Editing Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 2

{{separate continuity|universe=TOS|cont=Dynamite Comics}}

{{Comic Data
| image= BSG188002CovSyaf.jpg
| title=Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 2
| series=Dynamite
| issueno=2
| episode=
| writer= [[Tony Lee]]
| penciller=[[Aneke]]
| inker=
| colorist= [[Alex Starling]]
| letterer= [[Marshall Dillon]]
| editor=
| cover= [[Ardian Syaf]] (Cover A) <br/> [[Sergio Fernandez Davila]] (Cover B)
| published=September 10, 2014
| collects=
| collected=
| reprints=
| reprinted=
| isbn= 725130219275
| prev=[[Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 1]]
| next=[[Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 3]]
}}

==Summary==

:''As the Colonial Fleet gather together under Arch-Duke [[Adama (1880)|Adama]], [[Athena (1880)|Athena]] and [[Starbuck (1880)|Starbuck]] find themselves captured by the pirates of the [[Rising Star (1880)|Rising Star]]! Will [[Apollo (1880)|Apollo]] and his friends defeat Professor [[Baltar (1880)|Baltar]]'s [[Cylonic Knights]] - and what secret will they discover? Come with us on this Steampunk re-imagine of ''Battlestar Galactica'' by #1 New York Times bestselling author [[Tony Lee]]!''<ref>{{cite_web|url=https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513021927502011|title=
Steampunk Battlestar Galactica: 1880 #2|date=|accessdate=30 June 2019|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>

==Plot==

=== Aethership ''Galactica'' ===

* [[Archduke]] {{1880|Adama}} castigates [[Fleet Admiral]] {{1880|Tigh}} for allowing {{1880|Athena}} to pursue {{1880|Starbuck}}'s help to rescue [[Crown Prince]] {{1880|Apollo}}.
* Adama is interrupted by a communication from Lord {{1880|Cain}} aboard ''{{1880|Pegasus}}''. He takes the call, believing it to be false. 
* Cain reports that they're "broken, but not out" as he reports that {{1880|Baltar}}'s army approaches {{1880|Gemini}}.
* Tigh informs Adama that out of the approximately eighty ships, about ten to twenty have fighting capabilities. Summarily, Adama orders the conscription of any and all fighting personnel into the [[Colonial Army]] to meet Baltar's fleet at Gemini.
* Tigh is told by Adama that Tigh's decision best be the right one where Athena is concerned, otherwise he'd have both their heads.

=== Rising Star ===

* As Queens {{1880|Cassiopeia}} and {{1880|Sheba}} quarrel, {{1880|Starbuck}} turns the odds back into their favor: {{1880|Muffit}} deploys ''{{1880|Starchaser}}''{{'|s}} cannons. Firing mere test cartridges at the quarrelsome Queens and their crews, Starbuck and {{1880|Athena}} make their escape. 
* A dubious Athena boards the craft, while {{1880|Boxey}} mans the firing controls noting that he's "never felt so ''alive''." He asks Muffit if they could use real ammunition, to which Muffit replies in the negative.
* Leaving Athena's [[bubbleship]] behind, they depart leaving the Queens behind. The Queens are aware that Starbuck used blanks against them, and believe that he'll be dead soon enough; they bet two hundred [[credit]]s that they kill him first.

=== Helia ===

* ''{{1880|Proteus}}'' lands on the planetoid [[Helia]] and the [[Cylonics]] unload their prisoners, including [[Crown Prince]] {{1880|Apollo}} and Lieutenant {{1880|Boomer}}, passing by {{1880|Baltar}}'s {{1880|Centurion}}s as they disembark. Boomer tells Apollo about the Centurions, and notes that so many have been built as they are Baltar's weapons of mass destruction to be used to destroy the {{1880|The Twelve Colonies}}.
* Prior to exiting the craft, a [[Cylonic Knight]] orders them to wait. As they wait, an old man makes himself known to Apollo; Apollo is reintroduced to {{1880|Count}} {{1880|Iblis}}, who offers Apollo and his friends a way to escape certain death on Helia in exchange for being able to accompany the younger {{1880|Warrior}}s.

=== In The Aether ===

* The quarreling Queens of [[Rising Star]] pursue ''{{1880|Starchaser}}'' into the [[aether]].
* {{1880|Starbuck}} tells {{1880|Athena}} that he may have dated both at the same time, without telling them&mdash;ergo their considerable annoyance on display.
* Starbuck pilots ''Starchaser'' towards an asteroid field, releasing mines and dissuading both ships from pursuing.
* {{1880|Cassiopeia}} informs {{1880|Sheba}} that a mine has damaged her [[cavorite]] shell and they are dead in the aether. Sheba takes advantage of this by instructing her crew to open fire on Cassiopeia's damaged ship. 
* As the equally-matched quarreling Queens engage one another, ''Starchaser'' probes deeper into the asteroid field. He feels that the field is familiar, and asks {{1880|Muffit}} for a damage assessment: they're venting air. Starbuck seeks to find a place to land, so they may effect repairs.

=== Helia ===

* {{1880|Iblis}} extracts a power module from {{1880|Boomer}}'s prosthesis; Iblis is constructing a weapon from various prosthetics and parts taken from the other prisoners. 
* {{1880|Jolly}} confides his distrust of Iblis to {{1880|Apollo}}, to which Apollo replies that keeping one's moral standards is questionable after the long-term imprisonment that Iblis has been subjected to.
* Iblis presents his "one of a kind" [[retroblaster]], informing Apollo that it only has three shots at best. Apollo takes the weapon and begin acting upon their escape plan.

=== Asteroid Belt ===

* As {{1880|Starbuck}} affects repairs on ''{{1880|Starchaser}}'', he asks {{1880|Muffit}} to run a scan on the geological composition of the asteroid, seeing as he cannot shake a feeling of familiarity. 
* Meanwhile, {{1880|Athena}} asks when they can resume their search for {{1880|Apollo}}. Starbuck replies that they'll be able to do so in [[micron]]s, and that he knows where Apollo would be taken to: [[Helia]], an abandoned Colonial prison mining planet where {{1880|Baltar}} acquired the materials used to construct the [[Cylonics]].
* Muffit completes the analysis, informing Starbuck that they are on the remains of [[Carillion]].
* Starbuck and Muffit make haste back toward ''Starchaser''{{'|s}} landing ramp, but are intercepted by surviving {{1880|Ovions}}.

=== Helia ===

* {{1880|Apollo}} expends the last shot from the [[retroblaster]] upon a [[Cylonic Knight]], while {{1880|Iblis}} hot-wires the door panel. 
* The prisoners make their way out and Apollo goes to aid them, but Iblis holds him back. He tells Apollo that all lives are expendable, except for the Crown Prince's to prepare for the eventuality of {{1880|Adama}}'s fall.
* Apollo refuses to accept Iblis' words and goes to aid the prisoners as the Cylonics slaughter them, while {{1880|Boomer}} and {{1880|Jolly}} make their way to the hangar in the hopes of using ''{{1880|Proteus}}'' to make their escape.
* They storm the hangar, finding ''Proteus'' gone and another wave of Knights closing in on them.
* Iblis is able to short out the local network and disable the [[clockwork]] Knights, explaining that with [[Lu-c-fer]] gone the control of the local Cylonics reverted to said local network. Unfortunately, the tactic isn't usable on the [[babbage]] computer itself.
* During Apollo's questioning of Iblis, the greater secret is revealed: {{1880|Baltar}} did not create the Cylons&mdash;both Iblis and {{1880|Athena}} had. Apollo is shocked to learn this, but is distracted when informed that another ship has been found.

=== Aethervoid ===

* ''{{1880|Galactica}}'' and a group of six ships&mdash;all that could be spared from protecting the surviving fleet that they had left behind&mdash;make haste to {{1880|Gemini}}.
* {{1880|Adama}} calls {{1880|Cain}}, who claims that the [[Cylonics]] are depleted and ''{{1880|Pegasus}}'' is holding its own. Buoyed by this, Adama tells {{1880|Tigh}} that he fears too much, and orders them to phase back into the [[aether]]. 
* As the group phases back into the aether, they fall under attack by a Cylonic force. Much to Adama's horror, the call was a ruse orchestrated by {{1880|Baltar}}, and the small force faces an overwhelming contingent of Cylonic ships.

==Notes==

* Following [[Tony Lee|the author]]'s admitted ''Star Wars'' nods in the story, {{1880|Starbuck}}'s entering an asteroid field to evade the quarrelsome {{1880|Rising Star}}'s Queens, {{1880|Cassiopeia}} and {{1880|Sheba}}, and setting down for repairs is inspired by ''[[wookiepedia:Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back]]''.

==Analysis==

* {{1880|Athena}}'s role in the creation of the [[Cylonics]] is not common knowledge, not even to {{1880|Apollo|her own brother}}. This fact has clearly been suppressed, and it is likely that {{1880|Adama}} and the {{1880|Quorum}} had a part in that, otherwise she would have fallen victim to the "clean up" that {{1880|Jolly}} and {{1880|Boomer}} experienced after the [[Battle of Carillion]].
* {{1880|Iblis}} appears very protective of {{1880|Apollo}} to the point where all other lives are expendable. His motivations are not without self-serving interest.

==Questions==

* What are the fates of Queens {{1880|Cassiopeia}} and {{1880|Sheba}}?
* Will {{1880|Starbuck}} make amends toward the Queens?
* How were the {{1880|Ovions}} able to survive? Did they have available stockpiles of resources that survived [[Carillion]]'s destruction?

==Noteworthy Dialogue==

* ''{{1880|Starbuck}} tells {{1880|Athena}} how he managed to annoy Queens {{1880|Cassiopeia}} and {{1880|Sheba}} so deftly, as they are pursued through the [[aether]] by said Queens:''

: '''Starbuck''': I may have dated them.
: '''Athena''': And? There has to be more!
: '''Starbuck''': Both at the same time. ''Without'' telling them.
: '''Athena''': And you tell me this ''now''?
: '''Starbuck''': It didn't seem important!

* ''{{1880|Apollo}} attempts to help the revolting prisoners against the better-armed [[Cylonics]]:''

: '''{{1880|Iblis}}''': No, [[Crown Prince]]. You need to do nothing. ''You'' need to survive in case your father has fallen. All of us are expendable. ''You'' must live.
: '''Apollo''': The {{1880|Hades}} I am. I'm a ''soldier'' and these are my ''brothers''. Fight or run. Your choice. ''I'' choose to ''kill some [[clockwork]]s.''

* ''{{1880|Baltar}} springs his trap on {{1880|Adama}} at {{1880|Gemini}}:''

: '''Baltar''': Oh, I'm afraid Lord {{1880|Cain}} isn't here right now. He hasn't been here since we ''blew him from the [[aether]]''. It's just you and ''me'', Adama. Well, me&mdash;and a ''few thousand of [[Cylonics|my children]].''
: '''Adama''': I've killed us all. We're the last [[aethership]]&mdash;and if we fall, so does the [[Twelve Colonial Empires|Empire]]!

==Related Imagery==

===Covers===

: ''Even though the covers are not identified with letter designations on the cover identification sheet inside of the issue, they are used below for consistency and order purposes.''

<gallery mode="slideshow">
BSG188002CovSyaf.jpg|'''Cover A''' Main colorized cover.<br/>''Art:'' Ardian Syaf<br/>''Inks:'' Guillermo Ortega<br/>''Colors:'' Kyle Ritter
BSG188002CovIncenStarbuck.jpg|'''Cover B:''' [[Starbuck (1880)|Starbuck]] Concept Art Incentive Cover.<br/>''Art:'' Sergio Fernandez Davila<br/>
BSG188002CovIncenApollo.jpg|'''Cover C:''' [[Apollo (1880)|Apollo]] Concept Art Incentive Cover.<br/>''Art:'' Sergio Fernandez Davila
</gallery>

===Preview Pages===

: ''Please Note: These are used for promotional purposes by the publisher, and are provided here in the same vein.''

<gallery mode="slideshow">
SteamBSG021.jpg|Page 1
SteamBSG022.jpg|Page 2
SteamBSG023.jpg|Page 3
SteamBSG024.jpg|Page 4
SteamBSG025.jpg|Page 5
</gallery>

==References==
<div style="font-size:85%;"><references/></div>

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