Chiron

Purpose / Function

The Terra Union Deep Space Freighter Chiron was originally an Earth Union transport vessel, built to shuttle materials and people to and from the Centauri system.

Alterations

Cargo pods and docks have since been altered to sustain human life. Originally modified by its second owners to have basic life support: pressurization, air circulation, the right temperature range. Gravity replicators were not invented at that time, and they were only installed much later after their invention. This prolonged weightlessness caused many of the original denizens to develop severe muscle and bone degradation, leaving them mostly bed-ridden thereafter. This is not an issue for people born and living there today.

Architecture

The original structure of the ship is in the typical style of 21st century ship design. So are the oldest modified cargo vessels, although many have been replaced and have newer designs.

History

The TUDSF Chiron was a star-line freighter, sent out like many other ships in the earliest years of the interstellar age by world governments and businesses as they jumped at the chance to make bases in the Centauri system. While space travel was less expensive and faster than ever before, it was still too taxing for most nations to maintain their colonies with the mounting climate disaster of the 21st century.

At the time, many people who had the money bought their own private star-ships to flee the planet. These astronauts were the first Drifters, and they considered themselves interstellar refugees. Many left in such a panic that they ran out of resources too early, so it became common to raid undefended freighters In one of the first deep-space conflicts, a coalition of desperate refugee ships banded together to take the Chiron by force. Most starships at the time had no weapons, so they rammed their own vessels into the TUDSF Chiron in the assault. The freighter surrendered after four casualties: one from their own crew, and three from the drifters.

Once Earth returned to space colonization there was an effort to reclaim abandoned vessels and bases. While they were successful in some cases, many Drifter communities were stubborn enough or fled so far into space that it wasn't worth the resources anymore. The Chiron and its surrounding fleet now travel through deep space in an effort to continue to evade Earth-based dominion, even though their location is carefully tracked.

Tourism

The Chiron's community is one of the oldest planet-independent cultures in existence, so researchers and diplomats will often visit to keep tabs on it. The original vessel itself doesn't have much to offer besides historical value, but it now has a surrounding fleet with other amenities.

Alternative Names

The TUDSF Chiron

Type

Spaceport