Ship History
Beka Valentine and her crew often use the ship to make risky and illegal cargo runs, before rescuing Dylan Hunt from a black hole and joining his crew. The ship was built by Beka's father, Ignatius Valentine, and his friend Sid Barry.
Sid left the Maru crew when Beka was a child, after a fight between him and Ignatius. Beka has spent most of her life on the Maru, and it has been implied that she was born on board. She is very protective of the Maru and would never allow it to be destroyed; she also hates it when people insult the ship, including Dylan Hunt's frequent use of the term "bucket of bolts".
In episode 4 of series 1, Dylan states that Beka was captain of the Maru for 10 years, meaning she received official command of the ship from her father in CY 10077; in episode 16 of series 4, Harper states that possession of the Maru fell to Beka in CY 10081, the year her father died. Beka's original crew was composed solely of herself and her boyfriend Bobby Jensen; they later broke up and he was replaced by Seamus Harper as the ship's engineer (after he was hired by Bobby for a one-time deal on Earth). Rev Bem joined shortly after this and then another crew member named Vexpag was hired, however he died when his environmental suit ripped. He was replaced by Trance Gemini shortly before they found the Andromeda Ascendant (while under contract with a Nightsider named Gerentex). Since its crew joined Andromeda, the Maru was traditionally kept in Andromeda's shuttle bays, being used when the crew need to carry out scouting missions or sneak attacks due to its smaller size. Traditionally it is taken out by Beka during these missions, although Dylan has been known to pilot the ship on occasion.
Read more about this topic: Eureka Maru
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