Cylon Occupation of Caprica

The Cylon occupation of Caprica was a roughly ten month operation conducted by Centurions and Humanoid Cylons to establish a colony on Caprica in the aftermath of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. While other worlds may have endured weeks of fighting, only the campaign on Caprica is recorded in any detail, and because of the importance the Cylons placed on the resistance leader Samuel T. Anders it was almost certainly the longest such operation. Over its course a small human resistance held out against the occupiers while the Cylons themselves descended into open dispute over whether the genocide had been morally defensible.

Invasion and settlement#

During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, a massive invasion force of Centurions landed on Caprica to ensure the eradication of the humans who had survived the nuclear bombardment, aided by strikes from Cylon Raiders. The Cylons did not expect any survivors apart from the human captives taken to Farms for experimentation, and Humanoid Cylons began settling in the cities.

The Caprica resistance#

In the first days of the occupation, armed survivalists converged in Caprica's woodland for safety and met the Caprica Buccaneers, the national pyramid team that had been in training when the Fall occurred. Led by Samuel T. Anders, the Buccaneers armed themselves with captured Centurion hand weapons and adapted to guerrilla tactics. Under Anders the resistance grew to over fifty people and based itself in abandoned buildings in the highlands, which were less severely irradiated than the cities.

The resistance soon became aware of the Humanoid Cylon presence and within the first month had identified the Number Twos and Number Fives. They did not encounter multiple copies of the Number Ones, and a Cylon disguised as a priest joined the resistance as a spy. A Number Four served as the Buccaneers' medic and attempted to poison the fighters by giving them overdoses of the drug Morpha.

Several weeks in, the resistance made contact with the Galactica officers Lieutenant Kara Thrace and Lieutenant Karl Agathon. Thrace was shot and captured by Centurions on the order of the resistance's Number One and taken to a Farm where she and other captives were to be experimented upon. The resistance rescued her, and in the process identified the Number Fours and Number Sixes as Cylons. Their medic was executed. A short alliance was also struck with a pregnant Number Eight, who provided a stolen Heavy Raider for the attack.

The long deterioration#

Although Galactica was aware of the resistance through Thrace, rescue efforts were repeatedly delayed for political and logistical reasons. Over the nine months it took for the search and rescue mission to arrive, the resistance steadily declined. Running low on supplies, the fighters expanded into the cities, bombing buildings with a large Cylon presence such as restaurants. By this point every Humanoid Cylon model except the Number Ones had been identified. The resistance survived only because the Number Ones insisted on it, wishing to convince Anders of the moral superiority of the Cylons before his eventual death.

The Cylon moral crisis#

While the occupation continued, the Humanoid Cylons fell into serious political debate over the Fall and the campaign that followed. Inspired by a Number Six and a Number Eight, an individual centered movement arose that ran contrary to the Cylon culture of nonidentity, and open dispute over the moral value of the genocide grew. Ultimately it was agreed that the genocide had been morally indefensible, that any survivors should be moved to Picon, and that they should be provided with non irradiated food as reparations.

The Number Ones opposed this agreement. The priest embedded in Anders' resistance arranged a Centurion strike on the resistance compound, and those who believed in the Picon offer were gunned down as they departed with the Six and Eight. In the hours after the ambush, the resistance encountered the search and rescue team sent by Galactica and Pegasus. Soon after, the Centurion force was recalled following a Cylon vote to abandon the colonies entirely. Given Anders' relationship with the Number One, his resistance was likely all that remained of humanity in the star system, and so the resettlement of Picon was unlikely ever to have happened even had the offer been honest.