Great Cylon Turkey Shoot

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Great Cylon Turkey Shoot
Powered down Raider fleet being massacred by Galactica's Vipers
Powered down Raider fleet being massacred by Galactica's Vipers
Powered down Raider fleet being massacred by Galactica's Vipers
Summary
Conflict: Second Cylon war
Date: Roughly two weeks after Day 84
Related Episode(s):
Place: Interstellar space, specific location unknown
Result: Decisive Colonial victory
Combatants
Remnants of the Colonial Fleet Cylons
Commanders
Commander William Adama Unknown †
Strength
Battlestar Galactica
34-42 Vipers
Over 200 Raiders
Dozens of Heavy Raiders, exact number unknown
Materiel Losses
None Complete destruction of entire Cylon force
Casualties
None Complete destruction of entire Cylon force
[[Colonial battles chronology ({{{series}}})|Battle Chronology]]
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Battle of Kobol Great Cylon Turkey Shoot Galactica vs. Pegasus


The Great Cylon Turkey Shoot was a battle in which battlestar Galactica turned the Cylon's own computer virus against them to completely power down a massive fleet of hundreds of Raiders and Heavy Raiders in a reversal of the Cylon's use of it in the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

For several weeks, Galactica suffered system failures and malfunctions throughout the ship. Watch Officer Lieutenant Gaeta and Dr. Gaius Baltar determined that the Cylon virus which infected the ship shortly after the Fleet reunited (Scattered) and downed several ship functions for a time (Valley of Darkness) had returned. Apparently the virus had a latent element that hid itself, slowly emerging throughout ship computers, testing and probing for weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Lt. Karl Agathon then showed analysis of the virus to the incarcerated Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii, who determined that this logic bomb was a prelude to a Cylon attack. They determined a way to remove the bomb by erasing all ship computer hard drives, then reloading the computers from backups made before the war. However, this would leave the ship completely vulnerable for several minutes. If the logic bomb was "detonated", the virus would likely turn Galactica against itself and her fleet.

Commander Adama elected to use Caprica-Valerii to aid them. She interfaced her body to the ship's mainframe and communication systems via a fiber-optic link placed inside her left forearm. A massive Cylon force arrived to attack, and all Vipers were scrambled. As Galactica erased her hard drives, Valerii apparently copied the logic bomb code into herself and manipulated it. She released the altered code through the communication channels, transmitting it to the Cylon attackers. In an amazing turn of historic events, the entire Cylon fleet lost all power as Caprica-Valerii's version of the virus disabled every Cylon ship in a very similar way to how Colonial ships were shut down by the Cylons during the Fall of the Colonies. Many out-of-control Cylon ships were destroyed simply from crashing into each other.

Commander Adama and Colonel Saul Tigh ordered Galactica's Vipers to destroy all of the disabled Cylon fighters. Galactica's Vipers proceeded to tear through the jumbled Cylon formations, destroying the entire disproporationately larger Cylon force while not losing a single Colonial ship in the process (Flight of the Phoenix).

The mass presence of Heavy Raiders (troop transport vessels, never before seen in such numbers) indicates that the Cylons intended to board Galactica and possibly other ships in the Colonial fleet after the virus had rendered the battlestar helpless.

Notes[edit]

  • According to Ron D. Moore's podcast for "Flight of the Phoenix", this battle was specifically inspired by the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" of World War II. This page is named in light of that reference.
  • Number of Cylon Raiders present was given on the Scifi.com official site's episode description.
  • Visually, there are at least 42 Vipers on screen, but there is a strong possibility that this is a visual effects mistake: Apollo said in "Act of Contrition" that there were only 40 Vipers left. On top of this, several Vipers have been lost since then (see Galactica). The current count leaves only 34 Vipers: 1 lost in "Act of Contrition", 4 lost in "The Hand of God", and 1 lost in "Final Cut". This doesn't take into account Tyrol's retirement of unserviceable craft, worn down by wear and tear. Furthermore, Galactica is severely limited by the number of pilots they have on hand - in this episode, no more than 22.
    • RDM admitted in an interview (see "Flight of the Phoenix") that this was probably a visual effects gaffe. Number of Vipers was thus more probably 34 at the most.