On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 2:43 PM, <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
Of all the Imperial services, the IISS is the one for which 'it depends' most applies.

I think that's the key observation. The Scouts pride themselves on scrounging and improvisation, so their smaller, more remote bases are likely to display enormous variety, often with ingenious use of local materials and construction. There will definitely be some standard components available as others have proposed, but I'd expect these to be just the starting point for settling in at a new location. So, for example, on a very advanced, hi-pop world, the Scout "base" might consist of leased hangar and repair space at the starport, and leased office and lab space kilometers away in a downtown business area, with the two linked by fast transit service. Meanwhile, on a frontier world with a recently contacted low-tech native population, you might find a Scout base which is also that world's Class D port, basically a bare patch of ground, some fuel storage and delivery systems, a basic sensor/transponder "tower", and a marvelously weird mansion of native design and construction nearby serving as the Scout ops center, a gift from the local queen to foster good relations with the Imperium. And so forth.

--
Craig Berry (http://google.com/+CraigBerry)
"Eternity is in love with the productions of time." - William Blake