Message Torpedo
(Copied straight from .XML 'backup' file, needs formatting and corrections. ZM User (talk) 20:15, 22 April 2024 (PDT))
This is a "Stub", or a short article with little useful information. Any editor with more information about this subject is invited to help improve it.
A message torpedo -often called a message drone- is an automated hyper-capable device used to transfer data between star systems. Before their development, a message such as "Your mother liked her birthday present" being sent to your son in a different system had to be transmitted to a starship, which entered hyperspace and navigated to the other system, then transmitted the message to a communication station which assumed responsibility for final delivery to the addressee.
Until small minimally-crewed communications or "Courier" ships were built, this had to be done by much larger ships which could be better used elsewhere. Even with the couriers, this was a waste of valuable trained crew. The development of the message torpedo allowed crewed starships to be re-assigned to more appropriate duties.
A message torpedo has a one-cubic-meter cargo hold which is NOT certified for living cargo. Any cargo that is alive, or that doesn't fit in that hold, or is fragile, or cannot handle open space, must be delivered by a much larger crewed starship.
Due to the small size of the hyperspace envelope, a message torpedo is the fastest hyper-capable device we have yet built. A message torpedo can go anywhere, within its range, that it is told to go. However, this MUST be a fixed location. You can send your critical message to any system you can program the location of. You cannot, however, tell it to "Go find the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and tell them to get back here fast." For such a vague 'delivery address', you'll have to send one of your two couriers.
Every missile-armed warship will carry several message torpedoes for reporting to the next level. Every organized Confederacy system will have at least one comm-station in a standard location for incoming message torpedoes to transmit messages to and then dock with to get refitted for its next mission. These are usually, for ease of location, located 1 AU to the system "north" of the primary colony or base.
See Also
(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))
