First manned interstellar translation using an experimental Improbability Engine.
Starship class: Light Cruiser. Hull laid AF 385 in the Crux Corp Mars orbit yards.
[AF - After Fall. AF zero is AD 2026 by the old calendar.]
Commissioned Oct 3 AF 388 into the Belt Territories navy as ISSN Watchful.
[ISSN - Imperial Sol Space Navy.]
The ISSN Watchful served 23 years of trade regulation and policing.
Captured intact by the Belter forces in the opening months of the Belt War of Independence, the ship was renamed FSN Gusanamo.
[Free Space Navy]
She saw extensive action against Earth forces during AF411-413. During the decisive Dark Side Battle of 412, a brilliant deception by Captain Ferris led to the rout of the numerically superior Imperial forces. One year later, Admiral Ferris and the FSN Gusanamo hosted the signing of the Capitulation of Earth.
In AF 426, the Gusanamo was decommissioned and bought by Impro Corp. Renamed the SVA Unlikely, she served as a research and test platform in Neptune orbit during early development of the I-Engine. After the instability accident on 21 Feb 429, in which five researchers died (only two bodies identifiable as such were recovered) SVA Unlikely was refitted for remote operation and moved to Pluto orbit. Remote AI-assisted development of the I-Engine continued there despite several further mishaps, including the famous 'Coincidence Pulse' incident during which half of Pluto vanished and significant synchronicity effects were observed throughout the Solar System.
In AF 434, Stromberg's Theorem led to a breakthrough in the I-Engine entanglement shielding problem. One year later, on 3rd May 435, the first translation to Alpha Centauri was made, with a crew of eight including Stromberg.
Maximum Not Factor achieved on that translation was 6.3, resulting in a Statistical Radius of Arrival of 850,000 Kilometers. However unexpected imbalances contributed to a poor Cohesion, with 2.9% of the ship's mass failing to materialize in correct form. Stromberg was among the five survivors. The ship's crew worked nearly two years at Alpha Centauri repairing the ship's systems, and making adjustments to the I-Engine based on I-Field topological understanding gained from the distribution of 'abstracted material' defects.
The translation return to Sol was made on 16th Jan 437, and this time only 0.002% of the ship abstracted. All five crew survived, though one subsequently required amputation of the conceptually challenging object that had previously been his left arm.
Subsequently the SVA Unlikely was mothballed, and finally graved as a permanent historic monument in Mars orbit in AF 443 after her I-Engine was remotely dismantled, removed, and the parts boosted out of the Solar System for safety due to continuing improbability after-effects. All subsequent Improbability Engine ships are designed to geometrically simpler forms such as spheres and the polygonal solids, as these allow for more determinate control of the I-Field.