One nitpick, before the droid planet attack, they talked about going to Novos and maybe fixing there gate so they could connect to the settlement plant and take the 30 settlers back (vs taking them all on Destiny) . Why are they worryed about fixing the gate on Novos?? There is a gate on Destiny that could dial the settlement planet when they reach Novos. The settlers gate to Destiny and then shuttle down to Novos.
Well if they fixed the gate on Novos, the colony could continue and get resupplied regularly as originally planned. But yeah, the way the dialogue put it, the fixing of the gate on Novos sounded like the only option for return at all.