Help rescuing a repository

I was doing some git rebase -i in a topic branch (topic/ser) to squash and reorder some commits. There were some conflicts. I fixed the conflicts and typed git rebase --continue. The cycle continued a few times and then this happened:

  13 files changed, 68 insertions(+), 41 deletions(-)
error: Ref refs/heads/topic/ser is at  
5cfb6b694f2d5a1ff429fe86f6c5ecafed159e47 but expected  
a10a7127be3441c732cab5baa2dd8684591f91f7
fatal: Cannot lock the ref 'refs/heads/topic/ser'.

$ git status # Not currently on any branch. nothing to commit (working directory clean)

$ git fsck dangling blob 8861482c7e1731be2436f75ae6276d0f9c4833e0 dangling blob 94c1b94b5146b58cda4ee50854241b192f701bea dangling blob 01a2371e749ab7e14707cfb4d3846035fcaee728 dangling blob 4ca2b920849a1517a46279c4b56896fd79625a6c dangling blob 56e32abf19627dcf79ee123bae9ddb08423bc5ba dangling blob 73832cd404915d7bc5e0aac1e87fa3bb64293531 dangling tree 73c34a56d1da91d4ea606055d558ef290949fb70 dangling blob b5c3dfefd345e8296e56518b7e537d9e20814288 dangling blob c743999c4762380d3d318ae7b80bba32d4bc4f53 dangling tree 1184c889e044163dd857f3858c09970080720993 dangling blob eca57f10d1dc19dc4bb3dba2c08e393c1e31832b dangling blob f5a5b7e5e922412ebeabdbc52ecc3354298e3690 dangling blob 47064db7a58b95d02885e5c3004b7920a0dc534f dangling blob 4966a6f65c912418b33b13fe6f10fb368c2545cf dangling commit 75c6f9bb9d093390d260819f80cd94fc20849d30 dangling blob bd4752468dbb11274285184cb0c602a2cd259eb5 dangling blob c8074b20ded0a36ff07df5595116442af5515498 dangling tree 0848c028fc28008de1a845c9524e3ab12df9832b dangling blob 7ec9928b3c0db7ec737fa70b4bb9615b068ee990 dangling blob b44967adc33ec1ddcba49f75cd55127facbb7a00 dangling blob 23ca6b90505dae2607af6415e3ccc038daf0109d dangling blob b58aac43a313abf6ac21754ec258caeb388a16f6 dangling blob eeebecd8db7d263f77e132b2e82ac4864775b61c dangling blob 3e0c62d3e778bef1a0f17379ba2a3731da629fce dangling blob 20cd6eab485de1b0d412cf16e41e88b92ab7e977 dangling blob 8b6d1ba9efb6de596a77aa4be6a36db3d2c6687c dangling blob b58de59a60c002f99c6ef2463f1678106f07da7d dangling blob 2fae8d768ac0ae872f513566334d9b4134cf1e28 dangling blob 33ee2202ded44151efb066bc567845b259ce7217 dangling blob afae3fef0b92b14acf7fb1c3e511561111986de5 dangling blob 3f6fd047ac02f1ec7694fd906c762320ed148532 dangling blob 85afb26ca1d651e1745537c60fda5a1807048cb4 dangling blob a30f3e844d6eba2f23ed91470962f12ffebaf0cf dangling blob bdafe70378182035702a41a7f8854e9f3eaef7dd dangling blob e96fd7d00b6c05a48477f64ce0085f1fa40207a1 dangling blob 2390ce4ff58008ac1fd3b54dae31116ff4dbbbae dangling blob 4ab0f1a55f987f1c2e06406199b96ce2e7388bcb dangling blob 75b0f4cc59aa4a3ae9ac1fa01fbb6383d6584aac dangling blob 9b7035d40c61259563470a2ea42c2943aec443d0 dangling blob 1752370b44a133f1519ffef5452f772cef99c93f dangling blob 10b316e7f25212e66e1213dc1303b03339bf6648 dangling blob 883397ee9b21724e03547e7ca71c60e87cd7bbfa dangling tree 8f135a32c77825713ec70b7367d1134b9dc15006 dangling tree 91f394d3e2566f703434ba3a6b3021496d1167ef dangling blob 2374b17b997a232835ad817c1173a5bd1e34d30b dangling blob 8894bb0e8dad66c3cf57350e36252a2f1746a6fb dangling blob 20b522551d824bfd83685f391d490308dae7c3e1 dangling blob 8cb6086ec13a97a88b9530983f4b4dd77905615f dangling blob a997eaf05db866b0108e9c754129418237384aed dangling tree 6118e30cbefd3fe26c51fce8595674a55ff24279 dangling blob 88d9b06bc81abd155604c8ef6b595042bc955d45 dangling blob dfd925e457eb9295587029dca7ce1060f7cc030c dangling blob c3fbac839f7e35c208110cfab9c0d95eae3f488b dangling blob 34bce1a591d9bf67bab966a9a9cfeff5e3723d11 dangling blob 9f5c4d0b8bd5e169d1c36658dfd8b1d508641093 dangling blob 1fdda77640dd0d0bf48fe4ee88ab823cb004d8fa dangling blob 495d6c267d62f82a5a4f0d6c75d111cebcdb3f29 dangling blob c87df955d86c2c13ca45b90ac9a598ba901ba06e dangling blob 20dee3523801fa85182d2159d4f6ad2fe5c56bad dangling blob 3f1ea7888bf98019df10c4e5aa6b22cd65daf8d1 dangling blob 8d5ef43998cb64575c4902ac7855d394b5f9d326 dangling blob 121f865528655c03cfbb10d0c29dda678666eb8e dangling blob badfc40fabb32650ccbb33456766e9d58588f8ed dangling commit d2bf234e4b0735695a59836f04b4f1558ebacfdc dangling blob f3df2aebbbd0b00dc8210b6c51806d7f4fd409ef

I've used git rebase -i before without any problem. The only difference this time is that there are more commits (50+) and more files (hundreds) and changes (thousands) involved due to some global find & replace. I *might* have committed something in the same branch, while the git rebase -i editor window is open (there are a lot of commits to reorder and squash, so I used another window to look at the commits I'm not sure about. I might have done a quick fix (likely whitespace errors :) and committed)

$ git --version git version 1.5.5.1

I have the gut feeling that it might be fixable by some magical incantation to connect the refs to my branch. But I don't know git internal very well. I need your help. My work obviously depend upon it.

Thanks in advance!