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For other uses of the term "ion," see: Ion.
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The Ionian Nebula is a supernova remnant located approximately 13,000 light years distant from the algae planet.
In their search for the Eye of Jupiter's purpose and symbolism, Lieutenant Gaeta discovers that a nova occurred in the Ionian system which would have been observed 4,000 years ago on ancient Kobol, around the time of the Thirteenth Tribe's exodus. The timing of the nova with the Thirteenth Tribe's journey and its resemblance to the algae planet system's nova suggests to Gaeta that the Tribe's next marker is the Ionian Nebula (TRS: "Rapture").
When the Fleet reaches the nebula, every ship suffers an abrupt power outage. With the Fleet helplessly adrift and without DRADIS, four Cylon baseships also jump to the nebula and launch Raiders. Galactica detects the baseships after power is partially restored, but the Fleet's civilian ships are slower to recover and are unable to make an immediate FTL jump. Galactica responds by launching all its Vipers to intercept the Raiders, and Admiral Adama authorizes the use of nuclear weapons against the baseships. Sortied to defend against the incoming Cylon attack, Lee Adama picks up a mysterious intermittent DRADIS contact and breaks off to intercept it. The bogey leads him on a chase through the nebula's dust clouds and, after outmaneuvering Adama's Viper, pulls up along him portside. Much to his surprise, the unknown contact is the presumed-dead Kara Thrace piloting an unusually pristine Viper Mark II (TRS: "Crossroads, Part II").
During the following battle, the Cylons inflict damage of the civilian ships, destroying the Pyxis and damaging several other vessels, but unexpectedly retreat, apparently after finding out that the Final Five have been activated (TRS: "He That Believeth in Me").
Hallucinations
While the Fleet moves closer to the nebula, Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders and Tory Foster experience mutual musical hallucinations. When the Fleet arrives, they are drawn together and come to realize that they are Cylons (four of the final five models). As a group they are able to piece together the song's melody.
Moreover, Laura Roslin, Sharon "Athena" Agathon and Caprica-Six share a common dream of chasing Hera in each other's presence at the Opera House. Almost immediately after arriving and coinciding with the power loss, Roslin becomes dazed or stunned, possibly because of her use of chamalla extract to induce prescient visions as in the past (TRS: "Crossroads, Part II").
Notes
- When an imaginary camera pulls away from the nebula into deep space, it re-enters the galaxy at roughly the same point it exited and zooms to Earth, indicating that Earth and the nebula are not very far apart on a galactic scale.
- Ionia was an ancient region of southwestern coastal Anatolia (in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir,) on the Aegean Sea, which was said to be founded by Ion, son of Apollo.
- In reality, the Ionian Nebula resembles NGC 2440, which is located 4,000 light-years away from Earth.
| Battle of the Ionian Nebula | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Cylons forces ambush the mysteriously crippled Colonial Fleet | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Conflict: | Second Cylon War | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Approx. 3 years after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Episode(s): | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Place: | Ionian Nebula | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Tactical Cylon victory Withdrawal of the Cylon fleet Triggers the Cylon Civil War | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Battle Chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of the Ionian Nebula occurs soon after the fleet of surviving Colonial ships jumps into the Ionian Nebula. Upon arriving at the nebula, the ships of the Fleet mysteriously lose all power. As the ships drift aimlessly, four Cylon basestars that had been tracking them jump into the nebula and begin launching Raiders. By the time power is restored to Galactica and the civilian ships, Raiders are already inbound and the Fleet is incapable of jumping to safety before they close to firing distance.
Events leading up to the battle
During the power outage Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel "Longshot" Anders, and Tory Foster begin to aimlessly wander the halls of Galactica muttering the lyrics to a mysterious song, having heard it in their heads for the past few days. When all four arrive in the same room and see each other, they realize that they are actually Cylons themselves. When the alert is sounded, they resolve to continue serving in the roles they did when they believed they were human. Tyrol returns to the flight deck, Anders heads for his Viper, and Tigh and Foster go to CIC and return to the sides of their Admiral William Adama and President Laura Roslin.
During the scramble to launch the alert Vipers, Lee Adama, now a civilian after resigning from the military just before the trial of Gaius Baltar, returns to his quarters to retrieve his helmet and flight suit and join the fight. While intercepting the incoming waves of Raiders, he picks up an unknown contact on his Viper's DRADIS and breaks formation to investigate. The unknown contact is intermittent and toys with Adama until it pulls alongside him and reveals itself to be Kara Thrace, alive and flying a spotless Viper Mark II. Thrace claims she has been to Earth and that she will lead the Fleet there (TRS: "Crossroads, Part II").
Civilians under attack
Galactica's Vipers and Raptors are able to stop the main force of 200-plus Raiders, but the Cylon reserves manage to break through the Colonial lines. Outgunned and with the civilian ships requiring time to spin up their FTL drives, Admiral Adama orders all available pilots and ships to launch, including inexperienced nuggets like Samuel Anders and Diana "Hardball" Seelix.
The battle floods over the drifting Fleet, Vipers and Raiders dogfighting among the ships while Galactica puts up anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) and fires its primary batteries at the Raiders and basestars. A damaged Raider collides with Pyxis, destroying the liner and the 600 people aboard. The Cylon basestars launch a barrage of over 50 missiles, half of them targeting the civilian ships. Adama orders all Vipers and point defense batteries to concentrate on protecting the civilians, since Galactica can withstand the damage. Two missiles hit Zephyr, resulting in severe damage to its ring section and many causalities, and another missile strikes Astral Queen, breaching the forward section of its hull. A missile bound for Colonial One is successfully intercepted by Seelix.
When Anders maneuvers behind a Raider chasing Seelix, it abruptly turns around, scans him with its single red eye, and breaks off when Anders' own eyes flash red in a Cylon friend or foe identification signal. To the amazement of the Colonials, the other Raiders return to their basestars and the Cylons spin up their FTL drives to jump away. Adama seizes this opportunity and orders the Fleet to withdraw (TRS: "He That Believeth in Me").
Aftermath
The Cylons now suspect that the Final Five reside within the human fleet. Since the Raiders broke off the attack of their own volition, a Cavil decides to have them lobotomized to remove part of their free will. The Four and Five models support that decision, but the Two, Six and Eight models do not. When Sharon Valerii sides with Cavil, he takes that as the deciding vote and has the Raiders lobotomized. In retaliation, a Six named Natalie, now advocating a search for the Five, removes the devices that enslave the Centurions, turning them on Number One's faction (TRS: "Six of One"). This marks the beginning of the Cylon Civil War which forces the rebels and humans to work together in an alliance that ultimately leads to the discovery of Earth and multiple victories over the Ones and their forces.
Related Images
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Raptors scramble... -
A basestar fires missiles.
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Zephyr is damaged during the battle.
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Galactica after the battle, missing a gun turret.
References
- ↑ The survivor count in the credits decreases by 1,700, accounting for the deaths during the teaser and for the return of Kara Thrace. The majority of the 1,101 additional deaths likely occur on Zephyr, but other ships are hit as well.
The Lion's Head Nebula, according to the Scroll of Pythia, was used as a navigational waypoint to Earth by the caravan of the Thirteenth Tribe. The scripture reads: "And the caravan of the heavens was watched over by a great lion with a mighty blinking eye." The nebula's "eye" is actually a system of red and blue eclipsing binary pulsars that matches the scripture's description.
The Cylons first discover the nebula when Gaius Baltar tells them it might contain a clue to the location of Earth. A basestar sent to investigate finds a beacon possibly left by the Thirteenth Tribe. But when the beacon is brought on board, a disease it carries kills most humanoid Cylons, Centurions, and Raiders aboard (the mechanical Centurions are shut down as they were linked to the Hybrid), as well as severely damaging the basestar itself.
On Galactica, Lieutenant Felix Gaeta analyzes Baltar's research and briefs President Laura Roslin and Admiral William Adama on the nebula. A Raptor, manned by Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson and Athena, discovers the nebula and the graveyard of drifting Cylon spacecraft (TRS: "Torn").
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For information on the video game "New Caprica," see New Caprica (2003 Video Game). For information on the failed Singer/DeSanto continuation series colony, see New Caprica (SDS).
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Discovery
Lt. Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson discovers the planet later known as New Caprica after her Raptor accidentally jumps to the wrong coordinates while on a rescue mission to Caprica. Ground surveys reveal that New Caprica is a cold world with a harsh climate, and that only about twenty percent of the surface - a small temperate band around the equator - is habitable. The planet is located in a system enshrouded by a dense nebula that renders DRADIS all but useless. This makes the planet strategically appealing; theoretically, it would protect a settlement from Cylon detection indefinitely.
Excited by her discovery, Racetrack returns to the battlestar Pegasus with sensor readings she has gathered. The mere prospect of setting foot on a planet causes great debate within the human Fleet, quickly dividing it into two factions: those who wish to stop running from the Cylons and colonize the planet, and those who want to continue their search for Earth (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").
Colonization
Given the harsh climate of the planet, President Laura Roslin writes off colonization as unrealistic. However, the discovery of New Caprica happens to coincide with an impending presidential election (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I"). Presidential candidate Gaius Baltar and running mate Tom Zarek seize upon colonization as their wedge issue, offering the Fleet the prospect of settlement under the presumption that the Cylons will be unable to penetrate the nebula. Roslin disagrees with this assessment, but the majority of the travel- and war-weary survivors of the Fleet find the idea of colonizing the planet favorable. Baltar and Zarek win a decisive mandate, and Roslin is voted out of office. President Baltar's first executive order is to begin settlement, bringing an end to the Fleet's search for Earth.
Shortly after Baltar's inauguration, a nuclear warhead smuggled onto Cloud 9 is detonated, destroying it and several other ships orbiting New Caprica. The incident proves to have a devastating impact on the human settlers one year later (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
One Year Later
Three hundred and eighty days after settlement, Cylon forces over a light year away discover New Caprica after detecting the radiation signature of the nuclear warhead detonated on Cloud 9 and tracing it back to its source. The Cylons jump into New Caprica's orbit with a fleet of basestars and descend upon the settlement. The battlestars Galactica and Pegasus are caught by surprise and are vastly outnumbered. With both ships at a fraction of their full crew strength, Commander Lee Adama persuades Admiral William Adama to escape along with two thousand humans (TRS: "Occupation") aboard the few civilian ships still orbiting the planet.
On New Caprica, President Baltar is confronted by a Cylon delegation in his office aboard Colonial One. Left with no choice, Baltar surrenders to the Cylons (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
Cylon Occupation
The Cylon forces are initially led by Caprica-Six and Boomer with the sincere intention of establishing peace between the Cylons and the human race. However, they quickly lose their influence to the more militaristic Cylon models \{\{TRSPrecipice|Exodus, Part II}}. The Cylons become an occupying force on New Caprica, with President Baltar and his staff reduced to a puppet administration. Vice President Tom Zarek refuses to cooperate from the start of the occupation and is immediately sent to a detention center (TRS: "Precipice").
A band of human resistance fighters regarded by the Cylon occupiers as insurgents begin to strike back. Ironically the three resistance leaders are three of the Final Five Cylons. The resistance is significantly aided by an unknown inside source that passes them classified information from the Cylon government, allowing the resistance to wreak considerable havoc on the occupying force. In turn, the Cylons establish the New Caprica Police (NCP), a group of human volunteers who work for the Cylon authority to establish order within the colony. Considered to be collaborators, the NCP is regarded with both disgust and disdain by the majority of the New Caprica’s human population. This forces members of the NCP to wear black masks that conceal their identity, and protect them and their families from potential reprisals.
The Battle of New Caprica and the Second Exodus
- Main article: Battle of New Caprica
Based on a contingency plan developed prior to colonization by Saul Tigh and William Adama, a Raptor regularly jumps into the nebula surrounding New Caprica in an attempt to contact the humans left behind. Four months after the start of the occupation, contact with the resistance movement is established. Admiral Adama and his military personnel devise a plan to evacuate the human population. However, the plan's success hinges on the retrieval of the planet-bound ships' launch keys. Confiscated by the Cylons, these keys are necessary to activate the FTL drives on the grounded ships.
Admiral Adama deploys a team led by newly commissioned Sharon "Athena" Agathon that covertly lands on New Caprica in order to coordinate with the resistance. Agathon is also able to locate and retrieve the hidden launch keys. With the evacuation plan under way, Galactica jumps into the nebula, leaving Pegasus behind to protect the free civilian fleet and continue the search for Earth if the plan fails. Raptors launched from Galactica deploy decoys, creating illusory targets that trick the Cylons into believing they are chasing two battlestars, scattering the basestars. The admiral takes advantage of the confusion by jumping Galactica directly into New Caprica's lower atmosphere, deploying Blue Squadron and then jumping back into higher orbit. With Blue Squadron providing air cover, resistance fighters who have been attacking Cylon ground forces liberate the New Caprica Detention Center and escort civilians to their designated ships. One by one, the ships begin to launch and jump to the rendezvous point.
Back in orbit above New Caprica, a heavily damaged Galactica is surrounded by four basestars. With its FTL drive offline and without enough time to fix it, the basestars pummel Galactica - until his son, having ignored his father's order to stay behind, arrives with Pegasus, destroys a basestar, and diverts the remaining Cylon attackers. The crew of Galactica hurriedly brings their FTL drive back online, gathers the ship's Viper squadron, and jumps away. Having left its own Vipers to guard the civilian ships at the rendezvous point, Pegasus has no fighter cover and succumbs to the Cylon assault. Commander Adama and his skeleton crew are forced to abandon ship. Seconds after they escape, Pegasus collides with a second basestar, obliterating both vessels, and inadvertently destroys a third that is struck by debris from the battlestar \{\{TRSExodus, Part I|Exodus, Part II}}.
Aftermath
Although the rescue mission is considered a success, approximately two thousand humans die during the escape and the preceding four-month occupation.[1] Among the dead are Tucker "Duck" Clellan, one of Galactica's Viper pilots, who is driven to despair by the murder of his partner (TRS: "Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance") and conducts a suicide attack on the NCP (TRS: "Occupation"); Ellen Tigh, who is poisoned by her husband Saul Tigh for collaborating with the Cylons; and Maya, who is killed while attempting to board an escape ship with her adopted baby daughter, the human/Cylon hybrid Hera Agathon.
Hera survives, but without the protection of her mother, she is left behind and recovered by the Cylons. With the humans gone and the child Hera in their possession, the Cylons see no logical reason to remain on the planet. Knowing he cannot escape with the rest of the human population, President Baltar elects to leave with the Cylons, at the invitation of the Number Three copy D'Anna Biers.
Valuable equipment and supplies are left on the planet in the evacuation, along with several ships. This forces Galactica to take on civilians to help alleviate cramped conditions within the Fleet. With Pegasus destroyed, Galactica once again becomes the Fleet's only protection. The damage endured by Galactica is only partially repaired, and it is felt for the rest of the ship's life, contributing to the decision to abandon Galactica a little over eighteen months later.
The Cylons also gain an unexpected prisoner: after being poisoned, Ellen Tigh downloads into a new body on a nearby Resurrection Ship, and regains her memory of being one of the Final Five.
See also
- Battle of New Caprica
- New Caprica City
- Breeders Canyon
- Pergamus Flats
- New Caprica Detention Center
- New Caprica Police
- The Mutiny (TOS)
References
- ↑ This number is calculated from all available population data. See the "Precipice" and "Collaborators" section of Survivor count for the details. Cassidy cites over 5000 deaths in "Crossroads, Part I," but this does not fit with previously established figures.
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