Battlestar Zone Concordance: O, P & Q

OFFICER’S CLUB Lounge aboard the Galactica where pilots and other officers can gather to drink and unwind. Admittance is evidently not strictly limited to officers, as noncoms, Council Security, and other assorted non-officer personnel have been known to hang out there as well.

OFFICER’S MESS Dining area for the Galactica’s commissioned officers, probably a bit fancier and serving a somewhat higher quality of food than the mess for noncoms. Giles and Greenbean raided the officer’s mess for ale and ambrosa for Apollo’s bachelor party.

OFFICIATOR (Ted Noose) The person who officiates Triad games is the officiator; he watches the action from above in the spectator area, the only safe place to be during a Triad match (LG).

OLD MOON Cimtar. Where the Cylon ambush fleet waited for the attack on the Colonial Fleet (P).

OMEGA, FLIGHT OFFICER (David Greenan) Omega is the most familiar of the Galactica’s bridge officers; he seems to invariably have some sort of tragic news to deliver to Adama or Tigh. He is noted for his recruiting advertisements on IFB. “We need…you!” (MN)

OPPOSER The title of the person who represents the prosecution at a tribunal. Sire Solon is the chief opposer of the fleet and served in that position at Starbuck’s tribunal (MR).

ORANGE SQUADRON One of the squadrons mentioned by Starbuck when he and Apollo made their attack run on the base ship over Carillon. According to Athena, not a Galactica squadron (P).

ORIGINAL SINNERS The prisoners on Proteus committed no real crime themselves. They were still serving the sentences of their ancestors who were sent to Proteus hundreds of yahrens earlier from the Colonies before Proteus was cut off and forgotten during the war. These ancestors were referred to as “original sinners” and their descendants are named for the crimes they were sentenced for, i.e. Robber, Forger, Assault, etc. (LP).

ORION Siress Belloby’s energizer was made on Orion (MW). Money from Orion is negotiable in the fleet (MN) and in Serenity (MW). Evidently a planet the Colonials traded with; no evidence was ever given in the series as to whether it was inhabited by humans and hence an offshoot from the Colonies, or if it was an alien-inhabited world that was a Colonial ally or dependency. Pronounced “Or-e-on” by Siress Blassie and “O-ri-on” by everyone else.

ORION CHECKS Currency from Orion. Starbuck had some Orion checks amongst his reserve of cash on Sectar (MW); Siress Blassie lent Chameleon some Orion checks (MN).

ORION HASHER Unknown item mentioned by Cassiopiea, who claimed to Sheba and Athena that Starbuck tended to end up looking like a black and blue one after playing Triad against Ortega (MR).

ORION MOON, PALE AS AN Phrase used by Sheba (BE). Does suggest that Orion has more than one moon.

ORPHAN SHIP Ship in the fleet that apparently houses large numbers of parentless children rescued from the Colonies (MN).

ORTEGA, FLIGHT SERGEANT (Frank Ashmore) Ortega, a tough, aggressive, good-looking warrior had been at odds with Starbuck since the Academy (odd, by the way, that the BG writers would assume that officer-candidates and NCOs would attend the same academy. It seems more likely to me that Ortega and Starbuck met during pilot training). Wingman of Flight Sergeant Barton, who can’t stand him, but flies with him because he was assigned to and plays Triad with him because he wins. In a close-fought Triad game aboard the Rising Star, Ortega continually hit Starbuck when the officiator wasn't looking and angered Starbuck into fighting. Both men were thrown out of the game. Later, Ortega was found in the locker room, shot to death, and Starbuck was suspected. Apollo learned that Ortega, assigned to assist loading the Rising Star the night of the Cylon attack on Caprica, permitted himself to be bribed by three men to allow them on board, one of whom was Karibdis, Baltar’s aide, the man who had sabotaged the Caprican defense computers. Rather unwisely Ortega had continued to blackmail all three afterwards and finally Karibdis took the opportunity to shoot Ortega and frame Starbuck for the crime. Ortega was definitely a widely disliked person who will likely be missed by no one (MR). Frank Ashmore is better known to SF fans as Martin and Phillip on V.

OTORI SECT A religious group amongst the Gemonese, they believe in physical contact between genders only when sanctified by the priests during the High Worship of the Sunstorm, which occurs every seven years. Cassiopiea finds this custom appalling while Starbuck decides it’s why Gemons make such good card players. May have been a custom adopted after the destruction of Kobol as a preventative against overpopulation. Members of the Otori sect aboard the freighter Gemini wanted to heave Cassiopiea out of the nearest airlock, but fortunately she was rescued by Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer (P).

OUTER MARKER An arbitrary point somewhere along the landing approaches to the Galactica’s hangar bays. In the premiere, Colonel Tigh ordered Starbuck, whose throttles were jammed open, to shut down his engines at the outer marker and evidently coast the rest of the way in. Boomer and Jolly were held at the outer marker while waiting for permission to land (LG).

OVIONS Sentient insect beings who inhabited Carillon, allies of the Cylons. Whether they are actually native to Carillon is not known. The Ovions used the casino on Carillon to supply their young with living human food. Cassiopiea almost suffered this horrible fate (in fact, in all but the final version of the premiere script she actually did!), but was rescued by Apollo and Starbuck. All Ovions were presumably killed when Carillon exploded (P).

PACIFICA Battlestar destroyed at Cimtar; never mentioned in the series, but frequently in various official BG publications. There has been a great deal of discussion in fandom as to what the “official” battlestar names were, but no two lists match. For our theory, see here.

PALLON (Lyman Ward) A waiter aboard the Rising Star, he is first seen serving Adama and Tigh in their private lounge as they watch the Triad game. Alias of Karibdis (MR).

PARADEEN The destination planet of Michael’s family after their escape from Lunar Seven. The population of Paradeen was all but wiped out by the Eastern Alliance using either neutron-type nuclear weapons or bacteriological warfare. Paradeen has a thinner atmosphere than the Colonials are used to (GE).

PARASAIL The warriors who attacked the Cylon control center on Gamoray used steerable parasails, in incongruously bright colors and patterns, to descend (LL).

PARKA The assault team on Arkta wore heavy quilted parkas of an odd tannish-purple color trimmed with off-white fur and fastened by typical Colonial battle jacket fasteners. Interestingly, in addition to the Galactica’s insignia, each parka had a different colored patch on each sleeve, probably for easy identification. The patches were rectangular with a rounded top and were colored as follows:

border	center	worn by
silver	purple	Captain Apollo
gold	orange	Lieutenant Starbuck
gold	red	Lieutenant Boomer
gold	blue	Croft
gold	yellow	Wolfe
gold	light blue	Leda
purple	black	Thane

The patches worn by the other three warriors on the mission, Vickers, Haals, and Voight, are difficult to observe but appear to be an identical dark shade with a silver border (GI).

PARSEC Colonial measure of distance, not the same as an Earth parsec, which measures 3.26 light-years. In “Lost Planet of the Gods” the Cylon outpost where Boomer and Jolly contracted the mysterious disease was a “parsec” behind the fleet when the medical shuttle and its escorting vipers were sent there, which would have been far too great a distance. In the terminology sheet prepared by the production team, a parsec is defined as “the distance between Earth and the sun” (a distance in astronomy known as an Astronomical Unit or AU), 90 million miles. Presumably it was used in this fashion. Again, the scientific ignorance of the production team can only make BG fans cringe.

PARTS SHIP One of the three industry ships placed under the overall command of Commander Kronus (TC).

PAYE, DOCTOR (John Fink) A life officer aboard the Galactica, he healed Cassiopiea's broken arm (P). John Fink’s chance for fame mostly ended up on the cutting room floor after the subplot about Serina’s fatal illness was edited out of the premiere along with most of his performance. Dr. Paye was also mentioned by Adama in “War of the Gods.” We may assume that Dr. Paye is Dr. Salik’s assistant.

PEGASUS Cain’s battlestar, formerly flagship of the Fifth Fleet. Her insignia is a winged sword in a shield-shaped patch. Her continued survival is in doubt after Cain’s suicidal attack on two baseships near Gamoray (LL).

PEOPLE’S NATIONALIST FORCES Military force of the Nationalists on Terra. Troopers from the People’s Nationalist Forces tried to arrest Starbuck after he landed on Terra, but he stunned them and destroyed their vehicles (ET).

PETRO An item Specter’s garrison on Attila seems to be using an unusual amount of, according to Lucifer (YL).

PHALANX A grouping of Cylon attack craft, probably referred to the number or possibly formation of them. “Phalanx” may be the term used by the humans to denote a Cylon squadron or wing.

PILOT (Paul Coufos) Starbuck’s wingman when the Fleet was ambushed, he was killed after commenting to Starbuck “it’s dangerous out here!” Paul Coufos reappeared in the series in “Lost Planet of the Gods” as one of two Security guards on the bridge ordered to see to the quarantine of the pilots infected at the party.

PINEAS or PINIAS The gambling chancery on Pineas was, naturally, one of Starbuck’s favorite pre-holocaust hangouts. Apollo lost a secton’s pay there playing one of Starbuck’s “systems.” Chameleon once knew a three-handed dealer on Pineas (MN).

PLANNERS One of three classes of clones on Arkta (GI), specially bred for their intelligence and evidently cloned from Dr. Ravashol himself! Only seen briefly in the usual version of the episode (one is standing behind Dr. Ravashol as he bids Apollo farewell at the end), but also appeared in a scene in the two-hour “movie” version of the episode, in which Apollo had to meet with a group of Planners.

PLANT VAPORS Evidently a common drug on the Colonies or term for drug use; Boomer decided that the silly Taurean woman he and Starbuck met near the casino on Carillon had been “smoking plant vapors” (P).

PLUTON BOMBS A Cylon weapon used during the holocaust, it contaminates foodstuffs, among other effects (P). In a subplot in the premiere later edited out, pluton radiation infected Serina with a fatal illness.

PLUTON POISONING The effect of pluton radiation on food, it breaks down its structure, making it nutritionally worthless. Much of the food brought from the Colonies had to be jettisoned because of this (P).

PODS Boomer referred to the hidden Cylon base he and Jolly discovered as “pods.” Evidently a generic term for various types of hidden and camouflaged Cylon launch facilities (LG).

POGEES Unknown term used by Lucifer, who commented sardonically to Baltar that the Colonial vipers were over Gamoray, “blowing the pogees out of it” (LL).

POWERSLED Open, tracked vehicle used in “The Magnificent Warriors.” I’ve seen the same vehicle in at least one episode of Emergency!, a series filmed at Universal just prior to BG.

PREMEDITATED HUMAN TERMINATION What Starbuck was charged with in the murder of Ortega, it seems an unusually harsh charge; on Earth Starbuck might have got off with “self defense” or at most some level of manslaughter. If found guilty, Starbuck would have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

PRESIDIUM Meeting place of the Council of Twelve on Caprica, from where Serina was broadcasting at the time of the attack (P). It seems likely that each Colony would have had its own Presidium and that the Council would have rotated their meetings from Colony to Colony.

PRIMA DONNA Adama said that Uri had become one (P); proof that Italian was spoken in the Colonies.

PRIMARIES Basic foods needed every day by humans (P). No doubt the Colonials had a food pyramid just like us!

PRINCE OF DARKNESS During his dramatic confrontation with Iblis, Apollo accused him of being the Prince of Darkness, i.e. Satan (WG).

PRISON BARGE A ship of the fleet that houses various pre- and post-holocaust offenders of Colonial law. Its occupants have included Baltar, the Alliance Enforcers, Croft and friends, and the Borellian Nomen (GI, MR, BE).

PROBE ONE Apollo identified himself thus when on the patrol with Starbuck during which they encountered the magnetic void (LG).

PROBE SPEED The speed at which Adama ordered the fleet to enter the mysterious magnetic void (LG). Probably a low, cautious speed.

PROBE TWO Starbuck's identification on the patrol during which he and Apollo discovered the magnetic void (LG).

PROTECTED A state imposed on humans by the Light Beings, John described it as a “protecting white aura.” While protected, humans can see the Beings outside of their ship. Apollo was protected by John and in that state the Terrans took him to be the missing Nationalist pilot Colonel Charlie Watts, although, strangely, his clothes were not included in the deception. While protected, and also while aboard the Ship of Lights, one’s clothing becomes a suitably angelic shade of white. John warned that the state does not last long, but Apollo completed his mission before his protection wore off (ET).

PROTECTOR Colonial term for the person who defends the accused at Tribunal. Apollo served as Starbuck’s Protector when he was charged with the murder of Ortega (MR).

PROTECTOR PRO TEM While Apollo was trying to smoke out Ortega’s true killer, Boomer served as Starbuck’s Protector pro tem (MR). Evidently Latin was spoken in the Colonies, along with Italian (prima donna) and French (en masse).

PROTEUS The Colonial penal colony planet in “The Long Patrol,” cut off and forgotten some 700 yahrens before the arrival of the latest and last new prisoner, Bootlegger 137, aka Starbuck. Robber is descended from Aerian ancestors, and since all of the prisoners and enforcers speak with the same accent (a kind of psuedo-Irish), we can probably assume that Proteus was primarily an Aerian prison colony (LP).

PROVISIONS Food supplies. When preparing for the mission to Serenity, Adama ordered the shuttle equipped with provisions for five, to include Siress Belloby. Apollo then decided to take Boxey, and somehow Jolly was included as well, making a total of 7 (MW)!

PSYCHO-ELECTRON RECALL Some form of test, interrogation, or assisted memory recall that Adama wanted Iblis subjected to when he was first brought aboard (WG). Another fine example of the production team forgetting things from one episode to the next; psycho-electron recall would have quickly proven that Starbuck did not shoot Ortega.

PULSAR CANNON The Ravashol Pulsaric Laser; the Gun on Ice Planet Zero. An enormous weapon, this huge gun was mounted telescope-style in a bastion with 14 metron high ramparts atop Mount Hekla. Dr. Ravashol originally built it as an energy lens system intended to transmit information across the galaxy, but the Cylons modified it into a weapon with a killing range of over a hectare. The assault team led by Apollo destroyed the gun. Solenite charges blew up the gun and took the top of the mountain with it (GI).

PULSE GENERATOR Part of a viper’s engines. The laser generator was removed from the Recon Viper so an extra pulse generator could be fitted to each of the engines (LP).

PUPPIS (Johnny Timko) Son of Martin and Vela, about 10 years old. As is fairly typical with boys that age, is excited by adventure and guns. He helps his mother with their ovine herd and takes it upon himself to defend the ovines from skulking lupuses (lupi?) with his numo. He reminds Apollo strongly of Boxey (LW).

PURPLE SQUADRON Squadron mentioned as a ruse by Starbuck during his and Apollo’s attack run on the Cylon base ship over Carillon. According to Athena, not a Galactica squadron (P).

PYRAMID A Caprican card game favored by Starbuck, it appears similar to poker. The highest (and rarest) winning combination is the perfect pyramid (P, LG, LW, MW, MN).

PYRAMIDS The Lords of Kobol were buried in pyramids (LG). Caprican architecture ran to pyramidal buildings (P). The symbol of the pyramid and triangle are pervasive in Colonial culture.

QUADRANT ALPHA SIX The quadrant in which possible life forms were located by the Galactica’s scanners in “Long Patrol;” evidently Proteus lies within this quadrant.

QUADRANT EPSILON Region of space where the closing Cylon base ships were in “Gun on Ice Planet Zero.”

QUADRANT OTARSIS The quadrant in which the hidden Cylon base located by Boomer and Jolly is, according to Lucifer (LG).

QUADRANT TAU Where Brie detected incoming Cylon raiders on her scanner (LG).

QUANTUM Unit of money on Sectar. Sire Bogan informed Starbuck that seed grain costs 12 quantums per lexon, which Starbuck thought overly high. Sire Bogan paid Dipper and his cronies 25 quantums each for stealing the powersled and energizer (MW).

QUANTUM Unknown Colonial measure of time. In “Magnificent Warriors” Adama complained to Apollo that he'd been cooped up on the Galactica for 16 quantums.