Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 3

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Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 3 An issue of the Dynamite series.
Issue No.	3
Writer(s)	Dan Abnett Andy Lanning
Illustrator(s)	Cezar Razek
Penciller(s)
Inker(s)	{{{inker}}}
Colorist(s)	Vinicius Townsend
Letterer(s)	Simon Bowland
Editor(s)
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)	Alex Ross (Main Cover and Variants) Chris Eliopoulos (Subscription Cover)
Adaptation of
Published	July 3, 2013
Collects
Collected in	Battlestar Galactica Volume 1: Memorial
Reprints
Reprinted as
Pages	32
ISBN	725130204622
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
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Apollo and Starbuck face perils on their own! While Starbuck teams with a strangely familiar acquaintance, Apollo joins in humanity's last effort to overthrow the decades-old tyranny. Behold, the consequences of a reality where the Battlestar Galactica never existed, as the all-conquering Cylon Empire grinds humanity to dust!

Plot

Baltifer's basestar

• Starbuck is tossed into a cell by a Centurion, who warns that any further acts of defiance will be met by lethal force.
• Starbuck finds that he shares a cell with a corpulent, heavily-bearded fumarello-smoking man, who condescendingly states that he'd better make peace with the Lords of Kobol. The man refuses to give his name, and prevents Starbuck from introducing himself.
• The topic quickly changes to Zee, and the bearded compatriot summarizes why humans are kept prisoners aboard the basestar and how Zee came into the employ of the Cylons. He also reveals to Starbuck that Baltar has been merged with Lucifer, and has become a cybernetic amalgam called Baltifer.
• Starbuck attracts Zee's attention, finding himself looking into the face of a rapidly decrepit man whose life-support systems are tied into a modified Centurion, upon which Zee is perched.
• Zee orders the Cylons to give Starbuck "special consideration" to further discover the secrets of the "curious ship."
• Later, Starbuck awakens in his cot, finding his cellmate hunkered behind a mattress, preparing for a blast.
• The blast comes before Starbuck can further pursue a line of questioning, discovering that the Cylon Warden lies in flaming shambles.
• The cell doors are overridden by a group of raiders, who run to the cigar-smoking rotund man, referring to him as "Captain Starbuck" much to Lieutenant Starbuck's befuddlement.
• Starbuck's "other self" offers to give him a lift, seeing as the Cylons believe him to be of value, but makes it clear he won't wait around.
• As Captain Starbuck's raiders exchange fire with incoming Centurions, Lieutenant Starbuck asks about the other prisoners. The Captain wryly notes that the Warrior is a "bleeding heart," and reiterates his abhorrence to slowing down: it's every person for themselves.
• The escaping raiders and prisoners make their way to a launch bay, where the raiders are loading ammo and other equipment on stolen Raiders. Starbuck regales himself with the praise from his people for risking his life, as he allowed himself to be captured in order to feed his raiding party the basestar's security codes.
• Starbuck has a face-off with his alternate self, fighting for the right of the other prisoners to board the stolen Raiders. After another wave of Centurions arrives, Captain Starbuck begrudgingly agrees, and the surviving prisoners also board the Raiders.
• As the stolen Raiders launch, the Starbucks enter into Lieutenant Starbuck's Viper to escape, only to find it is unable to start. However, the Centurions avoid firing on the craft, ordering the humans to surrender. This gives Starbuck the time he needs to fire an engine, and he uses the Viper's lasers to clear out the Centurions in their path as they escape.
• To prevent pursuit, Captain Starbuck deploys the signal disruptor that affects the Cylons and gives his counterpart the coordinates to his base. That base is Galactica itself.
• In the aftermath of their escape, Zee reports to a displeased Baltifer that they were able to reverse engineer temporal technology from the Viper, and that their dismantling efforts are why it had problems launching prior to its escape. Zee assures Baltifer that they will soon have temporal weapons of their own.

The Planetoid

• On the planetoid where Q-Cache #2702 should be, Apollo finds himself facing a scarred man who looks and acts like his father.
• Adama reiterates that his son is dead, as he saw him die, and is haunted by dreams of it. He believes the Apollo before him some kind of "meat-puppet" manufactured by Zee.
• Apollo begins to tell Adama of earlier events, which Boomer believes to be "far-fetched felgercarb," but is quickly interrupted by another rebel who informs Adama of their discovery.
• Apollo is brought down to an underground hangar bay, where his Temporal Viper is lowered via landing pad, having been dragged from the marsh it landed in.
• A quartet of Warriors approach, with one of them discussing that the warper-tech modifications lends credibility to Apollo's story. Apollo recognizes that person, believing it to be Serina—it is a Serina, but she throws the "freak" away from her for she does not know him. When Apollo goes to explain that he was married to her, that she died, and he raises their son Boxey, she goes into a rage. Adama explains to him that her son died in the Battle of Cimtar when Caprica was destroyed.
• Adama questions Apollo on his continual mentions of Galactica. When Apollo mentions that it is a battlestar, Adama replies that not only all battlestars were destroyed, but there has never been one named Galactica.
• Later, Apollo lays out his story to the resistance group, as well as posits that both himself and Starbuck—who they do not know—changed reality during the Nebula Ambush. At Apollo's request, Adama relays the history of the alternate reality.
• At the end of the story, Adama tells Apollo of their dire situation, believing that humanity will soon be extinguished. It is a belief that neither Boomer nor Serina share, and Apollo reiterates that they "speak with the voices of my time" and that the Adama he knew would never give up. Adama concedes that he may not be anything like Apollo's actual father.

Notes

Publication Releases

• A version of this issue, the Battlestar Galactica #3 Exclusive Subscription Variant, released in July 2013. Per the publisher:

  A super-special, exclusive Chris Eliopoulos Cute cover, only available to comic shop subscribers and limited to initial orders!

Nods

• The cover is inspired by the classic 1977 C.E. Star Wars poster by Tom Jung, with Starbuck in Luke Skywalker's position, flanked by his own "Princess Leia's": Athena and Cassiopeia. Except that neither of those characters appears—from the primary universe at least—in this story arc.
• The use of a devious, self-serving Zee is not new to Dynamite Comics, particularly as a reimagined Zee originated from Dynamite's Galactica 1980 series.

Miscellany

• Sheba and Greenbean are mentioned, but not seen.
  • The mention of Sheba brings Cain's place in the alternate reality, and whether or not Cain held the same stature that his Cain had.
• Lucifer is mentioned, but not seen.
• The appearance of Doctor Zee brings into question the character's origins, as it is a complete divergence from his canonical counterpart's backstory. Furthermore, it is never made clear why Zee seems so decrepit in this reality, when his primary counterpart has apparent youth and vitality.

Analysis

• The point of divergence for the alternate history that Apollo and Starbuck find themselves in is explained: the Galactica never existed. There are mostly minor changes, as the characters, players, and settings are the same, falling in line with "in spite of a nail."
  • In the alternate reality, the Cylons still win the Thousand-Yahren War and the human race is all but wholly exterminated.
  • Baltar still betrays humanity for his own aims.
  • Adama is still a leader of people, but assumes the role that Adar had in the primary reality as President of the Quorum of Twelve, and thus it is he who is himself fooled by Baltar's lies. This is one step removed from the primary reality as Adama becomes the President of the Quorum following Adar's Battle of Cimtar aboard Atlantia, as Adama served as Caprica's representative to the Quorum under President Adar.
  • Adama still leads a rag-tag fugitive group on a lonely quest of guerrilla warfare agains the Cylons, playing hide-and-go-seek with the Cylon Empire's representative at their backs, in a modified form.
  • Tigh is in the military, assuming command of a battlestar that Adama and his wife travel upon during the "peace conference." Tigh saves Adama's life during the battle, at the expense of his own.
  • Ila and Zac still die; Apollo and Athena just join them, leaving Adama the sole survivor of his family.
• They just don't have the good luck charm of Galactica, or so they think.
• The Starbuck conundrum comes into play, as Captain Starbuck has much the same inclinations as his primary reality counterpart. In particular, the name Starbuck is bestowed upon him by Adama—if the events of Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck #1 are to be factored in, although that series was written after this installment—after the attack on Umbra that orphaned Starbuck to begin with. It is apparent that Captain Starbuck's visible gluttony and other self-serving attributes are from the lack of structure and sensibilities that would have been provided by Adama and his family.
• There is a question of where Captain Starbuck's Galactica came from, as it is an incongruous anomaly in light of Adama's adamancy that there had never been a ship named Galactica commissioned.

Questions

• What are Doctor Zee's origins? How did he succumb to his physical ailments, whereas his opposite had not?
• How many yahrens have the Colonial Resistance been fighting the Cylons?
• How did Starbuck come to be in possession of Galactica, particularly as the Colonies never commissioned a battlestar with that name?
• How did Starbuck come into possession of a signal disruptor effective against Cylons?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Adama reveals a key divergence explaining the alternate reality's origin:

  Adama: You keep mentioning something called the Galactica. What is it? Your ship?

  Apollo: The battlestar Galactica.

  Adama: I was there when the Cylons attacked. All the battlestars were destroyed. There has never been a battlestar called Galactica.

• Adama tells Apollo that the human race is certainly doomed:

  Adama: The Cylon Empire is relentless. The day is fast approaching when the human race will finally be extinguished.

  Apollo: No! No, you'd never think like that!

  Adama: It is the truth.

  Serina: It is not! We'll keep fighting!

  Boomer: We'll stand strong, sir, for as long as it takes!

  Apollo: Listen to them! Listen to both of them! Serina and Boomer speak with the voices of my time. Where I come from, we never gave up. You never gave up, father. You always told me that when things were blackest any light was the promise of a new day. The Adama I know would never acll the fight futile, no matter what the odds.

  Adama: Then maybe I am not your father after all.

Related Imagery

Covers

• 
  Main Cover
  Art: Alex Ross
• 
  Incentive Cover. Alternate main pencil sketch cover.
  Art: Alex Ross
• 
  Virgin cover.
  Art: Alex Ross
• 
  Subscription Cover "Cute Exclusive"
  Art: Chris Eliopoulos

Preview Pages

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

• 
  Page 1
• 
  Page 2
• 
  Page 3
• 
  Page 4
• 
  Page 5

External links

• Dynamite.com: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #3 (web.archive.org backup link)

Original Series definition: an all-purpose term for Colonial soldier and Viper pilot (see: Warrior)