Valkyrie

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Valkyrie was a veteran Colonial battlestar of an unnamed class, built around the start of the First Cylon War. It played a crucial role in eliminating the Cylon's edge during the Ghost Fleet Offensive in . Following the Cimtar Peace Accord, it remains in service up until , serving on the Colonial front lines with its sister ships. It is stationed, and is subsequently destroyed, over Caprica during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. 
Circa ,Valkyrie was attached to the 41st Battlestar Group under William Adama's command, until his reassignment following the unsuccessful, clandestine mission to probe the Armistice Line that results in the loss of one of his pilots . 
== History ==
=== First Cylon War ===
Around , approximately ten years into the first Cylon War, Valkyrie was involved in a battle with Cylons near Canceron Prime, in which the ship took major damage, and was presumed destroyed. In truth, Colonial Admiralty saw an opportunity to trick the Cylons, and the ship had become part of a secret Colonial "ghost fleet" hiding in Cylon-held space, where several pilots and their planes were on detachment to the battlestar Osiris. Valkyrie crew at the time were made to witness their own death certificates. 
After the Cylons were fed more false information, Valkyrie, along with the rest of the "Ghost Fleet," participated in the successful Ghost Fleet Offensive campaign against Cylon forces, striking every Cylon base in five sectors .
=== Inter-War Period ===
Approximately While dialogue from "Hero" places these events at 1 BCH, this contradicts previously established dates about the time Adama and others served on Galactica. See Hero#Analysis for a detailed explanation why Battlestar Wiki chooses to treat this as a continuity error. before the Cylon attack, Valkyrie had been ordered by Admiral Peter Corman to deploy a stealth recon ship over the Armistice Line to test Cylon resolve and gather intelligence on Cylon activities. During the mission, an unidentified DRADIS contact (presumed to have been a spacecraft) entered the area of the stealth ship piloted by Lieutenant Daniel Novacek and damaged the Stealthstar's engines before jumping away.
Two further (presumed Cylon) contacts were detected on an intercept course with the stealth ship. Rather than attempt a rescue of the disabled craft, Commander Adama ordered the stealth ship to be destroyed to prevent its discovery and capture.
In the days and years following the incident at the Armistice Line, and in particular after the Cylon attack on the Colonies, Adama came to believe that his actions had provoked the Cylon assault, having proven to them that humanity was aggressive and not to be trusted .
=== Return of the Cylons ===
During the initial Cylon assault on the Twelve Colonies, battlestars Valkyrie and Yashuman engage the Cylons over . Both battlestars move to weapons-free status, only to be disabled by the CNP's backdoors before any shots could be fired. Valkyrie, Yashuman, and a third battlestar of the same class, along with their deployed Viper squadrons and support crafts, are destroyed shortly after Watch in high definition and pause at 1:18 and 1:43.
==Notes==
* The ship's hull number cannot be seen. It is thus not known if it is identical to its battlestar group.
* The Valkyrie CIC insignia adorned David Eick's production office wall in the Vancouver Film Studios where Battlestar Galactica was produced.
* In Norse mythology, a Valkyrie is a minor female deity who chooses the most heroic fallen warriors to ascend to Valhalla where they would await Ragnarok. Valkyrie is the third (second onscreen) instance of Norse mythology being used, the first being Ragnar Station, which is a reference to Ragnarok, the "twilight of the gods."
** The story of Ragnarok parallels the career of William Adama, the one-time commander of Valkyrie. Adama, considered a fallen hero by the admiralty, is transferred from the advanced Valkyrie to command the aging Galactica about a year before the Cylon attack. Later, with the fall of the Colonies, he finds himself in the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, the last battle within Colonial space.
== Related Imagery ==
 
Image:Valkyrie close up.jpg|Closeup of a Valkyrie type battlestar.
Image:Battlestar Valkyrie The Plan.png|Valkyrie among it sister ships above Caprica.
Image:Valkyrie CNP Virus Transmission.png|Valkyrie under attack.
Image:Battlestar Valkyrie CNP Hack.png|Valkyrie after being disabled by the Cylons. 
Image:ValykrieFlightPod.jpg|One of the ship's flight pods.
Image:Valkyrie Missile Tube.png|A closeup of a battery.
Image:Valkyrie bridge.jpg|The CIC.
Image:Valkyrie CIC.jpg|Full view of CIC.
Image:3x8-Adama-and-Valkyrie-insignia.jpg|Valkyrie insignia.
Image:Valkyrie patch.jpg|Valkyrie armpatch.
== References ==
Category:A to Z
Category:Battlestars
Category:Battlestars (RDM)
Category:Colonial
Category:Colonial Craft
Category:Colonial Craft (RDM)
Category:Colonial Military
Category:Colonial Military (RDM)
Category:Ships
Category:Ships (RDM)
Category:RDM
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