Battle of Gamoray
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| Battle of Gamoray | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Thousand-Yahren War | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Gamoray, Krillian star system | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Colonial victory | ||||||||||||||||
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Battle to secure fuel for the fleet from the Cylon base on Gamoray.
The battle began with a daring commando raid to disable the Anti-assault batteries on Gamoray. Once the planetary defenses had been defeated, Galactica and a small group of Vipers moved in to secure the base on Gamoray and begin the refueling operation. Pegasus had been sent away from Gamoray towards the three basestars, theoretically to draw the attack forces away from the currently vulnerable fleet.
Just as Galactica had begun to assault Gamoray, Baltar was preparing to launch an assault against Galactica. Combined with the fighter squadron on Gamoray, Baltar had the firepower of four basestars worth of Cylon Raiders at his disposal, and he planned to press his advantage. When he received word that Galactica had left the fleet undefended, he ordered his raiders to take advantage of the opportunity and destroy the civilian fleet.
Lucifer then informed Baltar that the Imperious Leader was on Gamoray, as part of a delegation to dedicate a new facility. Baltar quickly redirected his raiders towards Gamoray, hoping to curry favor with the Cylon leader by rushing to his defense. On the way to Gamoray Baltar's raiders encounter Pegasus. Commander Cain has a combined force of Vipers from both battlestars form a spearhead to cut through the raiders. Cain's ship sustains heavy damage before Baltar suspects that Pegasus is being used as a decoy, and orders his raiders to ignore the battlestar and head directly for Gamoray.
Once he made it past the raider force, Cain headed directly for the three basestars. This act confused both Commander Adama (because it wasn't part of the plan) and Baltar (as one battlestar is no match for three basestars). Cain ordered all wounded and non-essential personnel into shuttles, escorted by all the remaining Vipers onboard Pegasus. The shuttles headed towards the fleet, while Pegasus headed towards the basestars at full speed.
Baltar determined that Cain was coming after him, and ordered all raiders to return to defend him (before they had gotten to Gamoray). Galactica was therefore spared, and began finishing the refueling operations. Starbuck and Apollo break off from the shuttle escort when they determine the raider force will not intercept the shuttles in their course back to the basestars.
When it became apparent that Pegasus would reach him before the raiders could return Baltar ordered his basestar to withdraw, allowing the other two basestars to defend him. Cain plotted a course between the two basestars. Apollo and Starbuck quickly closed with the basestars. The basestars were so near each other that they could not fire on the Vipers without hitting each other. The Vipers disabled the flank missle launchers on the basestars. Pegasus reached the point between the two basestars and fired all of her missles at point-blank range.
The resulting explosion blinded Apollo and Starbuck, and when they were able to see again there was nothing left but debris. With the raiders inbound Apollo and Starbuck retreated back to the fleet (The Living Legend).
Notes
- It is suggested at the end of the episode that Pegasus may have survived the explosion, escaping out into deep space and maintaining radio silence in order to prevent giving away their position. Pegasus and Cain do have a history of this (Battle of Molecay).