Ships of the Confederate Scout Corps
While the adventures of the Confederate Scout Corps is a staple for young adult fiction, the reality is different. The Scouts experience space travel and exploration at its grittiest and most dangerous levels. Out in the uncharted wastelan of the frontier, they face privation and sentient rogues that would curdle the imaginations of their young fans (and a few of their parents as well). In many places, they are the only force that represents civilization and law. They are the Texas Rangers of the Interstellar frontier.
Yet the Confederacy depends on these hearty souls and their solitary existance. The Exploration Branch carries the main burden of opening planets to settling and colonization. Without them, and their enforcing the law between the stars, many colonies would have become ghost settlements, preyed upon by the stronger life forms who know no compassion or kindness. Vital supplies would be cut off to those most vulnerable and families and settlements would wither and die with no one even noting their passing.
The Communication Branch also serves an important role in the functioning of society. Trusted with the transportation of information, their Jump 6 ships stitch together the planets of the nation. In four man, 220 ton ships with enhanced computers, the crews run their traces from one end of the Confederacy to the other and back again. They only time they stop is disability of a crew member or ship. From each stop, smaller Jump ships carry information to other less important worlds. Information is so important to the functioning of an interstellar society that having a Scout Depot on the planet is enough in itself to generate serious economic growth and colonization. The business of the Confederacy is information.
Recognizing the importance of the Scout Corps mission, the government has given them the best of ships and equipment. Even so, it is often not enough. It is rare for a Scout to spend an entire 40 year career as an Explorer and retire in good health. Many Scouts have fallen, their remains buried on some unknown or forgotten world or in orbit around a star. It's part of the life. Most Scouts would have it no other way.
Type F Class Multipurpose Scout Vessel
Type Fs (above and left) are the staple of the Scout fleet with 87% of all personnel assigned to either the MinComCom (Ministry of Communications and Commerce) and MinCoReLoc (Ministry of Communication and Relocation) and their subdivisions having served aboard one at some time during their career. Equipped with substantial onboard transit computers, they are the connective tissue that holds the Confederacy together.
Once a Type F arrives at a hub, it disseminates its information in two ways. Equipped with two "ghost" drives (one continually backs up the other), one drive is carried off the ship to the local central data banks for planet wide distribution. The other drive is taken by the next Type F crew and physically walked over to their ship where it is installed in the new ship's computer.
This transfer period is one of the most dangerous parts of the journey. Infojackers have been known to attack Scouts to steal the vital information they are carrying. The information in the right hands can be worth Trillions. Once the transfer is complete, the new ship and crew go on to their next designated hub. The incoming crew takes a break and waits for their ship to be serviced before flying their next mission. The information once installed on the new local central computer is cloned onto still more ghost drives and is given to waiting dedicated (subsidized) vessels with lower jump capacity to spread through out the stellar "neighborhood."
The integrity of the Scout Information network is critical. It is a fact of life among the stars that whoever controls the flow of information has control of everything else. Fortunes have been made because one man or company knew vital market information before his competitors. An infojacked computer on a high jump ship can outrun the usual flow of information by weeks where it can be used as an advantage in finance or getting a head start on political or national trends.
For example, putting out false reports on commodity shortages, can cause a rush of buying benefitting the seller who doesn't actually have to deliver the product until a future date (and they may have no product to deliver). In the rush to buy with perceived shortages on the horizon, prices soar. When the true news of a surplus breaks, the opposite happens. The victims of the plot realize that they will lose money on the commodities they just bought, panic sell in order to loose as little as possible; the commodities collapse. The one who originally sold non-existent commodities, now buys up everything offered at slashed prices with the money profited from their promised future sales. They are then able to meet all the demands with real products when the time comes due while making huge profits in the process. By such things economies and governments collapse.
This recently commissioned Type F is typical of all Scout vessels: cramped. First of her wartime class, Hawkeye sports the new wartime colors and the addition of a single ten ten kinetic torpedo mounted dorsally. A single hit with the torpedo could cripple a ship ten times Hawkeye's size, but it is meant as a countermeasure for the Mozie's weapon of the same type.
The Star Class Type W Deep Space Explorer
The Star program was the brain child of Sir Anton Blakney, Commandant of the Scout Corps. The ships in the Star class were built specifically for the building of landing pads on unsettled planets to help colonists along their way. With the typical speed of a Scout ship, it is the smallest vessel capable of carrying the standard 27 ton anti-grav ship's boat prevelent in other branches of the military. The Star program and the ships initially faced some setbacks. The original eight man crew was found not to be enough, even with state of the art atomation. The lack resulted in the loss of several ships. An addition three crew were added to correct the problem. Typical of larger Scout craft, the Star uses multidirectional decks. Every deck above and below the cargo deck and hanger bay are perpendicular to the line of thrust. The other decks are parallel to the line of thrust.
Silver Class Type X Fast Freight
The SIlver class is in many ways typical of all larger Scout vessels. It has decks running both parallel and perpemdicular to the line of thrust and a hangar bay for an anti-grav ship's boat. It's fast (6 SAG), has long legs Jump 6), and heavy arms and armor. The one difference from the average Scout is the 1100 ton ship has space devoted to a full diplomatic suite and conference room. These quarters are usually occupied by the Captain who gives way in place of a senior diplomat. Part of the Corps Diplomatique division of the Scout Corps, the SIlver is deigned for diplomatic and courier transport at the highest available speeds. One SIlver is assaigned to each of the major nobles within the Confederacy (for example Duke of Langlais SIlver Fox, Duke of Covia Silver Palm) for either personal use or diplomatic and humanitarian missions. Dozens of Silvers are in use in the central systems to transport the Presidents and members of the Congress and House of Lords.
Ambassador Class Type Z Explorer.
Most of what is known about the Ambassador Class (below) vessel is based on hearsay and rumor. Over a period of three months in 3009, four of these vessels were seen departing from the Scout Base on Langlais. Their names were Ambassador, Courier, Diplomat and Emissary. Witnesses to the ships in flight claim that they look like they were built on the same air frame as a SIlver but with additional fuel tanks. This has lead to the speculation that it may be a secret Jump 7 vessel, the first of its kind, or has some sort of an enhanced power plant for a weapons upgrade. None of these four ships have been seen in Confederate space in the last two years. It is assumed, if they survived, that they are working out beyond the frontier or secretly behind interstellar boundaries among alien or hostile nations.
The Arch Angel Class Type A
A Command-and-Control is one of the largest of Scout ships with the traditional spear head design. Tasked to organize Scout ships and crews in forward crisis areas and displacing over 7k tons. It carries a fleet of six anti-grav ship's boats (hoppers)
The Gabriel, the Michael and the Uriel are a critical part of the Scout Corps' mission during war. Not only does the Type A organize and keep track of the Scout's efforts, it is also a presence on the battlefield itself.
Equipped with 70 turrets and a half dozen kinetic torpedoes mounted ventrally. The Gabriel and its brothers frequently travel in a trident configuration, with 3 smaller vessels anchored to its main hull by pylons.
The illustration of Gabriel at left shows its new war time colors. When the call goes out to the Scouts for the cavalry to save the day, it is an Arch Angel with her escorts that answers that call.
Note: For comparison, the anti-gravity ship's boats are the same size in the illustration of each vessel.
CSC RANGER (unknown class)
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At 99k tons, the Trident Class Type L Light Carrier (above) is the largest ship in the Confederate Scout Corps. Designed to be a forward repair base, it is both armed and armored heavily. It is the closest thing the Corps has to a warship. Organized into eight CSC Support Squadrons, each Trident is accompanied by five Type T Fleet Tenders. It is rare to see an entire support group in one place. Typically, the Trident will be at the front with one tender, while the second rotates back, the third is in maintenance, the fourth is being resupplied and the fifth is rotating back to the front. For example, the CSC Eighth Support Group consists of the Assegai (pictured above), the CSCT Natal, CSCT Amatonga, CSCT Basato, CSCT Basulo and the CSCT Swazi. The other Tridents in the Corps are the Goodentak, Traiaina, Dogpa, Tryzub, Kohanim and the Triarii.
The ship itself is truly a multi-purpose vessel. When not acting as a mobile space dock, it can transport one Arch Angel Type A Command-and-Control ship in its massive central bay and up to 24 Type Fs in its auxillary hangars. A dotted outline of an Arch angel is provided in the builder's drawing above to give a sense of scale. Its use as a carrier is somewhat limited for the Corps because it has only half the Jump and acceleration of the vessels it carries. The Trident can maintain pace with the Navy fleet and they frequently take advantage of Navy escorts.
The ship is at its best when bringing replacement ships to the front where crews are waiting for them. It is useful as an economical measure in times of war in terms of materials and manpower. The Trident uses as much fuel to travel light as it does heavy, but still less than half of what the ships would require separately. It also requires 500 fewer crew. The Trident can also be used as a freighter or a troop transport with specialized personnel modules added. As a troop ship, however, its use is limited. It has to depend on landing craft already on station; it has only four fuel shuttles and is not capable of atmospheric landings.
A unique feature of the Trident Class is the "gun rosettes" or batteries easily seen on the dorsal side of the ship. An experiment in targeting control, each of these rosettes has a plasma projector dish in the center ringed by 30 triple pulse laser turrets firing as a single battery. The plasma projector is able to protect the ship and laser turrets while the lasers protect the plasma projectors. The ship is armed with 20 rosettes (600 triple pulse lasers and 20 plasma projectors) firing as 20 main batteries with six auxiliary rosettes (36 triple missile batteries in groups of six linked together with six plasma projectors) and twelve internally mounted 10 ton kinetic torpedoes. Total weapons: 600 triple lasers turrets, 36 missile turrets. 26 plasma projectors and twelve 10 ton kinetic torpedoes. There is room for an upgrade at a future time for another 100 turrets. Despite its protective web, the Trident shares a common weakness with all ship with nacelles: a vulnerability to damage along the connecting pylons and, more importantly, blind spots. It is possible to maneuver a small vessel into a place where few or no guns can be brought to bear.
The Trident would have been considered a Confederate Navy ship if it were not for some clever maneuvering on the part of the Scouts. The Scout Charter does not allow the Corps to have vessels of 100 tons or larger, just as the Marine Charter does not allow them Jump capable ships. Again, if the ship were designated a "heavy" carrier instead of a light one as its size of 99k tons displacement would suggest, it would fallen under the Navy's jurisdiction. Another concession to the Navy and the Scout Charter is the lack of plasma energy weapons (except for defense), beam weapons (ship mounted) and missile bays. Instead of infringing on the Navy's domain, the Scouts have elected to uses masses of smaller turrets rather than the Navy's big guns. The CSCT Amatonga (below) is one of the Assegai's five fleet tenders
CSCT ANATONGA
77K TON EPIRUS CLASS
FLEET SUPPORT TRANSPORT.
The support transports are designed to load whatever cargo they might carry in their hold quickly and efficiently. The keel of the Epirus class ship engages the centrally located trough located along the spine of the "mother ship." Multiple bay doors can be opened simultaneously allowing the quick transfer of goods directly into the larger ships hold.
The current resupply doctrine dictates that one ship be in repair, the second ship is being loaded, the third ship is in transit to the carrier, the fourth is being unloaded at the carrier while the fifth ship is in transit back home. Each light carrier has five Epirus Class Fleet Support Transports in its squadron. There are currently eight Fleet Support Squadrons in the Scout Corps although with the outbreak of hostilities that number is sure to increase.
