List of terms (RDM)

Part of the series on Battlestar Galactica Terminology

Original Series Separate Continuity and Unproduced Scripts Richard Hatch's Continuation Novels Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 Galactica 1980 Re-imagined Series Separate Continuity (Books, Comics, Video Games, et al.)

This is a listing of acronyms, initialisms, jargon and terminology used in both the Re-imagined Series and its prequel, Caprica.

The formatting of this article allows for its use in conjunction with the Lingo extension used throughout Battlestar Wiki. This includes multiple spellings, each listed on its own line, preceding the definition of the definidendum.

Abbreviations, Acronyms and Initialisms

AAA

Anti-aircraft artillery (pronounced "Triple-A"), such as a battlestar's point defense batteries ^{(TRS: "He That Believeth in Me")}.

AAU

Anti-aircraft unit. Weapons emplacement used to destroy aerial targets ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}.

ACH

After Cylon Holocaust

denotes any time following the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, e.g. 1 ACH (see: Timeline (RDM))

ACM

Air combat maneuver. The positioning of a plane to acquire a firing solution on an adversary; a required skill taught to Viper pilots during flight training ^{(TRS: "He That Believeth in Me")}.

AI

Artificial Intelligence, research into such technology was deemed illegal by the Colonies after the First Cylon War ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}

ASAP

As soon as possible. Usually pronounced "a-sap."

BCH

Before Cylon Holocaust

denotes any time preceding the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, e.g. 40 BCH (see: Timeline (RDM))

BSG

battlestar group

Battlestar Group

Battlestar Group ^{(TRS: "Water")}. It also doubles as an acronym for the television series itself.

CAG

Commander Air Group

the senior pilot on a battlestar

CAP

Combat Air Patrol

standard deployment of craft on defense posture, an anachronistic colloquialism used to refer to patrols in space

CBDR

Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range. Indicates object on a collision course ^{(TRS: "Final Cut", "Pegasus")}

CF

Colonial Fleet ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

CFR

Colonial Fleet Reserve ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

CIC

Combat Information Center

nerve center or "bridge" of a battlestar, see: Combat Information Center

CMC

Colonial Marine Corps ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

CMCR

Colonial Marine Corps Reserve ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

CMO

Chief Medical Officer; e.g. Major Sherman Cottle is Galactica's

CNP

Command Navigation Program

operating system on military and civilian ships exploited by the Cylons ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")}

CO

Commanding Officer; e.g. William Adama

DC

Damage Control

generally related to the CIC station and related locations

DCT

Damage Control Team

party of individuals handling damage containment aboard a ship, consisting of deckhands and other NCOs ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")}.

DRADIS

"Direction, Range, and Distance", Colonial equivalent of radar or lidar

ECO

Electronic Countermeasures Officer

crew member handling electronic countermeasures of a craft; ECOs are standard crew aboard Raptors (see: ECO)

EMI

electromagnetic interference

high-energy electromagnetic radiation from binary stars is known to interfere with DRADIS (TRS: "The Captain's Hand")

EMP

electromagnetic pulse

A powerful electrically-disruptive surge that typically accompanies a nuclear detonation.

FOB

fresh off the boat

new crewmember who is reporting to their assignment; William Adama is referred to thusly by Armin Diaz after embarking on Galactica ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

FTL

Faster Than Light

faster-than-light

technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL

GDD

Global Defense Department

a civilian outfit on Caprica in operation prior to the First Cylon War handling large-scale enforcement throughout the colony, akin to the FBI, see: Global Defense Department

IFF

Identification Friend or Foe

transponder-based system to positively identify friendly spacecraft (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II")

KIA

Killed in Action

used to refer to military personnel who are confirmed deceased during a military engagement, see: KIA ^{(TRS: "Sacrifice")}

LSO

Landing Signal Officer

officer responsible for flight operations of either a battlestar or battlestar group

MIRV

Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle

a missile conveyance system; Cylons deployed these for orbital bombardment during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies ^{(TRS: "The Plan")}

MCP

Meta-cognitive processor

hardware used by Dr. Daniel Graystone in the integration of the sentient AI that Zoe Graystone created into the U-87, see: MCP (CAP: Pilot).

NCP

New Caprica Police

pseudo-civilian law enforcement agency overseen by the Cylon Occupation Authority on New Caprica, see: New Caprica Police ^{(TRS: "Occupation")}

OD

overdose

medical term for the use of medication to fatal, or near fatal, effect ^{(TRS: "Faith")}

OOD

Officer of the Deck

a watch officer aboard a ship, when the CO or XO are off-station ^{(TRS: "Scattered")}

PTF

Playing the Field

an advice column on dating in the Twelve Colonies (The Caprican: "Playing the Field: A Guide to Love in the Colonies," et al).

RFN

Right Frakking Now

directive to execute an order with alacrity, often used in a heated situation ^{(TRS: "Scattered", "Valley of Darkness")}

SAM

Surface-to-air missile

ordnance launched from a planetary surface or other stellar form; Silas Nash names this piece as something to be avoided when briefing Coker Fasjovik and William Adama ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

SAR

Search and Rescue

the act of finding missing persons in the hopes of their rescue, see: SAR ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}

STO

Soldiers of the One

a monotheistic terrorist organization in existence for more than a decade prior to 58 BCH (^{(CAP: "Pilot")}, et al).

SU

distance measurement similar to "astronomical unit," speculated to stand for "solar unit" (TRS: "The Captain's Hand").

XO

Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Military Jargon

Actual

callsign used in wireless communications to denote a ship's commanding officer

Archer

air-to-air ordnance provisioned for Raptors ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

ball

visual indicator used in a battlestar's Instrument Landing System during a hands-on approach ^{(TRS: "Miniseries", "Act of Contrition", "Final Cut", "Black Market")}

bandit

confirmed hostile contact, typically either or both a fighter and shuttle sized craft ^{(TRS: "Final Cut", "Razor")}

basic

initial skills training; can refer to basic military indoctrination, and arms and ground training ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}; and basic flight training ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}

bent bird

damaged fighter craft ^{(TRS: "Occupation")}

bingo fuel

minimum fuel level required to safely return to base ^{(TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again", "Scar")}

bird farm

Colonial pilot jargon for a battlestar ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

bug out

retreat, usually hastily and disordered ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness")}

callsign

a nickname used as a substitute for an aviator's given name in wireless communications and in conversation

chatter

to fire on an enemy during a fighter engagement ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness")}; active wireless communications traffic

code blue

request for assistance due to potential Cylon agent sighting (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II," Podcast:Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)

command authority

the senior rank in a command, such as an Admiral ^{(TRS: "Pegasus", "Precipice")}

conn

navigation controls, but also used to refer to command in general (TRS: "The Captain's Hand")

dress and cover

military term for personnel to form an ordered rank-and-file formation during ceremonies, derived from "dress right" and "cover down" ^{(TRS: "Pegasus")}

ell-tee

informal phonetic abbreviation for Lieutenant (LT) ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness", "Fragged")}

eyeball run

likely refers to targeting or aiming missiles manually, without the use of targeting computers ^{(TRS: "Home, Part I")}

fireteam

fire team

basic fighting element used in small-unit ground tactics ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness")}

five-'graph order

five paragraph operation order, the standard format taught in basic training ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}

genny

power generator; Tyrol asked Cally to "find the genny" to power up the lights on Ragnar Anchorage ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}

hack

the brig

hard deck

the threshold in a massive gas planet's dense atmosphere below which the atmospheric density and pressure becomes too great for a Viper to be able to reach orbit again and maintain structural integrity ^{(TRS: "Maelstrom")}; adapted from the original definition of minimum safe altitude

intra-atmos entry

a jump maneuver that places the ship within a planetary body's atmosphere, in either powered flight ^{(TRS: "Home, Part II")} or free fall ^{(TRS: "Exodus, Part II")}

jarhead

a Colonial Marine ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

jock smock

flight suit ^{(TRS: "He That Believeth in Me")}

jump

the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another

klick

one kilometer

knuckle dragger

inoffensive slang for a mechanic or deckhand

nugget

student pilot ^{(TRS: "Act of Contrition", "Scar")}

Mark One Eyeball

the unaided eye ^{(TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again", "Scar")}

no joy

no success in establishing visual contact with the target. Opposite of "tally". Can also mean no success in general ^{(TRS: "The Hand of God""[[|]]", "Maelstrom")}[[Category:]]

Old Man

Commander William Adama's nickname, used by officers aboard Galactica ^(TRS: "33")

press

in military parlance, directive to continue the attack; otherwise used to refer to journalists ^{(TRS: "Maelstrom")}

recovery line

imaginary boundary within which a fighter can return to a landing bay within a given time ^(TRS: "33")

rook

"rookie," typically refers to those on their first tour of duty after initial training ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}, q.v. nugget

shooter

slang for launch officer, responsible for deployment of craft from a battlestar ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")}

Sierra Alpha

"suspicious activity" ^{(TRS: "Scattered")}

sitrep

"situation report"

skids up

"take off" or "launch"; often used by the CAG to end a mission briefing

skosh

radio code meaning "out of ammunition," analogous to modern-day NATO brevity code "winchester." Skosh is also a real-world NATO brevity term meaning "Aircraft is out of or unable to employ active radar missiles".^{(TRS: "The Captain's Hand")}

slingshot

slang for a certain piece of Cylon equipment; Silas Nash names this piece as something to be avoided when briefing Coker Fasjovik and William Adama ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

sparrow

slang for Cylon Raider ^{(TRS: "Maelstrom")}

spinner

engineering component of a battlestar's FTL drive ^{(TRS: "The Captain's Hand")}

swallow

decoy drone deployed by Raptors ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}

snipe

engineer ^{(TRS: "The Captain's Hand")}

spooch

contraction of "screwed the pooch," describing a serious pilot error ^{(TRS: "Scar")}

tally

abbreviation of tally-ho; the sighting of an enemy target, such as a craft, landmark, or position ^{(TRS: "The Hand of God", "Scattered", "Maelstrom")}

trap

battlestar landing bay mechanism that arrests a landing Viper, Raptor or other small craft ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

Two Alpha

designation for an extremely risky and hence voluntary mission ^{(TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I")}

turkey

slang for a Cylon Heavy Raider ^{(TRS: "Maelstrom")}

unrep

underway replenishment

refueling and replenishment between ships away from dock, usually during flight. Taken from the contemporary term for the resupply of military vessels at sea while en route ^{(TRS: "Water", "Maelstrom")}

war porn

gun camera footage from engagements, typically played back by Colonial Marines for their enjoyment ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

weapons free

weapon control order indicating weapons systems may be fired at any target not positively recognized as friendly ^{(TRS: "Resurrection Ship, Part I")}

weapons hot

weapons status indicating that safeties are off and weapons systems are armed ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

wilco

"will comply," the typical terse acceptance to an order given

Religious terminology

Apotheosis

a belief held by members of the STO, including Clarice Willow, with various view points ^{(CAP: "Reins of a Waterfall")}. Willow believes that the STO can prevail if they use Zoe Graystone's program to offer real eternal life to their members in the form of holographic avatars. One of the Hybrids also uses this term during the Fall of the Colonies, stating "Apotheosis was the beginning before the beginning" ^{(TRS: "The Plan")}. (See: resurrection program)

temple group

a religious group akin to a "church group"; Lacy Rand tries telling a security guard that her temple group missed their flight to Picon ^{(CAP: "Retribution")}

trinity

a being in three different states; Zoe-R considers herself to be a trinity, as she is "Zoe, and the avatar, and the robot" ^{(CAP: "Rebirth")}

Other Colloquialisms

The Beast

nickname for Pegasus given by Galactica's crew (TRS: "The Captain's Hand")

Big G

nickname for Galactica

The Bucket

nickname for Galactica given by Pegasus' crew (TRS: "The Captain's Hand")

bullet-head

slang for a Cylon Centurion ^{(TRS: "Downloaded")}

clanker

slang for a Cylon Centurion

chrome job

slang for a Cylon Centurion (TRS: "The Resistance")

companionway

a set of steps leading from a ship's deck down to a cabin or lower deck ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness")}

derez

de-rez

de-resolve

occurrence of a holographic avatar's loss of either cohesion or deletion from the Virtual World, see: derez ^{(CAP: "Pilot", "There is Another Sky", "The Imperfections of Memory", "End of Line", "Unvanquished" and "False Labor")}

cube

equivalent of "square," a socially awkward person ^{(CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory")}

Download City

nickname used by Diana Seelix to describe the unknown or figurative place where humanoid Cylons are resurrected on New Caprica ^{(TRS: "Exodus, Part I")}

frak

frakked

frakker

frakking

all-purpose vulgarism; Colonial version of "fuck" (see: frak)

freight monkey

crewmen on Colonial freighters (TRS: "Scattered, deleted scene")

hard six

taking large risks; literally, rolling 2 threes with a pair of dice

Heavy

used to signify a civilian transport vessel over a certain gross weight/mass, i.e. Colonial Heavy 798

husker

Aerlionian slang for hayseed; William Adama is called this by Coker Fasjovik, thus the source of Adama's callsign ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

skin job

derogatory term for humanoid Cylons; homage to the movie Blade Runner ^{(TRS: "Downloaded")}

stump

derogatory term for a prisoner in a labor camp ^{(TRS: "Bastille Day")}

symp

derogatory shorthand for sympathizer, vis-à-vis Cylons; Strohmeyer refers to Jenna McGavin and Nina Leothe thusly during a heated discussion about his war porn ^{(TRS: "Blood and Chrome")}

toaster

derogatory term for Cylons in general

toaster shopping

searching and destroying Cylons ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness")}

Go Panthers!

C-Bucs Rule!

passphrase between Sharon "Athena" Agathon and Samuel Anders, referring to two pyramid teams, the Picon Panthers and the Caprica Buccaneers (C-Bucs), the later being Anders' former team ^{(TRS: "Exodus, Part I")}

Battlestar Galactica Specific Terms

ambrosia

a type of alcoholic beverage, see: ambrosia

carom

term used in conjunction with a DRADIS contact read; analogous to the term "mark"

chamalla

a hallucinogenic plant used in religious ceremonies and medical treatments, see: chamalla

cubit

unit of currency, see: cubit

fumarella leaf

tobacco or a type of tobacco ^{(TRS: "Water")}

G-4

plastic explosive similar to modern C-4, see: G-4 ^{(TRS: "Water")}

JP

a unit of measure for liquid, approximately 1 pint ^{(TRS: "Water")}

krypter

Colonial version of "mayday"; in practice, the term is usually repeated three times, see: krypter ^{(TRS: "Miniseries", "Hero")}

morpha

Colonial equivalent of morphine, see: morpha ^{(TRS: "Valley of Darkness", "Epiphanies")}

pyramid

popular Colonial ball game, see: pyramid

Red Line

a point in space behind which an accumulative error creeps into FTL jump calculations ^{(TRS: "Miniseries", "Pegasus")}

stims

stimulants or a type of stimulant ^{(TRS: "33", "Final Cut")}

triad

card game similar to Poker, see: triad

tylium

mineral that can be refined to a powerful fuel, see: tylium

vernal

alternate term for the spring season (The Caprican: "Argentum Bay: The Ultimate Vernal Break")

Vernal Break

a period of time when students from educational institutions are released to celebrate vacation, c.f. spring break (The Caprican: "Argentum Bay: The Ultimate Vernal Break")

Technology

auto-umpire

a program in advanced sports courts, including the private tennis court on the Graystone Estate ^{(CAP: "Pilot")}

line sensors

sensors in the grid of a tennis court that can track a ball in play ^{(CAP: "Pilot")}

magcelerators

a magnetic acceleration feature in a battlestar's launch tube, thus allowing the Vipers to launch at high rates of speed for rapid deployment in combat situations ^{(TRS: "Daybreak, Part I")}

movie tile

storage media on which movies are stored; Amanda Graystone instructs Serge to find old home movie tiles of Zoe Graystone ^{(CAP: "Rebirth")}

wireless mobile pack

equipment used by Zoe-R for her work into reconnecting with the V-World ^{(CAP: "Reins of a Waterfall" deleted scene)}

wireless

Colonial equivalent of radio