Sacrifice

Sacrifice is an episode of the TV series, Battlestar Galactica, and aired during the show's second season.
==Plot==
The press has learned that a Number Eight model Cylon is being held in Galacticas brig. Admiral Adama insists to President Laura Roslin that Sharon is a valuable source of intelligence. Billy, Roslin's chief of staff, urges Adama to tell the fleet about Sharon.
Billy proposes marriage to Dee, but Dee turns him down. Later he discovers Dee on a date with Lee in a bar on Cloud 9 and is heartbroken.
Gunmen led by Sesha Abinell take over the bar, demanding that the Admiral hand over Sharon. Learning that Abinell is seeking revenge for her husband's death in a Cylon attack, Adama refuses and orders Starbuck to plan a rescue with several Marines. A ruse by Lee convinces the gunmen that the bar is losing oxygen, giving Starbuck an opening. Her attempt backfires, and she accidentally shoots Lee during the confusion. Dee and Billy attend the bleeding, unconscious Lee. Roslin argues to Admiral Adama and Colonel Tigh they cannot give in to terrorists. As Abinell threatens Ellen Tigh, who is among the hostages, Adama agrees to hand over Sharon, but not alive.
Adama sends over the corpse of Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, the Number Eight copy who shot him and died, to give Marines time to storm the bar. Abinell shoots Boomer's corpse but discovers the deception shortly after. She orders Dee killed. Against Dee's advice, Billy grabs a gun and shoots the would-be executioner dead. As he dies, the executioner also shoots and kills Billy. The Marines kill the remaining gunmen, including Abinell, and free the hostages.
Roslin mourns Billy, whom she described as "the closest thing I have to family left". Dee awaits Lee's recovery in Galactica's sickbay as Starbuck looks on.
==Cast==
*Edward James Olmos as Rear Admiral William Adama
*Mary McDonnell as President of the Twelve Colonies Laura Roslin
*Katee Sackhoff as Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
*Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama
*James Callis as Doctor Gaius Baltar
*Grace Park as Sharon Agathon
*Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
*Paul Campbell as Billy Keikeya
*Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
*Kandyse McClure as Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla
*Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh
*Mark Houghton as Kern Vinson
*Eric Breker as George Chu
*David Neale as Nelson Page
*Dana Delany as Sesha Abinell
*Michael Ryan as Ray Abinell
*Adrien Hughes as First Lieutenant Terry Burrell
*Erica Carroll as Civilian
*James Upton as Environmental Specialist
*Georgia Hacche as Petty Officer Sian
==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
*Pegasus
*Raider
*Raptor
*Viper
===Organizations===
*Colonial Fleet
*Colonial Government
*Colonial Marine Corps
== Production ==
=== Writing ===
The episode was conceived of as a means of killing off the Billy character, played by Paul Campbell. Campbell was attracting a lot of interest in the television industry at the time, but could not accept offers due to scheduling conflicts with Battlestar Galactica. The writers explored workarounds so Billy could simply quit being Roslin's aide and potentially return later, but they felt the character simply would not do such a thing.Ron D. Moore podcast. The actual setting for the majority of the episode was originally to be a Shuttle - the third class of vessel Galactica uses but is rarely seen - where Abinell's group would hijack the craft in transit from Galactica to Cloud 9. For budgetary reasons, this was changed to Cloud 9's bar, after it was determined the Shuttle would require several new sets.
=== Editing ===
The episode was originally to open up with the death of Abinell's husband. Moore felt that as the man hadn't appeared in earlier episodes his death wouldn't have an impact on the audience. In the final cut the opening is instead weeks later with Abinell writing.
== Further notes ==
* Ronald D. Moore recorded a podcast, which can be found here.
*Moore was dissatisfied with the episode, seeing it as one of the weaker episodes of Season 2 alongside Black Market.
==Sources ==
==External links==
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