Steam purge

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Launch tube (TOS)Sexuality in Battlestar Galactica (TOS)

A Viper ready to launch ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

Launch tubes are the primary mechanism for launching the Viper fighter craft from a battlestar.

A battlestar's launch tubes are located within the two quasi- cylindrical nacelle pods located to the port and starboard. Each nacelle has 16 launch tubes, which are slanted towards the battlestar's aft. Designed solely for Viper craft, each tube has a track in the launch bay where the Viper sits prior to launch.

Vipers are loaded into an embarkation area at the inner-most end of the tube during pre-flight prep, and are launched when the pilot is given the "Launch when ready" command. Once inside the sealed tube, the pilot initiates the launch by activating the turbo thrusters on the Viper. This quickly accelerates the Viper, slamming the pilot into the back of their seat and sending the fighter through the length of the launch tube into the stars.

Launch tubes are equipped with surveillance equipment that is accessible from core command. Athena uses the camera to catch Starbuck and Cassiopeia seeking some privacy in a launch tube. Athena activates a steam purge, which is likely intended for maintenance purposes more than for burning unfaithful Viper pilots ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

The interior of the launch tubes are well shielded, presumably to handle any backwash from a Viper's engines. This is evident when Chameleon fires a laser volley from Starbuck's Viper into the launch tube, after Starbuck lures two Borellian Nomen, Maga and Bora, into the tube without major structural damage ^{(TOS: "The Man with Nine Lives")}.

Related Images

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  A Viper launching.
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  Viper accelerating down its launch tube.
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  Starbuck leads two Borellian Nomen down a launch tube ^{(TOS: "The Man with Nine Lives")}.
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  Maga and Bora hunt for Starbuck down a launch tube ^{(TOS: "The Man with Nine Lives")}.

 

Subject: Galactica Areas

Starbuck experiences a cathartic steam purge ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

Sexuality in the Original Series echoes many of the sentiments of classic Western science fiction of the early to late twentieth-century, particularly the late 1970s CE, when the series debuted.

Such relationships were purely heterosexual in nature, with an emphasis of certain males (i.e. Starbuck, Sire Uri, and Count Iblis) seeking the partnership of various females, but typically independent (and unbeknownst) to the other females.

Polygamy and Monogamy

Both polygamy and monogamy are known to the Colonials. Polygamy itself is a mating practice that dates as far back as the Lords of Kobol with each lord having multiple wives in a time before the exodus from Kobol. Such wives were typically "very young" according to the Book of the Word ^{(TOS: "The Living Legend, Part I")}. It remains unstated whether or not bisexual sex acts were involved in these polygamous relationships.

Yet despite this, monogamy appears to be the default mating practice of the Colonies, as many Colonials were Sealed to only one mate, among them:

• Apollo and Serina ^{(TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II")}
• Adama and Ila ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}
• Sire Uri and Siress Uri

Un-Sealed practices

Although monogamy apparently reigns on the Colonies, many Colonial males such as Starbuck, Chameleon, and Sire Uri tend to regale themselves with multiple female companions.

Being the primary "swash-bucking" character, Starbuck tends to engage in flirtatious relationships with the various women he has come across, including: Athena, Aurora ^{(TOS: "Take the Celestra")}, Cassiopeia, Miri ^{(TOS: "The Young Lords")}, Miriam, Noday, and even attempted to flirt with Sheba ^{(TOS: "The Living Legend, Part I")}.

In addition, it is indicated that women also regaled themselves with multiple male companions. In "War of the Gods, Part II," Iblis comments to Starbuck that Sheba should not limit herself to one man, when Starbuck notes that Sheba seemed to dump Iblis in favor of Apollo during a Fleet celebration.

Also, sexual relationships seem to be fairly fancy-free, as Siress Blassie takes a sexual interest in Chameleon, who arranges for his affairs after it was "proven" that Chameleon was not Starbuck's father ^{(TOS: "The Man with Nine Lives")}.

Socialators

Socialators are a form of sexual companion serving the Colonies. Their vocation is sanctified by "the elders," whose gender was never directly specified either way. People practicing this vocation are viewed with disdain by religious groups like the Otori Sect and, judging by Cassiopeia's quick defense of the vocation to Starbuck, others ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

Religious implications

The most religious of the Twelve Colonies, the Gemonese, treat contact between the sexes very differently than members from other Colonies. The aforementioned Otori Sect's high priests permit contact between the genders during the High Worship of the Sunstorm, which occurs every seven yahren ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

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