Editing Alex Quartararo

{{Character Data
|photo=CrashdownKobolGleaming.jpg
|age=
|colony=
|birthname= Alex Quartararo
|callsign= Crashdown
|seen= 33
|death=KIA on [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] ([[Fragged]])
|parents=
|siblings=
|children=
|marital status=Possible relationship with Ensign [[Davis]]
|role=[[Raptor]] [[ECO]]
|rank=Lieutenant
|actor=[[Samuel Witwer]]
|cylon=
|name= 
}}

'''Alex Quartararo''', known popularly by his callsign, "Crashdown" (or just "Crash"), is the [[Raptor]] [[ECO]] who replaces [[Karl Agathon|Karl "Helo" Agathon]] ([[33]]) after [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon Valerii]] reluctantly leaves Helo behind on [[Cylon]]-occupied [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]] at his request ([[Miniseries]]).

A survivor of the crew of the battlestar ''[[Triton (RDM)|Triton]]'', Crashdown aids in the discovery of a fresh water source for the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] ([[Water]]), a Cylon-held [[tylium]] mine ([[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]), and the planet [[Kobol (RDM)|Kobol]] ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]).

Despite Lt. Valerii's initial misgivings of him, Crashdown is a loyal officer.  His actions include the defense of Lt. Valerii to Sergeant [[Hadrian]] prior to Valerii's being taken away for questioning ([[Litmus]]).

Crashdown is also the object of [[Davis|Ensign Davis]]'s affections ("[[The Hand of God (RDM)|The Hand of God]]", "[[Colonial Day]]").

=== Events on Kobol ===

After Valerii attempts suicide, Crashdown accompanies a mission to investigate Kobol, which meets with disastrous results.  A Cylon [[Basestar (RDM)|basestar]] and [[Cylon Raider]]s had already taken position above the planet, causing the destruction of one Raptor, the retreat of another and damage to Crashdown's Raptor.  He pilots [[Raptor 1]] after his pilot is killed, crash-landing on Kobol near the ruins of the [[Opera House]] ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I]]).

[[Image:Tritonpatch 33.JPG|thumb|left|Quartararo at work, still wearing a battlestar ''Triton'' patch ([[33]])]]When sonic booms are heard, presumably coming from a Cylon ship, Crashdown leads the team away from a likely approach by [[Cylon Centurion]]s. However, he hurries his team excessively to the point where they abandon most of their critical survival supplies, leaving [[Socinus]], critically injured in the Raptor crash, without needed medicine. Crashdown orders [[Tarn]], [[Galen Tyrol]] and [[Cally]] to return to the crash site to retrieve the needed medicine. This ill-advised move results in Tarn's death from Centurion gunfire, and later the death of Socinus, as the retrieved medicine could not treat his injuries in time. All that the medic kit could do is to give Socinus an euthanization of [[morpha]] in lieu of suffering an agonizing death.

Crashdown's inexperience reemerges again as he attempts to organize his team through textbook field exercises to destroy a missile battery that several Centurions have constructed from the remains of their [[Heavy Raider]] to destroy any colonial [[SAR]] parties. The parameters of the operation change when the Centurions shift their deployment, providing greater Cylon defense at the missile launcher, and when the [[DRADIS]] guidance dish is left relatively unprotected. Crashdown assigns [[Cally]] the likely-suicidal task of creating a diversion while the remaining team try to destroy the missile battery.

Although [[Galen Tyrol]] insists that destroying the missiles' DRADIS guidance dish would accomplish their mission and prevent the shooting down of the SAR operation, Crashdown's inexperience and by-the-book insistence on following his original plan blinds him to alternatives that would greatly increase his team's survival chances.

As the SAR Raptor's sonic booms announces their imminent arrival, Crashdown hastily orders Cally to begin the operation, but she is frozen in fear and refuses to move. Becoming increasingly irritated and irrational, Crashdown aims his sidearm at Cally's head and threatens to kill her if she does not follow orders. Chief Tyrol aims his sidearm at Crashdown, asking him to stand down while Crashdown counts to three in a final effort to move Cally along.

Before the final number is counted, [[Gaius Baltar]] shoots Crashdown in the back, likely severing his spinal cord or piercing his heart, killing him instantly.

After their rescue by the SAR team, both Baltar and Tyrol lie to Captain [[Lee Adama]], claiming that Crashdown died a hero in battle ([[Fragged]]).

Lt. [[Margaret Edmondson|Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson]] succeeds Crashdown as Lt. Valerii's ECO for her mission to destroy the basestar over Kobol ([[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]).

==Notes==
*Before ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' arrives [[Pegasus (episode)|later in season 2]], Crashdown is the only confirmed survivor from another battlestar in the Re-imagined Series.
*Crashdown is possibly named for the "Crashdown Café" from Ron Moore's previous series, ''[[Wikipedia:Roswell (TV series)|Roswell]]'' (dealing with supposed alien survivors of the [[Wikipedia:Roswell UFO incident|crash]]).
*According to actor Samuel Witwer in [[Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion]], [[David Eick]] told Witwer to play Crashdown with a personality like Private Hudson ("Game over, man!") from the movie ''[[Wikipedia:Aliens (1986 film)|Aliens]]''.
*His real name was never stated on screen, but confirmed to be Alex Quartararo by [[Bradley Thompson]]. The name of the character appears on a playing card in the [[Battlestar Galactica Collectable Card Game]].
*In "[[Water]]", he mentions a previous girlfriend of his: [[Kimiko]].

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