Cylon communications relay
the Cylon staging ground engaged by Pegasus
The Cylon communications relay was an installation the Battlestar Pegasus attacked after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, only to find it was a staging ground for Cylon forces. The costly engagement exposed the Cylon agent Gina Inviere and cost Admiral Cain dozens of Vipers.
The Cylon communications relay was an installation the Battlestar Pegasus moved to attack in the aftermath of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. When Pegasus jumped into the area, twelve enemy contacts were picked up on DRADIS, and Admiral Cain ordered the launch of Blue Squadron. As the Vipers deployed, fifteen Raider squadrons jumped into firing range, and the crew realized to their horror that the installation was not a communications relay at all, but a staging ground for Cylon forces. (Battlestar Galactica: Razor)
The engagement#
Recognising that they were heavily outnumbered, Colonels Fisk and Belzen recommended the immediate recovery of Blue Squadron and a swift retreat from the area. In a surprise move, Cain instead ordered the remaining Vipers launched to provide covering fire for Blue Squadron as it made a run at the relay. When Belzen openly refused to carry out the order, Cain asked him to hand over his sidearm and shot him in the head with it. A shocked Fisk, fearing the same fate should he refuse, immediately deployed all reserve Vipers. (Battlestar Galactica: Razor)
The boarding and Gina Inviere#
As the Vipers commenced their attack, the Cylon operative Gina Inviere covertly took the Pegasus weapons grid offline, allowing two Heavy Raiders to reach the port landing alcove with a Centurion boarding party. In an attempt to hold off the boarders, Cain ordered the surrounding sections of Pegasus vented of atmosphere, hoping the resulting vacuum would subdue the Cylons, but the tactic failed and the Centurions made their way into the ship. (Battlestar Galactica: Razor)
While investigating the sudden collapse of the weapons grid, Lieutenant Shaw spotted a Number Six among the advancing boarding party and deduced that Inviere must be an enemy agent. She pulled a rifle from the grasp of a dead marine and fired at the surprised Six, then returned to the CIC and revealed Inviere's true nature by displaying a security feed of the killed Cylon. When marines tried to apprehend Inviere on Cain's orders, she broke the neck of one and used his sidearm to shoot another, but as she hesitated while aiming at Cain, Shaw knocked her unconscious with the end of the rifle. (Battlestar Galactica: Razor)
Aftermath#
The film doesn't show what became of the station, but Pegasus escaped with severe losses, with more than ninety of its Vipers destroyed or out of commission. (Battlestar Galactica: Razor)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Cylon communications relay?
- It was an installation that the Battlestar Pegasus moved to attack after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. When Pegasus jumped into the area and launched its Vipers, the crew realized to their horror that the site was not a communications relay at all but a staging ground for Cylon forces.
- What happened when Pegasus attacked the relay?
- Twelve enemy contacts appeared on DRADIS and Admiral Cain launched Blue Squadron, but fifteen Raider squadrons then jumped into range, leaving Pegasus heavily outnumbered. Cain ordered the remaining Vipers launched to cover Blue Squadron's run at the relay, and when Colonel Belzen refused the order she shot him dead with his own sidearm.
- How was Gina Inviere exposed during the battle?
- The Cylon operative Gina Inviere covertly took the Pegasus weapons grid offline, letting two Heavy Raiders land a Centurion boarding party. Investigating the grid's collapse, Lieutenant Shaw spotted a Number Six among the boarders, deduced Inviere was an agent, and revealed her nature in the CIC using a security feed of the killed Six.
- What did the engagement cost Pegasus?
- Pegasus escaped with severe losses, with more than ninety of its Vipers destroyed or out of commission. Razor doesn't show what became of the station itself.
Sources
- FilmBattlestar Galactica: Razor, Sci Fi Channel television film, 2007
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
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.
Battlestar
The battlestar was the Colonial Fleet's capital ship, an armoured battleship and carrier hybrid. The wartime battlestars relied on unnetworked computers, carried squadrons of fighters, and were armoured to survive nuclear blasts.
Colonial Viper
The Viper was the primary fighter of the Colonial Fleet, a name that went back to colonial air forces before the Cylon War. The Mark II and Mark VII bookended its service from the first war to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
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.
Gina Inviere
Gina Inviere was the alias of a Number Six copy who infiltrated the battlestar Pegasus as a systems analyst, sabotaged it during the Fall, and after months of captivity assassinated Admiral Cain before destroying the liner Cloud Nine.
Heavy Raider
The Heavy Raider was an FTL-capable Cylon craft introduced with the renewed war on humanity, combining the roles of troop transport and gunship. Armored, windowless, and brain-piloted, it ferried Centurions to the colonies and later carried both Cylon assaults and a rebel alliance with the Colonial fleet.
Mentioned in3 entries
Gina Inviere
Gina Inviere was the alias of a Number Six copy who infiltrated the battlestar Pegasus as a systems analyst, sabotaged it during the Fall, and after months of captivity assassinated Admiral Cain before destroying the liner Cloud Nine.
Jurgen Belzen: the Pegasus XO Helena Cain shot in her own CIC
Colonel Jurgen Belzen was Helena Cain's long-serving executive officer and friend aboard Pegasus. When he refused her order to launch every remaining Viper against fifteen squadrons of Raiders, she asked for his sidearm and shot him in the head in front of the CIC crew.
Kendra Shaw: Cain's executive officer aboard Pegasus
Kendra Shaw arrived aboard Pegasus as a freshly commissioned lieutenant days before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, exposed the Cylon backdoor in the Command Navigation Program, and carried out the killings that made Helena Cain's war possible. She rose to executive officer of the battlestar and died in the assault on the Guardian basestar.
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