The Captain's Hand

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“The Captain's Hand”

Battlestar Galactica episode

Pegasus takes a direct hit from a nuclear missile.

Episode no.

Season 2
Episode 17

Written by

Jeff Vlaming

Directed by

Sergio Mimica-Gezzan

Production no.

217

Original airdate

February 17, 2006

Episode chronology
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"Sacrifice"	"Downloaded"

Episode chronology

"The Captain's Hand" is an episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.

[edit] Plot

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Survivor Count: 49,584

Two Pegasus Raptors, sent out on a routine training mission by Capt. Starbuck in an area of strong electromagnetic interference, appear to declare emergencies and then simply disappear from DRADIS.

Meanwhile, crew members discover a pregnant teen stowaway on a transport ship en route to Galactica. The girl requests asylum aboard the Galactica and seeks the help of Dr. Cottle to abort her pregnancy. The doctor reveals he has been discreetly performing abortions upon request for women in the fleet who don't want to bear offspring in such uncertain times. Abortion was legal within the Twelve Colonies, but the girl's extremely religious Geminese family denounces it and demands that she be returned to them. The Geminese representative presses this point home to President Roslin, along with the statement that the scriptures consider abortion to be a sin.

Elsewhere, Apollo, freshly promoted to Major, is assigned to the Battlestar Pegasus to assist her new captain, Commander Barry Garner, who originally held the post of senior engineer on the Pegasus. When the two Raptors vanish, Garner places all blame on Starbuck, implying that she is negligent. It is clear that Garner and Starbuck have serious professional and personality conflicts even after working together for only a short time.

On Colonial One, Admiral Adama meets with President Roslin to discuss the matter of the pregnant girl. Roslin stands by her "pro-choice" beliefs, but Adama reminds her of her earlier statement that the fleet "needs to start making babies" in order for the human race to survive. Roslin asks Baltar about the fleet's population and he tells her that at the current rate humanity will become extinct in 18 years. This analysis later forces her to act against her previous beliefs on the rights of women.

Back on Pegasus, Starbuck tries to piece together fragments from the Raptor's last transmission and believes they may have jumped away to answer a phony distress call (a tactic the Cylons have been known to use in order to lure ships into traps).

Admiral Adama orders a recon wing of Pegasus Raptors to find the missing ships, but Garner goes against the order and jumps Pegasus to the location of the distress call in order to get his men back faster. Apollo vehemently objects to Garner's decision and is ordered escorted out of the Pegasus CIC. However before that can be done, the missing Raptor crews are found dead and their ships adrift. Suddenly, three Cylon Basestars jump in, revealing it was indeed a Cylon trap and the Pegasus is caught surprised in the ambush. The Basestars immediately cripple the Pegasus with multiple nuclear strikes, rendering the FTL drive inoperable.

Garner appears stunned by the rapidly deteriorating situation, placing Apollo in charge of the Pegasus while he himself rushes back to engineering to help get the FTL drive back online. Apollo hesitates momentarily but then orders the Pegasus to make defensive combat maneuvers and is able to fend off the attacking Basestars, seriously crippling one using the main batteries in order to buy more time for repairs. However, there is no doubt that the Pegasus will lose this fight if she stays; they need the FTL drives back online in order to escape. Garner is able to make the needed repairs to the FTL coolant system, but at the cost of his own life, allowing the Pegasus to retrieve its combat wing and jump to safety.

Back on Galactica, Roslin allows the girl's abortion and grants her asylum, but subsequently issues an executive decree making abortion a capital crime, citing "current circumstances" that make reproduction vital to humanity's survival. Vice President Baltar supports Roslin's decision in his role as a member of her cabinet, but privately indicates he would renounce the position if he were President. He then declares to the press that he will be running against her as a candidate in the next election. Roslin is surprised and disappointed; she walks out of the press conference leaving Baltar in front of the cameras.

Back on Galactica, Adama honors Apollo's courage in helping to save the Pegasus by promoting him to the rank of Commander, and makes him the CO of the Pegasus. The Admiral admits that the promotion of Garner to the Pegasus command was a failure of judgment on his part, and asks Lee to make sure that it doesn't become two in a row.