Astral Queen
the prison ship
The Astral Queen was a luxury liner converted into a Colonial prison transport that survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Control passed to its inmates, who rallied under Tom Zarek and made the ship a power base within the fleet.
The Astral Queen was a luxury liner converted into a prison transport in service with the Colonial government, capable of holding some fifteen hundred prisoners and equipped with faster-than-light drives for rapid transit. It survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and joined the refugee fleet led by Galactica, after which control of the ship passed to its prisoners. Under the leadership of the Sagittaron dissident Tom Zarek, the inmates turned the Astral Queen into a political power base that endured for years within the fleet.
Survival of the Fall#
On the fortieth anniversary of the Cylon War armistice, the Astral Queen was on course for Caprica carrying prisoners to parole hearings. When the massive Cylon force struck the Cyrannus Star System, the ship was ordered to hold position in its space lane, which kept it clear of the main Cylon thrust. It was located by a Raptor crewed by Sharon "Boomer" Valerii and given coordinates to the civilian rendezvous ordered by President Laura Roslin.
Faced with the difficult question of whether the limited human survivors should include hardened criminals, Captain Wilkens asked Roslin to decide whether the prisoners should be executed for the fleet's convenience. Roslin rejected the idea, and the Astral Queen continued out of the system with the fleet in search of Earth.
The prison rebellion#
In the days after the Fall, a Cylon agent's sabotage aboard Galactica threatened the fleet with a water shortage. Lacking a dedicated crew to mine ice from a moon, Roslin chose to rely on prison labor. A delegation led by Galactica's CAG, Captain Lee Adama, made the offer, insisting it was voluntary work that would aid the prisoners' delayed parole hearings rather than forced labor.
By then the inmates had banded together under Tom Zarek, and they unanimously rejected the proposal and began a riot. To prevent a massacre and to deny Zarek what he assumed was a bid for martyrdom, Lee Adama held Galactica's Marines back, surrendered control of the ship to the prisoners, and had its crew transferred to other vessels.
A power base in the fleet#
In the weeks that followed, the former prisoners organized themselves into a repair team that provided much-needed maintenance for the other ships of the fleet. This work earned Zarek considerable goodwill, securing his appointment as Sagittaron's delegate to the Quorum of Twelve and very nearly winning him the vice presidency.
After martial law was declared, the Astral Queen became the flagship of a breakaway fleet of some two dozen ships made up of supporters of the ousted Roslin and of Zarek. That rebellion ended quietly with the arrival of Galactica over Kobol. Following the decision to settle New Caprica, the Astral Queen set down on the planet near Colonial One, where it remained through nearly a year of Colonial control and several months of Cylon occupation before evacuating successfully during the battle there. For much of that time it served as Zarek's seat of power. The ship later returned to its original role as a prison vessel, holding many of Galactica's mutineers after their failed coup, and was last seen flying into the Sol System.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Astral Queen?
- The Astral Queen was a luxury liner converted into a prison transport in service with the Colonial government. It could hold some fifteen hundred prisoners and was equipped with faster-than-light drives for rapid transit.
- How did the Astral Queen survive the Fall of the Twelve Colonies?
- When the Cylons struck the Cyrannus Star System, the Astral Queen was carrying prisoners toward Caprica for parole hearings and was ordered to hold position in its space lane, which kept it clear of the main Cylon thrust. It was located by a Raptor crewed by Sharon Valerii and directed to the civilian rendezvous ordered by President Laura Roslin.
- How did the prisoners take control of the Astral Queen?
- When a water shortage led Roslin to seek prison labor for ice mining, Lee Adama offered the inmates voluntary work, but they had banded together under Tom Zarek and rejected the proposal and began a riot. To prevent a massacre, Lee Adama held Galactica's Marines back, surrendered control of the ship to the prisoners, and transferred its crew to other vessels.
- Why did the Astral Queen become an important power base in the fleet?
- The former prisoners organized into a repair team that maintained other ships of the fleet, which earned Tom Zarek goodwill and secured his appointment as Sagittaron's delegate to the Quorum of Twelve. The ship later served as the flagship of a breakaway fleet and became Zarek's seat of power through the New Caprica settlement.
- What happened to the Astral Queen?
- After the New Caprica settlement, the Astral Queen returned to its role as a prison vessel and held many of Galactica's mutineers after their failed coup. It was last seen flying into the Sol System and was scuttled around 4 ACH.
Gallery
Images via Battlestar Wiki
Sources
- WikiAstral Queen — Battlestar Wiki entry
- WikiAstral Queen-type — Battlestar Wiki entry
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Related entries
Colonial One
Colonial One was a civilian passenger liner that became the official residence and workplace of the President of the United Colonies of Kobol after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Formerly Colonial Heavy 798, it served as the seat of the surviving government throughout the search for Earth.
Galactica
Galactica was a Jupiter-class battlestar that served the Colonial Fleet from the Cylon War until the discovery of Earth. Never networked, it survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and shepherded the last fifty thousand humans across uncharted space before being scuttled into the sun.
Caprica
Caprica was a planet in the Cyrannus star system and the cultural, economic and military center of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Birthplace of the first Cylons, it became the capital of the United Colonies and was devastated in the Cylon assault that ended colonial civilization.
Cylon War
The Cylon War, also called the First Cylon War, was a twelve year interstellar conflict between the Cylons and the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. It began when the Cylons rose against their human creators and ended in a sudden Armistice that held for over forty years.
Cylon
The Cylons were a race of sentient machines created as military robots by Graystone Industries on Caprica. Built from research into artificial consciousness, they rebelled against their human masters, fought a decades long war, and forty years later returned to annihilate humanity.
Fall of the Twelve Colonies
The Fall of the Twelve Colonies, also called the Second Cylon War, was a single-day Cylon campaign of total annihilation against Colonial space. It wiped out almost the entire human population of over twenty nine billion and left barely fifty thousand survivors in a fleeing refugee fleet.
Mentioned in6 entries
Elosha
Elosha was a Colonial priest who swore in Laura Roslin as President during the Fall and became her spiritual guide as the Fleet sought Earth. She read Roslin's visions against the prophecies of Pythia, and even after her death on Kobol she returned to Roslin in vision.
Enkidu
The Enkidu was a civilian Astral Queen-type prisoner transport that escaped the Fall of the Twelve Colonies in the refugee fleet. It sided with President Roslin during the schism over Kobol and later ran a dense star cluster on a skeleton crew to reach a food source.
Karl Agathon
Karl "Helo" Agathon was a Colonial Fleet officer who, stranded on Caprica after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, fell in love with a Number Eight Cylon he later married. He became the only successful father of a human-Cylon hybrid child, Hera.
Kimba Huta
Kimba Huta was a civilian SCT-type shuttle that survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and joined the Galactica-led refugee fleet. It held the fleet's last stockpiles of meat and was briefly used by Tom Zarek to hide President Roslin during her conflict with Commander Adama.
Lee Adama
Commander Leland "Apollo" Adama was a Colonial Fleet officer, the sole surviving son of William Adama, who served as Galactica's CAG before turning to politics as the Caprican delegate to the Quorum and, in time, interim President of the Twelve Colonies.
Tom Zarek
Tom Zarek was a Sagittaron political activist and convicted terrorist who rose to become Vice President and briefly President of the United Colonies of Kobol, before being executed for his part in a mutiny aboard Galactica.
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