Appearing in "A World for the Killing!"
Featured Characters:
- Colonial Warriors
- Commander Adama
- Colonel Tigh
- Captain Apollo
- Lieutenant Boomer
- Lieutenant Athena
- Lieutenant Starbuck
- Lieutenant Jolly
- Commander Adama
Supporting Characters:
- Ligea (First appearance)
- Zac (mentioned only)
- Master-Tech Shadrack (mentioned only)
Antagonists:
- Cylons (projected image only)
Other Characters:
- Res (First appearance)
Locations:
- Res' planet (First appearance)
Items:
- Colonial Blaster
Vehicles:
- Battlestar Galactica
- Sequarian Freighter Burnham (First appearance)
- Battlestar Galactica
- Colonial Shuttle
- Vipers
- Bubble-Baby (First appearance)
- Cylon Raiders (projected image only)
Synopsis for "A World for the Killing!"
Apollo and Starbuck join the battle against a squadron of Cylon Raiders in their Vipers. After swiftly defeating them together with Boomer and Athena, they return to the Galactica, but Athena's Viper disappears into thin air as they land. Adama and Tigh join them in the launch bay and explain that they lost contact with Athena's Viper shortly after the battle. Apollo and Starbuck intend to search for Athena, but Boomer is not allowed to join them as he has another assignment.
Athena has landed on a lush planet. She keeps her helmet on for safety and is startled by a large bipedal creature. She watches as the creature enters a large palace, and follows it inside. First she finds Large statues and an elaborate dining table fit for humans, but then she is confronted by a Cylon Warrior. When she hits the Cylon with a blast from her laser, the entire building begins to quiver. She runs back to her Viper, only to find that the quake has opened a fissure below it, stranding her in this mysterious place. A human male approaches her and identifies himself as Res, the proprietor of this world, which he claims to be Earth. Just then the oxygen supply in Athena's helmet gives out and she loses consciousness. Res gently picks her up and carries her back to the palace.
Boomer is piloting a Colonial Shuttle to the Sequarian Freighter Burnham where Lt. Jolly will go undercover to investigate pirate activity. Jolly takes a one-man Bubble-Baby to dock with the Burnham. There, his disguise immediately identifies him as an Aquarian ingestibles salesman, which seems suspicious to a security officer. A Virgon woman who introduces herself as Ligea stands up for Jolly, saying she just received word of some Aquarians boarding the vessel. Jolly introduces himself as Silenus and is shown the way to the newcomer's quarters. As soon as he's alone, he slips a little Magnascan device created by Master-Tech Shadrack into a wall socket. This will let him know the moment any pirates strike.
Apollo and Starbuck are looking for a space-warp, which Colonel Tigh figures must have transported Athena's ship to it's unknown destination. Starbuck stumbles upon it and discovers a single star and planet on the other side, then returns to fetch Apollo. Athena awakes back in the dining room with Res, and she is now wearing an evening gown and an elaborate headdress. Res explains that he created the space-warp and used images of Cylon Raiders picked out of the consciousness of the Colonial people to lure a visitor into it. He tells her that he could create any reality for her she wants, including that of an Earthly paradise. However, Athena refuses to be commanded by him and hits him over the head. As she does so, reality's borders flicker for a brief moment. She hits him again, this time with a piece of meat from the table, and Res reverts to his true form: the shape-shifting creature she spotted earlier. He confesses that he molded himself into an image of her perfect lover. But Athena makes a run for it.
At the palace entrance, she is startled to find Apollo and Starbuck, and suspects that they may be illustions created by Res, too. But Res appears behind her in his monstrous form. When Apollo and Starbuck fire stun blasts at Res, the ground begins to quake again. Athena explains that Rex is maintaining this world, and an injury to it could destroy the planet. The place begins to break apart, but Res spouts wings on his back, grabs Athena and flies off. After landing, he changes back into a human form and tells Athena his real reason for luring someone to his planet was to ask them to execute him as he himself had discorporated all the other members of his evolved race. Athena asks if the Colonials will have enough time to get off the planet before it self destructs and Res answers affirmatively. She then takes Starbuck's gun and shoots Res at point blank range.
The three Colonials escape the planet just in time and return through the space-warp. Adama greets them on the Galactica, but Athena remains somber, wondering if she has done the right thing by ending Res' lonely existence.
Notes
- Story assist by Simonson.
- At the end of the previous issue, Apollo and Starbuck hurried back to the Galactica aboard Shuttlescout Centaurus. But at the start of this issue, they are already flying separate Vipers.
- This issue contains a letters page: Battlestar Bulletins. Letters are published from: Michael Smith, Mark Ellis, Charles David Haskell, Wally Simpson, Jr. and Dominic Dewlay.
