UNS Unity

The **UNS *Unity*** was a spaceship constructed for the purpose of the United Nations plan to colonize the planet Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system, and was -- at the time -- the most advanced spaceship ever constructed by humans. The drive, a state-of-the-art adaption of an Epstein drive developed by Prokhor Zakharov, which allowed the *Unity* to reach speeds of roughly 11% of the speed of light. At this speed, the vessel collected a thin traces of hydrogen gas in deep space for fuel. Nevertheless, every detail including the supply of fuel was calculated with extreme precision.

The ship was also outfitted with 10,000 cryocells -- for all of the crew and colonists. Most of them entered stasis prior to the vessel's launch, with only a skeleton crew left awake to help launch the ship. There were no true crew quarters -- crew members who were on-duty were expected to sleep in their deactivated cryocell. The landing pods were essentially short term spaceships, intended to launch from the *Unity* and land on Chiron with no expectation of making a return trip.

## History

The ship itself was primarily constructed by Morgan Industries, based on designs Prokhor Zakharov who was also assigned to be the Chief Engineer. The launch in 2330 CE had no problems whatsoever, and a 5.3 hour high-acceleration burst shot the ship a million miles from the Earth and set it on its course to the Alpha Centauri system. Shortly after launch, the active crew discovered a cryocell that had not been on the manifest -- one containing Morgan Industires CEO Nwabudike Morgan.

The remainder of the trip was largely uneventful until 2370 CE. As the *Unity* decelerated, a tiny piece of debris -- no larger than a pebble -- in space collided with it. At the *Unity*'s great speed, this caused a great deal of damage -- uttterly destroying one of the cryobays, killing hundreds of people. Other damage, while slightly less severe, was still devastating and widespread. The master computer shut down the ship's fusion drive -- which meant the *Unity* would not stop in the Alpha Centauri system.

With this emergency unfolding, Captain John Garland was awakened from cryosleep, along with his command staff -- with only four days left before reaching their destination. After assessing the damage, Zakharov believed it could be repaired in time if his entire engineering team was awakened. Some additional crew were also awakened to assist in repairs. However, disagreements quickly arose between crew members and ideological divisions began fracturing the crew.

Colonol Corazon Santiago led a faction in a mutiny against her superiors, determined to survive at any cost. This group, calling themselves "Spartans", took Chief of Security Sheng-Ji Yang hostage and raided the armory. Then, they attacked the engineering team working to repair the drive. This quickly devolved, and exchanges of gunfire broke out all over the ship -- finally ending when Santiago was captured near the hydroponics greenhouse.

With that emergency seemingly handled, Garland retired for a brief rest. While he was away, the command staff met to make a contingency plan to present to the captain upon his return. Zakharov suggested that, if they could not regain control of the *Unity* that each of leaders should take a landing pod, break away from the ship, and make their own attempts at landing on the planet's surface. In preparation of this, Zakharov proposed, they should begin divvying up resources evenly between the landing pods immediately. As the command staff debated the merits of this plan, a sonic hammer exploded in the command module -- nearly killing several members of the command staff. This final act of sabotage did enough damage to the ship that there was no longer any hope of saving it. All of the remaining cryocells were opened and the leaders took their followers into the landing pods.

Captain Garland made one final effort to take command of the situation, but he was shot. His last act before dying was to release the landing pods. As the surviving crew members and colonists launched into space, the *Unity* crashed into the planet.

## Source

The UNS *Unity* is derived from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. For canon information, please visit the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Wiki.