Great story!

The real problem with Starbuck being lost and the fleet not knowing where to look doesn't make sense. Apollo's flight recorder would have the exact time and space and vector that Starbuck's ship went missing.

Wouldn't Apollo's computer have recorded the flight telemetry while Apollo was in cryosleep?

A nice tale. I'm not usually a BSG fan, though if I had to choose, original or new, but decided to read this after finding out the author was the same as the ST/Dune crossover series I enjoyed so much. Like with that, I didn't feel at any time I had to know the mythos of Battlestar, I could read and enjoy and this was an enjoyable story, thank you for telling it.

I just finishing reading your story and enjoy it very much,thank you

This is an excellent story and an absolutely perfect ending to the original Battlestar Galactica.

well dome and a fitting tribute.

Lisa

Hi, I'm from german and my english is very bad, but I like to tell you that I love your story so much! I love the serie and I love to read something about the serie but in german there ist no fanfiction about Apollo, Adama, Starbuck... so I wanna thank you! You do a great work with your fantasy!

Thanks!

Very nicely done

as a fan of Battlestar Galactica i must say that this has the feel of the Origanal series, which is hard to do, just enjoyed it, this is the perfect ending for a story very well done

Dear Readers of Final Flight,

Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully enjoy my story. Now, I want to take the opportunity to address some of the issues that those who posted reviews have brought up and to provide you with some of the motivations I had in writing Final Flight.

The goal of this story was to conclude the Battlestar Galactica saga in a way that does minimal, if any, impact to the cultures of the Earth and to do so without any outside interference besides that of the Ship of Lights. I had this idea in my head since watching Battlestar Galactica back in 1978-80, particularly after watching the Galactica 1980 episode “The Return of Starbuck”. The point being that the angels know that it will take another 25 years for the fleet to reach Earth. They also realize that the Earth will not be ready to help the Colonials fight off any Cylons that follow the fleet to Earth. The angels know that they cannot interfere too much with Earth’s societies or prevent the Cylons from following the fleet. Iblis, despite his being punished for his activities in “The War of the Gods”, will ensure that. So, they decide to send some capable person to Earth ahead of the fleet to get things ready as much as possible.

Another influence was in my mind at the time, that the Galactica saga is very similar to Moses leading the twelve tribes of Israel out of Egypt. Part of that story is the sending of spies into the Promised Land. I originally considered sending a two person team; a man and woman, one in a Viper and one in a shuttle. I looked at several couples: Apollo and Sheba, Starbuck and Athena or Cassiopeia, Greenbean and Brie, or Bojay and Brie. If Apollo or Athena is sent then there are complications due to family and leadership responsibilities. If Starbuck is sent then will he do a good job? He always seems to get into trouble? But he has the knack of convincing people and getting things done on the sly. If others are sent then there are fewer complications except for Sheba, she is a love interest for Apollo. I thought about the logistics of the angels taking one or more Colonials and sending them ahead and realized that for a shuttle to be taken would difficult and would necessitate the creation of another story that would involve a lengthy shuttle mission, so I considered just one or two Vipers and finally reduced it to one, Starbuck’s, as he is the most capable single person I could consider being sent. Besides, according to one source I read, when “Experiment in Terra” was originally written the main character was supposed to be Starbuck. Later, Apollo was given the main role in that story. “Experiment in Terra” is one of the sources of ideas for my story.

After I began writing I had another thought. Since Battlestar Galactica was already an allegory with its parallel with the Exodus, why not make it a multilayered one? So, I thought to myself what group in America left their homeland as a group to escape some sort of problem and would that group or groups wish to leave America if given the chance. The answers immediately popped up; The Pilgrims, Puritans, and Scots-Irish, who would leave because of the rising lawlessness, immorality, corruption, and other problems that my country is facing now. But, the group I was creating would also have to be patriots (military veterans) and religious, that way they could form a cohesive group capable of taking on the task that was falling into their collective laps. The rest of the story just fell into place.

Now, to address some of your comments:

Bill commented in his review that “Since the Galactica and fleet have been traveling for 20 years, there should have been time to rebuild defences somewhat; at least to build additional viper squadrons and perhaps refit a few old freighters with launch tubes. So I see the possibliity of the fleet having 200 - 300 - maybe even 400 vipers as well as newly trained pilots by this time.”

The reason I didn’t make the Colonial force as strong as you suggested was that I was giving the Earth Defense Navy (EDN) some technologies that were not explored by the Colonials and Cylons. Primarily this was the use of missiles. But, I also included the US Navy’s Aegis battle management system, electronic warfare, and AWACS style shuttles. I didn’t want the battles to be completely one sided. If the Colonials could field twice as many fighters as the Galactica could normally field then I would have to raise the number of baseships in the Cylon force. I similarly limited the size of the EDN. I wanted to keep the battles small and manageable. It was hard enough to describe the fighter engagements with enough detail to make them exciting to read.

Sharpe26 commented: “only one thing missing now, Cain and the Pegasus.” This request was repeated later by Aaron.

I did not think that Cain fitted well in my story. Cain tends to dominate every scene he is in. He is also a maverick. I addressed this when I had Stevens, Adama, and Athena talk about the principle of unity of command. Besides, I already had one “Deux ex Machina” in the story with the appearance of the EDN. To have another would not lend to credibility. I figured that Cain was either dead or back in Cylon space doing what he was doing before the refugee fleet met up with him near Gamoray. Remember, he was not seen again since he and his ship confronted three baseships single handedly.

John Lao wrote: “Interesting twist about the Earth Navy. I would have never guess this would have happened. You might want to consider adding a teaser in the beginning about them.”

I thought that I had given enough clues as to the appearance of the EDN and Starbuck in the story. Starbuck disappears in the first chapter. Later, the Colonials sight ships in the Solar System that they cannot identify. Finally, the Cylons report these same ships almost shadowing their movements. The surprise appearance of the EDN was intentional. See above.

Aaron later asked what happened to the fourth baseship and how the Cylons were to destroy the Earth.

To clear up any misunderstanding, in the final battle three baseships attacked the combined fleet at Mars and one tried to devastate the Earth. All four were destroyed. The one that approached Earth by the Washington taskforce and the three at Mars by the Navy’s attack fighters escorted by an ad hoc team of Navy and Colonial fighters. After the battle no Cylon ships remained and all their fighters were destroyed, those near Mars by the combined fleet and the ones approaching Earth by the Moon based fighter wing. The Cylons are defeated and will not destroy the Earth. I did not write this in the story, but the Cylon convoy was close enough that they could receive telemetry from the Cylon task force and learned of their destruction. The convoy then made their best speed to the nearest Cylon base. It will take many years for the Cylons to make another effort to attack the Earth because of the great distances involved.

I want to thank the other reviewers, Luna, Ray243, W1REF1RE, Kevin, catherineXXIX, Whalesong, Kassandra6, Ms Hobgoblin, RJLCyberPunk, rankokun alpha, and crtrk for their kind comments. I really appreciate it. Yes, I would love to make a movie from my story. Do you think Leslie Nielson would make a good Adama? Do you remember Nielson in Forbidden Planet? What about Gene Hackman as Baltar? He has done some great work as a “heavy’ in Superman, No Way Out, Absolute Power and other films.

Finally, I want to thank AlbertG for his help in reviewing what I have written and for his excellent comments and critiques. Al, I appreciate your help and friendship and I love the stories you and your partners are writing; The Armageddon Conflict and Thin Veneer.

It was my pleasure to write this story for you all and I am glad you enjoyed it. Thanks again for your support. Sincerely,

BobDL

A good chapter, and an excellent way to end the story if thats what you've done. If you are done with this story, are you planning on writing a sequal at a latter date. What happened to the forth base ship, I thought only three were destroyed?

Thankyou for your grate gift to all of us fans !

That was the right way to end it Adama got to see the Earth!

I have my popcorn ready for the movie ,you just haf to find an Adama or use CGI!

anyway keep up the good work.

So Baltar is dead, he cripled the Galactica, and killed Adama, Tigh, and Boomer, as well as hundreds of other crewmen. While this was probably a phsycological blow to the Colonials, how would that allow him, or the Cylons for that matter, to defeat the Colonials and the Earth forces. While the Galactica and a number of fighters are gone, it sounds like the Earth navy didn't lose any ships.

THIS WAS A GREAT CHAPTER.

I Thankyou so much for the new chapter !

Your story is just so grate ,and you are someone who listens to your fans I hope you go far.

Update soon thankyou!