Helena Cain

Admiral Helena Cain is a fictional character from the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The character is portrayed by Michelle Forbes. She appears in the show's second season and the television film Battlestar Galactica: Razor.
Character description
Youth
As a 9-year-old girl on her home colony of Tauron, Helena witnessed her parents' deaths during a Cylon attack in the first Cylon War. She fled with her sister, Lucy, but the younger sibling stumbled in the rubble. Too injured to continue, Lucy pleaded for help from her older sister, but Helena froze and, seeing a Cylon landing party, ran away and hid in a nearby storage container. She was discovered there by a 0005 Centurion sentry. As it targeted her, she picked up a folding knife and prepared to defend herself. Before the Centurion could strike, however, it received orders to depart, as a treaty had been signed.
Now safe, Helena returned to where she left her sister, but the younger girl was missing. Only her doll remained. Looking into the sky, she sees a Cylon ship depart. It becomes clear that her sister has been taken for what can only be presumed is further experimentation towards creating a human cylon hybrid. In the aftermath, Helena vowed to do whatever it took to survive, hence leading her to become a "Razor".
Cylon attack
Prior to the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, Cain's flagship, the , was preparing to dock at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards for a major refit and had most of her computers systems offline in readiness for the refit team. The refit team included a civilian network analyst, , with whom Cain began a relationship. At the time of the attack, Admiral Cain, like many of her crew, was preparing to leave the ship on shore leave. The initial Cylon strike destroyed five Colonial vessels in Pegasus ' immediate vicinity and severely damaged the Pegasus herself, killing 700 crew members. In a desperate gamble, Admiral Cain ordered a "blind jump" that took the Pegasus out of the combat zone.
Meeting Galactica
Six months after the Cylon holocaust, Pegasus was tracking a Cylon fleet when it accidentally encountered Galactica and her civilian ships. Taking over from Commander Adama as military commander of the fleet, Admiral Cain quickly arranges for Galactica ' s stores to be replenished from Pegasus ' s own, but neglects the civilian fleet, ignoring President Laura Roslin's requests on their behalf. (This would be considered a gross offense under military protocol since Roslin is acknowledged as legal authority over the military.)<ref name="Pegasus"/>
Cain's chief military objective became identifying a mysterious Cylon vessel sighted in the fleet pursuing Galactica.<ref name="Pegasus"/> Cain gives Dr. Gaius Baltar access to Gina to continue the interrogation and learn more about the ship, identified as a Cylon Resurrection ship. The strategic value of knocking out the Cylons' means of avoiding death is not lost on the Colonial military commanders, and so Pegasus and Galactica plan a joint operation to engage the Cylon fleet and destroy the Resurrection ship.
Concurrently with this operation, Admiral Cain and Commander Adama come into conflict over the treatment of two Galactica crew members, Lt. Karl Agathon and Chief Galen Tyrol. Admiral Cain sentences the pair to death for the accidental manslaughter of a Pegasus officer. Cain and Adama come to the brink of firing on one another's vessels<ref name"Pegasus"/> before standing down and agreeing to postpone their disagreements until the Resurrection ship has been destroyed. Nonetheless, each makes plans to have the other assassinated following the successful completion of the operation. Neither plan is carried out, much to the relief of the respective assassins: Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace and Colonel Fisk.<ref name"Resurrection Ship"/>
Death
Unbeknownst to Cain, Baltar also once had a relationship with a Six, and still has visions of the one influencing his decisions. As he interrogated Gina, Baltar fell in love with her. After the Resurrection Ship is destroyed, Baltar tells Gina she deserves justice and helps her escape. Gina kills her guard, steals his gun, and makes her way to Cain's ready room and shoots Cain, her captor and former lover, in the head (Cain's last words being "Frak You!"). After her death, Cain is eulogized by both Colonel Fisk and Captain Thrace, who says they are weaker without her.

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