That satcab is sleazy as hell. Especially if someone (not me) decided it was the cheapest way to have a long duration sensor platform on a jump point.
But it got me thinking, if you want a ship type to conduct first contact, a cheap long endurance fighter that can support a diplomacy team while the launching ship stays back at the jump point might be the way to go.
Especially if, with no military systems, it shouldn't require any maintenance. Of course, that would mean no engines.
I really enjoy the idea of hangars being standard on fleet units and survey fleet, so that a fleet built for peacetime exploration can quickly transition to becoming a battlefleet, without needing much refit, just a different fighter load out. I love the RP potential of the survey fleet coming back for vengeance, "You shot down our peaceful survey shuttle, now see its brethren armed and out for your hide!"
I also like Larry Niven's stories of peaceful humans, going out into the galaxy, and having to turn tech into military purposes. Perhaps meson weaponry developed as a way of getting emergency power to isolated areas. Precision is important in that, so yeah, the whole planet has a bunch of point defense PDCs called "emergency power narrowcast units" or some such euphemism.
