Gravity crushes her as they come out of the jump and the Raptor continues to plummet through a covering of clouds towards Earth for a breathtaking moment. Her entire body is pinned against her seat. She can feel the bones in her damaged hand grind together and the pain makes her nauseous. The urge to throw up is overwhelming but she fights it back with an efficiency borne from long practice. Beside her, Hera whimpers and Laura manages to stroke her shoulder though the effort to raise her hand against the extravagant G-Force bearing down on them is almost too much.

Thankfully, when they clear the cloud deck, their pilot is able to take them out of their dive and as the Raptor levels off the pressure eases and then they're zooming along Earth's surface. She cranes her neck to see out the Raptors front canopy. From what she can see of the lay of the land, the curve of the bay beneath them, they are flying over roughly the same area where they set down this morning, and from her vantage point, she notes that the devastation they encountered earlier indeed spreads as far as the eye can see. She'd known the truth of it, the extent of the wreckage, from Kara's report earlier, but it's still a bitter disappointment to see the evidence with her own two eyes. She blinks back tears, sits back in her chair and hugs Hera close, whispering words of comfort as much to soothe the child as to calm herself down.

Their abductors crowd forward to get a look at Earth and their gasps of sorrow and disappointment fill the cabin. "I knew it!" she hears Caleb shout. "Didn't I tell you they're just blowing smoke? Nothing could have survived down there!" He sounds oddly vindicated; they must have had a discussion about the truth of her statements to the press and the quorum, the purpose of the scouting missions.

"So it's true." Jane slumps down beside her and she looks so lost that for a second there, all Laura wants to do is hug her and try to take her pain away. The illusion of shared grief is broken when Caleb stomps towards them, wearing a feral look of hatred that turns his young face ancient and ugly.

"This is your fault, you bitch!" he shouts. He raises his hand to strike her and Laura, still belted into her seat, can do nothing but turn Hera away, press her small face against her chest and prepare for the blow as best she can. She keeps her eyes focused on Caleb, unflinching. She feels oddly sorry for him, for his loss, his sorrow turned to spite, but she's damned if she will cower under the force of his threat, his misplaced anger. There's a scuffle in the background and people are shouting and then Cranach appears in her line of sight. He grabs Caleb's hand as it speeds towards Laura's face, stops his downswing. He points his gun at his companions, glaring them down.

"Calm down, everyone," he says, his quiet voice more menacing than any shout. "We need to stick to our purpose, we're so close, don't ruin it."

He pushes Caleb towards the front, makes him sit down in the co pilot's seat and then seats himself opposite her in the crowded cabin, glaring at his cohorts. Quiet reigns as Quinn prepares to take them down to the surface.

"Thank you," Laura says when Cranach's eyes fall on her.

"Don't thank me," he replies. His tone is hard, his eyes fierce. "You don't know what we have in store for you."
"No, no I don't, why don't you tell me and maybe we can resolve this together."

He laughs derisively. "You're the prophet, you figure it out."

She ignores his taunts, focuses on what's important instead. "Tell me what you want from us?" she pleads. "Maybe I can give it to you without all this. I need to get back up there."

"You need to shut up."

"Please, you saw those Basestars, the fleet is under siege."

"And whose fault is that?" he all but spits at her. "Who brought us here in the first place, huh?"

In the face of his unwavering hostility, Laura leans her head against the bulkhead and closes her eyes. She's culpable, there's no way around it, even if she had never imagined Earth the way they found it, she should have been prepared for any eventuality. Instead, she had not allowed herself to envision Earth as anything other than the way they saw it on Kobol, all green, verdant fields and clear skies that allowed for a breathtaking view of the constellations.

There is also no way she's going to convince Cranach, to back down. He's clearly not going to budge from his preconceived plans. She still has no idea what the purpose of their abduction is, but is under no illusion; whatever they mean to do to them will happen. There's precious little to be done against guns and hatred and Cranach's particular brand of cold blooded fanaticism and no one's coming down to rescue them.

Still, despite the threat to Hera and herself, all she can think about is Bill, how he has to face the Cylon fleet alone, without her; all she can see is Vipers going up in flames while trying to protect them. Helo and Lee may well be dead, Bryn too, and Bill and Kara are up there fighting a desperate battle against unimaginable odds. There are a few ships in the fleet outfitted with guns but basically, it's the Galactica and one Basestar against who knows how many Baseships? She'd counted six but there might have been more. Against such odds, all out war will surely spell the annihilation of the fleet.

She briefly wonders why the Cylons had held back. Before they jumped she'd only seen missiles launched at their own lone Raptor, they hadn't yet made a move to attack the rest of the fleet. She cringes at the thought that in the meantime they might have gone all out. Six Basestars means an overwhelming number of Raiders might have already launched against her people and she's stuck down here, unable to do a thing about it. She feels helpless, and that is not something she's accustomed to, it angers her immeasurably.

For a moment she questions her decision to go after Hera alone, maybe she shouldn't have exposed herself to such risk. People were dead because of it. She remains convinced going in with backup, or allowing her marines to go after the child themselves, would have most definitely resulted in Hera's death and who knows how many other's besides. Still, because of her, because she'd insisted she would handle this alone, lives had been lost, even as she'd been trying to spare them.

It seems these days that every decision she takes, every choice she makes, results in someone getting hurt, and she is so tired of it, so tired of it all.

But then she thinks of Bill, his face looms large before her mind's eye, his impossibly blue gaze, the small smile playing around his mouth, crinkling the corners of his eyes as he'd told her, down on Kobol, that he didn't follow her down there to navel gaze.

She draws strength from that, from him, and when their Raptor touches down, she unbuckles her seatbelt, helps Hera with hers and stands before anyone has a chance to force her to her feet. She straightens her jacket, and slips her glasses back on, squeezes Hera's hand and raises herself to her full height.

"Let's go," she says. "If I cannot dissuade you from doing whatever you're planning to do, then let's get this over with."

"You're not giving the orders here," Caleb says as he gets in her face. "You are not in command."

"No, I'm not," she sighs. "You are; I'm well aware of that. Lead on."

He bristles but follows as Jane tugs at his shirtsleeve. Cranach dons a headset, tells Quinn to stay alert and precedes Jane and Caleb out of the Raptor. Laura and Hera follow, the two gunmen bringing up the rear.

When Laura sets foot on Earth for the second time that day, there's the expected grief and despair, the crushing weight of hope lost. This is what she fought for these many long years, this is what should have made all of her sacrifices worthwhile, this should have been her prize; purchased at the cost of her peace of mind, her health, her heart almost and half of her soul. Earth should have been her salvation, instead it was another thing chipping away at her, there was barely anything left of her and still the Gods had insisted on taking more. Yet underneath the bitter disappointment, she feels a stirring of that sense of awe she took away from her vision in the temple earlier that day, a curious sense of rightness, of completion almost. Unbidden tears pool in her eyes, they sting like grief, burn like joy and she has to work hard to blink them away. If there's one thing she knows, it's that for better or worse, this is Earth and her destiny is here.

As she looks around, trying to clear her vision, she notices they landed near the beach, she even recognizes some of the ruins she traversed earlier that morning, a lifetime ago. It's nightfall now, the sun is setting, sinking behind the horizon, painting their surroundings a lurid red. To her right she catches a glimpse of the temple where she had her vision, where her many dead came to comfort her and gifted her their strength and encouragement. She can still feel the potency of their love, it gently urges her on, buoys her up when by all rights, she should have been prostrate on her feet by now. Instead, she finds she now exists in a state of euphoria, a feeling akin to what she experienced on Kobol, when they found the Tomb of Athena, after their long trek through the mountains; rapture born from utter exhaustion and grief and the concomitant sense of being on the brink of revelation.

She looks up at the sky, trying to make out if the constellations do indeed match those they witnessed on Kobol, Earth is the place where you can look up at the sky and see the constellations of the 12 colonies, she hears herself say on that long ago day when they stood in the Tomb of Athena, united in wonder and joy. Today, there's no Aries, no Taurus or Gemini, no Cancer, Leo, Virgo or Libra twinkling down at her from the skies; the stars are hidden from sight. She strains to make out Galactica and the fleet, thinks that if she only tries hard enough she can maybe spot Raiders and Vipers battling it out, but the heavens are obscured by distance and the fog rising from the water.

"Lau-la?" Beside her, Hera looks up at her, tugs at her hand.

Laura crouches down so she can look the child in the eyes. "Yes, sweetie? What is it?"

"Are we there yet?"

"I think so," Laura replies, stroking Hera's soft, rounded cheeks before she straightens up again and casts a look around her. "I think we're almost there."

"Good."

Someone pushes against her shoulder none too gently and she starts to move, falling into step behind Jane and Caleb. They walk away from the beach, the setting sun at their backs casting long shadows ahead of them. Soon they are in between the ruins of what once must have been a commercial district. The washed out remains of various signs with illegible printing on them still have the unmistakable air of shop signs. She thinks she recognizes what must once have been a greengrocer's by the faded image of apples and oranges and a smiling banana. Further on, the placards advertise the remnants of a hardware store, a boutique, a coffee house. The faded reminders of a world irretrievably lost sadden her beyond measure. She tries not to think of all the people that must have once worked here, fought and loved and lived here, the joy and laughter of their everyday lives. It's unfathomable that their existence should have been so utterly erased from the earth, that these few paltry mementos should be all that's left to commemorate their passing.

A little ways beyond the coffee house, they come upon the remains of an ice cream shop and Laura stumbles, has to grab a hold of the ruined framework of the entryway as in her mind's eye, she sees Hera and Nicky and all the children of the fleet, sitting there. They're laughing and shouting at each other, happily gorging on sundaes, running around making a mess, faces and fingers sticky with ice cream and strawberry syrup, or maybe chocolate sauce. Tears well in her eyes at the sight of all those innocent, carefree faces. The thought that just such a scene may have ended in a firestorm of destruction, tearing flesh from bone, reducing living tissue to ash, makes nausea rise in her gorge once more. Panting, she bends over to catch her breath, fighting back the queasiness she blinks the tears from her eyes, wills the vision away. Her feeling of euphoria is fading fast, being replaced by heartache in the face of the utter devastation she just witnessed.

She's still reeling as a strong, impatient hand grabs her arm and drags her onwards. Unable to get her bearings as buildings lurch by and blackness crowds the edges of her vision, she has to gracelessly stumble along a few steps behind Caleb before she can get her feet under her, propel herself forward under her own steam again. As soon as she does, she wrenches her arm from his grasp, comforts Hera with a gentle squeeze of her arm as the child looks up with concern written all over her young face. The sight of those large frightened eyes more than anything else restores her to herself. Hera is still here by her side, what she saw may well have happened, but right here, right now, Hera is still beside her and that is what she needs to concentrate on.

Soon, the crowded streets of the commercial district give way to broader avenues where the scorched ruins of tall buildings and sprawling residences would once have housed the wealthier citizens, the more upscale businesses. They've been steadily climbing and Laura counts herself lucky she wore her boots instead of the usual high heels. The road is strewn with debris which makes walking them a hazardous affair as it is and the incline get's ever steeper. Before long what little strength she had left is all but depleted and she's utterly out of breath, her earlier euphoria gone, leaving sheer exhaustion in its wake. She is, as the saying goes she thinks, with a trace of bitter amusement, almost dead on her feet, feeling the weight of her years, the effects of her long illness.

When they are almost at the summit, they stop at the remains of what looks to have been the gated entrance to a park. Grateful for the reprieve, Laura leans against the broken gate and tries to compose herself. Night is falling rapidly now and in the lowering light she can just barely make out the blighted husks of a stand of trees, scoured black and devoid of leaves, bare limbs raising impotently heavenward in a gesture of mindless supplication. Further on, near the top of the incline, she can see the flicker of a campfire and several figures moving about. The firelight shimmers against the remains of a pillar, plays off the silhouette of a woman. Laura shivers in the rapidly cooling night air as she recognizes the platinum hair, the tall, slim figure.

Near the broken gate, Cranach speaks into his headset, nods and gestures them on. As they climb, Laura spots a few hardy weeds clinging to the legs of a remarkably intact, granite bench, hears the furtive rustle of what she thinks might be some sort of small animal nearby, a rabbit perhaps, or a squirrel. Nature reasserting itself. Despite the circumstances, she feels a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth at the thought as she makes her way to the top behind their captors.

Her smile soon falters as they reach the campfire and she recognizes not only Six, but Sharon and Baltar too. They're sitting beside the fire, bound hand and foot. Sharon has a nasty gash on her forehead, Gaius is rocking back and forth, muttering to himself, Six just sits and stares at the campfire, her gaze turned inward. Nearby, Laura can see one of the marines that came down with them this morning. He's face down on the ground; a large, dark stain on the back of his jacked, a few feet further along, one of his colleagues is staring sightlessly up at the heaves, the lower half of his face gone.

"What the frak happened," Cranach barks, as Laura once again hugs Hera close, presses her face against her hip so she won't see. "I thought I told you not to harm anyone!"

Two men step forward out of the darkness, heavily armed. "They put of more resistance than we thought," one of them says. She recognizes him as one of Gaeta's Tech Heads. The other is a familiar face from among the extra Marine Guards usually assigned to her on those occasions when extra protection is warranted.

"Liam?" He looks away, refuses to meet her eyes. At the sound of her voice, the captives around the campfire look up. Six gazes at her with an utter lack of surprise, Gaius stares up at her with meek apathy, Sharon looks shocked to see her, then, all color drains from her face when she spots Hera

"What the hell are you doing here with her?" Sharon spits and Laura is taken aback by her vehemence, confused that it's aimed at her before she remembers that neither of the Agathons have much reason to trust her, especially not where their child is concerned. Sharon is probably thinking Laura engineered all this for some arcane purpose all her own. The thought that Helo might very well be dead because of her makes Sharon's mistrust in her all the more understandable, makes Laura in turn all the more hesitant to share what happened in the hangar bay with her.

She decides to put it off, Sharon certainly has the right to know what's going on with her husband but this is neither the time, nor the place. They need to get themselves out of this mess first, all the rest will have to wait.

"I think we're about to find out," she says. She keeps a tight hold of Hera's hand as the child strains towards her mother, turns towards their captors and asks Cranach for permission first. She doesn't want the child to be caught in the crossfire an unexpected move might provoke. Cranach nods and Laura lets the child go, she experiences a moment of utter abandonment as she watches Hera take a hesitant step towards her mother, then start to run.

"Mommy," the child cries. Straightening herself, Laura turns towards Six and Baltar, unable to watch any longer as Hera hurls herself at Sharon.

Cranach and his group walk away from them a few paces to confer amongst themselves, keeping their guns trained on their captives as they start a heated discussion. Behind them, she can make out the crumbling remains of pillars and some stone steps. The flickering firelight wavers over the remnants of a wall, refracts off of the vestiges of a stained glass window in colorful patterns.

"Where is the rest of the landing party?" Laura asks her companions as she seats herself by the fire and thrusts her chilled hands towards the flames, warming them. The firelight glints off the metal fasteners of her brace.

"Sam, Galen, Leoben and the remainder of the marines and technicians are being held down there near the beach somewhere." Six says. "Those two," she motions with her chin at Liam and his co-conspirator, "along with three others, took us all by surprise, rounded us up."

There are two names conspicuously absent from that inventory. "What about Tory and D'Anna?"

"They disappeared earlier in the day, along with the Centurions."

So Tory has thrown in her lot with D'Anna? The thought saddens Laura beyond measure. "Where to?"

"Don't know, we haven't seen them at all since."

Another thought strikes her and she throws Sharon and then Six a searching glance. "How come they were able to capture all of you so easily? You're much stronger and more resilient than humans, right? I should think you would be able to overpower a few puny men, even if they are carrying guns." She's genuinely curious, has a feeling their answer may be an important part of the puzzle she's been unconsciously trying to unravel since, well, forever really.

"They knocked us out with some sort of tranquilizer," Six says. Laura sees a flicker of worry in her usually implacable face and remembers Bill telling her she now carries Saul's child. "There wasn't much we could do; they kept us tranqed up since."

"Besides, they said we'd all escape with our lives," Sharon adds, "as long as we didn't make any trouble; said they'd start shooting the others one by one if we did. We figured we'd play along for now, that the Admiral would send someone for us soon enough."

"If we'd known they were bringing you down as well, we would have…" Six begins, throwing her an almost apologetic look, but Laura shushes her.

"It's okay, you did the only sensible thing you could under the circumstances," she says. "They would have undoubtedly killed the others if you'd acted rashly, then probably you as well."

"Do you have any idea what they want?" Sharon asks. She seems to have come around to the idea that Laura isn't the one to have instigated all this, is just as much a victim as they are. She even allows Hera to grab Laura's hand and tug her closer. Laura goes willingly, smiling down at the child.

"Punishment, retribution," she says as she swivels her eyes back to their captors, the shell of a building behind them.

Suddenly, out of nowhere with a prescience almost like unto madness the truth of what they mean to do dawns on her. Her breath leaves her in an audible whoosh as her body goes rigid, caught in the grip of a truth she's caught a glimpse of earlier today, in the ruins of that temple, a truth she's glimpsed before, one she has not dared contemplate.

"What?" Six asks. "What is it?"

Laura shakes her head, caught in revelation, dangerous intuitions clamoring about her, demanding to be acknowledged. "End of line," she says, vaguely aware of her companions crowding around her, their faces aghast.

"What does that mean?" For the first time, Baltar joins the conversation. "Are they going to kill us?" He sounds scared.

"Should we make a break for it?" Sharon asks urgently.

"No," Laura says absently, too caught up in the enormity of what is about to happen.

She glances at Cranach and his people again, the edifice behind them. She can't take her eyes off of those ruins, they call to her and she feels that sense of terrible clarity, of absolute wonder and awe threatening to overtake her again. She rises to her feet just as Cranach and his group advances on their small party of five. Caleb cuts loose her fellow captives while Jane and Liam grab several burning branches from the fire, use them to light a dozen pyres set up around the structure

Laura gasps in recognition as a familiar construct is conjured from the darkness. She starts forward oblivious of the sound of guns locking and loading. She senses the others following behind her, and together she and her four companions step into the ruins to confront their hopes and dreams.