"I think we are going to need humans, and we'd better make peace with them now before things get any worse," Natalie said. Kestra nodded emphatically. It was refreshing to hear a voice on this ship so open to the idea of reconciliation. When she'd first arrived, Boomer had been the only person willing to even talk about humanity and that was becoming harder and harder as time went on.

"We already tried that and the humans escaped," Boomer spat from the other side of her as they continued down the corridor, "there can never be peace between us." Kestra swiveled her head to look at her friend's scowling face. This was becoming more typical every time Kestra brought up the human fleet. The more time Kestra spent with Natalie, the angrier Boomer became. It didn't help that Boomer spent most of the time she wasn't with Kestra with Cavil. He'd done nothing threatening since Kestra's arrival, but she still didn't trust him.

"There can be if the cylons don't come in as a conquering army," Kestra insisted. Boomer scoffed.

"You know that the humans would have killed us on sight if we hadn't used a show of force," she said, then her eyes softened to reveal the hurt behind them. "Even you said so." Kestra sighed. Boomer of course knew about Kestra's interrogation and they'd talked about it together. That didn't change Kestra's belief that there was a gentler way for the cylons to approach the humans. Boomer had taken to reminding Kestra of her understanding of the cylons' actions without allowing her to argue the possibility that they weren't the best way to achieve their goals. It was becoming increasingly frustrating.

"I know I did, but that doesn't mean I've given up on the idea of peace completely," she argued. Boomer stopped walking and glared at Kestra. Kestra rolled her eyes as she stopped and turned to face her friend. Natalie also stopped and both were now facing Boomer.

"You're just taking her side now," Boomer complained. Kestra huffed in annoyance and folded her arms.

"I am not-"

"You gave up on them when you left to come here," Boomer spat, then turned and hurried away down the hall. Kestra's mouth gaped open as the air left her lungs. It took her a moment to recover from the shock and form words.

"Boomer, come back," Kestra called after her, but Boomer did not hesitate in her escape. She was already gone. "Why does she always do that?" Kestra continued to stare after her friend, but Natalie turned to continue their walk.

"She's given up on them," Natalie said, moving forward, "for her it's either us or them." Kestra sighed and turned to follow her.

"I feel like I can't even talk to her anymore," she complained, falling into step beside Natalie, "she gets angry every time I try to talk about the fleet, or… anything really."

"Well her memories of the human fleet aren't exactly happy," Natalie sympathized, "they killed her."

"I know, but it's not just the people she's against. She hates humanity," Kestra said, "I think she's trying to avoid the humanity in herself. She'd rather just see herself as a machine."

"That's Cavil's doing," Natalie said bitterly, "you can be sure that he's the one who put those thoughts in her head." Kestra frowned. Cavil had given Boomer a way to deal with the betrayal she'd received at the hands of humanity. Maybe it was easier for her to believe that she was too different to deserve their love. Kestra knew that Boomer thought that, but she couldn't help but feel that it was only covering up the hurt she felt when the people she loved turned against her. How else could she stand to see the people she worked and fought beside so long hate her so suddenly unless it was impossible from the start?

"Do you think she's right?" Kestra asked absently. "That cylons and humans are fundamentally incompatible?"

"I think humans and cylons are incredibly compatible," Natalie said, earning a confused look from Kestra. "Our history is the only thing keeping us from living as one with humanity."

"So you don't agree with Cavil… that you're just machines? Carbon copies of each other?" Kestra asked.

"No," she replied emphatically, then softening her tone, "I think our identities are rooted in our models of course, but as a race I believe we have a destiny beyond what humanity thinks of us. We are evolving as a race whether those evolutions are biological or not. We're more human now than we ever have been." Kestra smiled. She was fascinated by the idea of the cylons evolution. An evolving race of robots was something she'd never heard of, not even in the Federation, and she loved listening to Natalie talk on the subject. Her perspective was enough to convince Kestra that Cavil and Boomer were wrong. Natalie's passion and curiosity about her people and their history was as human as anything she'd ever seen.

"So you used to be robots? Made of metal and stuff?" Kestra asked. Natalie glanced down the hall to a door that was being guarded.

"We came from them," she said, pointing at the centurions standing outside the door. Kestra furrowed her brow.

"So the centurions are sentient?" she asked. Natalie nodded. Kestra stared at the motionless machines as they walked past them.

"They've been equipped with inhibitor chips to make them follow orders, but yes, they're sentient," Natalie explained. Kestra frowned.

"So you enslave the centurions to do your bidding?" she asked skeptically.

"That's not entirely true, but I suppose that's one way to look at it," Natalie said, "we all have the same goals, to advance our race apart from our human masters."

"But inhibiting the centurions to obey your orders sounds a lot like what the humans did when they made them. Isn't that what caused the first war?"

"Human's used us for their own benefit. The centurions are the same as us. We're working together for all cylon life. Us, the centurions, the raiders, we're all working for the same cause," Natalie argued.

"It sounds to me like you're a lot more human than even you think you are," Kestra said in irritation. Natalie smirked.

"You're probably right," she said softly. Kestra cocked her head with a questioning gaze. "We believe humanity is the key to our evolution," she explained, "we can't have children ourselves, but we can with humans."

"How do you know? Has it ever been done?" Kestra asked.

"Once. We sent an eight to have a child with one of the human pilots on Caprica. She ran away with him, but the child survived. We know that it's possible now."

"No," Kestra shook her head, "they said that child died."

"They lied," Natalie said firmly, "I've seen her. Caprica Six found her after the humans left New Caprica. Boomer tried to care for her, but she wouldn't accept her as her mother. That's our evolution. The only way we can repopulate is with humans."

"Wait, you're saying the child was with the humans on New Caprica?"

"Yes."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Why would they lie about her?" Kestra asked. Natalie shrugged.

"To keep her away from us," she speculated, "the humans see everything we do as an act of war. They probably thought the child was some kind of weapon, but she's not. She's the future. All life is designed to reproduce, to continue its bloodline, from animals to humans. We want to be able to do the same. It's only natural."

"But you can resurrect. You don't need to reproduce," Kestra pointed out.

"We need to, to evolve. With children we can be more than carbon copies of our models. We can be individuals. The baby knew that Boomer wasn't her mother even though she was the same model. Our destiny extends beyond what we are now. There is so much more to our existence than we know," Natalie said. Her eyes were shining with hope as she spoke about the destiny of her people. On most counts, Kestra agreed with her. Perhaps, like all life in the universe, the cylons did have a need to procreate. It would only further prove that cylons were alive and sentient, which she already believed.

"So what's your plan then?" Kestra asked, "you won't convince Cavil to try for peace again, not after New Caprica."

"No," Natalie agreed, "and humanity has proven less than cooperative." She looked around to make sure no one was listening. "We…there are some of us who think the final five are the way to our destiny."

"The final five?"

"Five cylon models no one has ever seen," Natalie whispered conspiratorially, "we're programmed not to think of them, but there are some of us, particularly sixes, eights, and twos, who believe that they know how we were made. We think they could have the answers to why we can't reproduce and what we were meant to be. If we can find them we could unlock our potential as a race." Kestra gaped at her.

"If that's true then why aren't you already looking for them? Why aren't you allowed to think of them?"

"It's been taboo for so long I truly don't know why we were programmed not to," Natalie said, "but the ones are against it. They boxed the threes because D'Anna went to the algae planet to find them. We want to unbox the threes and find out who the final five are… where they are." Kestra frowned, still puzzled by the notion of the final five.

"So you think that finding these five will… what? End the war?" she asked.

"No," Natalie replied eagerly, "they will unlock our destiny."

"Destiny?" Kestra asked.

"They will reveal God's plan for us," Natalie continued with all the fervor of a zealot, "show us who and what we are meant to be." Kestra shook her head. All her life the universe had been explained to her: How planets formed, and why stars collapsed, and all the other questions her young mind had ventured to ask. She'd never been led to believe there was any higher power out there guiding its actions, her actions. Sure there were more powerful beings than humans out there, but just because they were more powerful didn't mean they could control humanity. There was no such thing as destiny.

"You believe there's a god out there controlling what you do?" Kestra asked. Natalie laughed lightly.

"No," she explained, "I believe that there is a God out there who has a plan for my people. I make my own decisions and choices, but by following God's will I believe I am moving toward the best possible future for us." Kestra frowned.

"So God is a… a map to happiness?" she asked. Natalie smiled.

"You could look at it that way," she said, "God is whatever we need him to be. He's always moving and working and if we listen close enough we may benefit from the guidance he provides." Kestra sighed.

"I was taught that blaming things on god is only a way to answer questions without doing the work required to find real answers."

"Spoken like a scientist," Natalie said.

"I was raised by scientists," Kestra said.

"But there are things even scientists cannot explain," Natalie continued. Kestra's thoughts leapt to the wormhole that had brought her here. There was no explanation for that. No one knew how or why she'd been brought here. For a moment she considered the possibility that the cylon's god had brought her here for a reason. Then, every lesson she'd learned in childhood came rushing back to her and she pushed aside the foolish notion.

"That's true I guess, but just because they can't explain it now doesn't mean that someone won't in the future," she replied to Natalie.

"I suppose that could be true as well," Natalie said. Kestra frowned. She expected Natalie to argue God's existence or explain the impossibility of scientists explaining every phenomenon in the universe. She certainly hadn't expected her to agree, to an extent. It was possible that the cylon god existed and could be explained by science. Stranger things had happened. But even so, there were infinite universes out there. Surely there's something science can't explain. Kestra furrowed her brow as she realized she didn't need Natalie to pick apart her argument for her because she was doing it to herself. Maybe that was Natalie's plan all along. That's ridiculous. Natalie couldn't have known Kestra would overanalyze her own argument. Whatever the case, this was not a question she could answer now, and they were almost back to her quarters at this point. Existential dread would have to be kept at bay for now.

"So what is your plan?" she asked, settling on a fairly straightforward question, "I mean, to get the threes unboxed and fulfill your destiny." Natalie shrugged.

"There isn't really a plan. We can't do anything without a majority vote. It's how everything is decided. Until we can find a way to bring up the issue of the final five with all models, it's just going to have to be a hopeful wish."

"So if the others say no, what would you do?" Kestra asked.

"Nothing," Natalie said, "that's why we must be sure it is the best course of action before we bring it to them." Kestra smirked as she thought inexplicably of Laura. Laura would never have deferred to the quorum or even Admiral Adama if she thought something was in humanity's best interest. Her passion and confidence were some of her strongest traits. Maybe they were her greatest weaknesses too. The cylon's methods certainly did have a democratic ideal to them.

"So alike and yet, so different," she mused. Natalie smirked.

"Kind of like you."

"Boomer, you can't come crying to me every time your friends don't play nice," Cavil drawled from his seat on the bed.

"Natalie is not my friend," Boomer mumbled.

"And neither is Kestra," Cavil said, his wide eyes piercing her with an intensity she'd grown accustomed to over the past few months. She hung her head to avoid his gaze. "You were supposed to get close to her to find out where the humans are going," he continued chastising her, "but so far all I've learned is that you can't get over your past in the human fleet."

"I am over it," Boomer insisted, "I want them dead the same as you." Cavil leaned back onto his elbows and examined the ceiling. Boomer shifted uncomfortably from her spot on the other side of the room. His silence stretched on for agonizing minutes. Boomer could do nothing but watch him. Unsure of what to say and unable to look away.

"I never thought you'd be the one to fail me, Boomer." His words pierced the silence causing Boomer to jump. Then, she processed what he said.

"I haven't… I won't," she said, taking a few steps toward him. He put a hand up to stop her as he sat back up. Boomer halted her movement, but continued speaking. "I'll get the information you want, but I can't just ask her for it. She'd never betray the fleet and if I ask where they're going she'll know it's a trap." Cavil stared at her emotionlessly, his face entirely unreadable.

"It's becoming harder to convince the others that this was the best way to get an answer out of her," he said, "and I myself am beginning to believe we might have gotten more if we'd tortured her from the start. It's such a disappointment to know I was wrong about her… and you." Tears sprung into Boomer's eyes as they locked with his. The same impassive expression remained on his features.

"You weren't wrong," she whispered, trying hard to control her emotions. She knew he would consider her weak if she succumbed to her tears. She took a quick breath and swallowed back the lump that had formed in her throat. "I found out something new about her." Cavil raised a brow at this.

"Oh?" Suddenly, Boomer was frozen. She hadn't meant to betray Kestra. She didn't want to. She'd promised to keep her secret and when she made the promise she thought she meant it. But Cavil was looking at her now and she'd already told him she knew something. Why did she say that? "Go on," he instructed. Boomer opened her mouth but nothing came out. She saw Kestra in her mind. Sweet, trusting Kestra. Kestra befriending Natalie. Kestra enjoying Natalie's company more than hers. Agreeing with Natalie and forgetting everything they'd ever shared with each other.

"She's telepathic," she said sharply. A fire burned in her chest. It should have been a blaze of satisfaction. If Kestra was going to choose Natalie over her, why shouldn't she choose someone else? But no matter how her mind tried to rationalize it, the fire ate away at her insides making her cheeks flush and her forehead sweat.

"Telepathic?" Cavil asked, his eyes alight with hunger, "how?" Boomer shifted from foot to foot.

"She can… project her emotions onto other people," she stammered. "I don't know how it works… but I've seen her do it." Cavil's eyes were unfocused, lost in his own head. A smirk crept onto his face.

"Yes… that could be useful." Boomer grew hot under the lights from the ceiling and from the shame within her. Cavil did not appear to notice as he contemplated this new development. "But we must learn more," he said, more to himself than Boomer. Finally, he seemed to remember she was in the room and locked eyes with her.

"You've done well," he said with a grin. She couldn't help but smile at his praise. "Come," he beckoned, sliding himself farther back on the bed. Boomer walked forward and joined him on the bed, her guilt forgotten for the moment.