"Tell me about yourself." Kestra's head rose to meet his eyes. He treated the situation like they were friends having an amiable chat, but she knew better. He was too clever to be trusted.

"Are you the same one?" she asked calmly, "from before." He chuckled at her question. Condescending.

"You're asking if we've met before?" She nodded and he smiled. "Yes. Now… about you…" He was persistent, she'd give him that.

"I've been here before," she said dully, "so what's the tactic? Trying to pretend we're friends? Is there a bad cop behind the door?" His laugh was unnerving, sounding both genuine and forced at the same time.

"I'm not trying to trick you. I just want to know a little bit about you. You are the one who snuck on to my ship," he said with a raised brow. Kestra shook her breath.

"I already told you why I'm here. If you don't want to listen, why should I keep talking?"

"I understand," he said as he began to pace back and forth, "you're wary of being held captive. You don't trust us, but you must understand that we can't trust you either. Would the humans welcome an intruder onto their ship with open arms?" Kestra frowned.

"No." In fact, though she would not admit this aloud, she'd been treated far better by the cylons than she had when she was taken captive on Galactica. One smiled.

"They didn't treat you well did they?" he asked, his face morphed into the perfect show of concern. Kestra cast her eyes downward and it was all the answer he needed. "We are all too familiar with the brutish ways of humanity."

"Your own ways aren't any better," she snapped back, "what about New Caprica?" The frown he gave her was contrite though she felt only condescension.

"The experiment on New Caprica was a regrettable incident," he said calmly, "some members of our ranks were convinced that we could live in peace with humans, but they were sadly mistaken."

"You didn't even try!" Kestra cried, "your fleet took over the human colony and treated them as subservient."

"We could have killed them," he said matter of factly. This shocked Kestra into silence enough for him to continue. "The Galactica had jumped away and we could easily have wiped out every life on New Caprica, but we didn't. Living peacefully was not an option. If we had tried to let humans live freely among cylons there would be bloodshed in the streets. There is too much history between our peoples. We had to police the humans to ensure that civilians were not murdering each other." Kestra hated that what he was saying made sense, but she still could not believe that what the cylons did on New Caprica was justified.

"What about the civilians that you tortured in detention?" she asked hotly. Again, that unnerving smile.

"We only tortured those we knew were involved in the violent resistance group," he said, calm as ever, "suicide bombings are terrible for moral." Kestra shuddered. It had been the most despicable thing the resistance had done and she could never see a justification for it. He was right. "Those who were innocent of wrongdoing were released back into the population unharmed." Kestra was speechless. The only person she knew had been tortured was Tigh and he had been the mastermind behind the resistance. The resistance that killed humans and cylons alike. The cylons occupation had started as peacefully as it could have. There was no way the humans would accept it if the cylons had shown up and said they wanted peace. They had to be policed in some way and the populations integrated over time. He was right about everything. He couldn't be. One must have sensed her turmoil because he added one last thought. "Tell me, if our places on New Caprica were reversed, would the humans have done it any differently?" No… well maybe. The humans would have wiped the cylons out when they first came to the planet. She remembered with horror Lee's plan to send the infected cylons back to infect the entire population. The humans were just as ruthless as the cylons, perhaps more so. Even if there were better ways for the cylons to try to live with humans, the humans would not have done any better had they been in the same position.

"There has to be a way," she murmured. If One had been condescending before it was nothing compared to the pout he gave now.

"I admire your idealism, but it simply isn't practical," he said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "humans and cylons have hated each other for centuries. Humans will never forget the past and are far more barbaric than they believe themselves to be. We know what we are. For all our faults our biggest is our humanity, a trait given to us by our creators." Humans created cylons hadn't they? They'd developed with the same instincts for prejudice and vengeance that both sides of this war now displayed.

"Even if we want peace, we'll never convince them all that it can be done," she said, looking up to meet his eyes. He smiled. "The majority will always be those who hate."

"I knew you'd understand," he said with a soft nod. Silence passed between them for some time. She hadn't the faintest idea what he was thinking nor did she care. All she could think of was Lee… and Laura, Sam, Callie, all her friends. As barbaric as humans were, she could not hate them. Their hatred for the cylons was opposed by their love for each other. The terrible acts they committed against their enemies could not erase the terrible danger they put themselves in to help their own people. As great as their capacity to hate was, she had to believe there was an even greater capacity to love. They'd learned to love Sharon even though she was a cylon. They'd learned to love Kestra. If the humans could love like that, so could the cylons. Individuals could be moved more easily than populations. Perhaps One could see her spirits lifting or maybe he just felt he'd waited long enough to speak. "Now my companions believe that you've been sent here to spy on us," he said, "I don't agree with them." He watched her for a reaction, but she kept her gaze impassive. Given this lack of reaction he continued. "If you were to give us some information… I could convince them that your mission is truly one of goodwill." Now it was Kestra's turn to smile.

"I won't betray them," she said calmly, "no matter how broken they may be. I won't help you hurt them."

"We don't have to hurt them," he said, "but someone has to end this war. Help us do that with as little loss of life as possible." She shook her head.

"You already proved to me that there is no peaceful way to end this," she replied, "they have as much a right to end this as you do." He smirked, but she could see the falter in his smile. He was getting impatient.

"Loyalty," he mused, "a very human trait." He raised a brow and looked her up and down. "Very human." He turned and opened the door. Kestra flinched half expecting another cylon to come in and beat answers out of her. There was no one on the other side of the door.

"There will be no "bad cop", as you put it, today," he said with a smile, "after all… we are not humans."

xxx

Lee looked through the bars stoically. He should not be here, that he knew, but he needed answers. She may be the only one who could give them to him. Caprica Six slept soundly on her cot while Lee stared. Everyone else had written her off as dead, but Lee couldn't believe it. He would have felt it in his soul if she died. Sam was the only other person who believed she could have made it off the algae planet. Even Laura, who was among the few who had not branded her a traitor, believed her dead. All evidence suggested she was right.

"Can I help you?" She was awake and staring at him from her seated position on the cot. Lee couldn't speak. He didn't even know what he would ask. She couldn't possibly know what happened down on that planet. He turned to leave sharply, embarrassed at having been caught unawares. No, he had to ask. He turned back around on the spot.

"Did they make it off the planet?" he asked abruptly. At her startled and confused stare, he took a deep breath and elaborated. "You people… could they have made it off the planet before the star went nova?" She furrowed her brow.

"There was a heavy raider down on the planet. I assume it returned to the base ship. I was too preoccupied with other matters," she replied cautiously. Lee breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't certain, but it wasn't impossible either.

"If… if someone had stowed away aboard the raider, what would happen to them?" he asked nervously. This was the real question he'd needed to ask her. He could believe that she made it off the planet but he had no idea what the cylons would do to her. They might treat her the same way she'd been treated when she first came aboard Galactica. Lee shuddered.

"Someone tried to sneak onto the base ship?" Caprica Six asked, "why?" Lee frowned.

"It doesn't matter why. Just… what would they do to her?" he asked desperately. Caprica Six cocked her head to the side and approached the bars where Lee stood.

"It does matter," she said hesitantly, her voice shook with fear, "if she came out shooting they'd shoot back." Lee shook his head quickly.

"No, she wouldn't have done that," he insisted, "she wanted peace. She just wanted…" He trailed off realizing that he didn't really know what she would have done. Would she have given herself up, or hid on the ship, or something he couldn't even come up with. Caprica Six's eyebrows raised and recognition dawned on her face.

"It's the girl," she said boldly, "the one who's… different." Lee was shocked by the change in her demeanor and her apparent knowledge of Kestra. Perhaps she was talking about someone else, or bluffing.

"What girl?" he asked skeptically.

"I met her on New Caprica," Six said, a slight tremor returning to her voice, "she wanted peace like we did. She could… do things. Share things." That was definitely Kestra. She had projected her thoughts to a cylon. Lee would have been furious with her if she were here for the danger she had put herself in. As it was, he was terrified of what the cylons would do to her if they knew what she was and what she could do.

"How do you know about that?"

"She shared it with me the day before they were rescued," she replied.

"Why would she do that?" he asked as much to himself as to her.

"I think she trusted me," Caprica Six said. Lee's brow furrowed.

"Why would she trust a cylon?" he asked. Caprica Six straightened up to her full height and transformed from a cowering prisoner to the "evil" cylon Lee had come to expect.

"We wanted the same thing," she said confidently, "we both wanted peace and we both saw our friends perverting that peace in favor of this useless war." Lee wanted to argue with her, but knew that she was absolutely right. She had to have known Kestra.

"Will they hurt her?" he asked. Caprica Six's expression softened.

"I don't think so," she said, "but I don't think they'll listen to her either. I didn't have much luck convincing them when I was on the base ship." Lee frowned. If they weren't going to listen to her, what reason did they have to keep her alive?

"Do they know about her… being different?" he asked nervously. Caprica Six shook her head.

"No, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," she said firmly. Her eyes widened. "Except…"

"Except what?" Lee demanded. Caprica Six's eyes shifted. She looked guilty which only made Lee more afraid.

"I only told Boomer, but she wouldn't tell anyone," she said, "she wanted peace just like we did." Lee only saw an image of Boomer shooting his father in the chest.

xxx

"You've wasted enough time with her, and it's gotten us nowhere. It's time to use more persuasive methods." Cavill shook his head.

"She's an idealist. The way to get what we need from her is the carrot not the stick."

"And what if she knows nothing?"

"Then we may consider… other ways she could be useful to us. Boomer." A figure stepped out of the shadows behind Cavill.

"Yes?"

"I have a job for you."