Navy of the Black Sun

The Navy of the Black Sun (sometimes NBS) is the elite navy of the Shekeshta Hegemony. Only Shekeshta personnel are admitted and the Navy is provided with the most advanced and effective Hegemony technology.
==Mission==
Official remit of the NBS is to protect and further the interests of the Hegemony, providing effective force projection or security for Hegemony space. It is to use the support of the Shekeshta Auxiliary Navy and counter the space forces of hostile factions.
==Organisation==
The NBS maintains 3,400 active spacecraft. The number of personnel is in the hundreds of thousands and support staff number in the millions. It is internally divided into the crewmen and 'espatiers'; infantry under the command of the Navy.
Traditionally, the Blood-King is the commander-in-chief of the NBS. Ranks are as follows, with espatier equivalents appended where they exist:
*High Admiral/-
*Admiral/-
*Commodore/-
*Captain/-
*Commander/Commander
*Sub-Commander/Lt. Commander
*Lieutenant/Lieutenant
*Sub-Lieutenant/Second Lieutenant
*Ensign/-
*Midshipman/-
*Chief Warrant Officer/Chief Warrant Officer
*Warrant Officer/Warrant Officer
*Chief Petty Officer/Sergeant Major
*Petty Officer/Master Sergeant
*Sub-Petty Officer/Staff Sergeant
*Leading Spaceman/Corporal
*Spaceman/Private
==Training==
80% of personnel accepted into the NBS are veterans of the SAN, with at least five years experience. These personnel will undergo a further year of general training and two more years of specialist training if required.
The remainder of accepted recruits have finished within the top 10% of their military academy. These individuals will be required to do two years of general training and another two years of specialist training if this is required.
==Vessels==
The spacecraft of the NBS are larger, more powerful, and better equipped than comparable SAN vessels. Design takes into account durability, strategic and tactical manouevrability, and offensive capability.
Propulsion is achieved through 3He-D MC fusion. Vessels can have a sublight delta v of over 40% of light speed. FTL travel uses the shift-drive, a system invented convergently to that of The Sequence that moves the ship partially into one of Omni 01's unobservable dimensions to allow it to reach many times c.
The general structure of vessels is based on armour-grade steel. Ship hulls use composite armour, in which sandwiched ceramics and steel are used in order to lessen the effectiveness of enemy fire. Points which will be exposed to high thermal gradients are protected by heatproof ceramics and high-insulation polymer/co-polymer mixtures with added ceramic and inorganic components that can resist temperatures of many thousands of degrees for an extended period.
Point-defence and sensors are attached to the isogrid structural complex. High-ROF cannon are used with megawatt-class lasers and missile pods for interception and destruction of incoming projectiles.
NBS vessels rarely set down, instead using shuttles and dropships to transport personnel, fuel, and materiel.
===Warships===
The spacecraft of the NBS responsible for combat in space. These are the largest, most powerful NBS ships, capable of high sublight and FTL effective speeds. The NBS uses only what would be considered dreadnoughts in another navy; other ship types are inferior in all respects for space warfare.
Weapons consist of missiles, gigawatt-class lasers, and bombs for bombardment.
*Gladiator-class warships are 420m long, and equipped with three fusion spheromaks for propulsion as well as chemical manoeuvre rockets. They have a complement of 250 or more and carry sufficient supplies for missions many months long. Their armament is made up by missiles launched from several dozen launch systems on the ship, as well as the nine laser turrets built into the ship.
*Warlord-class warships reach 600m long. For propulsion, they have four fusion spheromaks, and both ion and chemical thrusters for manoeuvre. Complement is 300 and often even more, though they hold comparatively fewer supplies and so missions for Warlord-class ships are by necessity shorter. Rapid missile launch systems and twelve laser turrets form their armament, and these ships carry many drones.
===Dropships and shuttles===
The NBS uses a single dropship/shuttle; the Relay-class. At 21m long and with a hydrogen thruster supplemented by ion drives, it is not viable for long missions. It can hold up to 40 depending on the quantity of cargo and the species of the individuals. Its armament includes several 40mm rapid-fire cannon and a laser turret.
===Drones===
Several varieties of drone are used by the NBS. The most common are a spherical shape with six weapon mounts, each of which can be a laser turret, 40mm cannon, 110mm howitzer, or missile launch system. They maintain radio contact with their mothership/base but are capable of acting semi-autonomously if needed.
==Personnel Equipment==
The personnel of the NBS are equipped with high-quality weapons and armour. Most commonly they are issued with the 12mm 'Herak' pistol or 'Juispa' SMG, designed for optimal close-quarters fighting.
Body armour is thick kevlar and shear-thickening layers with graphene ballistic sheets over the vitals.
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