Zephyr

The Zephyr was an Intersun Luxury Liners vessel that escaped the Fall of the Twelve Colonies in the ragtag fleet led by Galactica. Distinguished by its rotating ring section, it was the largest civilian ship to survive the exodus and carried the greatest number of survivors of any vessel in the fleet apart from Galactica and Pegasus. The Zephyr accompanied the fleet through its long journey, eventually offloading its passengers on Earth before being guided into the Sol System.

Escape and the ragtag fleet#

Having survived the initial Cylon attack, the Zephyr rendezvoused with President Laura Roslin's gathering of civilian ships in deep space. From there it jumped alongside every faster-than-light capable vessel to Ragnar Anchorage to link up with Galactica, and under the battlestar's cover departed for deep space with the rest of the survivors to form the ragtag fleet.

As the largest civilian ship to escape, the Zephyr carried a substantial share of the surviving population, second among the fleet's vessels only to the two battlestars.

Politics and the election#

Several weeks into the journey, following Roslin's arrest during a confrontation with the military, the Quorum of Twelve took a shuttle from the Zephyr to Galactica in the hope of questioning the president and restoring her authority.

Later, during a presidential election, the Zephyr was one of the last five ships in the fleet to dispatch its ballot results to Galactica's counting room. Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla intercepted the Zephyr's ballots and replaced them with forged ones in an attempt to swing the result toward Roslin.

New Caprica and damage#

After the Colonial government chose to settle New Caprica, the Zephyr remained in orbit with a number of other ships, presumably unable to land owing to its complex and un-aerodynamic design. When the Cylons appeared a year later, it escaped alongside Galactica, Pegasus, and the other vessels that had been unable to set down.

During the Battle of the Ionian Nebula, the Zephyr suffered severe damage to its ring section when struck by a conventional Cylon missile. For several weeks the ring stood under scaffolding while the Prometheus assisted with repairs, making the Zephyr the only civilian ship shown undergoing repair after taking damage.

The journey's end#

The Zephyr was noted again in the days after the fleet found Earth, when Lieutenant Felix Gaeta was ordered aboard it for a period of rest. Weeks later, all of the ship's remaining passengers and crew were successfully offloaded on Earth, and the vessel itself was guided by Samuel T. Anders into the Sol System.

Design notes#

The Zephyr's rotating ring was a relic of an earlier age. Accounts hold that the ring generated rotational gravity from a time before artificial gravity had become economically practical for commercial vessels, suggesting the Zephyr was among the oldest ships ever to travel with the fleet, possibly predating even the first Cylon War.