Destiny

"The design is clearly Ancient, in the truest sense of the word. Launched hundreds of thousands of years ago. Faster than light, yet not through hyperspace. Who knows how far it's traveled."

- Nicholas Rush

Destiny is a ship in the Ancient fleet, launched originally from Earth, constructed millions of years ago. The Ancients launched several automated ships prior to Destiny, each with the purpose of constructing and seeding Stargates throughout the numerous galaxies they crossed, with Destiny itself following in their path to explore those planets. After beginning this process, the Ancients initially planned to wait until the ship reached a sufficient distance from Earth to begin to inhabit it and explore the universe. However, because of other endeavors, such as ascension, they never followed through on the plan. Because of this, Destiny has continued on a pre-programmed path on its journey throughout the stars, alone, for millions of years until the arrival of the Tau'ri in 2009. Initially starting from the Milky Way, the ship has crossed many galaxies, including Pegasus.

Sometime during its journey, Destiny was heavily damaged and sections of the ship have become exposed to the vacuum of space. The extent of the damage has led the crew to speculate it came under attack. There is some shielding in place, holding in atmosphere, however bulkheads were automatically closed and locked, as the shields were still siphoning air. The crew has begun marking bulkheads that lead to damaged sections of the ship by drawing an X on them in white chalk.

Specifications
Destiny itself is relatively flat and triangular in shape. The left and right sides are markedly concave, while the aft portion of the ship is convexly rounded. The ship is very long and becomes more narrow towards the bow. The surface of the ship is covered with layers of textural elements and has at least two triple barreled weapon turrets on the dorsal side.

Some doors in Destiny's interior are accompanied by a small control panel, much like Atlantis has panels containing control crystals that control some of the doors there. The small blue light on a door panel indicates it is on automatic. Beneath that, the amber and red lights indicate whether the door is locked or unlocked, respectively. Below the large round button, along the bottom of the panel, are eight small buttons with ancient writing on them that allow for manual overrides or door code changes.

Destiny is capable of faster than light travel but not by means of hyperdrive engines. Whether it is hyperspace capable or not is yet to be known. However, the ship seems to be propelled by an engine mechanism, which spans the full rear of the ship.

It predates the ATA Gene security feature featured in the outposts and in Lantean Technology.

History
Some time in the distant past, the Alterans launched several automated ships to explore the universe, before sending the Destiny, which was also automated. It was the Alterans' intention to further their knowledge of other galaxies, but they abandoned the project upon ascension. Nonetheless, the Destiny continued to go from planet to planet, system to system, galaxy to galaxy for millions of years. At some point, the ship was attacked, leaving holes in her hull, barely shielded by forcefields maintaining life support.

In 2009, the personnel of the Icarus project managed to unlock the Stargate's ninth chevron to gate to the Destiny.

Technology
The Destiny has a great deal of advanced technology at her disposal, ranging from the Stargate and Shuttles, to Energy weapons, the FTL engine and the all-important Energy shields.

Power Generation
"The ship is powered by the stars themselves. Solar powered - quite literally. There is no other explanation."

- Nicholas Rush

Destiny is capable of absorbing and utilizing solar energy directly from stars. With shields active, the ship itself is able to fly into the lower atmosphere of a star, during which time a portion of the star's energy is collected and stored, making Destiny truly solar powered. At the time of the Destiny Expedition's arrival, power levels were critically low and so this method was soon initiated by the ship automatically.

Shields
Destiny possesses a yellow energy shielding system which may be localized to retain the atmosphere in damaged parts of the ships. However, shield strength is dependent on power levels and the number of localized shields currently active. Destiny's shields are capable of resisting the intense heat and turbulence of a star's corona, using only reserve power, to the point where neither is at all noticable to anyone inside.

Weapons
Destiny possesses an array of yellow energy weapons. It is currently unknown what strength they possess.

FTL Engine
The Faster-Than-Light engine, or FTL engine, is capable of faster-than-light travel without entering hyperspace. An incoming wormhole to the ship's Stargate will trigger the drive to temporarily shut down, enabling the gate to connect.

Stargate
The Destiny Stargate is a different variant design from the previous two designs seen in the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. It is still unknown as if there is anything unique about this design like those in the Pegasus Gate system, which could hold priority over the Milky Way Gate system if both are in close proximity to each other.

Locations

 * Communication lab
 * Control interface room
 * Crew quarters
 * Gate room
 * Hydroponics lab
 * Infirmary
 * Kino room
 * Mess hall
 * Nexus room
 * Observation deck
 * Showers

Technology

 * CO2 scrubber
 * Database
 * Energy shields
 * FTL engine
 * Hubs
 * Jump countdown
 * Kino
 * Dispenser
 * Long-range communication device
 * Stargate
 * Gate bearing
 * Recharger Plate

Senior staff

 * Colonel Everett Young (Expedition Leader and Military Commander)
 * Lieutenant Matthew Scott (Temporary Military Commander)
 * Doctor Nicholas Rush (Expedition Leader and Senior Scientist)
 * IOA Camile Wray (IOA official and Civilian contingent)
 * Tamara Johansen (Chief Medical Officer)