Cargo Tugs

Spaceborne Cargo Ships, commonly called cargo tugs, form the backbone of interstellar commerce throughout Human Space. The most common forms are mostly automated, with only a small crew of half a dozen or less onboard to perform maintenance and take over control from the ship's computer in case of an emergency. Cargo tugs were often fully automated prior to the Tavastian War, but since then suspicion of robots and virtual intelligences has resulted in fully automated ships of any kind being banned by interstellar law, enforced by the United Leagues of Earth.
Cargo tugs range in scale from relatively small, interplanetary vessels, to colossal interstellar ships that dwarf the largest of military vessels, some barely able to fit through standard wormhole gateways when fully laden with cargo. The core of modern cargo tugs consist of a skeletal-looking vessel, with a long cylindrical spine connecting the bridge and crew quarters at one end, with the fusion engine and torch drive at the other. Cargo containers are attached to the exterior of the ship's spine, and make up the vast majority of a fully-laden cargo-tug's volume. Except for those travelling to the Lost Systems, cargo tugs are not equipped with jump drives, relying instead on gateways to travel between systems.
Cargo tugs are the most common targets or pirates, due to their predictable routes, small crews, and minimal or nonexistent defence systems. As such, cargo tugs operating outside of well-patrolled regions of space generally travel with escorts. These escorts may be private contractors, though the largest corporations tend to maintain their own fleets, and in some cases cargo tugs may be escorted by Stellar Nomads or ships from other organisations, such as the Knights Planetar.