Battle of the Binary Star System

Battle before: Battle of the Resurrection Ship
Battle after: Fall of New Caprica

Battle of the Binary Star System
Conflict	Second Cylon war
Date	Unknown
Place	unnamed binary star system
Result	Tactical Cylon victory
Combatants Remnants of the Colonial Fleet Cylons Commanders Commander Barry Garner† Major Lee Adama Unknown Strength Mercury class battlestar Pegasus associated Vipers, associated Raptors Three basestars, associated Raiders, Heavy Raiders Casualties At least two Raptors, heavy damage to Pegasus, additional unknown losses. One Basestar heavily damaged

Engagement in which battlestar Pegasus is lured into a trap by three Cylon basestars. The Cylons lure two of Pegasus's Raptors out into a shroud of electro-magnetic interference (EMI) generated by a binary star system. Once the Raptors were there, the crews are killed and the craft left intact and adrift at the edge of the Colonials' DRADIS range. By all available data to the Colonials, the craft appear to be disabled, albeit non-responsive. The new commander of Pegasus, Barry Garner, disobeys Admiral William Adama's orders and takes the battlestar in to rescue the Raptors, ignoring Adama's planned 5-Raptor SAR mission and warning of a likely Cylon trap.

Once Pegasus takes the bait and enters the region, three Cylon basestars Jump in and promptly launch a full salvo of tactical nuclear missiles, scoring two hits on the stern of the battlestar. Pegasus' air wing, already spaceborne under the command of Captain "Starbuck" Thrace, immediately engage the Cylons and return fire. Virtually ignoring the Vipers, the Cylon basestars focus their efforts on Pegasus and produce a third nuclear missile hit on the battlestar resulting in damage to the topside heat exchanger.

Commander Barry Garner is an engineering officer not experienced in combat command. Worsening the situation, the heavy barrage dealt by the Cylons damage the FTL drive, putting Pegasus's survival in peril. Realizing his skills would be best used in engineering, Garner voluntarily transfers command to Major Lee Adama, and dashes below to Engineering.

After only a moment of hesitation, Major Adama promptly orders Starbuck and the rest of the Vipers to defend the compromised portions of Pegasus from further damage while directing the battlestar's forward batteries to fire on the closest of the three basestars, inflicting severe damage to its central axis to buy Pegasus more time. The wounded basestar is forced to withdraw; the first documented occurrence of a baseship diverging from their normal tactic of fighting to the death, perhaps due to the loss of the Resurrection Ship.

The problem in repairing the FTL drive is an oxygen leak that blocks technicians from making repairs to the damaged FTL drive components. Commander Garner heroically sacrifices himself to repair the leak to allow his engineers to address the FTL drive. With the FTL drive restored, Major Adama orders all fighters to return and orders Pegasus to Jump.

From a tactical standpoint, the battle is a marginal Cylon victory — if their ultimate goal had been the destruction of Pegasus, the attempt failed, thanks to the quick reactions of the Colonial crew. However, Pegasus suffers substantial damage and casualties, including, significantly, yet another command officer since the destruction of the Resurrection Ship. The battlestar returns to the relative safety of the Fleet. The extent of the damage and its long-term effect are not fully realized.

Lee Adama's tour under the rank of Major is short-lived. For his efforts in returning Pegasus under dangerous odds, Admiral Adama awards him with the rank of Commander and the command of Pegasus (The Captain's Hand).

Re-imagined Series definition: battlestar landing bay mechanism that arrests a landing Viper, Raptor or other small craft ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}

Re-imagined Series definition: high-energy electromagnetic radiation from binary stars is known to interfere with DRADIS (TRS: "The Captain's Hand")

Re-imagined Series definition: technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL