CHARITY, THOU ART A LIE

Tigh returns to CIC, where a random missing Raptor has just jumped onto dradis. Tigh asks for more sitrep and Adama responds easily, telling him the story. Giving him the information he needs. He's already made his decisions. This is the first test.

"Transponder checks out, it's one of the Raptors that boarded the rebel Baseship. No radiological signature. Racetrack and Skulls are on their way to intercept." Racetrack radios in: the mysterious Raptor is shot to hell, venting fuel and O2, not responding to hails. "Someone had to jump that bird," muses Saul, and Racetrack either turns into Samus or heads out for a really poorly CGI'd EVA. She gets the hatch of the mystery bird open enough to look inside: the screens are flickering and dumb, and the grav is out. Against the ceiling bobs a beautiful boy: Pike, Gonzo, the only one stupid enough to go up against Kara on Demetrius. Helmet frozen over, eyes clouded and dead. Bill is sad. Me too.

Bill investigates the Raptor closely on Galactica's deck. Tigh climbs aboard as Bill's looking at Searider Falcon, breath catching in his throat. It's burnt and crispy, but that doesn't mean it's evidence of what plainly happened, no, nothing like that, not a solitary thing could harm a hair on her head if she had any hairs on her head, she's fine. "This is the shuttle she took over to the Baseship." Saul namechecks Laird ("Hi!"), who possibly has replaced Galen as deck chief I suppose, since he outranks Figurski, and has placed the jump as originating somewhere or something. Oh, and "President" Zarek, Saul snots, is still calling -- waiting to be "briefed" on the mystery Raptor and its horrible cargo.

"Recall the CAP. Spin up the FTLs," says Bill, because secondly of all he's not talking to fucking Tom Zarek about shit, but firstly because Laura is out there and needs him. It's nothing we haven't seen him do a billion times, but here's the difference: every one of the hundred times Bill did this for Kara, it was a bad idea yes, but we also knew he was right, because we were also there with Kara. So the best thing this Laura-lacuna does is finally make Bill look actually nuts, which I quite like. I mean, it's Laura, her hot ass isn't going anywhere and we know that, but by leaving her out we're able to see just how fucked up his perspective actually is, for the first time. Usually he beats somebody up and tells us about it, but this time, he's abandoning the Fleet altogether, right before your eyes, and that is amazing all on its own. Saul asks about the Fleet -- you know, the remnants of humanity they've spent like five years protecting, even as they shed their own -- and Adama is like, "Fuck them because we out."