"Zarek" Part 2 Battlestar Galactica: Zarek #2 (Dynamite) Writer: Brandon Jerwa Art: Adriano Batista Colors: Scott Kester Letters: Simon Bowland Cover A: Stjepan Sejic 2007

When Zarek finds the Sagittaron labor reform movement too weak to meet his goals, he leads his followers to more militant actions.

Story Summary

Zarek takes over his mother's work as leader of the Citizens for Sagittaron Labor Reform movement, but he and his followers are one night savagely attacked by Colonial Police, leaving the organization shattered and lacking in members. He then decides to take a more militant approach to achieving his goals for Sagittaron's people, forming the Sagittaron Freedom Movement (SFM). They soon hijack a commercial truck full of military weapons and supplies, killing the two civilian operators in the process. Now armed, the SFM begins a three-year campaign against the established Colonial rule on Sagittaron. Some citizens consider the group revolutionaries, while others, terrorists.

During this time, Zarek forms a romantic relationship with fellow member Jessica Ward. During a raid on a supply warehouse, Jessica is captured by police and later agrees to become a mole in the SFM in exchange for freedom from a prison sentence. Zarek is suspicious of her easy release and sets up a test operation against the Colonial Reserve, filling Jessica in on the details of the op. When his men observe that the police and security forces are awaiting them already at the op, he knows Jessica has betrayed the movement and he shoots her.

Not long after, the SFM blows up the Sagittaron Labor Ministry building and Zarek and Mason are taken into custody by the government.

CONTNUED IN BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: ZAREK #3

Notes from the BSG chronology

This issue takes place about 20 years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies.

Didja Know?

Battlestar Galactica: Zarek was a 4-issue mini-series published by Dynamite Entertainment, covering the origin of Tom Zarek.

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

Tom Zarek

Jerome Zarek (deceased, mentioned only)

Karen Zarek (deceased, mentioned only)

Benedict Mason

Fanale

Jessica Ward

Didja Notice?

The Benedict Mason character who appears in this issue is seen later, identified only as Mason, in "Bastille Day".

After the police attack and kill many of its followers, Zarek dissolves his late mother's Citizens for Sagittaron Labor Reform and institutes the more militant and violent Sagittaron Freedom Movement (SFM). The group is referred to only as the SFM in the televised episodes of BSG2000, it's full name revealed here.

On page 16, Mason uses a phrase from "the scriptures", "There are none so blind as those who will not see." This is also an idiom used on Earth, generally attributed to Irish philosopher and political theorist Edmund Burke (1729-1797), though the attribution is not conclusive.