(Battlestar Galactica 2004, Caprica and Blood & Chrome)
Cloud 9 was a luxury liner that escaped the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The ship was a popular entertainment and transport hub for the fleet during its journey to New Caprica and was where the Quorum of Twelve met. Cloud 9 was destroyed by a thermonuclear explosion in orbit over New Caprica, taking out several other ships in the process.
History[]
During the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Cloud 9 like many other civilian ships was ordered to halt its position within its space lane to keep it out of the way of the military counteroffensive. With the Colonial Fleet losing the war, it was left abandoned and ultimately found by a Raptor search team under the authority of President Laura Roslin. At some point during this ordeal, it was attacked by Cylon raiders and its upper deck was rendered uninhabitable. Cloud 9 jumped to Ragnar following the flotilla's detection by the Cylons, and was protected by a battlestar, Galactica, as the surviving ships left the Cyrannus Star System behind to search for a new home in deep space.[2]
Over the month following the attack, Cloud 9 was slowly repaired and made habitable once more.[3] When these repairs were complete, it became a way station for civilians traveling between ships in The Fleet, and provided a relaxing atmosphere. It also provided a meeting place for the Quorum of Twelve, with the President remaining based on Colonial One.[4] It was during the inaugural meeting that the Sagittaron delegate Tom Zarek made a bid for the Vice Presidency, but was beaten by the Caprican delegate, Dr. Gaius Baltar. Outside of politics, Cloud 9 continued its role as a hotel, where its more open design offered comparative ease to refugees living on cramped ships. It also set up an "open port" policy of allowing continuous loading and offloading of refugees, which also made the ship useful in smuggling activities. During the coup d'etat orchestrated by Commander William Adama, the fugitive President Roslin was able to hide within the fleet by using its ports. Cloud 9's crew rejected the authority of Commander Adama during the period of martial law, and jumped away to Kobol with other Roslin-loyal ships.
In the months following the rebellion's conclusion, Cloud 9 continued to serve as a hotbed for radical movements. Civilian Sesha Abinell led a militant group with inflammatory but accurate conspiracy theories about Galactica harboring a Cylon agent, and took hostages in a restaurant in a failed attempt to secure her release for execution.[5] Similarly, a separate radical group, Demand Peace, used Cloud 9 as their political headquarters; after attempts to sabotage Galactica's ammunition, the group were forced to end their more extreme acts. They would later gain possession of one of Galactica's nuclear warheads in a secret deal with Dr. Baltar, and also accepted Gina Inviere, a Number Six, as a member, albeit unaware of her Cylon nature.[6] Along with these radical cases, Cloud 9 was also a place frequented by the black market and associated prostitution racket.[7]
Cloud 9 was destroyed over New Caprica in the aftermath of the Presidential election when Inviere attempted suicide by triggering the nuclear warhead following the failure of her relationship with Dr. Baltar. The explosion destroyed at least three other ships, including a cargo ship, and became the first crisis of the newly elected President Baltar's career. The radioactive signature of the detonation was detected by a Cylon patrol a lightyear away.[8]
Design[]
Cloud 9 was a massive vessel of unusual design that contained a five-star restaurant, a theater, a casino, several bars, and numerous hotel rooms and luxury suites. Its most notable feature was a huge biodome that contained a pressurized natural habitat nearly a quarter-mile in diameter, which simulated an outdoor park. The dome was mounted to the starboard side of the ship's main hull by a "V" shaped pylon structure that supported a spoon-shaped bow that contained the hotel. Behind the hotel, a section was a separately attached crew module which also contained the ship's hangar bay, command bridge, engineering, and sub-light/FTL drive engines. Directly under the saucer dome was another set of drive engines.
Inside the dome, many varieties of trees and plants from the Twelve Colonies were grown on the grounds and were cared for by a dedicated gardening staff. The dome also contained an artificial lake used for swimming. At the center of the park was a large auditorium structure used for gatherings and festivals. This building was used by Laura Roslin as the meeting place for the new Quorum of Twelve after the Cylon attack on the Colonies. The dome used any available natural sunlight, in an attempt to replicate the atmospheric conditions of a planet's sky. However, Cloud 9 was still a spaceship and didn't live up to the quality of a real planet, as there were some flaws in the design—such as fake terrain used to disguise the machinery as well as the easily noticeable and massive support beams of the skydome. Despite this, Cloud 9 was judged to be one of the nicer places to live in the colonial fleet.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- The Interior of Cloud 9 was filmed at Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and its adjacent Rose Garden in the British Columbia.
Sources[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Battlestar Galactica 2004, publication: "The Ships of Battlestar Galactica". 3D Projection based on states size of the biodome.
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, "The Miniseries".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Colonial Day".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Colonial Day".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Sacrifice".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Epiphanies".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Black Market".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part Ⅱ".