Nostalgia for Infinity in nBSG

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Supposing by freak activation of some metric altering device left over from a civilization that survived the Dawn War, a volume of space enclosing the lighthugger Nostalgia for Infinity at the beginning of Revelation Space is transcribed into the outskirts of Caprica's solar system at approximately the same time as the Cylon surprise attack. How would the parties involved proceed? The Nostalgia For Infinity is a four kilometer long ship, sheathed in armor of reinforced ice, capable of carrying 160,000 passengers accelerating at 1g indefinitely, and able to approach arbitrarily close to the speed of light. It has no artificial gravity (other than that provided by the constant acceleration of it's engines) and no FTL. On the other hand, it has impressive nanotechnological manufacturing abilities on board, and firepower vastly superior to anything in nBSG, not even counting the cache weapons (which I am assuming they have) which give them easy planet splitting capabilities.

There are only four living people on the ship, three of them heavily cybernetically enhanced, one of whom, the Captain, is still in cryofreeze to halt the spread of the Melding Plague, a hybrid biological/nanotechnological virus. The remaining crewmember, Volyova, has no biological or cybernetic modifications, though she is highly knowledgeable about them. Assuming they witness at least some of the slaughter of the colonials, they might not want to deal with the Cylons. Volyova, in particular, has shown extreme sympathies for human civilian populations in peril in Revelation Space and the sequels, and did what she could to save them. However, since most of the crew are cyborgs, the colonials may not trust them, and they may have some sympathies to the Cylons. On top of that, they are basically ruthless traders willing to deal in dangerous technologies to anyone willing to pay. So, how do you suppose the nBSG factions attempt to deal with the odd interlopers?

[Whiskey144]

At a guess, the Nostalgia for Infinity will cause a lot of trouble for the Cylons, should they attempt to engage it- the same if the Colonials think that the lighthugger is a Cylon trick.

I predict much hurt will be heaped upon any fleet which attacks the Nostalgia- but the crew of the lighthugger will probably be *very* interested in the Colonial (and Cylon!) FTL drives. That being said, I'm guessing that it's possible that Volyova might actual mess with the other Triumvir's reefers, so that they don't come out of it.

Also note: the crew is incorrect; prior to arrival in Yellowstone, the ship had a crew of 6; 3 Triumvir (inc. Volyova), 2 others, and the Captain. If this is post-departure of Yellowstone, but prior to arrival at Resurgam, then they'll also have Ana Khouri aboard. Depending on the time during the voyage that they were taken, Volyova may be the only crewer not in reefersleep- or she may have already awaken Khouri.

If the former, I'm guessing she tampers with the reefers so that they only wake their occupants up when she wants them to, allowing her to pursue an agenda of aid for the Colonials. If the latter, then probably the same- however, Khouri *will* complicate things, as she'll probably advocate shooting the crap out of the Cylons ASAP, given her military experience.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

I had forgotten about the other crew. I was assuming prior to arrival at Yellowstone, so Khouri will not be among them. Simply keeping everyone else frozen while she pursues her own agenda certainly sounds like a Volyova move. If she were the lone representative of the crew, she might not arouse the colonials' suspicion as much as the others, having no augmentation herself. In fact, one thing that just occurred to me, is that assuming the nBSG galaxy really is the same as ours, Volyova would have information about the precise location of Earth, at least if she can orient herself as to the identities of the local stars. This would be of immense interest to the colonials.

[Whiskey144]

I was assuming prior to arrival at Yellowstone, so Khouri will not be among them.

Well, that makes things much easier, at least for me. Khouri is a bit of a wild card, particularly when combined with Volyova. Volyova on her own is more easily predictable, at the very least.

If she were the lone representative of the crew, she might not arouse the colonials' suspicion as much as the others, having no augmentation herself.

Very true- but she might not have aroused their suspicion anyways, depending on whether or not the Colonials have already uncovered the Cylon 'skinjobs'.

OTOH, the fact that the other crew are very visibly augmented- and often very visibly human-origin, would both mystify and repel the Colonials, as well as perhaps indicating a non-Cylon origin (from the Colonial perspective).

In fact, one thing that just occurred to me, is that assuming the nBSG galaxy really is the same as ours, Volyova would have information about the precise location of Earth, at least if she can orient herself as to the identities of the local stars. This would be of immense interest to the colonials.

A very good point- the Colonials want to get to Earth, and the Nostalgia for Infinity, being a lighthugger, would certainly have the records for the location of the Sol System (AFAIK). OTOH, Volyova would probably want to get her hands on the Colonial's jump drive; not only because of the boon it would provide, but also because it would presumably allow her and the Nostalgia to return to Earth, and the local region of Earth and Yellowstone.

The caveat being, obviously, the tenuous situation of aligning the local stars to the reference points that she'd be familiar with, for the high-relativistic navigation of the local area of Sol.

[Torchship]

I suspect that the Infinity would be fully capable of taking the entire Cylon fleet apart simultaneously if it so desired, though I doubt that it would manage to do so before Caprica is thoroughly depopulated (which, AFAIK, took something on the order of a couple of hours; far too short a time for the Infinity to intervene). nBSG combat takes place at tiny ranges (couple of k's?) using slow, low-power nukes, whereas the Infinity was designed to saturate large volumes of space with shots capable of making a planetary civilization unhappy from light minutes or hours away. Even when the Cylons work out where the Infinity is and FTL their way into its proximity, the sheer rate of fire that the lighthugger can put out should be enough to crush the fleet.

One interesting question is whether the Infinity is vulnerable to the magic computer-hacking capabilities of the Cylons. The Infinity is always described as possessing a thorough set of firewalls and amazingly byzantine system architecture, which should be enough to keep out any realistic external cybernetic attack, but the Cylons have always been anything but realistic in their hacking capabilities (I'm only halfway through nBSG, so maybe they elaborated on this further later). If the Infinity is vulnerable to such attack, humanity is utterly, utterly screwed.

This is all dependant on what Volyova decides to do upon reaching the system, of course (assuming that everyone else is asleep. Volyova's always liked to do things alone, so I suspect she'll keep them that way). As other people have noted, it's doubtful that she would approve of large-scale genocide, and will probably intervene against the Cylons once she has a grasp of the situation.
That said, I don't know how friendly she'll be to the Colonials in the aftermath. She'll certainly lend assistance to stranded planetary and spacebourne populations wherever she can, but I doubt she'll be willing to let any of them aboard her ship (she's nothing if not paranoid). Equally, I doubt that she'll be willing to meet any of the remnants of Caprica's government in person; all communication will take place through video or proxy (the latter of which would make the Colonials incredibly paranoid, but then again she did just save them).

After doing what she can for the population, I certainly think Volyova's first order of business will be to acquire herself one or several FTL drives. Caprica's government might be unwilling to part with them (since I doubt they trust Volyova), so she might be inclined to steal a derelict (or not-so-derelict) ship or two.

I do wonder whether Volyova will assume that she's in a different universe or not: on one hand she's nowhere near where she's supposed to be, on the other she may assume that some massive computer error has lead her to some curiously advanced colony, or that Yellowstone has changed a hell of a lot more than anticipated while she was away (Cylons = Conjoiners, Colonials = Demarchists. Though the planets will be in totally the wrong places, as will the stars. Hmm.) Her assumptions will dictate a lot about how she behaves (for example, if she thinks she's in Yellowstone she'll be a lot less likely to fight since Basestars are comparable in size to lighthuggers).

[Connor MacLeod]

What sorts of mateirals does the light-hugger have for equipment? Does it have antimatter, or is it stuck with other stuff (like fusion?) does it have plenty of materials for onboard fabrication?

Rather important considering the yields of their weaponry can (depending on available materials) range from tons to kilotons to gigatons and Teratons (the crust-cracking warheads, which are also IIRC used for bomb pumped lasers and particle beams.)

[Torchship]

The Zodiacal Light had a reasonable supply of antimatter on board (enough to run a stripped-down shuttle at 1g for a few months with enough left over to fight another lighthugger), so presumably the Infinity would as well. Then again, the Infinity is an ancient, outcast, down-on-its-luck ship that hadn't made berth in a major system in quite a while (at the beginning of the OP's scenario), whereas the Zodiacal Light was relatively new and recently from Yellowstone, so the Zodiacal Light might have considerably more antimatter than the Infinity. That said, neither ship has antimatter manufacturing capability, which is going to hinder them in the long term.

As far as I'm aware, lighthuggers traditionally cannibalise themselves for materials in the absence of a ready supply of outside resources. Considering the sheer mass of the ship, it shouldn't have much difficulty in finding the resources necessary to build any weapon that its manufactories are capable of (except for possibly the really big stuff, like crustbusters. Then again, Skade's ship manufactured them by the dozen during the chase from Yellowstone to Resurgam, IIRC).

A thought that occured to me last night is that once Volyova realises that she's stuck for the foreseeable future, she'll probably be forced to wake the rest of the Triumvirate. If the Triumvirate thinks that it really is in a different universe, they might be quite tempted to set up their own little feudal kingdom. The other Triumvirs have always been depicted as power-hungry, and the Infinity is by far the strongest thing in the nBSG universe.

[Xon]

What sorts of mateirals does the light-hugger have for equipment? Does it have antimatter, or is it stuck with other stuff (like fusion?) does it have plenty of materials for onboard fabrication?

Rather important considering the yields of their weaponry can (depending on available materials) range from tons to kilotons to gigatons and Teratons (the crust-cracking warheads, which are also IIRC used for bomb pumped lasers and particle beams.)

Thier drive also cheats horribly by using a wormhole to a few milliseconds after the big bang to pull 'tiny' amounts of superhot matter into the future and then use it as propulsion.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

If I recall the power suits that were used to deliver Khouri to Resurgam, as well as the heavily armed versions used in the assault on the Cerberus object, were powered by antilithium from the Infinity's own stores. Some other scenes, such as the combat training in one of the large cargo bays, seem to imply that there is enough antimatter aboard to run some sort of military campaign, though the total amount is unknown. The fact that they were willing to attempt to penetrate Cerberus, even with the resources of the derelict lighthugger in orbit, suggests that the reserves may be substantial. On the other hand, they may have taken on supplies at Yellowstone, so their prior levels are really unknown. As for power availability, the engines would seem to provide a neverending supply of power, at staggering levels, considering that a ship that size could maintain one gee acceleration, forever, with occasional bursts of up to ten gees, I believe (I no longer have access to the books). Furthermore, the cache weapons were powered by versions of the same wormhole tap that powered the main engines, and the largest of those could shatter a planet from a hundred AU's away, while others were seen to split moons.

If the triumvir's decided to stay and make the colonies their new fiefdom, they could use the ship's armament do dictate terms to both colonials and Cylons. As for Cylon hacking, the Infinity contains so many sections that have been abandoned, or malfunctioned, or otherwise become independent of central control, that they may be able to hack into one or more portions and establish some presence on board the ship, but it may not be enough to get past Volyova's paranoid security schemes. If the Cylons manage a boarding party, the very low numbers of the Ultras would put them at a severe disadvantage, even if they have overwhelming space superiority. I suspect that once Volyova learns anything about the Cylons, she will keep her distance, and obliterate anything that appears remotely Cylon that attempts to approach the ship at all. She will then install an even more thorough suite of highly paranoid security systems and contingency plans. Of course, it depends on who contacts her first and what she is able to find out about them. She may even field trawl anyone she contacts, to get a better idea of what's really going on.

[Whiskey144]

If I recall the power suits that were used to deliver Khouri to Resurgam, as well as the heavily armed versions used in the assault on the Cerberus object, were powered by antilithium from the Infinity's own stores. Some other scenes, such as the combat training in one of the large cargo bays, seem to imply that there is enough antimatter aboard to run some sort of military campaign, though the total amount is unknown.

That's true- the Nostalgia does carry, at the very least, a fairly substantial supply of antimatter, if only to power shuttles and the combat suits.

On the other hand, they may have taken on supplies at Yellowstone, so their prior levels are really unknown.

Actually, no. The only time they had any ship-to-surface contact (or vice versa), was when:

1. Sajaki went down, then contacted the ship.
2. Volyova, Khouri, and the other crewmate-who-got-killed-and-who's-name-I-forget go down to get Sylveste.
3. They all return to the ship.

And that's it- they had neither the opportunity nor the capacity to take on supplies from Resurgam.

with occasional bursts of up to ten gees, I believe

Alas, this was limited exclusively to those lighthuggers with access to inertia suppression machinery, like the Zodiacal Light and the Nightshade. Also note that Nightshade was smaller than most lighthuggers.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Alas, this was limited exclusively to those lighthuggers with access to inertia suppression machinery, like the Zodiacal Light and the Nightshade. Also note that Nightshade was smaller than most lighthuggers.

Only lighthuggers with inertial suppression could sustain multiple gee's indefinitely, but at least some were capable of bursts of emergency acceleration, witness Volyova's overriding the engines to suddenly ramp up to many gees and then reverse thrust to kill the crewman who was trying to kill her after being exposed to Sun Stealer in the gunnery. Also, at the end of Revelation Space, I believe Volyova and Khouri were concerned that Sun Stealer might use a high burst of acceleration to overtake them fleeing in a shuttle after they abandoned ship when it appeared that Sun Stealer had gained control over the ship's primary systems.