Battle of Cimtar

Battlestar Galactica 1978 Continuity
Battlestar Galactica 1978 and Galactica 1980

Battle of Cimtar
Conflict:	Thousand Yahren War
Location:	In orbit over Cimtar
Result:	Cylon Raider force wiped out Four Battlestars lost Colonies pluton bombed
Belligerents:
Twelve Colonies of Man
Twelve Colonies of Man
Cylon Empire
Cylon Empire
Commanders and leaders:
President Adar
President Adar
Unknown
Unknown
Strength:
Colonial Fleet Atlantia Acropolis Columbia Galactica Triton Pacifica Viper squadrons
Colonial Fleet Atlantia Acropolis Columbia Galactica Triton Pacifica Viper squadrons
~1000x fighters
~1000x fighters
Casualties and losses:
5x Battlestars Majority of Vipers
5x Battlestars Majority of Vipers
Total loss of Raiders
Total loss of Raiders
Chronology

The Battle of Cimtar was a major battle in the final days of the Thousand Yahren War.

Background

For one thousand yahrens the Twelve Colonies of Man were at war with the Cylon Empire, a vast stellar empire controlled by a cybernetic race led by their Imperious Leader. Though the Twelve Colonies were slowly losing the war, suffering the losses of at least two entire fleets (Fourth Colonial Fleet and Fifth Colonial Fleet) in only a few years, the Imperious Leader sought faster means to destroy the Galactican threat than mere attrition.

Amongst the Galactican ranks was a collective of fifth columnists who shared the Cylons' ideals of militarised order. Led by Count Baltar, this faction entered covert talks with the Imperious Leader, and made plans to ensure the total destruction of the Colonial Fleet and much of the Colonies, with the sole exception of Baltar's home colony, which he sought to rule as his own as compensation. When the plans were complete, Baltar presented the Council of the Twelve with news that the Cylon Empire had sued for an end to hostilities. Overjoyed at the prospect of peace, President Adar immediately ordered the Colonial Fleet to rendezvous with the Cylons so a treaty could be signed. While this took place, Baltar's agents began sabotaging Colonial defence computers.

Battle

The Cylon attack force was split into two groups. The first consisted of a thousand Raiders supported by fuel tankers. The attack force was hidden within a dense cloud of gas near Cimtar, with the tankers equipped with radio jamming technology to keep it hidden.

The second attack force consisted of a number of Basestars, which were en route to the now unprotected Twelve Colonies.

Aftermath

Following a massive bombing campaign, most major cities and settlements in the Twelve Colonies were destroyed. The Battlestar Galactica, sole survivor of the Battle of Cimtar, arrived in orbit over the ravaged Caprica and Commander Adama traveled to the surface to look for survivors. Confronting an angry mob who were furious that the military had not protected them, Adama told them to send out word to any other survivors instructing them to find starships to escape the surface and rendezvous with the Galactica where they could be protected. Sadly there were not enough ships to accommodate all the survivors, and many were left behind.

Further notes

• While only five battlestars are shown together, a total of six ships are identified in the television scripts. Along with Atlantia and Galactica which are directly identified in Saga of a Star World, Acropolis, Triton and Pacifica are also mentioned as background audio. Another ship, Columbia, is named in The Gun on Ice Planet Zero and described as having been "destroyed at the peace conference"