CANON REFERENCE
Starship Repair Companies
Civilian Maintenance, Recovery, Certification, and Reconstruction Infrastructure
A civilization supporting millions of spacecraft requires an equally extensive maintenance infrastructure. The following seven organizations provide major-yard repair, frontier maintenance, mobile emergency response, specialized propulsion and weapons servicing, electronics support, salvage, and full vessel reconstruction.
Tolland Interstellar Shipworks
TISMajor repair corporation and full-service shipyard network
Return to the Stars.
Tolland Interstellar Shipworks is one of the largest civilian spacecraft maintenance organizations in Consortium space. Its enormous orbital facilities are positioned near heavily traveled commercial systems and major Gorbillian transit corridors. A Tolland installation may employ tens of thousands of technicians, engineers, inspectors, tug operators, sentry operators, and support personnel.
Tolland specializes in complete ship reconstruction. Its largest yards can receive vessels with catastrophic structural damage, remove entire sections of hull, manufacture replacements, and essentially rebuild a ship around its surviving pressure hull and axial structure.
Primary specialties
Salvage division
Tolland Recovery & Reconstruction (TRR) operates heavy salvage tugs capable of recovering large spacecraft that would otherwise be abandoned.
Reputation
Tolland has a reputation for being expensive but dependable. Insurers frequently prefer Tolland for high-value ships because of its extensive documentation and inspection procedures.
Veyron Gorbillian Systems
VGSSpecialist propulsion corporation
Distance Is a Mechanical Problem.
VGS concentrates almost entirely on propulsion and is considered one of the premier independent authorities on Gorbillian drive maintenance.
Its engineers service tensor-control assemblies, field regulators, drive-control systems, navigation interfaces, containment components, Promegen thrusters, ion maneuvering systems, and Proton anti-Proton propulsion systems. Because improperly serviced Gorbillian equipment can have catastrophic consequences, VGS technicians undergo some of the most demanding civilian technical certification programs in the Consortium.
A distinctive feature of VGS facilities is the isolated drive dock. Ships undergoing major Gorbillian work are separated from inhabited portions of the station while controlled tests are performed.
Primary specialties
Post-incident analysis
VGS technicians are frequently brought in after unexplained propulsion failures to determine whether the cause was mechanical failure, improper maintenance, manufacturing defects, or deliberate sabotage.
Aegis Vector Technologies
AVTDefense-oriented repair and calibration corporation
Protection Requires Precision.
Aegis Vector Technologies specializes in systems that protect spacecraft or allow them to defend themselves. Its yards are common near KAVOE installations, planetary defense facilities, dangerous frontier routes, and regions with significant pirate activity. Although AVT is civilian-owned, a substantial percentage of its engineers possess authorization to work on military equipment.
AVT facilities contain heavily shielded calibration chambers where weapons can be tested without firing conventional projectiles into open space. Its military-certified facilities can service certain KAVOE systems, although classified components must be handled by KAVOE personnel or specially cleared AVT technicians.
Primary specialties
Security note
Because AVT personnel routinely work around weapon systems, the company is an attractive target for industrial and military espionage.
Meridian Orbital Cooperative
MOCFederation of independent frontier shipyards
No Ship Left Waiting.
Meridian is not a conventional corporation. It is a cooperative network of hundreds of independently operated orbital repair facilities, particularly important on colonies and frontier worlds where maintaining a massive corporate shipyard would be economically impossible.
A Meridian yard might consist of two docking structures, several pressurized workshops, fuel storage, fabrication equipment, and thirty technicians. Others have grown into enormous stations capable of servicing hundreds of vessels. Meridian mechanics have a reputation for improvisation and for getting stranded ships operational even when exact manufacturer components are unavailable.
Primary specialties
Clientele
Meridian is particularly popular with independent merchants, prospectors, research vessels, and frontier colonists.
Wayfarer Deep-Space Assistance
WDAEmergency mobile repair and rescue service
We Come to You.
Wayfarer operates fleets of specialized repair ships rather than relying primarily on conventional shipyards. When a vessel suffers a breakdown far from a populated world, Wayfarer dispatches an Emergency Engineering Vessel (EEV).
These ships carry engineers, rescue personnel, medical staff, hull-repair equipment, replacement components, autonomous but non-sentient repair machinery, towing equipment, pressure shelters, portable shield equipment, and emergency life-support modules. A Wayfarer vessel can rendezvous with a disabled ship, stabilize it, evacuate passengers, conduct repairs, or tow the vessel toward the nearest suitable facility.
Primary specialties
Doctrine
Wayfarer crews summarize their doctrine as: “Alive first. Moving second. Pretty later.” Their objective is to preserve life and make the vessel safe enough to move, not necessarily to restore it to factory condition.
Helix Astronautical Systems
HASElectronics, sensors, and spacecraft-control specialist
Know Where You Are.
Helix handles the systems pilots tend to notice only when something goes wrong. It specializes in spacecraft electronics, navigation, sensors, communications, flight-control systems, ACS equipment, neural interfaces, and computer integration.
A vessel emerging from battle may appear structurally intact while possessing hundreds of damaged sensors, severed communication channels, corrupted navigation systems, and malfunctioning attitude-control equipment. That is Helix's domain.
Primary specialties
Forensic work
Helix also performs electronic forensic examinations after accidents. Investigators can sometimes reconstruct the final minutes of a spacecraft by recovering fragmented information from damaged computers and sensors, making Helix technicians valuable to insurers, ICIA investigators, and accident-review boards.
Lazarus Recovery & Reclamation
LRRSalvage, recovery, and reconstruction corporation
Nothing Is Lost Until We Say It Is.
Lazarus goes where most repair companies do not want to go. Its vessels recover spacecraft destroyed or abandoned after battles, collisions, piracy, reactor failures, failed landings, asteroid strikes, and other disasters.
Lazarus crews assess wreckage and divide it into four categories: recoverable vessel, reconstruction candidate, component salvage, or recyclable material. Its most famous operations involve ships that everyone assumed were destroyed. A recovery team might locate a wreck drifting for months, stabilize the remains, recover its flight recorders and crew remains, remove hazardous material, and tow the surviving structure to a reconstruction facility.
Primary specialties
Investigative hold
Lazarus crews are specifically trained not to disturb evidence when piracy, sabotage, unexplained deaths, or criminal activity may have been involved. ICIA can order a wreck placed under investigative hold before salvage begins.
Universal Repair Certification Standard
The Interstellar Vessel Maintenance Certification (IVMC) provides a common qualification system recognized by KAVOE, major civilian insurers, transportation regulators, and participating manufacturers. KAVOE may impose additional military certifications on top of IVMC requirements. Technical capability does not automatically confer legal authorization.
| Certification | Authorization |
|---|---|
| IVMC-1 | Routine inspection and maintenance |
| IVMC-2 | Component replacement and minor structural repair |
| IVMC-3 | Major mechanical, electrical, and hull repair |
| IVMC-4 | Propulsion, shields, life-support, and other critical systems |
| IVMC-5 | Gorbillian systems and high-energy propulsion |
| IVMC-6 | Weapons and military-grade systems |
| IVMC-R | Salvage and reconstruction |
| IVMC-X | Experimental or restricted spacecraft technologies |
Standard Repair Turnaround Categories
Repair facilities classify jobs according to the Vessel Restoration Category (VRC). These categories distinguish emergency stabilization from complete reconstruction and help insurers, captains, regulators, and repair facilities communicate the scope and expected duration of work.
| Category | Typical Work | Typical Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| VRC-0Immediate | Emergency stabilization | Minutes–hours |
| VRC-1Field Repair | Temporary hull patches, ACS, sensors | 2–24 hours |
| VRC-2Operational Repair | Component replacement, shields, life support | 1–4 days |
| VRC-3Major Repair | Engines, substantial hull damage | 4–20 days |
| VRC-4Dockyard Overhaul | Multiple major systems | 3–12 weeks |
| VRC-5Reconstruction | Catastrophic structural damage | 2–12 months |
| VRC-6Rebuild | Vessel effectively reconstructed from surviving structure | 6 months–3 years |
A VRC-0 or VRC-1 repair does not certify a vessel as fully repaired. It establishes only that the ship can safely perform specified functions or travel to an appropriate repair facility. Operational restrictions may be placed on the vessel until a higher-level inspection and permanent repair are completed.
Infrastructure and Story Utility
Together, Tolland, VGS, Aegis Vector, Meridian, Wayfarer, Helix, and Lazarus create a layered repair ecosystem spanning corporate shipyards, propulsion specialists, defense contractors, frontier mechanics, mobile rescue services, electronics experts, and battlefield salvage teams. Their facilities and vessels provide natural settings for sabotage investigations, insurance fraud, stolen technology, pirate infiltration, espionage, mysterious wrecks, stranded crews, engineering disasters, and large-scale rescue missions.
