Intrigue in brevity. On one hand, this is a fascinating article by way of what is not told. A report is issued about a cat, military experiments, a "scandal" and Animal Rights. The United Planetary (I'd have gone with Colonial for consistency) reporter is trying to tell us something, and gives us just enough puzzle pieces to raise an alarm. Global (Colonial) Security is obviously gagging the real story, but something important is happening.

The Cat in question was a witness to something. Or at least its memory cells were. Since both were returned to an "anonymous guardian", it seems the cells may not have been in the cat when the scandal was witnessed! That is interesting. Even if the cells were harvested later, with that cat still being alive, it would seem to indict the military in some sort of organic/machine interface - again, an outrage to Caprican norms. Or, the 3rd possibility is that the feline cells were put into a human "reader," bringing up the the idea of human/animal hybrids. (Of course this last idea would ultimately and indubitably lead to a Kittylon-Colonial War, ending with the settlement of a independent Catylon homeworld.)

The fact that the Caprica Species Rights group even exists is fascinating. I would imagine that after the Cylon war, the colonials would be pretty human-centric. If animals have feelings, using and abusing them would not be too civilized and would lead to questions about mankind's sentient toaster offspring and if they had real emotions...

On the other cold Centurion mitten, it is a story that looks like it was hit hard by the chopping block of a looming deadline. There was a lot to expand into with this story. Adama seemed like name dropping, for example, it would have been better to know just exactly he fit into this cat-scandal. Perhaps if this report was followed up by the un-redacted Military version of events, we could have gotten a better sense of what was happening - especially if the "classified" version was more innocuous than anyone could imagine.

I like what I see; just wish I could see more.

-akhs

Dr., my only complaint is that there isn't more!

This smacks of an article one might read in a paper based in Soho or 'Frisco...any of the liberal independent papers you may find in a coffee house. It is a very cool piece!

It has all of the makings of a nice expose. Inuendo. Reports of abuse. Anonymous witnesses from the inside. Denial from the top. It has it all!

Almost...I wanted to know exactly how the cat was abused (not that I have anything against cats!). Maybe some more in-depth quotes/info. Perhaps a funner (funner?) name for the activist group. We have PETA....maybe something like CHAP (Cats Hate Abusive People).

I love the start and premise. I believe it could be nicely expanded on. Great work!

I found the notion that an animal's memory cells can be used to find information in a military investigation to be refreshingly interesting and creative. The idea has many strengths: the idea of such a procedure is not plausible in our universe and therefore appropriate for a sci-fi setting, and yet it does not go too far beyond what we know to be plausible in the Battlestar Galactica universe. Secondly, the reaction of animal rights activists, as well as the admiral's reaction, are both realistic and typical of both our own society and the one that we have come to recognize in Battlestar Galactica. I even appreciate the factual, journalistic, detached tone of the piece itself as well as the sense of anonymity in the story -- just enough is given to stir up discussion within the fleet, but not enough for anyone to know what is really going on.

My only gripe with your submission is that it is so short. This is a wonderful idea and I think that it could have easily been expanded upon with quotations from colonial fleet members, the rights activists, or the military members.