Empirica

Where other empires field warships at this price point, the Confederacy fields a mobile laboratory. Five utility slots accommodate spectrographic analyzers, sample containment systems, and the processing power to run publication-grade analysis without returning to a station. The fuel range exceeds every other exploration platform at this scale — the Empirica stays on-station long enough to be thorough, which the research division considers the only acceptable duration. The onboard research AI maintains a continuously updated bibliography and flags potential discoveries that merit formal investigation. Unarmed, because the Confederacy maintains that the pursuit of knowledge should not require the threat of violence. It does require extensive paperwork.