Peter Laird

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
Revision as of 17:50, 12 January 2007 by JubalHarshaw (talk | contribs) (→‎Notes: - typo)
Peter Laird
Peter Laird

Name

Age
Colony
Birth place {{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name Peter Laird
Birth Date {{{birthdate}}}
Callsign
Nickname {{{nickname}}}
Introduced Pegasus (episode)
Death
Parents
Siblings
Children Unknown (implied)
Marital Status Widower (probable)
Family Tree View
Role Deck Chief, Battlestar Pegasus
Rank Chief Petty Officer (conscripted)
Serial Number {{{serial}}}
Portrayed by Vincent Gale
Peter Laird is a Cylon
Peter Laird is a Final Five Cylon
Peter Laird is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Peter Laird is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Peter Laird]]


Peter Laird is a civilian aeronautical engineer. When the Cylon Attack began, he was aboard the Scylla, a civilian ship, when its passengers were "picked up" by the battlestar Pegasus. He became the ship's Flight-Deck Chief despite not being part of the Colonial military. When he came aboard Galactica, he met his counterpart, Chief Tyrol. Upon looking on the Blackbird, Tyrol's new stealth fighter, he was both appalled and impressed, especially because he designed the old DDG-62 engines used in the Blackbird (Pegasus).

Laird was assigned to Galactica during Admiral Cain's fleet integration and according to the the Extended "Pegasus" Cut replaced Chief Tyrol as deck chief even before he was charged with Lt. Thorne's murder. Also shown in the extended episode, he made a suggestion to the Galactica deck crew that increased fuel efficiency by two percent.

While drinking with Col. Tigh, Pegasus' XO Jack Fisk revealed that the Scylla was part of a civilian fleet that Pegasus encountered a few weeks after escaping the Cylon attack. Admiral Cain, with military priority on the mind, ordered that civilian ships be scavanged for anything that would be of aid to Pegasus militarily. Supplies, weapons and even people with potentially useful skills were taken.

Laird, whose background in aeronautics served Cain's plan well, was selected by Cain to be drafted into her crew along with 14 other people on board. However, all 15 of them were traveling with their families, and resisted Cain's attempt to draft them. In response, Cain had two of the families executed to cow the civilians, and Laird was taken aboard Pegasus. It is unclear if Laird's family was one of the two that Cain had executed, but if not, she still marooned them onboard the Scylla without an FTL drive (which left them at the mercy of the Cylons or the desert of space), making her ultimately responsible for their likely deaths.

Laird is having difficulty in managing the hangar deck as Tyrol's substitute and lacks military decorum, but assures Commander Adama that all ships will be ready for "the attack thing" (Resurrection Ship, Part I).

After Admiral Cain's death her crew transfers were reverted and Tyrol was re-installed as Galactica's deck chief. Laird has more-than-likely returned to his previous post as the Pegasus deck chief (Post Resurrection Ship, Part II).

Notes[edit]

  • Ron D. Moore said in his podcast that he was tempted to give Laird a Scottish accent as a tribute to James Doohan, who played Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, as Doohan died around the time that the episode "Pegasus" was filming. Ultimately, he reluctantly decided not to.
  • There's actually a real person named "Peter Laird", a comic book artist who co-created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.