Commander Altsain has been having some serious issues with hauling of late. Once a regular money spinner for her, running haulage contracts out of Ito Orbital in Rhea, her Heffalump Haulage company had begun to fall apart. Efforts had to be doubled!

The problem was in balancing the maximum amount of cargo taken in each trip versus the survivability of the ship. If a ship was tooled up, it carried less cargo, and even the ‘safe’ trade routes around Rhea were getting a little too dangerous for the commander’s Type-9, the Peach Ummalumm. A Type-10 had been purchased (the Crimson Heffalump), but while that could run the Rhea trade routes, it had exactly the same issues as the Type-9 when travelling to more dangerous parts of the galaxy – however it was configured, it was either too weak or did not carry enough cargo to be worthwhile.

Something had to be done, and so the commander sat down with the outfitters at Jameson Memorial to hammer out a few ideas.

The first was to unload the Type-10. It was simply not working as an armed freighter, being squeezed by the Type-9 (for amount of cargo) and the Python, the Felicia Forever (for survivability – anything the Python cannot tackle it can easily run from). So, it was transferred to Ironwing Industries, which is a story that will be covered at a later date.

Work then commenced on the Type-9. First off, it was renamed the Pachyderm to signify a more serious approach to haulage.

The next move was to consider its survivability versus cargo-carrying. The commander had intended to mount a class 8 shield generator, taking the hit on cargo space for enough staying power to absorb hits while the frame shift drive charged (escaping interdiction is never something that should be counted upon in a Type-9). However, this led to a fairly dismal amount of cargo, and that is just not what the Type-9 is about.

So, the commander decided to split the difference. An A-rated class 7 shield generator was installed, which boosted available cargo space to 656 tons – commanders choosing to go for class 6 shields instead would be able to carry more, but over 650 tons of cargo is still nothing to be sniffed at, and the Pachyderm could now take a few hits.

Its lasers were removed, to be replaced with multicannon – not that Commander Altsain ever intended to use them (even the long-running Cosmic Flipper has yet to open its weapon hatches!), but they would prove adequate enough when facing piratical Cobras or Asps. This change allowed a reduction in the power distributor and plant, and the thrusters were downgraded as well (even with the most powerful thruster option, you are going nowhere fast in a Type-9).

An additional ‘benefit’ from this was that it was now impossible for the Pachyderm to break the speed limit around space stations unless it boosted, and it would only be doing that rarely as the engines took an age to charge.

To compensate for all of this, Commander Altsain decided to give an edge to the Pachyderm through the use of tactics, rather than brute force. She practised evasion, both through changing in-system routes (such as by travelling in an arc over the ecliptic rather than simply heading straight towards stations) and by weathering fire from pirates as she low- or high-waked out of combat.

The crowning cherry on all of this was a trip to Ms. Farseer. Whereas most commanders ask for their frame shift drives to have longer ranges, Commander Altsain asked for hers to have an increased boot rate – and Ms. Farseer did not disappoint.

The Pachyderm boosted (well, sort of) out of Farseer Inc. with a frame shift drive capable of going from zero to get-me-out-of-here in three seconds flat.

Pirates who challenge the Pachyderm to pull over and drop cargo barely get time to deploy their hardpoints, whereas the class 7 shields appear to be adequate in providing enough cover against Anacondas sent to assassinate the commander.

Things seemed to have been sorted, though there was just one more problem to be resolved before Commander Altsain could start hitting the trade routes around Shinrarta Dezhra.

The faster booting frame shift drive was great and all, but have you ever seen what happens when that much energy is squeezed out of a tiny power plant that quickly? The Pachyderm could fry itself just by jumping, even in deep space – jumping within line of sight to a star was definitely out if the commander wished to avoid being barbecued by her own ship.

After being cooked one time too often, she decided this was an immensely boring situation and so upgraded to a slightly heavier power plant (it is not as if jump range is a massive requirement in a Type-9) but with much greater heat efficiency. The ship still boiled, but it was at least tolerable.

With the ability to avoid pirates and a now massive cargo bay to boot, Commander Altsain was ready to hit the trade routes!