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{{Battle Data
| image=Battleofthecolony.jpg
| description=
| conflict= Second Human-Cylon War Cylon Civil War
| date= Approximately [[Timeline (RDM)|4 years]] after the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]]
| place=[[The Colony]]
| result=Colonial/Rebel Cylon Victory The Colony destroyed [[Hera Agathon]] rescued Cylon loyalist faction destroyed End of Human-Cylon War as well as Cylon Civil War
| combatant1= Remnants of the [[Colonial Fleet]] Rebel Cylon faction
| combatant2= Cylon loyalist faction
| co1= Rear Admiral [[William Adama]] [[Final Five]] Colonel [[Saul Tigh]] Major [[Lee Adama]] Captain [[Kara Thrace]] '''not present at battle''' Rear Admiral [[Louis Hoshi]] Major Sherman Cottle Number 6 Copy [[Sonya]]
| co2= [[Number One|John Cavil]] †
| strength1= One heavily damaged Battlestar ([[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]), associated Vipers and at least 12 Raptors. Marine assault team, secondary assault team aboard Raptors, reserve marines aboard ''Galactica''. Rebel Centurions
| strength2= The Colony associated Raiders [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Cylon War era Centurions]] and [[Cylon Centurion|current era Centurions]]. Unknown number of [[Basestar]]s. Various [[Doral]] and [[Simon]] copies
| shiploss1= Crippling damage to ''Galactica'' 4 Vipers destroyed 7 Raptors destroyed Many Rebel Centurions destroyed
| shiploss2= The Colony destroyed Total Raider and Centurion losses
| casualties1= Heavy marine casualties, as well as crew and pilot casualties (such as [[Racetrack]], [[Skulls]])
| casualties2= Complete or nearly complete destruction of Cylon loyalist faction, including [[Cavil]] and [[Boomer]]
| prev= [[Gaeta's Mutiny]]
| next= None (''Series finale'')
| series= RDM
}}
The '''Battle of The Colony''' is the final engagement between the [[Twelve Colonies of Kobol|humans]] of ''[[Galactica]]'' and the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] as well as the final battle of the [[Cylon Civil War]].

The Colonials begin a rescue mission, the most dangerous and daring offensive ever undertaken by Admiral [[William Adama]] and a skeleton crew, to rescue [[Hera Agathon]], kidnapped by [[Sharon Valerii|Boomer]] and taken to [[the Colony]] for experimentation ([[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]).

The battle comprises of people, both rebel Cylon and human, who volunteer to stay aboard ''Galactica''. There are only perhaps several hundred human or humanoid fighters, but fortunately the Cylons also add a few hundred [[Cylon Centurion]]s to the attack and defense forces.

Racetrack and Skulls are sent on a reconnaissance mission in a [[Raptor]]. They find the Colony in orbit of a black hole and also find the only place that a ship can jump in and out safely: within a kilometer of The Colony: point-blank range for The Colony's weapons.

Admiral Adama turns over command of the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]] to [[Hoshi]] while [[Romo Lampkin]] is made the new President of the Colonies (as [[Lee Adama]] chooses to stay on ''Galactica'' to fight).

==Battle==
[[File:Colony Breech.jpg|thumb|right|200px|right|''Galactica'' rams herself into [[The Colony]].]]
''Galactica'' jumps in directly in front of the Colony, which opens fire with its gun batteries as it's too close for missiles or nukes for both sides. ''Galactica'' takes a pounding until [[Samuel Anders]] (now effectively ''Galactica's'' [[Hybrid]]) manages to hack into the Colony and shut down its Hybrids and their weapon control.

''Galactica'' immediately launches her [[Viper (RDM)|Vipers]] to engage the Colony's Raiders while the battlestar's Raptors jump directly from the starboard [[flight pod]] in a flanking position to board the Colony. The Raptor's jumps rip open the side of the flight pod, but safely arrive at the battle.

As ''Galactica's'' gun batteries fire at the Colony's gun batteries and Raiders, Admiral Adama orders flank speed on ''Galactica'', ramming the battlestar's dense "alligator-head" bow into the Colony. The collision punchs a hole in the Colony's side, ''Galactica's'' bow effectively docked in the enemy ship. From ''Galactica's'' bow enters allows a strike force made out of marines and Rebel Centurions. Raptor strike forces led by [[Kara Thrace|Starbuck]], [[Helo]] and [[Sharon Agathon|Athena]] cut their way in elsewhere on the Colony's hull.

The fight is not without serious losses. Racetrack and Skulls arm their nukes aboard their Raptor but are killed when an asteroid hits their ship, punching a hole in the window and smashing their helmets.

Inside the Colony, both strike forces push onwards despite opposition from not only modern Centurions but older [[Cylon Centurion Model 0005|Model 0005 Centurions]].

[[Kara Thrace]]'s forces discover Boomer, who has retrieved Hera out of sympathy and because she feels she owes Adama a favor. She hands the child over to the rescue team without a fight, warning the team that their Raptors have been destroyed and cannot be used for escape. Fortunately, the battle plan was to abandon the Raptors and return to ''Galactica'' through her bow.

After Sharon Agathon kills Sharon Valerii, Thrace's team meets up with [[Lee Adama]] and his team. All retreat to ''Galactica's'' airlock to escape the Colony.

Cavil, [[Simon]] and a [[Number Five]] go on the offensive, leading a platoon of Centurions in a boarding attack on ''Galactica''. Firefights break out all over the ship, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. [[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Caprica Six]] are among the many that help defend the ship from the boarders.

Karl Agathon is wounded by a Five. Hera runs away in the chaos. Her mother goes after her at her husband's insistence. [[Laura Roslin]], working in [[sickbay]], senses Hera's return and chases after her as well in what becomes a parallel of the [[Opera House Prophecy]], each person in turn part of a vision that protects the child from harm as she wanders through decks filled with gunfire and enemy forces. Caprica Six and Baltar eventually find Hera and take her with them to [[CIC]], recreating their movement as seen in their visions, encountering the [[Final Five]] there, standing on the CIC balcony.

Cavil is captured in CIC. During an explosion, Cavil takes Hera hostage and plans to leave with her as he sees her as the only hope for his kind. Baltar successfully talks Cavil into a truce in exchange for Hera's life. [[Saul Tigh]] sweetens the pot by offering [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]] in exchange for the permanent true between humanity and Cylone. Cavil calls off his forces and the battle seems to end.

[[Image:Img0059.jpg|245px]][[Image:Battery desctuction.jpg|245px]][[Image:Battery destroyed.jpg|245px]]
*''Galactica's main batteries are a primary target for the Cylons.''

==Broken Truce==
[[File:Colony's Demise.jpg|thumb|right|200px|right|Shortly after the truce is broken, a Raptor unintentionally fires its nuclear misses at the Colony.]]
However, the truce is short-lived. Shortly after the Final Five begin downloading their knowledge of resurrection to the enemy forces, [[Galen Tyrol]] breaks the download and kills [[Tory Foster]] when he learns that she is responsible for the [[The Ties That Bind|murder of Cally Tyrol]]. Believing themselves betrayed, the Cylons restart their attack, but after the Doral and Simon that joined him in CIC are killed, Cavil swears and kills himself. The Raiders resume attacking ''Galactica''.

In space, another asteroid strikes Racetrack's Raptor and causes her dead hand to accidentally hit the launch button for the remainder of the nuclear missiles from Galactica and Pegasus to fire. All 8 of the missiles hit the Colony, badly damaging it and knocking it out of its orbit towards the black hole nearby--and pulling ''Galactica'' with it.

Admiral Adama orders Thrace to jump the ship--[[blind jump|anywhere]]. Without the coordinates to the Fleet's location, she realizes that [[The Music|the mysterious music played by her father]] forms FTL coordinates. She enters the coordinates and ''Galactica'' escapes as the Colony is sucked into the black hole and destroyed.

==Aftermath==
[[File:Cripple.jpg|thumb|right|200px|right|After ''Galactica'' jumps, she suffers massive hull damage.]]
The toll of battle and her structural frailty are too much for the old battlestar. As she completes the jump, ''Galactica'' suffers a series of critical structural failures, breaking her backbone and permanently losing her FTL ability.

But Thrace's coordinates take ''Galactica'' to a habitable planet, lush and filled with life. They name this planet [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] and, after retrieving the other Colonials at the rendezvous coordinates, the population of the Fleet is able to settle without concern.

The Rebel Cylons settle down with them and give the [[Rebel Basestar]] to their Centurions to find freedom and their own destiny.

The Hybrid Samuel Anders is instructed to autopilot ''Galactica'' and the last of her charge into the Sun, destroying the ships and allowing humanity and the Rebel Cylons a fresh start, sans technology.

It is not known whether the Cylons on the Colony were able to transmit any data or if any of them were able to escape before it fell into the black hole. The fate of the loyalist Cylons who were not on the Colony is likewise unclear, however, with both reproduction and the recovery of resurrection technology unlikely, their extinction is a foregone conclusion.

{{Battles (RDM)}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Colonial]]
[[Category:Colonial Battles]]
[[Category:Colonial Battles (RDM)]]
[[Category:Cylons]]
[[Category:Cylons (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]