Litmus is the sixth episode of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica and aired during the show's first season.
Plot[]
[]
A Number Five blows himself up.
It is sixteen days since the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Scorpia Traveller lands on Galactica's hangar deck, and its occupants disembark. A Marine Corporal examines each civilian's identification. One man is cleared and begins walking through the crowded corridor which the Master-at-Arms, Sgt. Hadrian has also just passed. He joins a line of other civilians. Elsewhere, Deck Chief Galen Tyrol is led by Specialist Cally Henderson to an empty room to continue his relationship with Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, who snuck through a hatchway on C Causeway to get there a different, equally un-suspicious route. The man stops following the line of civilians and turns down a different corridor. Col. Saul Tigh takes note of the man, and nonchalantly picks up a phone, calling for Marines to meet him at the "midpoint promenade deck causeway, C level" and approach from aft. Cmdr. William Adama also enters the causeway and takes note of the man. Following the man, he shouts out "Doral". The man turns around, revealing he is in fact a Cylon - a Number Five model - and exactly resembles Aaron Doral, the man left behind on Ragnar Anchorage. The man reveals he is wearing a suicide vest and detonates it. Adama rushes to the vest, hoping to disarm it, but Tigh pushes him to the floor.
Act 1[]
A Galactica crewman suffering severe burns following the explosion.
Adama arrives at sickbay, where he is apprised by Major Cottle, the Chief Medical Officer, that three people have died and thirteen more were injured in the bombing. The medics treat several men who are suffering from third-degree burns, one of whom requiring an oxygen mask. Tigh, who suffered minor injuries in the bombing, agrees with Adama they saw Doral.
Hadrian meets with Adama and Tigh, where she is informed about the existence of Humanoid Cylons, a fact kept secret for security reasons. Hadrian is put in charge of investigating into how a Cylon got on the ship with explosives. Due to repeated security flaws since the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Hadrian insists on an independent tribunal, a free hand in interrogations outside of Command review, and public disclosure to aide in the search for any identical copies of Aaron Doral in the fleet. Adama gives her the first two, and takes the final under advisement.
Tyrol catches Specialists Cally Henderson, Socinus and James "Jammer" Lyman creating a distillery in the tool room. Rather than report their actions, he decides to help them perfect it.
On Caprica, Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon waits on the balcony of a building in a ruined city. Caprica-Sharon has left him behind as part of the Cylons' plan with him, and observes him from a much higher building with a Five and Six. He will inevitably give up waiting at nightfall, they agree, but are unsure what he will do next. He will either head north, following a known Cylon patrol on the belief she is a captive and needs to be rescued, or he will give her up for dead and go south towards a space port. If he chooses the latter, he will be killed.
Adama reports the bombing to President Laura Roslin and asks for help in the search for Cylon copies in the fleet. Roslin is concerned about his decision to set up an independent tribunal; after 20 years of political experience she has come to expect they will always find someone to blame no matter what. With the high-profile nature of the bombing it will simply not be possible to get away with a No Fault verdict.
Hadrian is on the deck interviewing the crew about where they were at the time of the bombing, and if they saw Tyrol. Cally says she saw Tyrol doing paperwork before retiring to her rack to read a novel. Jammer says he was with Cally in the mess hall playing amateur Pyramid and Tyrol was there watching. Socinus says he was on watch duty, and Tyrol was servicing a Viper. Tyrol himself says he was asleep in his rack at the time.
Act 2[]
Roslin holds a press conference on Colonial One where she announces the independent tribunal to deal with the bombing, and the declassification of the existence of Humanoid Cylons. Photos of Aaron Doral and Leoben Conoy are shown to aide the public in identifying known models.
During the press conference, Hadrian returns to the deck with two Marines to take Boomer and Tyrol in for questioning. This gets the attention of much of the deck who protest, with Lt. Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo even trying to stop his pilot being taken without an explanation.
In the impromptu inquiry room, Boomer is asked in front of the judges where she was at the time of the bombing; she was asleep at her rack. When asked if she was engaged in an ongoing illicit relationship with Tyrol, she denies it, nor does she know where Tyrol was when the bombing took place. Tyrol is interrogated next, where only now does he learn he is suspected of collusion with the Cylon.
Back on deck, Cally, Socinus and Jammer argue over the on-going inquiry, with Jammer now believing Tyrol is a Cylon accuses his friends of being naïve.
Back in the inquiry, Tyrol is asked to explain what he does when performing his mid-watch duties, which includes making sure no unauthorised entry has taken place. His log suggests a hatch on Causeway C was locked, but was in fact found open immediately after the bombing. Hadrian explains that a Marine guard has been found dead in a weapons locker which leads from Causeway C, and it has been determined to be the location the explosives were supplied from. Tyrol realises he is being set up, and confirms to the tribunal that while he does have access to the locker, so do many others and concocts a scenario in which the Marine was forced to open the locker himself and that such a security failing would fall on Hadrian. Not holding back, Hadrian suggests the actual person who left it open was Boomer and not him. She asks him where he was during the bombing, exposing the conflicting reports by the deckhands. Proving to the tribunal a cover-up took place, she finally accuses him of meeting with the Cylon bomber. Rather than admit he was with Boomer, he cites the 23rd Article of Colonization, which gives him the right to not answer questions that may incriminate him in other crimes.
Moving her attention to the cover-up, Hadrian interrogates Socinus over his false testimony to seeing Tyrol serving a Viper. When he learns of the contradiction, he retracts his claims to defend Tyrol's own claim to being in his rack. When pressured over his deception, he lies again, now saying he left his post for a smoke break, then went out early to the galley. Hadrian teases him, and he admits to leaving the hatch open on his way out, and with more pressure admits to doing so intentionally.
It is now nightfall on Caprica and Caprica-Sharon still hasn't returned. Helo packs up and heads south to the spaceport only to give in and turn north.
Dr. Gaius Baltar visits Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in the sickbay while she recovers from her broken leg. While he is only interested in flirting, Starbuck is more interested in the bombing and her own theory as to why it happened: as Baltar's "secret project" is on C-deck, the Cylon may have been on a mission to destroy him and his work. The very idea shocks him, and he leaves. As it was the Messenger Six who gave him the idea for the Cylon Detector in the first place, he always presumed the Cylons intended for him to make it. When he suggests destroying the machine himself and blaming it on the Cylons, Six pushes him against a bulkhead much to the confusion of a Marine.
Back on Caprica, Caprica-Sharon is being roughed up by the Six. As the plan is for Helo to rescue her from the Cylons, she has to look convicting. Six punches Sharon to the ground; brought to her knees, she takes several more to the face.
Act 3[]
Adama converses with Roslin over the wireless about the tribunal. With Socinus' admission of guilt, Roslin believes his admission of collusion to be genuine though is more suspicious of Tyrol. Citing his father Joseph who was a lawyer, Adama believes they cannot do anything about Tyrol, as no court has ruled the 23rd Article as an admission of guilt. The call is interrupted by two Marines, who have orders to bring Adama himself before the tribunal.
During his search of the city, Helo becomes suspicious about a warehouse compound and goes into to investigate it. He soon spots a Centurion dragging Sharon away on a lower level, but is ambushed when he tries catching up. Helo takes no notice of its failure to simply gun him down, and he is able to defeat it with shots to the head. With no more Cylons around, he takes a bag off her head and they walk out together, watched from afar by the Five and Six.
At the tribunal, Adama is asked why he refused to go public as to the existence of Humanoid Cylons, and why he refused to inform his own security, which he explains was due to not knowing who to trust. Adama knows he is being set up, and explains that he could not trust anyone for the time being and dismisses any suggestion the bombing "could" have been prevented as mere speculation. Hadrian reminds Adama and the tribunal of the water tank bombing, which was likely committed by the same agents. Hadrian tries once more to set him up; she believes Tyrol and Boomer are potentially involved with the Cylon planning, and their illicit relationship was cover for it. She asks if Adama knew of this relationship and allowed it to continue, which would hold him responsible for the failings.
Adama finally has had enough and admonishes Hadrian for turning the investigation into a witch-hunt. He shuts down the inquiry, with the judges to be returned to their ships. They however do not recognise his authority, as they are independent from the military and established by the President. When Adama prepares to leave the room, Hadrian orders the Corporal-of-the-Guard to restrain him for further questioning, but he instead orders Hadrian be confined to her quarters The Corporal recognises Adama's authority, and follows his order resulting in the tribunal's collapse.
Act 4[]
Roslin holds another press conference where she announces the results of the tribunal. The new findings, differing from those of Hadrian's, have determined that the Cylon stole the explosives thanks to the negligence of Socinus, who is in the brig for lying under oath and dereliction of duty. Tyrol rushes to Adama's office, where he finally reveals his illicit relationship and insists Socinus is lying to protect him. Adama doesn't care to hear his defence of Socinus. As Tyrol wasn't there, he doesn't really know if Socinus left the hatch open, not does it matter as he is a confessed liar and should be in the brig regardless. Due to the crew shortage, Tyrol's importance to the fleet prevents him being in the brig at this time, so Adama gives him another punishment - that he live with the shame of ruining his friend's life. After the meeting, Tyrol meets up with Boomer after work as planned, but breaks up with her instead. Before leaving, he finally asks her if it was she who left the hatch open, but she is evasive and is too angry at him to answer.
Cast[]
- Edward James Olmos as Commander William Adama
- Mary McDonnell as President of the Twelve Colonies Laura Roslin
- Katee Sackhoff as Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
- Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama
- James Callis as Doctor Gaius Baltar
- Tricia Helfer as
- Grace Park as
- Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
- Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
- Tahmoh Penikett as Lieutenant Karl "Helo" Agathon
- Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya
- Sam Witwer as Lieutenant Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo
- Donnelly Rhodes as Major Sherman Cottle
- Jill Teed as Sergeant Hadrian
- Dominic Zamprogna as Specialist James "Jammer" Lyman
- Alonso Oyarzun as Specialist D. Socinus
- Nicki Clyne as Specialist Calandra Henderson
- Bodie Olmos as Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza
- Matthew Bennett as
- Christina Schild as Playa Palacios
- Raahul Singh as Kimmitt
- Shaw Madson as Marine Corporal
- Nimet Kanji as Candace Myson
- Biski Gugushe as Sekou Hamilton
- Morris Chapdelaine as Reporter #2
Appearances[]
Characters[]
- Lee "Apollo" Adama
- William Adama
- Karl "Helo" Agathon
- Gaius Baltar
- Anastasia Dualla
- Felix Gaeta
- Calandra Henderson
- Billy Keikeya
- Number Eight
- Number Six
- Laura Roslin
- Saul Tigh
- Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
- Galen Tyrol
Locations[]
Species[]
Technology[]
- FTL
- Wireless
Vehicles and vessels[]
Organizations[]
Sources[]
External links[]
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