Paya is the young daughter of Shevon. She had succumbed to illness, forcing her mother to do business with the black market in order to obtain the medicines Paya needed.
She was later abducted by Phelan and his henchmen, after Shevon lured Captain Lee Adama to her quarters on Cloud 9. Paya was placed in a cell with other children on the freighter Prometheus slated for the life of a child prostitute, to satisfy those having unseemly appetites.
She and those children imprisoned by Phelan were released upon Adama's execution of the market leader (Black Market).