Galactica Cavil
the priest in the fleet
Galactica Cavil was a Number One model humanoid Cylon who evacuated the ruins of Picon during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and reached the refugee fleet. Welcomed aboard Galactica as a priest, he formed and led a hidden cell of humanoid Cylons working to destroy the fleet from within.
John Cavil, known as "Galactica Cavil", was a Number One model humanoid Cylon. During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies he was evacuated from the ruins of Picon and went on to establish a religious office aboard the battlestar Galactica.
On the eve of the attack#
On the eve of the Cylon assault, Galactica Cavil met another copy of his model aboard a Resurrection Ship assigned to the operation. Within a secret chamber the two observed clone bodies of Saul and Ellen Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel T. Anders and Tory Foster, the so-called Final Five survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe that had created the humanoid Cylons.
Enamored by Ellen, Cavil resolved to seek out the clone's living predecessor on Picon, where her location had been determined. He found her at a bar in Queenstown and, using his model's guise as a priest, drew her into conversation about morality. Disappointed to discover that she lived a carefree life with no regrets, he decided to save her when the city was destroyed by a fifty megaton nuclear warhead, helping her aboard an SAR Raptor in the belief that she ought to suffer before their inevitable deaths.
Joining the fleet#
Against expectation, the Raptor delivered the two to Rising Star, a civilian ship in orbit. The vessel soon met with a refugee fleet led by the newly appointed President Laura Roslin and defended by Galactica.
Over the following week the Cylon forces consistently failed to destroy the fleet. Cavil left Ellen behind and transferred to Galactica, where he was welcomed as a priest and assigned a billet.
The cell aboard Galactica#
From his position aboard Galactica, Cavil handed out flyers that carried a secret codeword for humanoid Cylons hidden within the fleet. Soon afterward he formed a cell drawn from the other models, bringing together a Number Two, a Number Five, two Number Sixes and a Number Eight working as a sleeper agent. Among those who answered the call and joined the cell under his command was the Number Six copy known as Shelly Godfrey, who took part in the cell's plans for acts of violence against the fleet.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Galactica Cavil?
- Galactica Cavil, also known as John Cavil, was a Number One model humanoid Cylon. During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies he was evacuated from the ruins of Picon and went on to establish a religious office aboard the battlestar Galactica.
- How did Galactica Cavil reach the refugee fleet?
- After seeking out Ellen Tigh's living predecessor on Picon, Cavil saved her from the city's destruction by a fifty megaton nuclear warhead and boarded an SAR Raptor. The Raptor delivered the two to Rising Star, a civilian ship that soon met with the refugee fleet led by President Laura Roslin.
- Why did Galactica Cavil save Ellen Tigh's predecessor on Picon?
- Cavil drew her into conversation about morality and was disappointed to find she lived a carefree life with no regrets. He decided to save her in the belief that she ought to suffer before their inevitable deaths.
- What did Galactica Cavil do aboard Galactica?
- Welcomed aboard as a priest, Cavil handed out flyers that carried a secret codeword for humanoid Cylons hidden within the fleet. He then formed a hidden cell to destroy the fleet from within.
- Who was in Galactica Cavil's Cylon cell?
- The cell brought together a Number Two, a Number Five, two Number Sixes, and a Number Eight working as a sleeper agent. Among those who joined under his command was the Number Six copy known as Shelly Godfrey, who took part in the cell's plans for acts of violence against the fleet.
Sources
- WikiGalactica Cavil — Battlestar Wiki entry
- WikiNumber One — Battlestar Wiki entry
- WikiShelly Godfrey — Battlestar Wiki entry
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Related entries
Galen Tyrol
Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol kept Galactica's flight deck running through the long flight from the Colonies, a respected and fiercely protective deck chief who learned that he was in fact one of the Final Five Cylons, descended from the Thirteenth Tribe.
Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin was Secretary of Education for the Twelve Colonies who became President after the Cylon attack killed everyone above her in the line of succession. Many in the Fleet came to see her as the dying leader of prophecy, destined to guide humanity to a promised land she would not live to enter.
Cylon
The Cylons were a race of sentient machines created as military robots by Graystone Industries on Caprica. Built from research into artificial consciousness, they rebelled against their human masters, fought a decades long war, and forty years later returned to annihilate humanity.
Ellen Tigh
Ellen Tigh was the wife of Colonel Saul Tigh, a scientist of the original Earth, and the eldest of the Final Five Cylons. She led the work that rediscovered Resurrection and created the humanoid Cylon models, and was the only one of the Five to fully regain her memories.
Fall of the Twelve Colonies
The Fall of the Twelve Colonies, also called the Second Cylon War, was a single-day Cylon campaign of total annihilation against Colonial space. It wiped out almost the entire human population of over twenty nine billion and left barely fifty thousand survivors in a fleeing refugee fleet.
Galactica
Galactica was a Jupiter-class battlestar that served the Colonial Fleet from the Cylon War until the discovery of Earth. Never networked, it survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and shepherded the last fifty thousand humans across uncharted space before being scuttled into the sun.
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