ICS Galactica

The Galactica was an Columbia-class Battlestar in service during the mid-22nd century, under the command of Commander Silas Nash. It served with distrinction as flagship of the Eighth Colonial Fleet during the Cylon War and Ninth Coalition Fleet throughout the Xindi Conflict.

Cylon War
The Galactica was constructed at Amalthea Station, Caprica in 2143. The vessel was christened in honor of its patron colony, Caprica.

Even before she was launched, the Galactica was almost lost in battle during the Strike at Caprica, in the fourth year of the Cylon War.

The Cylons attacked Caprica, zeroing in on the orbital shipyards of Amalthea Station and Pan Station, where the new battlestar fleet was under construction.

The frames of the BS Aurora, Athena, Ceres, Fontus, Galactica, Hermus, Colombia and Invictus had just been laid while the BS Perseus, Rycon, Orion, Nixi and Majestic were still in the planning stages. The Aurora, Ceres, Fontus, Hermus and Invictus were gone in minutes, with heavy damage being inflicted on Amalthea Station and Pan Station. As the local militias fought the Centurions and Raiders back, they could only rescue three of the active frames, the BS Athena, Galactica and Columbia.

In fear of another crippling attack, future battlestar construction was decentralized, meaning the Athena and Columbia were transferred to other shipyards to complete their construction and to ensure the Cylons could no longer launch one hit strikes to cripple the Colonial's future military.

The following year the BS Galactica was launched from Amalthea Station, where she served as flagship of the Eighth Colonial Fleet.

During the tenth year of the war, the Galactica fought at the Battle of Cosmora Archipelago. Intent on liberating the munitions outpost of Cosmora Archipelago and deprive the Cylons access to the thousands of weapons grade uranium stored there, Commander Kendell Kronus commanded the Fourth Colonial Fleet, including four battlestars including his flagship the BS Rycon into battle. Rycon was heavily damaged forcing Commander Kronus to transfer his command to a destroyer but successfully regained Cosmora, then holding it for three subsuquent months until support could arrive. Commander Kronus received a service award from the Quorum of Twelve, promotion to Admiral and years after his death due to natural causes, a battlestar named in his honor.

Following the Battle of Cosmora Archipelago the BS Night Flight and Galactica were transferred to the distant Molecay mining facility. While the Gamoray-based station had been a lifeline that provided fuel to the Colonies with the war and the Twelve Colonies united, the closer access to tylium on Troy had meant the Gamoray mines had lost their purpose. Too far out and with traffic lanes that dove right through the most congested areas of space, it took only a short while for the facility to be abandoned. Galactica, Pegasus and Night Flight were to begin converting the facility into the forward headquarters for all Colonial fleet operations outside of Helios as rumors abound stated that several Cylon convoys had been sighted leaving the system. As many in military command feared the Cylons could be establishing bases to feed resources back to 01 and its factories on the other Vanir moons, Molecay was to act as the base from which Galactica and Night Flight would investigate these rumors while the Pegasus would remain behind to protect the facility.

Eight months of patrols managed to uncover six Cylon bases outside of Helios and due to their distance from reinforcements were quickly destroyed. Recovered intelligence hint that these were all of the Cylon out of system bases so Colonial military command ordered the Galactica and Night Flight to return to Molecay Station for overhaul and then return to the Colonies.

However merely three-hours from their arrival at Gamoray, the Cylons launched a sneak attack and managed to catch Molecay station, five-thousand officers and the BS Pegasus off-guard, destroying everything in less then an twenty-minutes. The Siege of Molecay became one of the worse defeats of the war, due in part because not a single Colonial shot was fired.

Two years later, in the twelvth and final year of the Cylon War, Galactica, along with the BS Night Flight and Columbia were among the Colonial vessels took part in Operation Raptor Talon. The objective was to attack Salis, a moon of the gas giant Vanir, that was rumored to house a Cylon superweapon. According to intelligence on hand, the Cylons had three Raider wings, ground forces, defensive batteries and nuclear weapons. Additionally, the Cylons had at least two Basestars defending the planet from orbit.

Raptors from Raptor Squadron 2 were the first Colonial vessels to be launched in the operation, intent on landing marine ground forces on Salis to split the Cylons from their ground support. But the ground invasions were ambushed by Cylon forces soon after. Almost two thirds of the Raptors were destroyed and none managed to land, costing over 500 lives before command ordered a retreat and the main capital ship units of the fleet to move in instead.

During the orbital engagement with the enemy, Columbia was destroyed by incoming missile salvos. All crew members were killed and over 200 Vipers lost in the result blast wave and debris. At this point members of the Colonial leadership were seriously beginning to consider pulling out of Salis and retreating back to friendly reports, when news came from home.

It was during this operation that the Cylons finalized an armistice with the Colonies, and instigated an immediate retreat from the Colonial space.

Interim Period
After the Cylon armistice, and their withdrawal from Colonial space, Galactica and her sister ships served the Twelve Colonies in a variety of roles. While her surviving sister ships were scrapped or upgraded to match the systems capabilities of newer Colonial vessels, Galactica continued in service.

Crew

 * Commanding Officer: Commander Silas Nash
 * Executive Officer: Colonel Jennifer Kassia
 * Second Officer: Major Philip Tigh
 * Chief Engineer: Colonel Dr. John Wilker PhD
 * Commander Air Group: Major Armin "Hightop" Diaz
 * VF-1 Primus (Viper): Captain Richard "Apollo" Hatch
 * VFA-2 (Raptor): Captain Ben "Coker" Fasjovik
 * VF-3 Vigilantes (Viper)`: Captain Deke "Minute Man" Tornvald
 * VF-4 Demons (Viper): Captain William "Husker" Adama
 * VF-5 Prowlers (Viper): Captain Herb "Boomer" Jefferson
 * VF-6 Vampires (Viper): Lt. Anthony "Jolly" Swartz
 * VFA-7 Battleaxe (Raptor): Lt. Nina "Deitra" Leothe
 * VF-8 Red Aces (Viper): Lt. Dirk "Starbuck" Benedict
 * VF-9 Headhunters (Viper): Lt. Pete "Joker" Hickey
 * VFA-10 Raptors (Raptor): Lt. Jenna "Sorrell" McGavin
 * Tactical Officer: Major David "Omega" Greenan
 * Helmsman: Lt. Maren "Athena" Jensen
 * Communication Officer: Lt. Sarah "Rigel" Rush
 * Chief of the Boat: CMDCM Roman Ortega
 * Chief Medical Officer: Lt. Colonel Dr. Benjamin "Smokey" Salik, MD