THE FREE ALLIANCE

The Free Alliance is a confederation of Frontier worlds who have chosen to stand against the tyranny of the New Frontier.

The Alliance is held together by the Frontier Security Council, the Frontier Courts, the Medical Service Organization and, perhaps most importantly, the Star Forces, all long-standing pillars of Frontier society that even the UPF's aggressive “New Frontier“ policies have failed to eradicate.

The governing document of the Free Alliance is the Frontier Security Agreement, containing a series of laws governing the Alliance as a whole. The Agreement is a delicate balance between planetary sovreignty, individual civil rights and liberties,and the safety and security of all the Alliance's citizens. Like Star Forces, the Agreement predates the official formation of the old Federation by two decades, and, in spite of its critics in both the New Federation and the Free Alliance, it continues to work.

The Frontier Security Council

Orginially formed as an oversight body for Star Law, the Frontier Security Council is the final executive and legislative authority in the Free Alliance, consisting of one repesenative from each of the independent worlds, one represenative from each of the Alliance's interstellar megacorps, the Star Forces Admiral and the MSO Surgeon General.

The Council convenes year-round in New Hope, on Triad. In times of peace, the Presidency of the Council rotated between the member worlds and corporations on a two-year basis, the President speaking for the Council in all Alliance-wide matters.

With the current war on, the Star Forces Admiral has assumed the Presidency for the duration, as the Frontier Security Agreement calls for.

The Frontier Courts

The Frontier Courts adjudicate all Alliance-wide civil and criminal disputes. Meeting in Valentina, on Clarion, the Courts are divided into two branches:

The Frontier Criminal Court: The Frontier Criminal Court deliberates on all criminal matters concerning violations of the Frontier Security Agreement. Their decisions are appealable to the Frontier Security Council.

The Frontier Court of Arbitration: The Frontier Court of Arbitration decides on civil matters between Free Alliance members and acts as a final court of appeal for all other civil matters.

Each of the two courts has one judge from each member world and an ombudsman from each of the member corporations.

The Medical Service Organization

The MSO resulted from the Frontier worlds and corporations pooling their medical resources during the Blue Plague, the MSO evolving from that ad hoc effort, becoming the last word for Frontier medicine.

Utilizing Star Forces ranks, the MSO provides medics and medships to that organization during wartime, and the MSO's hospitals can be found on nearly every outpost of civilization in the Free Alliance.

The MSO is headed by the Surgeon-General.

The Star Forces

The organization which has been the glue holding Frontier society together, the Star Forces evolved from the old Federation's Star Law, formed by the Frontier worlds and corporations in the aftermath of Hazick Naar's piracies and the Second Common Muster.

Now composed of former Star Law, planetary and corporate militia personnel, the Star Forces is the Alliance's military and law-enforcement organization, charged with defending the Frontier from all threats foreign and domestic and with the enforcement of the Frontier Security Agreement.

It is sub divided into five branches, each headed by a vice-admiral:

The Fleet

The Star Forces’s most visible branch, the Fleet—more commonly known as the Knight Hawks, in honor of the Triad system’s ancient defenders—patrols the spacelanes, acting as the first line of defense against invaders and pirates, while serving as the Star Forces' first response to criminal activity on a planetary scale(in conjunction with the Special Branch, below).

The Fleet's arsenal of warships range from Boomerang fighters to the ponderous Morgaine-class destroyers.

Fleet Organization: The Fleet moved away from the unwieldy task force model to a more mobile battle group formation, organized as follows:

Battle Squadron One:

Division 1: One Morgaine-class destroyer, two Puglist-class war cruisers.

Division 2: Three war cruisers.

Battle Squadrons Two-Four: Same as above,

Assault Torpedo Boat Squadron Five:

Divisions 1 and 2: Three Longknife-class assault torpedo boats per division.

ATB Squadrons Six-Nine: As above.

Three battle groups—each bearing the name of its flagship—are stationed at each of the Alliance's worlds.

The Frontier Marine Corps

The old Federation's ground forces, the Frontier Marines continue to serve in that capacity for the Star Forces.

The Marines consist mainly of powered-armor infantry troops, with a small number of artillery and cavalry assets.

Stationed mostly aboard the Fleet's warships, the Marines are also called out for riots and other domestic disturbances which threaten the security of the Alliance as a whole.

The Exploration Service

The Star Forces Exploration Service is charged with exploring all worlds beyond the Frontier. In wartime, the Exploration Service's scoutcraft have the added duty of Fleet reconnaisance.

The Special Branch

Special Branch handles all criminal investigations and intelligence gathering within the Free Alliance.

Support

The Support Branch supports the Star Forces's day-to-day operations. It is divided into four smaller bueraus:

Administration:The Admin branch handles all of Star Forces's payroll, paperwork, personnel and other administrative matters.

Logistics: The Logistics branch handles all of Star Forces's supply needs.

Technical Services: The Technical Services Branch handles all of Star Forces's engineering and maintainence needs.

Reserach and Development: Star Forces R&D handles all of Star Forces's research, from coordinating with the MSO on vaccine research to developing and testing new starships for the Spacefleet.

Star Forces Rank Structure

All of the Star Forces's divisions and branches use the following rank system:

The rank system is a direct progression from Midshipman 2C to Admiral, the Star Forces not having a service academy in which to train their people.

As a consequence, all training is on the job and generally under fire, with Fleet and Marine personnel entering service as star fighter pilots and infantry grunts respectively, while Special Branch personnel begin as low-level operatives, Exploration personnel start out as survey team members, and Support personnel begin as clerks or techs, depending on which buerau they join.

Rank Conventions

All Star Forces' officers Fleet Captain rank or above are collectively referred to as the full Admirality, while the Free Alliance Admiral and her Vice-Admirals are collectively known as the senior Admirality.