Full Name: Rhys Gaither
Familiar Name: Rhys
Callsign: N/A
Rank: Petty Officer First Class

Portrayed by: Adam Baldwin
Written by: Stagazer

Position:AerospaceMechanic

Age: 27
Male
Ht: 6' 4"
Wt: 250 lbs
Body type: Athletic
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Brown

Placeof Birth: Aerilon
Home Colony: Aerilon

Marital Status: Single, but involved with Lt. Daniella Kypros and is an expectant father.

Family - Father: Tobias Gaither (deceased)
Mother: Emily Gaither (deceased)
Sister: Laurel Gaither (deceased)

Education

Biography
Rhys Gaither was born in the Aerilon colony, the middle son in a family of five children. He worked the family farm alongside his father and brothers, watching the skies at night and dreaming of the larger world. A mediocre student at best, he slogged his way through school and eventually took up his own small plot of land to live on. He discovered a talent for fixing things at this time, and he began to run a repair shop in his community, working on vehicles for his neighbors and acquiring a steady stream of customers.

A military recruiter passing through the area happened to need some engine work done, and after watching Rhys do an efficient job of tending to the problem he offered the younger man an opportunity; join the Colonial Fleet as a mechanic and receive training to fix fighter planes and other equipment. Somewhat startled at the suggestion, Rhys eventually decided that this would be the best chance he had to contribute to protecting his homeworld if the Cylons ever returned, and so with his father's permission he left with the next transport, out into the stars he'd grown up watching at night.

After completing his training, Rhys' first post was on the Pegasus under Helena Cain, whom he still thinks of as the best soldier he ever knew. He managed to escape the taint of her madness, and the subsequent ruination of his hopes before they'd even gotten off of the ground, but he understood her hatred and distrust of the 'toasters'. Some lessons, you don't forget.He made Petty Officer First Classrds as part of an effort to blend the two crews.

When the fleet arrived at New Caprica, Rhys mustered out and tried to return to civilian life, opening up a small repair shop and joining Galen Tyrol's workers union. During the Cylon occupation he fought in the resistance movement helping to liberate the settlement and evacuate everyone when Adama returned.

Rhys made friends easily, a large man with an easy smile and a pat on the back for most of his fellow soldiers. All of that changed when the Colonies fell and all his family and friends were lost, and his sense of humor has only just now started to recover. It left him a little grimmer, a little less ready to smile, but he tends to his duties with the same stoic determination as ever.

Since rejoining the service after the Second Exodus, Rhys has worked on Galactica's hanger deck repairing Vipers and other spacecraft and learning anything he could to help him in his work, keeping ships operational in ways the designers never could have imagined. Much more prone to spending his leisure hours drinking with friends rather than pursuing a higher rank, he's content to labor with his hands to keep the fleet going. He recently got a new set of orders, to report to the Avalon for a tour of duty with the deck crews there. Rhys is looking forward to it; life among the stars has been almost everything he hoped it would be.