Ship Name: USSR Ptichka
Created by Sean Breen (M. Fnord)
Registry Number: WTF-023H
Base Hull: Soviet Buran-class space shuttle, vehicle #1.02
Drive Type: Speed (Pitch Field reactionless engine) (max velocity 0.1C)
Owner of Record: Sandwich Interstellar Dungeon-Crawling Enterprises, LLC
Flag of Record: Soviet Air Force
Purpose: Research vessel
Launched: October 12, 2008
Crew:
* S. "Mal" Fnord (Captain)
* D. "KJ" DeRosia (Chief Engineer)
* E. Van Oorebeek (Co-Pilot)
* R. "Shad" Houben (Master-At-Arms)
* P. "Zib" Stewart (Mission Specialist 1)
* K. "Kat" Stewart (Mission Specialist 2)
* J. "Calc" Renken (Flight Attorney)
Supplementary Crew:
* Ptichka (AI, "living ship")
* Dee (AI, engineer's mate, quasi-mobile)
Known Vehicle Quirks:
* Beucephelus Complex: Ptichka is *very* particular about who gets to fly her. Anybody not on the crew who tries *touching* the flight controls is likely to get a nasty surprise.
* What Is It, Artoo? Despite having all the equipment necessary to generate a human voice, Ptichka prefers to vocalize *only* in birdsong, with text messaging as a backup. The crew have gotten pretty good at interpreting.
* Creeping Decor: The crew spaces are slowly being decorated with a combination of NASA Industrial and Russian Kitsch. Nothing seems to be able to stop the redecorating: painting, wallpaper, exorcism...
* Bones Of The Saints: Vehicle efficiency drops by 40% if the crew doesn't maintain the ship's shrine to the Holy Martyrs of Spaceflight on at least a weekly basis.
Known Crew Quirks:
* In Soviet Russia... Partly out of respect for the ship's origins, and (probably) partly due to cross-contamination, the crew tends to use Soviet rank and military terminology while "on duty." It hasn't descended to gratuitous Boris Badenov accents, yet.
Faction: Non-Aligned
Home Port: Kandor City, Luna
Current Location: Port Phobos, Phobos
Status: ACTIVE
Trivia:
* Ptichka is credited with manned landings on Triton, Nereid and Mercury, as well as the first human ship to approach the Tau Ceti (2009) and Epsilon Indi (2010) star systems.
* The crew earns money for upkeep and expenses primarily by making documentary films about their adventures. Films of note include Kingdom of the Sun; Lonely Planet: Ceres; On the Edge of Forever; Warlords of Mars.
* At the time of their launch, the crew had outstanding indictments for 10 counts of use of illegal materials, 7 federal weapons violations and one count of federal aggravated assault. All outstanding warrants were cleared by the blanket amnesty in the 2010 Treaty of KandorCon.
* The CBS made-for-TV movie about the Sandwich crew's acquisition and launch of Ptichka, "To Touch The Sky," was the highest-rated TV movie produced in 2009. None of Ptichka's crew ever saw a dime.
ETA: Retconning out an old in-joke; time to put the Explain Star to rest...---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Created by Sean Breen (M. Fnord)
Registry Number: WTF-023H
Base Hull: Soviet Buran-class space shuttle, vehicle #1.02
Drive Type: Speed (Pitch Field reactionless engine) (max velocity 0.1C)
Owner of Record: Sandwich Interstellar Dungeon-Crawling Enterprises, LLC
Flag of Record: Soviet Air Force
Purpose: Research vessel
Launched: October 12, 2008
Crew:
* S. "Mal" Fnord (Captain)
* D. "KJ" DeRosia (Chief Engineer)
* E. Van Oorebeek (Co-Pilot)
* R. "Shad" Houben (Master-At-Arms)
* P. "Zib" Stewart (Mission Specialist 1)
* K. "Kat" Stewart (Mission Specialist 2)
* J. "Calc" Renken (Flight Attorney)
Supplementary Crew:
* Ptichka (AI, "living ship")
* Dee (AI, engineer's mate, quasi-mobile)
Known Vehicle Quirks:
* Beucephelus Complex: Ptichka is *very* particular about who gets to fly her. Anybody not on the crew who tries *touching* the flight controls is likely to get a nasty surprise.
* What Is It, Artoo? Despite having all the equipment necessary to generate a human voice, Ptichka prefers to vocalize *only* in birdsong, with text messaging as a backup. The crew have gotten pretty good at interpreting.
* Creeping Decor: The crew spaces are slowly being decorated with a combination of NASA Industrial and Russian Kitsch. Nothing seems to be able to stop the redecorating: painting, wallpaper, exorcism...
* Bones Of The Saints: Vehicle efficiency drops by 40% if the crew doesn't maintain the ship's shrine to the Holy Martyrs of Spaceflight on at least a weekly basis.
Known Crew Quirks:
* In Soviet Russia... Partly out of respect for the ship's origins, and (probably) partly due to cross-contamination, the crew tends to use Soviet rank and military terminology while "on duty." It hasn't descended to gratuitous Boris Badenov accents, yet.
Faction: Non-Aligned
Home Port: Kandor City, Luna
Current Location: Port Phobos, Phobos
Status: ACTIVE
Trivia:
* Ptichka is credited with manned landings on Triton, Nereid and Mercury, as well as the first human ship to approach the Tau Ceti (2009) and Epsilon Indi (2010) star systems.
* The crew earns money for upkeep and expenses primarily by making documentary films about their adventures. Films of note include Kingdom of the Sun; Lonely Planet: Ceres; On the Edge of Forever; Warlords of Mars.
* At the time of their launch, the crew had outstanding indictments for 10 counts of use of illegal materials, 7 federal weapons violations and one count of federal aggravated assault. All outstanding warrants were cleared by the blanket amnesty in the 2010 Treaty of KandorCon.
* The CBS made-for-TV movie about the Sandwich crew's acquisition and launch of Ptichka, "To Touch The Sky," was the highest-rated TV movie produced in 2009. None of Ptichka's crew ever saw a dime.
ETA: Retconning out an old in-joke; time to put the Explain Star to rest...---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"