United Colonies Space Command

―Motto of SPACECOM

The **United Colonies Space Command** (**U.C.S.C.** or **SPACECOM**) is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the United Colonies, responsible for military operations in outer space. U.C. Space Command is responsible for the operational employment of space forces, the exploration of potentially habitable systems, governing new or outlying colonies and maintaining peace across all U.C. territory.

## Structure

Ultimate authority to direct the actions of the SPACECOM's armed forces lies in the office of the Secretary-General of the United Colonies and the Security Council. The authority granted to the Secretary-General is legally absolute, though the Chairman of the Security Council is the principal commander of all SPACECOM military assets and is authorized to act in the Secretary-General's stead regarding matters of defense.

The Security Council acts as the principal staff element of SPACECOM and is responsible for policy development, strategic planning, resource management and fiscal evaluations. The Security Council is staffed by the highest-ranking officers from the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and Office of Naval Intelligence. The administration also maintains a Secretary of Defense position.

Despite the official status of SPACECOM as subordinate to the government, the Great Galactic War saw substantial authority handed from the government to SPACECOM, with the military granted substantial emergency powers and martial law declared for the duration of the conflict.

Below the Security Council is the SPACECOM High Command, or HIGHCOM, the SPACECOM's joint staff and executive body. Senior HIGHCOM officers report to the Security Council, but they primarily serve to coordinate joint and inter-agency protocols and objectives. HIGHCOM controls a wide range of sensitive and strategically vital officers and boards including the SPACECOM Inspector General, General Officer Review Board, SPACECOM Special Topics Committee and SPACECOM Ordnance Commission. HIGHCOM also serves to advise U.C. civilian leadership on issues relating to defense.

Other organizations included within HIGHCOM are a number of administrative commands, including SPACECOM Personnel Command (PERSCOM), the Medical Corps, the Engineering Corps, Human Resources, and Astrophysics. Legal matters such as the issuing and enforcement of protocols are handled by the SPACECOM Judge Advocate General's Corps. Research designed to improve the SPACECOM's operations is carried out by the Internal Audit office.

### Combatant commands

SPACECOM is divided into two primary combatant commands - Naval Command (NAVCOM) and Unified Ground Command (UNICOM). The former controls all space-based assets and operations, while the latter focuses on terrestrial and close-orbit missions. NAVCOM has administrative control over the Navy and its officers alongside select Marine Corps units; UNICOM has operational authority over SPACECOM Army and Air Force deployments and some Marine units, and work alongside the Navy to coordinate orbital fire support missions and in-atmosphere support.

NAVCOM and UNICOM form joint task forces that are thus then assigned to one of four Central Commands (CENTCOMs) - responsible for the defense and security of a given region of human space, referred to as CENTCOM Regions. These regions follow well-mapped FTL jump routes which connect dozens of star systems; forces assigned to one CENTCOM cannot be moved to another without the approval of HIGHCOM, thus meaning each region must carefully manage their limited resources. UNICOM planetside forces are organized into task forces that contain ground, air and maritime combat assets.

## Military departments

The SPACECOM's armed forces are comprised of five major military departments; four of these branches (Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force) are recognized and defined in U.C. law, while the Office of Naval Intelligence is a unique case: an organization that is bureaucratically a subordinate service of the Navy and not recognized as an independent service branch, but has enjoyed *de facto* autonomy from the Navy for nearly a century.

The military departments themselves are broken down into two major groupings; the **SPACECOM Defense Force** (SPACECOM-DF) and the **SPACECOM Expeditionary Force** (SPACECOM-EF). The former administers defensive assets of the SPACECOM and encompasses the Army and Air Force, while the latter includes Naval and Marine Corps forces.

### Navy

> *Main Article: United Colonies Navy*
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The Navy is the senior service of the SPACECOM, formed in 2235 during the Herschel Wars. The Navy is commanded by the Commander-in-Chief of Naval Operations with a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations serving as their deputy. The Chief of Naval Operations serves as the Navy's representative on the U.C Security Council. The Chief of Naval Operations also serves as the Commander-in-Chief Fleet.

The Navy operates, trains, organizes and equips space forces to establish local naval superiority in deep space and close orbit - primarily signified by the use of its vast fleet of spacecraft. This force is used for the purpose of destroying or suppressing enemy space components, in particular those seeking to attack U.C. commercial or terrestrial holdings. The Navy ensures the safety of U.C. trade and commerce, assists other governmental agencies in agencies of interstellar governance and as such, very little of interstellar consequence happens without the help or oversight of the Navy. The Navy is headquartered at Fleet Command Headquarters on Teegarden.

The Navy's collateral functions include:

* Interstellar transportation of SPACECOM combat assets
* Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Air Force and Marine Corps
* Providing forces for joint aerospace and terrestrial operations, in accordance with SPACECOM doctrine
* Coordinating with U.C. civil agencies for the establishment and maintenance of naval depots and orbital yards
* Establishment of emergency military government in designated crisis areas

Navy warships are assigned to fleets, which are organised in one of two ways:

* Expeditionary fleets - Numbered fleets (e.g. Third Fleet) designed for offensive operations in deep space and centered around massive carriers
* Defensive fleets - Named fleets typically named after the star system in which they are based

Fleets are comprised of numerous battle groups, flexible combat elements that can be "plugged together" into ad-hoc fighting forces depending on the immediate situation. Squadrons serve as administrative groupings of warships for record-keeping and honorific purposes.

### Marine Corps

The SPACECOM Marine Corps is another senior service of the SPACECOM, and was formed alongside the Navy in 2235. The Marine Corps is the naval infantry department of SPACECOM and works closely alongside the Navy to effect military action across U.C. space. The administrative head of the Marine Corps is the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC), who serves as the Marine Corps' senior general and service representative on the Security Council and Unified Ground Command staff. The CMC is responsible for organising, planning and implementing all Marine Corps activities. The Marine Corps is headquartered at Fleet Command Headquarters on Teegarden.

The Marine Corps is responsible for maintaining an expeditionary force in readiness, which can seize and defend strategic sites in advance of a larger main SPACECOM deployment. As such, the Marine Corps organizes, trains, equips and maintains land, air and space-based combined-arms teams capable of being rapidly deployed by the Air Force and Navy. They are the general-purpose combat force of SPACECOM and employ a wide range of personnel, from sharpshooters to combat engineers.

The Marine Corps' collateral functions include:

* Enforcement of emergency military law in designated crisis areas
* Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Army and Navy
* Furnishing security teams for the protection of SPACECOM property and high-value personnel
* Deployment of security detachments and organizations for service on Navy ships
* Development of doctrine, tactics, techniques and equipment for the rapid deployment and utilization of interstellar combat power

### Army

The SPACECOM Army is the primary terrestrial department of SPACECOM, and provides the majority of the logistical support and reserve soldiers who fight in ground campaigns. The Army is responsible for defense of U.C. territorial holdings and the long-term occupation of enemy territories, and as such trains, organises, equips and maintains amphibious, land and airborne forces for this mission. While all Army soldiers are trained warfighters, in peacetime they also provide an invaluable force of engineers, technicians, builders and designers who perform public works and improve existing colonial infrastructure to support future SPACECOM deployments. The Army also maintains its own Corps of Engineers for performing some of the duties listed above, alongside the Army Security Forces for the purpose of military policing. Army Security Forces may be employed for the duties of colonial occupation, reconstruction oversight and even civilian law enforcement, or deployed into the Outer Colonies to assist CAA Marshals and SPACECOM peacekeeping forces in fighting against Insurrectionist elements, monitoring megacorporate activities and guarding critical infrastructure.

The Army's collateral functions include:

* Conducting civil works that have strategic application, including projects for improvement of navigation
* Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Air Force and Marine Corps
* Organisation and training of civil defense units
* Providing forces for joint aerospace and space operations, in accordance with SPACECOM doctrines

#### Armour & Cavalry

The Armour Branch of the U.C. army is responsible for tank and cavalry reconnaissance operations.

#### Special Forces

U.C. Special Forces are among the most elite soldiers in the army. Special Forces conduct unconventional warfare via foreign internal defense, training and equipping foreign allied military forces to defend against insurgency, subversion, terrorism, and other security threats, and security force assistance, training and developing the defense capabilities of friendly factions. More direct missions include counterinsurgency, direct action, and special reconnaissance in hostile, denied, or diplomatically or politically sensitive environments.

### Air Force

The SPACECOM Air Force serves as the primary air combat department of SPACECOM. Contrary to their name, the Air Force does not simply operate aircraft within a planetary atmosphere, but instead focus on maintaining aerospace superiority over a given world via the use of unmanned drones, crewed aircraft and orbital weapon platforms.

The Air Force's collateral functions include:

* Deployment and maintenance of SPACECOM unmanned defense satellites and orbital weapon platforms
* Monitoring and regulation of military and civilian orbital activites
* Development of doctrine, procedures and equipment that are of common interest to the Army and Navy
* Furnishing support and space support for the Army and Navy

### Office of Naval Intelligence

The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the preeminent intelligence service within the U.C. The organisation is ostensibly and bureacratically subordinate to the Navy, though in practice retains almost complete autonomy thanks to nearly a century of growth. This has seen ONI take over the duties of previously-independent agencies such as the Department of Colonial Security (DCS) to become the sole major intelligence organisation in U.C. space. ONI is headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence (CINCONI), who is granted a seat on the Security Council. ONI remains closely-linked with the Navy in terms of administration and overall culture, though collaboration at the flag officer level is fraught with political peril and bureaucratic manoeuvring.

ONI's collateral functions include:

* Deployment of covert teams for direct action and technical data collection
* Oversight of the gathering, analysis and dissemination of national security information from around the U.C.
* Development of doctrine, techniques and equipment for the collection and exploitation of information in support of U.C. security
* Providing combat support intelligence for SPACECOM operations
* Establishment of covert observation systems around enemy colonies and facilities