Sunrider Part #16 - The Graveyard

Part 16: The Graveyard

Get her to the hangar. She'll be more useful as a pilot than a doctor.

Does this mean ...

You're giving me another chance!? Oh captain ... My hero!

Oh captain! Thank you so much! I won't let you down!

Later …

Who knows? Maybe we might also find a piece of lost technology that can make the Veniczar magically disappear.

Coordinates are set. Spooling up warp drive.

Jump!

I’m going to briefly interrupt here to mention that we never really get to many details about how FTL works in this universe. I would contend that firmly establishing rules about FTL travel is one of the most important things in a military sci-fi story. For example, one of my favorite milscifi authors is Glynn Stewart, who has several different series, each with a different version of FTL. One series has ships that utilize hyperspace, another where ships utilize gravity corridors between stars. Yet another uses a warp drive, but it requires a large ring and being in warp feels … wrong … to the crew, so they can’t use it for extended journeys. I highly recommend his books, btw.

Anyway, I wandered off point a bit, but what I was going to say is that while it’s never really spelled out, the implication seems to be that the Sunrider’s “warp” is instantaneous, or at least nearly instantaneous. Again, shades of Battlestar Galactica:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1pSxVz-XYo

Jump complete.

…

Strange? Let’s see it. Bring up forward cameras.

Sweet mother of god … I've never seen anything like this. Ava, what am I looking at?

An ... ancient warship of some kind. Over four kilometers long.

This could be the biggest lost technology find in a decade. All this time, this was out here ...

Do you really think the Crown Jewel is here?

Let's find out. Asaga, are you there?

I want your ryders to launch and provide recon for the Sunrider. Find out what's out there and figure out where all this wreckage came from.

Understood, captain! Alright, you heard the man! All units, launch!

In all my years of flying, I've never seen anything like this. Are you seeing this, captain?

Yeah...

Look up ahead! Captain, this isn’t debris … it’s a fleet!

My father used to tell me ghost stories about ship graveyards in deep space when I was younger ... This looks like something that could be right out of one of his tales ...

My databanks have identified the ship designs. They belonged to the Ryuvian princess’ royal guard, but captain … the design is over two thousand years old.

A battle took place here, there's no doubt about it.

How do you know these ships weren't just abandoned here?

Because I'm reading old organic material inside them. The remains of the crew … Look through the viewports: there're frozen body parts inside ...

I’m … going to just focus on my instruments ...

What could have caused this...?

Can you determine the origin?

It's the superdreadnought, captain. A massive energy blast must have emanated from it. But its structure is still perfectly intact … The technology inside that ship alone could improve our technological level by a hundred fold. If you factor in all the ships in this field … This could be the biggest discovery of Lost Technology ever!

I think we've hit the jackpot. Asaga, get us a closer view of that Ryuvian super battleship.

Understood.

Eh-heh ... I'm going to take the Black Jack inside.

Hold on Asaga. We don't know if it’s safe.

Ah c'mon capt'n, it's just a big old frozen ghost ship! What's there to be scared about?

Seriously ... Would you listen to yourself for one second?

Later ...

The interior's pretty spacious … It looks like this ship was definitely a carrier. I'm seeing a lot of open space. Enough to store a thousand ryders!

The Ryuvians were the ones who originally invented ryder technology ...

The design is nothing like any ship I've ever been on, though. It's like the whole ship is one big hangar. Almost like ... the inside of a hive.

...

I think the ship's command center should be up above.

Who knows? I haven't seen any remains in here, though ...

Could the ship have been fully AI controlled? If it depressurized in the middle of a battle, you'd think there'd be frozen crew ...

An AI? Controlling something this big?

Anything could be possible with Ryuvian technology.

I've made it to what looks like the entrance to the ship's bridge. I'm detecting a faint energy reading beyond the airlock. The life support systems are still functional on the bridge!