Simon's got fluids happening, into and out of Hera; he holds a scalpel poised above her head as Boomer shakes her head. "You're going to just keep doing the tests. Even with the Colony coming down around your ears?" He doesn't look up. "I think you overestimate their chances. They may have confused our Hybrids temporarily, but we have superior fire power and superior numbers, and... In the end it's all about mathematics..." She snaps his neck, frees Hera from her restraints, and picks the little girl up. She hangs limply in Boomer's arms.

Red Stripes fight the Colony Centurions in ways ranging from prosaic (gun hands!) to intriguing (punch to the robot face!) to altogether horrible and wonderful at once (forced to kneel and shot execution-style!). Lee's Marines inch closer, as the Raptor squad moves closer to the center of the Colony.

Laura sits in Sickbay as the lights flash, faster and faster, brighter. Galen shouts down into Sam's staring eyes: "Sam! Sam, listen to me, you're pushing too much energy through the ACS. You gotta back off, you're gonna blow the main bus. You hear me?" Nothing; he calls Sam's name again. "There are secrets within the eyes answers within riddles lay off the ACS? You betcha, Galen. Open your mind and hear what your heart wants to deny end of line." They breathe; Tory's got a stethoscope, and secrets in her eyes. A blast knocks them both down, again.

A Viper slams past a Raider, ripping off her wing. She screams; it spins out into the black, trailing blood.

SHARON VALERII

Never should have trusted her, Doral's saying. A Simon stands with them, looking down at his brother, lying dead on the floor. "Trust didn't enter into it," Cavil says, disgusted by the notion. "I simply miscalculated her need to engage in gestures of futility."

(Six is complex, strong and soft by turns, steadfast in her belief, piercing in her brilliance. Seven was an artist, so sensitive to the world, Ellen's favorite: took that Six intuition and brought it back out into the world as beauty. Maybe the reason Eight pisses everybody off all the time is because she's the most human of them all, and nobody can handle it. Maybe that's where Hera came from. A closed system lacks the ability to renew itself; an open system looks wishy-washy to everybody else. Gaius and Saul are the storied "most human" characters as far as the Fleet goes, but I'll tell you this: nobody can infuriate and draw tears from yours truly like an Eight can.)

Simon figures she'll find the Colonials in the Colony, and Cavil says it's time to march. Simon cautions him against too much force, risking her safety, and Cavil gets pissy. "Really? Ya think? Please continue stating the perfectly obvious, it fills me with confidence." They stalk down the hall, toward another nexus.