Battlestar Galactica "The Final Showdown" Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (Grandreams) Author Unknown Artist Unknown

Commander Adama has no choice but to order a stand against the allied Cylon/Skafraxian forces at Skafrax in order to collect the much-needed water.

Story Summary

As the Galactica arrives at Skafrax, it is immediately strafed by two Skafraxian cruisers. The gunners on the battlestar manage to destroy one of the cruisers, while Red and Blue Squadrons take out the second. Meanwhile, Commander Adama sends two large water-tankers piloted by Colonel Tigh and Captain Apollo to gather water from the planet.

Near the surface, Tigh's tanker takes a hit and is damaged, forcing him to abandon the mission and head back to the fleet. Apollo manages to make it to a lake with help from a Viper escort that wipes out the Cylon gun emplacements waiting for him there.

Hovering the tanker over the lake, Apollo lowers a suction tube down to the water, but the flexible tube develops a split. Apollo lowers himself down on a winch to repair the split, but is attacked by giant versions of the Skafraxians in the water. He sets his pistol to overload and drops it into the lake, allowing the heat from the weapon to boil everything living in the water within twenty yards. His plan successful, Apollo's tanker is nearly full when Adama orders him back to the fleet as the Cylon force that has pursued them (from "Skirmish Beyond Skafrax") is about to arrive.

Apollo arrives back at the fleet, to find that there have, amazingly, been no losses of life on their side in the Battle of Skafrax.

THE END

Didja Know?

This story appeared in the British book Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack, a book of short stories and articles all about BSG, geared towards kids. The title of the book is derived from a 1979 theatrical release in Europe which combined the episodes "The Living Legend" Parts 1 and 2 and "Fire in Space" into one movie.

"The Final Showdown" is part four of a 4-part story which began in "Switch in Space", continued in "Planet of the Cyclops" and "Skirmish Beyond Skafrax" and concludes here.

Notes from the BSG Chronology

This story takes place about a day after "Skirmish Beyond Skafrax".

Didja Notice?

For the first and only time in BSG, we see the gunners who man the Galactica's built-in defensive weapons during an assault on page 1, panel 3 of the story.

On page 3 of the story, a large tanker type of ship is used by both Tigh and Apollo in an attempt to gather water from the planet Skafrax.

When Apollo realizes the water tube from the shuttle must have a split in it on page 5 of the story, he lowers himself down to fix it on a motorized winch-seat that is apparently called a Rasoseat 'Q'.

To prevent the Skafraxians from grabbing him while he's making the repairs to the water tube, Apollo sets his gun on overload and drops it into the lake, knowing "it should make the water hot enough to boil alive everything within twenty yards." It's hard to believe one overloading pistol could do that; the heat generated would be greatly dissipated through the much larger lake.

Unanswered Questions

What about the Cylon forces that were about to arrive at Skafrax to join in the attack against the fleet? Even if the fleet heads out immediately after Apollo's arrival with the water tanker, wouldn't the Cylon force continue to pursue them, essentially right on their heels? It seems that a large battle is still due to take place!