A Titan Lost

A rumour concerning the two Titanic-class superheavy battleships, the Titanic Lance and its presumed-lost twin, the Titanic Mace.

Summary

Even despite the massive security and secrecy measures of the construction process, information about the twin ships leaked. And when, later on, only one ship was ever seen, the rumours began that the other ship had something happen to it. Be that getting captured, demolished, used for a secret colony, or even never having been made at all.

Spread

Quite a common conspiracy theory in the inner regions of human space. If discussing anything military and ASTUN in depth, the topic will come up in one form or another.
The rumours even reached some enemies of the STUN, many of which consider the possibility of such a powerful asset an important part of any potential plans.

Variations & Mutation

Due to the general mystery of the story, there are a lot of variations.
The most common idea is that the ship is simply lost. Some say it was captured by rogue actors, others vow the ship was used to found some faraway colony away from prying eyes. Another popular one is that it's actually in a secret ASTUN base, kept hidden for some nefarious reason. There are more and more theories, some more out there than others, like the ship being lost to a mutiny, from the crew or the integrated intellegence, or even some eldritch creature having made the ship its personal vessel. ASTUN officials, of course, maintain that the ship never existed to begin with.

In Literature

There are more than a few stories and works about the ships. From the 22 Cepris system's bestseller of 2866, the adventure-romance Hell's Heart, Titanic's Wake, to Lance and Mace: the Stories of our Titans, which catalogues the various possibilities and interpretations of the twin ships, and has reached a high level of popularity in the The Second Core.

Date of Setting

2721