“Daybreak: Part 2” is episode twenty of season four of the new Battlestar Galactica and the second part of the three-part season and series finale.
It opens on Caprica again before the Fall and Adama is in a club with the Tighs trying to decide whether to accept an offer. Apollo is with Starbuck and his brother. Everyone is drinking a bit too much.
In the present, on a mostly-empty Galactica, which is being prepared for the mission planned in the previous episode, “Daybreak: Part 1”, Gaius Baltar is talking to Six, who is telling him he will lead humanity’s remnants, when Paula tells him they’re ready to go. Dr Cottle is leaving two days medication for Roslin. Helo is briefing the Raptor pilots and tells them there’s a volunteer-only mission. Apollo is briefing the Marines on the likely location of Hera. In CIC, Adama is telling them it’s going to be too close for nukes or missiles; a pure gun battle. Gun captains are to open fire immediately and keep firing until they run out of ammunition. Then throw rocks. Tyrol is talking to Caprica Six, Tory, Starbuck and Ellen around Anders. They’ll need to interrupt the Colony’s fire control and if they plug in Anders to Galactica he’ll be able to take down the Colony’s Hybrids. It would take weeks to plumb the lines in here, so Anders needs taking to CIC and plugging in there.
Adama promotes Hoshi to admiral and puts him in charge of the base ship and the fleet, then joins Tigh in CIC where Anders is being wired in.
Apollo is seeing Lampkin off on the last Raptor with Hoshi; Lampkin is now president. Gaius arrives and tells Paula he’s staying. Apollo tosses him a gun. Cylon Centurions, painted with a red stripe to distinguish them, join the Marines.
Galactica is ready and the admiral speaks to the crew. This is going to be Galactica‘s last mission. They jump, into point blank range of the Colony.
Given everything, there are heavy casualties on both sides, and much of the episode is filled with gunfights and space battles. The story continues in “Daybreak: Part 3”.