Republic (Pathfinder Ship)

Republic, also known as Pathfinder-04, was the fourth ship in the Pathfinder series of long-range, extremely heavy, multi-generational ships that constituted the vanguard of the Odyssey Project.
==Construction==
Republic was the fourth Pathfinder Ship to be built for the Odyssey Project. It was constructed at the Odyssey Project Shipyards over a period of [Approximately] 20 years beginning in [Approximately] SY 6960/AS 7284/APR 874. It was built simultaneously with Pathfinder 5, Sapphire, but was completed four days earlier. It was constructed at the Odyssey Project shipyards in the Outer Republic System. It was named for the planet and colony of Republic.
==Command and Crew==
*Commanding Officer: Prime Commander Wallach Brent
*Executive Officer: TyroCommander Orlando Zeneca
*Chief Navigator: Lt. Navigator Luna Abelard
*Tactical Officer: Tactical Lt. Commander Kyrie Tanaka
*Systems and Operations Officer: Engineering Lt. Commander Daktari Volt
*Chief of Science Core: Chief Lt. Scientist Serena Lilly
The ship carried a total crew of 7,086 when it departed the shipyards. Its mission was to explore the sectors of Circinus, Columba, and Triangulum
==Worlds Charted==
The following is an incomplete list of worlds charted and/or rediscovered by Republic during its Odyssey Mission.
*Arboretum – Arboretum is a heavily forested world at the far edge of the Circinus Sector. Humans on this colony survived the fall of the Commonweatlh by genetically merging with the native trees of the planet, producing a vast forest of sentient trees. Their collective will had become capable of altering weather patterns, and they attacked the landing party with storm and lightning. They also kept some human descendants as slaves; these had reverted to a primitive state and also attacked the landing party. The crew tried to spare the humans their captivity by offering to relocate them away from the forest, but the slaves were unwilling to leave their ‘guardians and providers.’
*Organon – The colony of Organon was established on one of the oldest (geologically speaking) planets in the galaxy, well over 10,000,000,000 years old. As a result, the planet had radiated much of its heat away and its core was solidified. Unforeseen by the colonists 2,000 years ago, the planet’s crust had begun destabilizing as the core and mantle contracted. Also, the planet was gradually losing its water supply and atmosphere to space as its magnetic field weakened. Alerted by Republic to the colonists’ plight, New Commonwealth subsequently began efforts to relocate the human population to other planets. Some of the ship’s Geological Scientists chose to remain behind to study the planet’s collapse.
*Indigo – An ocean world colonized not by humans but by intelligent Cetaceans.
*Larkspur – Larkspur had been devastated by contact with a space probe years earlier that destroyed one of its cities. Believing Republic to be the source of the probe, they attacked the ship. Republic fended off the attack and resolved the misunderstanding. Larkspur later became a member of the Commonwealth.
*Monarch - Republic encountered a fleet of small ships outside the Monarch system. These ships turned out to be people exiled from the planet for plotting to overthrow the Government kept in a state of cryogenic suspension. Republic returned them to the planet where they attempted a coup using weaponry stolen from the ship. Republic’s warfighters put down the rebellion in the exiles were summarily executed.
*Rand – The planet on which Rand colony was established has an unusual orbit, a loose figure eight around the twin suns of a double star system. The only reason it is habitable is because of its proximity to the gas giant Huxley, of which Rand is its largest moon. Huxley clears Rand's path of asteroids and larger objects that would otherwise have pummeled its surface, and its eclipse helps keep the temperature on Rand within the habitable range. Rand was founded as a colony of atheists, devoted to running their society based on pure reason; all religion and superstition is repressed by its authoritarian government. Without a moral code to keep people in line, the Government relies on constant indoctrination and severe punishment for the most mundane of offenses. Every Randian is implanted with a “Killswitch” at the age of 9 that can instantly incapacitate the brainstem in the even of anti-social behavior. It’s leader is called “Chief Scientist.” The Randians were in a state of conflict with a group of exiles who had fled the planet and established their own colony, called ‘Freedom’ on another of Huxley’s moons. Republic’s Diplomatic Core attempted unsuccessfully to mediate the dispute, and Commander Brent reluctantly chose to intervene to keep the Randians from annihilating Freedom colony.
*Tandem Beta and Tandem Delta: Two inhabited worlds within a single system who had been at war for centuries. The Deltans attempted to seize Republic to use as a platform to launch an attack against Beta but were thwarted by the crew.
*Severin – The planet was found to have been uninhabited for quite some time. The entire human population of Severin was killed when a disease infected the planet’s bird population, and they began to relentlessly attack the human colonists, who died in a wave of shock and terror. These birds also attacked the landing party, who were forced to retreat from the surface.
*Solace – The given coordinates for Solace colony led to a habitable system, with evidence that humans had attempted to establish a colony on the second planet. The colony was wiped out; possibly by an “allergic reaction” on the part of the planet’s ecosystem, which became hostile to the human inhabitants. A landing team that visited the planet was beset with mechanical and equipment failures, illness, and death.
*Tranquility – Upon approach to Tranquility colony, Republic detected attack ships on approach. The ship was terribly damaged and could no longer support the crew. Having no choice but to evacuate, a landing party, led by Captain Brent traveled to the surface, which is lush and beautiful. The cities in which the inhabitants live are advanced and beautiful. The landing team was ambushed, and everyone but Medical Technician Rousseau was killed. She was taken into the city, where the human inhabitants live in a state of peace and meditation. It’s then revealed that all of the attacks have been a simulation, a warning that the inhabitants want to be left alone. Tranquility was subsequently discovered to be a planet where the Aenaugh had relocated several million colonists from Aurelia in an attempt to start a second colony. Instead, the Aurelians had intermarried with the human inhabitants. The hybrid race was exceedingly xenophobic and desired no contact (contamination) from other worlds. 
*Terpsichore - Terpsichore is a planet of a half-billion inhabitants in a binary system in the Triangulum sector; the most distant world discovered in the Perseus Quadrant during Odyssey Phase I. It later became a critical operating base during the Second Aurelian War. 
==Other Missions==
Republic lost an entire flight group of Aves trying to prevent a collision with a gigantic mass of matter and energy that turned out to be a kind of ‘Space Brain.’ The entity attempted to take control of the ship’s braincore but was thwarted by the crew. It was later discovered that the entity had been attempting to communicate in hopes of avoiding the collision. Republic’s passage through the entity undoubtedly killed it.
==Fate==
Republic was destroyed while undertaking a heavily classified mission in the Second Aurelian War. Most of the ship’s civilians had been taken off the ship prior to its retasking in a combat role.
Category:Ships