Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda: Commonwealth Transportation

Commonwealth Transportation

Cargo

Four Freedoms class freighter

One of the least glamorous but most common sights in a Commonwealth spaceport is a cargo spaceship. Employed to carry manufactured goods, locally unobtainable raw materials, or other items from planet to planet or system to system, cargo craft come in all shapes and sizes and are owned by individuals, companies or governments. Additionally, many cargo vessels earn extra income by taking passengers along on their journeys, in berths that are economical if not exactly luxurious.

Couriers
By far the most numerous insterstellar spacecraft are the tiny ships of the Commonwealth Courier Network (see: CCN), which speed from system to system carrying the news and information that unites the Commonwealth as a cohesive culture. Due to their small size and specialized function, only on emergency occasions do courier ships carry V.I.P. passengers or small quantities of cargo.

Governmental Craft
Most local governments as well as many Commonwealth agencies maintain their own spacecraft, used for a variety of purposes ranging from ferrying officials and enforcing local and Commonwealth law to conducting scientific research and protecting the environment.

Military and Combat-Capable Craft
Since the consolidation of security and the establishment of law and order during the Twelve Centuries of Peace, armaments on spacecraft have been the exclusive provenance of the High Guard, Home Guard and law enforcement agencies. The advent of the Magog threat led to calls for allowing cargo and passenger ships in less secure areas to arm themselves, but the Treaty of Antares rendered this issue moot before it could come to a vote before the Conclave.

Passenger Service

Leviathan Roused class vessel, Majestic Prow

Once the provenance of a wealthy few, a vast and efficient fleet of dedicated passenger craft now puts interstellar travel within reach of nearly all Commonwealth citizens. Travel options range from luxury starliners, which operate like opulent hotels in space to the more spartan ships, which carry passengers between systems with maximum efficiency and economy. Although ships are mostly owned by private or semi-private concerns, the Commonwealth provides subsidies to many less-traveled routes which might not otherwise support regular passenger service.

Private Craft
Many slipstream capable spaceships, both large and small, are owned by private individuals, companies and public interest non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In these capacities, the ships are used for business and pleasure travel as well as monitoring sentient rights, combating environmental pollution and bringing together advocates for a wide range of social justice causes.