Yakaro Defence Force

Overview
Yakaro Defence Force is the official name for the military junta that rules the orbitals of Yakaro and the rest of the Irktara system, providing a fleet to protect it, and acting to exploit the system's resources. The faction is currently lead by General Tarek, with its mobile space assets controlled by Fleet Commander Meela. Economically, the YDF sustains itself by offering launch services and selling resources to the nations on the surface of Yakaro. Their monopoly on space launch makes for a highly profitable operation, and the YDF uses these funds to increase its infrastructure, contract surface corporations to build strike craft, and attract many recruits with high pay rates.

It is allied with the Ra-Noth faction known as Ka'Sorin Command, and has an odd relationship with the Manta Infinity Sphere. The former stepped in to fulfil the promises of the missing Vorskel Confederacy, the latter ruled Irktara for a time before fleeing a Vorskel advance, and were considered likely to invade the system until they, in a surprise turn of events, offered a peace treaty that required free passage to a single Manta vessel to allow their people R&R and access to their properties on Yakaro.

The faction's capital is the space station Outland 1, although a developing colony on Yakaro's moon may succeed it.

History
Following the withdrawal of the Mantas from Irktara, General Kaarim of the Jinarri Army leveraged the loyalty of his subordinates to take control of the abandoned orbital infrastructure, thus effectively becoming the ruler of the Irktara system (though he insisted on not imposing law on the planet below to maintain pleasant diplomatic status.) The Junta recieved several spacecraft from the Vorskel to protect themselves with, though only one could be manned immediately. When the Vorskel were removed from Irktara by the UUF, General Kaarim - already in failing health - suffered a heart attack and subsequently died, leaving Colonel Tarek in charge of the Junta.

Since then, the YDF allied with the Ra-Noth, after a squadron of their vessels were transported to Irktara by the UUF. Afraid of invasion by the Interstellar Arthan Republic, they have been building up their defences at the highest speed they are capable of.

DECEASED
The founder of the faction, General Kaarim was an elderly, respected officer in the army of the surface nation Jinnari. An amateur astronomer, Kaarim was well aware of how important space was, and the potential it represented, both economically and militarily, but his superiors and peers refused to listen. Knowing that one day either the Mantas or a species worse than them could return to Yakaro, Kaarim convinced his subordinates to carry out an ambitious operation to capture a shuttle that was being held by the Jinnari intelligence community, and to proceed to use it to reach the orbital stations that the Mantas had left behind. There, he had access to hundreds of shuttles, and was able to bring his forces with him.

Following the capture of the orbitals, the General set the policy that the YDF would not interfere with the surface nations, except in self-defence or for mutually agreed trading. Through this, he built an economic powerhouse.

Unfortunately, Kaarim's advanced age left him in ill health, which continued to deteriorate until the disappearance of the Vorskel. He died of a heart attack, following the distressing news. The man remains an icon of Vaalo ambition, initiative and intelligence to this day.

ACTIVE
Loyal subordinate of General Kaarim, and current leader of the YDF, Tarek was promoted to General after the death of Kaarim. 54 years old, the officer was well decorated for his services in the Jinnari Army, and his damaged left antler is a reminder that he has seen rough combat and lived. Though respected in his own right, Tarek is not as well known or liked as his predecessor. However, he is competent in his field, understands his limitations, and has a better understanding of space-age technology than Kaarim did. He is also a skilled swordsman, carrying both a chemical firearm and a blade at all times whilst on duty.

ACTIVE
Aged 37, Fleet Commander Meela is young by the standards of Vaalo leadership. However, she commanded the Vandal class destroyer Nemesis in the 1st Battle of Riseri, where she was defeated and captured by the Vorskel. Though taken as a prisoner of war, she was soon returned to Irktara where she acted as translator, before being released. At the time, Meela was the only Vaalo spaceglider commander to have ever taken part in a space battle, and due to that experience she was offered her current position, with command over a small squadron of Vorskel-built spacecraft that had been provided to the Yakaro Defence Force.

Since becoming Fleet Commander, Meela oversaw the development of the YDF from a small collection of space stations and ground soldiers to a force with numerous carriers, many thousands of strike craft, and a marine branch trained to board and capture enemy vessels. She was given a Vorskel built Bulwark class cruiser as her flagship, which she named Avenger.

In the 2nd Battle of Retribution, Meela commanded an expeditionary force made up of most of the vessels the YDF had available at the time. This force assisted in the fleet action, but its primary contribution was to ensure that the Khaersite Empire Titan stationed in the system did not escape, having AI controlled Spike class strike craft use EMP bombs against the weak scaffolding shields to lower them, before wiping out the Zealot demolitions teams with plasma weapons, though they were then caught by Zealot fighters. Valkyrie class space superiority units were deployed, and destroyed the Zealot craft. After the end of the fleet action, Meela oversaw the capture of five battleships, and the loss of another to sabotage.

Her background was one of difficulty, and working her way out of poverty. She was born to a single mother, who died when she was 12. Dropped out of school in order to work as a field-hand, but lost the job when she was 27 due to the industrialisation of agriculture. From 27 to 32, Meela worked aboard a passenger ferry as a crewmember. However, the company went bankrupt due to corruption and left her homeless. She lived on the streets of one of Yakaro's capital cities from then until the Mantas' arrival when she was 34. She applied to join their space force, and due to the high need for personell, promotions came quickly. At 35 she was promoted to Spaceglider Commander and given control of the Vandal class destroyer DDZ-005, which she named Nemesis. During the Volatilis Rebellion, under threat by Spaceglider Commander Rises High and his more powerful destroyer, Meela was forced to deorbit a space station, which partially contributed to the near-total genocide of the people of Lyesul. This was an action that still haunts her, and has left her with an intense hatred of the Mantas and concerns about whether potential allies would do it all over again.

Meela is well known for her volatile temperament and wide vocabulary of expletives.

Irktara
A binary system, Irktara has at its centre a main sequence star with the spectral type A7V (also called Irktara) and a nearby brown dwarf known as Narikka. So close to its larger companion, any planets that may once have orbited the brown dwarf have long since been thrown clear. Yakaro, the home planet of the Vaalo, is the next object out, sitting in the habitable zone. Beyond that is an asteroid belt, then the class II gas giant Faaren, the ice giant Satem, and a ringed ice giant called Ginga. Other planets may be further, but these have not been mapped, or had their positions calculated.

Yakaro
This planet, alongside its massive moon, could be considered a binary planetary system. Yakaro itself is pleasantly habitable, and has developed sapient life. It has strong tides, but nowhere near as much as those on the twin habitable planets of the Zodiac system. Yakaro is 4.2 billion years old, with an average 17 degree C atmosphere. The atmosphere's density is 900 millibars, and its composition is mostly nitrogen, followed by oxygen, with traces of carbon dioxide and oxygen. A supercontinent covers half the surface, surrounded by islands, and a massive crater exists not far off the coast. Huge hurricanes form on the ocean side of the planet, unimpeded by land, and regularly strike the continent.

It is a world where its inhabitants are forced to share a single landmass, and its inhabitants do not like it. Wars have been very common, and the landscape is covered in castles, forts, walled cities and ruins of all three. Before the arrival of the Mantas, Yakaro had reached a technological level comparable with World War 1 on Earth.

Yakaro's moon, known as Aninaro, has a small diameter but a dense core, giving it a surface gravity of 0.3Gs, sufficient for Vaalo to survive on long-term. It has a 500 millibar atmosphere that is half nitrogen, half carbon dioxide. The only life on the moon was anaerobic bacteria until the Vaalo recently set up a mining colony there. It is a viable candidate for terraforming.

Fleet
The YDF Fleet Roster can be found here.

Technology
A list of YDF technologies, both inherited and researched, can be found here.

Spacecraft
A list of YDF military spacecraft classes and their sheets can be found here.

A list of YDF civilian spacecraft classes and their sheets can be found here.