They had their tickets, they had checked their luggage, and they had gone through security. They were just about to approach gate Epsilon Seven when Rachel stopped them all.

"Mr. Schue? I think we just need to take a moment… right here and right now, for us to consider just how far we've come in three years." Rachel pulled in a deep breath, her eyes shining and her excitement palpable. "This is the moment we will be able to tell our children about." There was a murmuring of agreement, and Rachel smiled wider. "The moment when you were on stage with me."

And, yet again, Rachel put her foot in it. Will wondered why he even bothered to be surprised about that at this point. Seriously, people vastly underestimated the skill teachers required in diplomacy.

"Rachel's right," he jumped in before the others could attack her. "Well, mostly. This is a big deal, guys! The All-Colony Show Choir Championships! And let me just say, I am so proud of each and every one of you. You have all worked so hard, and you all deserve this."

The kids were grinning back at him. "I've got an idea," Will said suddenly. "Line up." He pulled a camera out of his bag. "Come on, guys. Let's mark the moment!" The kids all grouped together, arms around each others' shoulders and smiles on their faces. "Say cheese," Will said lightly, then snapped the picture.

Predictably, as soon as the shutter clicked, the kids started squabbling.

"We should practice on the ship," Rachel declared. "We can't rest. If we're going to win-"

"Yeah, I'm sure that listening to us singing for the whole time won't make the entire cabin want to space themselves," Mercedes said, rolling her eyes.

"But we're awesome," Brittany answered. "You can't get that in the vacuum of space."

Mercedes stared at her, probably just amazed that Brittany knew the word vacuum in relation to space, but Finn picked the argument up. "It's a two hour flight, Rachel. Two hours isn't going to make a difference."

"Every second could make a difference," Rachel insisted. "We can't afford to get sloppy."

"With that sweater?" Kurt piped up. "I think it's too late."

Will tuned them out and checked the itinerary in his hand one more time. Twelve kids, four adults… he could do this.

"Well, William, I must say. This is going to go better than I expected."

Will eyed Sue warily. "Just get to the punch line, will you, Sue? I'm not in the mood for the big set up right now."

"Who said there was a punch line?" Sue asked, radiating clearly fake innocence. "I'm seriously impressed that you managed to get twelve kids to the spaceport and not have any of them run off to the nearest opium den just to get away from the sight of that ravine that divides your chin in two. Gods know I sure considered it."

Will rolled his eyes. Off to the side, he noticed Carole and Burt smirking, but he couldn't tell if they were laughing at them or at the kids. "You didn't have to come," he reminded her.

"On the contrary, William, I did. Old Figgins was so worried about you and Ricky and Lucy here taking all these kids off-world without ever having been yourself that he had to send someone who has actually been out of the backwaters of Gemenon and knows their way around Caprican society. And since the Bieste there was already busy shuttling her steroid-addled wrestle-monkeys and her dapper little bebopping manager to that championship on Caprica, the only one he could rely on to keep your asses out of trouble was me."

"Lucky for us," Burt muttered from the sidelines. Carole snickered and then winked at Will. He smiled back.

"Whatever. Come on, Sue. Let's herd them all into the waiting area."

The waiting area was small and shabby; Gemenon Argonaut Airlines was a bargain company. They carried cargo and passengers, and in that order of priority. Outside the window Will could see their ship waiting. The Cybele was distinctly shabby, with four huge cargo compartments making up the bulk of the craft, and a small passenger cabin perched high above them. Will didn't want to admit it, but Sue was right about one thing- he was nervous. He hadn't been off-world since his own club had gone to the All-Colony Show Choir Competition his senior year of high school, and the prospect of being off-world with twelve excited, hyper, and prone-to-romantic-geometry teenager was a little daunting.

The kids sprawled across the waiting area. Mercedes, Brittany, and Santana were working on runs together, Finn and Puck were arguing about pyramid, Artie and Sam were playing some sort of electronic game, Kurt was on his phone to Blaine if the glowing expression was any indication, Rachel was pacing and glaring at her music, Quinn was reading a guidebook, and Mike and Tina were getting a little too close for Will's comfort. Fortunately, Burt grabbed Mike by the scruff of his neck and cleared his throat loudly, and the two of them backed off each other for a moment. Will wanted to laugh, but he realized hotel arrangements were really going to get fun on this trip, especially once Blaine and Lauren met up with them from the wrestling tournament.

Fortunately, that train of thought was interrupted by the flight attendant calling for passengers to begin boarding. Will jumped to his feet, excitement edging out nerves. "All right, let's go!" Will called out, standing by the gate. The kids stood up, tossing carryon bags over their shoulders or tucking them under their arms. Rachel immediately took her place at the front of the line, a smug, excited smile on her face.

There was a huge bang, and the spaceport shook.

"What was that?" Santana asked, but no one answered.

Will looked at the flight attendant, a portly man with thinning brown hair and a sweaty face, who shrugged. But he could see the furrow of worry between the man's brows. "Start the boarding process!" he shouted. "Everyone in line, please! No shoving. Let's get-"

He was cut off by a sound that was distinctly an explosion. It was clearly happening in the distance, but it was an explosion nonetheless.

"Should we get on?" Will asked the flight attendant.

"Sir, I don't think that's wise," the flight attendant said. There was panic in the spaceport now. People were gravitating towards television screens and checking their phones for alerts. Whatever the news was, it wasn't good. Automatically, Will looked over his shoulder at the kids. They all looked confused and worried.

The flight attendant's walkie talkie buzzed. "Robert," a woman's scared, firm voice said, "get everyone on. Now. As many people as you can. Even if they don't have tickets."

"Why?" Will asked, fear blooming in his stomach and coursing through his muscles. "What's going on?" But the captain wasn't there to answer.

"Get on," Robert ordered. Will wanted to press for more details, but there was another explosion and out the window, he could see the previously blue sky was turning dark. He nodded, the fear sharpening. Whatever was happening was not good.

"Come on," he shouted at the kids. "Let's go. Rachel, Finn, Puck, Santana, Brittany, Quinn…" he put a hand on each kid's back as he counted them. "Mike, Sam, give Artie a hand and speed us up, will you?" he shouted. There was more commotion now in the spaceport, the anxious talk becoming louder and more urgent in tone. Finn and Puck obeyed without argument. "Tina, Mercedes, Kurt…" he looked around frantically.

He wished he could find some sort of comfort in the faces around him, but there was none. People were running to spaceships now, and the tide was picking up.

"Come on." Sue grabbed Will's collar and yanked him into the gate. Burt and Carole followed, both of them hustling and looking over their shoulders. Another explosion resounded, and this one shook the ship.

"Move it!" someone yelled from behind them, and Will could feel the press of people desperate to get on this ship. He half ran and was half shoved through the short corridors and into the passenger cabin. The seats were tightly packed and arranged in a three-six-three arrangement, although the row Artie was sitting in only had two seats, and a spot where his wheelchair was strapped down. New Directions was scattered in blocks in two rows.

The kids were already buckled in when he made it into the cabin. Will tried to count them once more, but Sue forced him down into his seat and disappeared. Carole slid into the seat next to him. "Get your straps done," she hissed at him. Her face was pale, and she leaned over him. Will finally realized he had a window seat and looked out. One glance made him he wished he hadn't, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from the sight outside.

From this height, he could see beyond the spaceport. A mushroom cloud bloomed in the distance, the stem of smoke coursing up to the dark sky. The winds whipped the trees and the sky was dark, and he could see darker, sootier smoke rising from several spots on the horizon.

"Oh my gods," he heard Finn say. He turned to look- Finn was seated across the cabin. Will couldn't see out the window from where he sat, but Rachel leaned over Finn and then drew back with a strangled cry. He had the terrible feeling the view was the same from both sides.

"Mr. Schue?" Artie turned around in his seat. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Will said. And that was the worst truth of all- he had no idea. Absolutely no idea. "But it looks bad."

The engines roared to life, and Robert, the frantic flight attendant, appeared in the front. "Everyone make sure you're strapped in!" he yelled. "We're filled up and we're running for it!"

"Filled up?" Burt asked from the other side of Carole. "That doesn't sound good."

"Neither does 'we're running for it'," Carole agreed. She grasped Burt's hand. The Cybele began to lift off, and Will's own hands tightened around the armrests on his seat.

As they lifted off, Will looked out the window again. To his horror, he could see not one, not two, but three thick columns of smoke. Fires raged beneath them, wrecked cars blocked the freeway, and buildings collapsed. Ships like Will had never seen whizzed through the sky, criss-crossing and dropping bombs. And an army marched down the freeway and onto the smaller roads, immense and precise and… and…

Mechanical?

He strained his eyes, but he couldn't make his brain make sense of what he was seeing. The Cybele was rising so fast that he didn't have time to examine or evaluate the scenes on the ground; just time for the images to burn into his retinas. He swallowed hard against the changing pressure as they soared out of the atmosphere, and then his eyes widened as he saw hundreds- no, thousands- of ships against the backdrop of space. People in the cabin started screaming, but Will could only stare in stupefied silence. Huge ships that looked like giant spurs or thistles launched thousands of tiny crescent-shaped crafts. He wasn't an expert, but he was positive there was nothing like those on the Colonies.

Ships veered down towards the surface of Gemenon in startlingly perfect formation. All of Gemenon, from what he could tell. The entire colony was under attack. Will strained to look down again. He'd seen pictures of Gemenon from space, landmasses and mountains and oceans… now he could see nothing but flame, destruction, and death.

How many people was he watching die right now?

People screamed on the other side of the cabin, and he instinctively balled up on himself, covering his head. Then the world jerked as they jumped to faster-than-light speed, but it barely registered. He braced himself, waiting for whatever would hit them, for one of those ships to blow them all to smithereens.

Nothing.

He looked out the window again. They were floating in space, the stars looking serene and peaceful.

His breath came in short spurts, and he couldn't control his shaking. They were alive. His heart was pounding so hard that Will thought it might explode, and his veins ached with the speed of the blood pulsing through them.

"What the frak just happened?"

He couldn't identify the speaker, but really, whoever it was spoke for everyone. Will had seen the horrible images for himself, and yet he couldn't make his mind understand.

"It's the Capricans," someone shouted. "The Capricans have declared war on us!"

"Why would the Capricans declare war on us?" a woman responded. "We've never been at war with the Capricans! If it's anyone, it's the Taurons. There was that article just last week about the Taurons' secret military ships, and I sure as hell have never seen anything like those!"

"An uprising?" a man suggested. "The monotheistic worshippers have a penchant for terror attacks."

"This wasn't a terrorist attack," Robert said. "There's no terrorist organization in the Colonies that has that kind of financing and military power. In fact, I-" he tapped his headset and paled. "Excuse me," he said, and ducked out of the passenger cabin.

In front of Will, Quinn turned around. "Do you have any idea what's going on, Mr. Schuester?"

Will shook his head and had to swallow a few times before he could speak. "I don't have the first idea, Quinn. I just… I just know what I saw."

"Well, what happened to everyone else?" Artie asked. "It was just Oranu that was attacked, right? I mean, Lima should be okay."

"Yeah," Sam leaned over the aisle and added in. "Who would drop a bomb on Lima?"

"It would be one hell of a waste of a bomb," Puck muttered.

Will looked around helplessly. People were arguing, crying, trying to soothe each other, just sitting silently, ashen and lost.

He opened his mouth to tell them that Lima was safe, then shut it again. He knew nothing, and they knew he knew nothing.

Will instinctively reached for his phone, then sighed tossed it into the pouch on the back of the seat in front of him. He heard Kurt trying his phone even though they were too far out of range now that they'd jumped, trying to get through to Blaine on Caprica, but judging by the frantic pitch of his voice he was unsuccessful. Will rested his forehead on his knuckles and looked out the window again.

He had no idea how much time had passed when the loudspeaker crackled into life. "This is Captain Xu. I need your attention."

There was an explosion of conversation, followed by people hushing each other. Robert entered the cabin and yelled for people to quiet down, and the babble died away quickly. The captain spoke into the silence.

"Right now, we do not know exactly what has happened on Gemenon. However, we are getting reports that all of the other Colonies are under attack as well. Several ships have reported that the attacks are coming from the Cylons.

"We don't know how many people have escaped the Colonies. We don't know anything about the fate of the Colonies themselves. We do know that the destruction is widespread, and that the number dead must be in the millions. We don't know what will happen next.

"I ask that, right now, we take a few moments of silence to pray for the victims of this holocaust." The cabin was silent, except for the cackle of static from the address system. Will bowed his head, but he couldn't shut his eyes. His entire body was numb, and he imagined he could hear the people on Gemenon screaming. Whatever was happening was probably still going on.

"I don't know what is going to happen," Captain Xu said finally, "but we will keep you posted. Please do not attempt to come to the control room in an effort to find out more; I assure you that I will pass on any information I have."

The intercom went quiet, and the cabin exploded into talk again. Will sat back in his seat, hands gripping the armrests.

He wanted to tell the kids- to tell himself- that everything was all right, but it would only be a lie. Nothing was right, and nothing ever would be right again.

***

"Cylons," Santana said. "How the frak can it be Cylons?"

The kids had rearranged themselves a little so they were sitting in the same two rows. "The Cylons are gone," Santana continued. "They can't just, like, come back and destroy twelve planets. That's ridiculous. They're robots."

"Robots made for killing," Artie pointed out. "And the Cylon War lasted for twelve and a half years before the Cimtar Peace Accord was signed."

"I didn't think anyone used scimitars anymore," Brittany said quietly. Everyone looked at her for a moment in silence.

"Whatever," Mercedes said. "I saw those ships that were attacking Gemenon, and they didn't look anything like the ones in the history- would you stop doing that?" she demanded, snatching Kurt's phone from his hands. "We're out in deep space. You're not going to get through to Caprica!"

"You never know," Kurt said desperately, on the verge of tears and trying to take the phone back from Mercedes. "There's always a chance-"

"There's not," Artie said quietly. "There's nothing to boost the signal. To any of the Colonies."

Sam sighed and tossed his own phone down. "Artie's right. I'm not getting anything from Gemenon, either. Not that I expected to on this cheap piece of shit, but…."

"Excuse me," Quinn interrupted, "but can it really be Cylons? I'm inclined to agree with Santana. The Cylons haven't been heard from in decades."

"What do you think, Mr. Schue?" Finn turned around to ask.

Will had been listening as quietly as he could, playing with his own phone and trying every contact number that he had. He'd tried earlier to go up and ask the flight attendant for more information, but had been firmly sent back to his seat and told to stay there. Truth be told, he was kind of hoping the kids would forget he was there. He mopped a hand over his face.

"I don't know, guys," he said finally. They all looked so desperate, staring at him like he could give answers. It irritated him a little, because they knew he didn't know any more than they did. "But the captain's getting her information from somewhere, so I assume-"

"Wait," Mercedes said, looking up anxiously, "if the Cylons are still out there, does that mean they'll find us again?"

"And where are we going to go?" Sam asked. "If they've attacked Gemenon-"

"What about our parents?" Tina asked, shrinking back against Mike, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "What about-"

"What about the All-Colony Show Choir Championships?" Rachel demanded. "We'll still get there in time, right Mr. Schuester?"

"Guys, guys, GUYS!" Will shouted, holding his hands up. "I don't know, all right? I don't know anything! All I know is what we saw and what they've told us, and it looks bad! I don't know what to tell you guys right now, all right?"

Silence swept over the New Directions group as they all stared at him. Will struggled to rein in his temper.

"Look. They're working up there," he said. "They're getting in touch with other ships, and we'll know more soon. We just have to sit tight, okay?"

It wasn't the answer that they wanted to hear, but it was the only answer he could give them.

***

"Mr. Schue! Look!" It was Artie who called out.

Will jerked awake from an uneasy sleep to peer out the window. "Oh my Gods," he said, pressing his open palm to the window and looking out eagerly.

Carole leaned over his shoulder. "How many do you think there are?"

"I heard about sixty," Burt said from the other side of her.

"Sixty ships," Will said, lighting up. But Burt didn't smile. "What?" Will asked. "What's wrong?"

Burt shrugged. "I'm not that big on ships," he said. "I'm better with cars. But see that one over there?" He pointed at a ship with a huge lighted dome. Will nodded. "That's a botanical cruiser. They're used for vacations."

"So?"

"They don't have FTL drives."

For a moment, Will just wanted to shrug. But then he remembered that fleet of ships that they'd seen when they broke atmo over Gemenon. Precise, high-tech, and fast. Without the means to go faster than light, any ship happened on by those Cylons was going to be dead in the water, no matter how fast it could go otherwise.

"But space is a big place," Will said. "Finding a ship in space is… the odds…."

"Yeah," Burt muttered. "We can hope. I mean, what're the chances they'll be looking for us?" Burt didn't sound like he meant it.

The ships outside looked so serene, floating like this. Will took one deep breath, and then another. "We should say something to the kids," he murmured.

Carole patted his hand. "Like what?" she asked kindly. "Unless you were communicating with the gods in your sleep, you don't know any more than the kids do right now."

"Yeah, but I should able to say something," Will said, frustrated. "I mean, I'm responsible for them. I'm their teacher." The thought made him look around suddenly for Sue, because damn, he needed help. But her seat was empty. Where she could have gone right now was beyond him, but he thought bitterly that he shouldn't be surprised.

That responsibility was starting to dawn on him. Before, when he'd taken the kids on trips, he'd always been safe in the knowledge that this was a temporary thing. The kids would all go home to their parents at the end of the day or the end of the weekend. The worst things he'd worried about were them sneaking into each other's rooms or getting lost or maybe even injured or… okay, there were some things he worried about that were more severe. But this….

This trip wasn't ending. If the rumors were right, they weren't going back to Gemenon, and every kid in New Directions except for Finn and Kurt were orphans now.

Hell, he was an orphan now, although the term didn't really apply. But his parents were dead, too.

"Oh my Gods," he whispered. "Everyone…."

"Don't think about it right now," Carole advised, but now that Will had started, he couldn't stop. It wasn't just his parents, but everyone. All the kids at school, all the teachers, Figgins, Emma- oh gods, Emma, Shannon… his parents, his friends… Terri. Terri was dead. He wasn't in love with her anymore, but for some reason, that was the one that Will's mind settled on. For some reason, that was the one that made this all real.

"You okay?" Burt asked, and his voice sounded very far away.

"Yeah. Yeah… just… give me a minute."

He closed his eyes again, and inside him a gulf threatened to open up. He felt like he was hanging on by his fingertips, ready to fall. If he did, it would only be grief and rage and loss… he wouldn't be able to focus on anything else. And right now, he had twelve kids who were going through the same sorts of losses. He couldn't fall apart. He simply did not have that luxury right now.

"All right," he said, opening his eyes. "I'm okay."

"You sure?" Carole said, her hand covering his.

"Yeah. I just… yeah." Will nodded. "So I shouldn't say anything to the-"

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats." Captain Xu's voice over the announcement system interrupted him, and she sounded strained. "We will be jumping in less than a minute."

"Jumping?" Will looked out the window again. "I don't…." But he trailed off, because he saw it. One of those strange, pointy ships that looked like a thistle or a spur. "They found us?"

He wasn't the only one who realized what was going on. There were screams from other parts of the cabin, and Burt put his arm around Carole and pulled her close as she buried her face in his shoulder. The kids hustled back to seats and strapped in, and he saw them clinging to each other's hands. They were all tense, and Will realized that they all- that everyone on the Cybele- thought they were going to die.

They probably were. Gemenon lay in his memory, covered over with a thick layer of nuclear smoke. He tensed, waiting for them all to be blown to bits.

The cabin lurched again, and Will's stomach lurched with it. This was the second time in his life he'd felt an FTL jump, and the first time he'd been too occupied for the physical experience to register. It was not pleasant. He felt like he was being sucked into a black hole, quickly taken apart and reassembled and then stretched back out to his normal size. The experience left him nauseous and not quite convinced that he was exactly the same as he'd been before the jump. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat and then looked out the window. Space, again, but one by one, ships were appearing. He couldn't see how many out the small portal, but ships were appearing. He laughed, falling back against the seat.

The engines wound down. The vibrations eased, and the jump was done. The kids were all still belted in their seats, clinging to the armrests, to their belts, to each other. Will looked over them all anxiously, counting them just out of habit. All there.

Rachel Berry opened one eye, her hands still clenched around her armrest. "Are we alive?" she asked cautiously.

"We're alive," Will said, his voice sounding strange in his own ears. "We're alive."

The survivors in the cabin cheered.

***

The people in the cabin had shifted around again. Will heard that there were people down in the cargo holds, too, and he remembered the orders to get as many people on as they could.

"How are you doing?" Will asked, leaning over the back of the seat in front of him to where Artie was sitting with Sam. They were both staring out the window and started at his question.

"You know where we are, Mr. Schue?" Artie asked, and he sounded incredulous. He gestured out the window. The very first thing that Will noticed was the blue-green glow instead of the black of space. In the near distance, Will could see what looked like a space station. It was a long, cylindrical structure arranged vertically relative to their position, and it had three large rings around the top end. It looked something like a child's top, hanging there in space.

Will shook his head. "Not a clue. Where are we?"

"That's the Ragnar Anchorage," Artie said breathlessly.

"What's that?" Will asked blankly.

"It's pretty awesome, Mr. Schuester," Sam explained. "It's, like, the armory that's the furthest out in space. Do you have any idea how far from Gemenon we are right now?"

"Great," Will said, not wanting to think about that. "So why are we here?"

"Look right over there," Artie said, craning his neck. "On the left side of the station. You see it?"

Will's eyes widened. "A battlestar," he breathed, and both boys nodded.

Will had seen pictures of the great battlestars, of course. Everyone had. They were on the news, they were in history books when you learned about the Cylon War. The long, half-oval ship was docked at the space station. Two bulges on either side of the flat ship extended out, and a much smaller ship flew out of the end of the nearest one. Retractable flight pods, Will remembered.

Battlestars were more than just ships; they were spacefaring military bases. Each one could hold a crew of up to five thousand soldiers, as well as few squadrons of single-piloted Vipers and a large number of Raptors. The pictures didn't do it justice, Will decided. He had not really been able to understand until now just how massive these battlestars were.

"Wow," he said.

"I know, right?" Sam laughed. "If nothing else, we get to see a battlestar in person before we die." His voice was so bitter on the last words.

"Yeah," Artie agreed, trying to keep a brave face. "How many people on the Colonies could say that? It's pretty amazing."

"Which battlestar is it?" Will said.

"Not sure yet," Artie answered. "We've been trying to figure it out, but we aren't close enough to see what's on the side."

Will wasn't sure it mattered. The sight of a battlestar, something that big and that powerful, made his heart lift. "A battlestar," he repeated, smiling. He clapped Sam and then Artie on their shoulders, and then crossed the aisle to see how some of the other kids were doing.

"How many are you counting?" he heard Finn ask as he approached.

"I can see thirteen," Quinn said with a frown. "But I keep telling you, we can't see everything from this stupid little window."

Tina was making her way over. "I saw another two when I looked out the back."

"What's going on?" Will asked.

Finn looked up. "Oh, hey, Mr. Schue. We're just trying to count the ships out there."

"The ships? Burt said there were about sixty," Will answered.

"There were," Quinn agreed. "But it seems like there are less now."

"And I keep saying how are we supposed to tell that?" Puck asked, from the seat in front of her. He was on his knees, leaning his elbows on the back of the seat he was sitting in. "I mean, there could be a whole shitload of ships above us. Or below us."

"Puck's right, guys," Will said. "And did you hear what's outside the other window? A battlestar."

"No way." Puck was immediately off his seat and headed over to look out the other side.

"So cheer up, guys," Will continued. "It looks like things are getting better."

***

Gemenon was gone. Will still couldn't wrap his mind around it. He managed to slip into a tiny alcove and stood staring out a window at the collection of ships that had survived. It was frustrating not to be able to see that many.

"Well, well, well. Thought I might find you here."

Will sighed. "What do you want, Sue?"

"You have always been a complete and utter loser. Why, back on Gemenon, the only reason your little glee club even made it to the All-Colony song and dance competition is because the Waffletoots tried to do the Caprican anthem as a jive number. You are a failure, William. At marriage, at your pathetic little glee club, and at life. Although I must say I am impressed that you have managed to maintain such a terrible hairstyle at the end of the world."

"This isn't the time for this, Sue," Will shot back.

Sue raised an eyebrow. "No? Then what is it the time for? Standing here sulking?"

"I'm not sulking!"

"Sure you are. You probably heard about those twenty ships that we lost."

"What are you talking about?"

"Those sixty ships we were with?" Sue asked, her arms crossed. "Only forty or so of them were capable of faster than light speed."

Will was going to say something, and then it hit him. "Wait, so what happened to the ones that weren't?"

Sue shrugged. "Cylons got them, Will. What do you think?"

"Oh, Gods."

"It's run or be killed any more. Sink or swim, pretty literally."

Twenty ships lost that time? How many people? Will didn't even want to know. And then who had made that call? "Why didn't we do something?" he asked.

"Like?"

"Like fight back! Like… because we're a transport ship," Will realized. "This ship doesn't have guns. None of them do, except for that battlestar out there."

"Wow. I'm impressed, William. And you got that far all by yourself." Sue smacked him on the arm, hard. "Well, keep hiding in here," she said, backing off. "That's what you're good at." And with that parting shot, she headed… somewhere. Will didn't know. He didn't really care.

Whatever population they'd managed to put together, it had just decreased by… how many? And somewhere in this group of ships, someone had made that call. Someone had had to say, "whoever can needs to run."

That someone had saved their lives, but the thought still made Will sick.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cool, thick polymer window, forcing the thought from his mind. He needed to get back to the kids, and he didn't want to tell them about this. Maybe they'd find out, but not from him. They needed to have faith in something still, and this fleet of ships was all they had left.

***

News came in slowly, filtered down from Captain Xu's control room. The Colonies were utterly destroyed. The Colonial Fleet was destroyed, except for the one battlestar they had found, which was called the Galactica. It was one of the original battlestars built back during the Cylon War. Its commander, William Adama, had been about to retire. The government was destroyed, except for the Secretary of Education Laura Roslin, who had been sworn in as President. Over forty ships had banded together, and the current estimate was around fifty thousand people. The tatters of humanity was a fitting phrase.

Ragnar Anchorage continued to float outside their window. Will wondered how much longer they would be here, and where they would go. Those were questions no one seemed to be able to answer.

And then the Cylons found them again.

Will was halfway down the ladder that led from the passenger cabin to the intent cargo pods, intending on seeing what sort of space was really down there. But he froze on the ladder, listening to the screams from the cabin and the frantic, "Ladies and gentlemen, please calm down!" over the intercom. Will clung to the rungs, his face pressed against the cold metal as he tried to calm down and force himself to climb back up. He had just taken a deep breath and started when the ship jumped again.

The feeling of the FTL jump still turned his stomach, and now he had to hold on to the rungs for a different reason as his limbs trembled and nausea threatened to overtake him. He swallowed hard, and after a minute, his stomach stopped threatening to rebel, and he was able to climb.

"What happened?" he asked the nearest passenger once he was out of the cargo pods.

"They found us and we jumped," the woman said. Her eyes looked wild, terrified. "I don't know… I think we're away…."

Will nodded and struggled to get to a window. It was difficult, since everyone else had the same idea. When he finally was able to look out, he saw two other ships from his vantage point, floating serenely against the backdrop of space.

And then the Galactica winked into view. Will drew back, startled, because the Galactica was huge. Even when he'd seen it at Ragnar Anchorage with Artie and Sam, he hadn't realized the sheer size of the ship like he did now. He couldn't see all of it- just enough to know what he was looking at, and it was… Will had never seen a building so large, even when he'd gone to Delphi.

A ragged cheer went up at the sight of the battlestar. There was no acknowledgement from the Galactica, of course. It was just a hunk of metal, without a single human face to be seen. But it was still the most comforting thing Will had ever seen in his life.

The Cylons had found them twice already, and both times, they'd escaped. Will was starting to think that their deaths might not be so imminent after all.

***

It was night, at least according to the clocks. Will found it hard to think of it as anything but. His body was exhausted, but he was restless. He explored the Cybele a little more, trying to get a feel for the ship. People were beginning to spread out down the narrow stairs and into the cargo pods, the docking area that allowed for a small shuttle to dock in an emergency, and the small maintenance bay. The kids had all stayed in the passenger cabin, which was a little less crowded now that some people had moved into other parts of the ship. Will spotted them immediately when he returned.

They had spread out a little, but they were still close together. Quinn, Mercedes and Rachel were talking quietly, but Kurt had fallen asleep with his head in Mercedes' lap. Brittany and Santana were also asleep, their heads together and shoulder to shoulder. Mike and Artie were playing a travel chess game. Puck and Finn were engrossed in what was obviously deep conversation, and Tina was listening to Sam, who was obviously trying not to break down and cry in the middle of whatever he was saying. Burt and Carole were talking quietly to a few other passengers.

Sue was sitting in a seat, her reading light on and frowning fiercely as she contemplated the book in front of her. Will swallowed hard and approached.

"How you holding up, Sue?" he asked.

Sue didn't look up. "What's it to you, William?"

Will shrugged. "It's been a rough day for everyone." He hesitated, and then dove. "I know you've lost all of your Cheerios, and I imagine you had family on Gemenon."

Sue looked up and took off her glasses. For a moment, raw grief flitted across her face, but she struggled for composure fast. "You think I'm sitting here mourning that?" she shot back. "Let me break it down for you, William. Those kids were all lucky. They're dead. It's over. We might have gotten away for now, but if you think those toasters aren't going to hunt us down and slaughter us one by one, then you're even more delusional than I ever gave you credit for, and that's really saying something. You ever heard of the Galactica? Of course not- it doesn't produce hair gel. It's a relic. It's older than the songs you have your glee kids sing, and that's all we've got. So those kids we left back on Gemenon? They were the lucky ones. We're the ones that are screwed."

"No. That's not true, Sue," Will said, shaking his head and thinking of the Galactica hovering outside, of the way they'd escaped two Cylon attacks already. "We're still alive. We still have a chance."

"You call a million to one a chance?" Sue demanded.

Will smiled grimly. "Yeah," he said slowly. "Yeah, I do."

***

The main passenger cabin was not the most comfortable place for a ship-wide meeting. It was crowded and stuffy, and there were more people crowded onto the Cybele than the ship was built to carry, so the cabin was filled over capacity. Will had debated sending the kids out to the cargo sections just to alleviate a few bodies, but they all deserved to hear what was going on, too.

The man that addressed them all was a kid barely out of college with curly hair and a face that made him look even younger than he was. His name was Billy, and he told them that his family had died on Picon. He was President Roslin's aide, and Will suspected they were supposed to be flattered that he was addressing them personally. But maybe not. Maybe he was just being cynical.

"The President has lists of names, ages, and professions," Billy explained. "But now she's looking for more. What sort of hobbies you had, what sorts of skills we can use. These ships- this Fleet - is our only hope, and we have to keep it going until we find Earth."

A roar of conversation greeted that statement, and Will's eyebrows nearly met his hairline.

"Earth?" he heard Finn say. "What does he mean, Earth?"

Billy was trying to get the crowd to simmer down. "Commander Adama," he shouted over the decreasing buzz, "Commander Adama has announced that we- the Fleet- will be searching for Earth. That it really exists."

"Right," Will heard Kurt snort. Mercedes nudged him hard with her elbow, but Will had to admit that he felt the same skepticism.

"There's no Earth," an older man from the other side of the cabin said. "It's a legend."

Billy pressed his lips together hard, and then sighed. "Legend or not," he said stiffly, "the point is that it will take us a long while to find a habitable planet that we can now call home. The Commander- and the President- both firmly believe that we will find Earth."

"And how long do you think that's going to be?" someone from the back asked.

Billy shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "We're searching for clues."

"More like grasping at straws," Kurt muttered again, quietly enough that only a few people heard.

Billy changed the subject. "One of the projects that is going to start getting underway is transforming these vessels for long-term living. This ship," Billy gestured, "is going to have to serve as a home." There was another murmur of discontent, and Will looked around. He could see why. It wasn't a big ship, and it certainly wasn't luxurious. Right now, over two hundred passengers were huddled in this flight cabin. "We're going to have to redistribute some of the population," Billy explained. "Ships like the Cybele here aren't going to hold all of you for long, whereas some of the large cargo ships and freighters can be repurposed and handle a larger population than what they were originally intended to carry. We will begin collecting information from the Cybele immediately. What I need is five volunteers to carry out the survey process and begin collecting the data."

Will was in no way surprised when Rachel's hand shot up. He refrained from rolling his eyes, but it didn't matter. There were several other people who volunteered, all of them considerably older. Billy pointed out five adults, leaving Rachel with her hand in the air. Despite the annihilation of everything they'd ever known, some things would apparently never change.

Billy continued to address them, starting to list some basic rationing regulations. But before he got too far, the intercom squealed. Will cringed at the whine, wanting to cover his ears as Captain Xu's voice flooded the cabin. "Condition One has been set throughout the Fleet. Be prepared to jump."

"Condition One?" Will said, wondering if he was ever going to get used to his heart lurching into his throat. "That means-"

"The Cylons have found us yet again," Sue agreed. She was leaning against a wall and had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the meeting. "What did you think? That they'd be so thorough nuking the Colonies and leave you and your band of merry losers to survive? If I was a toaster, I'd shoot this ship down just for carrying you and your pathetic glee club. And your hairstyle, though I believe that you just might have found your soul sister with Curlicue here."

Will was about to respond when a buzzer sounded. "Hang on!" Billy shouted, bracing his feet more firmly against the floor.

Three. Two. One. Will sucked in his breath, and the ship jumped. He shook himself, breathing deeply and trying not to throw up. His fourth jump, and it didn't seem to be getting any easier. Nearby, he heard Carole vomiting into a bag left in the seat pockets for precisely that purpose.

Up front, Billy was also steadying himself. Despite his pallor, he rallied. "As I was saying," he said, as if absolutely nothing had happened, "we'll be able to increase water rations as we develop a system for reclamation, but until then-"

"Wait a minute," a man in the back asked, fear all too clear in his voice. "We just jumped. Does that mean that the Cylons found us?"

"That is what Condition One means, sir," Billy said. "Until then, we need to-"

"The Cylons just found us and you're just sitting there?" someone else demanded.

"No, we just jumped," Billy said, obviously trying to keep his temper leashed. "The Cylons won't be able to follow us during a jump." He extended his hands in a gesture that was meant to be calming, but the crowd was only becoming more agitated. "Look, that's how we've gotten away before, and-"

"But they just found us again!"

Will studied the kids' faces. They looked terrified, not that he could blame them. He was feeling it himself. Mike was standing next to him, and Will squeezed his shoulder. "You okay?" he asked quietly. Mike nodded, but his lips were pressed together so tightly that the corners of his mouth were turning white. "We're gonna be all right, okay?" Will said, trying to reassure him.

Up front, Billy was trying to reassure the terrified passengers, too, but it was hard to swallow it. Not because it was coming from a kid ten years younger than himself, and not because they were all still waiting for the captain to set Condition Three, but because none of them knew what was coming next, and nothing that Billy said could hide that fact.

Will bent his head forward and leaned it against the seat.

***

Billy left shortly after the attack, heading back to relatively small passenger ship they were already calling Colonial One. The meeting dispersed and although a lot of people stayed in the passenger cabin, many made their way out, presumably to find privacy in other parts of the ship. Will was thinking about braving the bathroom when the address system crackled into life. "Condition One has been set throughout the Fleet. Jumping in ten… nine… eight…."

"But we just jumped a half hour ago!" Quinn said, her eyes wide. She struggled to sit up from where she was slumped against the wall, an open book in her lap. "They found us already?"

"Maybe it's not an attack," Artie suggested. "Maybe Commander Adama-" he stopped for a moment as they lurched into the jump, turning pale. Artie swallowed hard and then finished his thought. "Maybe Commander Adama just thinks it's best if we stay on the move."

"Maybe," Will agreed feebly.

"You know," Sue broke in from her seat, "you'd think someone with glasses that thick would realize that, as smart a ploy as that might be in Halo Rising Stabbing Three or whatever it is you brain-dead morons all play, it's not a good idea for this Fleet. Fuel's going to be running at a premium soon enough, which means jumping every, " she looked at her watch, "thirty three minutes is going to put one hell of a strain on any resources that are kicking around this collection of tin cans. Any idea how much fuel it takes to make a jump, Sparky?" she asked.

"Wait…" Artie asked when no one answered. "Which one of us is Sparky?"

"I don't care. Any one of you," Sue said, waving her hand dismissively. "Well, when my parents were jumping around the galaxy chasing after Cylons…" Sue stopped for a minute, as if she was considering something. "Huh. Anyway, when my parents were famous toaster hunters, rounding up the last remnants of the Cylon war, their fuel money would come out of my and my sister's allowance. Each jump cost us a holoband use and three trips to the movies, with popcorn."

"What are you saying, Sue?" Will asked tiredly.

"I'm saying, William, that Commander Adama isn't just jumping around to keep the toasters on their toes. If we're jumping, it's because they've found us again. No sense lying to ourselves."

"They're still after us," Rachel said, almost hyperventilating. "They're still coming."

"We should do something," Puck growled angrily, standing up and starting to pace.

"What?" Kurt asked. "Beat them up? Toss them in the dumpsters?" He examined his nails, and then turned a mocking glare on Puck. "Slushee the Cylons?"

Puck started to answer, and then cut himself off with an angry huff. "Well, there's got to be something!"

"Well, there's not, okay?" Mercedes said. She had her arm around Rachel. "So chill out. All you're doing is getting everyone else upset."

"Mercedes is right, guys," Will said. "There's nothing we can do right now but wait."

"Well, frak that," Puck muttered, but he thumped into a seat next to Finn and glared out the window. Finn gave him a sympathetic half-smile.

"Look at it this way," Tina said, trying to smile brightly and failing. "We're still alive. We've jumped away. That means they haven't followed us, right?"

"That's right," Will jumped in, eager to break up the arguments. "We're alive, and the fact we've made it this far is a good thing. The Galactica might be a relic, but it sounds like our strategy is to run. They've lost the element of surprise, and that's good, too. So cheer up, guys. I really think we've got a shot at this."

They weren't all convinced. Puck turned away, scowling, and Kurt gave him the flat stare that meant he thought Will was an idiot. Sue snorted, and Sam looked dubious. But Tina's face lit up with hope, and Rachel and Mercedes squeezed hands. Artie closed his eyes, and even Finn looked a little more sure of himself. Will smiled at them all. "We're going to make it through this," he told them, and then sat down and opened a book. Some of them believed him. He stared blindly at the pages, wishing it was easy to believe it himself.

Thirty-three minutes later, they jumped again.

***

"Mr. Schue?"

It was the fourteenth time they'd jumped in a little over seven hours. Will rubbed his forehead and put down the book he was only pretending to read. "What is it, Rachel?" he asked.

"Mr. Schue, I was thinking," Rachel began, sliding into the seat next to him. "As glee club captain, it is my responsibility to keep morale alive. After all, if I can't stay hopeful in the face of near death, how can they expect themselves to, right?"

"Right," Will sighed. "You're right. What are you going to do?"

"I was thinking…" Rachel leaned forward, her eyes shining, "we should rehearse a new number."

"Rachel-"

"No! It's just the thing! And if the All-Colony Show Choir Competition-"

"I think it's safe to say that that's been cancelled, Rachel," Will said dryly.

"Well, you never know," said Rachel Berry, eternal optimist. "Some of the teams for the other Colonies might be on board other ships. And even if it is cancelled, then we won by forfeit."

"We won by nuclear holocaust!" Will protested.

"Whatever." Rachel scooted to the front of her seat. "My point is, Mr. Schue, what else are we going to do? We can sit around, dwelling on the Cylons and how they could kill us at any moment, or we could put together a new and fabulous show, keep ourselves busy, raise the spirits of all of our fellow survivors, and position ourselves to become stars within the Fleet!"

Will was about to answer when the intercom crackled into life yet again. "Preparing to jump in ten… nine… eight…."

"You either timed this very well or very poorly," Will said, gripping the armrests and closing his eyes against the impending nausea. He waited until they jumped, and as the engines began to spool down again, he didn't open his eyes right away, but thought about Rachel's request. A lot of it was hyperbole and teenage ego that anything any of them could do would matter right now. But like a lot of what Rachel said, there was a grain of truth there as well. "You're right," he finally said, opening his eyes. "It would give us something to do. Let's round the others up."

Rachel beamed.

***

"You've got to be frakking kidding me," Puck said.

"Come on, Puck," Mercedes argued. "Rachel's right. What else are we going to do right now?"

"It's the end of the world, and you want us to sing about it?" Puck shouted. "No frakking way!"

"As much as it pains me to say it, I'm with Puck on this one," Kurt said. "I know I have no right to complain, since my family is all here, but even just losing Blaine doesn't exactly make me feel like singing. And don't," he said, holding up a finger at Mercedes and Rachel, "tell me to channel my pain. It's too early."

"But you need to-" Rachel began.

"Don't," Kurt ordered her firmly.

Mercedes looked rattled, but then turned and addressed the rest of the group. "Rachel is right," she repeated. "We need to do something, and this is all we've got."

Tina shrugged. "I'm all for it. It's better than just sitting here waiting to die."

"Not like I've got any better ideas," Artie agreed.

Rachel took that as acquiescence for the entire group. "Good," she said, clapping her hands together. "Now, I've got something I've been working on just for the occasion-"

"Wait," Will interrupted, confounded. "You have a song you've been working on just in case there was a nuclear holocaust?"

"Of course," Rachel said. "A diva has to be prepared for anything."

It was the end of the worlds. Will figured he could be forgiven for banging his head against the wall.

***

It took them over an hour to find a place to practice. Rachel had first assumed they could just use a corner of the passenger cabin, but that was before Burt pointed out that other people might like to hear themselves think. Will split the kids up to search the various cargo pods. The pods were divided into individual compartments of varying sizes, and eventually Brittany and Santana found an area they thought would work, if they could clear it out. That took another two hours of heavy lifting and shifting, all to yield a space that was maybe fifteen feet by fifteen feet. It wasn't enough for them to dance at all, and cramming all twelve kids and Will in was a trick. It wasn't helped by the fact that it had been a while since anyone had had a shower, and that there had been four jumps in the time that it took to set up. But after some of the kids had climbed up on crates, it was at least tolerable.

To all the kids' credit, they all settled down in the tiny room and joined in. In some cases, it was more going through the motions than any real desire to be there, but Will wasn't going to raise any issues about that right now.

"Wait," Rachel said suddenly. "There's no music."

"There's no piano," Santana pointed out.

It was Quinn who said it first, quietly. "Brad's dead."

It was like a punch in the gut, that realization, and all of the kids looked at him. "Is that true, Mr. Schuester?" Artie asked, not because he didn't know the answer, but because he didn't want to believe it.

Will nodded. "It's true," he said, his voice a little mangled. "I mean, I guess. He was going to take a flight the day after we left." As were the kids in the jazz club.

"I don't know why you're all so shocked," Puck said. "We knew it."

"Yeah," Finn agreed, "but to hear it… I mean, it just…" he trailed off, confused.

"It makes it more real," Mercedes said. "I mean, I get that my mom and my dad and my brother are gone," she said, her voice cracking. Quinn, who was siting next to her, took her hand and squeezed it. "But I've been thinking so much about them that I hadn't thought about everyone else who's gone, too."

"Look," Santana said before Will could say anything, "I thought the idea right now was to sing and forget that the Cylons were hot on our asses. If this is just going to turn into an emo fest, I'm out."

Rachel bristled. "It's not 'emo' to mourn someone that we know," she shot back.

Will intervened before the argument could get out of hand. "It's not emo," he agreed, "but at the same time, Santana is right. What we've been through already, and what we're going through… it's a lot for any one human being to process. Let's just take a break from it and do what we came here to do."

They didn't end up rehearsing the song Rachel had chosen, but instead worked through the backlog of all the songs they'd sung over the past two and a half years. It was on the fourth song that Will began to notice they were attracting an audience. Not that anyone could squeeze into their little hideaway, but there were people congregating outside, listening. The kids seemed absorbed in their songs, although he would bet all the cubits he had left that Rachel was aware people were listening.

Any illusion was shattered, though, when Burt elbowed through. The kids were in the middle of a spirited rendition of "Lean On Me" and the people in the doorway were swaying along. Will edged over to the door. "Carole okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Burt said. "The doc here gave her something for her stomach." He gestured over his shoulder at the man standing behind him; a tall, solidly built dark-skinned man who smiled at him tentatively. "She's sleeping though."

"Lucky her," Will said before he could think. Fortunately, Burt took the sentiment just right.

"Yeah, I know," he said with a rueful smile. "If I could sleep through this, I would, too. But hey, this here is Doc O'Neill. He was wondering if he and his little girl could listen."

Will looked down, finally noticing a little girl with long, messy hair. She didn't look anything like her father, but she clung to him with a fierceness that broke Will's heart. "Sure," he said, stepping aside and letting them in.

The kids had finished "Lean On Me" and started in on "Frak You," complete with the original lyrics, not the toned-down "Forget You" version they'd learned in school. Will cringed, but Dr. O'Neill just laughed. "After what she's just lived through, a little bad language isn't going to do any additional damage," he said.

Relieved that he saw it that way, Will relaxed. The kids sounded a lot more relaxed themselves, he admitted, and by now were really enjoying the music. The little girl was still clinging to her father's hand, but a smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Tina noticed her first and smiled at her. The little girl smiled back, and eventually all of the kids were singing to her. All of the kids except Puck, who slid off his crate and pushed his way out of the room.

The other kids noticed him leaving- there was no way not to in a space that small- but they didn't stop singing. For a few moments, Will thought that he would just leave the kid alone. Puck had never been a student that had opened up to teachers well, not like Rachel or Finn. But at the same time, he'd had one hell of a shock. Deciding that he at least needed to make sure Puck wasn't about to flush himself out an airlock or slit his own wrists, Will slipped out of the room, leaving the kids singing with Dr. O'Neill's little girl.

It was crowded in the narrow passage outside their storage compartment, with several adults listening to the kids sing, so Puck hadn't made it very far. The range of emotions in that hall, from grateful to wistful to angry, was overwhelming. Will avoided any eyes and grabbed Puck's shoulder when he caught up.

"What the frak?" Puck demanded, flinching away from him. "I can't even get a minute to myself?"

Will truly did feel for Puck, but something about the way he'd left made him nervous. He pulled Puck aside to an emptier part of the corridor. "What's going on, Puck?"

For a long moment, Will didn't think Puck would answer. But finally he just said, "I remember my sister being that age."

"Oh."

"That little shit couldn't have been that much younger than my sister," Puck said. "She looked like she was six or seven. My sister's ten."

Will just stared.

"Why the frak did she get away, huh?" Puck demanded. "Why not my sister? Because she had someone there to protect her, that's why. If I'd been home with my mom and my sister instead of coming to this frakking competition-"

"You'd be dead right now, too," Will cut him off.

"You don't know that!"

It was possible- although Sue was probably right- but it was possible that the population of Lima, a small enough city that Will supposed it wouldn't be directly targeted, could be alive. But the Cylons had used nuclear weapons. If people were still alive in Lima right now, they wouldn't be for long.

"Puck, I know what you're going through. Everyone on this ship does. We've all lost people. But if we'd been back on Gemenon, we wouldn't have escaped."

"But at least they wouldn't have died alone!" Puck yelled. Then he quieted and turned away. "I get what you're trying to do right now, okay? But just leave me alone."

He wanted to stay, to convince Puck that there wasn't anything he could have done. Will had to fight that instinct hard. Everything was gone. Didn't he have the right to lock himself in with grief and anger? He didn't look like he was going to take drastic measures, anyway, so Will nodded and backed away.

"All right," he said. "But if you need me, you know where I am."

As Will left, they jumped again.

***

Dr. O'Neill asked Will to call him Simon. "Being called doctor all the time is very dehumanizing," he said with a laugh. "I suppose that's part of the idea, but it still irks me."

They were settled in the passenger cabin again. The kids had worn themselves out singing, and several had curled in their seats to sleep. A few were still awake. Kurt was sitting next to where Carole slept, reading a book and checking on her every five minutes, Puck was still nowhere to be seen, and Tina was still playing with the little girl, whom they'd learned was named Jemmy.

"She's my stepdaughter," Simon explained, looking at the girl fondly. "I married her mother three years ago. Jemmy doesn't even remember her biological father." His face fell. "And now she's going to grow up not remembering her mother."

"She's old enough to remember," Will argued. "She's, what, six?"

"Seven." Simon sighed, settled back, and then checked his watch. "Bet we're jumping in three minutes."

He was right. Afterwards, they settled into quiet talk. Will told Simon about the kids he was chaperoning and the competition they'd been heading to, and Simon explained how he was a medic working in the Colonial Fleet. He had some entertaining stories, and he had Will laughing when suddenly, they were interrupted.

"Heard the news, William?" Sue asked, looming above them.

"What news, Sue?" Will asked tiredly.

Sue smirked. "While you all were singing your little nursery rhymes down in the cellar of the Cybele, I was having a little sit down pow-wow with the captain. Seems she heard about the time I spent in the Marines Special Forces sniping in the Scorpian jungle, and she wanted a little advice. Turns out, there's some very important news that you're going to be very interested in, William."

"What is it?"

"That Cylons can look human. Completely, utterly, and unmistakably human."

Will's blood ran cold. "No," he said, his mouth dry. "You're joking."

"Not at all. Turns out they found one on Ragnar Station, and there was another that some Baltar guy identified. Rumor has it there are twelve different models, but only two have been identified."

"Oh my Gods," Will said. Simon looked just as terrified, his hand clutching the armrest between them.

Sue, however, just smiled. "And you know," she began, "I've always believed that hair like yours could never be natural. Although why anyone would want to create such a hairstyle when they could make anything they wanted is beyond me, but I've also seen the pictures of the two known Cylons and let me tell you, you're winning the beauty prize there, William."

The implications of her accusation ran through him immediately. "That is not true! I am not a Cylon," Will hissed at her. "And if you dare to tell anyone that I am…."

"Relax, William," Sue said, knocking the seat with her fist. "Like I said, I can't believe anyone would actually make hair like that. Just thought you'd want to know." And with a wink, she sauntered off.

Will slumped in his seat, exhaling and trying to get his heart to stop racing. "She's diabolical," he said when he could finally speak again. The worst was he had no doubt that Sue was telling the truth. It was too… he had to believe it because it made too much sense. And because that threat felt way too real.

"You're not a Cylon," Simon said, trying to sound reassuring.

"I know that," Will said. "But if she chooses to say that I am, how do I convince everyone I'm not?"

"Because we'll speak for you." Both Will and Simon started, and Will realized he had completely forgotten that Kurt was still awake and nearby. His pale face was even paler, but other than that he looked composed, his book on his lap and his legs crossed like usual. "If you were a Cylon, you'd be on the Colonies for some sort of strategic work, I would imagine. I'm not sure what the Cylons would be doing, but I think it's a fair bet that they wouldn't be a language teacher and glee club coach in Lima, Gemenon. Why would anyone go there if they didn't have to?"

Will shrugged, but Simon nodded. "He's right," he said. "It's the people that don't have others with them, people who are alone in the Fleet, who are in more danger. And there are going to be a lot of those."

"Who don't have Sue Sylvester after them," Will pointed out.

Kurt flipped his hand. "Well," he suggested, "you can always counter with the idea that she's a Cylon. People might even believe it. But really, unless the Cylons have such bad fashion sense that they think vests or track suits are de rigeur, I'm sure that you are both quite safe."

Worried as he still was, Will couldn't help smiling.

***

The hours dragged on. Will tried to sleep, but it was punctuated with nightmares. Not just about the people they'd lost back on Gemenon, but the kids. Some of the dreams were scarily direct; Puck shot through the throat, Santana and an explosion, Tina screaming for Mike to come back from wherever he'd gone, Finn saying he was ready to die. Others weren't so clear, but easy enough to understand; Kurt alone and shivering in a small room, Sam trapped in darkness and trying to break free before a bomb went off, Quinn in a harem, on her knees, Mercedes crying over a candle, smoke in the hall around her. And others made no sense at all; Artie working the radio, Rachel walking through mud, and Brittany standing against a wall of white lights, alone. But Will had the feeling the world wasn't ever going to make sense again.

***

"Get the frak out!" a woman shouted.

"Who says?" a man countered.

"That kid that was here on orders of President Roslin-"

"President!"

Will shoved through the crowd that was gathering, well-accustomed to getting to the center of disturbance. "Hey, hey, HEY!" he shouted. "What the hell is going on here?"

For a moment, he regretted it. The woman who had been yelling at the man towered over Will by a good three inches, and her build made him think of Shannon Bieste, although her face was completely different. The man was even taller and wider, and for a moment, Will just looked from one to the other with the sinking feeling that this was a really bad idea. But you couldn't show fear in a situation like this. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded again, telling himself they were just kids. Just kids in the hallway, in a fight over some stupid thing.

The woman didn't really look at him. "We are not supposed to be taking things out of these cargo pods!" she shouted at her opponent. "That kid who was here said so!"

"Frak him!" the man shouted back. Will was suddenly aware that there were several more people behind him in the narrow passageway. "Who died and made Roslin president anyway?"

"Actually, that would be the forty-two government officials before her," Will said, trying to interject some humor as well as logic into the argument. "She is the Secretary of Education."

"And she doesn't get to say how we spend our last hours!" the man riposted. "We keep jumping and jumping- they keep finding us and finding us! So let's see what's in these compartments of goodies and use what we can rather than just frakking sitting here and waiting for us all to be blown up!"

"You don't know that!" the woman snapped. "We've gotten away this long, and if we keep getting away-"

"That's one hell of an if! They killed off everyone not in these ships!"

"But we're not dead yet! We're going to get away!"

"ENOUGH!" Will shouted, shoving his shoulder between the two of them. "This is ridiculous. I-"

He didn't see the punch coming, although in retrospect, he should have. People were angry, hurt, lost… and he put himself right into the center of it. This wasn't a high school brawl; these were adults who had lost their entire world.

The impact slammed him back against the wall, and the man followed up with a sharp uppercut to his ribs. Will had never been much of a fighter- never had much of a reason to be a fighter- and he instinctively curled up on himself, slumping down the wall and trying to protect his abdomen and face. It wasn't overly successful, and more blows landed. He was aware that there was shouting, the sounds of flesh against flesh, and a foot connected with his gut and he had to choke back the bile that rose.

A loud, piercing whistle split the air, and cold water splashed down. Will couldn't see what was happening, but the man tearing him to pieces (was it just the man? Or were there others? Will couldn't tell.) was yanked off him. Then everything went dark.

***

He came back to consciousness with something cool trickling over his forehead. "You okay?" A face came into view, and Will finally recognized it as Simon. Simon put pressure on a spot that hurt like hell.

"Yeah," Will groaned, although he didn't really feel it. He looked around. "Not like high school kids."

"What were you thinking?" Simon demanded.

"He wasn't," another voice said, and Will closed his eyes. "It's really not one of his strengths."

"This what you wanted to see, Sue?" he asked.

"Can't say I'm not enjoying it," she admitted with a grim sort of glee. She was standing over him with her arms crossed. That was when Will realized that he wasn't on the floor of the passageway outside the cargo bay. And he wasn't in the passenger cabin, either.

"Where am I?" he asked blearily.

"Your kids kind of claimed the area that they cleared out," Simon told him. He helped Will sit up, pressing firm hands to various points on his body to check for bruises or breaks. Will blinked and saw the crates and a heap of suitcases. He looked down to see that he was lying on a collection of airline blankets.

"Where are all the kids?" Will groaned.

"They hopped in their convertibles and drove on down to the local convenience store for booze and cigarettes," Sue said sarcastically. "It's a spaceship, Will. They're all aboard somewhere."

His head really hurt. "What about the Cylons?" he asked.

"They're still after us. We jumped again while you were out."

"How many jumps does that make now?" Will asked.

"Sixty-three."

Will groaned and dropped his head forward into his hands. Every thirty-three minutes. Like clockwork. "Seriously, Sue. Where are the kids?"

"How the frak should I know? If you're so worried, William, implant tracking devices behind their ears."

"That's not legal," Simon told her.

"And neither was rewiring the Gemenese Air Traffic Control System to label the flight that the Caprican cheerleading champions were on as Sagittaron rebels and getting them dragged off to prison, thus disqualifying them from the All-Colony Cheerleading Championship, but I never heard anyone complaining."

Simon looked horrified. Will waved it away. "She talks like that all the time," he muttered. "Get used to it."

"Legality is going to be a thing of the past," Sue predicted. "Because what's left? If all the reports are accurate, I've heard there's maybe fifty thousand of us left alive. And I'm betting that it's not all idealists and cops and lawmakers. People are crazy, as you just saw when you tried to take on three people twice your size. Not that I didn't appreciate it."

Will had the distinct feeling the conversation was getting out of hand. Worse, his head was still killing him, and now that he was more awake, he was aware of a significant amount of pain in his side as well. He groaned again and sank back into the nest of blankets.

"Come on," Simon insisted. "Let me get you examined, and then you can sleep." As Will slowly pulled off his shirt, he heard Captain Xu announce another jump.

Sixty-four.

***

The sound of the kids arguing woke Will out of a pain-filled doze. He slitted his eyes open.

"One hundred and forty-one," Tina moaned, leaning against Mike's shoulder and closing her eyes. "One hundred and forty-one jumps."

"It's been over three days," Sam added unnecessarily.

The kids were in the compartment they'd claimed. They'd managed to clear more of the crates out so everyone could fit in, but it was still a small, cramped space, especially for sixteen people. Although there was obviously oxygen, the air circulation wasn't great, so the small room was worse than stale. The kids had managed to find blankets, but there were no pillows or mattresses. Not that it mattered; none of them slept well when the Cylons found them every thirty three minutes.

"I can't believe we can't even get showers," Kurt complained. "I don't even want to know what my skin looks like."

"Who cares what we look like?" Santana asked. "We're all going to die soon anyway."

"I'd prefer not to have my last moments with greasy hair and clogged pores," Kurt said haughtily. "It's not really how I want to be remembered."

"No one's going to be left to remember you," Santana countered sourly. "We'll all be dead."

"I'm starving," Finn complained. "If we've gotta die, I'd rather do it on a full stomach."

"I heard that there's a lot of food on some of the other ships," Artie said hopefully. Will was pleased that the kids had made the effort to get him down here; it probably hadn't been easy with the configuration of the ship. "Once we stop jumping-"

"How're we gonna do that, brainiac?" Puck demanded. "If we don't stand and fight, there's no way they're gonna stop coming for us. They've found us one hundred and forty-"

"One hundred and forty-one," Tina interrupted.

"One hundred and forty-one times," Puck said. "What's gonna make any time any different?"

"I don't understand why we're getting away anyway," Brittany said, and Will could hear her frustration. "If we have FTL drives and the Cylons have FTL drives-"

"They can't see where we're going," Sam explained. "We leave so quickly and they have no idea of what direction or how far we've gone. And searching space for something so small like a few ships isn't easy. They shouldn't be able to find us."

"But they do," Mike said.

"I feel like we should be panicking more," Rachel said, leaning against Finn's arm and closing her eyes. "Like I should be more scared."

"I'm scared," Mercedes reassured her. "I think I'm just numb because I'm so frightened."

Silence, and when Will looked, they were all looking at each other, drawing a little closer. They were all terrified, and there was nothing that Will could do or say to reassure them.

He closed his eyes again.

***

They called it night, because that's what the clocks said. The ship was quieter, with people trying to sleep. Will woke up to one of the kids crying. He didn't know which one.

It didn't matter. He was pretty sure they were all doing it at some point anyway.

***

The hours ticked by, and the pain in his ribs got a little better. "I'm almost positive there's a break," Simon told Will, "but it's probably a crack." He wound a tight bandage around Will's torso. "If we ever get to stop, we'll get more pain medicine over here. And if we don't get to stop…" he shrugged. "I suppose it won't matter."

"I almost wish they'd just get us now," Will muttered, getting to his feet painfully. "The waiting…"

"They aren't going to get us," Simon said grimly. "We'll get away. Somehow."

***

"We should have a party!" Kurt said, a maniacal shrillness in his voice. They were crammed back in their cargo pod, just waiting, and Kurt was sitting with his knees drawn up, arms wrapped around them.

"A party?" Quinn asked dryly.

"That was jump two hundred," Kurt explained. "Surely that's some sort of cause for celebration."

"Dude, I'm pretty sure your eye is twitching," Finn pointed out.

"It's not," Kurt insisted. "I'm completely sane. When have I not suggested a fabulous and elaborate party to celebrate something?"

"You're shaking," Finn said. "Come on, Kurt. You need… I don't know. To sleep, or something." He wrapped an arm around Kurt's shoulders and Kurt leaned his head against his shoulder.

Quinn looked over and caught Will watching. He saw it in her face. Do something.

But he didn't know what he could do.

***

"I'd kill for a shower," Burt said, flopping down onto a blanket, pulling his cap over his eyes and folding his hands over his chest.

"Any chance of that happening?" Will asked. The compartment was empty except for the two of them.

"Got a pod that we're going to be able to plumb a line down to," Burt explained. "It's gonna be a gang set up. We might be able to partition it a little, but we'll have to see what people want to do. I think making more rooms might come before making individual showers."

A locker room shower wasn't something Will really relished the thought of, but the idea of a shower at all right now overcame everything. He groaned.

"How are the ribs?" Burt asked him.

"They still hurt, but Simon says they aren't bad. Make me feel useless though," Will admitted.

"Only till we get through this," Burt said with a shrug. "Once we get away from the Cylons, a lot of realities are going to start hitting, and those kids are going to need someone to lean on."

"Yeah, realities," Will sighed.

Burt tipped his cap up and looked at him. "I'm not just talking about all their families being gone," he said. "I'm talking about the worlds being gone. That this," he gestured with one hand to the walls, "is it. There's no more theater, no more fashion college, no more community college, no more university, no more jobs waiting for them."

"No more future," Will realized, and the problems materialized in front of him. "They were all about to graduate in a few months. They all had these big plans and dreams that are never going to come true."

"Yeah. I think that's going to hit them harder than anything," Burt said. He glanced at his watch. "We've got ten minutes until the next jump. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can sleep through it." He settled down. "If Carole comes down, tell her to wake me up before she goes to sleep and I'll take over for her, okay?"

"I'll let her know." Will settled back, stretching his ribs experimentally. Burt's breathing evened out quickly, and Will realized it had been a long while since he'd seen either Burt or Carole down here.

It wasn't just the kids who had lost their dreams and purpose. Nothing was ever going to be the same, not for any of them. They were never going back to Gemenon- even without the Cylons overrunning it, it would be too poisoned now for humanity to survive.

Will pulled himself to his feet. Once he was up, the pain wasn't so bad. He slipped out of the compartment, leaving Burt to sleep in peace. He got as far as halfway down the narrow corridor before Captain Xu's voice came over the intercom system, crackly with static and broken up, but still understandable.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please prepare yourself for our jump. This is jump number two hundred and thirty-seven."

Will stopped and leaned against the wall. The jumps were becoming easier- a lot easier- but he still found them uncomfortable, and not just because of the knowledge that the Cylons had found them yet again.

He found all of the kids settled in the passenger cabin. It had been rearranged a bit- some enterprising souls armed with crowbars and wrenches had turned some of the seats around so that there were conversation areas. The kids were crammed into one, singing softly. Will noticed that both Puck and Sam had managed to locate their guitars.

"Hey, Mr. Schue," Mercedes saw him first. "How's the ribs?"

"Better," Will said. "You guys got room for one more?" The kids rearranged themselves, and by the time Will managed to ease himself into a seat, they'd started a new song. Their harmonies were rough and more than one of them was out of tune. They looked terrible. The boys hadn't shaved, the girls all had their hair pulled back in tails because it was so lank and greasy. They all looked exhausted and pale and scared. But they were singing. Will joined in, keeping his voice soft and blending with the others.

They were so absorbed in singing that Will didn't look at his watch. It wasn't until they noticed the change of tone in the passenger cabin and people getting to their feet to look out the windows that Will realized it.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"It's been forty-five minutes since we jumped," Will said, his heart lifting. "Forty-five minutes."

"They're gone?" Tina asked incredulously. "We lost them?"

"No. It can't be." Puck turned in his seat, tossing his guitar back over his hip as he knelt on the seat to peer out the window. "They're not there," he said.

"What about the Galactica?" Artie asked.

"It's there."

"They must have done something," Artie said. "Maybe they took the Cylons out last time we jumped."

"One old battlestar against the Cylons?" Sam scoffed. "There's no way."

"Maybe they'll still find us," Finn said. "It's only been a few minutes. Maybe they had to stop and refuel or something. Or they just missed."

"Or they want to catch us off-guard," Rachel added. "Like when a performer leaves the stage and you think it's the end, and then after all the applause they come back on for an encore. It's a classic trick to endear yourself to your fans."

"So the Cylons are just waiting for a surprise encore?" Kurt asked sarcastically. "To endear themselves to us?"

Rachel shrugged. "Well, it's not a perfect analogy," she admitted. "But it's the same basic principle."

"Right."

"There's no way they're not coming for us again," Santana said. "You don't chase people like that and then just give up."

Will rubbed his face with his hand. A quick look around the cabin confirmed that others were talking about it as well. He wanted to be hopeful, but after everything they'd just been through, he couldn't believe there was reason to hope. And yet, the minutes crept by, and no Cylons appeared.

Maybe they were going to get that one in a million chance after all.

***

An hour passed. "Condition Two" was set throughout the Fleet, which Captain Xu explained meant a state of readiness. Her voice over the intercom was rough and exhausted, and Will realized she probably hadn't slept at all in those five days.

They were all hopeful. They were all scared. None of them could quite believe that the Cylons were gone, but minute after minute ticked by without their appearance. And finally, the need for sleep outweighed anything else, and they were all packed into the cramped cargo pad.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that Will would care who was sleeping next to who. But right now he couldn't bring himself to care that Rachel slept on Finn's chest, or that Mike and Tina were wrapped in each other's arms. Or that Quinn and Sam leaned on each other, or that Brittany was cuddled against Santana's side. Aside from the practicality of knowing that they were only going to sleep, he wasn't going to deny any one of them the comfort they needed.

He'd thought that, with the kids all here and asleep, he'd finally be able to let his mind wander to the horror of the past few days and everything that had been lost. He thought it would be time to grieve. But his exhaustion was as deep as theirs, and in minutes, he was asleep.

He slept so soundly that he was unaware that the Fleet jumped two hours later.

***

"Will Schuester?"

Will looked up from his food to see a small, dark-haired woman standing in front of him. She had beautiful almond shaped eyes, a small nose, and clear laugh lines from her nose to her mouth. She also had dark shadows marring her skin and her short hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.

"Can I help you?" he asked, setting aside his tray.

She smiled at him. "I'm Anne Xu," she said, extending her hand.

"Captain Xu?" he realized suddenly. "Wow. I… I was beginning to wonder if you really existed."

She smiled. "I was beginning to think I wasn't going to. But it's been twenty-four hours since our last jump, and here we are." She sat down. "I understand you're on board with a glee club."

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I am. They were on their way to the All-Colony competition."

"Several of the passengers have been talking about them."

"They aren't causing any trouble, are they?"

"No, no," she reassured him. "They've been talking about the singing. It's been a long few days, Will. For everybody. And it's going to be a long time before anything gets a lot better."

"I know," he sighed.

"I know it's not much," Captian Xu- Anne- said, "but Robert suggested that maybe… maybe your kids could put on a performance in the passenger cabin. Something to give people a break, take their minds off what's happening."

Will smiled. "Captain Xu, we'd be honored."

***

In the thirty-six hours since the last attack, supplies had started being spread through the Fleet. The most important upshot of that was that some piping had been delivered to the Cybele. Seven days after they'd taken off from Gemenon, Will was able to take a five-minute shower.

It was the best five minutes of his life.

The full night's sleep and the showers seemed to rejuvenate the kids as well, and now Will was standing on the side of the crowded passenger cabin, listening to them sing. He was amazed at how many people crammed in to watch, but like Captain Xu had said, people needed the break, the escape. Optimistic, hopeful teenagers singing songs about courage, tomorrows, and believing seemed to be exactly what they wanted.

The kids sounded good. There wasn't much room for them to dance, but on the bright side, that meant Finn couldn't accidentally kill anyone. The tension drained a little from Will's shoulders, and even his ribs started feeling better.

"'Don't Stop Believing,'" Sue said, and Will turned around. "Really, William, you never do change, do you?"

"After what humanity just accomplished, Sue, I think it's a worthy sentiment."

"Humanity," Sue scoffed. "It wasn't humanity. Do you know the Cylons were tracking us, William? Of course not. The story hasn't gotten around yet and you're always the last to know. They were tracking one of the ships in the Fleet. The Olympic Carrier."

"They found the bug?" Will asked.

"Given that I saw a couple of Vipers destroy the ship, I'm going to have to say no."

"They destroyed it?" Will asked, horrified. "Our own pilots?"

"Yup."

"Well, all the people were off, right?"

"Not unless they'd developed powers of teleportation."

"But there must have been hundreds of people on that ship!" Will protested.

"One thousand, three hundred and forty-five," Sue confirmed.

"Gods…."

"So, you were right, William," Sue said, as the kids launched from the bridge into the chorus.

"Right? About what?" Will sputtered.

"That we have a chance," Sue answered. "Because somewhere in this Fleet, there's someone who can make the hard decisions. The ones that no one else wants to make because they aren't hearts and flowers and rainbows, but those are the decisions that save lives. Whoever made that decision to destroy the Olympic Carrier was willing to sacrifice a small part of humanity to save what was left. Whoever did that, William, is a frakking hero. And because that person exists and is in charge, yes. We have a chance."

The kids ended with a triumphant don't stop believing, and the passengers broke into applause. Will stared wordlessly at Sue. She smirked at him, winked, and then punched his arm gently.

"The show hasn't been half-bad. See you down in the room later," she said, and then walked away. Will watched her disappear into the crowd, feeling like he'd been kicked in the gut.

He turned back to the kids. They were sweaty, but flushed with success and smiling. The applause was still going strong, and for a glorious moment, they looked like twelve kids who still had a future ahead of them. Twelve kids who still had hope, who still had family, who still had dreams.

Will smiled grimly and lifted his chin. That's what they'd been. And, maybe, with a lot of luck and people watching out for them and helping them, that was what they could be again.