IPS Space Falcon

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The IPS Space Falcon (Intergalactic Passenger Ship) was the second of five Hawk-Class Starships created by Stellar Star. She was deemed as the fastest starship in the world until her sistership the IPS Space Peregrine was put into service. The Stellar Falcon was clocked at 3.5 space miles, meaning she could go through almost four star systems in a single day, a crazy feat at the time. With a capacity of 1,984 people, she was way under capacity for a ship of her size. However, this was intentional. She would eventually crash over Venus in a failed terraforming event.

## Career

### Construction

Construction began on the 38th of March 2998 in Thsandsfield. The shipyard had almost finished the IPS Space Hawk and by the time the Falcon was launched the Hawk had her maiden voyage. Over 50% of the ship was engines and machinery, a big percentage even compared to the average which was 35% - 40%. Her interiors were also made to be as comfortable as possible for space cruises and voyages which she was designed for.

### Early Career

Her maiden voyage was on the Mars-Venus route, perhaps foreshadowing what would happen in her future. People on Triton watched her head off to Mars. She arrived with no messing and was booked to full capacity, mostly with wealthy people wanting a vacation on Venus. In a record time of just 32 minutes she had arrived at Mars and let her passengers off. She continued on the Mars-Venus route. She was chosen as the spaceship to take the Neptunian Football Team to the 3002 Sol League Cup hosted on Mercury and would perform air shows over some stadiums and even act as the national team hotel. After the Sol League Cup, she continued regular duty until 3014 when she was moved to the popular Jupiter-Mars Route to try to compete with Interstellar Colonisation.

### Loan to Terraform: Venus and Incident

Ultimately in 3020, she was loaned out to the Terraform: Venus Project for 6 million Qirsh. This was quite cheap but Stellar demanded this be paid for every voyage she took. Stellar also demanded the Captain of the Falcon, Captain Bager be in command of her, as he had been since her completion. In a move to cut the expenses Stellar Star demanded of the project, Chairman Serghei Sala decided to ignore Bager and Stellar's warnings of cleaning the Flareium in the boilers. The state was not noticeable so the crew did not take note and she set off. Serghei had claimed to feel sick just a minute before the launch and so was off the ship when it headed on its way. Just ten minutes into the 30-minute voyage the captain was called to inspect the engines as is routine. Both he and the Falcon's lead mechanic spotted the Flareium was not up to par and the captain was faced with a difficult position. In the end, he demanded the engine coolers be turned on, engines constantly sprayed with cold water as is tradition and for the ship to set full course to Venus in an attempt to do a controlled descent or land at one of Venus's spaceports.

With the plan in action, her thrusters were set to full speed and she was well on course to Venus. She opened communications with Venus Space Traffic Control and after explaining their situation, traffic control decided to activate the Gravity Cranes, cranes with a gravitational pull that when activated would attach to a certain material inside of spaceships and keep the ship in place. Lifepods were also prepared aboard the vessel in case they needed to swiftly evacuate. Venus would appear in the distance but it was too late. All of a sudden the engines set ablaze and the inside of the ship's stern blew up killing all in there. She was now without engines, fire trailing fast throughout the ship and she was over Venus. However, a last communication came in from the captain saying, "Ship down, I will die with my child and god bless us all." Berger was a Christian man who as other Christians say, would have ended up going to Heaven, putting his trust in god. The gravity cranes were ineffective as the entire inside of the ship had set ablaze. The ship was now an empty husk ready to blow up. It entered Venus's atmosphere and crashed down near Acoset. It split in two and the stern exploded upon impact. The bow was left but as salvage teams got closer, it blew up and over 60 were injured with two dead. The impact itself was so massive windows shattered across houses.

### The Aftermath

Stellar Star filed a lawsuit against Terraform: Venus for mishandling their spacecraft. Stellar argued that they had warned of the Flareium and that because it was under Terraform: Venus's care Stellar had no obligation to clean up the Flareium or fix it. Meanwhile, Serghei said that Stellar still had the rights to the ship and should have checked out the engines before letting her fly. In the end, it turned out no one had survived and so Stellar pressed on for the murder of Captain Heger and their crew onboard. After constant debate, Stellar won the case and sued Terraform: Venus for 60 million Qirsh, almost bankrupting the project there and then. However, a new law was invented that ships with Flareium had to be routinely checked at every stop they made by on-site workers. Serghei whilst not getting prison time was scrutinised his whole life for "escaping the ship" before take-off and supposedly knowing she would crash. However, it is unlikely as Serghei would have no motive to do so. This wasn't helped when he tried blaming it on the Sons of Hephaestus at first.

### In Culture

- The 3125 movie by Hải Thi nicknamed "The Falcon Disaster" helped show the tragedy fully as he looked into it so much to the point where the movie was deemed too realistic by target audiences. It is dramatised, however, with Serghei being the villain of the movie and Berger the hero.

- In the Space Falcon Memorial, a statue of Captain Berger holding a model of the Falcon is on full display, Stellar even made their own to go in the mothership hailing Berger as one of their best captains.