Cryoship

Cryoships are a type of spacecraft that uses cryogenic technology to preserve organic matter and life forms for indefinite amounts of time, originally used for deep space colonization purposes. They were later used for transporting prisoners or other perishable organic materials, often working in correlation with cryo stations.

Capabilities
Cryoships utilize cryogenic technology, which make up the bulk of their passenger holds. They can preserve hundreds to even thousands of Human-sized life forms, a lesser amount of larger lifeforms, or a larger amount of smaller lifeforms. The cryogenics are usually held in removable pods meant to hold a single occupant, or in large cells that can contain multiple occupants or one large occupant. While frozen, passengers are kept in a state of suspended animation, which keeps them alive and slows bodily functions to a state that could often only be detected by artificial means. These cryotech devices also provide life support functions, as cryogenic technology could only keep a life form alive for a certain amount of time. Individuals who enter the cyrotech devices would usually enter clad in a sort of jumpsuit that would not freeze to their body, or with little to no garments at all. Members of other species, especially those with exterior cybernetics, natural armor, or other full-body coverings, often needed other specialized gear in order to be properly put into suspended animation. If deactivated, cryotech devices would often simply open up and remove its occupant from suspended animation, although this could be ill-fated, as the cryotech needs to undergo the proper thawing process in order for the occupant to wake up safely. Prolonged periods of suspended animation could also result in some detrimental side effects, mainly nausea and numbness, although these were temporary. Like generation ships, cryoships had most of their functions dedicated to the safety and preservation of the passengers. The cryotech chambers were always in the most armored central areas of the ship, and had multiple isolated generators and batteries to keep them active up to many centuries if the rest of the ship loses power. Original cryoships, meant for colonization purposes, utilized Sub-Light Drives and were operated by a skeleton crew of robots. Later cryoships, meant for simple transportation of organic matter and transport of prisoners, utilized hyperspace-faring Light Drives, and could thus be manned by an organic crew. The purpose of later cryoships was to transport cryopods with prisoners or frozen goods inside between interstellar distances, keeping dangerous criminals in a position they are unable to escape from and allowing for an easy storage and preservation of perishable organic goods. Colonization cryoships undid some flaws of the older generation ships, such as removing the possibility of a future generation of crewmen changing course and disregarding the mission, and preventing population problems, as all organic passengers are frozen and the crew is made up of robots that cannot deviate from the course unless a detour must be made around an unforseen obstacle. However, colonization cryoships did present a new flaw, which was that if the robotic crew or the ship's systems should falter for any reason, the lives of the passengers will be in jeopardy, and they may not be able to wake up in time to save themselves.

Background
Cryoships, like generation ships, were developed prior to the creation of the Old Titanian Empire. They proved to be more effective, with a higher rate of success. Following the invention of hyperspace-faring Light Drives, cryoships stayed in service, now repurposed as prisoner transports and organic preservation crafts. During the early Trans-Galactic War, some refugees from Earth utilized cryoships to escape the coming Imperial forces, although most of these ships did not get far. However, some remained unaccounted for, presumably thrown into incredibly distant space by hyperspace anomalies resulting from excessive Imperial use of hyperdrills.