"What if it were you instead of me, and all that's left of humanity has just been told that you are sharing visions with the enemy? What would you do, Mr. Adama? Would you think that the Gods were testing you?" And how would that make it any different from any other day? He asks twice more, even though she's answered him, because he's Lee Adama. Because the thing that makes you awesome is the thing that makes you suck. And she looks him right in the eye for the same reason, and for the same reason her response makes his eyes pop out and roll across the desk, and for the same reason she gives him her honest response, and for the same reason that response is: "Yes."

In the absence of the Hybrid, a Colonial Raptor has become the heart and the mind of the Rebel Cylons' Basestar, which burns inside and out and carries inside it a crystalline Colonial heart. Athena tells them they have five minutes, and keeps working. Happy little warrior. Kara tells Leoben some truths. That's what she does now. "When you came knocking with that Raider and asked for our help, you gave away the future of all the Cylons aboard this ship. You know that, right? ... Save it. No guarantees. When we meet up with the Colonial Fleet, I don't know if they'll feed you or frak you, all right?" (HA! Or lie to you about Earth!)

Leoben knows he put their future in the right hands; Kara Thrace has hands. Natalie and her Eight look at each other, and get more and more frightened. A jump into the heart of enemy territory, where there are dragons. Where we lay ourselves down in front of the dragons, and tell the dragons we've finally learned. After all those false starts and promises we've finally got it, dragons. Please don't eat us alive.

"Since you've been calling the plays up till now, I'm assuming you're doing the talking?" Natalie and Leoben look at each other; she nods to Kara almost imperceptibly. But there's so much encoded in that little look. "Leading" isn't leading. "Calling the plays" is as simple as a vote that takes as long as a species-wide thought, and a simple nod. We're mechanized copies; nobody has ever voted against their model. A few minutes ago Natalie voted against her model, once again with the barrel of a gun. When you're a Cylon and they tell you to lead, they're not talking about white raincoats on Caprica, they mean lead as in lead. As in be Natalie, Natalie the Six, for the first time in your life. "Natalie" means "birthday." When she nods, that's what she's saying. This is her birthday; this is Kara's doing. Birth is the domain of Artemis. It's a Six that steps up to the salt: it's Natalie that crosses it. She will lead her people.