CS Olympus

### Fate

Deliberately piloted in an act of self-sacrifice into the Final Breach by Erron Rayes

## Series Information

### Series Lifespan

*Part I: A New Frontier* -- *Part III: Leviathan Falls*

―Errol to Erron, discussing the restored *Olympus*, 2896

The **Coalition Ship *Olympus***, call sign**HYPERION**,was a Ranger-class starship originally built as a scout ship on board the ANS *Odyssey*. Following the destruction of the *Odyssey* and the Olympia Colony on the planet Hyperion-b, the FDF salvaged the ship and rebuilt it with the latest military tech. It was then given to the surviving Olympia colonists to serve as their base as part of the FDF's war with the Colonial Management Division of the Federated Galactic Alliance. Its first and only captain was Erron Rayes.

Following their show of strength in destroying the ANS *Monroe* at the Battle of Harmony, the crew of the *Olympus* formed their own outlaw cell, the Hellhound Corps, within the FDF, effectively becoming terrorists in the eyes of the Council and hailed as the heroes of the new space-state of Asgard. After the FDF was divided into two factions and Asgard fell as a result, the *Olympus* became the flagship of the Frontier Covenant.

After travelling to the northern arms of the Whirlpool to recruit the Maelstrom Democratic Republic as allies, the *Olympus* took part in the Battle of Keystone, where it was heroically piloted into the Final Breach by Erron in an act of self-sacrifice, destroying Leviathan once and for all and inadvertently creating the Nexus, triggering a new age of exploration for the races of the Settled Systems.

## History

### Construction

The ship that would become the *Olympus* was nothing more than a scouting ship on board the ANS *Odyssey.*It was part of a line of upgraded Ranger-class starships that were installed in the arks, to be used for colony defence. Its original name, according to its data drive, was the **ANS-URC-007**.

### Salvage and Restoration

The ship was the only vessel that the FDF was able to salvage from the wreck of the *Odyssey.* As an upgraded Ranger-class starship, it was of great importance to the FDF, but very few of its members could pilot and command such a vessel. They proceeded to upgrade the already advanced ship, kitting it with illegal technology and a new crew to make it ready for war. Veteran pilot Tauren Solt, a Gekoid who had piloted photon-class starships in the GTN before joining the FRF, was assigned to the ship and was allowed to pick his own crew. Solt then discovered that one of the survivors of the Olympia Colony was Erron Rayes, of whom Solt had heard of before for saving several people in a shipyard in Andromeda, including people from the ship to which Solt had been assigned. He also knew that Rayes and his fellow survivors had agreed to join the FDF. Solt then decided that he not only wanted Erron and the Olympia survivors on his ship, but he wanted them as his commanders.

Under Solt's recommendation, Welles then met with Erron to evaluate him, Ashley and Weldom. Welles noted that the three of them were part of a movement to drive the Colonial Management Division from Olympia Colony, but the *Monroe* arrived just days before their plan was to be carried out. Recognising a burning for vengeance for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people, Welles invited them to hunt for the *Monroe* as members of the Coalition Navy. They agreed, and Welles unveiled the restored ship and invited them to name it. Erron ultimately chose the name: the CS *Olympus*.

### Hunting the *Monroe*

#### Outer Reach

Erupting from the white hole, he crew of the *Olympus* discovered they were far out in the Outer Reach of the Whirlpool Galaxy, millions of light-years from the nearest inhabited star system. Doomed to otherwise die in the emptiest part of the galaxy, the crew had three options: use the *Olympus*' graviton core to either generate a wormhole back to civilization or reduce their mass, but not have enough power to defend themselves if need be; or use their lightfold engine to conserve power, but this journey would take two years, even at more than four times the speed of light.

The crew decided to go with option B, sending out a message to the FDF High Command that the *Olympus* would go largely silent on this journey and for them to keep up the fight. Most of the crew went into suspended animation, while Tauren - as a Gekoid of the Aquila subspecies whose advanced metabolism would not cope well with being put back into hibernation - volunteered to captain those who would stay awake during the two-year journey. Most of the crew went into hibernation and awoke two years later, just as the *Olympus finally* entered FDF-controlled space.

### Outlaws

Following the FDF's victory and the proclamation of the Protectorate of Asgard, the crew of the *Olympus* were officially designated terrorists by the Council of the Golden Worlds for their role in the Battle of Harmony.

### Titan War

#### Final Sacrifice

With the *Olympus* badly damaged and leaking fuel from its plasma core, Erron remembered Weldom's words about the failed Remnant experiment to wipe out Leviathan. Realizing the energy from the ship's lightfold engine could not only destroy Leviathan but also stabalize the Final Breach, Erron ordered an evacuation of the *Olympus* to the *Marauder* under the pretense that they were abandoning the Keystone Systems. Instead, having made sure all of his crew were safe, Erron locked the airlock, trapping himself inside the *Olympus*. He shared a final goodbye with Ashley and his crew and ordered them to flee the system. Relunctantly, his crew accepted and Erron raced back to the cockpit.

With yet more Titans emerging from the Final Breach and decimating the planets in the system, the lethally injured Erron gripped the *Olympus'* flight controls for a final time and sped the ship towards the Breach. He was shocked to find both Hendrix and HIE still on the ship inside their synthetic bodies. Ordering them to leave in an escape shuttle, both AIs assured Erron that their mainframes were on the *Marauder*, leaving behind basic systems so he would not die alone. Erron realized that he had not yet approached the necessary velocity to activate the damaged lightfold engine and ordered HIE to place the engine into meltdown, knowing that there was no going back. HIE did so, and the lightfold engine began to irreversibly overload. Foldspace began leaking into the ship, tearing it apart from the inside atom by atom.

With little time, Erron pushed the *Olympus* to its limit, dodging Titans and beams of Leviathan's energy, as he finally approached the Final Breach. As Leviathan continued to taunt him telepathically, Erron's sheer willpower allowed him to stay focussed. As the lightfold engine went critical, it formed a sphere of foldspace around the ship which began interacting with the energy emitted from the Final Breach. Erron's vision faded away to reveal an infinite plane filled with incredible stars. He smiled and spoke his last words - "It's beautiful," - before activating the lightfold engine.

As the *Olympus* lightfolded into the Final Breach, it triggered a mesmerizing explosion of white light that tore spacetime apart. The Covenant Fleet lightfolded to the very edge of the system, barely able to keep ahead of the explosion's horizon. The explosion reduced the Titans to ash and wiped Leviathan from the face of the Universe, annihilating the entire system. The survivors of the *Olympus* watched and mourned, knowing that their captain and their ship were gone, before lowering their heads in a moment of silence.

As the blast began to implode, it formed a blindingly bright ball of pure element-C, the Nexus.

## Layout

### Deck 2

#### Cockpit

The cockpit lies at the front of the ship and is where the pilot controls the *Olympus*. The cockpit has a direct line to the command centre and the navigator's console, allowing for near-instant communication between the two areas of the ship.

## Technology

### Size

As an upgraded Ranger-class starship, the *Olympus* is larger than the standard models, at just over 230 metres long; it was thanks to its size that it survived the fall of the ANS *Odyssey*. It weighs just over 453,000 metric tons, around 100,000 metric tons less than the standard Rangers, making it far more agile; around a third of this weight is thanks to the *Olympus*' advanced armour and shield technology.

### Propulsion

#### Lightfold Engine

The *Olympus*' primary drive is a lightfold engine, which carries the ship at many times the speed of light on their missions in the Whirlpool. The *Olympus* has had two lightfold engines: the first was ejected and detonated during the Battle of Harmony, an act that won that battle for the Frontier Defence Force. A second, even more powerful lightfold engine was installed to replace it, as a token of gratitude for the crew's feats in the battle.

### Secondary Craft

#### Crimson Ranger

The *Olympus* is accompanied by the *Crimson Ranger*, a Javelin-class scout ship used for planetary travel. Like the *Olympus*, the *Crimson Ranger* has been upgraded by the FDF with illegal technology, making it capable of travelling much greater distances.

#### Probes

The *Olympus* possesses a capacity of fifteen probes used for mining resources from planets, as well as rescuing refugees or leaving research beacons.

### Weapons and Defensive Technology

#### Offensive Capabilities

As an upgraded Ranger-class starship that has been further enhanced with illegal technology, the *Olympus* possesses some of the finest weapons available among the Frontier Defence Force; this, coupled with its experienced, highly trained crew, make the *Olympus* a devastating opponent.

* **Javeline Laser Torpedos**: The *Olympus*' primary weapons were fourteen (originally eight) javelin laser cannons that fire dark-energy torpedos that can distort local space-time, literally shredding their targets apart.
* **Fragmentation missiles:** Second to the Javeline cannons were the *Olympus*' vast arsenal of fragmentation missiles, which travelled at 2% the speed of light under chemical propulsion before fragmenting upon impact with enemy shields.

## Crew

* Erron Rayes - captain
* Weldom Krieger - chief scientist, first-mate
* Ashley Briggs - former first-mate, soldier
* Hue Marshall - navigator
* Tauren Solt - pilot
* HIE - AI, soldier
* Kron - weapons specialist
* Maleda - engineer
* Quarin - priest
* Hendrix - AI
* Howard Immunos
* Many unnamed engineers, navigators and soldiers

## Trivia

* The CS *Olympus* is, alongside the ANS *Monroe*, the only vessel known to come back through a black hole via a white hole, although the effort shot them out into Dark Space.