Libran Military
Libra's military has three branches: Infantry, Tactical, and Fleet. They're all organized a little differently. The Fleet, space pilots and crew, is probably the most active of the three branches, as Libra rarely has to fight on-ground. Everyone goes through basic training. Libra's military training is harsh but not unreasonably so, and enlistment is voluntary. The pay is decent, and most Librans can see why they'd want to defend their station.
Infantry: Libra's infantry is made up of enlisted soldiers, no education required. They learn on-ground combat techniques and get some ribbing because their present job is pretty much 'glorified security guard.' That said, they're a well-trained bunch and more than ready for action. And everyone in the Libran military will train with infantry Drill Sergeants and officers, as they've all got to go through basic training.
Tactical: The intelligence officers, nearly all (exceptions are quite rare) of them university-educated. Tactical officers are a secretive bunch, and do a lot of behind-the-scenes deskwork, hacking, spying, infiltration, and technological development. You don't choose to join the tactical division; they choose you. Their recruitment is quite secretive, and some tactical officers aren't even known as such. Some, of course, work visible jobs as researchers or attachés to Fleet squadrons.
Fleet: Libra's fleet includes both enlisted soldiers and officers. Enlisted soldiers start as grunts and work their way up. Officers, of whom university education is required, go to flight school to train as officers. All vessel captains must be officers. It's possible to get into flight school without a university education only if you can pass the entrance exam and have serious previous flight experience. Simulations don't count. All captains must pass their Flight Test.
The Fleet
OFFICERS: Officers have gone to a three-year university and the year-long Flight School. They're well-versed in battlefront tactics, strategy, and often physics and engineering, as well.
Admiral - in charge of motherships, those that carry supplies, missiles, and smaller vessels on long deployments, away from Libra Station. Admiral's the highest rank in the Fleet. An admiral controls all of the defense and organization of the mothership itself, though the minutia go to the Lt.s beneath them.
Lieutenant - just below Admiral in rank. While admirals run the ship, Lt.s act as a liaison to the enlistedmen. They're also the flight coordinators. If you're a fighter pilot, an Lt. is going to be the one whose orders you can hear through your headset.
Captain - they fly the smaller craft: missile craft and small fighter-craft. Captains begin with basic training and go on to Flight School for officer training.
ENLISTED: Enlisted soldiers are those who've elected to join straight out of secondary school (the military accepts dropouts, too, provided they don't have a criminal history). They learn from the ground up: after they go through Basic, they take on any odd jobs the fleet wants to offer and learn their way around the station and equipment, particularly the guns, by doing.
Gunner - elite among the enlisted, they've worked their way up and learned their skills the hard way. -Gunner Class A - aboard the TOPZ. Only those who ace Mark Test A get a Class A designation. -Gunner Class M - they man missile crews. They've aced the Mark Test M. -Gunner Class B - new gunners aboard the main station or a mothership. Mark Test B, easier than A and M, will get you here.
Ensign - the lowest rank in the fleet. They do whatever the officers or the gunners tell them to do. Mop floors--whatever. Once you're up to stocking ammo, you're doing pretty well. Ensign training is pretty rough; they all train for gunner, but very few make it. Many don't mind, and, of course, you need a lot of ensigns to make a fleet work.
THE FIGHTERS: The Fighters are the lightest and most maneuverable craft of the Fleet, the one- and two-person zipcraft. Note that most players play as part of Squadron 77.
Fightercraft (TOPZ and OZ): These two kinds of zipship are the backbone of the Libran fleet. Those who man them are the ones risking their lives at the front of any engagement in space. Notorious for their arrogance and glamorized as reckless and devil-may-care, popular with Libra's young crowd, they're known in military circles as Ozzies and Tops. The fightercraft units are made up of one-person zipcraft (OZ) and two-person zipcraft (TOPZ). Ozzies, the ones who fly solo, have a friendly kind of rivalry with the Tops, who've got one pilot and a Gunner in the phasor tower.
TOPZ Training: Tops teams are a really valuable thing, and the Libran military works to cultivate synergy between captain and gunner. That's not to say there's no friction there. After all, the captain's had officer training, while the gunner's had to work up from ensign. But once you're aboard a Tops craft, all bets are off. You're meant to work as a team, and Tops, when they're at the top of their game, can achieve an almost superhuman synergy.
To create these tightly-knit pairs, the military matches each new captain or gunner with his or her more experienced counterpart. Sometimes the gunner is the one with more experience, sometimes it's the captain. Every ten years or so, pairs tend to break up so the gunner and captain can take on a newbie. It's considered good policy to keep the fleet integrated, rather than mismatched in experience.
Callsigns: Every member of the Fleet has a callsign, a name they use for radio communication. Generally a short, simple word, often assigned as a bit of a joke by officer or squad.
Slang: The Libran military likes its slang terminology. The below is a short list of common terms.
- Tops- TOPZ flyers and gunners.
- Ozzies- OZ flyers.
- Tackies- Tactical officers.
- Eddies- Edanis or Aedolians, enemy combattants generally.
- Bugs- Space pirates.
- Zapping bugs- hunting space pirates.
OVERVIEW OF CRAFT CLASSES: Note that there are more types of ships than listed here, but here's the rough, bare-bones outline.
Mothership
- have individual names. Squad 77 deploys to the Bastion.
- carry missiles and supplies and so on for longer-ranging missions or deployments.
- Admiral is in charge of what goes on inside the mothership and its own defenses.
- Lieutenants are in charge of the fighter craft that fight from the mothership.
Two-person zipcraft
-'TOPZ'
-crewed by a captain and a gunner.
One-person zipcraft
-'OZ'
-crewed by a captain only.
One-person Missile Mine craft
- One-manned zippy mine craft, aka the 'MIMIC'.
-Basically, it lays down mines. Single captain.
Multi-Crew Missile Craft
-'MIC'.
-They shoot big missiles at things. Captain and some gunners class M.
Drones
-unmanned probes. Intelligence or combat. Run from the mothership or the Libra.
Libran Education
Libra may be 'just' a space station, but they have nearly all the amenities of a nation-state. Their secondary school is free for all, and lasts until age 16. Following that, there's a three-year university program available, and tuition is relatively, though not universally, affordable. Scholarships aren't unusual, especially for those who want to join the military as officers: university is a requirement for them.
