Courier

"Courier" Class of Small Freighter

   The first set of Couriers were AI-run small transports used to move high-value personnel or cargo as quickly as possible.  They were basically a smaller version of the Stagecoach small supply ships, and, like the Stagecoaches, they are 100% automated with a single Naval Auxiliary "Captain" who has no job to do unless something goes wrong.  The ships were effectively a habitat section with engines separated by a spine with mounting points to hold three standard personnel "pods".
   A ship's hyperspace envelope MUST be larger than the ship, else part of the ship will be left behind.  As envelope size is one of the direct inputs to a design's maximum speed in hyperspace, the simplest way to make a design faster is to make it smaller so that the hyperspace envelope can be smaller.
   The original Courier design concept specified a one-man crew.  To minimize the forward hull's size, the Captain's quarters are basically a personnel pod with volume and equipment minimized to only support up to 140 kg of crew.  Unfortunately, this means that the Captain is completely alone, he or she cannot even take a Concubine along unless he or she lives in an attached domicile pod.  The design did include ~20 cubic meters of cargo space, though.
   If the critical 'passenger' is small enough (often simply a data chip or prototype device) the three pods can be left off, giving the bare ship much better performance.  In practice, the Couriers ran 'bare' for the speed and expanded range just as often as they ran with pods.  As built the ships were surprisingly nimble and thanks to their design were faster than all but the swiftest corvettes once in hyperspace.
   As the Confederacy expanded, the original design turned out to be too short-ranged to keep up with the Diaspora.  The design's inability to transport a standard CMC Marine (200 kg) even if the Marine acted as the Captain meant that the Couriers could not be used at full speed if the cargo was a Marine.  Any passenger(s) required that at least one domicile pod be mounted and used to house the passenger(s).

'Pony' Sub-Class

   Proposed: Eventually an improved subclass was built to make up for the original Couriers' shortcomings.  The mid-ships spine needed to mount the three pods was completely dropped, allowing the forward and aft hulls to be combined and making the overall hull significantly shorter.  The original design's engineering plant was retained, but the lower mass made the 'Ponies' much faster and more nimble in normal space, and the smaller hyperspace envelope made them much faster in hyperspace, too.
   The first two 'Pony' Couriers were simply that, a pair of original-design ships with the central pod-mounting spine removed.  However, this added additional failure modes.  The original design included three pods which may have passengers who could help with repairs or even cargo or parts which could be used to get the ship moving again.  The condensed version would never have this help; the pilot was truly on his own.  The old version could also use the pods themselves as emergency escape vehicles if necessary.  This was not an option with the new version.
   In recognition of this, for the 'standard' Pony class of Couriers, part of the hull length saved was re-invested in an expansion of self-repair capability, making it much more likely that the ship would survive minor damage.  The Pony design also provided a minimal-capability normal-space-only 'liferaft' that the Captain could use if the ship's engineering plant became disabled and was not repairable without outside help.
   Crew quarters were improved as well, with greater volume and environmental capacity, allowing up to 240 kg of crew so that the crew could be a single Marine if needed.  While the "Pony" subclass were still only officially rated for one crewman, an enterprising Captain could often find a way around this limit...

Armament

   The Couriers typically have a single CIWS sited to fire directly aft, as "away" is the only tactical maneuver the AI will consider when under fire. It should be noted that this is the only shipboard system that the Captain must be certified in.  If the Captain decides to use this system he will have to direct its use personally, as weaponry cannot be directed by the AI.

Hull Listing

   The Couriers were designated as APC for "Auxiliary - Personnel/Courier".  After the Fleet Auxiliary was created, most were assigned to it for general use but some were retained by the Navy for high-priority transfers.  The first set were named for the various taxi services available in Earth's cities.  After this, follow-on ships were given names that meant "someone who delivers a message" in any of Earth's languages, with one name being blocked:  There is no Courier-class ship named "Courier".
   The "Pony" subclass was given APC1xx series hull numbers and named after horse breeds: Arabian, Quarterhorse, Percheron, etc.  As before, there is no Courier-class ship named "Pony".

• APC001 - Checkered
• APC002 - Yellow
• APC003 - Black and White
• APC004 - Black Top
• APC005 - Red Top
• APC006 - Blue and White

• APC037 - Telegrapher

• APC112 - Haflinger

• Pony Express ("Pony", to Beerat in Independent Command)
  
• Postman ("Postie", to Beerat in Independent Command)
  
• Runner
  
• Deliverer
  

See Also

• Support Ships

Story Usage

A textual analysis of the story repository, current as of 2018 and performed on 2019-09-06 identified the following top ten usage counts for Courier:

• Independent Command by Zen Master 15 instances.
• Platitudes and Aptitudes by Nuke Danger, 3rd Aye 9 instances.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern by lordshipmayhem 8 instances.
• Ending This Mess by Zen Master 6 instances.
• Sacking by Just Jack 6 instances.
• A Peril at Ishtar by Allan Joyal 4 instances.
• Grind Forces by Just Jack 4 instances.
• Living a CAP Based Present by Allan Joyal 4 instances.
• The Cosca 1: Family Values by Quantum Mechanic 4 instances.
• Chosen Frozen by lordshipmayhem 3 instances.

(Someday this will be a navigation template.  It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links.  Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))