The Captain's Hand

"The Captain's Hand" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
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Overview

When two Raptors go missing after a training mission, new Pegasus commander Barry Garner challenges Admiral Adama's orders by sending his battlestar directly into the rescue zone--and a trap.

Summary

• The episode begins as two Raptors begin a training mission outside Pegasus, which is near a binary star, causing DRADIS and communications interference. The Raptors pass through a nebulus cloud, upon which they pick up a transmission. In the Pegasus C.I.C., the Raptors disappear from DRADIS, the Comm officer believing that they may be in distress.

• On Galactica, Chief Tyrol and the deck crew are in the process of unloading containers, when Cally mentions she heard movement from inside a fallen container. Against waiting for the Marines, Tyrol decides to investigate by entering the container. Inside, Tyrol finds a pregnant teenager who asks for Dr. Cottle.

• Lee Adama travels to the battlestar Pegasus, where he meets up with Kara Thrace. Lee has been promoted to Major. The two encounter Commander Barry Garner, now in command of Pegasus, who orders Kara to the flight deck while he and Lee proceed to C.I.C.

• Commander Garner and Major Adama talk in private about the discipline on Pegasus. Garner thinks that Starbuck is a huge part of the problem, but Adama defends her, citing her excellent piloting skills. Garner thinks that the virtues learned in his experience as an engineer would do the ship some good.

• Back on Galactica, Dr. Cottle & Admiral Adama discuss the fate of the young woman found in the container. Admiral Adama speaks to the young girl, Rya Kibby, as to why she is a stowaway. Rya mentions the fact that she doesn't want to keep the baby, but Admiral Adama (upon Rya's parents request) is intent on sending her back to her family. Dr. Cottle suggests that she request asylum aboard Galactica, getting a hard stare from the Admiral. Rya affirms that's what she wants.

• While reviewing the last transmissions from the Raptors, Starbuck makes a startling discovery, in that the reason for the disappearance may be the result of answering a supposed distress call. She attempts to bring this up with Commander Garner, who flatly rejects the theory.

• News of Rya's asylum request has raised a stir amongst the Fleet. On Colonial One, President Roslin discusses the issue with Admiral Adama, Tory Foster (her new aide following Billy's death), and Delegate Sarah Porter from Gemenon. Delegate Porter mentions that the abortion is a obscenity and demands that the girl be returned to her parents. President Roslin responds by saying the asylum request is under review.

• Over wireless, Commander Garner, Major Adama, and Admiral Adama discuss the missing raptor situation. Commander Garner feels that the Pegasus should jump to the location of the distress call to bring home the missing crews and ships. When the Admiral asks Lee if he concurs, Lee discusses Starbuck's theory that the raptor were drawn into a Cylon trap. Admiral Adama is inclined to agree with the Major and Starbuck, and orders a recon mission to ascertain the fate of the two raptors. Garner is furious over the decision, and orders Major Adama off the C.I.C.

• Garner decides to make the jump regardless of Adama's orders, causing a heated discussion in C.I.C. between him and Lee. By the end of the discussion, Garner asks the Sergant-at-arms to have Major Adama removed from the C.I.C., while the Major asks the same for Garner, relieving him of command. Drawing his weapon, the Sergeant asks for the Major to leave.

• Raptors are launched from Pegasus towards the now located raptors. One of the pilots is able to look inside their cockpits, only to find both Raptor crews dead. At that moment, a Basestar jumps into view of the pilots. Pegasus's own DRADIS indicates the arrival of two additional Basestars, which begin attacking Pegasus with conventional and nuclear missile barrages seconds after their arrival.

• During the course of the assault, Pegasus's FTL drive is disabled. Garner attempts to determine the cause from C.I.C., but is unable to do so due to the confusion of the Engineering crew. Major Adama, still being held by the Sergeant-at-arms, suggests that the Sergeant has better things to do than guard a prisoner and returns to Pegasus C.I.C. Commander Garner decides to head down to the engine room to ascertain the damage, and transfers command of Pegasus to Major Adama. Adama, after a moment of hesitation, swings into action, ordering Pegasus into the fray, closing with one of the Basestars and engaging it with the forward batteries, severely damaging the Cylon ship.

• Pegasus manages to jump away, due to Garner's sacrificing himself. A hit from one of the Cylon basestars had damaged one of the ship's coolant systems, and in order to repair it, Garner had to enter into a room which was venting atmosphere. In order to preserve the safety of his men and his ship, he orders that the hatch be closed behind him. He manages to restore the coolant flow just as he runs out of air and suffocates.

• In Admiral Adama's quarters, the Admiral and Major Adama review the reports from the incident on Pegasus. After pointing out that Lee was more forgiving of the late Commander than Starbuck was, Admiral Adama asks what Garner's fatal flaw was. Lee responds that Garner was accustomed to working with machines, but that command is about people. The Admiral asks Lee to keep that in mind, as he offers Lee the job of commanding Pegasus, along with a promotion to Commander. Lee is stunned for a moment, then he shakes his father's hand, accepting the promotion.

• Gaius Baltar proclaims his candidacy for President of the Colonies in the forthcoming Presidential election, hi-jacking a press conference called by President Roslin to announce the criminalization of abortion in the Fleet.

Questions

• Would Adama allow Dr. Cottle to be arrested? From the episode, he is of the opinion that he would do what is necessary.
  • Given that Cottle is the only real doctor left in the fleet, Adama may be hesitant to take such an action.
    • This idea is supported by Cottle's behavior toward officers: Adama is the only one to whom he shows even marginal respect.
• Was Baltar's report real, or was it just invented to produce the opportunity to drive his wedge?
  • With the constant Cylon attacks to the Fleet (barring the unexpected return of Pegasus) the population is almost always declining, as noted by Admiral Adama.
• Who will replace Baltar as Roslin's Vice President?
  • Can Roslin actually pick another Vice President, under Colonial law, if Baltar refuses to resign? One of the reporters at the end actually directly asked if Baltar would remain as Vice President. Perhaps Roslin cannot forcibly remove Baltar from his office just because he's running aginst her.
    • If Colonial law works similarly to American political protocol, Baltar was elected in his own right. For example, George Bush cannot force Dick Cheney to resign, only Mr. Cheney himself can elect to resign. Interestingly, 204 years ago, US President John Adams faced a similar situation: His own Vice-President, Thomas Jefferson, plotted Adam's political downfall.
• How will Zarek position himself in the Baltar campaign?
  • It is likely that Zarek hopes to become Vice President himself.
    • Does Zarek plan to have Baltar killed, as per his plan in "Colonial Day"?
      • Zarek actually seems willing to make a beneficial alliance with Baltar, which Roslin would never agree to.
      • Baltar may be a political novice but he's no fool; he would spot that a mile away. In fact, Baltar specifically asks Zarek what he (Zarek) would want in return. Zarek gave a diplomatic answer rather than openly ask for the VP slot.
• Will Tigh accept the fact that Lee Adama now outranks him and has command of a ship? Or does Saul have no interest in command and already told Admiral Adama that before the posting was offered to Lee?
  • As mentioned in "Scattered," Col. Tigh was never really interested in commanding a battlestar.
    • Fleet protocols, as in the real-world US Navy and other naval services around the globe, would require Tigh, as the senior officer to take command, as he did when Adama was incapacitated.
      • This is true for an intra-ship command structure, but if other qualified officers were available, Col. Tigh probably had the privilege to pass up the command of Pegasus, citing XO's prerogative (or something similar).
• What will happen to Rya, now that she had been granted asylum on Galactica?
• Why was Lee promoted straight from Major to Commander? Can a Colonel not be placed in command of a battlestar for long-term purposes?
  • No. Colonel Jack Fisk was promoted to Commander of Pegasus before his death. It appears to be something of a rank nomenclature formality, as Garner was promoted up from being head of engineering. Compare to the established terminology convention on Star Trek for always referring to the commanding officer of a ship as "Captain", even if that officer does not hold that specific rank.
    • The use of "captain" is done in real life as well. In the US Navy, a person in the command of a vessel is referred to as "Captain" even if his actual rank is Lieutenant Commander, Ensign or even if he/she is a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO).
• Had Garner been serving as XO to Pegasus's' previous commander, the late Jack Fisk?
• Does the fact that the Cylons had such a large force waiting to ambush Pegasus indicate that they have a new Resurrection Ship in place?
  • Given that there were three basestars in wait, it is more likely that the Cylons opted on surprise and sheer numbers to succeed. Still, Pegasus caused one basestar to retreat, despite being outnumbered. It is likely that the lack of a Resurrection Ship resulted in the basestar's retreat.
• How does the double layer flight pod system on Pegasus operate? Just before the battlestar jumps away from the ambush, there is a short sequence of Vipers returning to the ship that shows them landing on two distinct levels of the flight pod, with Vipers landing on the lower level being upside down with respect to Pegasus. Both the Colonials and Cylons obviously have some form of artifical gravity on their spacecraft, so this explains why such an arrangement is possible.
  • For more on the use of artificial gravity, see the article, Science in the Re-imagined Series.

Analysis

• When Baltar announces his candidacy for the Presidency, Number Six applauds with a slow clap. This action runs in parallel to how then-Commander William Adama led the entire crew in a long, drawn-out slow clap in respect of President Roslin when she was re-instated to her office in "Home, Part II".
• Survivor count is decremented by six from "Sacrifice", but seven people died in that episode - terrorists Sesha Abinell, Vinson, Page and Chu, two unnamed marines, and civilian Billy Keikeya. At least one birth must have taken place to offset the population count between the two episodes.
• Based on the Colonial One whiteboard seen toward the end of the episode, only five people died as a result of the ambush on Pegasus: Richard "Buster" Bayer, Lyla "Shark" Ellway, the unnamed crew of Raptor 314, and Commander Barry Garner.
  • This casualty figure is conspicuously low, considering that Galactica lost 85 crewmen as the result of a hit by a single nuclear missile in the miniseries, while Pegasus is hit with no less than three in this episode.
  • On the other hand, it is at least consistent with the surprisingly low number of casualties incurred in the Battle of the Resurrection Ship, and may indicate that the hull armor on Pegasus is significantly stronger than on Galactica, which has many conspicuously bare structural ribs.
• In the course of this episode's timeline, Lee Adama rises from the rank of Captain (CAG of Galactica) to Major (No details are given on that posting except Adama was assigned to Pegasus), to Commander and CO of Pegasus in the wake of Commander Barry Garner's death saving his ship.
  • Major Adama's duty was intended as a temporary stint as Pegasus acting XO, to familiarize himself with the duties of a senior officer. In the opening scene, he tells Anastasia Dualla that he expects to return to Galactica "in a couple of weeks".
• Garner's decision to mount a rescue operation in contravention of his commanding officer's orders is an explicit parallel to "Pegasus", down to the choice of words:

Adama: "I'm getting my men."

Garner: "I'm going to get our men."

• Two Raptors are lost in the beginning of the episode, but the officers refer to four missing pilots. This indicates that the ECOs aboard the Raptors are also qualified pilots—although, given that this is a training mission, they may in fact be instructors assigned to coach the pilots in training.

Notes

• Timeline-wise, Baltar says that he made an initial projection of the fleet's population "over seven months ago". This would have been before the arrival of Pegasus, since he said he factored in the arrival of her crew subsequently.
• It has been "almost a month" since Apollo was shot in "Sacrifice".
• The recap at the beginning of this episode shows a scene we have not yet seen in the series. It is the scene where Admiral Adama says that he is choosing Garner as the new Pegasus Commander, possibly a scene that was cut from "Black Market" and will most likely appear on the next DVD set.
  • Actually, this scene is really use of existing footage from "Black Market" when Adama and Tigh are telling Apollo to go to Pegasus on the hangar deck: the scene has been cleverly redubbed, so that Adama is saying entirely new lines when the camera is pointed at Tigh (not at Adama's face), and then Tigh says new lines when the camera is pointed at Adama etc. The following exchange never happened in that episode:

Adama: "I'm putting Garner in command"

Tigh: "He's an engineer, not a command officer"

Adama: "He's the best they've got"

• There is also another case of this redubbing when Baltar is talking to Gina during the "previously" montage: when the camera is pointed at Baltar, we hear Gina saying "You must betray Roslin and run for President in the upcoming election", but this was never heard in the aired version of "Epiphanies".
• Col. Tigh does actually appear in this episode, seen very briefly in the Galactica CIC with no dialog. He also contributes the "Previously on Battlestar Galactica" voiceover, and a few lines of dialogue in the above-mentioned redubbed scene from the recap.
• The script for Laura Roslin references Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, when she asks Delegate Sarah Porter if she wants her "pound of flesh". It's unclear as to if the writers are somehow placing Shakespeare's work into the story of Colonies, or if this is just a random "use of phrase" by an inspired scriptwriter.
• Mercury class battlestars do not need to retract their flight pods prior to a jump, unlike the Galactica type.
• The adjectival form of "Gemenon" is "Gemenese".
• Under Gemenese law, minors are the "property" of their parents.
• Capt. Cole "Stinger" Taylor is still onboard Pegasus, mentioned by Capt. Thrace as being in the brig for insubordination.
• Billy Keikeya does not appear in the credits for this episode, but he is seen in a framed picture that Roslin looks at.

Statistics

Guest Stars

• John Heard as Commander Barry Garner
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
• Nicki Clyne as Specialist Cally
• Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant Hoshi
• Christian Tessier as Tucker "Duck" Clellan
• Amber Rothwell as Rya Kibby
• Kavan Smith as Lt. Richard "Buster" Bayer
• Stephanie von Pfetten as Cpt. Marcia "Showboat" Case
• Particia Idlette as Sarah Porter
• Aaron Pearl as Ensign Abel Thornton
• Christina Schild as Playa Palacios
• Tammy Hui as ECO Lyla "Shark" Ellway
• James Bell as Lt. Steve "Red Devil" Fleer
• Kurt Max Runte as Ensign Charles Bellamy
• Kimani Ray Smith as Pegasus Sergeant

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Re-imagined Series definition: battlestar landing bay mechanism that arrests a landing Viper, Raptor or other small craft (TRS: "Final Cut")

Re-imagined Series definition: "Direction, Range, and Distance", Colonial equivalent of radar or lidar

Re-imagined Series definition: Colonial equivalent of radio

Re-imagined Series definition: 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

Re-imagined Series definition: in military parlance, directive to continue the attack; otherwise used to refer to journalists (TRS: "Maelstrom")

Re-imagined Series definition: Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Re-imagined Series definition: the senior pilot on a battlestar

Re-imagined Series definition: Commanding Officer; e.g. William Adama

Re-imagined Series definition: nerve center or "bridge" of a battlestar, see: Combat Information Center

Original Series definition: a Cylon outpost (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I")

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