Loralynn Kennakris 2: The Morning Which Breaks (59 page)

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.)

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.)

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.)

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
.

Commanding Officer.

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.

Intelligence derived from monitoring any electronic means of communication.

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
.)