Novacek was part of a covert mission from the admiralty of the Colonial Fleet as pilot of a special fighter known as a Stealthstar. The mission was to fly over the Armistice Line for reconnaissance of Cylon activity.
Upon crossing the Line, Novacek was quickly interdicted by an unknown contact. Under fire, his fighter is severely damaged and was spinning out of control.
With two more unknown craft bearing down on him, Commander Adama ordered Novacek's fighter destroyed so as to eliminate any evidence of their incursion into Cylon space. Novacek ejected a split second before the incoming missile struck, and is subsequently captured and imprisoned by the Cylons (TRS: "Hero").
The Escape
Novacek as a prisoner of war.
Around 3 ACH (2002BYR), Novacek is permitted to escape his imprisonment as part of an elaborate ruse by the Cylons. Two Raiders in pursuit of Novacek's escape Raider were apparently unable to shoot Novacek down. As Kara Thrace later discovered, the Cylons deliberately missed an obvious kill shot, allowing him to escape and bring a measure of terror to the admiral.
Shortly after telling Novacek of Adama's actions, Saul Tigh finds Novacek in the process of killing Adama. After stopping him, Tigh berates Novacek for almost giving the Cylons the assassination they wanted.
Later, Novacek boards a Raptor to start a new life on a civilian ship. Admiral Adama presents Novacek with a Colonial uniform and assures him he will always have a place as an officer on Galactica(TRS: "Hero").
His fate thereafter remains unclear.
Notes
A remnant for the Novacek's earlier first name before its change to Daniel by production (TRS: "Hero")David Eick's Video Blog entitled "Introducing Bulldog"[2] revealed that after agreeing to the role, Carl Lumbly stated that he wanted to keep his dreadlocks, much to the bemusement of director Michael Rymer.
In early drafts Novacek's first name was Seamus[3] and then Eugene.[4] When Cottle checks if Novacek is a Cylon, the computer screen shows Novacek's first name to be Eugene, an on-screen remnant of the prior name before its change to Daniel.
↑While dialogue from "Hero" places these events at 1 BCH, this contradicts previously established dates about the time Adama and others served on Galactica. See Hero#Analysis for a detailed explanation why Battlestar Wiki chooses to treat this as a continuity error.
VID) (2006-10-11).
