Freyja

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Richard Hatch Novelizations separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

Ensign Freyja is a Colonial Warrior and Viper pilot who serves aboard Galactica.

Biography

Academy Training

Freyja attends the Colonial Academy aboard Academia as a first-year cadet. Approximately sixteen yahren old, she is described as a pretty, dark-skinned Leonid who is very popular, particularly among the other female cadets. A natural leader, Freyja demonstrates exceptional piloting abilities that place her scores higher than any other current cadet at the Academy.

The Academy instructors—including Majors Boomer and Sheba—identify Freyja as someone destined to become a Cadet Squad Commander (CSC) in the following session, despite her status as a first-year student.

Following a pilot's final exam administered by Major Boomer, Freyja approaches him to inquire about the Xerik system and whether the Fleet will find—and potentially settle on—a human colony there if one exists.

Early Promotion

When a critical shortage of pilots develops during the Chitain crisis, Lieutenant Jolly and Captain Hecate travel to Academia to select cadets for temporary promotion to active duty. Jolly announces that three cadets will be promoted: second-year Cadet Squad Commanders Cato and Marcellus, and "the third pilot will be Cadet Freyja."

The announcement causes an uproar among the cadets, as Freyja is only a first-year student. Jolly watches as Freyja initially smiles at the news, but then her eyes drop and she seems to cringe at the anger and envy of those around her. Before Jolly can intervene, Captain Hecate silences the protests.

Hecate defends the selection, acknowledging that "Cadet Freyja isn't the best pilot who has ever come through Academy, but her scores are higher than any other current cadet." She reveals that Majors Sheba and Boomer had already determined Freyja would be a CSC the following term, and demands that all Warriors give her the respect she deserves as an Ensign.

Freyja gathers her belongings and accompanies Jolly and Hecate from Academia to Galactica for active duty, along with Cato and Marcellus.

Battle of Poseidon

Combat Performance

During the defense of Poseidon against the Chitain assault, Freyja is assigned to Red Squadron under Captain Hecate's command. Despite her youth and inexperience, she performs admirably in combat, destroying multiple enemy vessels.

Freyja demonstrates exceptional tactical awareness during the battle. After destroying two Chitain ships, she contacts Captain Hecate with strategic concerns, noting that the Chitain are "running unnecessary risks. Coming too close before striking, coming within range without firing. It's like they're taking our measure." Her perceptive assessment, delivered in "surprisingly mature tones," immediately dispels Hecate's tentative feelings of confidence about the battle's progress.

Though Hecate tells Freyja to keep her eye on the scanners and let the Commanders worry about enemy tactics, she privately agrees with the young pilot's observation. The Chitain are indeed fighting hard but not fighting smart, apparently studying Colonial tactics—Freyja's words give form to Hecate's own uneasy feelings about the engagement.

Loss of Companions

Freyja's two fellow cadets do not survive the battle. During Commander Apollo's desperate assault on the Chitain dreadnought, flying alongside Cato and Marcellus, she witnesses both of their deaths. When a long stinger tendril shatters Cato's Viper into pieces of debris, Freyja screams his name over the commlink. An instant later, another Chitain blast destroys Marcellus' Viper as well, leaving Freyja as the sole survivor of the three newly promoted cadets.

Apollo recognizes Freyja's voice calling out Cato's name and realizes that of the three students—"not more than children"—only Freyja yet lives. He becomes determined that her life will not join the others, feeling the burden of responsibility for the young Warriors who have perished under his command.

Character

Freyja displays maturity beyond her years, both in her piloting abilities and her tactical awareness. Her perceptive analysis of Chitain combat tactics during the Battle of Poseidon demonstrates strategic thinking uncommon in a pilot with no previous combat experience. Despite facing the anger and envy of her fellow cadets upon her early promotion, she handles the situation with grace, though she visibly struggles with the negative reaction.

As a natural leader popular among her peers, particularly female cadets, Freyja represents the Academy's best hope for the next generation of Colonial Warriors. Her survival of the Battle of Poseidon—when both her fellow promoted cadets perish—speaks to both her skill and her fortune.

Notes

• Freyja is notably younger than Dalton, who had been the youngest pilot to graduate Academy, though Freyja's exact age of approximately sixteen yahren makes her "not nearly so young" as Dalton had been.
• The character's name likely references Freyja, the Norse goddess associated with love, beauty, and war, continuing the Original Series' tradition of utilizing names from various mythologies.