Rakatan colony ship

Over the course of the Rakatan civilization's dominance in the galaxy (often referred to as the "Infinite Empire" by Humans), the space travel was conducted solely through the use of massive colony ships that were typically only designed for one or two hyperspace voyages. Many of these colony ships were also equipped with primitive escape pods as well as small terraformer devices in the event that the colony ship lands on an uninhabitable celestial body. Advanced computers, which were still considered primitive by modern standards, were used to accurately coordinate a jump. As the colony ship's large size and primitive technology prevented it from having effective maneuverability, a jump had to be precisely planned so that the vessel exits hyperspace directly in the way of their destination. Some colony ships were equipped to turn around and make another jump in the event that they miss their destination, though some were doomed to keep wandering until they reached another celestial body. Colony ships were equipped with long-lasted oxygen supplies in preparation of this, as well as farms consisting of various domesticated crops and livestock. The exact products of each colony ship's farms varied, leading to an extremely diverse range of lifeforms that developed over the millennia from original domesticated creatures transported aboard colony ships.

Colony ships were often suited to comfortably house 25,000 Humans, with the largest vessels holding up to 100,000 (and some legends claiming as high as 5 million). Colony fleets, consisting of up to a dozen colony ships, could easily carry over 1 million Human slaves as well as several million tons of cargo and valuable resources to their new destination(s). Colony ships were not equipped with any defense technology, though the escape pod shafts could be configured to use the escape pods as a projectile, as it typically contained a highly explosive fuel. Boarding craft were later developed, allowing Rakatan guards from one colony ship to board and pacify another colony ship in the event that it was taken over by revolting slaves. Traveling from the Core Worlds to the edge of the Outer Rim in an ancient colony ship, taking into account the obstacles, could take up to a decade. Most colony ships did not even require a crew to operate after being launched, with the hyperdrive activating and deactivated at programmed intervals. As such, the Rakatan crew was limited to guards and travelling nobles. Slave auctions and supposedly sacrificial executions were frequently held aboard colony ships in the middle of transit. Reports of Human slaves overthrowing a colony ship's commanders were also common.

Hundreds of worlds became host to Human slave colonies that mined local resources for their Rakatan overlords. Apart from the spread of different lifeforms and the development of new creatures through genetic modification and introduction to new environments, many new Human cultures began to form as a result of isolation. Over the millennia, many of these slave colonies began revolting and forming their own kingdoms. Most of the Core World colonies unified into what would become the Galactic Republic. These now independent civilizations became isolated from one another, leading some Human populations to devolve into primitive tribalism while others maintained their mastery of space travel by preserving the ancient colony ships. The colony ships would often be landed on a planet's capital city and served as a temple for religious or governmental purposes. Through reverse engineering, some Human populations were able to craft primitive (and often unsuccessful) spacecraft that were designed to make multiple hyperspace voyages. These new spacecraft also featured more advanced hyperdrives (whose origin was a divisive topic among the galactic community's historians) that lessened an extended travel to only a matter of months. Interstellar trade and exploration quickly became an everyday part of the galactic community through these advanced craft, leading to the formation of a galactic economy and the discovery of many new sentient beings (many of whom were believed to have been mutated from Humans by Rakatan and (possibly) Kwa scientists). It wasn't long until spacecraft were used for military purposes, such as transporting armies and supplies during wartime. Through ramships (large warships equipped with lances and "harpoon" cannons, introduced as early as 18,000 BBY), space warfare became commonplace in conflicts between galactic superpowers. Over the course of many millennia, advancement of hyperdrive and vehicular technology reached a stagnation, though as of 4,000 BBY spacecraft advancements reemerged as vessels began to become smaller while being more efficient than their predecessors, eventually leading to the rise of starfighters, shuttles, transports, gunships, corvettes, cruisers, destroyers. Certain designs from the colony ships such as escape pods, boarding crafts, and distinguished command bridges remained prevalent in capital ship designs into the modern era. As millions of known colony ships traveled throughout space at some point in history, many treasure hunters often sought out colony ships for artifacts.