"Trust" Battlestar Galactica: Origins #2 (Dynamite) Writer: Kevin Fahey Pencils: Jonathan Lau Cover A: Jonathan Lau 2008

Baltar’s former mentor in the pursuit of A.I. now tries to stop his ambitions.

Read the story summary of this issue at the Battlestar Wiki

Notes from the BSG chronology

This story takes place mostly on Caprica two years before the fall of the Colonies. Some flashback scenes to Baltar's youth take place on his homeworld of Aerilon an unrevealed number of years before.

Didja Know?

Battlestar Galactica: Origins was an 11-issue mini-series published by Dynamite Entertainment, covering the origins of several characters of BSG2000. Issues 1-4 feature Gaius Baltar rising to prominence in Caprican computer science before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

Gaius Baltar
Dr. Odin Maxwell
Caprica Six
Carter Jameson
Richard Adar
Representative Bagot
Number Three
Number Five 

Didja Notice?

The small ship seen either lifting off or landing in panel 2 of page 1 is a Mark II Colonial shuttle as seen in episodes of the BSG2000 TV series.

On page 6, Baltar and Caprica Six appear to be walking along the Riverwalk of Caprica City, then stop in front of the Ellison Hotel. The Riverwalk is also seen in "Humanity's Children" and in flashback in a couple of other episodes.

On page 10, Dr. Maxwell tells Baltar he's planning on nominating him for the Magnate Prize for his work in computer science. In the BSG mini-series, it is seen that Baltar has by that time earned three of the prestigious awards. Magnate is Latin for "noble" and may have been intended by the creators of BSG2000 as a play on the last name of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, for whom the real world Nobel Prizes are named.

On page 11, Carter Jameson is revealed to have helped in brokering the armistice between the Colonies and the Cylons. He also remarks on informally speaking to Representative Bagot about peace options between Tauron and Virgon. This is the first mention of any hostilities between Tauron and Virgon. Marshall Bagot is a Virgon politician who is seen as a member of the Quorum of Twelve in a few episodes of BSG2000.

Carter is asked by a reporter if he supports the SFM. According to "Zarek" Part 2, SFM stands for Sagittaron Freedom Movement, a violent paramilitary group that sought the overthrow of the Colonial-imposed government on Sagittaron.

On page 12, the producer who offers to book Jameson and Baltar on The Colonial Gang for a debate on lifting the ban on the study of artificial intelligence appears to be a Number Three humanoid Cylon. The Colonial Gang is later seen to be produced and broadcast by Channel 7 Studio. The Colonial Gang political talk show also gains new life as a broadcast in the rag-tag fleet, as seen in "Colonial Day". The name of the show may be a play on CNN's The Capital Gang, a similar political talk show that aired 1988-2005.

In this issue, Dr. Maxwell introduces Baltar to Caprican Imperial cigars. Later, an advertising poster for Caprican Imperial is seen on page 17. Baltar is later seen to acquire some in the fleet in "Black Market".

On page 14, panel 1, notice that a protestor outside of the Colonial Gang studio is wearing a sign that reads, "THEY LIVE". This may be a reference to the 1988 John Carpenter film They Live, about aliens disguised as humans who infiltrate Earth government and media in order to manipulate the planet. This is somewhat similar to what is happening the Twelve Colonies with the humanoid Cylon infiltration. In "The Red Line", the slogan appears again, spray-painted on the wall of a slum building.

Jameson's aide seems to be a Number Five model humanoid Cylon.

On page 17, a poster on a brick wall in a bad part of town reads, "Life Here Began Out There!" This phrase was part of the opening preamble of episodes of BSG70.

When Baltar takes a look inside Dr. Maxwell's bedroom, he finds it strewn with old newspapers and Cylon schematics. Notice on one wall is spray-painted, "Where are the Cylons now?" and "There are 12 Colonies/Models". During the course of the BSG2000 TV series, we learn there are 12 models of humanoid Cylon.

The legible headlines of the newspapers strewn in Maxwell's bedroom are: "Identity Theft on Rise", "Colonies Discuss the Future of A.I.", "New Models Available, Mass Production Slated", "Troy Mining Colony Mysteriously Destroyed" (Troy is seen to be a planetoid orbiting Helios Beta on the Map of the Twelve Colonies available from Quantum Mechanix; it is also the birthplace of Boomer in her fabricated human history as mentioned in "Flesh and Bone"), "Baltar New Director of the CNP" (from the Caprican Times), "Magnate Prize Winner Gaius Baltar Takes Post at the Defense Ministry", and "Ministry of Intelligence Leaks!".

Books seen in Maxwell's room have the titles: The Sacred Scrolls 2nd Edition, The Lost Sacred Scrolls Study Guide (I'm guessing; we only see a partial title), and The Sacred Scrolls Compendium. The Sacred Scrolls are the basis of the polytheistic religion of the Colonies, mostly, if not entirely, originating on Kobol.