The draft ends with the shocking realization that the Cylons can look, act, and feel exactly like humans. This shifts the threat from an external enemy to an internal one, setting the dark, gritty tone for the series ahead.

Because Adama refused to network his ship's computers, the Galactica remains the only capital ship unaffected by the Cylon virus.

The story opens on a remote diplomatic station where, after 40 years of silence, the —man-made androids—return not as machines, but in human form. Simultaneously, the aging Battlestar Galactica , under the command of William Adama , is undergoing a decommissioning ceremony to become a museum. The Attack: The Fall of the Twelve Colonies

With the central government destroyed, , the Secretary of Education (and 43rd in the line of succession), is sworn in as the President of the Twelve Colonies aboard a civilian transport.

Adama initially wants to fight, but President Roslin convinces him that their primary mission is now survival—not war. They begin gathering every civilian ship they can find to form a ragtag fleet. The Twist: Humanity Reimagined

Battlestar Galactica Miniseries Part 1 - sciphilconf.berkeley.edu

Number Six , a Cylon in human form, reveals herself to Gaius Baltar , a brilliant scientist whose unwitting cooperation allowed the Cylon virus to bypass colonial firewalls. The Gathering: A New President and an Old Ship

The planetary centers are decimated, and the human race is pushed to the brink of extinction.