- For information on the video game "New Caprica", see New Caprica (2003 Video Game). For information on the failed Singer/DeSanto continuation series colony, see New Caprica (SDS).
New Caprica is a cold, barely habitable world discovered and colonized by the escaping civilian Fleet.
Located within a nebula that significantly hinders DRADIS triangulation, the planet is seen as a safe haven from the marauding Cylon enemy. It is only after Cloud 9 is destroyed in a nuclear explosion that the Cylons detect the resulting radiation signature and track it to New Caprica, where an unprepared military and civilian population awaits.
Four months after the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, the surviving Colonial military attempts to liberate the colony, resulting in the Battle of New Caprica.
Discovery[edit]
Lt. Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson discovers the planet later known as New Caprica after her Raptor accidentally jumps to the wrong coordinates while on a rescue mission to Caprica.
Ground surveys reveal that New Caprica is a cold world with a harsh climate, and that only about 20% of the surface - a small temperate band around the equator - is habitable. The planet is located in a star system enshrouded by a dense nebula that renders DRADIS all but useless. This makes the planet strategically appealing; theoretically, it would protect a settlement from Cylon detection indefinitely.
Excited by her discovery, Racetrack returns to the battlestar Pegasus with sensor readings she has gathered. The mere prospect of setting foot on a planet causes great debate within the Fleet, quickly dividing it into two factions - those who wish to stop running from the Cylons and colonize the planet, and those who want to continue their pursuit of Earth .
Colonization[edit]
Given the harsh climate of the planet, President Laura Roslin writes off colonization as unrealistic. However, the discovery of New Caprica happens to coincide with an impending presidential election (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I). Presidential candidate Gaius Baltar and running mate Tom Zarek seize upon colonization as their wedge issue, offering the Fleet the prospect of settlement under the presumption that the Cylons will be unable to penetrate the nebula. Roslin disagrees with this assessment, but the majority of the travel- and war-weary survivors of the Fleet find the idea of colonizing the planet favorable. Baltar and Zarek win a decisive mandate, and Laura Roslin is voted out of office. President Baltar's first executive order is to begin settlement, bringing an end to the Fleet's search for Earth (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).
Shortly after Baltar's inauguration a nuclear warhead (smuggled off of Galactica in Epiphanies) is detonated aboard Cloud 9, destroying it and several other ships orbiting New Caprica. The incident proves to have a devastating impact on the human settlers of New Caprica one year later.
One Year Later[edit]
The population of New Caprica is concentrated in a small settlement called New Caprica City. The climate proves unforgiving, and there are major shortages of medical supplies and basic living materials. More than a year after colonization, most of the population continues to live in canvas tents. A small number of grounded ships also serve as living quarters.
Many among the population of New Caprica City, including Galen Tyrol and the workers' union which he leads, blame President Baltar and his lack of leadership for the majority of economic and social problems facing the settlers on New Caprica (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).
Just over a year after colonization, the population of New Caprica City is 39,192 (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II). A small group of around 2,000 civilians remain in orbit in their respective vessels (Occupation).
Cylon Occupation[edit]
Three hundred and eighty days after settlement, the Cylons discover New Caprica after detecting and tracing the radiation signature of the nuclear warhead detonated on Cloud 9. The Cylons jump into New Caprica's orbit with a fleet of basestars and descend upon the settlement. Galactica and Pegasus are caught by surprise and vastly outnumbered. With both ships at a fraction of their fully-manned strength, Commander Lee Adama persuades Admiral William Adama to escape New Caprica with the few ships orbiting the planet.
On New Caprica, President Baltar is confronted by a Cylon delegation consisting of Caprica Six, Sharon Valerii and a copy of Number Five. Left with no choice, Baltar surrenders to the Cylons on behalf of the majority of the planet's settlers (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).
Initially, the Cylon forces are led by Caprica Six and Boomer under the sincere intention of establishing peace between the Cylons and the human race. However, they quickly lose their influence to the more militaristic Cylon models ("Precipice", "Exodus, Part II"). The Cylons become an occupying force on New Caprica, with President Baltar and his staff reduced to a puppet administration controlled by Cylon rule. Vice President Tom Zarek refuses to cooperate early in the occupation and is sent to a detention center (Precipice).
A band of human resistance fighters, regarded by the Cylon-occupiers as insurgents, begin to strike back against the Cylons. The resistance is significantly aided by an unknown, inside source that passes them classified information from the Cylon government, allowing the resistance to wreak considerable havoc on the occupying Cylon force. In turn, the Cylons establish the New Caprica Police (NCP); a group of human volunteers who work for the Cylon authority to establish order within the colony. Considered to be Cylon collaborators, the NCP is regarded with both disgust and disdain by the majority of the New Caprica’s human population. This forces members of the NCP to wear black masks that conceal their identity, and protect them and their families from potential human reprisal.
The Battle of New Caprica and the Second Exodus[edit]
- Main article: Battle of New Caprica
Based on a contingency plan developed prior to colonization by Saul Tigh and William Adama, a Raptor is deployed from the hiding battlestars and regularly jumps into New Caprica's orbit in an attempt to contact the humans left behind. Concealed from Cylon detection by the nebula, the Raptor establishes contact with the resistance movement. With communication ties established, Adama and his military personnel devise a plan to evacuate the human prisoners. However, the plan's success hinges on the retrieval of the planet-bound ships' launch keys. Confiscated by the Cylons, these keys are necessary to activate the FTL drives on the grounded ships.
Admiral Adama deploys a team led by newly commissioned Sharon Agathon that covertly lands on New Caprica and successfully establishes contact with the resistance. Moreover, Agathon is able to locate and retrieve the hidden launch keys. With the rescue attempt now under way, Pegasus Commander Lee Adama is ordered to protect the hiding fleet at a pre-arranged location where they will rendezvous with Galactica if the rescue mission is successful, or continue the search for Earth alone if it is not. Galactica then jumps to New Caprica alone. Once in orbit, Raptors deploy decoys, creating illusory targets that trick the Cylons into believing they are chasing the two battlestars, scattering their fleet of basestars. Adama takes advantage of the Cylons' confusion by jumping Galactica directly into New Caprica's lower atmosphere, deploying Blue Squadron and then jumping back into higher orbit. With Blue Squadron providing air cover, resistance fighters begin attacks on Cylon ground forces, liberate the New Caprica Detention Center and escort civilians to their designated ships which begin to launch and jump to the rendezvous point.
Back in orbit above New Caprica, a badly damaged Galactica is surrounded by four basestars. Adama, unable to jump away and without enough time to fix the ship's damaged FTL drive, resigns himself to defeat. At this moment, his son, having ignored his father's order to stay behind with the escaped civilian vessels, arrives with Pegasus and diverts the Cylon attack on Galactica to his own ship. Galactica's crew is able to repair the ship's FTL drive, and upon the successful return of the ship's Viper squadron, escapes to the rendezvous point.
Pegasus, having left its Vipers to guard the ships at the rendezvous point, is left with no fighter cover. The battlestar is mortally damaged and Commander Adama and his skeleton crew are forced to abandon the ship. Boarding Raptors, they escape after setting the ship on a collision course with a basestar. After the destruction of both vessels, Pegasus's starboard flight pod collides with another basestar and destroys it as well ("Exodus, Part I", "Exodus, Part II").
Aftermath[edit]
While the rescue mission is considered a success, approximately 2,000 humans die during the operation and the preceding four month long occupation.[1]
Casualties include Tucker "Duck" Clellan, one of Galactica's best Viper pilots who is driven to despair by the murder of his partner, Nora Farmer (Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance), and conducts a suicide attack on the NCP (Occupation); Ellen Tigh, who is poisoned by her husband for collaborating with the Cylons (although she is later reborn in a new body on a Cylon Resurrection Ship as she is one of the Final Five, the only ones aware of this at first are a Cavil and Boomer); and Maya, who is killed while attempting to board her escape ship with her adopted baby daughter, the human/Cylon hybrid Hera. The child survives, but without the protection of her mother is left behind and recovered by the Cylons. Knowing he cannot escape with the rest of the human population Gaius Baltar elects to leave with the Cylons, at the invitation of Number Three copy D'Anna Biers.
With the humans gone, and with their possession and control of the hybrid-child finally realized, the Cylons see no strategic or logical reason to remain on the planet.
See also[edit]
- Battle of New Caprica
- New Caprica City
- Breeders Canyon
- Pergamus Flats
- New Caprica Detention Center
- New Caprica Police
References[edit]
- ↑ This number is calculated from all available population data. See the "Precipice" and "Collaborators" section of Survivor count for the details. Cassidy cites over 5000 casualties in "Crossroads, Part I", but this doesn't fit with previously established figures.
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