Demetrius

Demetrius
Race	Colonial
Type	Civilian/Miltary
FTL	Yes
Propulsion
Crew	At least 16
Capacity
CO	Kara Thrace
XO	Karl Agathon
Role	Sewage recycling ship; Scavenger ship
Weapons	Detachment of five Vipers and a Raptor
Armaments
Status	Flown into a sun with the rest of the fleet in Daybreak, Part II
Other Images	More images...
Dimensions
Length
Width
Height
Weight
Wingspan
Other

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The Demetrius is a sewage processing ship in the Fleet. When Kendra Shaw tries to tune in to a Talk Wireless interview with Gaius Baltar, she picks up a transmission from the Adriatic to the Demetrius concerning cargo wasting in Adriatics's holds (Razor).

After Kara Thrace's return, a torn William Adama sends Thrace and a hand-picked crew in the Demetrius on a mission to find Earth, despite Laura Roslin's warnings that Thrace is not to be trusted (Six of One). The Colonial public are told that they are on a survey mission to find food sources, though its disappearance is a matter of considerable media attention (The Ties That Bind). The Demetrius is accompanied by a detachment of five Vipers and a Raptor that are magnetically secured to the ship — four Vipers on the dorsal platform, and a Viper and a Raptor on the ventral one. At least one docking hatch exists on the port side.

After two months, the Demetrius is scheduled to rendezvous with the Fleet or be presumed destroyed. After encountering a Heavy Raider with a copy of Leoben Conoy aboard, however, Thrace decides to abandon the plan. Conoy offers an alliance between the humans and his faction in the Cylon civil war, and Thrace wants to accompany him to his baseship in order to learn what the Cylons know about Earth, but her crew refuses to carry out the order (The Road Less Traveled).

Anders shoots Felix Gaeta in the leg over this and Thrace regains some control over her crew. She decides that it is too dangerous to take the entire ship and risk the lives of everyone on board, so she instead takes the Raptor with Anders, Barolay and Athena as her crew. Agathon remains in charge and decides to wait for her for just over 15 hours: the amount of time they can wait and still make the rendezvous with Galactica. Eventually time runs out and though Agathon waits a minute longer it seems as if Thrace won't return. Just as the ship is about to jump, the Cylon rebels' basestar jumps in and he is contacted by Athena. The Demetrius and the basestar then prepare to jump to Galactica together (Faith).

However, due to their jump drives not being synchronized properly, the basestar arrives at the Fleet alone, causing a panic. With the wireless also damaged, the Fleet believes itself under attack and Galactica responds accordingly. The situation is defused when the Demetrius also returns after spooling up her FTL drives again (Guess What's Coming to Dinner?).

The Demetrius is amongst the ships that successfully reach Earth (Revelations).

Interior design

The main quarters area of the ship are small and cramped like that of a submarine. Even the captain's cabin is small and sparse. A common area exists for the crew to assemble and eat their meals.

The ship's bridge is laid out like a small CIC with a table in the center, surrounded by various screens and a tactical plot.

Crew

The Demetrius's crew consists of:

Kara Thrace - Commanding Officer
Karl Agathon - Executive Officer
Felix Gaeta - Navigator / Watch Officer
Sharon Agathon - Raptor pilot
Samuel Anders - Viper pilot
Diana Seelix - Viper pilot, bridge staff
Brendan Costanza - Viper pilot, bridge staff
Eammon Pike - Viper pilot
Unnamed tattooed pilot - Viper and Raptor pilot
Erin Mathias† - Marine detachment commander
Jean Barolay† - Civilian volunteer
At least two additional unnamed Marines
At least three other unnamed crew members

Notes

The ship's name is first shown on the voting tally board in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", but it doesn't appear until the Season 4 episode "The Ties That Bind".
Ron D. Moore describes the ship as the "closest we’ve ever come to a sort of Das Boot – type look and feel on this programme since the [2003] mini series".^[1]
Demetrius was the name of several Hellenistic rulers, most notably in the Seleucid and Indo-Greek kingdoms. The name is derived from the goddess Demeter.
Demeter is the Greek goddess of grain and agriculture, the pure nourisher of youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law.