C-137-KJM orbital shipyard
| C-137-KJM orbital shipyard | |
|---|---|
| Type | Spacecraft |
| World of Origin | Detritus |
| Universe | Skyward Universe |
The C-137-KJM orbital shipyard is an old steel ship found in the ring of debris surrounding Detritus. It orbited the planet for several centuries before falling to the surface when the acclivity rings that held it afloat ran out of power.[1][2]
Appearance and Function
It has previously been used to manufacture starships and has added delver training facilities. The ship is metallic, rectangular, and incredibly large. Spensa believes half the shipyard to be the size of a mountain, however, this may be exaggerated. The ship has, at some point, has broken into two halves leaving large gaping holes along it's side. It is likely that it does not have an AI computer system.[1]
The bottom of the ship is coated in hundreds of acclivity rings that keep it afloat. These rings begin running out of power in 83 63 LD causing the shipyard to fall from the atmosphere as it could no longer correct its orbit. The loss of power in the acclivity rings is gradual, allowing the ship to fall at a steady pace instead of hurtling straight towards the ground.[1]
The inside of the ship contains cranes and other construction equipment. Working emergency lights can still be found throughout the vessel, though they often flicker indicating their gradual loss of power. A writing system unknown to the Defiant people can be found throughout the ship. It uses circular patterns similar to those that used near the old machinery in the outer Defiant Caverns.[2]
History
The origins of the shipyard are unknown and likely predate the arrival of the Defiants by centuries. At some point it was broken into two halves, though it is unknown when or how this occurred.[1]
The first half of the shipyard fell to the surface partway through Spensa's time as a cadet, when Skyward Flight was sent on a routine training exercise to tag chunks of debris. The Krell committed almost sixty ships,[3] a large number of their forces, to the attack, to ensure it crashed and to keep the DDF from being able to harvest it's acclivity rings.[1]
During the battle, Nedd's brothers, Nightstorm pilots six and seven, picked up Krell tails and in a desperate attempt to lose them, flew into the shipyard.[1] Nedd and Spensa followed the Nightstorm pilots into the ship, to try and destroy their Krell tail and help them escape.[2] Unable to catch up to the Nightstorm pilots, Spensa and Nedd fled the ship just before it reached the planet surface. Nedd's brothers tragically died in the crash.[2]
As the DDF troops retreated, the Krell began firing on the ship's acclivity rings, as well as setting explosive charges on the top of the vessel in order to increase its descent. The Krell continued to fire upon the ship after it had crashed to ensure that the DDF would be unable to salvage anything useful from the wreckage.[2] The DDF lost fourteen ships from the encounter at the shipyard and fewer than a dozen acclivity rings were salvageable from the wreckage.[3]
The second half the shipyard fell during the Second Battle of Alta. The DDF, desperate to retrieve the acclivity rings, sent all pilots after the shipyard, believing that the Krell would try and destroy it. Instead, the Krell used the shipyard as a ploy and tried to attack Alta Base and destroy it with a lifebuster.