Battle of New Caprica

Battle of New Caprica
Summary
Conflict:	Second Cylon War
Date:
Related Episode(s):
Place:	Near New Caprica space; on New Caprica
Result:	Successful retrieval of Fleet, Hera is captured by Cylons
Combatants
Remnants of the Colonial Fleet	Cylons
Commanders
Admiral William Adama, Commander Lee Adama	(Unknown)
Strength
Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus, Blue Squadron	Four basestars, associated Raiders, Heavy Raiders
Materiel Losses
Battlestar Pegasus	At least three basestars
Casualties
Unknown, hundreds of people including Maya	Unknown, High
[[Colonial battles chronology ({{{series}}})\|Battle Chronology]]

Battlestar Galactica launched a daring mission to occupy the Cylon force's attention as the majority of the Colonial citizens escaped from Cylon occupation on New Caprica.

Greatly outnumbered, Admiral William Adama enacted an elaborate plan that relied on a squadron of Raptors (with a Viper escort squadron) to fire a series of swallows that collectively mimicked the EM signatures of the Colonial battlestars. After firing the swallows, the Raptors retreated, luring several Cylon Raiders further from the fight. The Cylons were deceived temporarily by the false readings.

On New Caprica, Samuel Anders and the resistance team detonated dozens of bombs as a feigned attack by Colonial forces. The people evacuated per their fire-drill training, but escaped to the various grounded ships of the Fleet, which prepared their engines and FTL drives to depart. Many people, however, became pinned down by Cylon Centurion fire.

Admiral Adama performed an extremely risky move. He ordered Galactica to conduct an intra-atmosphere jump, escaping the detection of the basestars. While in freefall, it launched the remnants of Blue Squadron, which performed hit-and-run attacks on the Cylons on the ground, those in observation towers, and interdicting the few Raiders operating near the surface. Before the battlestar would impact the surface, Galactica performed a second jump, back into space. Stress from the vibration and heat of entry heavily taxed the structure of the battlestar. While two basestars were expected to engage the Galatica during wargames, four basestars moved in to dispose of Galactica.

With the Vipers destroying targets on the ground and in the air in vicinity of New Caprica City, those previously pinned down were able to board their ships. Simultaneously, Colonial Marines and resistance members assaulted the detention center, freeing Starbuck and the other detainees.

Before long, Galatica's FTL drives and maneuvering thrusters were disabled, and the port side of the ship was reaching its structural limits. Upon hearing that the FtL drive was disabled, Admiral Adama told his crew, "Then that's it. It's been an honor." Battlestar Pegasus then arrived with its forward batteries blazing, scoring several hits that severely damage or destroy one basestar. Commander Lee Adama ordered his battlestar towards the basestars to give Galactica time to repair its FTL drive and escape. Meanwhile, most of the the civilian ships became airborne and jumped away.

Commander Adama directed his ship to a position between the basestars targetting Galactica, in an effort to draw fire away from her. Admiral Adama inferred from the absense of Vipers from the Pegasus that its Vipers were guarding the remaining ships of the Fleet at the rendezvous point and that Pegasus was on a one-way trip. While Pegasus "was taking a hell of a pounding," the crew of Galactica was able to bring its FTL back on line. Admiral Adama then ordered his crew to land its birds and prepare to jump.

Pegasus being nearly destroyed, Commander Adama ordered all hands to abandon ship, using standby Raptors to jump away from the battle. He ensured that the weapons were set to autofire and that the ship was on a collision course with one of the basestars before departing. The damaged, unmanned Pegasus collided into one basestar, destroying both. The remnants of Pegasus's starboard flight pod collided with another of the remaining basestars, destroying it.

Colonial One was the last ship to leave the planet, with Laura Roslin back in her old chair in place of the deposed president, Gaius Baltar (Exodus, Part II).

Battle Imagery

Raptors and Vipers

Galactica FTL

Pegasus' Final Moments