The Galactica's Very Last Mission

Talk about going out with a bang. The one thing I like about the reimagined TV series was its tendency to add some realism into the series - to a certain extent. Well, you can't expect a lone Battlestar to still outshine the Cylons after numerous encounters and still come out on top. Its a darn shame the very technology that was given this Battlestar as opposed to the original series was her curse at the end - the FTL Engines.

Strange how my anticiaption for the coming Moebius model kit is bringing out a Galactica nostalgia attack. Oh well, just felt like highlighting her final mission as a tribute to this mighty ship.

The science behind FTL technology was never explained clearly so I won't try to rationalize or explain it. We were just told in the series that before the Galactica could jump, her flight pods had to be retracted. The mighty Pegasus didn't seem to have this problem and we can only assume its due to advancement in technology.

So for those who didn't quite watch the entire series, or missed the last few episodes, here's Galactica's final mission, and here's what happens when she engaged her FTL engines with the flight pods still extended. (Spoilers warning for you too)


An advance warning for all, this blog post is going to have a lot, and I mean A LOT of screen cap images.

The Final Mission:

Galactica is already badly damaged and some of her systems are beyond repair. To make matter worse, Chief Tyrol had earlier discovered that engineers had cut corners during her construction and the poor ship wasn't going to last much longer, not with all the pounding she had been taking. It was decided then that instead of ending her days as spare parts, she will serve her very last campaign with pride and honour, Adama was going to use the Galactica to save Helo and Athena's daughter, Hera, who was kidnapped earlier by Boomer. Hera was important, as she was the very first Cylon Human hybrid.

But that meant the Galactica was going to go against the Cylon Colony ship itself, a humongous behemoth who is orbiting a nearby Black Hole for protection. It was literally a suicide mission, so Adama asked for both humans and cylon ally volunteers. With all the volunteers in tow, and everyone at battle stations, the Galactica pulls away from the fleet with her flight pods retracting, leaving the Rebel Basestar in charge of the fleet.

The Galactica jumps right in front of the humongous Cylon Colony ship and immediately begin taking fire. Galactica successfully infiltrate the Cylon hybrid to get their main guns to cease firing. She immediately launches all her Vipers and her Raptors who were waiting at the Museum section of the Flight Pod. They initiate their jump from within the hangar bay itself to a safe distance (so they could infiltrate into the colony ship undetected). The jump ruptures the hull of the flight pod.

With all the fighters and Raptors safely launched, Galactica rams head on against the Colony Ship so she can release her troops on the aft nose section

Jumping ahead of the story, during the chaos when the final 5 connected together to discover how to construct a new Resurrection ship, Tyrol discovers who his wife's murderer was and goes amok. The truce was compromised and all hell broke loose on board the Galactica. At the same time, a lone Raptor who was struck by a meteorite earlier on (killing all her crew), was struck again by another meteorite fragment. The impact caused the dead pilot's hand to falls back unto the launch box hitting the fire button and releasing its nuclear payload. The missiles hits their mark, the Cylon Colony ship.

The force of the blast disable the Colony ship and she gets pulled into the Black Hole, along with the Galactica. Adama orders Kara "Starbuck" Thrace who managed to run to the FTL control section of the bridge, to jump - destination anywhere. Kara had been hounded earlier by a song, and she discovers then that the key notes were actually numbers - latitude and longitude. She keys in those numbers, and as there wasn't much time left to retract the flight pods, engage the FTL engines and jumps.

As the Galactica re-emerges with her flight pods still extended, the strain and pressure proved too much for the once mighty ship and she begins to fall apart. Structural damage report indicate that she had "broken her back" and never to jump again.

A quick scan later to find out where they were indicated a habitable planet with a lone moon orbiting her. This planet will later be called "Earth", a tribute to the 13th colony, and both Humans and Cylons will cohabit together in this blue marble in peace.

The journey ends, and a new home is found. The Battlestar Galactica was no longer needed, and she had served her masters well right to the very end. So it was only fitting she led her fleet one final time into the sun, never to be seen or heard from again.