Cybele: the freighter that fled Gemenon
The Cybele was a Colonial freighter that survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Escaping Gemenon in the opening hours of the attack, it joined the fleet that gathered near Caprica and carried among its passengers a hidden humanoid Cylon.
The Cybele was a cargo transport operating out of Gemenon at the time of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, hauling freight for companies such as Aerian Express and Colonial Movers. It escaped a Raider attack on its shipyard and linked up with the refugee fleet that formed near Caprica under the newly sworn-in President Laura Roslin. (Battlestar Galactica (2003 miniseries); Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)
Escape from Gemenon#
In the opening hours of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Cylon Raiders attacked the Cybele's shipyard on Gemenon, but the ship got away. Among those aboard were Simon, a humanoid Cylon of the Number Four line, and the young girl Jemmy. Once clear of the colony, the Cybele joined Roslin's convoy before the survivors met Galactica at Ragnar. (Battlestar Galactica (2003 miniseries); Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)
Service with the fleet#
Simon had married Jemmy's mother, Giana O'Neill, without revealing that he was a Cylon, and adopted her daughter. Giana worked on Galactica's deck crew, and the family made the Cybele their home. When the Number One posing as a priest aboard Galactica ordered Simon to blow up the Cybele, Simon refused. Instead he rigged an airlock and blew himself out into space, beyond the reach of any Resurrection Ship, leaving Giana the note "Love outlasts death." The Cybele later came through the radiation-filled star cluster to the algae planet with the rest of the Fleet, and is presumed to have been flown into the Sun with the other ships after the survivors reached Earth. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "The Passage"; Battlestar Galactica, "Daybreak, Part II")
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Cybele?
- The Cybele was a cargo transport operating out of Gemenon at the time of the Cylon attack. It survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and joined the refugee fleet.
- How did the Cybele survive the Fall of the Twelve Colonies?
- In the opening hours of the Fall, the Cybele escaped a Raider assault on its shipyard on Gemenon. It linked up with President Laura Roslin's convoy before the survivors met Galactica at Ragnar.
- Who were the notable passengers aboard the Cybele?
- A Number Four copy known as Simon escaped Gemenon aboard the Cybele with the young girl Jemmy, the daughter of Giana O'Neill, whom he had married without revealing what he was. Giana worked on Galactica's deck crew, and the family made the Cybele their home.
- What happened to the Cybele?
- When the Number One aboard Galactica ordered Simon to blow up the Cybele, he refused and killed himself by opening an airlock instead. The ship later came through the star cluster to the algae planet and is presumed to have been flown into the Sun with the rest of the Fleet at the end.
Sources
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica (2003 miniseries), Sci Fi Channel, 2003
- FilmBattlestar Galactica: The Plan, Universal, 2009
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "The Passage", Season 3, Episode 10 (2006)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Daybreak, Part II", Season 4, Episode 20 (2009)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Galactica
Galactica was a Jupiter-class battlestar that served the Colonial Fleet from the Cylon War until the discovery of Earth. Never networked, it survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and shepherded the last fifty thousand humans across uncharted space before being scuttled into the sun.
Caprica: the Colonial capital
Caprica was the richest of the Twelve Colonies, seat of the Colonial government, and the world where the Cylons were built. The Cylon attack destroyed it.
Cylon
The Cylons were a race of sentient machines created as military robots by Graystone Industries on Caprica. Built from research into artificial consciousness, they rebelled against their human masters, fought a long war, and forty years later returned to annihilate humanity.
Fall of the Twelve Colonies
A single day of Cylon attack killed billions of people across Colonial space. Barely fifty thousand escaped in a refugee fleet.
Gemenon: the First Colony
One of the Twelve Colonies settled by the refugees from Kobol, and the most devout of them all, a poor, deeply religious world that suffered with the rest in the Fall.
Laura Roslin: the dying leader
Secretary of Education until the Cylon attack killed everyone above her. Sworn in as President, she became the dying leader of Colonial prophecy.
Mentioned in3 entries
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, the Cylon side of the story
The Plan is the 2009 TV film that replays the attack and the first two seasons through the eyes of two copies of Cavil. Here's what happens, what it adds, and whether you should watch it.
Giana O'Neill: the deck hand who survived the Fall
Giana O'Neill was a human refugee who survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies by winning a lottery seat aboard a Raptor. She enlisted in the Colonial Fleet as a deck hand and was later reunited in the fleet with the husband she had believed lost, unaware that he was a humanoid Cylon.
Simon O'Neill
Simon O'Neill was a Number Four who infiltrated Colonial society as a fleet medic. After the Fall of the Twelve Colonies he chose his family over his model and died rather than carry out a Number One's terror plot.
Get new articles in your inbox
No spam. New lore drops, canon conflicts, and deep dives only when they’re worth reading.
Some links on Lore Fortress are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.