Unfortunately, early generations of Subspace Engines were extremely energy-inefficient and the jump range of such “postman vessel” was very limited. An obvious solution became to use a larger vessel as a herald, but it meant extended operational costs for such trivial task. Fortunately by that time, the Empire has already been experimenting with a concept of a large military jump platform that would serve as a carrier for a patrolling fleet. This large carrier became the new Herald. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This solution came with very positive side effects for moral on Imperial colonies. Because arrival of the Imperial fleet to the system became deeply associated with the arrival of interstellar post, news and entertainment for millions of Imperial citizens. Some even began celebrating each arrival as a small holiday. Such emerging traditions were noted by colonial governments and highly encouraged to solidify the positive image of the Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even after optimization of the Subspace Engine technology and beginning of the Great War, the tradition of using a large cruiser as a “Herald” remained across the Empire. This time around though instead of a full patrolling fleet, the duty of a Herald laid down on morally obsolete decommissioned cruisers with minimal crews and captains on the verge of retirement.
The rise of semi-private space travel and emergent Duty to Transmit has decentralized communications between planets and thereby significantly diminished the status of Heralds across the Empire. Nevertheless these time-proven and reliable ships are still seen as irreplaceable foundation of the Imperial interstellar unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Duty to Transmit <\/strong>– This is a relatively new initiative that was made mandatory for all vessels in the Imperial Civilian Fleet. In order to create a supportive alternative to the Heralds, each civilian spaceship in the Empire became obliged to disclose its route to the Unified Transmission Service. Based on this information, each vessel is digitally loaded with relevant messages and programmed to automatically transmit them by reaching its destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This way, instead of few schedule-bound Herald ships, the Empire became interconnected by thousands of connections provided by civilian vessels. For busy worlds the Duty to Transmit has shortened incoming\/outgoing information intervals to mere days if not hours and shortened direct correspondence lag to mere weeks or months instead of years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysis of the statistical data from the Unified Transmission Service has also enabled the Imperial Navy High Command to adjust routes for the Herald fleet on the fly to prioritize visiting “less popular” colonies that suffer from low civilian traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Couriers <\/strong>– Each prominent organization in the Empire maintains a fleet of courier ships that can on demand transfer physical and digital messages between star systems. Just like active duty military ships, governmental Couriers are excepted from the Duty to Transmit in order to avoid accidental disclosure of their routes and maintain the secrecy around their assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal Post Service<\/strong> – Since the Dawn of Interstellar Trade Alliance, multiple planetary governments and private corporations have organized services for transportation of data packages and physical shipments between star systems. When ITA became Federation, all these regional services were united under a single banner of the Federal Inter-Planetary Post Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While relying on a hybrid system of their own transport ships and dozens of affiliated private contractors, Federal Inter-Planetary Post Service provides standardized communication services for all member-worlds of the Federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interstellar Communications Guild<\/strong> – A clear competitor to the state-owned FIPPS, the Interstellar Communication Guild is a private organization that coordinates independent contractors to create a similar service for interstellar communication. Many private contractors that work for ICG are not dedicated data transporters, but simply rent out server space on their vessels to earn some passive income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the FIPPS got under scrutiny for screening the correspondence of its users, ICG gained recognition as a safer option to transfer sensitive data. Strong peer to peer encryption and randomization algorithms make it practically impossible to intercept, trace or decode a message when it is being sent through the Guild’s network. Because of that privacy, even some governmental agencies use services of ICG, instead of FIPPS, to transfer their most confidential correspondence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Subspace Communication Platform<\/strong> – This is an experimental solution that revolves around a fleet of autonomous communication platforms that continuously transmit data between worlds of the Federation by rapidly jumping between pre-programmed star systems. While being extremely expensive to built and maintain, this drone network promises to provide the fastest possible way to communicate between distant worlds in the Federal Space. The time frame for SCP to reach its commercial release is unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFederal Solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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