Artimus Bowman (D5)

Artimus Bowman is the Commander of the Battlestar Hermes. At the time of the destruction of the colonies he was married to Brooke Bowman (nee Garner) but had no children.

Early Life
Artimus was born on Caprica about a year after the end of the First Cylon War. By the time he attended school much of the devastation of that brutal conflict had been cleared away and he had very little memory of the effect Cylons had on his colony. It was during his High School days that he became estranged from his father following revelations of an affair and went to live with his grandparents in Delphi. His grandfather would have a major impact on the direction of Artimus's life. Fascinated by his grandfather's exploits as a CSAR Raptor pilot during the war Artimus decided to join the Colonial Fleet. Although proud, his grandfather insisted that Artimus be prepared for what may lay ahead and so he allowed him to read his journals of the war. The horrors within the journals failed to discourage Artimus and he joined the military at nineteen.

Friendships
Artimus had difficulty holding onto friendships in his early years. None of his school day friendships survived into adulthood. He was described as not being unfriendly but simply preferring his own company. Over the course of his military career he would develop numerous professional relationships but very few of these blossomed beyond that. Artimus believed that family was the most important thing and would often pass up social events to spend time in Delphi with his grandparents.

It would not be until he met Scott Tolan that his first true friendship was formed. Despite the two of them starting off on shaky terms they would eventually became fierce friends. There can be no doubt that Tolan's connections assisted Artimus's rise through the ranks although Tolan stated categorically that he would never have recommended Artimus for the post of Commander of the Hermes if he felt he wasn't up to the job.

During his time aboard the Battlestar Daedalus Artimus struck up a somewhat controversial friendship with Neveah Ratliff who was filming a movie at the time. During the course of the production both he and Neveah were taken hostage aboard a Raptor by Lieutenant Michael Dayton. During the rescue attempt Artimus is forced to kill Dayton. Neveah is eternally grateful to him and she keeps in touch with him right up until 'The Fall'. On more than one occasion there were rumors that their relationship was more than friendship but the two of them always stated their relationship was more akin to a brother and sister.

Romantic
Romance was definitely absent from his early life. He found it difficult to bond with girls who felt he was quite a closed and often cold person. For his part Artimus was particularly choosy about the few girls he dated at school. He took a strong dislike for the girls labelled as the 'popular ones' who he described as flaunting their bodies for attention.

It would not be until he was twenty nine that he met the girl he would describe as his true love. He met Brooke Garner in the Delphi public library while on shore leave and the two of them immediately hit it off despite the age difference of almost ten years. Brooke was quite a mature woman and Artimus felt this made up for her age but Brooke's family would not see it that way. Her eldest brother Barry Garner, himself an engineer in the Colonial Fleet, was especially opposed to the relationship. Despite this Brooke insisted that they stay as a couple but Artimus felt enormous guilt for the rift that was forming between Brooke and her family feeling that it was his fault. Thus, after almost two years, he decided to end the relationship (and by doing so break Brooke's heart). This marked a particularly low point in his life.

Following the seperation Artimus returned to the Battlestar Valkyrie for his first tour as CAG. It was during this tour that he became involved in the mission to rescue President Adar's sister and niece from a terrorist group known as the Sagitaron Liberation Army (RotV). During this operation he briefly became involved with Galit Malka, a Ministry of Intelligence officer. Artimus described her as being quite like Brooke in some ways but totally different in others. During the climax of the military operation Malka was apparently killed but the brief relationship reawakened a passion inside Artimus and he soon decided to reconcile things with Brooke. Although she was initially weary of her heart being broken once again she nevertheless decided to take a chance and two years later they were married. The marriage changed Artimus's life beyond recognition. He was described by many as being happier and more easy going.

Unknown to Artimus Brooke survived the destruction of the Twelve Colonies and is alive within the Battlestar Victorious fleet.

Academy Days
Artimus settled in well during his time at the Academy. He excelled in subjects such as military philosophy where he was described as being of a high moral calibre. It was during this time that he earned his callsign, 'Archer', a play on his sirname.

Battlestar Daedalus
Once he had graduated from the Academy Artimus chose to fly Raptors rather than Vipers, to honor his grandfather, and served a training tour aboard the Battlestar Daedalus''. While aboard the Daedalus'' he commanded the Blue Hawks Raptor Display Team. The team that year had earned itself an enviable reputation for being one of the best the ship had seen for quite some time and this was thanks largely to Bowman's leadership. Tragedy struck however when the team attempted a dangerous FTL Crossover, something they were not authorsied to do (most of the displays were supposed to be simple formation flying). One of the Raptors involved suffered an FTL malfunction and collided with another Raptor killing one of the pilots. Although a Board of Inquiry cleared him of all responsibility he felt guilty for the death and never forgave himself.

The Aquarian Tsunami
Following Daedalus Bowman was assigned to Fort Colchis on Virgon flying Commando Raptors for the Colonial Marines. It was during this time that underwater tectonic movement on Aquaria resulted in a devastating Tsunami that engulfed most of the Colony's western continent resulting in an humanitarian disaster not seen since the First Cylon War. In the months following the Tsunami much of the continent became lawless and the Marines were sent in to help regain control and provide humanitarian assisstance. For eight months Artimus Bowman flew 'mule' missions in support of this vital effort.

Battlestar Valkyrie
Bowman spent much of his career abord the Battlestar Valkyrie eventually rising up to the position of CAG. Approximately six years before 'The Fall' he was significantly involved in an operation to rescue President Adar's sister and niece from the SLA terrorist organization (RotV). It was during this time that he met Commander Scott Tolan (later Admiral).

Battlestar Cerberus
Four years before ‘The Fall’ Artimus Bowman was promoted to Colonel and became the XO of the Battlestar Cerberus. This assignment caused friction with the Chief Engineer Barry Garner. The previous year Artimus had married his younger sister Brooke much to the anger of Garner. Garner felt that the relationship was wrong for several reasons not least of which was the ten year age difference between the two and as such refused to attend the wedding. He then blamed the rift that had appeared between him and Brooke on Artimus. After two years Garner transferred to the Battlestar Pegasus. Many believe that the two of them had grown to hate each other so much that they couldn’t bare to be on the same ship any longer. One year later Bowman was promoted to Commander and assumed command of the Battlestar Hermes.

His time aboard Cerberus was marked by a particular event involving Neveah Ratliff when a crazed fan aboard the Battlestar took Bowman and Ratlif hostage.

Battlestar Hermes
This assignment was not without its own controversy however. The XO of the Hermes, Caleb Dytto, had served aboard the vessel for four years previously and expected to get command of the ship however he was unpopular with the Admiralty. Bowman on the other hand had the endorsement of the now Rear Admiral Scott Tolan and this ensured his appointment to the post. Dytto felt the Admiralty was playing favourites and made it no secret that he felt he deserved the post. Nevertheless Artimus kept him around because he could see something in Dytto that few others could. The two of them had a strained relationship aboard the Battlestar but somehow it worked well.

After 'The Fall'
When the Hermes crew stumbled upon the Cylon CNP computer virus two days before the attack on the Twelve Colonies Artimus’ first thoughts were to get back to the Colonies as quickly as possible. He believed, quite correctly, that such a virus would have only been put in place in order to launch an attack but he had no idea when the attack was coming. With the major systems of the Hermes down they couldn’t even launch a Raptor to warn the fleet. By the time the major systems were repaired it was too late. The Hermes arrived above Picon just in time to witness the start of the planetary bombardment.

The Week of Hell
Hermes was the only Battlestar capable of fighting the Cylons having erased all trace of the CNP virus from their systems. Despite the impossible odds Artimus felt he had no choice but to fight. Although the Hermes gave a good account of itself it was hopelessly outnumbered and knowing the futility of fighting on Bowman gave the most difficult order of his career - abandon the Colonies. For the next five days the Hermes was pursued relentlessly through space by the Cylons until they appeared to finally escape them. During this 'week of hell' Artimus reasoned that it was only a matter of time before they were destroyed and in his own way was prepared for it personally. It was his desire to keep those under his command alive however that drove him on and he refused to give up the fight for survival.

The Scylla and Pegasus
A turning point in Artimus Bowman's new life as a Commander of a Battlestar on the run came when the ship stumbled upon three civilian vessels apparently adrift in space. These were the survivors of the fleet encountered by the Battlestar Pegasus. Bowman didn't understand why the civilians were so hostile to the military when they first tried to board the ships to offer assisstance to them. It was only ater interviewing some of the people aboard the ships that he discovered what the Pegasus had done to them. Bowman branded Admiral Cain and the crew of Pegasus as behaving less like Colonial Officers and more like pirates. When Captain Chloe Burmeister later suggested looking for Pegasus Bowman declared that the Battlestar was not a 'friendly' and they would make no effort to find the ship. He did this fearing that Pegasus would attempt to strip the badly damaged Hermes for parts and leave them to die as they had already done once.

Raid on Scorpia
As the days after the fall ticked by and the supply situation aboard Hermes became more desperate Bowman was forced to put together an operation back to the colonies to acquire supplies. Using the The Erebus Belt to hide the Hermes he organized a series of Raptor missions to acquire the supplies from a Caprimart Distribution Centre on Scorpia. Although he knew the mission was risky the ends justified the means. Unfortunately the mission had been compromised from the start and during a firefight between Hermes Marines and the Cylons Lt. Nester Adrastos was captured.

Death
At the end of Battlestar Hermes: Faststar Bowman is killed along with Keene Barron.