A woman stood watching the battle. The Battlestars and Base Stars clashed silently in space.

A man appeared, "Amina, don't you hate when people don't die on command."

"Why do you insist on calling me that?"

"It's my favorite name of yours. You can call me Mercher."

Amina scowled at him and turned when another Base Star blew up. Her blond hair curled around her oval face as if she had grown a helmet.

"God isn't always right," Mercher said, his hand brushing her back. He absently noticed that she was slightly taller than him.

"He doesn't like when you call him that," Amina said without heat. "The future…"

"For every Plan A, there is a Plan B," Mercher said, taking her hand.

They materialized in a small room where a woman in a Colonial Commander's uniform. They went unnoticed for a few moments.

Amina said, "The ship, it resembles a Battlestar."

"Faust," Mercher said, ignoring Amina to speak with the Commander. "The Plan has failed. The Colonies will survive."

"The backup plan is in motion, Mercher," Faust said. "As you commanded."

"What did you do?" Amina said to Mercher.

"Nothing without approval."

Natalie Faust watched the messengers from God disappear. She strode to the deck where human and metal Cylon worked together.

"Linton, launch the shuttles," Faust said to a slight man who looked more like an accountant than a soldier. "Bring the civilian ships back to this location."

"By your command," Linton said. "Launch the shuttles, Put Plan B in motion."

Faust and Linton watched the shuttles disappear to find the civilian ships left unprotected by the Battlestars.

Linton opened his mouth, hesitated, and then said, "The humans will eventually figure out we're Cylons."

"Not before we discover Earth," Faust said. "As it was written."

"Destroying the Colonies was written too, we failed," Linton said. "What about Cavil? He won't like this!"

Faust realized with that statement that he never thought the first Plan would fail. Faust realized the others in her command could be thinking the same thought. What if some of the others betray her?

Doesn't matter, they must reach Earth. The messenger implied as much.

Earth must be found, or all will be lost.

"We will find Earth and our children will multiply," She said. "Away from the Colonies." And the other Cylons was implied, but Linton looked at her as if she said it out loud.

"By Your Command," Linton said, looking down at the panel. His hand brushed the display. "Commander, we got the Arrow of Apollo."

Faust nodded but didn't say anything. The New Plan was falling in place.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Over a hundred Colonial ships surrounded their ship. Faust knew that they couldn't stay here any longer. The main battle stopped, and skirmishes erupted around the Colonies. Soon the Colonies would come looking for their civilian ships.

Faust stood in the bay. She watched several reporters speaking quietly into cameras.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Faust said, forcing herself to tear up slightly. "The Twelve Colonies are lost. For our survival, we must leave."

"Where will we go?" one reporter got out. Before the rest could repeat the question, Faust said,

"Earth, we found a map several years ago."

"Earth is a myth."

"Humanity's children must survive," Faust said. "We can't do it here. We'll follow our ancestors back to Kobol. And eventually Earth. We are not alone."

Hope dawned on all the human faces in the room.

'Go to Earth as refugees and one day take over,' Faust thought.

Faust answered several more questions before ending the interview.

Her spies reported back almost immediately that most of the humans believed the lies.

SIX MONTHS LATER

Faust saw the casualty list. The damage would have been much worse if it was a Base Star. She realized that the Cylon pilots needed help. They no longer had the Resurrection ship. Every death was final.

"Linton, gather the reporters," Faust said.

"By your Command."

Faust walked in the room, and the talk died down. She talked to the officers and got a grudging approval to go forward with this.

"Victory is ours today," Faust said, the screens placed in front of her showed the main human ships.

The cheering made what she was about to say easier.

"Although we won, we lost a lot of pilots and support personnel. Anyone with piloting or mechanic experience, please step forward. We need new guardians of the fleet. Every volunteer will get extra rations for themselves and their family."

Faust stepped down, but the cheering didn't start up again. The faces on the screen looked resolute as they looked at one another.

"This is dangerous," one of her captains said.

"This is necessary for our survival."

They nodded, but Faust saw the doubt.

LITTLE OVER A YEAR LATER

Earth came into sight. A beautiful blue ball and everyone cheered at the sight. Several of the scientist class both human and Cylon rode down to the silent planet.

Desolate cities came into view.

A few hours later, they came across the horrible truth. Earth was a Cylon Colony. And they destroyed themselves and their planet.

THREE YEARS LATER

Faust walked along Tiberius, the second most populous human ship.

Ever since finding the Earth in a destroyed, almost uninhabitable state two years ago, the humans and Cylons had been losing hope. And Cavil's Cylons finding them with the help of a low-level Cylon tech. Eight civilian ships were lost.

They must find another place to live. And must find a way to stop the traitors from contacting Cavil again. The pilots, the Guardians, protected them this time, but next time could be different.

She still couldn't believe how well human and nonhuman Cylons work together. The human ones even knew they were Cylons.

Pretty hard to stop them noticing that so many people on the 'Battlestar' resembled one another. But even the humans didn't know the full truth that the Colonies survived the war. They were told the lie that the Cylons here tried to save the Colonies, but when that failed, they saved who they could.

Her mind went back to the Mercher. She was beginning to see him as possibly a Messenger of Evil, leading her astray.

And what's worse, he never talks. He just hums that same frakking melody over and over again.

She wondered if there was a way to kill Mercher as her emotions swung between anger with him, and despair about Earth.

Faust thought as she turned around. 'Only the future matters now.'

She walked down several corridors until she got to the door and requested entry.

The door slid open to reveal a small woman with dark hair and eyes.

"Commander Faust. This is a surprise."

"Rachel, how is Sarah?"

"She's fine," Rachel said, watching Sarah drawing something on a long strip of paper. "She's drawing, now. Something new."

"The boy, the other Cylon/ human, draws too," Faust said with a smile on her face.

Faust wondered what her child would be like. She had the sickness when she woke, but it would be a few weeks, at least, before her doctor would know for sure.

A man came into the room briefly. He glared at Faust and muttered 'toaster' under his breath. He turned and walked back out again. Faust suppressed the urge to kill him.

"We have to do something about him," Faust said, angry at Rachel for telling him that she was a Cylon and worst yet telling him that the Colonies survived.

"Give him time," Rachel said, twisting her hands together. "Ray loves Sarah. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her."

The child got up and handed her drawing to Commander Faust, who smiled down at the child before looking at the picture. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Faust rushed from the room with the drawing clutched in her hand.

"What's wrong?" Rachel said, following behind.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Faust said.

Faust commanded her shuttle to go to Scorpia Queen. The other human / Cylon child, the boy, Kevin was there. She needed to see his drawing again.

After getting the boy's drawing, she lined the two up. They weren't similar; they were the same. 'God had a hand in this,' she thought as she looked at the circles on the pages.

THE NEW EARTH

Faust thought of Mercher as she took a deep breath. The flowers bloomed, and life burst from the seams. At a distance, she saw Earth's indigenous people walking across the plains. She held her son closer.

"Can't believe it," Linton said, walking up. "Humans here. The doctors say we can reproduce with them. What are the odds?"

"What are odds to God," Faust said, brushing a hand across her son's fragile skull.

When Linton didn't move, she asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Why didn't you let us search for Rachel's husband?"

"The ship he took is only a mid-range vessel. He doesn't have enough supplies to get back to the Colonies," Faust said, and then sighed. "And finding him will be an impossible task and could lead Cavil to Earth."

"This isn't Earth."

"That's what the humans are calling it. In honor of the first one."

"What about the Guardians? You said all ships must be destroyed. Cavil could find us through them."

"We owe them."

"You mean you couldn't stop them."