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"The Hard Six"
Battlestar Galactica: Origins #6 (Dynamite)
Writer: Robert Place Napton
Pencils: Jonathan Lau
Cover A: Jonathan Lau
2008 |
The Galactica is boarded by an
attack force of renegade Cylon Annihilators.
Read the story summary of this issue at the Battlestar Wiki
Notes from the BSG
chronology
This story opens on the
Atlantia 2 years after the armistice with the Cylons that
ended
the first Cylon War. The flashback sequences take place 6 weeks
after the armistice, when Adama was still assigned to
Galactica.
Didja Know?
Battlestar Galactica: Origins
was an 11-issue mini-series published by Dynamite
Entertainment, covering the origins of several characters of
BSG2000. Issues 5-8 featured a young William "Husker" Adama
during the first Cylon War and its aftermath.
Characters appearing in this story
Lt. William Adama (promoted to captain in this issue)
Leadfoot
Ratchet
Atlantia commander (unnamed)
Joseph Adama (mentioned only)
Alexa Cain
Houseman (mentioned only)
Annihilators
Hammer
Helena Cain (mentioned only)
Lucy Cain (deceased, mentioned only)
Ex-husband of Alexa Cain (unnamed,
deceased,
mentioned only)
Lucky (flashback)
Jaycie (flashback)
Didja Notice?
Adama's Viper is referred to as Viper-Nebula-7242-Constellation.
In episodes of the series, the designation is abbreviated to
N7242C. Likely, the "Nebula" for "N" and "Constellation" for "C"
is representative of the Colonial version of Earth's NATO
phonetic alphabetic, in which "N" is represented by "November"
and "C" by "Charlie".
As Adama is coming in for a landing on Atlantia, he is
told to "call the ball". This is naval pilot terminology for
sighting the landing lights on an aircraft carrier on approach
to landing.
This is the first appearance of the battlestar Atlantia,
though a battlestar
Atlantia did appear in the BSG70 episode
"Annihilation".
Adama's LSO for this landing is Ratchet. LSO stands for Landing
Signal Officer in navy aviation.
Completing his 1,000th landing, the control room tells Adama,
"Bravo zulu." "Bravo zulu" is naval code for "well done".
Adama is promoted to captain in this issue...just in time to be
mustered out of the service due to military cutbacks in a time
of peace.
The ball game played by Adama and Alexa in the flashback scene
on pages 9-10 is pyramid (known as triad in BSG70).
This issue is the first actual appearance in a story of Annihilators,
suicide cells of Cylon centurions programmed to
act independently of command and strike at random Colonial targets
(first mentioned in "Armistice").
Even post-armistice, Cylon command has no means of recalling
them.
The Annihilator ship that lands in the
Galactica's flight pod is a Cylon Heavy Raider, a combination
fighter/transport later seen in several episodes of the TV
series.

On page 16, Alexa asks for sitrep. "Sitrep" is military
shorthand for "situation report".
On page 16, panel 6, "hangar" is
misspelled "hanger".
On page 16, panel 7, "causeway" is misspelled "cause way".
Two other battlestars are part of the Galactica's
battlegroup, the Ulysses and the Cerberus.
This is the first appearance of both, though a battlestar
Cerberus did appear or was mentioned in a few licensed
stories of BSG70.
As the Annihilators begin venting the air from the Galactica,
Alex orders the men with her to get their EVA suits on fast. EVA
stands for Extra-Vehicular Activity in outer space.
The Annihilators fire one of Galactica's nuclear
missiles at one of its companion battlestars, striking it,
causing severe damage or possibly destroying it. Which
battlestar was struck is not stated.
Facing a bad situation against the Annihilators aboard the
Galactica, Adama tells Alexa, "...sometimes you gotta roll
the hard six," something his father used to say when he was
about to make his closing argument on a tough case. "Roll the
hard six" is a phrase originating in the dice game of craps; it
refers to rolling threes on a pair of 6-sided dice.
In the course of the story, Alexa Cain reveals she has a
daughter named Helena. Helena Cain later is seen to have become
an admiral in the Colonial military in episodes of the TV
series. However, in "Razor", Helena Cain's mother is said to be
Saundra Cain, who died during the Battle of Tauron, one of the
last battles of the first Cylon War and no mention of an Alexa
is made.
In panel 6 of the final page of the story, a misprint reads,
"Life doesn't always give us what we what." Obviously, "what we
what" should be "what we want."
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