Astral Queen

Astral Queen was a prison transport ship that was in service of the Colonial government. Capable of holding 1500 prisoners, it also possessed FTL capabilities for fast transport. After the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, control of the ship was transferred to its prisoners.
==History==
On the fortieth anniversary of the Cylon War armistice, Astral Queen was on course for Caprica for parole hearings. When a massive Cylon force attacked the Cyrannus Star System, the Astral Queen was ordered to hold a position in its space lane, which kept it away from the main Cylon forces. The Astral Queen was tracked down by a Raptor crewed by "Boomer", and was given coordinates to jump to a civilian rendezvous position as ordered by the constitutionally-appointed President Laura Roslin. Met with the difficult choice of the limited human survivors including hardened criminals, Captain Wilkens requested that President Roslin make the decision on whether or not to have them mass-executed for the fleet's convenience, which she rejected. The Astral Queen continued on with the Fleet out of the system itself, in search of Earth.
In the days after the Fall, an attack by a Cylon agent onboard Galactica risked a water shortage in the fleet. Without a dedicated crew to mine for water from an ice moon, President Roslin made the decision to rely on prison labor. Representatives led by Galacticas CAG, Captain Lee Adama made the offer, with the insistence of it being voluntary and would help in their delayed parole hearing, and not slave labor. The prisoners, however, had in the days after the Fall banded together under Sagittaron terrorist Tom Zarek, and unanimously rejected the proposal and began a prison riot. To both prevent a massacre and end what he assumed to be a martyrdom attempt, Captain Adama prevented Galacticas Marines from attacking and had control surrendered to the prisoners and its crew moved to other ships.Battlestar Galactica 2004, episode: "Bastille Day".
In the weeks following this incident, the Astral Queens ex-prisoners formed an organized repair team that would provide much-need maintenance for the other ships of the Fleet. This had the propaganda effect of getting Zarek appointed Saggitaron's Quorum of Twelve delegate and almost earned him the Vice Presidency.
Following the declaration of martial law soon after, Astral Queen became the flagship of a breakaway refugee fleet of twenty-four ships, consisting of supporters of ousted President Roslin and Zarek, who was also overthrown with the disillusion of the Quorum. This rebellion quietly ended with the arrival of Galactica over Kobol.
After President's Baltars order to settle planet now known as New Caprica, the Astral Queen landed on the planet in close proximity of Colonial One, where it stayed for nearly a year of Colonial control, and several months of Cylon occupation, successfully evacuating during the Battle of New Caprica. Largely in the background, the Astral Queen served as Tom Zareks powerbase for nearly a year, until returning to it original purpose as a prison vessel, housing many of Galactica's mutineers, following their failed coup. 
The vessel is lastly seen, flying into the Sol in the Sol System.
==Behind the Scenes==
<tabber>
|-|Production Info=
*According to the DVD commentary for Bastille Day, Astral Queen is named for the transport mentioned in the original Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Conscience of the King".
*Astral Queen was originally a Passenger Liner, and it was only later refitted as a prison transportCylon Heavy Raider
|-|Trivia=
*The same ship design appears in the original series, where it is known simply as the "Prison Barge", but serves the same basic function as it does in the re-imagining. Count Baltar spends most of the latter part of the series imprisoned on the Prison Barge
</tabber>
==Gallery==
<tabber>
|-|Screenshots=
Daybreak Part 3 - Astral Queen over Earth.png|
|-|Behind the Scenes=
AstralQueenCGI.webp|CGI Model by ZOIC
AstralQueenCGI2.webp|CGI Model by ZOIC
|-|Concept Art=
Bastile Day - Astral Queen concept art 1.png|Concept Art
Bastile Day - Astral Queen concept art 2.png|Concept Art
Bastile Day - Astral Queen concept art 3.png|Concept Art
Bastile Day - Astral Queen concept art 4.png|Concept Art
</tabber>
==Sources==
Category:Colonial Ships
Category:The Fleet