"Ghost Squadron" Battlestar Galactica: Ghosts #1 (Dynamite) Writer: Brandon Jerwa Pencils: Jonathan Lau Colors: Romulo Fajardo, Jr. Letters: Simon Bowland Cover: Dennis Calero 2009

Shortly before the Cylon attack against the colonies, the Special Colonial Air Group assigned to the Battlestar Therion, Ghost Squadron, undertakes a dangerous mission.

Read the story summary of this issue at the Battlestar Wiki

Notes from the BSG chronology

This issue takes place shortly before, and the day of, the Cylon attack on the Colonies seen in "Humanity's Children".

Didja Know?

Battlestar Galactica: Ghosts is a 4-issue mini-series published by Dynamite Entertainment.

The issues of this mini-series were not individually titled. I have chosen to apply the title "Ghost Squadron" to this issue, as it introduces us to the Special Colonial Air Group of that name.

In the comic's original script, Ghost Squadron was to be stationed aboard the battlestar Pegasus. This was later changed to a different battlestar, Therion, which may be why the Therion is depicted as a Mercury-class battlestar like Pegasus. 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

Number Six

Hybrid

Captain Arvin Tyler

Teresa Manning (a Number Three model Cylon)

Sola Tyler

Ronnie Dyson

Arco Tyler

Helen

Captain Alexander Chen

Lt. Myer Castall

Lt. Jorianne Landry

Lt. Dozil Pennit (a Number Two model Cylon)

Ryden

Major Falk

Commander Burkett

Colonel Regus

Children of Erebus (a terrorist group from Tauron)

Brukka

Ian Rao

Kiplinn Rao

Peter Gilmour

Didja Notice?

On the inside front cover, Brandon Jerwa is listed as "Writers" plural, instead of "Writer". The misprint persists throughout all four issues of the mini-series.

In the prologue of the issue, a group of members of the Significant Seven Cylons discuss whether is time to begin the genocide against humans. Present are one each of Numbers 1-5 models and possibly two Number Sixes (it's kind of hard to tell from the art). There does not appear to be a Number Eight present. (A Number Seven model has never been seen and is later revealed to have been disposed of prior to the start of the second Cylon war in "No Exit".)

A Cylon in a pod is seen on page 1, commenting on the actions taking place and speaking commands. Each of its paragraphs ends with the phrase "End of line." The episode "Torn" reveals that this is a Cylon known as a Hybrid: human-looking, but largely cybernetic and unable to leave the pod. Each Cylon basestar has one Hybrid that serves as the ship's central computer. The look and behavior of the Hybrids was inspired by the precogs of the 2002 film Minority Report, based on a Philip K. Dick short story. The phrase "end of line" is a computing phrase meant to signify the end of a line of coding text. The phrase is used occasionally by Cylons throughout the BSG2000 series (possibly borrowed from its use by the Master Control Program in the 1982 film Tron).

The Hybrid appears and makes prophetic statements through all four issues of the mini-series. The statements it makes, while still nebulous, are much more coherent and structured than the ones the Hybrids make in episodes of the TV series.

Among its other statements, the Hybrid says, "Cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs," and "Let sleeping dogs lie." These are both well-known idioms on our own Earth.

On page 2, among the cluster of basestars and Raiders, two resurrection ships are seen; they are not formally introduced to the viewing audience until the season two episode "Resurrection Ship" Part 1. 

The Tylers' smuggling ship, the Orion, is a similar type of civilian transport ship as the Astral Queen, a converted liner that is now a prison ship which becomes part of the rag-tag fleet. The smugglers have modified four salvaged Cylon Centurions from the first Cylon War as pilots of the ship.
Orion	Astral Queen

The Colonial Special Air Wing called Ghost Squadron is assigned to battlestar Therion, a Mercury-class battlestar (the same as the later seen Pegasus introduced in "Pegasus"). Therion is commanded by Commander Burkett, and XO'd by Colonel Regus. The nameplate of Therion is set in the middle of the hangar bays; on the Pegasus, it is more towards the front of the bays, just as on Galactica.

The newspaper Dyson is reading on page 14 is the Aquarian City Daily. An article about the Children of Erebus terrorist group is seen on the front page, as well as another headline, "Top Politicians Vanish" (a similar headline appears in "A Higher Purpose"). In the interior pages, an article about an investigation at the Troy mining colony is seen as well as the announcement of a new CNP director and the headline "Identity Theft on the Rise". Troy was the mining colony that Boomer's false backstory says was her homeworld. Baltar was the last known CNP (Command Navigation Program) director. It seems odd to see these stories placed in a newspaper at this point in the chronology (Day Zero of the Second Cylon War), as both events took place much earlier; Baltar was named director of the CNP about two years prior to this according to the events of "A Higher Purpose". A headline reading "Identity Theft on the Rise" was also seen in "Trust".

Tyler and Dyson hijack a van of medical supplies from Colonial United Medical Supply Company.

On page 21, panel 4, the name "RAYANN" is spelled in the background stars! Then, on page 30, the splashpage, "MULONG (heart) RAYANN" appears in the stars in the lower-left quadrant. Who or what Mulong and Rayann refers is unknown.

As the smugglers aboard the drop ship Sword attempt to escape the Aquaria cordon on page 24, Captain Chen orders Ghost Squadron to "keep mark-one-eyeball for any surprises." "Mark one eyeball" is a term sometimes used in the military to indicate a visual inspection with one's own eyes.

On page 24, Dyson refers to the Sword as the Sword of Orion. This makes sense since its mothership is the Orion. Additionally, among the constellations seen from Earth, the constellation Orion the Hunter has a sword as part of its make-up.

Ghost Squadron has a couple Vipers that do not fit the mold of any model previously seen, called Viper Gunships.