Destiny Nova
| Destiny Nova | |
 Barbary-type cargo ship Destiny Nova | |
| Spacecraft Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Base Hull | Dedicated Boskonian Design |
| Length | 40 meters |
| Width | 30 meters (Wingpspan) |
| Height | 10 meters (Including bridge) |
| Mass | 70,000 KG. |
| Drive Type | 2 twin fusion torches |
| Drive Rating | Peak 100G for 1200 seconds Nominal 10G for 25,000 seconds |
| Armament | Ventral and Dorsal 2x30mm Coilgun turret. |
| Primary Manufacturer | Shipwreck Island (original) Hephaestus Mining and Metalworking, Unltd. (OGJ Refit) |
| Owner | Panzer Kunst Gruppe |
| Flag of Record | Port Phobos |
| Faction | Operation Great Justice |
| Registry Number | PPK-0100 |
| Launched | 8 January 2014 (Refit) |
| Purpose | Infiltration. Q-Ship |
| Primary Crew | Senshi 10 standard. |
| Other Crew | Des (AI Engineer) |
| Auxillary Vehicles | Little Nelly |
| Operational Status | Museum Ship as of 2023 |
An example of a Barbary-type cargo vessel commonly used by Zwilniks, The Destiny Nova was recovered by the Panzer Kunst Gruppe in the course of a raid on a The Steelyard. The ship had been built by Zwilniks for covert cargo hauling, and was found to be equipped with a number of basic stealth technologies to help her dodge Great Justice patrols. The ship is lightly armed and armoured, giving a minimal power-signature on sensors. [1]
A little bigger than a mundane 737, the ship's design is unusual compared to the Fennish norm, though some elements appear to be based on a modified aircraft.[2] Her drives are mounted in her wingtips, and located at the aft end of the ship. The main bridge is cramped, with an array of glass-cockpit panels, and positions for a Captain, two pilots and an engineer. Beneath the bridge is main engineering and the ship's generators. Forward, are quarters enough for around ten people, though not in any sort of comfort, and a basic mess at the forward end. There are a number of supply storage areas the engine room and the cargo bay. At the bottom of the ship on the third deck is the lifesupport generator,a secondary control room and a small shuttlebay capable of docking a shuttle-sized spacecraft at the forward end. The ship was also configured with an oversized heatshield for extremely hard re-entry's...diving under power into an atmosphere for a fast landing.
Access is gained to the aft Cargo Bay through a heavyweight airlock door. An anti-tampering system triggers the automatic venting of atmosphere in the cargo bays. The Cargo-bays themselves can be configured for either bulk cargo hauling, or for prisoners.
The only example of her type taken intact she was picked apart for information in the runup to Fall of Boskone Prime before she was given as a trophy to the Panzer Kunst, who up until this point had relied upon the ships of other factions to conduct operations. The ship was refitted and rearmed to a Great Justice standards, while retaining her original exterior appearance.
Her cargobays were refitted to handle a full Gruppe of Kunstler and their operational equipment, and retain the ability to dump the onboard atmosphere in a controlled manner, allowing for a fast deployment of the Gruppe aboard. Her armament was upgraded to a pair of 30mm coilgun turrets, while a number of changes were made to her stealth subsystems, rendering the ship even more difficult to detect. Her launch bay now normally carries a single Zig fighter named “Little Nelly”.
Normally, the ship is crewed by outsiders... usually Senshi, as the Panzer Kunst lack experienced pilots. The ship has been occasionally cross-attached to FESWAT and other Fenspace forces in need of a Trojan Horse.
As of 2023, Destiny Nova is part of a museum exhibit at Port Phobos alongside SS Ciara, having been partly restored to her Boskone appearance. [3]
Contents
Attributes
Magna of Illusion: Often takes the identity of other recently destroyed Zwilnik cargo ships. Capable of fooling Zwilniks still if she has the proper security codes and identity. Also capable of fooling the Space Patrol if they’re not careful. Uses a genuine Boskonian transponder and root key combination.
Les Invisibles: Difficult to spot on sensors when running stealthily, unless you know what you’re looking for, or they have their transponders on. A thermal scan might reveal her engines if they've been recently running, and she shows up on radar well enough within a certain radius.
Bad Channels: As a result of someone's blue hair day, the engine's driver coils were modified act as passive sensor pickups when the drives are at cold shut down. It's not perfect, there's a lot of noise, but it's better than the original system. A proper sensor upgrade is one of those things that are forever going to be done 'soon'.
Quirks
In the Presence of Another World: A number of former passengers and crew claim the ship is haunted by ghosts of it’s past. A child in a Hogwarts uniform has been spotted more than once, usually out of the corner of the eye as you turn away to leave the cargo bay.. Books and equipment can be disturbed, and sometimes lost property is found in the strangest places. It’s not evil or malicious in any way... it might not even be supernatural as such... most likely they’re just echoes of imprints resonating through the handwavium in the ship’s structure. It still scares the living daylights out of anyone not used to it.
Blue Öyster Cultist: A cassette deck is set into the main engine control console, into which a copy of BÖC’s Imaginos album must be inserted before the engines will start. Blame whoever wanted to listen to music while building the thing. The better the quality of the recording, the better the engines will run. Unfortunately, the aging player has a worrying tendency to eat tapes at the worst moment.... And getting blank cassettes to copy to isn’t easy.
Crew Quirks
Bedtime Stories for the Damned: Often on standby, the crew maintain a library of Stephen King books to read during their lengthy downtimes... in real dead-tree paper, including a good few which have been out of print for a long time. Anyone aboard can borrow them.... but a dreadful fate awaits the man who takes a book off the ship with him. Or so they say....
Oh do grow up: The ship's AI, Desmond, has little patience for the crew's efforts to amuse themselves or him, or their "enthusiastic" and generally bubbly nature. Generally, he sees them as lacking the professionalism of a true spy, yet has a great affection for them which he keeps private. His appearance is remarkably similar to Desmond Llewelyn.
Trivia
- The ship’s dedication plaque motto is “I once was lost, but now am found,”. It was suggested by an unknown technician during her analysis and refit on Hephaestus.
- An acceleration drive allows her to be stealthy. Unlike a speed-drive, she can coast at speed without running her engines, minimising her power and thermal signature. The Drive has only 1200 seconds or so worth of fuel at full power output, however. It gets more efficient at lower throttle settings, reaching peak efficiency at approximately 10G. For longer journeys, it is actually much faster to accelerate slower for longer.
Original Design
The original Shipwreck Island design first appeared in February 2013 and was given the reporting name 'Barbary'. Different sightings were originally thought to be the same cargo ship running multiple routes before a second ship was confirmed during a raid on a belter colony. At least fifty are known to have been built before Shipwreck Island was taken by Great Justice forces. At least 23 are suspected to be still in operation as of October 2014.
Barbary-type cargo ships are used for everything from general shipping, to thionite runs, to prisoner transfers and raids. The cargo bay is specifically designed to dump it's contents before the ship is raided, in theory destroying any evidence of wrongdoing. OGJ forces began to apply the equipment clause in response.
The Destiny Nova was altered little from the original design, being fitted with upgraded EM dampers and weaponry.
As a Museum Ship
Since 2023, the Nova has been permanently moored in the Convention Fleet Museum, in Hangar 18 in Port Phobos.
She has been restored to her original Boskone configuration, with some interprative stations providing context to some of the exhibits onboard. The forward compartment is equipped with artefacts from her Panzer Kunst days, including thew ship's battle records and citatations.
A befits an old Boskone ship, the Nova has Ghosts. The most recogniseable is a single child in a Hogwarts uniform crying for his or her parents, who is most often spotted in the cargo hold after the last tour has left.
Stories
The Destiny Nova appears in the forthcoming The Fall of Boskone Prime
Notes
- ↑ The arguments over Stealth in Space could fuel an entire website, but suffice to say, compared to an average ship of her size, the Nova is much harder to spot
- ↑ She's been described as the bastard stepchild of an ailiner, a klingon warbird and a tank
- ↑ Which includes painting a gaudy sharkmouth over the forward shuttlebay doors
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