Editing Command Circuit

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:'''''Pony Express''' and '''Solar Express''' redirect here.''

In the [[BattleTech]] universe, the '''"Pony Express"''' concept refers to the method of transferring cargo, passengers or messages from one [[JumpShip]] that has just arrived and thus needs to recharge its [[jump drive]] for about a week before continuing its journey to another waiting JumpShip with a fully charged drive, to expedite the journey.

The more common term '''"Command Circuit"''' refers to a pre-arranged chain of JumpShips working together as a Pony Express, i.e. the application of the Pony Express method. However, the two expressions are often used synonymously.

==Pony Express==
A regular JumpShip has to recharge its [[K-F Drive]] for an average of 176 hours, roughly a week, after each jump, and can jump no more than around 30 lightyears at a time. It is therefore not uncommon for JumpShips to hand off the [[DropShip]]s they carried (or otherwise transfer cargo, passengers or messages) to another JumpShip that is ready to jump out for the next leg of the journey immediately.<ref>''Strategic Operations'', p. 136: Command Circuits</ref>

In this fashion, travel times can be cut down from around a week per jump to a few hours (plus system transit). However, the general scarcity of JumpShips means a Pony Express has to be planned or set up long in advance, and is likely to be very expensive. Independent free trader JumpShips do exist and are sometimes available for pony express travels, but typically charge steep prices.

Pony Express-style couriers were used by the [[Federated Suns]] and [[Lyran Commonwealth]] in the later stages of the [[Fourth Succession War]] following [[ComStar]]'s interdiction, and even prior to the war courier vessels had been used to distribute sealed orders because ComStar was not entirely trusted.

Following the effective breakdown of [[HPG]] communications after the [[3132]] "Gray Monday" [[Blackout]], Pony Express-style message delivery became the predominant form of interstellar communication. Initially, this was a very ad hoc effort, blossoming by December [[3133]] but with limited coordination. The signal quality for transmissions to planets was varied, sometimes so poor as to be useless, and early on, there was little set scheduling for data delivery.<ref name=DAINNp301>''Dark Age: 3132-3134 INN'', p. 301: "The JumpShip Couriers: Pony Express for the Dark Age"</ref> By early [[3134]], [[Paladin of the Republic|Paladin]] [[Kelson Sorenson]] and a select group of [[Republic of the Sphere]] knights and diplomats had united a disparate collection of cargo lines, free traders and repurposed military vessels into a more organized relay network dubbed the "'''Solar Express'''."<ref name=EDDA5>''Era Digest: Dark Age'', p. 5</ref>

==Command Circuit==
A Command Circuit is a pre-arranged Pony Express-style chain of JumpShips over (typically) long distances that is held in place for some time (whereas most Pony Express handoffs are one-off affairs). Command Circuits are expensive to set up because of the number of valuable JumpShips they tie up for mostly idle on standby, and are thus generally only used by state leaders or militaries.

==Notes==
*Author [[Ardath Mayhar]] claims to have invented the Pony Express concept for BattleTech.
*One named Pony Express vessel during the Fourth Succession War was the ''[[Kit Carson]]''.

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Dark Age: 3132-3134 INN]]''
* ''[[Era Digest: Dark Age]]''
* ''[[Strategic Operations]]''

[[Category:Inner Sphere Culture]]