In order to facilitate the transport of the prototype Tachyon Star Bomb to Dragon, a simple device had to be created. It had to be discreet and therefore bore all the hallmarks of a missile (and not a torpedo, which might have been shot down by the Enemy). The Dumb Waiter was conceived to be remotely controlled and pushed up the main cannon of Dragon, prior to the battleship firing. The Dumb Waiter's radar ident string read "MISSILE-DW".

During the dispatch phase during the Battle for the Solar System, the Dumb Waiter collided with an unknown object and remote control was lost. Simon Dodds located the device on his radar, and, using the grappling hook aboard his ATAF (actually Estelle de Winter's), he snagged the remains of the device and manually completed the deployment, taking the TSB to Dragon.