushes Gaia had no luck, but after stepping back and frantically wiping her dark hair away from her eyes, she caught a glimpse of it lying back into the path. Unlike the boy who had wielded it, it seemed to have faired alright, although it was very dark and Gaia knew she wouldn't know how it would fair until she really needed it.

Too many seconds had passed now. Gaia, who was near a boulder and some bushes just back from the ashen remains of the mine, decided against running back to her sister and spending too long trying to find herself a good point of cover and a clear line of sight. Instead, she pulled up close to the bushes, with her back against the rock. She flipped off her light and – like everyone else – sat in the darkness.

Gaia's ears still rang slightly, but soon began to make way to the pure, deafening silence. She was calming down, but it was into a strange, frantic calm. Seeing someone get blown up in front of her seemed to have pushed all of her adrenaline into her bloodstream and now all she could do was sit in the bushes, like tiger waiting to pounce. Except, she wouldn't be able to pounce. The Cylons would always be the ones pouncing. She could only hope to try and survive until tomorrow.

Every second was excruciating. All Gaia could her was her breath and her heart thumping in her ears. She waited and waited and waited, though it probably wasn't actually for long. Eventually, she heard a rustle a little way behind her, above in the trees. She flexed her fingers around the trigger of her rifle and her heart began to beat again. She listened. Another faint rustle came from the same direction and she readied herself. Except…

"Colonial?" Shouted a voice from above, and not a familiar one. Gaia didn't move and she assumed no one else did either. "Are you Colonial, we're friendlies!" The voice shouted again. Gaia poked her head around the boulder and pointed her torch down the path in both directions. Nothing.

"Colonial!" She shouted back. She didn't want to say too much, or really do anything for that matter. So she sat and waited.

"There's a separate path just down from you, should be safe to walk."

Gaia stayed still only quickly pointing her torch at Selene and flashing her three times. "I'll come. How far?"

"About 20 metres from that mine." The voice called back.

Gaia took a moment to collect herself then stepped out into the path. She heard more rustling coming from the bushes the group had gone into and a couple of lights flickered on. "Stay, all of you. Hold and wait for my signal," She whispered, muffling the shout she almost instinctively gave out. Slowly and carefully – and without the help of any light – she stepped forwards towards the path that was only just illuminated by the faint light of Virgon's moon.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, this other path became much more obvious to her. She scanned it – as best as she could – and began walking. Slowly at first, but wary of the still incoming Cylon threat, she hurried up and came towards what look – to her – like the bunker she had been looking for and, interestingly, the same place from which the voice had called out to her.

"Clear. Come join me. Watch your feet!" Gaia shouted down to the group as she neared the bunker. Flicking on her torch, Gaia made out a man – tall, black, probably in his thirties and wearing what looked like a white doctor's coat – and a smaller, younger woman with dark hair and a similar outfit, standing by the bunker's entrance door, shielded from the path below by another boulder.

"Come, come," The man said, stretching out his arm and taking Gaia hurriedly by the arm. "We must get you and the others in before the Cylons get here. I'm surprised they haven't already."

"You're not the only one," Gaia replied, stepping towards the open door; though stopping just short of entering until Selene, Abigail and the others came into view. One by one they all entered and Gaia, the last one to enter, took a last look up at the few visible stars in the sky. She didn't know how long it would be until she saw them again.

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