Cylon Occupation of Caprica

The Cylon occupation of Caprica was the months-long presence of Centurions and Humanoid Cylons on Caprica in the aftermath of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The series follows events on no other occupied colony in comparable detail. Over its course a small human resistance under Samuel T. Anders held out against the occupiers, while the Cylons living in the ruined cities began to question what they had done. (Battlestar Galactica, "Resistance"; Battlestar Galactica, "Downloaded"; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")

Invasion and settlement#

During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Caprica was hit by nuclear strikes and Cylon Raiders, and Centurions moved through the ruins hunting survivors. Humans who were captured rather than killed could end up in Cylon Farms used for reproductive experiments, and Humanoid Cylons later took up residence in the cities. (Battlestar Galactica (miniseries); Battlestar Galactica, "The Farm"; Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

The Caprica resistance#

After the attack, survivalists and hikers joined the Caprica Buccaneers, the pyramid team that had been training in the mountains when the Fall occurred. Led by Samuel T. Anders, the group raided military stores for weapons and anti-radiation medication and took up guerrilla tactics. When Kara Thrace met them, the resistance numbered about fifty and was based at a high school outside Delphi. (Battlestar Galactica, "Resistance")

The resistance had its own Cylons inside it without knowing. A priest, a copy of the Number One known as Brother Cavil, lived among the fighters, and their doctor, Simon, was a Number Four. The Plan shows these two working against the group from within, with Simon tampering with its supply of medicine. (Battlestar Galactica, "The Farm"; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II"; Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

Several weeks in, the resistance made contact with the Galactica officers Lieutenant Kara Thrace and Lieutenant Karl Agathon. Thrace was shot and woke in a Cylon Farm hospital tended by a Simon. The resistance rescued her, killing a Simon outside the Farm, and the sight of his body exposed their own doctor, who was then executed. A pregnant Number Eight travelling with Agathon used a stolen Heavy Raider to cover their escape. (Battlestar Galactica, "The Farm")

The long deterioration#

Thrace left Caprica promising to come back, but a rescue was delayed again and again. With the wait stretching into months, the resistance took its war into the cities, bombing places where Cylons gathered. The deadliest attack destroyed a café, killing dozens of Cylons, and left Anders buried in the rubble of the parking garage where he had planted the bomb. (Battlestar Galactica, "The Farm"; Battlestar Galactica, "Downloaded")

The Cylon moral crisis#

The occupiers were not of one mind. After that bombing, Caprica-Six and Sharon "Boomer" Valerii began to doubt the Cylon cause, and Caprica-Six let the captured Anders go free. Both came to argue that the Cylons should stop trying to destroy humanity. (Battlestar Galactica, "Downloaded")

When Thrace finally returned with a search and rescue force from Galactica and Pegasus, Cylon forces struck the resistance as its survivors headed for the Raptors, and the group took cover on higher ground. The attack then stopped. Brother Cavil walked out of the trees and told them the Cylons had decided the occupation was a mistake and were leaving the Colonies, and the survivors were taken to the fleet. (Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I"; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")