Terran Alliance Navy

The Grand Fleet of the Alliance

The **Grand Navy of the Terran Alliance**, shortened to just the **Terran Alliance Navy** in most circles, is the naval component of the Alliance military and one of the most powerful star fleets in the Milky Way galaxy (surpassed only by the Razorbird Empire's Imperial Flotilla and the Consortium Navy). The only military force to inflict a decisive defeat on the Razorbird Empire since the Singularity Wars, they are the prime enforcers of Galactic Council law in the galaxy and as such are the bane of pirates and slavers everywhere.

## History

The first proper Terran fleet took shape as the Space Force, a multinational coalition during the Third World War on Terra in the days before spaceflight. Limited to tiny shuttles and nuclear missiles as ordnance, they were nonetheless the first inklings of the Terrans among the stars. In the aftermath of the war and with the Alliance rising like a phoenix from the ashes, the Space Force was disbanded as there was no more need for it.

In the aftermath of the 2077 Europa Incident, however, everything changed. In the wake of the colony's destruction, the Space Force was reactivated and given a new name - the Grand Navy of the Terran Alliance. At the time, this numbered a single ship - the *Alliance*-class battlecruiser *Valiant* - but from small beginnings come great things. During the War for Sol, the newborn Navy bore the brunt of the fighting, carrying the fight to Rin forces throughout the Solar System. It cost the infant fleet the *Valiant*, the loaned Murccioun battleship *Inu*, and almost a million lives, but in the end it was the fleet - not the army - that drove out the Rin.

In the wake of the Solar War, the Alliance fleet grew and expanded rapidly: challenging pirates and smugglers across their lawless sector and exploring new planets with an eye towards eventual colonization, they expanded the fledgling Alliance's borders and gained their government the lasting respect of the Galactic Council's powers. It was during this time that the Expeditionary Forces were first formed as their own branch in the navy, with battle operations going to the regular Star Fleet. After the hit-and-run attacks made on the frontier worlds of the Tejekian Badlands in 2309-2310, it was the Navy that brought the fight to the Veydreth and ultimately impressed them to the point where the Veydreth willingly joined the Alliance. The fleet was also the main fighting arm against the Pathogen menace.

It was during the Ravasect Wars (2440-2461) that the navy was truly tested for the first time: fleet engagements against the insectile race were common, and the Generation Two starships were well-equipped to handle it. The Alliance had never seen a conflict of such duration on such a scale before: however, they persevered in order to bring the Ravasect slavers to heel. It was during this time that the Razorbird Empire was first contacted: the Terran Alliance's navy, and the Alliance as a whole, was about to meet its greatest test.

In 2485, the Razorbird Crusade began. Outnumbered and outgunned from the start, the Alliance's navy adopted a system of aggressive defense: Alliance warships formed ever-active fleets patrolling continuously in their sectors, always mobile and ready to meet the swift incursions that were the trademark of Razorbird battle doctrine. This led to some spectacular victories (Battle of the Song Starzone, actions at New Camelot and New Newfoundland) as well as crushing defeats (Battle of the Alorian Spire, Battles of Tiamat and Astarte), as the Alliance fleets were overall more skilled in terms of tactics but inferior in technology.

In 2486, with the Crusades in full swing and the Alliance on the ropes, Admiral James Holland changed everything. A brilliant young admiral, the youngest in Alliance history at that time (23), his undermanned and undergunned 15th Fleet won a series of stunning victories over the Razorbird armadas at the Second Battles of Tiamat and Astarte, utilizing the astrography of the star systems to his fleet's advantage and nullifying Razorbird numerical and technological superiority. Under Fleet Admiral Casper Hawkins, he would - in concert with Admiral Asher Perry's 4th and Admiral 'Arty' Kirsanov's 9th Fleets - mastermind the last stand of the Alliance star fleets over Djangor against the full might of the Razorbird Imperial Flotilla from his flagship, *Inextinguishable*. Though the gallant admiral met his end in the final stages of the battle, a victim of Razorbird cannon fire to his flagship's bridge, the battle was already a forgone conclusion - the Razorbirds were defeated, and never challenged the Terran Alliance on such a scale again. The greatest crisis of the Alliance was over.

In 2495, an old foe rose up to challenge Alliance dominance: the Rin Empire, a massive extragalactic hegemony reaching its long fingers out to grasp the Milky Way. Swiftly mobilizing every ship they could send alongside the other Milky Way powers - even the Razorbirds, erstwhile enemies, joined the coalition - they forced the Rin out in a short but brutal conflict on the eastern rim as revenge for the losses they had inflicted on the Alliance in the Solar War.

### Battle Doctrine & Generations of the Alliance Fleet

#### Generation One & Doctrine

The first-generation Alliance Fleet that fought the War for Sol was very different from the Alliance fleet of 2505. Torpedoes were the main method of combat, backed by middling-power kinetic artillery and a wide variety of lasers, phasers, plasma cannons, and more. Fleet actions were determined by 'moving walls', which while slow and ungainly offered good protection for their size through the herd rule.

#### Generation Two & Doctrine

The Alliance fleet that went to fight the Ravasect had all the benefits of the first generation's mistakes and hard-learned lessons to work with, and as such was far more effective in battle. Alliance 'hail of fire' doctrine began to take shape during this period, as did the preference for high-powered laser cannons - Terran ships started to become distinctive as large, slow, heavily armoured ships, with massive numbers of light but rapid-firing guns.

#### Generation Three & Doctrine

The Alliance fleet was a changed force by the time of the Razorbird Crusades and Generation Three-era warships. Hard-won experiences and analysis of the Ravasect Wars had produced a wide variety of warships with distinctive roles to support one another in the gunline. Massive battleships a kilometre and a half long formed the big guns of the fleet, backed by even larger dreadnoughts and profuse numbers of cruisers and destroyers.

##### Pre-Djangor doctrine

Prior to the battle of Djangor, the Alliance had always focused on rate of fire over weight of fire: the idea being that a large number of guns and a quick fire rate would quickly shave away an opponent's defenses and leave them prey to the Alliance's smaller, but more numerous cannons. Accordingly, starships were armed with large numbers of small-calibre guns: the *Terra*-class dreadnoughts carried fifty 28cm cannons, the *Mars*-class battleships thirty-six, and so on. This had been excellent doctrine against Ravasect starships, which had weak power generators and could not sustain shields very long under a continuous bombardment, but did not hold up against the Razorbirds, whose shields were (practically) impenetrable to assault no matter how many terajoules of light one poured into them.

##### Post-Djangor doctrine

After the battle of Djangor, tactical analysis of the fighting had shown that the boring lasers on a few Alliance warships present at the battle had been anywhere from eight to twelve times *more* effective against a given target than the main cannons of even Admiral Holland's *Inextinguishable* (which itself had been modified to carry 35cm boring lasers). Accordingly, the "Generation 3.5" ships, those warships constructed in the aftermath, would carry fewer but considerably heavier main guns as well as a boring laser of significant size and power - the Razorbirds, trapped in tradition, never came to the same conclusions and correspondingly were much weaker to the most modern Alliance *Luna*-class battlecruisers and *Iapetus*-class battleships.

After the conclusion of the Razorbird Crusades, the Alliance began allowing for far more experimentation within individual classes and ships according to the wishes of the commanders that were expected to fight aboard them: this resulted in a number of nonstandard one- or two-ship classes as well as many unique prototypes compared to prior compositions. While this did result in a somewhat worse logistical situation, it was made up for by the continual improvements that could be gleaned from service operations.

## Components

### Alliance Star Fleet

The **Alliance Star Fleet** is the fighting component of the Navy and the heaviest hitter in the galaxy on this or any other side of the Orion-Cygnus Arm. While in peacetime it consists of a number of oversized fleets scattered across their various sectors on policing duties, in wartime these can be rapidly broken up to become multiple centralized and highly mobile battlefleets.

As a result of the Alliance-Confederation War, all existing formations were reorganized and rotated into more effective groups.

### Alliance Expeditionary Forces

The **Alliance Expeditionary Forces** are the exploration and survey arm of the Navy and the most prolific service branch in the whole Alliance military. Every Terran that wants to go into space wants to be an explorer, and every Terran wants to join the Expeditionary Forces to do so. Their mission is to meet new life and new civilizations, to open diplomatic relations with other spacefaring nations, and to go where no Terran has gone before.

### Alliance Marines

The **Alliance Marines** are responsible for spearheading military assaults on spaceborne installations, securing beachheads on enemy planets for the Army, and keeping security aboard ship, among other specialist operations. The service has a greater proportion of Veydreth in it than any other branch of the Alliance military, and it also has some of the highest recruitment rates, though it also possesses the highest failure rate for new personnel.

#### ODAMs

**O**rbital **D**rop **A**ssault **M**arines, or **ODAM**s, are 'spec ops' marine units meant for HALO (**H**igh **A**ltitude **L**ow **O**pening) drops behind enemy lines from orbit. Usually tasked with the destruction of critical enemy equipment and installations prior to orbital bombardment, such as theatre shields and grace-to-space defense batteries, they are an elite corps of highly trained units.

#### OSHAs

 **O**rbital **S**hock **H**eavy **A**rmour, also known as **OSHA**s, are mechanized marine units. Utilizing heavy and advanced exoskeleton battlesuits, as well as conventional Alliance mechs, OSHAs are meant to provide heavy weapons support to marines while contesting landing zones and covering Army deployments. Terran Alliance **Valkyries** fall under this designation.

## Famous Alliance starships

* *Terra*-class dreadnought *Inextinguishable*
* *Alpha Centauri*-class star carrier *Hard Luck*
* *Mercury*-class battlecruiser *Furious*
* *Iapetus*-class fast battleship *Chimaera*