Skirmish Over the Red Moon: Difference between revisions

Skirmish Over the Red Moon
	Starbuck's damaged Viper and the Cylon Raider are caught in the Red Moon's gravity field
	Starbuck's damaged Viper and the Cylon Raider are caught in the Red Moon's gravity field
Summary
Conflict:	Second Cylon War
Date:	Day 14
Related Episode(s):
Place:	An unnamed red moon
Result:	Colonial victory, Patrol destroyed, Capture of a Cylon Raider
Combatants
Remnants of the Colonial Fleet	Cylons
Commanders
Lieutenant Kara Thrace	None
Strength
2 Mark II Vipers	8 Cylon Raiders
Materiel Losses
1 Viper destroyed, 1 Viper damaged	7 Raiders destroyed, 1 disabled and captured
Casualties
None	8 Cylon Raiders
Battle Chronology

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Latest revision as of 18:35, 3 February 2024

The Skirmish Over the Red Moon takes place when eight Cylon Raiders surprise a group of nugget Viper pilots being instructed by Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace above an unnamed red moon circling a gas giant.

Background

After an accident on the flight deck of the battlestar Galactica, Lieutenant Thrace is assigned to train new pilots to replace those killed in the accident. Although she at first allows her feelings to get in the way of training, she eventually reinstates the pilots and takes them on a training flight. During the flight, a patrol of Cylon Raiders are detected.

Skirmish

Upon coming into contact with the patrol, Thrace (Viper 4077) orders her squad to return to Galactica while she engages all eight enemy combatants simultaneously. Disobeying direct orders, and adhering to the general rule that a pilot must always have a wingman, Cadet Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza (Viper 1104) reverses course, and follows her into combat. His tactics disorient and scatter the enemy, opening a window for Lt. Thrace to shoot down six Raiders. Additionally, Costanza manages to destroy one Raider (his first kill in a Viper) before suffering damage from incoming fire, forcing him to pull back from the engagement. His Viper gives out shortly after.

With only one Raider remaining, Lieutenant Thrace re-orients herself into a combat position and charges the enemy. As the two combatants close in on each other, Lieutenant Thrace's Viper experiences sudden electrical problems that cause her communications and transponder to go off-line. Nevertheless, she manages to exchange fire with the Raider and finishes it off with a direct hit to the head-canopy.

The disabled craft immediately spirals out control, and eventually collides with the Viper. Damage inflicted by the Raider's impact disables the Viper's flight controls, and both fighters tumble into the gravity well of the nearby red moon. The Raider crashes intact on the moon, but Thrace is forced to eject from her Viper after it goes into an uncontrollable flat spin towards the satellite's surface and disintegrates ^{(TRS: "Act of Contrition")}.

Aftermath

After successfully ejecting, Thrace parachutes onto the moon, but is injured. As this is happening, a search and rescue Raptor deployed by Galactica recovers Costanza and his critically damaged Viper in the moon's orbit. SAR teams are sent out to retrieve Thrace, but the moon's thick atmosphere prevents them from making contact, and buildup of organic deposits from the air in fighter and Raptor engines cut short the rescue effort. On the moon's surface with a broken wireless handset and no other means of establishing communication, Thrace comes across the downed Raider, replenishes her own oxygen from the Raider's supply, and eventually flies the Raider off the moon and into open space. Thrace is able to avoid being shot down and lands aboard Galactica, giving the surviving human Fleet its first captured enemy spacecraft ^{(TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again")}.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 |image=PowerlessViper.jpg
 |description=Starbuck's damaged Viper and the Cylon Raider are caught in the Red Moon's gravity field
-|conflict=[[Cylon Attack|Second Cylon war]]
+|conflict=[[Cylon Attack|Second Cylon War]]
 |date=[[Re-Imagined Series Timeline|Day 14]]
-|place=An unnamed ''red moon''
+|place=An unnamed [[Red Moon|red moon]]
-|result=Marginal [[Colonial]] victory
+|result=[[Colonial]] victory, Patrol destroyed, Capture of a Cylon Raider
-|combatant1=Remnants of the [[Colonial Fleet]]
+|combatant1=Remnants of the [[Colonial Fleet (TRS)|Colonial Fleet]]
 |combatant2=[[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]
-|co1=Lieutenant [[Kara Thrace|Kara "Starbuck" Thrace]]
+|co1=Lieutenant [[Kara Thrace]]
-|co2=Unknown †
+|co2=None
-|strength1=[[Viper 1104]], 1 other [[Viper Mark II|Viper MkII]]
+|strength1= 2 [[Viper Mark II|Mark II Viper]]s
-|strength2=8 [[Raider|Raiders]]
+|strength2=8 Cylon [[Raider (RDM)|Raiders]]
-|shiploss1=1 Viper destroyed, 1 damaged
+|shiploss1=1 Viper destroyed, 1 Viper damaged
 |shiploss2=7 Raiders destroyed, 1 disabled and captured
 |casualties1=None
-|casualties2= (8 Cylon Raiders)
+|casualties2=8 Cylon Raiders
-|prev=[[Battle of Ragnar Anchorage]]
+|prev=[[Battle of the Communications Relay]]
 |next=[[Battle for the Tylium Asteroid]]
+|series=RDM
 }}
-The '''Skirmish over the Red Moon''' is a battle between eight [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Cylon Raider]] that surprise a group of [[nugget]] [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] pilots under instruction by Lt. [[Kara Thrace|Kara "Starbuck" Thrace]] in the orbit of an unnamed reddish moon orbiting a gas giant.  It is the first time the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]] encounter [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar]] ''[[Galactica]]'' after its escape in the [[Battle of Ragnar Anchorage]].
+The '''Skirmish Over the Red Moon''' takes place when eight [[Cylon Raider (RDM)|Cylon Raiders]] surprise a group of [[nugget]] [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] pilots being instructed by Lt. [[Kara Thrace|Kara "Starbuck" Thrace]] above an unnamed [[Red Moon|red moon]] circling a gas giant.
-Starbuck orders the nuggets to return to ''Galactica'' while she engages all eight Raiders at once. However, Cadet [[Brendan Constanza|Hot Dog]] disobeys and follows her general order of always having a wingman.  Hot Dog succeeds in dividing the Raiders enough between the two Vipers long enough for Starbuck to shoot down six fighters. Hot Dog destroys one Raider (his first kill in a Viper) before suffering damage from incoming fire, pulling back from the engagement. Starbuck destroys all but one Raider, and the two fighters make a final run at each other.
+==Background==
+After an accident on the flight deck of the battlestar [[Galactica (TRS)|''Galactica'']], Lieutenant Thrace is assigned to train [[nuggets|new pilots]] to replace those killed in the accident. Although she at first allows [[Zak Adama|her feelings]] to get in the way of training, she eventually reinstates the pilots and takes them on a training flight. During the flight, a patrol of Cylon Raiders are detected.
-Both the Raider and Starbuck's Viper exchange fire. The Raider's "pilot" is hit, but the ship remained intact. Starbuck's Viper experience [[Computers#Avionics|electrical problems]] which first causes her fighter's communications and transponder to go offline. Damage inflicted by the Raider disabled the Viper's flight controls.  Both fighters tumble out of control and fall into the red moon's gravity well. The Raider softly crash-lands onto the moon, but Starbuck must eject from her Viper after it goes into an uncontrollable [[Wikipedia:Spin (flight)|flat spin]] towards the moon's surface. ''Galactica'' recovers Hot Dog and his critically damaged Viper.
+==Skirmish==
+Upon coming into contact with the patrol, Thrace ([[Viper 4077]]) orders her squad to return to ''Galactica'' while she engages all eight enemy combatants simultaneously. Disobeying direct orders, and adhering to the general rule that a pilot must always have a wingman, Cadet [[Brendan Costanza|Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza]] ([[Viper 1104]]) reverses course, and follows her into combat. His tactics disorient and scatter the enemy, opening a window for Lt. Thrace to shoot down six Raiders. Additionally, Costanza manages to destroy one Raider (his first kill in a Viper) before suffering damage from incoming fire, forcing him to pull back from the engagement. His Viper gives out shortly after.
-Starbuck lands by parachute on the moon, severely injuring her knee after being dragged by her parachute toward boulders and a cliff on the moon's surface. With a broken [[wireless]] handset, she wanders on the moon looking for higher ground to await rescue. She finds the crashed Cylon Raider she had fought earlier.  Starbuck finds a way inside the Raider and discovers the bio-mechanical nature of the new generation of Raiders. Starbuck's attack of the Raider had left the "pilot" of the Raider shot in its "head," leaving it brain-dead.
+With only one Raider remaining, Lieutenant Thrace re-orients herself into a combat position and charges the enemy. As the two combatants close in on each other, Lieutenant Thrace's Viper experiences sudden electrical problems that cause her communications and transponder to go off-line. Nevertheless, she manages to exchange fire with the Raider and finishes it off with a direct hit to the head-canopy.
-Inside, Starbuck finds oxygen to stay alive after she exhausts her [[flight suit]]'s life support, and determines how to control the Raider by manipulating its internal organic actuators. Starbuck's strong flight instructor skills and [[Flight of the Phoenix|test-pilot savvy]] allows her to determine the basic mechanics of the new spacecraft quickly.
+The disabled craft immediately spirals out control, and eventually collides with the Viper.  Damage inflicted by the Raider's impact disables the Viper's flight controls, and both fighters tumble into the gravity well of the nearby red moon. The Raider crashes intact on the moon, but Thrace is forced to eject from her Viper after it goes into an uncontrollable [[W:Spin (flight)|flat spin]] towards the satellite's surface and disintegrates {{TRS|Act of Contrition}}.
-Starbuck repairs the damage she inflicted on the Raider by using a portion of her [[flight suit]] to seal the hole and repressurize the interior of the fighter. Starbuck flies the Raider off the moon and returns to ''Galactica'' once [[Lee Adama|Apollo]] successfully identifies her as the pilot of what would normally be an enemy target.
+==Aftermath==
+After successfully ejecting, Thrace parachutes onto the moon, but is injured. As this is happening, a [[SAR|search and rescue]] [[Raptor]] deployed by ''Galactica'' recovers Costanza and his critically damaged Viper in the moon's orbit. SAR teams are sent out to retrieve Thrace, but the moon's thick atmosphere prevents them from making contact, and buildup of organic deposits from the air in fighter and Raptor engines cut short the rescue effort. On the moon's surface with a broken [[wireless]] handset and no other means of establishing communication, Thrace comes across the downed Raider, replenishes her own oxygen from the Raider's supply, and eventually flies the Raider off the moon and into open space. Thrace is able to avoid being shot down and lands aboard ''Galactica'', giving the [[The_Fleet_(TRS)|surviving human Fleet]] its first captured enemy spacecraft {{TRS|You Can't Go Home Again}}.
-This is the first time Colonial forces are able to capture and examine the updated Cylon Raider.  Chief [[Galen Tyrol]] and his deck crew spend the next several weeks analyzing the fighter, eventually returning it to flight status with significant internal modifications for effective human control ("[[Act of Contrition]]", "[[You Can't Go Home Again]]", "[[Six Degrees of Separation]]", "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]", and "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]") The Raider is later lost on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]].
+{{clear}}
+{{Battles (RDM)}}
 [[Category:A to Z]]
 [[Category:Colonial]]
 [[Category:Colonial Battles]]
-[[Category:Colonial Battles (RDM)]]
+[[Category:Colonial Battles (TRS)]]
-[[Category:RDM]]
+[[Category:TRS]]
 [[de:Scharmützel über dem Roten Mond]]