Kowloon-class modular conveyor
From FABT
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Production information | |
Manufacturer: |
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Model: |
Kowloon |
Class: |
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Operator(s): |
Hundreds of different companies across the galaxy over 500 years |
Succeeded by: |
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Technical information | |
Length: |
190m |
Width: |
110-130m |
Height/depth: |
40-50m |
Max acceleration: |
15 kilometers per second (maximum speed) |
Engine unit(s): |
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Power plant: |
1 Element Zero drive core |
Shielding: |
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Hull: |
Basic hull |
Sensor systems: |
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Targetting system: |
Shipwide VI |
Crew: |
70 |
Skeleton crew: |
3 |
Usage | |
Commissioned: |
10 April 1741 CE |
Decommissioned: |
16 October 2218 CE |
Role(s): |
Multi-role, virtually indefinite permutations |
Era: |
Asari Cycle |
Affiliation: |
Hundreds of corporations and governments across the galaxy |
The Kowloon-class modular conveyor, also known as the K-class freighter, was a classification of freighter that was designed and built by Broadstar Solar and used in the merchant fleets of hundreds of different companies across the galaxy from 1741 CE to 2218 CE. The brainchild of the volus Darr brothers, the Kowloon-class came to be from an idea regarding a fully "modular freighter" that could be reassembled to the liking of the owner for any volume of cargo, ranging from vehicles to small shuttles: the ship would be designed to easily configurable, and even more complicated and delicate features such as engine output, VI handling, suborbital/exoatmospheric capabilities and crew requirements could be fine tuned to one's liking as well. The idea was thrown through multiple different design prototypes for years before the brothers finally presented their idea to the Hessa Combine, a volus shipbuilding guild, hoping that they would be leaping at the opportunity to purchase the idea from them to construct it. Hessa Combine proved hesitant however, and it took the Darr brothers building their own prototype and flight-testing it to finally sell the Hessa Combine on the idea, who purchased the copyright and patent for 4 million credits, a buyout which included the prototype the Darr brothers had built. The prototype eventually became the template for the future freighter class, which the Hessa Combine dubbed the Kowloon-class, named for the volus word "reliable". Hessa Combine built hundreds of ships of the class, largely unaltered from the original prototype aside from a few design oversights that existed due to the Darr brothers' limited resources and which were corrected by the Combine's superior construction techniques. Commissioned in 1741 CE, the Kowloon-class was a massive success, being sold to hundreds of companies of varying net worth, with the Hessa Combine making billions upon billions of credits from the Kowloon-class alone, by far one of their most profitable and most bought ships from their fleet. The Kowloon-class was extremely popular due to its modular capabilities, with companies finding ways to use the ship that exceeded even the Darr brothers' original expectations. Some were even purchased by governments themselves for use as science vessels, military hospitals, troopships, and more: the possibilities were seemingly endless, and so the Kowloon-class virtually dominated the market for freighters for centuries, securing the Hessa Combine eternal fame for its revolutionary design, as they had effectively changed the face of the galaxy's freight industry.
In 1749 CE, the Darr brothers requested a revision to their contract that allowed for a larger pay out, as felt the contract no longer represented what the class was worth and that they should each be paid 200 million credits. Hessa Combine refused, so the Darr brothers threatened to take them to court, causing quite a stir on Irune as the volus media went crazy with their coverage of the scandal. With the media tearing into their personal lives and being criticized by several volus guild unions, the Darr brothers eventually settled for 50 million each and settled out of court with the Hessa Combine, with the added amendment to the contract that the copyrights now solely belonged to Hessa Combine, and that they could no longer demand further pay-outs: as such, the Kowloon-class was now fully owned by Hessa Combine. The ship class would remain in operation well into the 22nd Century, and while much of the flair over it had died down, it was still one of the premiere freighter-classes in use by that point, so much so that even the Systems Alliance and human companies, upon joining the galactic community, began to use them as well, with the Hessa Combine offering discounted prices to human companies due to their status as a "freshman" species at the time. Weirdly enough however, the Kowloon-class was gain some notoriety and negative press between 2183 CE and 2184 CE when a whole host of incidents including Kowloon-class conveyors would occur, with a total of 90 ships being affected of this class alone, the most of any other freight. Incidents such as terrorist attacks, ships going missing, derelict vessels being found, hijackings, pirate ships and more circulated, and the media began to circulate the paranoia that the ships were cursed. Conspiracy theorists threw around the idea that the ships were involved in an elaborate insurance fraud scheme, and that Hessa Combine was behind it. The reality was that the ship simply had an unfortunate 24 month period where their ships, 90 of them, just happened to be involved in a series of unfortunate incidents, and that no grand conspiracy or curse hung over them that was causing this. Despite this, this negative press would hang over the Kowloon-class for nearly a decade afterwards, in which the class dropped slightly in popularity, but not by much.
After the Post-Apocalyptic War, the Hessa Combine was bought by the human shipbuilding company Xavier & Quarn, who allowed it to continue building Kowloon-class ships before eventually replacing them with the Speedy-class, which was larger and improved upon many of the modular capabilities of the Kowloon-class, including the ability to extend the length of the craft, as well as making it far safer in suborbital scenarios. With the last Kowloon-class ship taken out of service in 2218 CE, it had enjoyed nearly 500 years of near-total dominance of the freight industry, a career that few other freighters could boast of.
The class was named for the volus word of "Kowloon", which roughly means "reliable" in English.