Battle of Cosmora Archipelago

The Battle of Cosmora Archipelago was a battle during the Cylon War during the 10th year of the war in 2150

Prelude
The Planet Dachen one of the many planets in the truly unique astronomical phenomena known as the Cosmora Archipelago- a series of 12 stars orbiting each other in close proximity. Dachen was an old Picean Nuclean Weapons Disposal and Testing Facility with over 3000 obsolete but still lethal nuclear warheads. The Cylons had taken over the facility early in the war and the Colonials had planned for years to retake it and deprive the Cylons of the weapons.

Order of Battle

 *  Colonial 4th Fleet 


 * Battlestar Rycon (Flagship)
 * Flagship Escort Group
 * Gunstar Osiris (Orion Class)
 * Gunstar Romero (Orion Class)
 * Battlestar Group 21
 * Battlestar Poseidon
 * Gunstar Ajax (Achilles Class)
 * Gunstar Abderus (Achilles Class)
 * Gunstar Sentinel (Defender Class)
 * Gunstar Roland (Defender Class)
 * Battlestar Group 22
 * Battlestar Invictus
 * Gunstar Hector (Achilles Class)
 * Gunstar Pandion (Achilles Class)
 * Gunstar Paladin (Defender Class)
 * Gunstar Castur (Defender class)
 * Battlestar Group 23
 * Battlestar Ceres
 * Gunstar Iolaus (Achilles Class)
 * Gunstar Alcestis (Achilles Class)
 * Gunstar Nestur (Defender Class)
 * Gunstar Sispe (Defender Class)

Cylon Defense Fleet
 * 4 Basestars
 * 4 Combatstars

Opening Moves
Commander Kronus understood that while he did have a numerical advantage over the Cylons that he wouldd be unable to face them toe to toe. As such he devised a plan to use the background radiation and astrology of the Archipelago to his advantage. Convertying his Raptor Squadrons into makeshipt bombers he ordered raids on the smaller Cylon combatstars. From January 9-21st Colonial Raptors flew 74 sorties and were able to knock out 3 of the 4 combatstars, while jumping his fleet to different locations to avoid outright confrontation with the main Cylon Fleet. All the while he had his engineers hard at work constructing mines that he used to seed the rings of Zhe one of the gas giants in the Dachen system.

The Battle Joins
Kronus judged that the time was right for the liberation of Dachen. Using his Defender class ships as makeshift troopships he transfered the majority of his marines to them. H decided that the best way to liberate the base was to use his Defender class ships as makeshift troopships as they had the ability to land and operate in atmosphere. Designating two of them- the Hector and Iolaus as his troopships he made his move.

His battlestars jumped into orbit of Zhe in the outer system of Dachen. Kronus hoped to lure the basestars to him and allow his gunstars to liberate Dachen. Zhe also had a unique ring system that his engineers liberally seeded with mines and the radiation of the rings interfered with dradis scans which effectively cloaked the mines.

The Cylons basestars moved to intercept the battlestars. Kronus positioned his battlestars so that the Cylons were forced to move through the rings. As they did, the mines detonated. One basestar was destroyed outright in the torrent of nuclear destruction. Another was heavily damaged and the 3rd suffered no damage. In addition, 80% of the cylon raiders what had launched were incinerated by the resulting blast and debris. Unfortunately for the Colonials, one of 4th Fleets battlestars, the Ceres was too close to the blast and suffered heavy damage and debris strikes. At this point Kronus ordered the battlestars straight into the midst of the damaged basestars. Rycon went strraight for the undamaged basestar, but was not in time to stop a missile volley from finishing off the crippled Ceres. Rycon and the undamanged basestar went toe to toe while the Posiedon and Invictus finished off the last damanged basestar.  Rycon was getting the upper hand against the cylon basestar when a lucky shot from a cylon nuclear missile landed in the middle of the Rycon's port flightpod right above the cells that stored the fueld for it's Vipers- fire shot from both ends of the flightpod before it was ripped from the inside out. The geometry of the explosion and the construction of the flightpod were the only things that saved Rycon from complete destruction. As this was happening Poseidon and Invictus had finished off the damaged Cylon basestar and had vectored in on the Rycon and the last basestar. The basestar did not last long as a single salvo from the bow cannons of the Poseidon ripped her apart. Invictus was able to grapple the crippled Rycon and transfered an injured Kronus to her.

All the while the escorts jumped into orbit over Dachen. They engaged the remaining combatstar. Despite being outnumbered the combatstar destroyed three gunstars before being taken down. The Hector and Iolaus made their landing outside the range of Cylon anti-ship batteries. What Kronus did not anticcipate were the cylon ground forces deployed to defend the facility. His raids on the combatstars and the facilities tipped Cylon Commander 213 off that an invasion was coming. Knowing that the Cylons would get no reinforcements, Commander 213 trippled his Centurion presence on the surface- stripping the basestars to the bare bones minimum required to crew them.

The Colonial Marines faced a heavily entrenched Cylon force. On top of that the Cylons were safe from orbital bombardment due to their proximity to the nuclear weapons facility. Colonial Marines fouund the going hard as they faced stiff Cylon resistance. It wasn't until Poseidon arrived with her vipers and assault raptors that the tide of battle turned in the favor of the Colonals. but still the fighting on the ground continued until the last Cylon centurions were destroyed on 5 February.

Aftermath
The Colonials stripped the Dachen Facility of every nuclear weapon- then they destroyed the facility to deny it to the Cylons.

Losses & Casualties
- Colonials
 * Battlesar Ceres (destroyed)
 * Battlestar Rycon (heavily damanged)
 * Gunstar Nestur (Destroyed)
 * Gunstar Paladin (Destroyed)
 * Gunstar Ajax (Destroyed)

Cylons
 * 200 Vipers Destroyed
 * 60 Raptors Destroyed
 * all other ships requiring 4-5 months drydocking
 * 3 basestars destroyed
 * 4 combatstars destroyed
 * over 1000 raiders destroyed
 * over 2000 Delta Class ground combat Centurions destroyed