The Sun Tzu was a Generation Ship. It was over a mile long and had a blocky, rectangular shape with all sides being the same length. Its rear end was box-shaped with thrusters on every side and the front was flat and stub-nosed. The long sides had structures, depressions, and protrusions with unclear purposes. The giant ship was designed to be piloted by only a single person.
Overview[]
The Alliance placed the Sun Tzu in orbit around an uninhabited, nameless planet billions of miles away from the Blue Sun, far beyond the rim. The Sun Tzu was positioned next to a ring system around the planet for cover, but just far enough away that it wouldn't be struck by any of the orbiting chunks of rocks and ice. A large hole was blasted in the side to make it look like a wreck, then was retrofitted with new airlocks and bulkheads to make it capable of holding atmosphere again.
The Alliance used the Sun Tzu to store Silas, The Academy's first test subject, in a cryogenic chamber as he was deemed too dangerous to let free, but too valuable to destroy. Before being put to sleep, Silas gave a map to one of the guards that he knew would eventually lead someone to find the Sun Tzu. Two female Hands of Blue were tasked with making sure Silas stayed secure there.
The map eventually found its way into Malcolm Reynolds' possession, and River Tam was able to read the map and direct the Serenity to find the Sun Tzu. River knew of the legendary Silas from stories whispered at the Academy and she wanted to meet him with the hope that he would help her to understand herself, while the rest of the crew were interested in looting the Sun Tzu from its Earth-That-Was artifacts and technology.
While much of the Sun Tzu was barren of valuable loot, Jayne and Kaylee found a chamber that held hundreds of cryogenic chambers used to transport their ancestors from Earth-That-Was, though many of the chambers now contained corpses who never made it to the end of their long journey. Jayne tried to find jewelry or other valuables on the dead bodies, but found nothing. He was eventually able to find some old bottles of alcoholic drinks, an old medical book, a shoe, and some dishes. His most valuable piece was a Taurus watch, one of only a thousand that were ever made, that would be valuable enough to refuel Serenity, restock her supplies, and buy new parts.
The Sun Tzu was heavily damaged when Silas blew up one of the boosters on an Alliance destroyer, causing it to collide with the Generation ship. The two ships were sent into a chaotic spin in a slow decent toward the planet. However, in order to kill Silas, one of the two female Hands of Blue took control over the Sun Tzu and flew it into the planetary rings, causing it to be destroyed and reduced to dust indiscernible from the rest of the ring system.
Trivia[]
- The name of the ship refers to Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist and writer, most well-known for authoring The Art of War.