Nester Adrastos (D5)

Nester Adrastos is a central character from the Battlestar Hermes series and is the senior Marine Officer aboard the Battlestar at the time of the fall of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.

Early Life
Nester Adrastos was born on Virgon into a reasonably wealthy middle-class family. His father, Albus Adrastos, own a vineyard on the northern hemisphere of the Colony and its was always his hope that his eldest son would follow in his footsteps and eventually take over from him. It was not to be however as Nester wanted to pursue a military career leaving the reigns of running the vineyard to his younger brother, Otis Adrastos.

During his school years he excelled at Maths and History and was a keen sportsman. All these traits would make him a fine officer within the Colonial Marines.

Academy
Nester completed his training at the Academy in the top twenty per cent of his year. It was during his Academy days that he met Laura Whitmore who was attending the Academy in the year below him. Nester liked the fiesty nature of Laura and the two of them had what could only be described as a fiery love for one another. They had intended to marry once Nester's first tour aboard the Battlestar Hermes was over but their relationship came to an end shortly before he left for Picon. The pressures of a long distance relationship proved too much for the both of them and the split was described as 'mutual'.

Battlestar Hermes
Nester arrived aboard the Battlestar Hermes two years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. He had spent the previous year as part of Marine detchment at Fort Isis on Leonis. Aboard Hermes he met Gunnery Sergeant John Callisto who would be his ever faithful 'right arm'. At first Nester found he was relying heavily on Callisto's experience but it was not long before he gained his confidence.

After 'The Fall'
Nester's first appearance comes in Chapter 21 of Battlestar Hermes: Salvage when the Marines first touch down at the Caprimart Distribution Centre in the Serena Valley on Scorpia. Given the nature of the mission, Commander Bowman reveals to him that Cylons have evolved from pure machine to Human-Cylons. He then reveals this fact to Callisto and informs him that any survivors they encounter on the mission are to be treated as suspicious.

Adrastos quickly comes to realize that the current plan to use Raptors was going to be enormously time consuming and risky to him and his men. When he receives his orders that the plan has changed he is initially concerned that this new plan using the Colonial Heavy Liner Alexis is too bold. Nevertheless he follows Bowman's orders and along with D'Anna Biers, the crew of the Hermes being unaware that she is a Cylon, mounts a personal reconnaissance mission to the Sports Stadium they intend to use as an LZ. During the mission D'Anna is killed by a damaged Cylon Centurion that is no longer following orders. Adrastos feels enormous guilt over her death and tries to give her some dignity by placing her body on a sofa in a furniture shop.

Once he completed the mission he returned to the Caprimart Distribution Centre to brief the additional Marines and civilian volunteers that have arrived from Hermes. Knowing that the civilians were still a bit weary of the military he orders that his own men remove their NBC respirators during the briefing to reassure them that they are all on the same team.

During the actual operation Adrastos leads the convoy of trucks from the distribution centre during both journeys to and from the stadium. On the second journey the convoy was ambushed Centurions and his truck is disabled. It was feared by his compatriots that he was killed in the intial attack however he was in fact taken prisoner by the Cylons.

Captivity
His injuries from the attack were quite severe and he passed out when another D'Anna Biers model found him on the ground. It was at this point he realized that she was a Cylon. For the next few days Adrastsos found himself at the mercy of an Aaron Doral model who interrogated him at an unknown location.

The Angel
During his time in captivity he becomes awar of the presence of an 'Angel' known as Zoe and unknown to him initailly she has opted to take the form of Zoe Graystone. The purpose of the the 'Angel' is unclear to Nester but she insists she is there to help him through what is to come.