Zero Centar came around and Adama radioed the fleet's final farewells and best wishes for the earth colony.
"Alright, this is the final briefing," said Adama, "In a nearby quadrant are the latest group we've encountered of the most ruthless killing machines of all time. They've been hoping we'd deliver earth into their hands, just so that they could implement another act of genecide. This is where it stops! One of their ships actually did find earth and land in New York, but its occupants were defeated by Troy and Dillon, before it could let the other Cylons know where to come. When you've got your hands on the triggers that wield the most powerful weapons ever designed, and you're thinking about whether you can really pull them, just remember that you're pulling the trigger on heartless walking metal frames that exist only to kill every human being in the universe. When you're blasting their ships out of existence, think of your ancestors who were peacefully expecting another night to pass on their home planets decades ago, and were swooped and shot to pieces by aggressors they didn't even know. Think of the children that died that night. Think of the warriors who've died since. Think of the lifestyles we've had to lead. Then pull those triggers and don't look back."
Had he overdone it? Adama's accumulated grief had all come into play in that speech. They were just evil machines, although he didn't know everything that Angela had revealed to Starbuck a long time ago about Ibley's involvement. Still Adama did know about Baltar's criminal treachery. The man was thankfully no longer with them, but had died in prison. In fact, in his earlier days, Xaviar had proposed a public execution once, but Adama thought that Baltar deserved to sit in a Galactican cell and contemplate what he'd done.
The new Galactican fleet left earth, and tore through the first group of Cylons like they weren't even there. This particular group didn't even seem to have a base star still around to protect them. It wouldn't have survived the superships' attack anyway.
In less than a year, the superships led the Galactica through the universe, wiping out Cylon base stars and small ships alike, destroying Cylon production complexes which had been established on a number of otherwise uninhabited planets, and finally it was done. All traces of Cylon existence had been expunged from the universe.
"It won't bring my wife back," thought Adama, "nor Apollo, nor anyone else, but it will make sure that nobody else loses a loved one to those murderous metal monstrosities."
In a momentous occasion of ceremony, the Galactica actually landed on the planet Caprica. Now on the surface of the planet, it continued to be a living quarters for the people, while Dr Zee supervised the rebuilding of the planet's cities, along with those of the other planets.
Troy and Jaime married, and Adama lived just long enough to see the first three months of his great grandson's life, before completely passing on the torch to Dr Zee. Although not Caprican by birth, not even Galactican, he was accepted as the one who had led the people as Adama's second in command from the moment that he was old enough to do so.
In 1987, William Rogers explained to the great love of his life, Jennifer, that he would never take another space mission after this one chance to orbit the earth. Many others had trained with him, and would go on, he assumed. He would be grounded in his career, and spend his free time with Jennifer.
However, Ranger 3 got caught in a much larger orbit. William 'Buck' Rogers found that his life support was frozen. He slept in suspended animation (even though his show was an animated series) for 500 years, and awoke in the 25th Century.
In the meantime, Dillon and Gloria lived happily in the 20th and 21st Centuries. The Galactican children and other settlers grew older and set up secret bases to advance their technology without it falling into the wrong hands. Eventually the Galacticans' descendants had allied themselves with some of the more trustworthy leaders of earth in the 22nd Century, and formed what became known as the Earth Defence Directorate in the 25th Century. It was this organization that welcomed Buck Rogers into the new era, but Buck was never able to forget Jennifer. To his memory, she had been lost for only the time it had taken him to fly Ranger 3 into orbit in 1987. In reality, she had been dead for well over 4 centuries.
There had been a brief hint of likely romance between Buck and Colonel Wilma Dering, and the troublesome Princess Ardala had a few times held earth to ransom in order to force a romantic alliance between herself and Buck. The truth was that he was lonesome for Jennifer and for the century that had birthed her.
A distant descendant of Apollo's and Sheba's son Markus (who had settled on earth in 1981) fell in with a bad crowd and was used to attempt to manipulate Buck, as she bore a startling resemblance to his long lost love Jennifer. Her name was Leila Marcusson, derived from her ancestor. Yet she died during that encounter, and renewed Buck's sense of grief back to point zero: the day he'd awoken in the 25th Century for the first time.
Buck shared a few more adventures with Earth's Defence Directorate, and then went out aboard the Searcher vessel in the hope of finding a new life. But it never came.
One day he had a surprising visit from someone who introduced himself as Lar-Son.