Battle of the Guardian Basestar

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
Battle of the Guardian Basestar
[[Image:|center|300px|Battle of the Guardian Basestar]]
Battle of the Guardian Basestar
Summary
Conflict: Second Cylon war
Date: Roughly 9 months after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies[1]
Related Episode(s):
Place: In jump distance of a supernova event
Result: Colonial victory
Combatants
Battlestar Pegasus Guardians
Commanders
Commander Lee Adama[2] First Hybrid
Strength
1 battlestar, Viper squadrons, Raptor, and strike team Guardian basestar
Unspecified number of Cylon War-era Raiders
Centurions
Materiel Losses
1 Raptor Various Raider losses. Guardian basestar destroyed.
Casualties
Dasilva and Kendra Shaw Various Centurions
First Hybrid
[[Colonial battles chronology ({{{series}}})|Battle Chronology]]
Previous Next
Battle of the Binary Star System Battle of the Guardian Basestar Battle of New Caprica


The Battle of the Guardian Basestar is an engagement between the battlestar Pegasus and the Guardian basestar, in which the main goal is to rescue a captured civilian science team.

Pegasus jumps ito the area and launches an attack drawing off the basestar's Raiders, while shutting down its FTL drive to simulate engine damage. A Raptor then jumps in with a rescue team carrying a nuclear weapon to destroy the basestar. However, two nearby Raiders spot them and the crew fakes an engine malfunction and abandons ship. The Raiders destroy the Raptor and break off thinking the crew is dead. The team heads to the basestar with thruster packs and boards the basestar.

Meanwhile Pegasus is successfully fighting off the Raiders, albeit taking some damage. The rescue team makes its way to where the captured science team is held and frees them but are attacked by Centurions. Dasilva is wounded and shot by Major Shaw who thinks she will spare him suffering. Shaw herself is shot in the gut.

At the same time the ship jams communications and not knowing if the team is dead or not Commander Lee Adama orders a nuclear missile to be fired at the basestar. Admiral Adama countermands the order and while the two are trying to figure out what to do, communications is restored and Starbuck reveals that the nuke's remote detonator is damaged. The only way to set it off is to do it manually.

Lee Adama thinks of evacuating the team and then launching the missile, but his father points out that the Raiders will destroy anything they shoot at the basestar. Lee reluctantly orders the team to have someone stay behind and detonate the nuke. Pegasus launches a rescue Raptor which jumps close to the Guardian basestar and lands in a hangar bay. The team prepares to leave and Starbuck plans to stay, but Shaw forces her to hand over the weapon. The Raptor heads back to Pegasus as Shaw makes her way through the ship and comes across the Hybrid's chamber. The Hybrid knows she wants redemption for her past actions and tells her to come closer as he has something he needs to tell her. He tells her that Starbuck will lead mankind to doom and they must not follow her. Shaw attempts to contact Pegasus and warn them, but can't deliver the entire message due to the Cylon jamming. She detonates the nuke and the Guardian basestar is destroyed along with Shaw, the Hybrid and the entire crew of Centurions.

References

  1. "Razor" incorrectly infers this event to occur 10 months after. Tom Zarek talks about people being cooped up in ships for nine months at the beginning of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I", which is after "Razor" in the timeline.
  2. While Admiral William Adama transfers his flag to Pegasus for the operation, Lee Adama still has overall command.