Starship One

Starship One is the official designation of the transport of the President of the Federation. Two Narwhal Liners served in this capacity for some time until the ship carrying President Jasmina Halsey was lost in hyperspace in May 3301. On February 28, 3302, not long after a fresh search effort recovered wreckage and escape pods from the missing ship, the second Narwhal was retired from service due to security concerns. Since then, the role of Starship One has been assumed by two modified Farragut Battle Cruisers.

Starship One travels in Wing formation with at least three escort vessels belonging to the Guardian Wing, a special division of the Federal Navy assigned to protect important Federal officials. Routes that are secured for Starship One to follow are designated "Spaceflight One" or "Starflight One".

The Starship One disappearance

At approximately 03:00 Universal Galactic Time on May 26, 3301, Starship One, a Narwhal Liner carrying Federal President Jasmina Halsey, Vice President Ethan Naylor, and other leading officials of the Halsey administration, disappeared shortly after making a hyperspace jump to the Azaleach system. At the time, President Halsey and her staff had been conducting an outreach tour of current and former Federal frontier systems, including HIP 53688, Tinia, Aleumoxii, 78 Ursae Majoris, Dietri, Su, Furuhjelm I-645, Saga, Delphin, Nanomam, Coriccha, and Ross 860; other destinations were planned, but their names were withheld from the media for security reasons.

The first sign that something was amiss came early on May 26, 3301, when Maisy Stevenson, the leader of the Saga Republic Party, told GalNet that Starship One was 38 hours late for its scheduled arrival time, which Federal officials on Mars initially claimed was due to Halsey taking a last-minute detour to the Azaleach system. At 15:00 UGT, however, Secretary of State Felicia Winters assumed the role of Acting President of the Federation and announced that Starship One had disappeared, and contact with it had been lost since the jump to Azaleach 12 hours earlier. The Federal Navy immediately scrambled squadrons to search for the vessel and located President Halsey and Vice President Naylor. At first, it was believed both Starship One and its three escort vessels had been lost, but all three ships of the President's Guardian Wing were found on May 27. According to one of the escort pilots, the Guardian Wing ships had slaved their drives to Starship One's for the jump per protocol, but shortly after entering hyperspace, the escort vessels violently dropped back into normal space. The escorts reestablished contact with each other and searched the area for Starship One before jumping to the original rendezvous point and alerting Federal Navy HQ.

Specialist teams from Core Dynamics and Sirius Corporation determined from wake telemetry and uplink data that Starship One had suffered explosive Frame Shift Drive failure mid-jump, catapulting the Guardian Wing out of hyperspace and tearing Starship One into pieces that were spread across interstellar space. An official report released by the Federal Navy on June 2, 3301 attributed the disaster to mechanical failure. Sensor data obtained from Guardian Wing Alpha indicated a power surge in the central Power Plant of Starship One overloaded its other core systems. Automatic shutdown systems designed to prevent these overloads inexplicably failed to operate, resulting in the loss of the ship. No signs of foul play were identified.

A follow-up investigation was conducted by the Federal Attorney's Office over the next several years, which found that Starship One had been sabotaged shortly before it embarked on Halsey's grand tour. On September 18, 3306, the Federal Intelligence Agency arrested Chief Technician Rory Webster, the lead engineer in charge of Starship One's maintenance, on charges of mass murder and treason. Webster reportedly ordered unauthorised modifications to the ship's Frame Shift Drive.

Timeline

18 SEP 3306

• An officer in the Federal Navy Engineering Corps has been arrested for sabotaging the presidential vessel Starship One. A statement was made by Milandu Okoro of the Federal Attorney's Office: "Chief Technician Rory Webster was a department head of engineering for Starship One. Testimonies from members of Mr Webster's team claim that he ordered unauthorised adjustments to the ship's hyperdrive systems while in drydock, shortly before its launch in May 3301 and subsequent destruction. This case is now being brought before the Federal High Court, where Mr Webster will stand trial for mass murder and attempted treason." There has been no comment from President Zachary Hudson, but Shadow President Felicia Winters told the press: "This was a truly horrific tragedy, and there must be justice for all those who lost their lives on that sad day." The apparent death of many Federation leaders aboard Starship One resulted in Winters briefly becoming acting president, shortly before Hudson won a vote of no confidence. There has been much media attention regarding how this event proved pivotal to both of their political careers.

12 SEP 3306

• An independent inquiry by the Federal Attorney's Office into the destruction of presidential vessel Starship One has produced a final report. Senior Attorney Milandu Okoro made this statement: "The loss of presidential vessel Starship One in May 3301, along with hundreds of lives, was a great tragedy. Despite suspicion that this was an attempt to eliminate then-President Jasmina Halsey, initial investigations concluded that a catastrophic malfunction of its drive systems was the likely cause. A new inquiry was opened when fresh evidence came to light, including testimonies from several members of the Federal Navy. Our final report states that there is sufficient reason to believe Starship One was destroyed by deliberate sabotage. A grand jury has determined that criminal charges should be made. We have shared our findings with the Federal Intelligence Agency, and understand that an arrest will take place shortly." The inquiry report is not yet in the public domain, but is thought to allege that illegal modifications were made to the Frame Shift Drive system of Starship One in advance of its destruction during flight through hyperspace.

28 FEB 3302

• A Hudson administration spokeswoman announced that the remaining Narwhal Liner serving as Starship One was to be retired and replaced by two modified Farragut Battle Cruisers, as it had been decided that a luxury passenger ship was inadequate for the security needs of the Federation's leader.

26 FEB 3302

• Following a search effort for wreckage and escape pods from Starship One, Jasmina Halsey's pod was among those recovered.

Template:Quote 04 FEB 3302

• The Federation started analysing the gathered wreckage, to check if any of it was from Starship One.

28 JAN 3302

• President Zachary Hudson announced a search for wreckage from Starship One.

26 MAY 3301

• Spaceflight/Starflight One, which President Halsey and Vice President Naylor were on board, went missing after entering hyperspace. Secretary of State Felicia Winters became Acting President.