Helena Cain, Battlestar Galactica

Admiral Helena Cain (Michelle Forbes)

Admiral Cain was the ruthless Commanding Officer of the Battlestar Pegasus. Before, during, and after the Cylon attack that destroyed the earth, Helena was romantically involved with Pegasus systems analyst Gina Inviere. Though their relationship was not explicitly shown on-screen, and the only sign of intimacy was a kiss on the cheek, Gina was shown talking about the relationship: “Here I thought we were being so discreet. I guess that’s hard when you truly care for someone. To satisfy your curiosity, we met a few months ago when I presented the plans for the retrofit. Spent a lot of time together working out the details, and I guess one thing led to the other. You seem so surprised.”

When Admiral Cain realized Gina was a Cylon, she had Gina arrested, and she was tortured and raped by Cain’s interrogator with Cain’s full consent: “This thing really knows how to manipulate human emotion, preys on it. And since it’s so adept at mimicking human feeling, I’m assuming that its software is vulnerable to them as well. Pain, yes of course. Degradation. Fear. Shame. I want you to really test its limits. Be as creative as you feel you need to be.”

When Pegasus encountered Galactica and her fleet, the imprisoned Gina was examined by Dr. Gaius Baltar. He was heartbroken by her state, and resolved to help her in any way he could. He convinced Cain to permit her to be fed, and recounted to Gina the story of his love for her clone copy on Caprica, before the Cylon attack. After Baltar had revived Gina, Cain said to him derisively: “I see that you got it to eat. Can you get it to roll over? Beg?”

In “Resurrection Ship, Part 2” (2×12) Baltar, still in love with Caprica Six and saw her in Gina, helped Gina escape and gave her the gun she used to kill Cain:

Gina: Tell me, Admiral, can you roll over? Beg?
Cain: Frak you.
Gina: You’re not my type.

Appearances:

• 3 episodes. Also appeared in the TV movie Battlestar Galactica: Razor

Female love interests:

• Gina/Number Six 💀 (Tricia Helfer, bisexual, main cast, 73 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.