Tg.C.Is.S.S. NuDawn
(Commissioned by Tg.C. Agency for
Colonial Development and Administration, Operated by Tg.C.Is.S)
Tg.C.Is.S.S. Americas
(Commisioned by Tg.C.A.C.D.A. Lost in
Canaan raids)
Number 03
(Commissioned by, and sold to,
Tymbrini. Lost in Raid)
Tg.C.S. Calafia
(Commisioned by, and sold to, the Home
Galaxy Trading Company.)
Number 05
(Commissioned by, and sold to,
Synthians)
Number 06
(Commissioned by, and sold to,
Paha)
Tg.C.Is.S.S. Carthage
(Destroyed while building in the opening battle of the Siege of Earth.)
Number 08
(Commissioned by Konahd.
Sold to Nahalli)
Tg.C.S. Brazil
(Commissioned by, and sold to, the Outer Bounds Trading Company)
Number 10
(Commissioned by Tytlal, abuilding)
Number 11
(Commissioned by Zhuup, in
design)
Tg.C.Is.S.S. Hermes
(In design for the Tg.C. Agency for Colonial Development)
Number 12
(Tentatively commissioned by
Klick-Klick)
An engineer's concept sketch for the Colony Class Freighter
All Terragen commissioned vessels have been equipped with 'C' space drives. The Tymbrini and Tytlal also equipped their ships with 'C' space hyperdrives. Ship 06 was fitted with 'A' level hyperdrives, and all other Colony Class freighters have been fitted with 'B' drives. Power is provided by fusion reactors using a joint Terragen-Tymbrimi design. Thrusters are also a joint Terragen-Tymbrimi design. All components are Library sourced, and the reactor and thruster designs are registered with the Library, allowing any repair facility to service a Colony Class ship.
Colony Class Freighters are unique among Terragen designed ships in relying heavily on gravitronic inertial compensators. Inertial compensators allow a Colony Class ship to carry an externally large array of modular, hexagonal prism, cargo containers. The cargo array can be a cylinder with a radius of up to two kilometers and a depth of as much as 1.5 kilometers. (Roughly 18.8 Km3. That's the same volume as a cube 2 1/3 Km on a side.) Inertial compensators are placed at regular intervals in the external cargo array, allowing Colony Class Freighters to safely use jump-line travel.
The hexagonal cargo modules were carefully designed to match both a set of standard Galactic measures and the eccentric Terragen base-10 metric system. Most respectable Galactic port facilities are heavily robotized, and handle "Wolf-Crates" with no problem at all. Wolf-Crates now come in a variety of sizes allowing them to be nested like Russian dolls. Several sizes are quite useful as ready-made structures, and are ubiquitous in Terragen frontier areas.
Colony Class Freighters have a respectable, though hardly astonishing, cargo capacity even by Galactic standards. Though H-2 'clans' do provide even less expensive bulk cargo to all sophonts in the greater galactic ecumene, most will only travel in D-Space and do not use jump lines. Also, there are occasional problems dealing with H-2 spacers. Equipped with 'C' hyperdrives, Colony Class Freighters have a niche as tramp carriers of inexpensive, low-priority cargo. Fitted with 'B' drives, these ships compete in sales with other bulk cargo designs that have similar capacity. Rotational gravity is much less expensive than gravimetric gravity, and the cargo system gives the operator a great deal of operational flexibility.
The Galactic community has given Earth's Colony Class Freighter a warm reception, and none have been more startled than the Terragens. The Colony Class Freighter is the only Terragen manufactured technology to enjoy a significant export market.1 Considered alone, Colony Class Freighters are the fourth largest source of foreign exchange for the Terragen Confederation after cultural goods, civil engineering projects, and remittances from expatriate workers.
1. Space needle projects are also a major source of foreign exchange. However, space needles are civil engineering projects constructed on-site.
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