Six Degrees of Separation

Six Degrees of Separation is the seventh episode of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica and aired during the show's first season.
==Plot==
===Teaser===
It is twenty-four days after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Dr. Gaius Baltar has grown tired of his work on the Cylon Detector and Messenger Six's control over him, and their relationship is growing stale. After repeated mockery of the One True God to the extent of proving the lack of literal hands on a tissue sample, she finally leaves.
Baltar's fantasy is unexpectedly interrupted by Petty Officer Second Class Anastasia Dualla, who has orders to bring him to CIC to meet with Commander William Adama. There, he finds Shelly Godfrey, who he mistakes for Messenger Six and is caught openly making suggestive and insulting remarks before realising the mistake. He discovers to even greater horror that Godfrey is claiming to have information proving Baltar's guilt in sabotaging the defence mainframe.
===Act 1===
Put on the spot, Baltar hastily tries to defend his reputation amongst the senior staff who believe the accusations are serious enough to warrant an investigation. Godfrey claims to have been a systems analyst working under Dr. Amarak at the Colonial Defense Ministry and that Amarak had shared with her evidence proving his involvement in the holocaust shortly before his death. She provides a seemingly authentic disc containing a still from a security camera which depicts Baltar entering the computer facility with a bomb the day before the attack, and further claiming that the facility's destruction enabled the Cylons to destroy the Colonial Fleet. The photograph is convincing but not enough to confirm the allegations as the image cannot be proven to be authentic or that it is Baltar. Adama gives Lt. Felix Gaeta a day to authenticate the image and sharpen a reflection of the man's face, and has Baltar stripped of his security privileges for the time being.
Down on the hangar deck, Chief Galen Tyrol and Specialist Cally Henderson work on the captured Cylon Raider. Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's written description of the craft is too vague for them to figure out how it works, and there can be no plans for a test flight. 
Starbuck meanwhile is being let out of sickbay by Major Cottle. To get her through physical therapy as fast as possible, she is given a pair of crutches and her medication has been cut off.
Baltar is on the phone with President Laura Roslin. No longer feeling safe on Galactica, he begs to be transferred to Colonial One but finds he is on a No Fly list. To at least keep him safe on Galactica, he warns her that he "thinks" Godfrey is a Cylon. This warning is not heard, however, and Billy Keikeya interrupts the call having found Roslin passed out.
=== Act 2 ===
An emergency press conference is held over Roslin's health; as wireless calls between ships are not fully protected from interception, rumour has quickly spread that she is dead. Cottle has safely treated Roslin and determined it was an overdose of her medication, though to maintain the cover-up of her cancer it is reported as a case of stomach flu.
Adama meets with Godfrey in his office to get more information. He is suspicious of why such a senior defence researcher would hand over important data to his assistant, but Godfrey explains that she and Amarak were lovers and that in his developing paranoia of Cylon agents being on Olympic Carrier it was crucial she take the data off the ship. After her own attempts to seduce him, Adama is convinced that she is hiding something, and orders a full investigation into Godfrey's activities in the fleet, and that a Marine team discretely follow her and prevent any attempt to leave the ship.
On Cylon-occupied Caprica, Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon and Caprica-Sharon are pursued by Centurions through a wooded area. They evade detection by climbing up a steep hill and hiding at the side of a bridge.
Back on Galactica, Gaeta is hard at work in analysing the photograph and has run a program to sharpen the reflection, which appears similar to Baltar's face though is too blurry to confirm. When he goes to the head, Baltar quietly follows having been secretly spying on him. Gaeta is reluctant to give him information about the investigation but tries to remain friendly, and ignores his pleas to assist. Soon, Godfrey enters to use the head, taking the next cubical along. Baltar confronts her over the plot, initially believing that Messenger Six had somehow taken physical form but finally realises the truth - Godfrey is just another Cylon of the Number Six line. 
On the hangar deck, Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii approaches Tyrol while he services the Raider, still failing to get it working. She suggests it be treated more as a pet than a machine, though her tone disturbs him.
Col. Saul Tigh heads over to the sickbay where he finds Starbuck has given up on the therapy and returned to her bed. 
=== Act 3 ===
Starbuck goes down to check on the Raider and climbs inside. Rather than treat it like a Viper, Chief Tyrol suggests she treat it like an animal, which works.
Dr. Balter discusses the current matters with Commander Adama, where he voices his concern Godfrey is a Cylon agent. The Cylon Detector is close to completion, and all he needs is a tissue sample to prove her identity. However, he is warned that the detector will be dismantled if he is found guilty, and Lt. Gaeta will not be able to perform a test on Godfrey. In a desperate attempt to exonerate himself, Baltar distracts Gaeta with a fire alarm on C deck and attempts to destroy the damning photograph which Gaeta has managed to clean up, revealing his face. Dr. Baltar fails and is arrested and finds no help even from President Roslin who, in a situation where someone's human identity is in doubt, has a gut feeling he is guilty.
Stopping for the night, Lt. Agathon admits his love for the Number Eight, telling her that he had always respected her relationship with Chief Tyrol but had wanted to be the one with her. The two subsequently have sex during a thunderstorm with Lt. Agathon not noticing her spine glowing red. While they do so, the real Lt. Valerii is losing her grip on reality after seeing the world 'CYLON' written into a mirror.
Out of options, Dr. Baltar prays to God for his freedom, and pledges to carry out his teachings. Messenger Six returns to his side. Shortly afterwards, Lt. Gaeta returns with proof that the photograph was a fake and Dr. Baltar is exonerated. Gaeta notes that it was almost too easy to find the forgery, as if Godfrey wanted to be found out. Her arrest is ordered, but the two Marine guards report back to Col. Tigh that she has disappeared around a corner. Petty Officer Dualla similarly notes that ships in the fleet have reported in no one resembling her disembarked.
In the end, Roslin, who had a brief health scare due to overdosing on her cancer medication, publicly exonerates Dr. Baltar while exposing Godfrey as a Cylon agent to the fleet. Dr. Baltar is left wondering if Godfrey actually ever existed or if she was just a manifestation of his internal Six meant to bolster his reputation. However, Six doesn't clarify the matter.
==Cast==
*Edward James Olmos as Commander William Adama
*Mary McDonnell as President of the Twelve Colonies Laura Roslin
*Katee Sackhoff as Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
*Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama
*James Callis as Doctor Gaius Baltar
*Tricia Helfer as 
**Shelly Godfrey
**Messenger Six
*Grace Park as 
**Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
**Sharon Agathon
*Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
*Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
*Tahmoh Penikett as Lieutenant Karl "Helo" Agathon
*Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla
*Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya
*Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
*Donnelly Rhodes as Major Sherman Cottle
*Nicki Clyne as Specialist Calandra Henderson
*Christina Schild as Playa Palacios
*Biski Gugushe as Sekou Hamilton
==Appearances==
===Characters===
*Lee "Apollo" Adama
*William Adama
*Karl "Helo" Agathon
*Gaius Baltar
*Anastasia Dualla
*Felix Gaeta
*Calandra Henderson
*Billy Keikeya
*Number Eight
**Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
**Sharon Agathon
*Number Six
**Messenger Six
*Laura Roslin
*Saul Tigh
*Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
*Galen Tyrol
===Locations===
*Cyrannus Star System
**Caprica
*The Fleet
===Species===
*Cylon
**Centurion
**Humanoid Cylon
**Raider
*Human
===Technology===
*FTL
*Wireless
===Vehicles and vessels===
*Colonial One
*Galactica
*Raider
*Raptor
*Viper
===Organizations===
*Colonial Fleet
*Colonial Government
*Colonial Marine Corps
==Sources==
1.07