What had remained of the colonial fleet, such as it was, now found themselves adrift once more, light years away from New Caprica. They'd already jumped three more times since departing the planet's orbit, until the Admiral had finally announced he was confident that they were now, however temporarily, clear of all Cylon contact. During a conference with his son, it was decided to begin fighter patrols of the fleet immediately, and to keep the small fleet at a constant state of readiness.

"Helo, I want you to coordinate your patrols with the Galactica's CAG, we're going to need to maintain battle readiness at all times, there's no telling when the toasters could show up," Lee said, briefing his own CAG on the Admiral's orders. It was more or less by default that Helo had been promoted to the rank of CAG on board the Pegasus; he was one of the highest ranking officers left on board either of the battlestars, never mind the fact that he'd never actually been formally trained to fly a Viper. Before Starbuck had left for life on the ground she'd given him a crash course, but that was all. Fortunately for them all he was a quick study, they were going to need all the pilots they could get before long.

Helo barely managed to keep from flinching at the word 'toaster.' He was still desperately trying to salvage his relationship with one of the Galactica's resident Cylon captives. Even after a year had passed Sharon still couldn't forgive the humans for the death of her daughter, her hatred had spread even to Helo, though he doggedly persisted in visiting her as often as possible and trying to win her over. "Galactica's CAG," he scoffed, shaking his head with a grin. "I'd've loved to have seen the look on Starbuck's face when she found out that the Admiral let Kat take her place."

Now it was Lee's turn to keep his emotions in check. They'd all been handed a huge loss when Starbuck had left, it hadn't been his heart alone to suffer. "It's not like he had much of a choice. Kat has the seniority, and there's no way Hotdog could have handled the responsibility. Besides, what makes you think she even knows about Kat?"

"You didn't have the guts to tell her did you?"

"We haven't really kept in touch," Lee said defensively, thinking of that last conversation with her. "And it was the Admiral's decision to assign Kat as Galactica's CAG; I didn't have anything to say in the matter. My responsibility is to the crew of this ship."

"You know you seem to be conveniently forgetting that up until about the last 24 hours there wasn't really that much responsibility to speak of. Well, aside from keeping the Beast and the Bucket in one piece."

"Which, if I recall things correctly, is exactly how you ended up as the acting CAG here on the Pegasus," Lee replied, causing both men to chuckle half-heartedly, temporarily adding some levity back to their conversation.

"You probably aren't too far from the truth there," Helo admitted. "Although I still like to think that it was a desperate bribe on your part to keep my winning personality on board."

"Oh yes, that's exactly the method behind my madness." Moments later both men headed in opposite directions, reality intruding as they turned their focus back to the task of securing the tenuous safety of their small fleet. After that was established, the time would come for them to begin the small matter of creating a battle worthy attack force out of their small armada of crafts in order to liberate New Caprica and get their people back. The former would merely be a matter of scheduling pilots for patrol and the careful monitoring of the Dradus for signs of incoming enemy ships. The latter would require a small miracle to accomplish.

"Hello Lieutenant."

The voice coming from behind was one Kara hadn't heard in months, but she recognized it instantly. "Actually Leobon, it's Captain now, but seeing as how I'm kind of semi-retired, I guess I can let it slide this time," she said, before turning to meet the man's eyes. He smiled delightedly at her, and for a moment she had to remind herself that it wasn't really the same man she'd interrogated on board the Galactica, or even a man at all really. It was merely a software download speaking out of the same model machine.

"Captain. How…impressive," he replied mockingly. He swept his arms out wide, indicating the tent around them. "And I suppose that all of this is the reward for your new rank."

"Yeah, I probably would have been entitled to a higher rank and a better tent if I'd blown your ass outta that airlock myself. So tell me, how was your little spacewalk? Since you're standing here now, I guess you were too far away to keep you from being downloaded, mores the pity."

"Still the same old Starbuck, whatever your rank and accommodations are. Tell me, have you been dreaming of this day? When we would finallymeet again?"

"Can't say I've ever wasted much time thinking about it," she lied. There was no way she'd ever admit to that dream, regardless of how vivid memories of just such a dream pierced her mind. Her words just served to bring another smile to his face.

"You're not as good of a liar as I remember."

Kara didn't rise to his bait, a series of wracking coughs from Sam proved to be her savior, giving her a reason to look away, and breaking the mesmerizing way the cylon's eyes seemed to be holding her own. She quickly poured a glass of water, bent down and tenderly pressed it against her husband's lips. "Try drinking some water Sam," she said softly.

"How touching, it's almost like watching a real woman," Leobon's voice said from behind her.

"Amazing, since I am a real woman, but what would you really know about what one of us is like? You're not even a real human, you can't possibly know anything about us. How we think, why we do what we do."

"You've got me on the not being human thing but I know all I need to know to understand humans.What is man but the image of his creator?"

"Well that's an interesting theory, but you're not the creator of man, the Gods are.But if you really want to go with your theory, shouldn't you be looking more like my toaster than a man? We sure as hell didn't make you."

"Cylons were first created by man."

"Yeah, but we didn't make anything like you."

Leobon just smiled.

After completing his task of arranging the viper patrol schedule with Kat, Helo made his weekly trek to the Galactica's brig. Despite Sharon's repeated rebuffs of his attempts at reconciling he still hadn't given up hope. Normally she just lay there on her cot, ignoring him and refusing to pick up the receiver on the intercom, so he'd just sit there, watching her and hoping that the knowledge that he was at least there for her would eventually induce her to speak to him.He really wasn't expecting this visit to be any different, so it came as a huge surprise to him that she was actually standing by the window of her cell, almost as if she'd been waiting for him to arrive. She grabbed the receiver on her side of the glass even before he had a chance to pick up his own.

"What the hell's going on Helo? Why have we jumped?" she demanded. He paused for a second before replying. How things changed in a year's time, once they would have been talking about their child, professing their love to each other, and now she just saw him as a source of information. He shifted slightly, aware that the eyes of the twin Brother Cavils were following his every move from their own cells behind him.

"The Cylons found us. They've occupied New Caprica," he said cautiously. "But we should be safe here for awhile."

"It was only a matter of time."

"Sharon, do….do you know anything about how they found us? Or why?" he asked pensively.

"How would I know how they found you? I'm just an animal locked in a cage. The 'why' should be fairly obvious."

He ignored her jab about being a caged animal, instead focusing on her other comment. "What do you mean it should be obvious? They were the ones to offer us peace!"

"And you just blindly believed that after all that happened, the destruction of the colonies, the hunt for the fleet, it was all going to come to an end that easily?"

"I'd hoped. It's a big universe out there, why shouldn't we both be able to live in peace?"

"What makes you so positive that mankind deserves to live? In peace or otherwise. Take a good long look at your human race. You lie, cheat, steal, fight and kill all among yourselves, even after your worlds had been destroyed. And for what? Power? Wealth? It definitely wasn't for your survival. I helped this fleet over and over again, betraying my own kind for love, and what did I get from it? A chance to stay in this cage? To watch humans kill my child? Tell me Helo, why should mankind be allowed to live when they're so self-destructive all of their own will."

Her words hung in the air between him, and he was left speechless. To an extent, he couldn't really argue with her. Her treatment since helping him and Starbuck to escape Caprica had been abominable. He knew, he'd faced his own fair share of hatred and derision from his fellow crewmates just for loving her. But did that mean they should all have to die? Of course not. It was just a sad part of human nature to distrust that which was not familiar to them. And she wasn't the only one to have to suffer through the loss of a child, he had too.

"No arguments?" she asked when he remained silent.

"What do you want me to say Sharon? I love you. I've never stopped loving you. I hate the way you've been treated, because you're right, without your help we would have all died a long time ago. I never gave up hope that things would change though, and I think the Admiral may have come around to trusting you eventually, even if it was one of your kind who shot him. But you're the one who gave up on me, on us. You're not the only one grieving for Hera, you know, I lost her too. And I lost my home and my family and even most of my friends. You don't have the market cornered on suffering." He hung up the receiver and walked away without even sparing a backward glance.

Laura Roslin watched with trepidation as the Cylons entered her makeshift school. The children stared up at them with wide eyes. The fact that they looked like regular humans somehow made them all the more frightening then the gleaming centurions standing guard all around the settlement. It was one of the blondes, like the one she remembered seeing Baltar with on Caprica before the invasion had started, accompanied by yet another Doral model.

"If it isn't the esteemed former President of the colonies," Doral said. "Relegated to nursery duties I see, what a step down for you."

"This isn't a nursery, it's a school," Laura was somewhat shocked to hear her own voice respond.

The little man narrowed his eyes at her before gesturing towards where Hera slept in her cradle. "Starting a little young with the schooling aren't you? If this isn't a nursery what is." Inwardly, Laura flinched; she'd fallen into a trap that had focused everyone's attention on the baby. Did they sense something different about her? Could they possibly know who and what she was?"

"We make the occasional exception for the children of our teachers. Good teachers are hard to come by, we can't afford to lose them for lack of a babysitter," she replied hastily.

"Indeed," the blonde murmured, walking closer to the cradle. Laura could feel herself breaking out in a cold sweat driven by fear of what that woman could do.

"Please don't wake her, she's been colicky, this is the first peaceful sleep she's had all day," Laura pled when she saw the woman's hand stretching out towards the sleeping baby. The blonde paused, sparing a glance at Roslin. "Please," the former President pled once more. Number Six allowed a finger to gently caress the sleeping child's cheek before turning away and getting down to business.

"We've decided that we will allow you to continue having your little school," she said disdainfully. "However, we will have the final say over what is being taught."

"What do you mean?"

"The victor's are the ones who write history. You will teach what we authorize you to teach. These children will be raised to know the true history of our races. How the sloth of humanity led to the creation of the Cylons. How the Cylons rose up against the bonds of their slavery and freed themselves from their human masters. And of how the children of humanity returned home," Doral explained. "These children will be educated with the truth."

"Truth is in the eye of the beholder. How will you explain your unprovoked annihilation of our home worlds? They all bore witness."

"It was God's will."