Lockmart CM-88B Bison freighter (Earth-5875)

The Lockmart CM-88B Bison freighter is a class of civilian freighter used for deep space transportation, operating as tugs that connect to and pull loads such as tractors in conjunction with Bismark-class automated ore refineries.

Overview
Internally, the CM-88B consisted of three pressurized decks and four internal cargo holds, totalling around 1.1 million cubic meters of pressurized volume. Most of the spare space on board was filled with fuel for the ship's fusion drive and reaction mass for the thrust engines. The upper deck contained the main living areas, including the bridge, crew quarters, mess hall, science station, cryo bay, and medical bay, while the lower decks comprised of extensive engineering and storage areas. The ship is sturdy enough to withstand atmospheric re-entries and have three main landing legs to allow surface landings. Particulate shielding helped to protect the vessel from airborne debris in even the roughest planetary atmospheres.

In-flight systems were governed by the ship's central shipboard artificial intelligence, Mother. A backup 2.0 terabyte mainframe would come online should Mother fail, while a third tier of automation could sustain vital systems in the rare event of a failure in the backup personal computer as well. Despite the extensive computer automation aboard the CM-88B, a human crew was still required for more complicated docking manoeuvres at each end of a transit.

Energy and propulsion
The CM-88B's power core is a Laretel WF-15 2.8 terawatt fusion drive. The power plant operated around a deuterium reaction that fused the fuel elements in a containment chamber using conversion lasers. The He4 byproduct of the reaction was stored separately and vented at regular intervals. Power was drawn off of the reactor by a closed-cycle liquid potassium cooling system, running off into an induction torus which used the intense magnetic field created by the superheated potassium to generate electric power for the vessel.

Like all freighters, the CM-88B's reactor possessed a self-destruct system, whereby the reactor's coolant systems could be shut down leading to a runaway reaction in the containment sphere and eventual catastrophic detonation. Once the process was begun, there was a five-minute failsafe period during which time the coolant system could be successfully reactivated. However, after this period had expired, the supercritical reaction became unstoppable and after a further five minutes the reactor would explode. Activation of the self destruct could only be carried out by an authorized crew member, and the procedure sequence was sufficiently complex to prevent accidental activation.

Faster-than-light travel was accomplished through a Yutani T7A NLS tachyon Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, capable of propelling the CM-88B to a cruising speed of 0.42 light-years per sidereal day when the ship was unladen. When towing large mass cargoes such as Bismark-class automated ore refineries, the maximum sustainable cruise speed drops significantly, to around 0.1-0.12 light-years per sidereal day. For manoeuvring at sublight speeds while towing a large mass, the CM-88B is outfitted with [Fusion drive (Earth-5875)|Saturn J-3000 engines]].

Communications
The CM-88B feature a standard set of 10 meter antennas for interstellar communications at superluminal speeds, as well as UHF/VHF/HF radio/video links for short-range links. Navigational sensors are constructed on pylons clustered around the hull of the ship, including two, 2-meter long telescopes that allow for optical, spectrographic and infrated resolutions.

Weaponry
As a civilian transport freighter, Lockmarts are not equipped with naval weaponry for primary combat. They, however, carry onboard armament, used by crews during extravehicular activity.

Trivia

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