Rescue on Caprica
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| Rescue on Caprica | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict: | Second Cylon War | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Day 281 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place: | Caprica | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Cylons abandon the Twelve Colonies Caprican survivors evacuated | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Battle Chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The rescue on Caprica is an assault mission launched by Kara Thrace to evacuate the surviving members of the Caprica Resistance.
The mission stems from Thrace's promise to Samuel Anders, the leader of the Resistance, that she would return following her departure from Caprica with the Arrow of Apollo. Initially, both William Adama and Laura Roslin refuse Thrace's request to take Galactica back to Caprica, noting that the mission would leave the Fleet unacceptably vulnerable to Cylon attack. Furthermore, Galactica would take at least 241 jumps to reach Caprica, though computational errors inherent in every jump beyond the Red Line could result in double that amount of jumps (TRS: "Pegasus" (Extended Version)).
However, the discovery of the battlestar Pegasus results in the Fleet possessing enough Raptors to launch an independent strike team without requiring the battlestars to leave the Fleet behind. Additionally, the Colonials discover a way to install the jump computer from a captured Cylon Heavy Raider with the Raptors' computers by allowing the captured Number Eight copy on Galactica to interface with both computers. With this upgrade, a return trip to Caprica is estimated to take less than ten jumps. However, simulations of the attack plans suggesting that at least twenty percent of the strike force would be lost. As a result, Adama approves the mission while designating it as Two Alpha: volunteer only.
An SAR team of nineteen[1] Raptors is launched by Pegasus and Galactica at the commencement of the operation. One Raptor, piloted by Margaret Edmondson and Hamish McCall, is separated from the strike force on the first outbound jump when it jumps to the wrong coordinates, inadvertently discovering a habitable planet . On the final jump into the atmosphere of Caprica, Raptor 612 is lost when it jumps inside of a mountain. The remaining Raptors land in the forest, and Thrace, Karl Agathon, Sharon and a team of Colonial Marines set out for the Resistance headquarters at Delphi Union High School on foot.
One klick away from the school, the team locates the surviving members of the Resistance, lead by Anders, with the Cylons advancing on them. Soon after, the Cylons begin bombarding their position with mortars, cutting off their path to the Raptors (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I"). The group retreats behind nearby ruins, though they are unable to contact the Raptors due to Cylon jamming. However, the Cylons abruptly cease their mortar fire and hold position. While Sharon believes that the Cylons plan to deploy non-lethal gas in order to capture the team, the standoff continues through the night into the next day with no additional attacks (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II"; "The Plan").
Eventually, the Colonials make their way out of their position to find that the Cylons have retreated; a Number One copy posing as a priest in the Resistance states that the Cylons have abandoned the Twelve Colonies. The Marines and resistance fighters then regroup with the Raptors and depart Caprica to rendezvous with the Fleet.
