The Venture-Class Explorer cruisers were one of the most successful ship designs in human history. Before the rise of the light and medium transports, these ships were the foundation of non-military space transport. They filled the role of both exploratory vessel and cargo ship. In fact, even 50 years after the last Venture was manufactured, they still hold the record for exploration of new star systems and first contacts with alien species. There are still dozens, perhaps even a few hundred, of these ships in service. Almost all Ventures out of service were destroyed or suffered some unusual catastrophic systems failure. Very few had to be decommissioned purely due to age. They still can be found exploring new star systems and shuttling cargo in fair numbers. This is a new design for my Freelancers universe. In the day and age of the graphic novel, the ship is also used for pirating.