Fleetcomm Preface

As a crewmember of a Fleetcomm starship, you will be expected to conduct yourself in such matters as diplomacy, humanitarian aid, odd jobs, requests from non-Fleet starships, investigation, etc.

This is a handbook provided to Fleetcomm Civil Sector ships. Civsec includes the Auxiliaries, the Medical Corps, the Rescue Rangers, and the Combined Couriers. Of these, the Auxiliary Corps is by far the largest, and the primary method by which civilian ships may sign up to Fleetcomm. The other divisions are mostly purpose-built ships by the Commune Shipyards with civilian crews, the contracts of whom define a specific method and purpose.

Fleetcomm Security and Patrol have a different handbook, relating to matters of conduct and the rules of weaponry and defence. This handbook is available to anyone, Civsec or civilian, upon completion of Form FC-03-SP.

You are now a Fleetcomm Civil Sector crewmember. Congratulations! May the stars guide your way, and may Veil take grace upon the stars in turn.

You are probably wondering many things right now. Among them may be: Why the Veil do the Terrans organise their ships this way? What am I expected to do? What authority can I wield?

What are my responsibilities? What the heck am I hearing about all these other places- the Economic Compact!? The Prosperity Spheres!?!? Gah! Why did I sign up for this?

Well, fret not, Fleetcomm newbie. I will answer your last question now; you signed up because Fleetcomm is awesome! You probably wanted the camaraderie of a starship, a desire for adventure, or to help folks in need. Maybe you had to run away from another thing in your life- that's okay! Terra is not a place of carceral justice. You signed up because Fleetcomm was right for you, and though it may not feel that way now, it sure will soon.

Let's answer that first question. The Terran Star Commune is not a warlike nation. You may be familiar with the radiation in parts of Old Earth- that's a remnant of the Great Destruction that devastated Terran society naught but 130 years ago. Warheads packed with an element common on Earth turned the homeworld of Terrans into a wasteland. Old Earth was terraformed in 2226, but the radioactivity proved intolerable to diplomats and visitors from other galactic nations, so the capital and much of the human society (willingly) moved to the newly terraformed planet of Mars.

As a result of having been devastated by a pointless war, modern Terra is a profoundly pacifistic nation. A Terran reading this will know this by heart, but this book is aimed at anyone who joins Fleetcomm, including our allies in the Friendship Accord. Many other nations organise their starship forces into Navies or similar- the Terran Star Commune swore off war as a means to an end, and thus, our entire spacefaring apparatus is civilian.

Another question comes up, then: What the heck is Security and Patrol up to? The answer to that is, as the Terrans reached for the stars, we encountered only friends at first. Eventually, to the immediate galactic north of Sol, a militaristic order of the planet of Matwamia invaded, and two frontier systems were overrun. After much deliberation, it was decided to establish SecurityPatrol to defend against such incursions, and to assist our Accord friends in any defences they may need.

SecurityPatrol consists of about 123 ships, the majority of which are about 63 Bannockburn-class Cruiser interceptors. Cruisers are fast and defensible and rather cheap to build. In some places, especially Fleet Base Far Star One, you will see much larger ships- year-round, there is a reserve Ranger-class Carrier docked there. Most of the rest of the fleet consists of Bayard City-class or Haifeng-class fast interceptors, and about 26 Southampton-class artillery destroyers. These forces are deployed only in self-defence. Also, any SecurityPatrol ship is free for public access- sign up to take a tour! Many SecurityPatrol crews are quite nerdy about their ships, and would love to bore your ears or auditory processors off with nerdy rambles about them.

Now, for the next question: what are you expected to do?

The short answer to this is; whatever's needed! Many Civsec ships are chartered civilian craft, i.e Auxiliaries. You'll receive requests over a secure channel on Stellarnet, and they'll always have a netsignature to verify them, alongside what's known as a jobtype code. These often look like a letter, then a number, then a decimal classification. You have to verify both of these, then send a message back to the requester, and then forward your intentions to Fleetcomm. This sounds tedious, but it's very quick, we promise.

Now, what authorities can you wield? The answer here is almost none. You are a person, the same as every other in the Commune and the Friendship Accord, and you are no more senior than any other. Your responsibility is to help and assist when needed.

Let's have a chat about the other places you're hearing about. These knowledges aren't fully limited to Fleetcomm- though, the galaxy is in an early stage of spacefaring history in the current Epoch, so many folks don't spacefare, and may not have heard about these other worlds.

The Economic Compact- refers to the Pan-Galactic Economic Compact, a trading agreement established between five nations to the far west of Terra, just past the Hylandor Artache Dominion.

The Economic Compact is peaceful, and generally maintains good relations with most galactic denizens. They are the source of many exotic goods, and even some basic ones, like virtusteel or shield relays.

Their members are the Narlim Trade Association, Tris Norar Intersolari, the Qwindesh Republic, and the Corporates Union of Gdaj.

The Prosperity Spheres- this refers to two closely associated federations in the far galactic north, about 246 light years away from Terra. They're a close-knit association of dynastic and noble states, peaceful but quite odd. To a Terran reading this, the Sphere nations are almost similar to feudalism in our distant history. (For non-Terrans, feudalism is a type of monarchic organisation similar to the federal form of Bohoy or Ugabite- except they pay allegiance to a divine sort of monarch, and usually have less freedoms.)

The primary members of the Spheres are quite unknown to the Friendship Accord. We mainly hear about them from distant travellers and traders. The most outward member is the Heickhish Realms, which is the only actual "feudal" nation there. Despite having an utterly archaic system of governance, the travellers received from Heickh are lovely- the Embassy of the Heickhish Realms is in Telescope City on Mars, the capital of the Commune- they'll be very happy to tell you more, atleast what they could bring this far.

The Economic Compact and the Prosperity Spheres are the main outward-reaching diplomatic alliances you might encounter and/or be expected to assist. There are others, but the Accord hasn't established wide relations with them yet.

Now, you read in the preface a list of Civil Section sub-divisions. You will know one of them by heart, but let's explain all of them for any readers.

The Medical Corps is essentially an ambulance department- they're responsible for responding to distress calls, provided medical care can help. If it's out of the abilities of Medcorps, then the Rescue Rangers are called in- the Rangers are also used for non-life-threatening situations, for example if a starship is stranded without sublight or witchjump fuel.

The Rangers have intensive care units on-board their ships. Medcorps are intended to stabilise a situation then send the distress caller on their way- if they need planet-side care, Rescue Rangers will take them there. Refer to Document B5-09.8 for more information on the precise charters of these two.

The Combined Couriers are the organisation dedicated to transporting essential documents or objects- especially for the Commune's political side. When radio comms or the Stellarnet aren't secure enough, Couriers will take a disk drive with the message encoded to its destination. Refer to B5-10.2 for more info.

The Auxiliaries are a vast collection of civilian ships that can be called upon when at all necessary to provide assistance. They're the only subdivision without a clear chartered duty, instead functioning to do what's necessary when necessary. Most of the time, Auxiliary vessels are doing their own thing- within the legal framework.