Freelance Traveller

Designed by Peter Gray

Overview

Among the common classes of merchant found in the former Imperium, the Garm class bulk carrier was among the most beloved. The old ship was first built in Old Expanses and Diaspora sectors in the 1040s, but quickly became an Imperial Design Package. The ship's unspecialized nature appealed to a number of shipping lines, who discovered they could adapt it to a number of different roles owing to its simple construction and interchangeable components. One Old Expanses sector company, Phoenix Enterprises Limited, converted several surplus 1G Garms into a 4G pocket carrier known as the Fenris. Old Expanses suffered from endemic piracy along the Imperial border, and the inoffensive appearance of the new ship was irresistible bait to many pirates, most of whom never lived to tell the tale of their misfortune. Though PEL went out of business during the Rebellion from soaring insurance costs and irreplaceable losses to her fleet, the class lived on with other users. Both Lucan's and Margaret's admirals had noticed the effectiveness of the Garms, converting several dozen over to tankers that serviced fleet couriers and scouts operating in the growing no-man's-land between factions. Trusting that these operations would attract Dulinor's raiders, both factions converted several ships into Fenrises, and deployed them among the tankers on a 1:3 ratio. These ships were sufficiently armored and armed to resist an attack by Ilelishi commerce raiders such as the Chameleon, and had better acceleration to boot. After success in static defense, they were given the same spoofing technology as their enemies and redeployed to exposed systems along factional borders as escorts for normal commercial shipping. This is a classic shell game strategy, since raiders cannot tell the difference between a normal Garm and a Fenris, a convoy with only the former ship could be an effective deterrent to the small raiding fleets of former privateers and pirates.

The main weapon of these new Fenrises were a squadron of either sixteen Lance fighters, or thirty two Javelins. Though the class was fitted with only a dozen launch ports, standard doctrine called for hiding the fighters among the bulk of the carrier and tankers, sending them into ambush when an enemy raider made its presence known. For fighter service, a hangar of 2240 cubic meters displacement is fitted; This sufficient for maintenance of one Lance in the big hangar or arming two, or maintenance of two Javelins or arming of four. Twenty two laser barbettes were fitted to provide cover fire against enemy fighters or missiles, and eight missile barbettes provide additional support against heavier enemy raiders. The total number of carriers built is unknown, but about sixty of these ships were built after the Collapse for the Regency Quarantine Service, and several dozen for smaller planetary navies and the Florian League Navy. The RQS ships are evenly divided into two subclasses: one that carries the original fighter complement, and another class that sacrifices some fighters for a handful of either Ahab Interdiction Fighters, or RQS Inspection Launches. The class is one of the most distinctive ships in the sky; being colorfully described as a slug with an axe for a face, or a fat chisel lying on its side. (A FASA advert in JTAS 9 includes an illustration of this ship) The class is sometimes known as Pabby, from the acronym PAB ("Paybacks a Bit--") used by her crews in response to complaints from captured Chameleon crewmen.

TNE design adapted from CT stats provided courtesy of Richard Perks. The original authorship of this ship is unknown to the author of this article.

General Data

Displacement: 3,000	Hull Armor: 350
Length: 115.5 m.	Volume: 42,000 cu. m.
Price: MCr 1,316.431	Target Size: M
Configuration: Slab SL	Tech Level: F (15)
Mass (L/E): 42,485.806 tons/30,689.98 tons (Loaded mass includes full complement of Lance fighters)

Engineering

Power Plant: TL-15 7086 MW Fusion (One Year Duration) (300 MW/Hit)
Jump Performance: Jump-2 (3150 m3 per parsec, 6300 m3 for J-2)
G-Rating: 4G Heplar (1500 MW/G), CG Lifters (Hi-Eff, 300 MW)
G-Turns: 48 (187.5 m3 each), 95.6 using jump fuel
Fuel Tankage: 15,300 m3+708.6 m3 for power plant
Maint: 1007

Electronics

Computer: 3xTL-15Fb (1.1 MW)
Commo: 3x1000 AU Radio (20 MW), 3x1000 AU Maser (0.6 MW)
Avionics: Imaging EMS, Grav/Inertial Positioning
Sensors: PEMS 180,000 km Fixed Array (Range:6, 0.2 MW), 240,000 km, Folding Array (Range:8, 0.3 MW), AEMS 3x480,000 km (Range:16, 23 MW)
ECM/ECCM: EMM (42 MW)
Workstations: 28 Bridge plus 62 Normal

Armament

Offensive

44x220 MJ Lasers in 22xRemote Double Barbettes (6.11 MW, Barbette Volume:84m3) arranged as eleven batteries, 8xRemote Missle Barbettes (5 Ready Missles, 0.15 MW) arranged as four batteries

Weapon Performance

220 MJ LB 9:1/12-37 18:1/12-37 36:1/12-37 72:1/10-31

Defensive

Decoys are often fitted

Location	Type	Arcs
1	2x220 MJ DLB 2xMsl Brb	1,2 All
2-5	220 MJ DLB	1,2,3
6-9	220 MJ DLB	2,3,4
10-11	4x220 MJ DLB 2xMsl Brb	All All
12-15	220 MJ DLB	2,3,4
18-19	2xMsl Brb	All

Fire Control

15xTL-15 msl/bm MFDs (Range:10, -6 DMs, 1 Crew, 0.06 MW)

Accomodations

Life Support: Extended (8.4 MW), AG/GC (6G, 210 MW)
Crew: 126-142 (4 Maneuver, 4 Electronics, 15 Gunnery, 47 Engineering, 16 Maintenance, 16-32 Small Craft, 20 Command, 3 Stewards, 1 Medic)
Crew Accomodations: 20 Small Staterooms (Single Occupancy), 61 Small Staterooms (Double Occupancy)
Airlocks: 30
Cargo: 1139.4 m3, 3 Large Cargo Hatches
Small Craft and Launch Facilities: 16xLance Fighters (Docking Ring) or 32xJavelin Fighters (Docking Ring), 2240 m3 Hangar, 12 Launch Ports
Other Fittings: Sickbay (0.8 MW)
Features: Fuel Scoops (5%, 2.13 hours), Fuel Processing Plant (20.47 hours, 22.4 MW)
92.03 MW Surplus

System Damage Tables

PP: 24H	LS: 111H	MFD: 2h
LB: 2H	JD: 26H	ELS: 55H
PEMS: 1H	MB: 1H	MD: 6H
SSR: 2h	EMM: 5H	CG: 6H
AG: 5H	EMMR: (42h)	FPP: 18H
SkBy: 1H	Hngr: 4H

Damage Location Table

Location	Surface	Internal
1	Ant	1-8: Elec, 9-10: LB/MB, 11-20: Hold
2-3	1-10: Ant	1-4: Elec, 5-14: Qtrs, 15: LB/Hold, 16-20: Hold
4-5	1-10: Ant	1-10: Qtrs, 11: LB/Hold, 12-20: Hold
6-7	1-5: Ant, 6-20: FScp	1: LB/Hold, 2-20: Hold
8-9	1-5: Ant, 6-20: FScp	1-12: DckRng, 13: LB/DckRng, 14-20: Hold
10-11	1-12: LP	1-5:LB/MB, 6-20: DckRng
12-15	1-12: LP	1-10: Hngr, 11-20: DckRng
16-17		1-8: Eng, 9-20: Hold
18-19	1: CH	1-7: Eng, 8:MB, 9-20: Hold
20	EMMR	1-3: Elec, 4-19: Eng, 20: Hold