Folly

The Folly is the titular vessel in the Tales of the Folly series, written by Allen Fesler.
She is a privately-owned heavily-customized bulk container transport made up of parts and segments from a dozen other starships coming from every race in the Stellar Federation.  The ship has four bridges and eight warp cores.
The Folly's design is a central shaft, just over 2 kilometers in length, with multiple attachment points for cargo pods.  The four warp engines (in two nacelles) are about 2/3rds of the way toward the rear, and two 380-meter diameter spherical detachable space stations form the front.  At one point, before the spheres were added, the vessel was named the Pogo Stick in reference to what it resembled.
The ship is host to the sapient A.I. named Tess, who manages Folly's systems, comms traffic and loading/offloading of cargo pods. Tess has proven herself a loyal companion and Neal's right hand assistant and protector.
The Folly boasts several utility shuttles: Alpha and Baker are both massive shuttles used to lift fully loaded cargo pods from a planet with a gravity of up to one and a half times that of Earth. Charlie and Delta are larger warp capable shuttles but only have internal storage for two hundred carriers. Echo and Foxtrot are smaller and used solely to move pods in zero gravity (eg. to a space station, another ship or to a different position on Folly). Gwendolyn, formerly named Gulf, while smaller than Charlie and Delta is also warp capable and is more like a small starship with very little storage space and significantly more room for crew and living areas than the other shuttles. Gwendolyn is also host to a second sentient A.I. who goes by the name Tina, whereas Tess refers to Neal as "Boss" Tina refers to him as "Chief" so that Neal can tell whom is speaking. There is also an indeterminate number of Zulus aboard Folly, named as such since ramming a Zulu into an attacker is considered Folly's last line of defense, these predominantly unmanned shuttles are small and serve a range of purposes from being a mobile refueling station to expanding the range of sensor data to acting as a transporter relay. 
==Crewmembers==
Folly has hosted a large number of crewmembers in the past and present.  Use the handy table below to keep track of who is who.
Name 	Species 	Age (as of 2330) 	First Appearance 	Status
Neal Foster 	Human male 	~ 310 years 	(all associated stories) 	Owner/Captain
Alex 	Cat tom 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Cindy 	Fox vixen 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Brighteyes 	Chakat 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
CalmMeadow 	Chakat 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Dusk 	Chakat 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Nightsky 	Chakat 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Roseberry 	Chakat 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Morningmist 	Chakat 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Graysocks 	Foxtaur vixen 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Redtail 	Foxtaur vixen 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Beechwood 	Foxtaur vixen 	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Mike 	Equitaur stallion	teen 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew
Holly 	Foxtaur vixen 	8 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew, Engineer
Quickdash 	Chakat 	8 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew, Engineer
Shadowcrest 	Chakat 	11 (processed) 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crew, Freelancer T5 Telepath
Weaver 	Foxtaur vixen 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	First Mate
Longsock 	Foxtaur tod 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 5	Crews Family
Starblazer 	Chakat 	2 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 1	Crews Family
Suzan "Stew" Pebble 	Rabbit doe 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Crew, Ships Cook, Chef
Bonita 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Crew, Security
Dessa 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Crew, Security
Kestrel 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Crew, Security
Whitetail 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Crew, Security, Star Fleet Liaison
Zhanch 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Crew, Security, Star Fleet Liaison
Croix 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Velasco 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Piper 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Redstripes 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Greenleaf 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Satsuma 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Ashanti 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Boleez 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Salma 	Rakshani female 	adult (processed)	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Ex-Crew (Currently on Raksha)
Shadowchaser ("Chase")	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 2	Former Crew, Star Fleet
Firestorm 	Chakat 	2 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 3	Crews Family
Moonglow 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 3	Crews Family
LightTouch 	Skunktaur 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 3	Passenger, Star Fleet Liaison
Shortdash 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 5	Passenger, Star Corps Liaison
Quickwind 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 5	Passenger, Star Corps Liaison
Tauna 	Foxtaur vixen 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Passenger, Currently on Chakona
Windsong 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Passenger, Star Corps Liaison
Longreach 	Caitian 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 5	Passenger, Captain of Good Deal
Sharptongue 	Caitian 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 5	Passenger, First Mate of Good Deal
Screamingwind 	Caitian 	youth 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 5	Passenger, Engineer Trainee
Dreamweaver 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew, Captain of Father's Love
Phillip 	Skunk buck 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew, Crew on Father's Love
Desertwind 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew, Crew on Father's Love
Doug 	Human male 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew
Passion 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew
Arcs 	Chakat 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew, Crew on The Tinker
Sparks 	Mouse Doe 	adult 	Tales of the Folly, chapter 8	Former Crew, Crew on The Tinker
Category:Independent starships
Category:Tales of the Folly