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. Operated by Cloud 9 Cruises and affiliated with the United Colonies of Kobol, it served as a popular entertainment and transport hub during the journey toward New Caprica, and it was aboard Cloud 9 that the Quorum of Twelve convened. The ship was ultimately destroyed by a thermonuclear explosion in orbit over New Caprica, taking several other vessels with it.

Survival of the Fall#

During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Cloud 9, like many civilian ships, was ordered to hold position within its space lane to keep clear of the military counteroffensive. As the Colonial Fleet lost the war, the ship was left abandoned and was ultimately found by a Raptor search team under the authority of President Laura Roslin. During the ordeal it was attacked by Cylon Raiders, and its upper deck was rendered uninhabitable. Cloud 9 jumped to Ragnar after the flotilla was detected by the Cylons, and it was protected by the battlestar Galactica as the surviving ships left the Cyrannus star system behind in search of a new home.

A hub of the Fleet#

Over the month following the attack, Cloud 9 was slowly repaired and made habitable once more. It became a way station for civilians traveling between ships and offered a relaxing atmosphere amid the hardships of the journey. It also served as a meeting place for the Quorum of Twelve, while the President 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.

Outside politics, Cloud 9 continued in its role as a hotel, its more open design offering comparative ease to refugees living on cramped ships. It adopted an "open port" policy of continuous loading and offloading of refugees, which also made the ship useful for smuggling. During a coup d'etat orchestrated by Commander William Adama, the fugitive President Roslin was able to hide within the fleet by using its ports. Cloud 9's crew rejected Adama's authority during the period of martial law and jumped away to Kobol with other Roslin-loyal ships.

Radicalism and the black market#

In the months following the rebellion, Cloud 9 became a hotbed for radical movements. The civilian Sesha Abinell led a militant group that spread inflammatory but accurate conspiracy theories about Galactica harboring a Cylon agent, and took hostages in a restaurant in a failed attempt to secure her release for execution. A separate radical group, Demand Peace, used Cloud 9 as its political headquarters; after attempts to sabotage Galactica's ammunition, the group was forced to abandon its more extreme acts. Demand Peace later gained possession of one of Galactica's nuclear warheads through a secret deal with Dr. Baltar, and accepted a Number Six named Gina Inviere as a member, unaware of her Cylon nature. The ship was also frequented by the black market and an associated prostitution racket.

Destruction over New Caprica#

Cloud 9 was destroyed over New Caprica in the aftermath of the presidential election, when Gina Inviere attempted suicide by triggering the nuclear warhead following the failure of her relationship with Dr. Baltar. The explosion destroyed at least three other ships, including a cargo ship, and became the first crisis of the newly elected President Baltar's term. The radioactive signature of the detonation was detected by a Cylon patrol a light-year away.

Design#

Cloud 9 was a massive vessel of unusual design that contained a five-star restaurant, a theater, a casino, several bars, and numerous hotel rooms and luxury suites. Its most notable feature was a huge biodome enclosing a pressurized natural habitat nearly a quarter mile in diameter that simulated an outdoor park. The dome was mounted to the starboard side of the main hull by a V-shaped pylon that supported a spoon-shaped bow housing the hotel. Behind the hotel, a separately attached crew module contained the hangar bay, command bridge, engineering, and the sub-light and FTL drive engines, with a further set of drive engines beneath the saucer dome.

Inside the dome, many varieties of trees and plants from the Twelve Colonies were grown on the grounds and tended by a dedicated gardening staff. The dome held an artificial lake used for swimming, and at the center of the park stood a large auditorium used for gatherings and festivals; this building was used by Roslin as the meeting place for the new Quorum of Twelve after the Cylon attack. The dome drew on any available natural sunlight to replicate the atmospheric conditions of a planet's sky. As a spaceship, however, Cloud 9 could not fully match a real planet, and flaws were visible, such as fake terrain disguising machinery and the easily noticed support beams of the skydome. Despite these, Cloud 9 was judged one of the nicer places to live in the colonial fleet.