Micheal Cobley

Interstellar Tactics

 

 

 
 
 
 

Battlestar Galactica: A True Ending

(As I said, I can’t let it go so I sat down to concoct an ending with more grace and plausibility than we saw on the screen. So here it is, a mirage of words to try and put it right, and my gift to all BSG fans – Mike  Cobley)

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After the arrival at this beautiful blue and green world, after the raptor survey teams made their reports, a fleet-wide conference was held to debate the outlines of the next step. It was agreed that as well as founding a new city on the savannah, several other towns would be built to provide cultural, economic and political alternatives. It was also agreed to appoint delegates to a constitutional convention to arrive a new framework of rights and aspirations for this new civilisation.

In orbit, the Cylon baseship was recognised as the fleet flagship and formally named the Prometheus. The Galactica and 2/3rds of the fleet were cannibalised to provide materials for the construction of an orbital station and shipyard (as well as releasing a wide range of workshop machines for planetside operations). New ship designs combined old Colonial tech with Cylon biometals and six years later the Ajax was launched, a vessel half the size of Galactica with twice the firepower.

On the planet’s surface, Humans and Cylons still had to work hard at living together. Friction and prejudice still existed yet were restricted to a few insular groups. Decisions at the constitutional convention led to the establishment of government provisions for health, education and housing, thus preventing the emergence of an uninvolved underclass and, therefore, the conditions friendliest to bigoted extremism.

But there were cultural currents at work too. Leander-Two was the first Cylon artist and his huge work, The Dance Of The Tribes, came to grace the wall of Convention Hall; Cecilia-Six’s magisterial symphony, Marionettika, was first performed 14 years after Arrival. Then there was the new generation of Humans, Cylons, and Cylans, as the Human-Cylon offspring referred to themselves, usually ironically. Their music – vibrant, brash, startling and at times astonishingly insightful – fed its flavours and textures into the ongoing flow and ferment of the new culture.

 Many new institutions had to be assembled from the ground up – schools, hospitals, transport systems, land usage regulations, finance and trade regulations, the nitty gritty basics of a working civilisation. Among them was a new academy for the training of pilots and crew for their nascent navy; heavily involved in its foundation were Admiral Adama, Karl Agathon and a couple of the Sixes from the Cylon contingent. Pilot training was directed by Kara Thrace and Sharon Agathon. Lee Adama and Romo Lampkin were the leading political figures between whom discussion and argument and criticism ebbed and flowed during the days of the founding and the constitutional convention. Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six started their own community away from the general environs of the city, but Baltar’s impatience with his followers resulted in him trying to lead them along a more rational path of belief and understanding. For some this amounted to heresy and a group of them murdered him one night, trying but failing to frame outsiders for it. His body was never recovered.

 Under Doc Cottle’s guidance, and the agreement of the Agathons, Laura Roslin received a small transfusion of blood from Hera as an experiment, resulting in a partial abeyance of the cancer. She lived for another 18 months, long enough to see William Adama build that cabin on a tree-sheltered rise overlooking the city, during which they decided to marry. When the cancer returned further transfusions had no effect, and she was buried near their cabin.

 As for the survivors of the Final Five, Saul and Ellen made their home not far from the Adama cabin, and like him gradually withdrew from direct involvement in public life, apart from the occasional ceremonial event, usually at the naval academy, and infrequent visits to the Diogenes, a science vessel constructed to accomodate the semi-aware Sam Anders. Despite pursuing many lines of enquiry and experimental research, Sam only returned to full consciousness twice, a temporary state which slipped away after an hour or so. Having missed the first, Kara thereafter remained on board the Diogenes and was there months later when he came round again, but when he fell back into the half-aware state his brain activity gradually waned to nothing.

 Galen Tyrol was instrumental in setting up the naval academy’s engineering department, and worked closely with educators like Laura Roslin when the first university was founded. Several years later he built a seagoing craft and went off on a long journey, exploring faraway coastlines, sending back reports, maps, pictures of wildlife and scenic discoveries. Even though he was utterly alone, he finally found some peace and joy.

 Nearly 40 years after Arrival, Hera Agathon was elected president. After her came Phyllida-Six, the first Cylon president.

And as for the beautiful blue and green world which they had made into their new home, the continents had no shape that we would recognise, and they never named it anything as obvious as Earth.

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Other Posts of Potential Interest:

  1. Battlestar Galactica's Last Half-Hour: An Epic Failure Of Storytelling
  2. Battlestar Galactica: In A Story, Events Have Meaning
  3. Battlestar Galactica: Interim Reflections

7 Comments already, do join in...

  1. Alex Says:

    August 12th, 2009 at 8:04 am

    Very well written alternate ending. Well done.

  2. rockitboy Says:

    August 12th, 2009 at 10:10 am

    Glad you like it, Alex.

  3. peri urban Says:

    August 13th, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    Less poetic, more politic, no hairs raised on the back of my neck. It’s utilitarian, but doesn’t deal with the primary narrative thread of the series. You’d better re-write the whole thing from episode one! lol

  4. battlestar galactica general agreement | Latest News | Hot News | Recent News Says:

    September 6th, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    [...] Battlestar Galactica: A True Ending « INTERSTELLAR TACTICS [...]

  5. Chris Says:

    October 19th, 2011 at 5:30 am

    This ending has made me so happy.

  6. rockitboy Says:

    October 19th, 2011 at 9:15 am

    Chris – am glad you liked it. I just thought that both the characters and the audience deserved something more satisfying.

  7. kay Says:

    May 30th, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    This makes a lot more sense.

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