"The Law of Volahd" Part 1 Battlestar Galactica #1 (Season II) (Realm Press) Written and Illustrated by Chris Scalf Cover by Chris Scalf December 1997

The fleet’s fuel and weapons resources are down to critical levels.

Read the story summary at the Battlestar Wiki

Didja Know?

The inside front cover of each of the Realm Press issues of BSG featured a painting of the Galactica by Chris Scalf with the title of the issue in white block letters below, in emulation of the title sequence of the episodes of the TV series.

The first 8.5 pages of this issue are a slightly modified retelling of the destruction of the basestar near the end of "The Hand of God". For the PopApostle analysis of this section, see our page for "The Hand of God".

Didja Notice? 

On the cover, one of the fleet ships following the Galactica appears to be the prison barge.

Commander Adama's log entry on page 8 states that it is the Colonial yahren 7324. This seems unlikely given that "The Man with Nine Lives" states that it was 7322 when the Cylons attacked the town of Umbra on Caprica (causing Starbuck to become orphaned). From the BSG Timeline on the Battlestar Wiki, we can deduce that "The Law of Volahd" Part 1 actually takes place in 7349.

Commander's Adama's log entry also reveals that it has been a couple of sectons (weeks) since the Galactica defeated the Cylon basestar in "The Hand of God".

Some of Adama's log entry remarks here are similar to ones he made in "Baltar's Escape", in which he worried they were fleeing the Cylon tyranny only to enter a new one in the form of the Eastern Alliance. Here, after continuing on into new territory after having destroyed a Cylon basestar in "The Hand of God", he asks, "Have we finally escaped the Cylons or will we just walk into the hands of a newer, more oppressive force?"

As he ponders their quest for Earth, why does Adama refer to it as "...quite possible (sic) the last outpost of humanity..."? The fleet has already passed numerous previously unknown worlds hosting human outposts and civilizations! Maybe he's assuming (as have many BSG fans) that the Cylons are mopping up those pockets of humanity as they pass through in their pursuit of the Colonial fleet!

Page 9 reveals that Baltar has not yet been freed to an uninhabited planet as per the deal made with Commander Adama in exchange for information about the layout of a basestar in "The Hand of God". Presumably the fleet has not yet come to a habitable world on which to leave him; or, possibly, Adama wants to be sure the world is far enough away from their last encounter with the Cylons that they won't just find him immediately and rescue him. The exchange between Adama and Baltar here implies that their deal has not been made public to most members of the fleet for fear of outrage with any decision to set the traitor of humanity free.

Omega informs us that the battle in "The Hand of God" has brought the Galactica's weapons systems resources down to minimum.

Pages 15-16 suggest that in the two sectons since their first kiss in "The Hand of God", Apollo and Sheba have pursued a romantic relationship.

This issue introduces a substance called cyranite which is found on some planets and is used as an energy source by the fleet. Apparently unshielded cyranite can cause disruptions in long-range communications (and possibly in scans judging from events in this issue).

On page 22, Boomer refers to his cockpit computer as a computon. This is a misspelling of "computron", a term that originated in the Galactica 1980 TV series. He also uses the term "hectometer" in place of altimeter.