Act - 8

Back on Galactica, Tigh hears the call for a medic and yells down to the CIC to get a medic down to Admiral Adama. He is told that there are none available. Tigh tells Ellen he can’t help her anymore. She understands and tells Saul to go to him. She will try to help Sam as much as she can on her own. Saul runs down to the CIC and grabs the medical kit off the wall, heading to the front airlock at a dead run. Tyrol is curled up in a ball, but Ellen begins to yell at him, she needs his help. He continues to stare blankly and doesn’t respond. Sam begins to weaken again and Ellen is crumbling under the strain.

In the airlock, Tigh encounters Helo, Athena and Hera. The little girl is remarkably peaceful amidst the chaos. Tigh stops just long enough to put a hand to her cheek, then tells Helo to recall all the planes; they’re getting the hell out of there!

Down in the Colony, Laura is bent over Bill, he is conscious but mortally wounded. She looks down and sees that the wound is in his liver, and knows that he will die. She lifts his head in her hands, and he tries to smile at her, his face covered in blood. “I never thought I’d be the one to go first,” he tells her through the pain. “I always was a selfish bastard.” She smiles down at him through the tears; there are no words. Tigh arrives with the medical kit, but Lee holds him back, shaking his head. Kara returns from helping get Hera aboard and tells them the planes have been recalled and they are bugging out. Tigh refuses to accept what he is seeing and demands they get Bill back to the ship, but Bill tells him no, he has to get Hera to safety. Saul protests again, but in the distance, we can hear the sounds of more Centurions approaching. “Take care of my ship Colonel!” Adama tells him. “That’s an order!” Tigh doesn’t want to go, but he stands at attention and salutes his friend one last time. “Yes sir!” are the last words he will ever speak to him.

Laura wants to stay and Bill sees this, but he tells her to go. He begs her not to make him watch her die. Lee insists they go as the Centurions are getting closer. Gently, Laura reaches out and touches his forehead, drawing the shape of an “X” on it. She knows it is his time. Lee takes one last look at his dad and helps Laura away. Adama calls to Starbuck, who has tears streaming down her face. He looks at her, his affectionate, knowing smile crossing his face, and says “What do ‘ya hear Starbuck?” She bursts into her bright, glowing Kara smile, even through the tears, and says “Nothing but the rain sir.” “Then grab your gun and bring in the cat,” he responds. Bleeding badly, he reaches up and takes the last grenade from her belt. “Get out of here now Starbuck. I’ll cover you.” Smiling at him, she knows what this means, and runs off to catch up with the others.

Propping himself up, Bill pulls the pin on the Grenade and holds the firing pin down. In the distance, the others are struggling to get back on board the Galactica. Down the hallway, a team of Centurions led by a Doral and a Simon arrive upon the scene. Seeing the others trying to board the ship, the Doral waves the Centurions forward with orders to kill them all and find the girl. He reaches down to grab a nearly unconscious Bill Adama and demands to know where they’ve taken Hera, sticking his hand in Bill’s wound to torture him. Adama looks up, pulls his hand out with the grenade in it, and releases the pin as Doral looks down. “Frak you!” he spits. The grenade detonates in a huge explosion, blowing them all to hell and enveloping the Centurions in it as well. Lee, Kara, Saul, Roslin and the others get back into the ship safely.

Back in the CIC, Saul Tigh orders a full retreat and throws the ships engines in reverse. As Galactica pulls away, the Cylon goo is torn like strips of flesh and both ships strain and groan under the stress. On the platform above, Tyrol has joined Ellen but she can’t take it anymore and collapses, unconscious. Saul sees this but he has a ship to command and a promise to keep, and he won’t leave his post again. Released, the Colony guns begin blasting Galactica again and the Raiders swarm her as she tries to lumber away.

High above, Racetrack's damaged Raptor drifts, its crew lifeless. Bumped by an out of control Raider, a rock strikes the ship, causing Racetrack's dead hand to strike the firing button to the Raptor's tactical nuclear missiles, launching them all straight at the Colony. The force of the explosions severely damages the Colony, pushing it towards the black hole and threatening to take Galactica with it.

Tigh orders Kara to make a blind jump as the CIC crashes down around their heads. Kara then remembers the music her father played, the music that Hera wrote to her. Recalling the mathematical associations she tried to discern from the music, Kara realizes the music works as a series of FTL coordinates.

She punches in the coordinates into the navigation computer and jumps the ship.
Galactica completes the jump--but the strain of the last battle causes the battlestar's structure to ripple and twist as structural members tear and break. The ship will never jump again. Engines and life support are still online, but Galactica's back is broken.

"Where have you taken us, Kara?" Roslin asks, as the scene changes to an exterior shot to show the battlestar flying over a gray, rocky moon.
But is not just a moon...Galactica has arrived at the moon of Earth...another Earth, this one with the continent of Africa in prominent view.