Battle of the Resurrection Ship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Galactica and Pegasus engage a basestar | |||||||||||||||||||||
Summary | |||||||||||||||||||||
Conflict: | Second Cylon war | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date: | Likely less than 48 hours after "Resurrection Ship, Part I" | ||||||||||||||||||||
Related Episode(s): | |||||||||||||||||||||
Place: | Interstellar space, specific location unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||
Result: | Decisive Colonial victory | ||||||||||||||||||||
80-90 Vipers, 1 Blackbird, associated RaptorsThe Resurrection Ship 2 Cylon Basestars Associated Raiders, Heavy Raiders"
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[[Colonial battles chronology ({{{series}}})|Battle Chronology]] | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of the Resurrection Ship was the battle to destroy the Cylon Resurrection Ship in the hopes of causing the Cylons to rethink their plans for chasing the Fleet.
When battlestar Pegasus reunited with the larger remnant of humanity led by the battlestar Galactica, its commanding officer, Admiral Admiral Cain revealed that Pegasus has been tracking a Cylon fleet, and upon reviewing Galactica's logs surmised that this same Cylon fleet had been following Galactica and her fleet, possibly for months. Earlier long-range reconaissance missions by Pegasus revealed that the Cylon fleet consisted of 2 basestars, roughly a dozen support ships, and one unidentifiable vessel, much larger than a basestar, which the Cylon fleet appeared to be protecting. Admiral Cain and Commander Adama realized the probable value of the ship to the Cylons, and begin planning an operation to pool their resources to attack the Cylon fleet.
Starbuck returns from an illicit recon mission to the Cylon fleet, using the Blackbird stealth fighter to get dramatically detailed photos of the unknown ship. The name of the ship, the Resurrection Ship, is discovered by Dr. Gaius Baltar through the captive Cylon agent, Gina. Captain Kara Thrace, Admiral Helena Cain and Commander William Adama determine that the Resurrection Ship is a safety net for the Cylon infiltrators operating in the Fleet. With this safety net removed, the Cylons will seriously reconsider their actions. If an Cylon agent's body were to die without another body to store their transmitted consciousness, not only would the Cylons lose vital intelligence on Fleet operations, but the agent's consciousness would be permanently lost.
Pegagus CAG Captain Thrace taps once more into her unconventional military thinking in formulating an effective attack plan, which draws the Cylons to the battlestars and a trap, rather than the other way around. In the plan, the Fleet, consisting only of Galactica and her original civilian ships, congregate near a handful of ships that appear to be managing mining operations. When the Cylons engage, the Fleet will Jump away. but a few civilian ships will appear to have problems engaging their FTL drives and attempt to escape at sublight speeds, holding the Cylon fleet in place as their Raiders are drawn away from their basestars. Moments later, Galactica and Pegasus Jump in to attack both basestars. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Lee Adama uses the Blackbird to sneak up upon the Resurrection Ship to destroy her FTL drive with a missile to prevent its escape, while the entire complement of fighters from both battlestars, led by Thrace, pummel the Resurrection Ship and destroy it (Resurrection Ship, Part I).
The attack plan is successfully implemented with minimal losses on the Colonial side. Without their fighter complements, the basestars are no match for the combined gun batteries of Galactica and Pegasus, which tear both basestars apart.
Moments after disabling the Resurrection Ship's FTL drive, the Blackbird stealth fighter collides with a downed Raptor after Adama's attack, destroying the fragile fighter. Lee Adama ejects and, in the process, suffers a puncture in his flight suit. He is successfully rescued by a Raptor from Galactica doing SAR and recovers from hypoxia.
Shortly after the destruction of the Resurrection Ship and at least one basestar, surviving Cylon forces jump away, marking a significant Colonial victory (Resurrection Ship, Part II).