Loralynn Kennakris 2: The Morning Which Breaks

by Owen R. O'Neill

  Also, while most Marine sections employ two SAWs or a SAW and another support weapon (such as an anti-armor weapon or light chain gun), CATs generally have a single SAW in the unit. This is because CATs are employed in missions where maximizing enemy casualties is not a priority.

  On the other hand, CATs employ highly sophisticated sensors, dragonflies and EW equipment, and the latest light combat armor and active camouflage gear.

  CEF:

  Colonial Expeditionary Forces. The military arm of the Nereidian League, administratively under the Naval Secretariat. The name is a holdover from the era when the League was a mercantile consortium and for political reasons, it was decided to form a navy that employed only colonials below the rank of vice admiral to keep any one Homeworld from becoming a hegemon by dominating the Service. Vice Admirals and above were originally assigned by a quota system and regularly rotated according to a strict protocol. This practice was abandoned, along with many others, due to leadership failures during the run-up to LH-1, and in the initial phases of that conflict.

  The CEF is currently organized into three branches plus support organizations. The three branches are the Navy, the Marines, and the SRF. SRF wings are independent units to be deployed on carriers or for planetary defense, and are adapted for either role. The three branches are nominally co-equal, as a result of legislation passed as part of larger program of reform prior to LH-1, but the fact that the CEF is under the Secretary of the Navy clearly shows the origins of the CEF as a naval force. The prejudice that the Marines and the SRF remain supporting actors is still widespread within parts of the Navy, particularly among New Meridian officers.

  CEF support organizations include logistics, personnel, legal, procurement, R&D, and intelligence.

  The CEF, unlike Halith and most of the Homeworlds, does not have a separate branch of ground forces or terrestrial forces (the preferred term in the League). The CEF Marine Corps fulfills this role, and while all marine units are officially multi-mission capable, in practice, units do specialize to a large degree.

  The CEF was formed when the Grand Senate passed the Second Amendment to the League Charter, and was envisioned as a naval frontier force, adapted for low-intensity conflict with the slave federations, pirates and commerce raiders from outlying governments. It was minimally supplied and staffed so as not to grow into an effective countervailing force against the militaries of the Homeworlds.

  Initially, three fleets were created, one each for the regions, now designated sectors, controlled by the Pleiades, the Meridies Cluster, and the former STO (the three founding groups). One fleet was assigned to Crucis (settled from the Pleiades), one to Eltanin (settled from the Meridies) which controls the key transit node at Anson’s Deep, and the third to Regulus, another critical transit node, controlled by Sol. The third critical transit node, the Merope Junction, is located within the Pleiades itself, and was initially retained under the control of Nedaema, not the CEF. (The other two nodes are in ‘colonial space’ and were thus placed under CEF jurisdiction.)

  These fleet commands were then linked to a corresponding Homeworld sector command, which was assigned no forces, in keeping with the law that restricted CEF units to colonial bases and did not allow them in any Homeworld system while under arms. In addition, to prevent any unwanted concentration of power, fleet COs were placed administratively under the CinC of the linked sector, but operationally were directly under CNO, a post that was newly created along with the CEF. (To a large extent, this division of command responsibility came about because of mutual suspicions regarding the status of Eltanin and the combined fleets retained by STO.)

  (Note: The fact the STO had two combined fleets when the CEF was formed had great effect on the CEF, and led to a peculiarity in its command structure. See SOLCOM.)

  Unsurprisingly, this arrangement was exceedingly unpopular with the CinCs, so the Grand Senate authorized the creation ‘strike forces’ under their direct control as partial compensation, while seeing to it that these were largely ceremonial units.

  Further, any number of laws were passed to enshrine the inferior status of the CEF, including one whereby CEF colonial officers were considered junior to officers from the Homeworlds, regardless of seniority. Because of these measures, the upper reaches of the CEF quickly became an “elephant’s graveyard” where old, incompetent or unpopular time-serving senior officers could be placed out of sight and out of mind.

  The unintended consequence of this was to give the junior colonial officers a rare degree of autonomy, as long as certain appearances were maintained. Enterprising ship captains could do quite well in prize money by haunting the border zones, and not a few did. They also got a wealth of operational experience that officers in the Homeworld fleets generally lacked.

  All these factors worked to erode the colonial stigma that had been attached to the CEF, as ambitious Homeworlders began to apply to join the CEF as observers and advisors, and occasionally even obtained commissions under false pretenses.

  As Homeworlders started to serve in the CEF in substantial numbers, these practices began to be discarded. The fleets were enlarged and the CEF was given better equipment and more of it. The issues with SOLCOM also forced a relaxation of the prohibitions against CEF units in Homeworld systems.

  However, it was the run-up to LH-1 that gave the real spur to reform (largely championed by Grand Senator Huron), and by the time war broke out, the antiquated limitations and discriminatory practices had been abandoned. A new fleet was added and assigned to Cygnus (location of the Kepler Junction), and the Epona Outstation established, while Outbound Station was converted to a major naval base to monitor Wogan’s Reef. The SRF and Marines were vastly strengthened and made (nominally) coequal branches of the Service, as the CEF moved from frontier patrol navy to a large professional military force in a matter of 20 years.

  As a result of the years of close cooperation and interoperation, attitudes in both the CEF and the home fleets were markedly changed, and now roughly as many Homeworlders as colonials serve in the CEF, with both Homeworlders and colonials occupying the most senior positions. The CEF maintains bases in all the Homeworld systems, although the forces under arms are still restricted. The bulk of the CEF still resides in colonial systems or systems like Outbound and Rigel Kent that are otherwise uninhabited. The official CEF HQ remains on Mars, but in practice the most important CEF base is collocated with Terran Home Fleet HQs at Lunar 1. (Note: Terran Home Fleet HQ is not to be confused with Terran Navy HQ at Cheyenne Mountain. Terran Home Fleet is not synonymous with the Terran Navy, despite what some Home Fleet officers like to think.)

  CEO:

  Chief Executive Officer. The highest-ranking executive officer in a business, responsible for overall management of its affairs. Often a CEO is under the supervision of a board of directors.

  Cepheus Region:

  A sparsely inhabited region between League space and the Outworlds. Once a hotbed of smuggling and slaving activity, recent CEF activity in the Inner Trifid Boundary Zone have largely pacified it. Port Mahan is the primary settlement.

  CGHQ:

  Combined General HQ, located at Nereus, Mars, housing all three main CEF staffs. (Not to be confused with the JCS.)

  Chain gun:

  A small railgun (12.7-35-mm bore) with 9 to 13 barrels in a gatling configuration to achieve a high rate of fire. Name derives from the continuous chain of rounds used to feed the barrels. On Terra, still referred to as a Gatling gun. Often used as point-defense weapons on fighters, other small craft, and many warships.

  Light chain guns (12.7-mm or 15-mm) are used as infantry support weapons.

  Charted Space:

  The portion of the galaxy that has been explored. The limits are roughly the Methuselah Cluster, the outer boundary of Deneb, and the Horsehead Nebula.

  Chief:

  In the navy, an informal mode of address for chief petty officers. Master chief petty officers are not called chiefs, but Master Chief.


  CIC:

  Combat Information Center. The operational ‘brain’ of a naval combatant. The manning of CIC varies among different navies, depending on their doctrine. In the CEF Navy, command is exercised from the bridge and CIC is run by the TAO. (The executive officer is also in CIC and aids the captain in a staff capacity, while the TAO directs actual operations.)

  In the Halith navy, the officer in operational command is located in CIC (ship’s captain along with an admiral, if embarked) and the executive officer is on the bridge.

  Most navies follow the latter of these two models.

  CID:

  Central Intelligence Directorate. The League’s civil intelligence organization. The director (DCID) is a member of the Plenary Council. Compare ISS and IRIS.

  CinC:

  Commander in Chief, followed by the name of the command. Abbreviated as: CinC-PLESEC for Commander in Chief, Pleiades Sector Command.

  Note: The CEF is not consistent in the way it formulates these acronyms. For example, Trifid Region Command is TRICOM, not COM-TRIREG, and the CO is CinC-TRICOM. Likewise, Cygnus Sector Command is CYGCOM not COM-CYGSEC. In these cases, the ‘consistent’ acronyms are simply deemed too clumsy. Sol Local Group Command is SOLCOM for historical reasons.

  Clouds:

  Clouds are the primary foundation of the information infrastructure in developed worlds. Clouds are both macro- and micro-distributed computing and storage entities that lack the nodes and clients of a simple network, although the terms cloud node and cloud client are still used; these are hierarchical terms of convenience. Clouds share computational tasks and data in an organic manner, greatly enhancing scalability, agility, elasticity, and robustness compared to simple networks.

  Clouds are categorized according to their operating principles, which is usually described as Centralized (strict control by a master entity), Federalized (cooperative control by selected entities), or Open (little or no formal control). Activities within the cloud are controlled by mediation bots, which enforce protocols and provide security.

  Clouds generally contain subunits known as hives, which are defined by their virtual, not physical, relationship the cloud.

  In underdeveloped colonies, the clouds are often rudimentary or nonexistent and devices still connect to nodes using ‘thin nets’ (low-capacity network links.)

  Clubs, NCO & Officer:

  Officer’s clubs and NCO clubs are base social facilities. They are considered separate from messing facilities. They are often managed by outside contractors, and NCO clubs frequently feature dancers and other entertainment. Other enlisted personnel have canteens.

  Different services have different traditions as to who may be admitted. In some, any officer or NCO may enter the appropriate club; in others, personnel not assigned to that base (or unit) must have an invitation. NCO clubs tend to be more strict than officer’s clubs, and are often finicky about who they invite.

  In the SRF, officer’s clubs include a separate room called the “Snake Pit” where the normal rules of military discipline do not apply and, in fact, are actively discouraged. Saluting and ranks are not allowed, proper uniform must not be worn (and never ties of any kind), and drinking is required. Sexual companionship is sometimes smuggled in, and licentious behavior is tolerated.

  Visiting civilians are considered to be officers or NCOs, depending on their profession and/or social station. However, they usually have to be invited to attend a club, except on those occasions where a club is declared open. (In the League, usually local holidays and one day on a weekend.)

  CNO:

  Chief of Naval Operations. The operational head of the CEF and the highest ranking military officer in the League. The title indicates the continued precedence of the naval branch of the CEF, despite the three branches being officially equal as result of reform legislation passed during the run-up to the first League-Halith War.

  CO:

  Commanding Officer.

  Colonization Periods:

  There have been three colonization periods in humanity’s history. The first, also called the Sublight Era, resulted in the colonization of Mars, Venus, and the Belt. The Second Colonization Period began with the invention of hyperlight travel and ended with the Formation Wars. The Third Colonization Period began when the advent of modem terraforming made it practical to settle previously marginal planets.

  Interstellar colonization using sublight technology was contemplated and possibly attempted during the First Colonization Period. Two approaches were considered: Generation Ships and Lightships. The former would transport a breeding population of settlers to their destination at a constant acceleration (~1-gee; negative for the last part of the trip), relying heavily on VR technology to allow them to endure the journey, which might take centuries. The latter placed their crews and the colonists in cryostasis and quickly accelerated to relativistic speeds to cut down trip time as much as possible.

  In each case, the colonists’ ships were to be preceded by a fleet of automated terraforming vessels traveling at relativistic speeds, which would arrive decades before the colonists to start the terraforming process. Terraforming would be completed by the colonists themselves, and they would continue to live on their ships until it was.

  Both approaches had obvious risks, including VR-induced dementia in the first case and cryonic dementia in the second. It is documented that a number of these huge undertakings were planned and some received initial funding, but there is no conclusive evidence in the surviving records that any were actually launched. If so, the naïve reliance on AI technology probably doomed them, if they did not fail due to other factors. However, a faint possibility exists one or more of these missions may still be in transit.

  COMINT:

  Intelligence derived from monitoring any electronic means of communication.

  Commodore:

  The lowest-ranked flag officers. May be either a naval billet or substantive rank. In some navies, like the CEF, commodores are senior captains appointed to command a detachment, and hold flag rank temporarily. (The sole exception in the CEF is Commodore Yasmin Shariati.)

  In other navies, such as the New UK and some League home fleets, commodores are a substantive rank.

  Company:

  A basic military unit in the ground forces and marines, that usually consists of three to six platoons, and is commanded by a captain or a major. The specific makeup of a company depends on the branch of service and its mission. A standard organization for ground-forces company would be: a HQ platoon, a heavy-weapons platoon, an assault platoon, and light platoon (for scouting).

  A CEF Marine company will have an organization that depends on whether it is deployed aboard ship or terrestrially. In the latter, it will be organized per the foregoing. If embarked on a warship, the organization would be: a command platoon, a heavy-weapons platoon, an assault platoon, and a ‘tech’ platoon, for dealing with the various systems of enemy ships.

  Conning Officer :

  The Conning Officer generates the conning orders for the helmsmen, according to the captain’s directions. This officer also maintains tactical awareness of all contacts and coordinates with the CIC sensor section. On light combatants, s/he also handles ship comms (on major combatants, this is the responsibility of a signal lieutenant).

  The conning officer is a bridge watch-stander, and seconds the OOD when the captain is not on the bridge.

  Contact Binary:

  In astronomy, a binary star system in which the two stars are close enough that their photospheres (the bright outer layer of a star’s atmosphere) connect or the stars’ gaseous envelopes have actually merged.

  Core Systems:

  The star systems that dominate an interstellar polity or star civilization. The Dominion of Halith uses the term as a proper noun. Compare Homeworlds.

  Cornet:

  A rare ground-forces rank. A cornet is a commissioned officer ranked below 2nd lieutenant. Cornets were once common outside the League, where
they performed duties similar to those handled by senior NCOs in the League’s militaries. They came to be disparaged as it was recognized that the rank interferes with the formation of a solid, professional NCO corps, which is the backbone of all effective militaries.

  Halith, the last major military to have the rank, abandoned it after LH-1. Currently, only the Sultanate and the Terebellum Empire have cornets in their militaries.

  Corps:

  In ground forces, usually the largest operational formation. A corps is composed of two or more divisions, and customarily commanded by a lieutenant general. In previous eras, multiple corps were sometimes combined into armies, and the armies themselves into army groups. The Halith Imperial Ground Forces was the last military to employ operational units of this size, although they did not use the term army group, but Operational Maneuver Group (OMG). Halith still maintains several so-called OMGs, but they are much smaller than the OMGs of the past, the largest mustering only nine divisions.

  Corps may also refer to an entire branch of the service, such as a CEF Marine Corps.

  Council of Ministers: