Sharon Agathon

Junior Lieutenant Sharon "Athena" Agathon was a Number Eight humanoid Cylon who began as an agent of the Cylon plan and ended as a sworn officer of the Colonial Fleet. Originally tasked to make Lieutenant Karl "Helo" Agathon fall in love with her on Cylon-occupied Caprica, she came to love him genuinely, conceived the first successful Human-Cylon hybrid child, Hera, and defected. She was the first Cylon to openly join the Fleet, eventually flying its most important Raptor missions.

Occupied Caprica#

Athena first appeared when she joined Karl "Helo" Agathon after he was stranded on Cylon-occupied Caprica. She pretended to be the same Sharon who had served aboard Galactica, when in fact she was working with the other Cylons on an experiment to make him fall in love with her. Although her intentions began as part of the Cylon plan, she eventually fell genuinely in love with Helo and tried to help him escape. Helo discovered her true identity when he saw another Number Eight copy on Caprica, who attempted to kill him but was shot by Sharon. She convinced him that she loved him and revealed that she was pregnant with his child, the first successful Human-Cylon hybrid and therefore of great importance to the Cylons.

While on Caprica, Sharon and Helo encountered Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, who recognized Sharon as a Cylon copy and tried to shoot her but was stopped by Helo. Sharon fled in Starbuck's captured Cylon Raider, casting doubt on her intentions, then returned to help Helo and a human resistance movement rescue Starbuck from a Cylon facility. Though only Helo trusted her, the group allowed her to accompany them as they rejoined President Laura Roslin's portion of the fleet, which had become separated from Galactica.

Return to the Fleet#

Sharon's life was again threatened on her return, following an assassination attempt against William Adama and the death of Boomer. Lee "Apollo" Adama attempted to shoot her, Helo intervened, and Roslin ordered her thrown out an airlock until Sharon used her knowledge of the Tomb of Athena on Kobol as leverage. She demonstrated her loyalty by defending the group from Cylon ambushes during the journey to the tomb, even while chained and distrusted. Her reunion with Galactica's personnel on Kobol was tense, and then-Commander Adama initially tried to strangle her. Despite his animosity, she saved his life by exposing a plot against him by a follower of Tom Zarek. She told them, "I'm Sharon, but I'm a different Sharon. I know who I am. I don't have hidden protocols or programs lying in wait to be activated. I make my own choices, I make my own decisions, and I need you to know this is my choice." Still, she was imprisoned upon returning to Galactica and treated as an enemy by all but Helo and Galen Tyrol.

Sharon again proved herself when Galactica was threatened by a Cylon computer virus. She used her Cylon capabilities to turn the virus against the approaching Raider attack force, allowing the Colonial pilots to destroy them entirely, though she seemed pained by the slaughter of the Raiders. The act caused Roslin and Adama to re-evaluate their attitude toward her and earned her significant trust, and she went on to offer intelligence and advice on numerous Cylon situations.

Pregnancy and the loss of Hera#

When the battlestar Pegasus was reunited with the fleet, its commander, Rear Admiral Helena Cain, discovered Sharon's presence and turned her over to the Pegasus interrogator, Lieutenant Thorne. Thorne beat Sharon and attempted to rape her, but was killed when Helo and Tyrol intervened.

Sharon's unborn child was threatened when Roslin ordered the pregnancy terminated, outraging Sharon and Helo. Roslin relented when blood from the fetus was found to cure her terminal cancer, and the pregnancy was allowed to continue. Sharon gave birth prematurely by emergency cesarean section to a daughter named Hera. Deemed a risk to the fleet if raised by her Cylon mother, Hera's death was faked by Dr. Cottle and the baby was given to a human mother to raise, unbeknownst to either parent. Told that Hera had died of breathing complications, Sharon assumed the child had been killed by the Galactica crew, attacked Dr. Cottle, and turned on Helo. She later helped navigate a mission to rescue survivors on Caprica, and her loyalty was again questioned when she chose not to reveal that one of the survivors was a Cylon.

Officer of the Colonial Fleet#

During the year-long occupation of New Caprica, Sharon and Helo married, and Sharon took his surname, Agathon. With Galactica short of pilots after the Cylon return and having earned Adama's full trust, she was sworn in as a Colonial officer, regaining Boomer's rank of Junior Lieutenant. She was sent back to New Caprica as the liaison between the fleet and the ground resistance, a role Adama considered her ideal for, since Centurions could not tell her from any other Eight. Sharon infiltrated the Cylon base and stole the keys for the civilian ships, making Adama's escape plan possible. While leaving with the keys she encountered a Number Three, D'Anna Biers, who informed her that Hera was still alive.

After the rescue of the colonists, Sharon gained acceptance among Galactica's pilots. When a fellow pilot called her by the old call sign Boomer, she replied that Boomer was someone else; offered new call signs in the rec room, she proudly accepted "Athena." She displayed the ability to identify individual Number Eight copies, recognizing Boomer when she arrived aboard Galactica to negotiate. To reach Hera, Athena had Helo shoot her so she would download onto a Cylon resurrection ship. There she found Boomer caring for the child and argued over Hera's fate; when Boomer expressed a desire to kill the child, a Number Six killed Boomer and helped Athena and Hera escape by Raptor to Galactica.

Athena's skill as a pilot saw her assigned the most important Raptor missions. She discovered that she, Hera, Roslin, and Caprica Six all shared the same recurring dream of an opera house. She served aboard the Demetrius on Kara Thrace's search for Earth, and later shot and killed the Number Six named Natalie, whom she saw as a threat to Hera because of those dreams.

The Number Eights#

Athena belonged to the Number Eight model, a humanoid Cylon line that, unlike most others, showed a great deal of concern and affection, especially toward other Eights, whom they often called sisters. The Eights tended to be the most naive of the models, often struggling to understand human emotional responses, and had a propensity for fickleness, frequently shifting loyalties to suit their own needs. Numerous other copies of the Eight appeared throughout the conflict, serving among the Cylon ranks even as Athena fought against them alongside the Fleet.