Cloud 9

Cloud 9 was a luxury liner that escaped the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and became one of the most prominent ships of the surviving civilian fleet. It served as a popular entertainment and transport hub during the flight toward New Caprica, and it was aboard Cloud 9 that the Quorum of Twelve convened. The ship was ultimately destroyed by a nuclear explosion in orbit over New Caprica, taking several other vessels with it. (Battlestar Galactica, "Colonial Day"; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")

Survival of the Fall#

Cloud 9 came through the Fall of the Twelve Colonies badly damaged by the Cylon attack, and it had to be evacuated while repairs were made. It travelled with the other survivors under the protection of the battlestar Galactica as they left the Cyrannus star system behind in search of a new home. (Battlestar Galactica, "Colonial Day")

A hub of the Fleet#

Once repaired, Cloud 9 returned to full service and offered a relaxing escape from the hardships of the voyage. President Laura Roslin chose it as the venue for the first sitting of the interim Quorum of Twelve, while she remained based aboard Colonial One. During the inaugural meeting of the Quorum, the Sagittaron delegate Tom Zarek made a bid for the Vice Presidency but was beaten by the Caprican delegate, Dr. Gaius Baltar. (Battlestar Galactica, "Colonial Day")

Outside politics, Cloud 9 carried on as a hotel, its open spaces a relief for refugees living on cramped ships. It also had a seedier side: the black market ran a prostitution racket aboard, and it was in a room on Cloud 9 that Lee Adama found the young woman Shevon while investigating the black market. (Battlestar Galactica, "Black Market")

Radicalism and the black market#

Cloud 9 also became a base for radicals. The Cylon sympathiser group Demand Peace, led by Royan Jahee and the Number Six known as Gina Inviere, operated aboard, and Gina obtained one of Galactica's nuclear warheads from Dr. Baltar, to Jahee's shock. Later the civilian Sesha Abinell, whose husband had died in a Cylon attack, seized the ship's Starlight Lounge with a group of gunmen and took hostages, among them Lee Adama, Anastasia Dualla, Billy Keikeya and Ellen Tigh. She demanded that the Cylon Sharon be handed over for revenge, and she and her accomplices were killed when Colonial Marines stormed the bar, though civilians died too. (Battlestar Galactica, "Black Market"; Battlestar Galactica, "Epiphanies"; Battlestar Galactica, "Sacrifice")

Destruction over New Caprica#

Cloud 9 was destroyed over New Caprica in the aftermath of the presidential election, when Gina Inviere set the warhead to go off after a short countdown, ending her own life. The explosion destroyed at least four other ships nearby and was the first disaster of the newly elected President Baltar's term. The Cylon fleet, more than a light year away, detected the blast and later tracked its signature to the settlement, which led to the Cylon occupation of New Caprica. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")

Design#

Cloud 9 was a massive, FTL-capable vessel of unusual design, with comfortable hotel rooms, lounges and bars. Its most notable feature was a huge pressurized dome that simulated a planetary surface. The ship was one of the few in the Fleet with an asymmetrical layout: a long, slim main section held the landing bay, hotel suites and sublight engines, while the dome sat off the starboard side, joined by a small connecting walkway. That layout meant Cloud 9 could never fly in an atmosphere. (Battlestar Galactica, "Colonial Day")

Inside the dome were gardens, trees and buildings under an artificial sky, and a forum building where Roslin convened the new Quorum of Twelve and held the Colonial Day celebrations. The dome, the hotel rooms and the bars made Cloud 9 one of the best-known and most popular ships among the survivors. (Battlestar Galactica, "Colonial Day")