Pegasus (TOS-RH)

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Richard Hatch Novelizations separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

For the canonical depiction of this vessel, see: Pegasus (TOS).

Pegasus is a Colonial battlestar commanded by Commander Cain. The only other surviving battlestar besides Galactica after the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, Pegasus operates independently for nearly twenty yahren before reuniting with the Colonial Fleet at Poseidon. The battlestar is ultimately destroyed in a heroic ramming attack against a Cylon basestar.

Design and Characteristics

Pegasus is a war machine, distinctly different in culture and function from Galactica, which serves as the heart of a microcosmic civilization. Pegasus does not welcome civilian visitors or non-military personnel, likely lacking even TransVid availability aboard. The ship maintains strict military discipline, with every buckle undone or tarnished and no decorations outside of symbols representing the ship itself or Poseidon.

Pegasus possesses a readily distinguishable energy signature typical of battlestars, which carries specific meaning to refugees from the Twelve Colonies and can be detected when not occluded by space shrapnel.

Service History

Siege at Gamoray

Pegasus participates in the siege at Gamoray approximately twenty yahren before reuniting with the Colonial Fleet, fighting alongside Galactica against multiple Cylon base stars. Under Cain's tactical command, the two battlestars destroy two base stars, though a third bearing Baltar escapes.

During the battle, Cain orders his injured daughter Sheba transferred to Galactica for medical treatment, unknowingly separating them for nearly two decades. The explosions from the destroyed base stars create a massive sea of shrapnel that blinds both battlestars' monitoring systems for many centons. This debris field causes both battlestars to lose track of each other, with each commander believing the other's ship has been destroyed.

Pegasus sustains damage from both direct hits and associated debris during the campaign, bearing scars from this battle for the remainder of its service. Over the following yahren, Pegasus is repeatedly reported destroyed at least half a dozen times, though it always survives.

Independent Operations

One yahren after Gamoray, Pegasus remains within the Cylon perimeter, conducting guerrilla warfare with limited options. Restricted to strike-and-run tactics, the battlestar harries Cylon forces then flees to fight again. After destroying a Cylon supply base while evading reprisal, Pegasus receives multiple distress signals from refugee ships that screened the battlestar's distinctive engine signature.

Cain responds to these distress calls, discovering that many colonists survived the Cylon destruction whom Galactica arrived too late to rescue. Pegasus gathers these refugees and eventually leads them to safety at Poseidon.

Poseidon Era

Approximately nineteen yahren after Gamoray, Pegasus escorts the refugees to Poseidon in the Xerik system, where Cain establishes a colony. The battlestar's foundry ship suffers what Cain describes as a meteor strike, prompting the transfer of heavy equipment to the planet's surface to establish industrial operations.

Pegasus maintains its role as the flagship of Cain's growing fleet, which expands to include two newly-constructed battlestars built from Poseidon's native materials to Colonial standards, plus a full complement of lesser warships. The construction work utilizes specifications kept aboard Pegasus.

When the Colonial Fleet arrives at Poseidon, Apollo, Athena, Starbuck, and President Tigh visit Pegasus to meet with Cain. The battlestar serves as Cain's base of operations while he maintains dual authority as both military commander and president of Poseidon.

Final Battle

During the major engagement in the Xerik system against combined Cylon and Chitain forces, Pegasus sustains overwhelming damage while protecting the fleet. Athena, commanding Daedelus, moves into position to defend the injured battlestar, with Daedelus blasting at enemy fighters before they can reach Pegasus. However, there are too many attackers for one battlestar to contain, and Pegasus continues taking hit after hit.

Pegasus valiantly continues firing at Cylon and Chitain fighters that slip past the Vipers, defending the fleet even as it burns. Athena orders a shuttle prepared to evacuate Pegasus if the attack slows, intending to drag Cain back herself if necessary. When Cain communicates with Athena, his appearance is weary and haggard, with blood running from a forehead wound and the corner of his mouth, looking old and mortal against a backdrop of leaping fires and scattered bodies.

Gouts of fire leap across the bridge as hull integrity fails. The flames spread, consuming the ship, as Pegasus breaks apart with hull plates popping rivets and flying off like projectiles. Parts of the superstructure cry in a voice of tortured steel and rip away, tumbling back to the planet's surface and kicking up great spumes of dust where they strike.

The Final Ram

Rather than allow his ship to be destroyed helplessly, Cain diverts all power to the propulsion system, leaving only the illumination from flames on the darkened bridge. Gripping the back of his command chair to remain upright, Cain guides the burning battlestar—with long tongues of flame licking the sky behind it—at full speed directly toward Lucifer's Cylon basestar.

Sheba breaks formation and pushes her Viper flat-out to reach Pegasus, but Cain refuses to open the landing bay apertures, preventing her from joining him in death. His final words to her—"Sheba...Sheba, I—"—are lost in a hiss of static.

Pegasus' prow pierces the basestar's heart, slamming through the hull with explosions ripping through the mothership like chain lightning. The battlestar drives forward like an arrow fired from a giant's bow, burying itself deep within the target. The fiery corpse breaches the tylium fuel cells of the basestar, and both ships explode in a blinding flash.

The terrific shockwave slaps and buffets the Vipers, forcing pilots to grip the navi-hilt with both hands and struggle to remain airborne. Galactica and Daedelus also suffer the concussive impact, yawing and pitching, threatening to spin out of control as bridge crews fight to stabilize their courses.

Legacy and Aftermath

After the battle, the combined forces of Galactica, Daedelus, and Pegasus have lost more than half their Warriors and starfighters, reduced to one hundred and seven Vipers total. However, the Colonial Fleet gains four warships from Cain's forces to partially offset their losses.

The destruction of Pegasus is felt profoundly throughout the fleet, contributing to a somber mood among the people who have met an enemy perhaps even more deadly than the Cylons. Apollo reflects that the victory "didn't feel much like victory," as the human race grows increasingly tired of fighting and running.

Discovery in the Ur Cloud

Later, when Troy and Dalton explore wreckage pulled into the Ur cloud, they discover remnants of Pegasus. Valor of the Sky guides them to the engine section and part of one of the bays—massive pieces of white, shining metal, marred and twisted and torn, bearing the telltale markings of a Colonial battlestar.

Entering through the partially intact landing bay, Troy and Dalton find the wreckage still contains fuel cells and crates of food pills, providing desperately needed supplies for Galactica. However, the expedition becomes an adventure that turns to grief and sadness as they encounter the real face of war.

Bodies blasted beyond recognition float in the null gravity, some with eyes closed, others with eyes open and frozen, mouths wide in final screams. The pilot's lounge presents a scene beyond words, described by Dalton as "like Hades...worse than she'd ever imagined." Many of the dead warriors are friends Troy and Dalton recognize, making the horror personal.

Among the bodies, they find Cain himself, his cloak caught on a jagged shard of metal, anchored to the torn and twisted bulkhead where he has drifted since the ship was pulled into the Ur cloud. His gold medallion floats above his neck, his usually neat white hair waving about his sharp-featured face. Dalton touches the still face of the great commander with deep respect, mourning Sheba's father and a legendary warrior.

Cultural Impact

Pegasus represents a different philosophy from Galactica—where Galactica becomes home to a traveling civilization, Pegasus remains purely a military vessel focused on warfare against the Cylons. This distinction reflects the different command styles of Cain and Adama, with Cain embracing military conflict while Adama viewed it as a last resort.

The battlestar's final sacrifice—ramming a Cylon basestar to save the fleet—becomes a testament to both Cain's courage and his lifelong tendency toward self-sacrifice in pursuit of military objectives. The destruction marks the end of an era and the loss of a legendary warship that had survived countless battles against impossible odds.