This article originally appeared in Jump Point 8.2.
Anvil Aerospace Carrack
THE SURPRISE
For over a century, the Anvil Carrack has been the most famous symbol of human exploration. Carrack-based explorers have pushed the boundaries of human civilization and made countless thrilling discoveries that have enhanced our knowledge of the universe. In 2822, however, its very existence was a shock to the system. Aerospace watchers were universally confused when the Carrack first appeared at the MacArthur Naval Base, Kilian; both because of the impressive nature of the ship and because of the sheer mystery as to where it had come from. While it’s not unusual for the military to sponsor the development of a spacecraft in secret, it’s such a difficult and expensive prospect that it’s only ever done when it can impact the balance of power. Here was the first ever corvette-sized, dedicated exploration ship in the Navy’s inventory and it had seemingly been birthed fully formed and ready for service. Speculation ran rampant that the Carrack must hide some sinister ulterior purpose, with suggestions including that it was a disguised electronic warfare ship or that it carried a powerful new type of bomb. None were correct: the classification, since revoked, was instead intended to cover the need for the ship in the first place. In 2815, the UEEN cruiser Carraway was lost with all hands after being dispatched to chart unusual transmissions detected in a dense asteroid field in the Tohil System. The situation was an embarrassment for the Admiralty, which had previously debated the value of using warships for exploratory missions. The loss of the warship was reported as an accident and warnings that its crew was not prepared for the mission were effectively covered up. A no-bid contract was awarded to Anvil Aerospace to secretly develop a dedicated explorer that could both replace and improve upon the missions, as they were currently being conducted by ships of the line. Wholly separate from the drama surrounding its creation, the UEEN Carracks immediately began what would become more than a century of expert survey work. Military Carracks logged hundreds of discoveries, including full surveys of countless moons, comets, jump points, and asteroid fields and they continue to be actively produced and used today. Built as an explorer first, the Carrack has the shipboard facilities and crew stations to allow for in-depth research missions while maintaining the lower profile and necessary performance for facing particularly hazardous and uncharted regions of space.
CIVILIAN SERVICE
The Carrack immediately attracted the attention of the galaxy as the perfect combination of military ruggedness and attractive, fully-featured spacecraft design. Within a month of the launch of the first Carrack in UEEN service, Anvil Aerospace had recorded over four thousand requests from organizations and individuals interested in their own ship. Anvil began petitioning the military to permit civilian sales at the conclusion of the initial 18-month construction contract in 2825. The initial answer was a surprising no due to the classified nature of its original design process. While Anvil considered the decision wrong and considered pushing for a review, they ultimately didn’t want to endanger their status as a prime contractor for projects like the Hornet. It would take the eventual ouster of the original staff officers who classified the Carraway’s destruction and several decades of waiting before the government would relent. In 2933, Anvil was finally authorized to develop a civilian-edition of the Carrack. However, several requirements were made by the UEEN, including that sensor software be rewritten from the ground up and that it could not be produced in the same facilities as the UEEN hulls. Development work began immediately but quickly lagged behind. The process of rebuilding the software proved difficult and teams ran into issues adapting the ship’s standard metrics (including aspects of seemingly simple things like the loading ramp’s dimensions) towards civilian equipment. Prospective captains were encouraged to place a deposit on the initial wave of civilian ships because the first production run was expected to be slow; this sparked something of a “Carrack craze” as planned future hull slots were purchased and traded. These owners carefully followed development of the civilian version through the various development delays. The first civilianized Carrack, later dubbed Sonny Boy by her crew, was handed over on February 21, 2938, which Carrack user groups annually celebrate as an unofficial “Carrack Day”. Civilian Carracks and their crews quickly became seen as a symbol of humanity’s best – spacefarers dedicated to the noble (and profitable) goal of exploration rather than commerce or defense.
CAPSULE HISTORIES
These capsule entries provide short histories of selected notable Carrack explorers. These are not comprehensive and do not represent the totality of the Carrack’s long history of exploration, which would necessitate a dedicated volume. Note also that the UEEN does not formally christen Carracks; instead, they are given either the designation R for ‘Research’ or S for ‘Survey’, followed by a numerical designation. The leading ‘1’ in the hull number identifies the size classification (65m or greater) and the following digits are issued numerically. Details of Carracks belonging to specialty and/or intelligence services are typically classified.
R-11 (“UEES Carrack”) – Launched in 2823, R-11 was the first ship off the line and informally referred to as ‘the Carrack’ by her crews in the first years of the UEEN’s formal exploration efforts (due to tool-and-die issues, she would not be joined by R-12 until 2825). R-11 made history by conducting the first-ever close survey of a star system’s icy exterior cloud, mapping thirty-seven distinct points in the Kilian System as part of a UEEN efforts to establish a new type of early warning system in aid of the military complex at MacArthur. No additional cloud surveys have been conducted since, indicating that the proposed system may not have been viable.
S-1132 (“GQ Twelve”) – Survey Carrack 132 entered service in 2831 and was assigned to long-distance survey missions along the Xi’an border at the former Perry Line. Popularly referred to by the callsign assigned for her final operation in 2836, Good Queen Twelve, the Carrack’s last reported communication was a buoy check-in from an assigned patrol en route to the outer reaches of the Osiris System. After missing its next two scheduled reports, mission organizers dispatched search and rescue spacecraft that found no trace of S-1132 in its assigned area. Thirty years later, the fully intact Carrack was discovered on a moon in the Indra System. All of the ship’s systems were found to be functional and her stores of food and medical supplies were largely intact, though there were no indications of the crew’s whereabouts.
Bocaccio – The Carrack explorer, Bocaccio, commissioned in 2940, is Doctor Lorraine Kent’s famed exploration ship. Bocaccio and her crew are famed for a series of historical wrecks discovered through what Kent describes as a combination of archival research, expert survey work, and sheer luck. Discoveries include the abandoned 22nd century colony transport Zephyr, the battlecruiser Braintree, and the impact site of Spidercat. Kent and her crew dedicate much of their time today to the search for and recovery of extrasolar military remains from past conflicts.
Gronald’s Hope – Gronald’s Hope was a 2948 civilian Carrack which was issued an unusual kill-on-site order by the Advocacy shortly after it entered service. The Carrack was identified entering the Kellog system three days after the issue was ordered and it was successfully intercepted by a contingent of mercenary pilots. Details of the reason for the kill order have never been released, although speculation is rampant that the government had received intelligence that the Gronald’s Hope’s crew had contracted some form of previously encountered plague.