Ragnar Anchorage

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For information on the battle over the station itself, see Battle of Ragnar Anchorage.

Ragnar Anchorage (also known as "Ragnar Station" or "Ragnar Station Ammunition Reserve") is a remote Colonial armory suspended in the upper atmosphere of the gas giant Ragnar (Miniseries).

When the Cylons launch their surprise attack on the Twelve Colonies, the battlestar Galactica is caught without any munitions for her main and point-defense batteries, having dumped them as part of her decommissioning ceremonies prior to the battle.^[1] Colonel Tigh determines that Ragnar Anchorage offers the best opportunity for re-arming the ship, even though it is some 3 days' travel from Galactica's position at sublight speeds. Commander Adama refers to docking at Ragnar Anchorage as a "super bitch," likely due to the turbulence experienced by ships traveling within the tenuous upper atmosphere of Ragnar.

Adama believes that the Anchorage offers Galactica the best opportunity to re-arm while reducing the risk of the Cylons finding them and renewing their planned attack before the ship can defend herself. The Colonial Fleet had created this station in this location, aware that the atmosphere's radiation adversely affects Cylon technology. The EM field of the atmosphere also affected DRADIS, weapons targeting and navigation, making it impossible for the Cylons to chase and attack within the Ragnar atmosphere.

While at Ragnar Anchorage, Galactica obtains enough munitions to completely re-arm her guns, and she also collects a number of Class-D warheads. Her crew also encounter Leoben Conoy, posing as an arms trader, who eventually gives the Colonials their first discovery of humanoid Cylon infiltrators.

While at Ragnar, Galactica is joined by a civilian convoy of survivors gathered by new President Laura Roslin. When they arrive, Adama is persuaded to alter his original plan to send Galactica into a suicidal fight against the Cylons into one of exodus from the Colonies to save the last of humanity.

Galactica protects her new Fleet as they make an FTL jump from Ragnar towards the Prolmar Sector, well beyond the Red Line and into unchartered space, never to return to the solar system of the Colonies in an effort to escape the Cylons.

Soon after the battle, the Cylons dock at the station to retrieve Aaron Doral, who is left at the station after the Colonials believe he, too, is a Cylon inflitrator. The Cylons likely abandon the station.

Notes

• To minimize the time needed to get to Ragnar, Commander Adama orders Galactica's FTL drive systems prepared for use, which prompts a critical comment from Colonel Tigh that Galactica's FTL drive systems had not been used in over 20 years. See Science in the Re-imagined Series for more on why Galactica may not have jumped for such a long time.

• The name "Ragnar" is an homage to Ragnarok, the apocalyptic battle of the gods of Norse mythology. The story of Ragnarok coincidentally ties with the career of William Adama; he is a former commander of the battlestar Valkyrie, named for minor female deities and goddesses of fate who carried the most heroic fallen warriors to Valhalla to await the pre-ordained battle at the end of the world. Following the events of a failed secret Cylon reconnaissance mission, Adama is given command of the to-be-decommissioned Galactica, during which the Cylons attack, the Colonies fall, and Adama prepares to fight the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, the last battle within Colonial space fought by the last remaining battlestar of the fleet (a recurring theme of "last", "final", and "ending").

• The dark, dank, extremely dirty interior of Ragnar Anchorage was filmed in the Roger's Sugar Mill in Vancouver, according to the Miniseries DVD commentary.

• The large ordnance room (where the Colonials abandon Aaron Doral before leaving the Anchorage) is an abandoned potash silo within the British Columbia railyards^[2]. The locale is reused as the Temple of Five for the Season 3 mid-season cliffhanger, "The Eye of Jupiter" ^[3].

References