“The Man with Nine Lives” is episode seventeen of season one of the classic series of Battlestar Galactica.
Adama is recording a log about the events of the previous episode, “War of the Gods, Part II”; the capture of Baltar and being given the possible coordinates of Earth. Scouts have been finding increasing signs of the trail of the Thirteenth Tribe and the combat pilots have been granted leisure time.
Starbuck and Apollo are on a shuttle with the others heading to the Rising Star. Starbuck is looking forward to trying his new gambling system; Apollo, not so much.
A man is watching an interview with Starbuck on another shuttle. When he’s asked for what sounds like his ticket equivalent, he claims he runs the interviews like the one just seen and that they need to interview civilians, like the man asking for his fare. Afterwards, he claims he’s already given it. Disembarking, he says he’s lost his wallet and the woman he was sitting next to offers him some money. He wants to repay her later and she agrees.
In a bar, three Borellian Nomen enter and the man looks worried. Boomer and Jolly talk about the Nomen; they rarely mix except when on a blood trail. Boomer speaks to them and hopes that they are only there to enjoy themselves.
The man excuses himself and one of the Nomen grabs something from his lapel. When Boomer comes over, the leader says he’s young and activated it by accident. They can’t be deactivated; once drawn, they need to be used or will reach critical mass and explode. Boomer says to throw it at a support, then tells the leader that Borellian Nomen don’t draw laser bolos by accident. He still insists it’s an accident but agrees to leave the ship. Except they don’t; they wait in the lounge as the leader talks about the youngest breaking their code. Apparently, he saw Captain Dmitri.
Starbuck is playing Pyramid when the man joins them. He explains a flaw in Starbuck’s system. And Starbuck loses. The man introduces himself as Chameleon. After the game, Chameleon says he used to be a professional wager but now is a genetic tracer. A new field intended to pair orphans up with surviving relatives. According to Chameleon, he was badly injured in the first Cylon raids. His wife was killed and his son lost. His story bears some similarities to Starbuck’s from the interviews.
The inference is that Chameleon is Starbuck’s father. Boomer and Apollo are suspicious; Starbuck and Sheba less so. It does look like Chameleon spun the story just to get away from the Borellian Nomen.