Barbapiccola
Knocked tumbling and beyond saving, the Barbapiccola is emptied of its whole crew via life-support bubbles, then burns to fiery fragments in Ilus's atmosphere — its lithium ore lost with it.
Story so far
The Barbapiccola, the Belter ore freighter, meets its end. Knocked ten degrees off its stabilized orbit and tumbling after the militia's missile strike shredded its tether, it can no longer be saved by the crippled Rocinante. Instead its full complement — over a hundred crew and colonists, including Felcia — is evacuated in ten makeshift 'life-support bubbles' (paired emergency airlocks from the Edward Israel), pushed out of the cargo bay past a mountain of raw lithium ore and towed up to the Israel.
Basia cuts the tether once everyone is off. Emptied, the freighter drifts down into the upper atmosphere, streamers turning to white smoke with a black heart, until its hull flashes from a solid object to many fiery pieces in the blink of an eye. Its thousands of tons of lithium — the cargo that started the whole conflict — burns with it, and the fight over the ore is finally, mercifully moot.
Appearance
A utilitarian Belter ore freighter; here tumbling and gutted, cargo bay open on a hold of raw lithium, then a glowing streamer-trailing hull disintegrating into fiery fragments over a cloudy planet.
Role
The Belter ore freighter; the ship lost at last, its people saved by bubble evacuation as it burns empty in the atmosphere.
Relationships
Sources — 3 recorded facts, by chapter
- The Belter ship that carried the Ganymede refugees to [[Ilus]] and whose sensor maps chose the [[First Landing]] site.
- Hours from burning in Ilus's exosphere, the ore freighter is hauled to a safer orbit by the Roci's tether tow — its death clock ballooning from hours to days, Felcia aboard.
- Knocked tumbling and beyond saving, the Barbapiccola is emptied of its whole crew via life-support bubbles, then burns to fiery fragments in Ilus's atmosphere — its lithium ore lost with it.