A self-aware Number Eight first appears in the series on Cylon-occupied Caprica, where she impersonates the original Sharon and helps Karl 'Helo' Agathon to further a Cylon experiment that relies on having him fall in love with her, and to kill him eventually by the experiment's conclusion. However, she eventually falls genuinely in love with Helo and tries to help him escape, during which he discovers her true identity. Sharon reveals that she is pregnant with his child, the first known successful attempt at a Cylon/human hybrid. While searching for a way off planet, the two encounter Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace, who is on a mission to retrieve an important artifact. In a scuffle with Starbuck, Sharon flees in Starbuck's captured Cylon Raider, but later returns to help rescue Starbuck from a Cylon facility.