As Natalie dies amid a haze of visions, Admiral Adama banishes her murderer, Sharon Agathon, to the brig. Meanwhile, the rebel Cylon baseship has jumped away inexplicably, carrying Roslin, Baltar and many of Galactica's pilots. Have Roslin and the others have been kidnapped? That's the consensus.

The President's absence creates an especially chaotic leadership vacuum because Adama doesn't trust Vice President Tom Zarek. With Zarek's grudging permission, Lee Adama recruits eccentric lawyer Romo Lampkin to seek an interim president that the Admiral and the Quorum of Twelve will follow.

Adama is quietly agonizing over Roslin's fate, but he has no idea where to start searching for her until a battered Raptor jumps into view. It's the same one that carried Roslin to the baseship, but pilot Eammon "Gonzo" Pike the only one aboard, and he's dead. Adama angers the Quorum by jumping the Galactica to where Pike's Raptor came from, leaving the fleet undefended.