The Oregon Files in the Honorverse

A question for anyone who likes to read outside the Honorverse.

One of my other favorite authors (along with the late Terry Pratchett, and JRR Tolkien) is Clive Cussler and his series of adventure novels called the Oregon Files. Set in the near future it features a crew of high-tech and highly moral mercenaries known as the Corporation, and their adventures on a sophisticated spy ship called the Oregon. Resembling a rusted out heap of junk, the converted tramp steamer is actually a technical marvel, carrying helicopters, boats, submarines, state of the art surveillance gear, magneto-hydrodynamic engines, medical facilities, more firepower than most navy frigates, and in general is what James Bonds Q would create if he had a navies budget.

Now my question is, could an equivalent vessel of this sort be a viable possibility in the Honorverse. Statements regarding Jessick Combine slaver ships like the Marianne (SofS) and the Hali Sowle (CofS and TofF) bare some resemblance to the Oregon, being equipped with more sophisticated tech than standard merchants, up to and including concealed weapons, sensors and drive systems. As we saw in OBS it is very hard to conceal military grade impellers if another ship gets close enough, although Thomas Bachfish's private force of heavily armed and outfitted merchant vessels show that with sufficient money they can be upgraded to heavy cruiser grade combatants even though a destroyer can still damage them.

Is it possible that with enough money from a wealthy enough sponsor (be it star nation or business tycoon) that an overpowered Q-Ship like this could operate effectively in the Honorverse? Outside of most government regulation, racing round the galaxy on the fringes of the law, and in the words of Doctor Who "saving planets, fighting monsters, and generally being sort of marvelous"? Or alternatively is this actually the premise for the fabled HD series "Preston of the Spaceways"?

Valen123456 wrote:A question for anyone who likes to read outside the Honorverse.

One of my other favorite authors (along with the late Terry Pratchett, and JRR Tolkien) is Clive Cussler and his series of adventure novels called the Oregon Files. Set in the near future it features a crew of high-tech and highly moral mercenaries known as the Corporation, and their adventures on a sophisticated spy ship called the Oregon. Resembling a rusted out heap of junk, the converted tramp steamer is actually a technical marvel, carrying helicopters, boats, submarines, state of the art surveillance gear, magneto-hydrodynamic engines, medical facilities, more firepower than most navy frigates, and in general is what James Bonds Q would create if he had a navies budget.

Now my question is, could an equivalent vessel of this sort be a viable possibility in the Honorverse. Statements regarding Jessick Combine slaver ships like the Marianne (SofS) and the Hali Sowle (CofS and TofF) bare some resemblance to the Oregon, being equipped with more sophisticated tech than standard merchants, up to and including concealed weapons, sensors and drive systems. As we saw in OBS it is very hard to conceal military grade impellers if another ship gets close enough, although Thomas Bachfish's private force of heavily armed and outfitted merchant vessels show that with sufficient money they can be upgraded to heavy cruiser grade combatants even though a destroyer can still damage them.

Is it possible that with enough money from a wealthy enough sponsor (be it star nation or business tycoon) that an overpowered Q-Ship like this could operate effectively in the Honorverse? Outside of most government regulation, racing round the galaxy on the fringes of the law, and in the words of Doctor Who "saving planets, fighting monsters, and generally being sort of marvelous"? Or alternatively is this actually the premise for the fabled HD series "Preston of the Spaceways"?

If you look like a freighter, you're going to be a bit tubby at best as a matter of hull volume and form. So - you'd need to accept mission profiles that allow you to be tubby, or look like something unremarkable that isn't a freighter, or a dispatch boat. I wouldn't get too optimistic about the latter. So, sticking with the former -

Sirius, Wayfarer, and Pirate's Bane made different compromises that way. Sirius was built for respectable speed, but the rams to get the impellers out and the hatch design compromised its disguise somewhat. Wayfarer was a freighter with weapons, pods, and LAC's stuffed in - the disguise was very good, but it had a freighter's ability to take damage. Had they had the time, they probably could have left it fairly slow - slower than Sirius - but built the inside like a warship and maybe even buffed up the disguise a little. Pirate's Bane was a converted fleet train unit, so the disguise as a totally harmless freighter was probably not perfect put pretty good. It wasn't remotely as dangerous as a warship of comparable size (which would have been, what, an old battleship?), but that's nothing that ought to be taken as a goal here.

So you're going to have to punish pirates by letting them come in, and then you're going to have a fabulously expensive ship to operate if it's actually able to take hits. And it's unlikely to be able to dish them out like Wayfarer, or even Sirius, without being very specially built and very expensive to get and operate - more expensive to build or operate than almost any government, much less anything with a smaller budget for belligerence, is going to have.

But maybe that's more than you really need. If you have in mind something that can conceal enough firepower to smack an unwary pirate or (with some luck) an equally unwary very small warship, under ideal circumstances, something like Pirate's Bane may do. For a relative pittance, it can have fabulous sensors, stealthy drones, some armed and armored ground vehicles, some troops, a very nice medical bay, and plenty of espionage gear.

There may be an issue about why to combine all of that in one package. The spy vehicle is likely to do better as a much smaller priority transport or yacht, and that pricey gear is likely to grow legs and/or get broken among a lot of scruffy soldiers and sailors.

Valen123456 wrote:...a sophisticated spy ship called the Oregon. Resembling a rusted out heap of junk, the converted tramp steamer is actually a technical marvel, carrying helicopters, boats, submarines, state of the art surveillance gear, magneto-hydrodynamic engines, medical facilities, more firepower than most navy frigates, and in general is what James Bonds Q would create if he had a navies budget.
...

Translated from "tramp steamer" to "tramp starship" that pretty much describes HMAMC Wayfarer -- except for the super-hot drive.

Cram a Streak Drive hyper generator into Wayfarer and you're most of the way to an Honorverse spy-ship.

If you can find the money to build from the keel out, you could add a souped up Impeller Drive and Compensator for N-Space but you wouldn't use N-Space acceleration all that often if you want to stay covert.

Oregon was purpose built for the role. That is what you should do if you want to have something for the mission you are describing.

You want the ability to have high speed but look like you are a freighter. That is internal work and something to mask the impellers etc.

You need at least two power plants, actual armor where it is going to at least cover the critical parts and multiple power/communications/control runs. No single spine merchant set-up.

Masking the ability to fight (and defend) with modern weapons starts to get complicated. One option is stelthed hatch doors or panels to cover missile launchers and CM batteries as well as your lightspeed weapons.

External components of the sensor and tactical systems need to look "harmless".

You also need a crew that is very, very good.

All of this sets you at a governmental or large corporate level of funding and operation.
Then you need to "find work". Just trolling for pirates probably isn't going to cut it. What do you get even if you capture a pirate without taking damage yourself? A ship, usually a former freighter that has been armed but is still a freighter. Pirates are going to be selling off or otherwise disposing of most stuff the capture or steal so unless you are able to backtrack to wherever the officers/crew/backers have stashed whatever credits they have "saved" and somehow get at it without running into any local laws or banking problems, good luck with that.
You might be able to sell an intact former pirate ship but you have to take it someplace and either strip out the weapons etc or sell it "as is" to some shady customers....and you really don't want to make more "competition" that way nor essential help set up new pirates.

Or you could "hire" yourself out to governments (like your own) as an "independent contractor" (mercenary) for jobs they don't want to do openly and get paid (and supported with logistics, money, medical, insurance, etc) for the work.

Pirates Bain was a good compromise as it allowed the Admiral to both make a living in a tough and sometimes dangerous portion of space and eliminate any pirates that attempted to take him (and could make money on that taking by recovering ships, getting rewards etc).

You really do need to be able to carry cargo and have the interior set up so that customs or naval inspections are not going to catch you being a tiger in a cowskin