In the universe of the Flux Capacitor story, several types of vessels and ships are mentioned. This guide attempts to explain the differences between said ships.

Cruisers

Cruisers are the common man’s space ship, as such, cruisers are not very remarkable. They hold 1-10 persons, and can generally speaking be piloted by just a single person. They are very rarely armed with any weaponry, and several systems even have laws against arming (or activating) weapons on a cruise class ship. Cruisers have a small cargo hold, meant more for daily use than actual commerce. Cruisers fly at fairly low speeds, giving them a decent agility. While space is vast and with a lot of empty areas, swarms of asteroids sometime steer out of their expected course, an agile ship can much better dodge such a threat.

While warp drive technology is a field in increasing development, there have yet been made any cruise class ships fitted with such. The theory and testing, thus far, seems to suggest that the bigger the mass of the ship the stable the warp becomes. As bigger ships also has potential for back-up systems, and vastly greater power generators, turning the warp drive on doesn’t zap power from much else on board. A cruise class ship simply isn’t big enough to produce the amount of power, to keep a warp drive running long enough to make the warp.

Cruisers are generally built for standard space environment, meaning it can deal with normal levels of heat, cold, pressure and acidity. In some more hazardous systems, the standard cruiser is typically built to surpass these dangers, typically using other kinds of alloys in the chassis.

As well as the reinforced versions, more sleek and faster sports versions also exist. This type of cruiser have got a more powerful engine, able to manoeuvre much quicker and reach higher speeds. They are sometimes referred to as “speeders”, but that will likely confuse some, as a speeder is a different type of vessel entirely.

Specially built cruisers are no strange thing, though the more flashy exterior and extremely comfortable interior often comes with an exorbitant price-tag. Naturally, a flashy ride also attracts less friendly types. Though the people who can afford the luxury cruisers, can typically also afford to get some security for it.

In recent years, communal transport of people have become an increasingly interesting venture, and while the first communal cruisers were little more than stripped cargo ships with seats instead, the ships’ comfort and quality have risen significantly. Communal cruisers hold anywhere between ten and up to several thousand people at once, with the VAP Behemoth having seats and room for more than 8500 passengers. The communal cruiser is much larger than regular cruisers, but typically slower than your average 2-4 person cruiser.

Cargo carriers

While the typical cargo carrier can’t really be described in detail, the general idea of a cargo carrier, is a fairly large, bulky ship, that’s amongst the slowest vessels in the universe. Where a cruiser is built for comfort of people and their transport, most of the cargo ship is fitted with area for storage and stacking wares and transportable goods. Because of the size of their interior, most cargo ships are versatile in terms of what they handle.

Cargo ships usually come with more powerful engine drives than a cruiser, but a large part of that is that cargo ships needs to be able to carry much more weight. The cargo ship’s lack of speed makes them agile, excellent for landing on corporate landing spots, for this exact reason, many recent models of the cargo ship, usually come with angled thrusters. These allow for a more direct approach, as the thrusters can be set to 0-90 degrees. Some have even more advanced thrusters, but so far, the few prototypes out on the market are expensive and have been prone to wear out much faster, than regular thrusters usually do.

As cargo ships already are built for more heavy-duty flights than cruisers, cargo ships already come with a reinforced hull, but as with cruisers, you still need specially built cargo ships for the more extreme conditions.

Cargo ships aren’t under as strict ruling as cruisers, and it’s not unusual for cargo ships to have a simple cannon or two, and basic shield generators are fairly common as well. While a large amount of people could be transported in cargo ships, they are usually designed for as small a crew as possible; most cargo ships have no-other crew than the pilot. Especially since most trade planets and the NEXUS stations all have hauler crews, that handle loading and unloading.

Cargo carriers come in many shapes, sizes and varieties, from the classic, most mass-produced Marcor S4, over the light SabDu HoverCargo to the moon-sized VAP MassBull, that needs smaller cargo ships to load and unload it.

Speeders

Despite the name, you won’t see a speeder racing by in the vastness of space. Speeders are the nickname given to personalized hover craft vehicles, or PHV, and as their name suggests; they hover. For this reason they can’t leave a planet’s atmosphere, at least not on their own. The nickname comes from the fact that a PHV, being much more simply built than a cruiser, is very easy to modify, and adrenaline junkies often race one another in such modified PHVs.

Speeders also come in ultra-light, slower versions called Speed-peds or Hover-peds.

However, not all speeders are fast, that is typically the modified versions. In recent years, with broadcasting reaching more than 40 different systems, the ship building brands have seen an opportunity in creating an organised and official speeder league, known as the SSGP circuit. The break-neck speeds and hazardous tracks calls to the most daunting (and crazy) pilots.

Speeders, in general, do not have weapons fixed, nor do they have enhanced chassis for dealing with weapon fire. Speeders rely on their speed and agility, and the recoil from the more powerful of guns, could easily knock a hover-craft vessel off course. While the reinforced chassis isn’t impossible, speeders are best when they are as light as possible. This also means that you’re not very likely to slot a power generator of sorts on.

Utility

The utility class of ship is fairly unique. While most resemble the cargo ship in appearance, utility ships are designed for more specialized jobs, typically in hazardous environments. Utility ships are often amongst the slowest, and rarely will you find them having a crew of more than one person. Because of the fields of work they are found in, utility ships comes pre-made with special alloys and chassis designs. The ships by the Horscht-Falker brand even comes with builds able to withstand extreme conditions, able to work closer to black holes than any other brand. At least if the sales pitch is to be believed.

A utility pilot’s job is a lonesome one, in the depths of the void, they make seemingly dangerous jobs look easy. While utility speeders, as in hover craft utility ships, are a thing, they mostly turn the hovering function off when they are put to work.

Fighters

The fighter is the basic armed ship. Sleek, fast and agile, fighters outspeed most other non-warp ships, but lack firepower and chassis strength to threaten anything but other fighters and unarmed ships. Few fighters come with a basic shield generator, but as even the smallest of shields require a rather large (and steady) supply of power, and seeing as fighters normally focus on engine power rather than anything else.

Fighters make up most of the armed ships everywhere, and while huge fleets (sometimes referred to as a “swarm”) of fighters seem frightening to bigger ships, a fighter usually lack the punch to be able to really do much. Fighters, however, specialize in taking out precise targets, as their high mobility and speed makes them difficult to hit for turrets and bigger weapons systems.

Just like cruisers, fighters are highly modifiable, equipping a multitude of different weapons and even cloaking technology, is fairly easy and this makes fighters even more versatile. Fighters also perform decently well when targeting mobile ground units, but their lack of firepower again means that only the thinnest of armors, are pierced through.

Fighters are usually manned by a just a single pilot, though some include a secondary pilot as gun and maintenance operator. The interior of a fighter is cramped, with only the absolute necessities installed, to make room for bigger engines or weapon slots.

Bombers

Bombers are a heavier class of fighters, designed for heavier combat and for destruction of larger targets. As they are significantly bigger and slower than a fighter, bombers must be able to tank a hit or two. As such, bombers not only have fortified hulls and chassis, but shield generators are also very common.

A bomber’s main feature though, is it’s destructive weapons system. Armed with both high penetrative guns, torpedoes and, of course, bombs. Most bombers also comes with turreted guns, mainly for taking down enemy fighters, these turrets can be manned or automated, but they are usually fairly weak.

Because all of it’s weapons systems require a mostly immobile target, bombers are better at air-to-ground combat, where a few bombers quickly can render even planetary defences into smoldering heaps of metal.

Their lack of speed, and the common knowledge of their destructive power, bombers are often the first target for enemy fighters. The common means of defending bombers, is usually also fighters, letting the lightweights have their dogfights, while the heavier ships makes the impact needed to turn the tides.

Bombers typically have crews of between ten-fifty, and though they are bigger than fighters, they aren’t much better off when it’s comes to being roomy. This is largely because bombers uses a lot of power, so they need a generator of their own and the power supply and storage of weapons also requires a lot of room. All of this equipment is heavy, and thus, a powerful engine is required to even make a bomber fly.

A sub-type of the bomber is mostly used as an over-sized fighter. The Interceptor class has a warp-drive and a high rate of fire, as the name suggest, Interceptors make excellent ambush ships, with their hit-and-run tactics, they especially target enemy bombers. The Interceptor has a weaker hull and no shield generator, they rely on the ability to warp in, fire off a couple of thousand rounds, and then leave without receiving much fire themselves.

Destroyers

Destroyers are the biggest ships known to the universe. These massive, but slow, ships are small communities of their own, able to carry several squadrons of fighters and bombers inside their enormous hulls. A common saying goes that 40 % of a destroyer is for power generating, 40 % is for weapons systems, 10 % is armor and shields, and the last 10 % is for the engines.

Destroyers wield an uncountable amount of weapons, but even despite their impressive size, their basic speed is typically no more than that of a common cruiser. Warp drives allows the destroyer to move forward a lot faster, but it doesn’t help with turning or attempts at dodging incoming fire. As such, the biggest threat to a destroyer are bomber ships, or ground-based defence guns.

Destroyers vary greatly in size, from the “smaller” ones, with crews of only about 5.000 to the planet-sized Imperial S.E. 4, with an alleged crew of 720.000.

Where most other ships can be assembled in docks and yards on planets, destroyers are almost always assembled in space, where parts gets put in place by tug-and-welding ships.

As if to look behind the ship, Alexander glanced over his shoulder, I guess that was more common in cruisers and luxury ships, so I thought nothing further of it. Alexander had found a handkerchief from seemingly nowhere, “The Tyze system, Tyze 5, to be exact. I have my office there, it’s nice and a bit more… secluded. I’m certain a person of your character can appreciate that.” That last remark was probably a slight stab at scrap-sellers. Not all scrap-sellers were able to find wrecked ships, and it was a lot easier to get the exact part, if they were taken from perfectly functional ships. Where could one such person find a lot of ships, just sitting there? The answer; a ship-seller’s lot. I had never scrapped anything from functional ships, too much risk, and I prefer my tail un-zinged by laser-blasts. I decided to not let the words get to me, and started typing in the coordinates for Tyze 5 into the dashboard, the autopilot would handle most of journey anyway.

The Tyze system wasn’t a place for a girl like me, well not unless I was looking to act as a gold-digger, I would stand out like a pulsar at an anti-matter gathering. A central system, Tyze was home to wealthy persons, Tyze 13 was commonly known as “The Imperial Holiday Planet”, high-ranking Imperial officers would enjoy time off from their duties to the Bufadeach Empire. Tyze 13 was as such the only planet to not be guarded by the TDM, the Treaty for Mutual Defense corp, a private army, funded by merchants and philanthropists seeking refuge and solitude from a galaxy in turmoil. TDM was currently responsible for upholding law and order for the Tyze, Jahilt and Emeryne systems, a total of 35 planets, more than a 100 moons and several other objects, protecting the daily lives of about 63 billion lifeforms. Despite their high-class client-group, TDM aren’t likely to shoot on sight, and will only use force in response to force. It was vastly different to the standards under the Empire, part of the reason I made plans to stay far away from the Empire at all times.

I turned to Alexander, I don’t think he noticed that I slowed the ship down a bit, “So, a three stock drive flux capacitor for a cruiser, eh? How many do you get in the net with that one?” I had a blaster hidden under the seat, just in case. The whole ordeal, and how nervous Alexander appeared, something had to be fishy. He looked genuinely surprised however, “Pardon? I’m not sure what you are implying here…” I waggled a finger at him, “There is something you’re not telling me, about this job, about yourself, or perhaps why you’d ask a scrapper at a Nexus station for aid. I don’t know what it is that you’re hiding, but, and trust me on this” I showed him a fanged grin, “I would have no qualms ejecting you into the void, should you fail to tell me the truth.” Alexander now looked more worried than before, he was unarmed, and probably aware that you don’t usually want to corner a black tiger. Or was that a rat? I can never remember, but my message seemed to have gone through, Alexander was now actually looking scared, “Uhh, whoa now, there’s no need for such rash deeds, I can assure you. I will tell you everything right away, no secrets, I-i-i promise.” My tail was swishing, I had always slightly enjoyed scaring and interrogating people, a useful skill when it came to haggling the price of something down or up. “Good, I’m glad we could reach an agreement on that.”

Alexander took some time to wipe his brow once more, trying to get himself comfortable. “So, what knowledge do you have of the Knives of Darkmantle?” This was surprising, coming from someone like Alexander, Darkmantle was a system on the edge of galaxy, it’s three dark planets housing different horrors in their own. The Knives were known as the best, deadliest and most expensive bounty-hunters and assassins in the Galaxy, the dark-feathered crows were known for cruelty and for their intelligence; few survived having a mark of execution on them, when the Knives made their moves. Their ships silent, cloaked on most radars, their units swift and stealthy. “So, what in the name of Tongudd, would a salesman like you be worth for someone to send the Knives after you? Made a bad deal? Sold a faulty ship?” Alexander sighed, “No, well a bad deal is the right word for it, alright… So, you know of Zymwah 2, the planet where the young Bufadeachan Officers receive their new grades after finishing the academy? Well, the yearly party where the officers celebrate is good for business, the officers have plenty of money at ready, and many of them are influenced by SwampVodka, I’ve gone for three years in a row and made good money every time. But this time was different, there were several high ranking officers from outside the academy, I’m still not sure why exactly. Anyway, so I make a couple of deals for some speed-cruisers, ships that’d violate several Imperial laws, when this one young frog coming up to me, showing the Mark of the Knives, saying if I could not deliver a luxury cruiser with a three stock flux capacitor, I was a dead man within a year.”

Alexander spoke fast, but I think I understood what had happened, I needed clearance though before I was going to agree to help him out of that pickle, “So this frog… He wouldn’t happen to have bight yellow markings around his eyes, pale-blue skin elsewhere?” Alexander looked surprised, “Yes, in fact, very much so… How did you know?” Well, this was bad, I reached over with a serious glance, padding Alexander’s shoulder lightly, “Well, let’s just say that I keep notes on who important Imperial people are, and how they look. You’ve gotten into a deal with a bad one of the kind. The yellow markings are the Emperors own clan-markings, and the pale-blue skin, plus the dubious deals… That would be Galreth Prime, the Emperor’s highest ranking spawn, and the potentially Emperor-to-be. He have been scouring Imperial space for objects of power to secure his position, or perhaps take over from his father. Best advice is to stay as far away from that one as possible, but that advice is a little late to give now.” Alexander’s look of worry was now even more visible. I nodded understandingly, “So, I can see the problem you have… Now, normally I’d stay out of any and all deals regarding the Empire, but you have yet to say how much you think this job is worth. Let’s just say that I COULD be interested, but as you can guess, this won’t be cheap…” Alexander nodded, his worry had turned into determination, I’m guessing he wasn’t good at backing out of deals, even if they were bad. To be fair, it didn’t sound like he had much of a choice though.

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The Scrap Eagle’s CommsUnit beeped, and began to glow, someone was hailing my ship. I looked to Alexander, “You expecting someone? My radars are not picking up any signals of ships nearby.” Alexander nodded, “We should be close to TDM protected space, I know they have orbital stations cloaked around, it is most likely one of those. Does my seat appear on the holo-projector?” I shook my head and turned to the console, the “accept call” button was buzzing slightly, I gingerly pressed it, and the holo-screen lid up in my face. A part of the ship’s front-window turned green, then dark and finally lit up with a helmeted, white-uniformed person. “Tidings pilot, this space is under the protection of the TDM,  the Treaty for Mutual Defense corp, a file have been sent to your ship detailing laws and etiquette, while faring in TDM protected space. Can you please state your name, gender, occupation, ship-type and ship-name for identification.” I hesitated slightly, but seeing as I had no prior history with the TDM, I saw no reason to not comply, “Jade Khezad, Female, ship-parts merchant, custom built cargo-ship, the Scrap Eagle. So, as good customs go, who am I talking to?” The guard on the other end seemed to be busy, possibly typing my information in, he didn’t even look up as he spoke, “This is TDM OG3 station speaking,” he paused, seemingly running the data into the computer, “well, we have no prior data on you, miss Khezad, enjoy your time in TDM space, OG3 station, out.”

With that the screen turned off again. As if used to dealing with the TDM, Alexander, reassuringly said, “Do not worry, you can trust the TDM, they are notoriously hard to bribe, I have tried, and they are generally honest about their methods.” I nodded and looked at the autopilot’s monitor, there was still a small amount of time till the Tyze system, with it’s crowded 22 planets. Tyze-A itself was a dim, dark-blue star of decent size, I looked out the window; far in the distance I could see the vague blue light. A bit closer to the ship was a bright green star and a massive, off-pink/purple star a bit off to the right; Emeryne-A and Jahilt-A. The Emeryne system had a lot of luxury companies, such as the Olbany Cruiser Head-Quarters and main factory was the only thing present on Emeryne 5. As for the Jahilt system, things seemed a bit shadier, with only three planets, and all of them far from the star and always covered in thick atmospheres, they rarely saw as much traffic as Emeryne and Tyze. The awkward silence in the cockpit after the call eventually got to me, I needed something to talk about.

Obviously it shouldn’t be something that would make Alexander more wary of me than he already was at this point. “So, how long have you been dealing in luxury cruisers?” To my surprise, it seemed the silence wasn’t Alexander’s cup of tea either, he looked pleasantly happy with it being broken.