Salik

Salik briefs Adama on the status of the sick pilots.

The senior life-sciences officer on battlestar Galactica, Salik is an aging, 50-something male who had been with the battlestar prior to the destruction of the Colonies. He has a long and decorated history of abiding to the Hippocratic Oath . His high morals have made himself a logical friend of Commander Adama's for quite some time (Greetings from Earth).

Salik and a contingent of medtechs volunteer to take a medical shuttle down to an asteroid where Jolly and Boomer are infected with a seemingly incurable disease. Although Salik attempts to do his best to cure all those infected, he is unable to do so without obtaining a living virus culture itself. Under escort by rookie shuttle-turned-Viper pilots trained by Apollo and Starbuck, he and his medtechs manage to devise a cure for the ailment (Lost Planet of the Gods).

Along with Cassiopeia and other medtechs, Salik later saves Adama's life, although not without a few scares first -- particularly power-interruptions from destabilized energizers (Fire in Space).

Sometime later, Salik attempts to gather readings on Count Iblis, although that goes nowhere. However, despite his nature, Colonel Tigh notifies Adama that Salik was the first person to be enjoying the apparent good fortune that had fallen upon them in the form of inebriation (War of the Gods).

Later on, Salik is one of of several who attempt to determine what exactly Michael and his family/crew were. He does object to Wilker's rather unscientific attempts to discern the technology in the Terran-made craft, and later on flat-out refuses to the Quorum's and Sire Geller's edict to open up the cryogenic suspension chambers on the Lunar Avion. Due to this act, Salik is relieved from duties regarding the "Earthlings."

In concert with Starbuck, Apollo, Adama, and Cassiopeia, they plot to put Michael and the other Terrans back in their craft and send them on their way with a Viper escort. Salik happens to be in the bay at the time the Avion launches. When Sire Geller inquires on being in the life-sciences station, he comments, barely able to withhold his laughter, that Geller relieved him (Greetings from Earth).

Portrayed by George Murdock

Notes

• Pronunciation: Salik's name is likely pronounced "sah-lik", although it has been produced in two other ways as well: "say-lick" and "say-leek".
• George Murdock is no stranger to science fiction, being in two Star Trek related productions. He played "God" in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Admiral J.P. Hanson in a highly regarded episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled "Best of Both Worlds, Part I."
• Murdock reprised his role as Salik in Richard Hatch's Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming trailer.
• The contemporary to Salik in the re-imagining is CMO Major Cottle.