The Khar-Selim was a Kushan support vessel sent to the outskirts of the Kharak System in order to provide assistance and resupply to the Kushan Mothership. It was lost with all hands after it was attacked by Turanic Raiders.
Overview[]
The Khar-Selim was a massive science ship, appearing slightly larger than the Mothership itself. It carried advanced sensors and highly trained personnel to monitor the hyperspace test. Unfortunately, with no combat capabilities, a weak hull, and only sublight drives, it was destroyed quickly.
History[]
The Khar-Selim was ordered to travel at sub-light speeds to the very edge of the Kharak system in preparation for the Mothership's hyperspace test, a journey that took an entire decade. The vessel would then monitor the test, and afterwards dock and make adjustments to the colony ship's hyperspace core and sublight drives.
However, before the Mothership made its jump, the Khar-Selim was attacked without warning and quickly destroyed by the Turanic Raiders, at the behest of the Taiidan Empire. The Khar-Selim tried to send a message to the Mothership warning them to abort the hyperdrive test, but it was never received. The ship was broken in half, leaving a field of debris, and its emergency distress beacon was activated.
When the Mothership arrived, they picked up the signal and found the lost ship's forward section. As the Kushan moved to recover its flight recorder, the Raiders, using the Khar-Selim as bait to lure in more targets, tried to ambush them but the Mothership's defense wing proved far superior in battle and the Raiders were soon driven away.
Without the support ship's data and advanced science and engineering teams to complete work on the Mothership's conventional sublight drives, it could only move by far-jumping and was left utterly immobile otherwise. This nearly spelled disaster in the outskirts of the Hiigara System, as the ship's inability to move made it an easy target for the Taiidan to use Headshot Asteroids against it.
To this day, the remains of the Khar-Selim now rest in the far reaches of the Great Wastelands, a tomb to the first Kushan people to die in the bloody Homeworld War.
Importance[]
Although unimportant from a military standpoint, the Khar-Selim and its crew bore played an integral part in an already dramatic shift in history. It took part in the single greatest moment of Kharak's history: their first step to their ancestral home. It was also the first ever Kushan contact with an off-world people since the Exile, and, tragically, both it and its crew were the first casualties in the Homeworld War. Its destruction put the Kushan in de-facto war with the Turanic Raiders. The Khar-Selim's planned rendevouz also spared the Mothership destruction at the hands of the Taiidan fleet.
The final recording on the blackbox of the Khar-Selim recovered by the early Kushan fleet:
"What do you mean you detect a Hyperspace entry? The mothership isn't due for..."
"Sir, I have multiple contacts on closing vectors. Unknown profiles... No recognition codes... Uhh, they're not ours."
"Well if they're not ours, who the hell are they?"
"Sir, they're coming in fast... Check... Incoming fire! We are under attack! They're getting through! Breaches across all decks! Hull integrity failing!"
"Khar-Selim to Mothership! If you are receiving, abort hyperdrive test. Repeat: abort hyperdrive test! [static]"
Trivia[]
- The Khar-Selim makes a cameo appearance in Homeworld: Cataclysm. During the Mission 14 cutscene, there are some debris fields of ships that have been destroyed by the Beast infection: one of the wrecks is the Khar-Selim viewed from the rear end.
- Rob Cunningham provides the voice of the Khar-Selim's captain.
- As the name "Khar-Toba" meant "First City" in the Kharak language, the Khar-Selim's name would indicate it is the "first" in some regard; as its journey to the edge of the system took 10 whole years, it was likely the first ever vessel to complete such a trip.