The Imperial Navy

The basic unit of the Imperial Navy is the Fleet, of which there are eight, one for each province. A Fleet is commanded by a Fleet Admiral from his/her Supercruiser. There are 17 Wings, each with two Wing Bases. A Vice Admiral or Rear Admiral commands each Wing, subject to the Fleet.

Auxiliary to each Wing Base are 10 carriers and 25 troop carriers, 25 Task Force Bases, and all ancillary ships. Also, in each Wing there are the following independent ships: 100 scouts, 50 gunboats, 25 cruisers, 10 destroyers, and 10 troop carriers.

The Imperial Navy, then, consists of over 9800 ships: 8 Supercruisers, 17 Wing Bases, 425 Task Force Bases, 170 carriers, 442 Troop carriers, 782 destroyers, 1921 cruisers, 2210 gunboats, and 3825 scouts) with flight crews of 95,865 all together. Support crew, ancillary employees, etc. give the Navy somewhat in excess of 3 million members.

Of these, about 3,000 must be telepaths of reliable sensitivity. In an Empire in which one out of every billion people, on average, is a telepathic sensitive, it is a constant struggle to find enough telepaths -- and until about TE 300, it was not possible.

Imperial Navy Uniforms are jet black, Marine Uniforms are dark blue. Navy rank insigniae are pictured below.

The Imperial Navy training grounds are at Zvezdy Gorodok on Terra. Prior to TE 92, the main Imperial Navy base (including primary shipyards) was on Luna's Farside; after TE 92, the base and shipyards were moved to Hafen.

The Navy's Special Services branch consists of unattached operatives who serve a variety of purposes under the direction of the Master of Special Services, an officer of Admiral rank reporting to the Terran Fleet Admiral.

The usual Imperial Navy ship with a crew of ten or more carries a number of crewmembers listed as "Entertainment & Personnel Services" (aka "EPS"). These enlisted personnel of both genders, usually Spacers or Privates, are well-trained to provide everything from amusing conversation to group sing-alongs to a roll in the hay. The high quality of EPS helps explain the high morale among Navy personnel.

---

copyright (c) 2010, Don Sakers
Find out more on The Scattered Worlds site
Like the blog? Send the author a donation.
 Subscribe in a reader

Borshall

Borshall, the fifth planet of the F-Class star Kepator, is one of eight Provincial Capitals of the First Terran Empire. At a distance of 19.2 kiloparsecs from Terra, the world was first settled in TE 37.

With a diameter 1.32 times Terra and a mass 1.76 times Earth's, the surface gravity of Borshall is 1.15 gees. The Borhsallan day is 26.30 standard hours, and the year is 289.03 local days (316.73 standard days). Although Kepator is twice as bright as Sol, Borshall is further from Kepator than Terra is from Sol (1.64 AU), and so receives only 81% of the heat and light that Earth does. With an orbital inclination of only 3.21 degrees, Borshall's seasons are much milder than Terra's. Borshall has one small moon.

Borshall's planetary system consists of two other rocky worlds and an abundance of planetoids in two distinct belts, the Mardol Belt and the Sentilla Belt. The first planet, Tarlinn, is only 33 million kilometers from Kepator and has a mass 1.79 times Earth. The second, Bevith, is a Venus-analog with a mass almost exactly the same as Terra's. There are no gas giants in the system. Extensive mineral mining operations, based on Tarlinn and the two planetoid belts, provide a large fraction of the mineral resources of Borshall Province.

Borshall is noted throughout the Empire for the high quality of its technology. From TE 75 onward, Borshallan Artificial Intelligences was one of the largest companies in the Empire. Borshall also developed the L-type pressure screen, a force field that opened the way for exploration of deep oceans, gas giants, and Venus-type worlds.

Besides the Imperial Navy settlement at Borshallisport, Borshall has no major cities. Population is dispersed across the globe, linked by a sophisticated virtual reality communication system and high-speed antigrav transport. The University of Borshall maintains various distinct campuses specializing in different technologies.

The planetary passion of Borshall is baseball; from Little League up to several major professional leagues, and at every level in between, just about every Borshallan has the opportunity to participate in the sport. With the mild climate, baseball is played year-round. The Borshallan World Cup is a month-long event involving hundreds of teams, culminating in the World Series which lasts a tenday and shuts down business across the entire planet. The Borshall All-Stars are perennial winners of the Imperial Series. On the lighter side, the madcap antics of the Borshall Globetrotters (actually there are several different teams with that name) entertain audiences throughout the Galaxy.

If there is a traditional Borshallan cuisine, it is the sausages served at baseball games. There are infinite varieties, and each local park has its own special version. Delamere Kreb's Hotdogs of an Eternal Summer (Borshall University Press, TE 183) remains the best guide to the unique flavors of this planetary dish.

---

copyright (c) 2010, Don Sakers

Find out more on The Scattered Worlds site

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

Emperor Conrad Kuchta

b. 14 October 453
d. 6 September 482
470: Emperor of the Terran Empire

Third child of Empress Catherine Carroll and David Kuchta. Conrad, like his siblings, was raised primarily by his father and the extreme members of the Hawk party, which favored all-out war with the Patalanian Union.

Conrad was particularly beloved by his sister Margaret, two years his senior.

Conrad was a precocious child, with a quick intellect and an equally-quick temper. He was six years old when his mother too the Throne in 459; at once he began skillfully to play the various adults in his life against one another. Of the three siblings, Conrad was the only one who betrayed any fondness for Catherine; such fondness, however, quickly waxed and waned according to how young Conrad wanted to manipulate other adults.

In 467, when he was 13, Conrad's mother died and his older brother John succeeded to the Throne. Historians are now of the opinion that Conrad himself was responsible for Catherine's death. Catherine had been taking steps to have John disinherited in favor of Chen of Chen; if her plans had gone through, Conrad would have lost whatever chance he had to inherit the Throne. Only months after John's ascension, Conrad took and passed his adulthood tests.

During John's reign, Conrad remained a firm supporter of his brother's rule -- outwardly. In fact, Conrad maintained an extensive set of contacts with the most radical of the Hawks, and it is now known that Conrad played at least a minor part in the death of his brother.

Margaret, Conrad's beloved older sister, was simply not equal to the strain of Imperial rule: after only a year on the Throne, she killed herself and Conrad became Emperor.

At once, Conrad executed several of the radical Hawk leaders. He sent his father on a diplomatic mission to the Patalanian Union, where David Kuchta was seized, tried, and executed as a spy. Then, Conrad began reshuffling the Navy, moving fleets and ships in unpredictable patterns, making war as much on his own rebellious Nobles as on the Union.

Observers were uncertain about his motives and plans. Some thought he was trying to reunite the Empire for a last massive strike against the Union; others opined that his goal was to build up the Provinces and move toward some sort of federal system that might be more efficient at carrying on the war.

Finally, in January of 471, the Imperial Council demanded that Conrad appear before them to explain his actions, or face censure. In response, Conrad dissolved the Council and, on 16 January 471, abdicated the Throne.

Nearly five centuries after its founding, the Terran Empire ceased to exist.

Conrad Kuchta moved away from Laxus, and moved to the independent world of Halettia. According to news reports, he died on 6 September 2635 (TE 482), little more than a month before his 29th birthday.

---

copyright (c) 2010, Don Sakers

Find out more on The Scattered Worlds site

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader