Resurrection Ship

A Resurrection Ship was a faster-than-light capable vessel used by the Cylons to extend their power of resurrection far from home. Reverse-engineered from technology stored in the Resurrection Hub, these ships received the transmitted consciousness of dying Cylons and uploaded it to the network so that the same model could be reborn elsewhere. They served from the Cylons' technological evolution after the first Cylon War until the end of the Cylon Civil War, and the destruction of one such ship marked among the first Cylon deaths made permanent.

Purpose and function#

Resurrection ships came into use following the Cylons' technological evolution in the decades after the first Cylon War. Reverse-engineered from technology created by the Thirteenth Tribe and held within the Resurrection Hub, each ship performed the same essential task: it received transmissions from humanoid and Raider models and uploaded them to the mainframe, from which other Cylons of that model wired into the network could receive them.

When a Cylon died nearby, its consciousness was likewise received and uploaded through the mainframe into a new body. Because of the great distances between objects in space, there was always a risk that death would prove permanent if no resurrection ship was within range to intercept the transmission. The ships therefore extended the reach of Cylon immortality wherever the Hub itself could not.

The Battle of the Resurrection Ship#

A resurrection ship was first encountered several months after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies by a Raptor from the Battlestar Pegasus, which had been hunting a Cylon fleet that jumped from system to system gathering natural resources. Unknown to the Pegasus, that fleet was in fact pursuing Galactica and its refugees, and a resurrection ship was attached to it so that Raiders and humanoid Cylons lost in the chase could be reborn far beyond the Hub's range.

While the Pegasus plotted an ambush by jumping ahead of the Cylon fleet, it instead came upon the refugee fleet. After a tense conflict between Commander William Adama and Rear Admiral Helena Cain that produced a standoff between the two battlestars, both ships set aside their quarrel to carry out Kara Thrace's plan, destroying the resurrection ship and its escort. The action produced what may have been the first true Cylon casualties of the war. The victory was short-lived, however, as the Cylons did not abandon their pursuit and instead reinforced it with additional basestars.

Decline and obsolescence#

During the Cylon Civil War, all remaining resurrection ships fell under the command of John Cavil's loyalist faction and were ordered out of range when the loyalists engaged the rebel fleet. When the surviving rebel basestar later joined the human fleet, its crew revealed the location of the Resurrection Hub, and Colonials and rebel Cylons mounted a joint offensive to destroy it and end the Cylons' ability to resurrect.

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Resurrection Hub, the remaining resurrection ships were rendered virtually useless. They had served only as boosters relaying consciousness to the network, and with the actual resurrection technology destroyed alongside the Hub itself, the ships no longer had any function to perform.