TEXT: Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  Referee’s Aid 2: The Type-S Scout/Courier  ©2015 Mongoose Publishing. All 
  rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without the written 
  permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All significant characters, 
  names, places,items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose 
  Publishing.
  This game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work 
  may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more 
  about the Open Game License, please go to www.mongoosepublishing.com.
   
  This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom 
  and of the United States. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to 
  actual people organisations, places or events is purely coincidental.
  Traveller is a trademark of Far Future Enterprises and is used under licence. 
  Printed in the USA.
  CLASSIC TRAVELLER
  Marc Miller
  Loren Wiseman, John Harshman, Frank Chadwick, Darryl 
  Hany, Winston Hamilton, Tony Svajlenka, Scott Renner, Doug 
  Poe, David MacDonald, Wayne Roth, Paul R. Banner.
  MONGOOSE TRAVELLER 
  Author
  Martin J. Dougherty
  Editor
  Matthew Sprange
  LAyout And GrAphic dEsiGn
  Will Chapman, Amy Perrett
  intErior iLLustrAtions
  CONTENTS
  CREDITS
  TRAVELLER
  REFEREE’S AID 2: THE TYPE-S SCOUT/COURIER
  INTRODUCTION 
  2
  THE TYPE-S SCOUT/COURIER AND VARIANTS 
  4
  THE STANDARD TYPE-S SCOUT/COURIER 
  6
  SCOUT/COURIER ENCOUNTERS 
  9
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  2
  INTRODUCTION
  This book contains source material for Traveller. It follows 
  the general style of the original ‘Little Black Books’ or LBBs 
  published as part of the Classic Traveller product line. The 
  source material in this book is intended for use with a science-
  fiction game setting that follows the general standards and 
  assumptions of the Third Imperium, notably:
  • 
  Interstellar travel is by way of the jump drive
  • 
  No means of interstellar communication exists other than 
  sending a ship via jump drive
  • 
  Interstellar travel is common enough that small starships 
  can be owned and operated by individuals and small 
  companies
  • 
  An interstellar society exists which contains mainly humans 
  but also various alien races
  • 
  Local conditions, culture and society can vary considerably 
  from one world to another
  • 
  Energy weapons are possible but rare; conventional and 
  advanced firearms are the standard weapons in use
  • 
  There are no energy shields, tractor beams or teleportation 
  devices available at the ‘mainstream’ technological level of 
  the setting
  The following data is provided for the benefit of the Referee. 
  How much of it can be determined by the players, and with 
  what degree of accuracy, is a matter for the Referee to decide. 
  In many cases a simple search on the ship’s computer or any 
  library terminal will suffice to provide at least the bones of the 
  information. 
  THE THIRD IMPERIUM
  The Third Imperium is a human-dominated empire, subdivided 
  into sectors and subsectors. It is not a vast, monolithic structure; 
  that would be impossible given the time lag inherent in 
  interstellar communications. Instead, the Imperium resembles 
  a vast federation of worlds that agree to certain common 
  practices, and allow the Emperor and his subordinates to 
  deal with foreign policy, military affairs and similar multi-world 
  considerations while maintaining control of their internal affairs. 
  As distance from the Imperial Core increases, so does the 
  amount of autonomy enjoyed by world governments and Imperial 
  representatives. However, this is uneven. There are of hubs of 
  trade and commerce as well as backwaters in many areas. The 
  major worlds often maintain strong cultural and economic ties 
  to the central region of the Imperium, though some have their 
  own flavour entirely. These hub worlds influence local culture in 
  the same way (but on a smaller scale) that the Imperial Core 
  influences the worlds of the periphery.
  Between these major hubs, most of which are high-tech, high-
  population industrialised worlds, run the main trade lanes of the 
  Imperium. These are well patrolled by the Imperial Navy and 
  even when they pass through backwater systems they tend to 
  be fairly safe. Along these lanes move the huge bulk freighters 
  of the major shipping corporations as well as smaller couriers 
  and mail ships. Less affluent worlds off the main trade lanes 
  are not capable of supporting the giant freighters, so are served 
  by smaller vessels, with ever-smaller branches coming off 
  the trade routes. True backwater systems cannot support any 
  regular trade, and see only occasional tramp traders coming 
  through on a speculative basis or on their way somewhere 
  there is better money to be made.
  Since there is no means of communication between worlds 
  other than a starship, those systems that do not see many 
  ships tend to be culturally isolated and often well behind the 
  curve in terms of news, fashions and information in general. 
  These systems often do not see more than the occasional navy 
  patrol, and can be hazardous. These backwaters are by no 
  means violent maelstroms of piracy and smuggling, but they 
  offer those with a reason to hide from the law a place where 
  they are unlikely to be disturbed unless the Navy sweeps in on 
  a clean-up. That does not happen very often, but if a situation 
  gets out of hand the authorities will respond. Most of the rest of 
  the time, life goes on in the backwaters as it always has, and 
  the Imperium is a distant thing.
  THE IMPERIAL INTERSTELLAR 
  SCOUT SERVICE (IISS)
  More commonly just referred to as ‘the Scouts’, the IISS is 
  responsible for three main areas of activity, each carried out by 
  an arm of the service known as an office. 
  The Communications Office is responsible for routine official 
  communications within the Imperium and from installations 
  located outside of Imperial territory. Other organisations carry 
  information and communications of course; the navy has its 
  own fleet of couriers, as does the diplomatic service. Marchant 
  traffic carries a lot of communications and mail as well as freight. 
  However, it is the Scout Service that operates the Express Boat 
  (Xboat) service which provides rapid transfer of information 
  between major starports across the Imperium without regard 
  to commercial viability. Thus once information from any point is 
  fed into the Xboat system it will spread out at the speed of an 
  Xboat (jump-4, or 4 parsecs per week) to reach distant places 
  at a reliable rate.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  3
  The Xboat service links major ports, from which data is 
  disseminated to local worlds that are not on the Xboat network. 
  Much of this data is carried by local merchant traffic, but links are 
  also provided by courier ships assigned to the communications 
  office. Scout Service Couriers also carry messages wherever 
  they are needed to various destinations on an as-necessary 
  basis. Relays of courier vessels are sometimes used to bring 
  information on a developing situation to a central point, or 
  to ensure that messages from a distant outpost are rapidly 
  conveyed. Less critical information can be relayed by a single 
  vessel making a multi-jump transit.
  The Exploration Office is responsible for exploration of new 
  territory or areas that have not been properly mapped. Even 
  centuries after the creation of the Third Imperium there are 
  areas that are not fully mapped and worlds whose data files 
  contain little more than an initial survey done long ago. The 
  task of exploring every world, moon and planetoid field in 
  Imperial space is a huge one, and of course expeditions are 
  also launched beyond Imperial territory. 
  The exploration office is responsible for collecting a wide variety 
  of data, including information on a planet’s weather systems, 
  its native life and any people who may live there. Contact with 
  new groups (or entirely undiscovered species) is normally 
  handled by the Contact & Liaison branch, which forms part of 
  the Exploration Office. C&L also handles a lot of routine liaison 
  tasks with minor races or groups that are apart and distinct from 
  mainstream Imperial society.
  The Survey Office is responsible for creating detailed maps and 
  charts of pretty much everything in the Imperium and beyond 
  it. Where the Exploration Office collects data and may make a 
  basic map of a planet, Survey Branch will search for minerals, 
  establish the thickness and stability of the planetary crust and 
  chart the seabeds to turn that map into a detailed data source 
  on the world in question. 
  However, the main mission of the Survey Office is to maintain 
  and update navigational charts. This is a critical and very 
  complex task, requiring that orbits be plotted not just for planets 
  and moons but also for comets and other smaller bodies. ‘Rock-
  plotting’ is not a particularly exciting mission but a detailed chart 
  of a planetoid field may one day be needed so the Survey Office 
  will be tasked with compiling one. The Survey Office is often 
  called by its original title, the Imperial Grand Survey.
  These three offices make up the Field Command of 
  the Scout Service. Other tasks are carried out by the 
  Bureaucracy Command (often termed ‘the Bureaucracy’ in 
  less than complimentary tones by field scouts), which handles 
  administration, personnel-related matter such as recruitment 
  and training, technical services and a number of additional 
  tasks that make possible the work of the field scouts. 
  Unlike other services, Scouts do not retire or leave the service. 
  Instead they join the Detached Duty office, which is part of 
  the Bureaucracy. Scouts are often sent on detached duty for 
  various reasons. For example, Scout Service personnel might 
  be loaned to a private exploration or scientific mission in return 
  for data from the expedition, or might be assigned to another 
  service for a time. A Scout Service pilot with experience of 
  operating in a tricky area might be ‘borrowed’ by a navy ship, for 
  example. Temporary detachment of this kind is often referred to 
  as ‘active detachment’ since the Scout is expected to return to 
  normal duties at the end of it. 
  Scouts desiring a break from the service can also go on a form 
  of Detached Duty, which is known as ‘inactive detachment’. 
  This basically means that the Scout is free to do whatever they 
  like but will not get paid whilst on detachment, and is subject to 
  reactivation at any time. Some Scouts use this option to take a 
  break for whatever reason, and those no longer fit for duty or 
  who want to go on to another career are also transferred to the 
  Detached Duty roster. All are subject to the same reactivation 
  clause in their personnel dossier. In theory, this means that 
  elderly Scouts could be rounded up out of their rocking-chairs 
  and sent off to explore the unknown, but in practice only those 
  still fit for duty are reactivated.
  Some Detached Scouts are given use of a Scout/Courier (or 
  occasionally some other starship). They can more or less do as 
  they please in this ship, but cannot sell it or otherwise make it 
  unavailable to the Scout Service. This includes making radical 
  modifications or otherwise rendering the ship incapable of 
  carrying out its usual functions. Scouts given use of a ship are 
  far more likely to be reactivated (often on a temporary basis to 
  deliver a message or carry out a short-term mission) than those 
  who do not have a ship. Support is provided in terms of fuel and 
  other basic supplies whilst the ship is reactivated for service. 
  The rest of the time, the user must meet its costs but can obtain 
  annual maintenance at any Scout base provided he or she is 
  willing to wait for a slot to open up in the maintenance schedule.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  4
  THE TYPE-S SCOUT/COURIER AND VARIANTS
  The Type-S Scout/Courier fulfills one of the most basic 
  requirements of any interstellar organisation – be it a 
  government, commercial entity or military force. It is first and 
  foremost a low-cost messenger ship, and although it does have 
  some additional features its overall capabilities are limited by 
  the need to provide an interstellar communications capability at 
  as low a price as possible. 
  The Type-S is little more than a jump drive with fuel tanks plus 
  controls and enough space for people to operate them. Its only 
  ‘frills’ (if they can be considered to be such) are that the Type-S 
  can make jump-2, and has a fairly comprehensive sensor fit. 
  Many of its missions require only jump-1, and the military-grade 
  sensors are not necessary for routine communications duty, 
  but by incorporating these features in the basic concept the 
  original designers created a craft that could carry out almost 
  any messenger or utility-ship mission. Whilst this did increase 
  unit cost somewhat, the sheer range of missions that can be 
  carried out by this otherwise rather humble starship ensured its 
  ubiquity whereas competing vessels with jump-1 and jump-2 
  variants are vastly less common.
  The key to the Scout/Courier’s enormous success is its ability 
  to provide jump-2 in a small package. Jump-2 is something of 
  a magic number in starship design as it represents a huge leap 
  in capability without a vast increase in cost. A jump-2 ship is 
  more than twice as fast over interstellar distances than a jump-
  1 competitor, as the latter has to make a normal-space transit 
  to and from a source of fuel after crossing one parsec. Once 
  the ship itself is paid for, jump-2 is also more economical than 
  two jump-1 transits as although the same amount of jump fuel 
  would be used, there are powerplant fuel, life support and crew 
  salary costs to be considered. Crew fatigue is another factor – 
  working aboard a small ship is tiring and stressful after quite a 
  short period, so naturally a vessel that can go farther before the 
  crew need downtime is more efficient.
  There is also the vitally important consideration that it is possible 
  to go almost anywhere in the Imperium or beyond with a jump-
  2 drive. Jump-1 ships are restricted to the mains and clusters, 
  where worlds are one parsec apart, or else must refuel in deep 
  space. It is generally possible to plot a jump-2 route to almost 
  any destination, although a few rift areas contain worlds that 
  cannot be reached in this way. Thus the Type-S can get almost 
  anywhere, can do it more than twice as fast as a jump-1 ship, 
  and does it for a relatively low cost. 
   
  However, there is a tradeoff. The Type-S has very little cargo 
  space and is not viable as a transport, trader or similar 
  commercial vessel. It is also rather cramped, with very little 
  space for the crew to do more than their jobs. If the vessel is 
  undertaking work that takes it through ports where the crew 
  can get out and about, or is on a mission where it is landed 
  for a long period and the crew are working outside, then this 
  is not much of a problem at all. However, on long missions, 
  especially boring ones such as tracking and plotting planetoids 
  for the Survey Office, a Scout/Courier can become a pressure-
  cooker for the crew. 
  The Scout/Courier is used more or less as standard by the 
  Imperial Interstellar Scout Service and by a great many other 
  operators. Numerous world governments and corporations also 
  buy and use the Type-S for personnel transfers and routine 
  courier work. Examples are also sometimes found in naval 
  service (typically by smaller navies that do not have access to 
  custom designs) as pickets or messengers, and may be carried 
  aboard larger vessels for missions that require a jump-capable 
  subordinate craft.
  Some users heavily modify the standard Type-S, either to meet 
  a custom requirement or into one of the standard variants. By far 
  the most common of these is the Seeker, a mining/prospecting 
  vessel, a conversion that does away with two of the crew cabins 
  and the common area to make room for an ore bay and mining 
  equipment. Another not-uncommon variant is to create a (very) 
  light system patrol asset by stripping an old Scout/Courier of its 
  jump drive (and usually selling any salvageable components or 
  using them to patch up another ship) and installing weaponry if 
  none was already fitted. 
  Other Scout/Couriers are pressed into service as jump-capable 
  escorts and patrol ships. Whilst these are more of an ‘armed 
  presence’ than a warship as such, they may be effective in 
  deterring piracy and lawlessness by allowing a naval force to 
  cover a larger area for the same budget than if proper warships 
  were used. The Imperial Navy does not use scout ships in this 
  capacity, though it does sometimes ‘borrow’ them with Scout 
  Service crews to act as pickets and messengers for a force 
  interdicting a Red Zoned world.
  Overall, the Type-S is not a ship that can pay its way in normal 
  commerce, but it is one that can enable the people aboard to 
  get to where they can make money. Privately owned Scout/
  Couriers typically generate revenue by being paid to carry out 
  missions such as scientific data gathering, mapping and the like 
  or else act as transportation for their owners who make a living 
  using whatever their personal skills and capabilities might be.
   
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  Some privately owned Scout/Couriers are involved in the so-
  called ‘small package trade’, which can be a euphemism for 
  smuggling. However, some clients will pay a premium to have 
  a person or small amount of cargo transported, especially by 
  an armed ship, so it is quite possible to make a reasonable 
  living without breaking any laws. This is particularly true of 
  vessels receiving support from an outside source. For example, 
  if a Scout/Courier crew is offered a fee plus expenses to visit 
  a neighbouring world and deliver a large quantity of data in 
  electronic form, then anything that can be carried in the small 
  cargo hold is a bonus. Most owners are constantly on the 
  lookout for ways to make a little money on the side.
  Thus the Scout/Courier can be encountered on a wide variety 
  of missions, including but not restricted to:
  • 
  Fixed-route communications duty carrying electronic 
  communications 
  • 
  Mapping or exploration work
  • 
  Scientific data gathering
  • 
  Personnel transportation
  • 
  Mail ship operations, delivering small quantities of physical 
  items plus electronic communications on a set route
  • 
  General messenger work
  • 
  Light picket/escort duty
  • 
  Customs and policing duties
  • 
  Prospecting or salvage work
  • 
  Jump-capable subordinate craft for large vessels
  • 
  Supporting the Xboat network
  A Type-S Scout/Courier can be operated in an emergency by 
  just one person, but this is exhausting if complex operations are 
  required and becomes dangerous in a crisis if the crewmember 
  needs to be in two places at once. The official crew requirement 
  is two – a pilot/astrogator and an engineer. Most operators 
  prefer to carry at least one additional crewmember (usually 
  a multi-skilled technician or deck hand), and often a mission 
  specialist is carried by Scout Service vessels. The latter may be 
  a sensors expert on a survey operation or a space scientist on 
  a system exploration mission. 
  For missions requiring landing and ground exploration, 
  additional personnel are sometimes carried by doubling up 
  some or all of the cabins. This makes it possible to carry up 
  to eight personnel, but it is horribly cramped during the transit 
  to the mission area. It is thus rare to find more than four to six 
  personnel aboard a Scout/Courier, and then only for a short 
  mission or one requiring the extra personnel. The Exploration 
  Office generally does not use lone Scout/Couriers to conduct 
  planetary exploration but when this is necessary the crew 
  usually undertake the exploration themselves. Scouts are 
  trained to be multi-skilled and adaptable, and many personnel 
  are very glad to get out of the ship for a while. On the downside, 
  this does mean that a casualty among the ‘field team’ can 
  compromise the crew’s ability to operate their vessel. 
  The commonest crew mix for a Scout/Courier is thus either three 
  or four people including a pilot, an astrogator (both these may 
  be combined into a single individual), an engineer and possibly 
  one or two additional crewmembers. A gunner may be carried 
  if weapons are fitted, but since gunners are only needed some 
  of the time this crewmember usual spends most of his or her 
  time assisting with sensor operations or routine technical tasks. 
  The presence of an extra set of hands or two, even belonging to 
  someone with no shipboard skills as such, can be highly useful 
  in spreading out the workload. A pilot/astrogator who also has 
  to make dinner is less efficient than one who has only two jobs 
  to do at once.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  6
  THE STANDARD TYPE-S SCOUT/COURIER
  Built on a streamlined wedge-shaped hull, the Type-S is a tough 
  and reliable little ship capable of jump-2 and 2-g acceleration.  
  In addition to 20 tons of jump fuel it carries 20 tons of powerplant 
  fuel, giving an endurance of ten weeks with a jump or twenty 
  weeks without. However, this is far beyond what most crews 
  can stand aboard such a small vessel. 
  The Scout/Courier is a very easy vessel to operate, and as 
  a class it is very reliable. Generations of use have thrown up 
  almost every conceivable bug and glitch in the power, drive and 
  flight systems, and these have been ironed out in countless 
  refits or redesigns incorporating literally millions of hours of 
  flight experience. For this reason, old Scouts are often used as 
  training vessels; many spacers make their first takeoff or their 
  first jump aboard a weary old Scout/Courier. The vessel’s 2g 
  thrust is easy to control courtesy of not particularly advanced 
  but well optimised avionic systems, enabling even a rookie pilot 
  to land in a tight space or undertake precision manoeuvres. 
  The wedge-shaped hull is streamlined and has good 
  aerodynamic capabilities when under power in an atmosphere, 
  making the Scout/Courier one of the safest vessels in which 
  to undertake gas giant skimming for fuel. However, control 
  does require power; the Type-S cannot glide. Its configuration 
  is optimised for low drag when driving through an atmosphere 
  and resistance to turbulence whilst under power. With no control 
  surfaces and no stabilisers (e.g. fins) this vessel cannot guide 
  itself through an atmosphere using airflow over the hull, and 
  even if it could it would soon go out of control. 
  The vessel’s shape causes it to (usually) go into a flat spin if 
  drive control is lost. Recovery is impossible unless the drive 
  and avionics are brought back online. However, there is an 
  emergency system that uses residual power and feedback-
  recovery from the vessel’s gravitic systems to give the pilot a 
  few moments of powered control even if the main power system 
  is completely dead, and the avionics will function in emergency 
  mode for as long as there is any power available. Thus at least 
  some of the pilots who claim to be able to dead-stick a Type-S 
  in to a safe landing are telling the truth – they may not exercise 
  control in the same manner as a conventional aircraft but the 
  achievement is equally worthy.
  The Type-S is constructed around a central corridor, with the 
  hull broken into sections by transverse bulkheads pierced by 
  iris valves that allow various parts of the ship to be isolated and 
  evacuated, or to function as an emergency shelter if other parts 
  are holed. These bulkheads are an essential part of the vessel’s 
  structure, so variants that remove part of them suffer from a 
  weakened or at least less rigid hull.
  Entry to the vessel is possible from a variety of points. When 
  landed the Scout/Courier rests on three large retractable feet 
  which flank the lower-deck area. This is the (rather modest) 
  cargo bay, accessed via a forward-facing retractable ramp. A pair 
  of iris valves in the ceiling allow movement into the transverse 
  corridor on the main deck. This corridor gives access to some of 
  the ship’s systems such as the fuel purification equipment and 
  the dorsal turret if one is fitted. If there is no turret it is possible 
  to climb out onto the upper hull through its access hatch.
  At the starboard end of the transverse corridor is the air/raft 
  bay. Whether or not this actually contains an air/raft depends 
  on the owners of the ship. Many operators use the space for 
  additional spares and stores, or as a space to install specialist 
  equipment for whatever mission the vessel has undertaken. 
  The external door of this space is sometimes welded shut on 
  a permanent basis, or even plated over. If it is not, then this 
  space can function as a large airlock, permitting the air/raft to 
  be launched on an airless world or one with a toxic atmosphere. 
  Aft of the transverse corridor is the engineering space, which 
  has the somewhat unusual feature of two (reduced to one on 
  some variants) iris valves giving access to the exterior of the 
  hull. New spacehands are often told lurid tales of how these 
  valves can malfunction and vent the engineering space to 
  vacuum, although there are no records of this ever happening 
  aboard any ship. The valves are used when planetside to give 
  access to the drive plates and other external components for 
  maintenance. This could be done in space, but requires a fair 
  number of safety cutouts to be over-ridden. The transverse 
  bulkhead is quite capable of withstanding the pressure 
  differential if the engineering space is vented, so at times it may 
  be useful to be able to leave the ship (in a vacc suit) to have a 
  look at the drives from the outside. 
  The aft valves are also used for dockside maintenance. The 
  Scout/Courier is sufficiently common than many yards have 
  one or more fast-access cradles specifically for ships of this 
  type. Yard crews and robotic maintenance units can access 
  the drives through the aft valves, swapping out frequent-
  replacement components or those that require removal for 
  testing much more quickly than if they had to be carried out of 
  the vessel via another entrance.
  Forward of the transverse corridor is the common area, which is 
  used for cooking, eating, crew meetings and almost every other 
  purpose. Other than the cargo area, which may or may not be 
  cluttered, this is the largest useable space in the ship – and it 
  is anything but spacious. The common area has a fixed galley 
  section and an eating/multipurpose area which can be cleared 
  of its foldaway tables to make some space if necessary.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  The common area does provide a measure of recreation 
  and relief from tiny cabins and the cramped bridge, but it is 
  insufficient to prevent the crew from becoming bored, frustrated 
  and cranky on a long trip. It is certainly inadequate from the 
  point of view of passenger care, which is one reason why 
  Scout/Couriers find it difficult to obtain a license to carry paying 
  passengers. The occasional passage in return for a fee is 
  acceptable, but few Scout/Courier operators would even try to 
  get away with charging Mid Passage rates as the vessel simply 
  cannot provide the level of service required for a passenger 
  license.
  It is perhaps worth noting that this area is by far the most 
  common site of crewmember-on-crewmember violence or 
  murders. This statistic is partially skewed by the difficulty of 
  fighting in some areas of the ship, but mainly it reflects the fact 
  that crewmembers must spend almost all their downtime in 
  a tiny cabin or this space. For those wearying of the delights 
  of the common area, knowledge that there is nowhere else 
  to go can become oppressive.  Over time this can reach the 
  point where some people cannot take it any more, with various 
  unpleasant events often following.
  1. Avionics
  2. Bridge
  3. Fuel Purifier
  4. Staterooms
  5. Common Area
  6. Engineering
  7. AirRaft Bay
  8. Sensors/Ships Computer
  9. Cargo Bay
  10. Drone Launch Area
  11. Turret Manual Controls
  12. Ship’s Locker
  Power Plant
  1.
  2.
  3.
  4.
  4.
  5.
  6.
  7.
  8.
  9.
  10.
  12.
  Maneuver Drive
  Jump Drive
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  8
  Forward of the common area, through an iris valve, the main 
  corridor runs past four identical cabins. Each has the usual 
  features for a starship cabin – bed, folding desk and chair, 
  fresher, a few shelves and lockers, and an emergency unit on 
  the wall. This contains a rescue ball in case the ship is suddenly 
  depressurised and, aboard a Scout/Courier equipped to Scout 
  Service regulation levels, additional stores. These include a 
  softsuit – a rather flimsy emergency vacc suit and an air bottle 
  good for a couple of hours, a disposable filter mask, a pair 
  of tough and corrosion/heat resistant elbow-length handling 
  gloves, a very basic toolkit and a survival kit containing a few 
  ration bars, water and some chemical lightsticks. These extra 
  items are usually missing from vessels that have not been 
  refitted to Scout Service standards in recent history, but the 
  rescue balls are required if the ship is to pass space worthiness 
  inspection, so are always present unless they have recently 
  been used.
  Forward of the crew accommodation, through an iris valve, is the 
  ‘electronic systems workspace’, more commonly known as the 
  computer room. Two multipurpose workstations are provided, 
  of which one is normally configured for operations involving the 
  vessel’s sensor systems and the other for more abstract tasks 
  such as data processing or complex calculations. Another iris 
  valve leads forward from here into the bridge.
  Control of the vessel is from the forward-located bridge, though 
  basic control can also be accomplished from the electronics 
  workspace or the engineering room. The bridge has two 
  workstations. One is a dedicated pilot’s position whilst the other 
  can be used for piloting but is more commonly the astrogator’s 
  position. It may also be used for other tasks such as sensor 
  operations; for many routine tasks it is more useful to have the 
  sensor operator on the bridge than in a different room. The 
  vessel’s flight electronics systems (avionics) are located in a 
  space directly forward of the bridge.
  The Scout/Courier does not have a dedicated ‘ship’s locker’, 
  unlike many larger vessels. The sort of items that are normally 
  stored in such a locker are typically distributed throughout the 
  ship, stowed wherever there is room. There is a gun locker on 
  the bridge, which aboard many vessels contains no weapons 
  but is instead used to stash any random objects that are found 
  lying about. Officially, the bridge locker is supposed to contain 
  ‘suitable weapons for the ship’s defence in an emergency’, 
  which usually translates to an old revolver and a shotgun that 
  rattles when it is knocked. Some ships are better equipped of 
  course.
  Décor aboard Scout/Couriers is utilitarian and drab for the most 
  part. Grey, grayish-blue and beige seem to predominate in 
  most ships, with an excessive amount of fake wood paneling 
  of an unconvincing dark brown added to some cases. Corners 
  tend to be chipped or flaked away, carpets are worn down to 
  the backing aboard most ships, and the whole image is one of 
  world-weariness and boredom. This is in keeping with the spirit 
  of these ships, many of which have been in service for over a 
  century.
  Some operators try to improve matters with anything from high-
  quality tasteful décor to garish tartan and chintzy patterns in 
  eye-busting colour schemes. Likewise, furnishings often vary 
  from standard and might be ‘repurposed’ from other vessels 
  without regard to how they match the other décor or fit in their 
  assigned space. Non-standard components are almost a 
  standard feature aboard older Scout/Couriers; at some point 
  in its long career a ship will have had a replacement part 
  substituted for the usual components, and may thus have odd 
  sections of piping, or a shower that behaves like a fire hose at 
  times then packs up for days on end. 
  These ‘features’ are part of the ‘Scout/Courier experience’ as it 
  is known. Doors that cannot open fully or seats that no longer 
  swivel because they are blocked by a retrofitted component 
  seem like minor nuisances most of the time, but one a multi-
  week planetoid-charting mission they can be the final straw that 
  sends a crewmember howling in rage down the main corridor… 
  and back up it again, because there is nowhere else to go.
  The one feature of the Scout/Courier that everyone knows about 
  is the problem with its air scrubbers, which causes the ship to 
  stink after a few days. This is actually only a problem on some 
  examples; most vessels have a perfectly workable air system. 
  Some crews can be less than scrupulous about cleaning 
  themselves and their ship, and may blame any odd smells on 
  the legendary defective air scrubbers, which has contributed to 
  the legend of the ‘smelly scout ship’. Of those vessels afflicted 
  by the inadequate air treatment system, most were put right 
  in refits many years ago, or had replacement systems built by 
  their owners out of whatever parts were available. Some do 
  retain the old system, and can at times be identified by the faint 
  pong emanating from them when the airlocks are open, or by 
  the odour clinging to their crewmembers. 
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  9
  SCOUT/COURIER ENCOUNTERS
  The following encounters are all with Scout/Couriers, but each 
  has very different characteristics. These vessels and their 
  crews might be encountered on the landing pad at a starport, 
  or in passing as local colour. The characters might even travel 
  aboard or interact directly with one of these ships. 
  SURVEY SCOUT LX-1404 
  ‘LUCKY DOG’
  Lucky Dog is the designation given by its current crew to the 
  vessel more properly designated LX-1404. Originally built by 
  Ling Standard products over sixty years ago, Lucky Dog has 
  survived two fairly serious incidents, of which it shows scars. 
  The first was a collision in which the ship was ‘pranged pretty 
  good’ and had to be extensively rebuilt. 
  The work was done well enough that there are no significant 
  structural problems thirty years after the rebuild, but there is 
  something slightly misshapen about the craft and her handling 
  in atmosphere is a little wayward. This has resulted in a handful 
  of minor incidents (notably removing part of a starport comms 
  antenna during takeoff in a high crosswind) which make Lucky 
  Dog’s logbook interesting and faintly embarrassing reading.
  The second incident occurred a few years ago, when the vessel 
  was fired upon by a ‘suspect’ merchant ship whilst acting as 
  an interdiction monitoring vessel in support of navy assets. 
  The damage was not quite crippling, and LX-1404 returned to 
  service a second time before transferring to the Survey Office. 
  Today, this vessel is assigned to routine chart-update and 
  traffic-monitoring work, which generally means jumping into a 
  star system and spending a few days on a fairly cursory long-
  range sensor sweep before proceeding to the starport for fuel 
  and some downtime. The crew are tasked with recording data 
  on how many ships of what type use the port while they are 
  there, and also with reporting on the quality of service offered 
  by the port. This includes monitoring things like the spares and 
  stores levels retained by the portside maintenance facilities (if 
  any) and commenting on the efficiency of support crews. 
  The fun part of the task involves visiting bars, restaurants and 
  portside entertainment services to ‘test’ their facilities. This 
  means that this crew currently has a mostly dull (but safe) job, 
  which – according to their interpretation – includes a budget 
  for getting blind drunk and being thrown out of classy portside 
  restaurants. The ship’s nickname comes from this part of the 
  job.
  The crew of Lucky Dog is a typical three-person team. Andrea 
  Kilvestenn is the leader and also the ship’s engineer. Scouts 
  have no formal rank structure, forming teams with leaders 
  and specialists as needed. Andrea is the oldest of the team, 
  a veteran of around 50 with many years of service behind her, 
  and naturally was selected to lead this mission. She is also 
  (perhaps not coincidentally) the most given to roistering in port 
  and can be found trying to pick up a date within minutes of 
  going portside. 
  The ship’s pilot/astrogator is Dave Alix, a promising youngster 
  on his first deployment. Dave is somewhat in awe of Andrea, 
  and worries about disappointing her. As a result he plays up 
  the tricky flight characteristics of Lucky Dog a bit more than 
  necessary so that he has something to blame if he screws 
  up. Dave tries to look the part of the ‘career Scout’; typically 
  wearing rumpled grey Scout Service coveralls with a Hawaiian 
  shirt over the top. This look is something of a cliché, but many 
  more experienced Scouts carry it off. Dave has an air of being 
  a bit over-eager instead. 
  The ship’s third crewmember is ‘Habb’, whose actual name is 
  long and difficult to pronounce for humans. Habb is a Bwap, 
  a race of reptilian humanoids slightly smaller than the typical 
  human. Habb has his species’ usual gift for administration and 
  general  bean-counting, and really enjoys tasks like entering 
  data on planetoid rates of rotation cross-referenced with orbital 
  velocity. He rarely leaves the ship and seems quite content to 
  wander around it stowing and cataloging any misplaced items 
  while the others are in port. Lucky Dog is old and worn, but she 
  is one of the tidiest Scout ships in Charted Space, with every 
  nut, bolt and spare sock in its proper place.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  10
  THE CAT BOAT
  The Scout-Courier referred to as The Cat Boat has an official 
  designation, but everyone knows it by its nickname. It is a 
  relatively new vessel; only about twenty years old, and from 
  the outside seems to be in good shape. However, The Cat Boat 
  was loaned to a Detached Duty Scout named Clive Mikraanii 
  almost as soon as it came off the ways, and is now probably in 
  such a condition that the Scout Service does not want it back. 
  Clive Mikraanii went Detached after a long career in exploration 
  work, without filing a reason or an intended duration. Normally, 
  Scouts who are unlikely to be reactivated due to age are 
  not given a ship, but occasionally someone is sufficiently 
  distinguished that the service feels it is appropriate to loan 
  a ship as a mark of respect. So it was with this vessel. Clive 
  Mikraanii was something of a legend in his day, an intrepid 
  explorer and inveterate adventurer who went further, climbed 
  higher and generally outperformed whole teams of experts. His 
  reasons for going Detached are not known, but he seems to 
  have no desire to return to the service. After twenty years he is 
  probably permanently inactive – and intriguingly he has been 
  passed over for reactivation even when few other qualified 
  individuals were available. Again, the reasons for this treatment 
  are not common knowledge.
  Today, Clive wanders Charted Space in The Cat Boat, alone 
  other than for his large number of cats. He is often thought 
  to be crazy, though those that seek him out for advice find he 
  is charming, lucid and full of helpful tips. It is not uncommon 
  for spacers, Scouts and even the odd scientist to bring him 
  complex problems and be given a simple and effective solution. 
  He does not discuss how he came to be The Crazy Old Man In 
  The Cat Boat, however.
  The Cat Boat itself is a standard Scout/Courier with its controls 
  set up to be run by one person. This leaves plenty of room 
  for at least twenty-seven cats who live permanently aboard the 
  vessel. There are regulations about letting offworld animals 
  escape from a visiting starship, but Clive is more concerned 
  that one of his friends might get out and get lost – and that, he 
  declares to anyone who will listen, is the advantage of having 
  airlocks!
  As might be expected, the interior of Clive’s ship is something of 
  a mess. Everything that can be clawed has been, and despite 
  Clive’s best efforts at litter sanitation there is often a smell which 
  has nothing to do with bad air filters. The general impression 
  of chaos that greets anyone honoured enough to be invited 
  aboard might confirm suspicions about Clive’s sanity, but there 
  is still an air of stone-cold competence about him that belies this 
  impression. Those talking to Clive for any length of time come 
  away with the distinct feeling that he knows something they do 
  not; something very important. To date nobody has managed to 
  get Clive to explain what it might be. 
  PATROL GUNSHIP LIGHT 
  THREE
  ‘Light Three’ is a prosaically named converted Scout/Courier 
  which now serves as a customs enforcement vessel. Her 
  jump drive is gone, but the vessel is externally very similar to 
  a standard Scout/Courier. A twin turret of non-standard design 
  sits on the dorsal surface, and the air/raft bay has had its outer 
  door replaced with an extendable docking tube, enabling the 
  vessel to transfer personnel to almost any craft.
  Light Three can function as a system defence boat at need, or 
  can act as an armed presence to deter attacks on shipping, but 
  its main role is (relatively) long-range law enforcement out from 
  the mainworld. Compared to the facilities aboard a pinnace or 
  cutter, a former starship like a converted Scout/Courier offers 
  greatly enhanced crew comfort and thus patrol endurance. This 
  vessel typically undertakes in-system cruises of two to four 
  weeks’ duration, conducting inspections of vessels and their 
  cargo or responding to alerts at ranges that small craft based at 
  the mainworld could not. 
  Light Three is still a rather cramped environment for its seven-
  strong crew. The flight crew (captain/pilot, engineer and medic/
  gunner) remain aboard the vessel whilst the four-person 
  ‘inspection and enforcement’ squad transfer across to the 
  target vessel for customs or space worthiness inspections. 
  Their vacc suits and other space gear are stowed in the former 
  air/raft bay, and part of the electronics systems workspace has 
  been converted into an arms and contraband/evidence locker. 
  There are even cells in the space opened up by the removal of 
  the jump drive, though these are rarely used. 
  The lower-deck cargo hold has been converted into an additional 
  crew space, somewhat offsetting the fact that only the vessel’s 
  commander has a solo cabin. Everyone else is jammed into 
  double-occupancy cabins, though since this is a vessel based 
  out of a permanent installation, berths are only for the duration 
  of a mission and thus the lack of space is not as oppressive as 
  if the crew lived aboard the vessel full-time. 
  Light Three would pose little threat to a real warship, but it is 
  not meant to. It is a patrol asset, serving mainly to remind local 
  traffic that there are laws and regulations to be obeyed. Most 
  missions involve nothing more than routine traffic monitoring, 
  inspections of cargo aboard vessels bound for ports at the 
  mainworld or elsewhere in the system, and eyeballing vessels 
  to confirm they are what their transponder claims. Light Three 
  has responded to far more mishaps and minor emergencies 
  than potentially violent incidents, and has been generally 
  successful in making space travel safer and more law-abiding 
  in her vicinity.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
  11
  TREBBON’S SHIP
  ‘Trebbon’s Ship’ used to belong to Alexi Trebbon, a Belter 
  who had made a number of decent strikes in his career. Alexi 
  retired on the proceeds of selling the rights to these claims, and 
  apparently passed his vessel on to someone else. It has since 
  been owned, or at least operated – its registry papers are vastly 
  out of date – by various prospectors, but the Trebbon name is 
  still used. Perhaps it brings good luck, or maybe the users have 
  not troubled themselves to come up with anything new.
  Trebbon’s Ship is a Seeker, a conversion of the standard Scout/
  Courier design. The main alteration made when converting a 
  Scout/Courier to a Seeker is the deletion of the crew area and 
  aft pair of cabins to create a pair of ore bays, which in turn 
  necessitates moving some fuel tankage. This means that there 
  is no common space for the crew unless they can find some 
  way to have fun amid a pile of ore samples. There are also 
  now only two cabins, reducing the maximum crew that can be 
  carried to four under horrifically cramped conditions. Seekers 
  are typically operated by one or two people, so this is not much 
  of a problem in the short term. 
  One other fairly major alteration has been made in the case 
  of this ship. This one is not standard for the Seeker, but may 
  have been a response to the lack of space or perhaps damage 
  incurred in the past. The bulkhead between the bridge and 
  the electronics systems workspace has been cut away; one 
  workstation has been removed from the bridge and one from 
  the electronics bay, creating an open space on the port side of 
  the command area at the price of reduced structural integrity. 
  This space currently contains equipment racks and a home-
  made but very well equipped vacc suit maintenance bay.
  Similarly, the portside ore bay has been converted into an 
  equipment maintenance area. The vessel can still conduct 
  prospecting operations but cannot carry more than about ten 
  tons of ore samples in its remaining bay. The cargo area can 
  hold a little more but is typically filled with stores and spares 
  needed for a prospecting mission. 
  As with many Seekers, the air/raft bay does not contain one, 
  but is instead used as an excursion bay. It contains drilling 
  equipment, small extraction robots and other prospecting 
  equipment, and is the primary means of entry and egress 
  when the Seeker is engaged in prospecting operations. This 
  does mean that this is the most dinged and dented part of a 
  very hard-used ship, but in recent years Trebbon’s Ship has 
  been engaged less in prospecting and more in support of other 
  Belters’ operations. The current operators make more money 
  from maintaining and repairing equipment belonging to others 
  than by their own efforts; sufficiently so that Trebbon’s Ship 
  is currently quite prosperous and has several newly replaced 
  components which previously had been patched and jury-
  rigged far beyond their normal working lives. 
  Perhaps the name is lucky, after all.
  Alex Greene (order #6964772)
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Traveller/08 - Mongoose Traveller/Third Party Materials/Sourcebooks & Referee Materials/Traveller Referees Aid 02 - The Type S Scout Courier.pdf