Constructed by the Ancients over fifty million years before the rise of the Tau’ri, Destiny
is a huge and incredibly sophisticated starship, capable of operating over a practically limitless
range.
Using vast quantities of energy harvested from the surface of main sequence stars, the
vessel travels through and between dozens of galaxies, traversing hundreds of millions
of lightyears in a voyage across the universe itself.
Roughly 747 Meters in length with a vaguely ‘axehead-shaped’ frame, Destiny’s aft
quarter features an enormous array of 16 sublight and FTL drive units, spread across the breadth
of the ship in a gentle curve, and the ship’s dorsal hull is marked with numerous modules
and habitats, ranging from agricultural domes and observation decks to airlocks and shuttlecraft
docking clamps.
Destiny’s FTL Drive is entirely unique and its functionality remains largely unknown
to the Tau’ri, the drive accelerates the vessel to many thousands of times the speed
of light, but does so without entering hyperspace; flight through normal space at superluminal
velocities should result in extreme relativistic time dilation, but Destiny’s shield seems
to somehow protect its occupants from this phenomenon.
The vast quantities of power needed to sustain Destiny’s drive systems and energy shields
are harvested through solar fuel scooping.
The Vessel will dive through the corona of a main sequence star, using its powerful shields
to protect itself from thermal damage, before deploying arrays of solar Ramscoops to absorb
energy from the surface of the star itself, providing months of power for the ship’s
systems, and allowing the vessel to remain active and operational without the assistance
of a drydock or refuelling facility for literally millions of years.
Destiny is armed with an extensive grid of pulse batteries, ranging from small and precise
point-defence weapons to large anti-capital emplacements.
The vessel’s shields are incredibly resilient, able to withstand continual bombardment from
a Nakai assault fleet for 44 minutes before failing, and should the ship suffer breaches
to its hull, the shield can be focused and localised to maintain pressure and atmosphere
within a particular compartment until the crew can affect repairs.
Destiny also carries a small number of automated repair drones, capable of synthesising materiel
to replace destroyed components or restore hull integrity.
The vessel is equipped with three dorsal-mounted docking clamps used to house ancient multipurpose
shuttlecraft, these shuttles are durable and highly versatile, with their sophisticated
engines and weapons allowing them to serve as combat fighters should the situation demand
it.
The shuttles feature energy shields and space for up to twelve passengers, as well as a
number of stealth systems that allow the vessel to remain undetected by hostile sensor systems.
Destiny carries an onboard Stargate, far older than any previously encountered by the Tau’ri
and suspected by some to be the very first gate every constructed.
Its importance is expanded even further by its connection to all other active gates across
the universe, this is because the Destiny gate is the target and purpose of the near-mythical
ninth chevron dialling sequence, a system that allows any gate in any location with
sufficient power, to connect a semi-stable wormhole to the Destiny gate at literally
unlimited range.
Perhaps the only thing more impressive in both scope and significance than Destiny itself,
is the mission the vessel was constructed to undertake: it’s development was prompted
by a monumental scientific discovery made by the ancients, their scientists had found
evidence of a cohesive and artificial pattern present within the cosmic microwave background
radiation of the universe, suggesting the existence of sentient life at the time of
the big bang.
Destiny was dispatched on mission across the universe, to analyse the background radiation
of hundreds of galaxies, and reconstruct the mysterious pattern, a secret described by
the ancients, as ‘the Destiny of all things.’
Standing alongside the City of Atlantis and the Gate Network itself, Destiny is one of
the greatest technological accomplishments of the ancient civilisation, the ship represents
the collective work and ingenuity of entire generations, and its profoundly significant
mission continues in the hands of the Tau’ri, even fifty million years after
the ancient’s ascension.