A 'Katydid' is a class of vessel manufactured by many of the Halo shipyards during the diaspora from Earth. The original blueprint was filed by an interplanetary freight company called Shove, but entered the public domain when the original owners became brinkers and abandoned their worldly goods to travel to the Oort cloud. It is generally considered one of the most reliable non-military vessels ever produced, on par with many modern designs for cost efficiency, ease of maintenance, and reliability despite having a revision history stretching back over a hundred and fifty years.

A Katydid is equipped with a battery of communications masers that can be uprated to weapon-class (although this is generally considered illegal, bordering on piracy, by the CSA) and several ion thrusters for inner-system maneuvering. It is required to rely on the services of a friendly jumpgate for intersector or interplanetary travel.

The majority of ships making up the Callisto Free Traders fleet are Katydid-class, and they are frequently available for charter at a modest price. Would-be Captains are required to staff non-essential roles themselves, and to abide by the essential personnel choices of the local representative of the CFT. It's rumoured that the charter specifically forbids a number of very specific things, such as playing 'space chicken', or using the captain's chair incorrectly.

Vessels of this kind are given an ICV prefix; 'independant cargo vessel'.