Cargo Pods
Pods are easy targets for enemy ships to pick off. Ion storms
can send them off course. Pods are much safer when stored in the
cargo holds of ships. You can choose to have the pod simply go
into orbit around the planet it was
launched from and wait to be picked up by a friendly ship, or you
can choose to send the pod flying off into deep space to another
base on another planet on its own. Pods have a limited power
supply. When the power supply runs out the pod and its cargo are
lost.
All pods have a dock target and a drop target. When the dock target passes by the pod the pod will attempt to dock with the object. If the dock target has a cargo bay and is owned by the pod's race the pod will be loaded into the cargo bay. The cargo pod will stay in the ship's cargo bay until the ship passes by the cargo pod's drop target, the cargo pod will automatically be dropped off at that point in space.
You could set the pod's dock target to a ship that you know has a free cargo bay and will pass by the pod. You could then set the drop target to be the planet or base that you would like the pod dropped off at.
If a pod in on a ship that is in hyper space, the pod will not drop at its target during the jump.