Union Defense Force



The Union's military, officially referred to as the Union Defense Force, or UDF, is the military of the Union of Races. It conists of two main branches, the Union Star Navy and the Union Planetary Forces. The Star Navy is the space navy of the Union, while the Planetary Forces are primarily ground troops. During peacetime, the number of active-duty Planetary Forces soldiers is roughly 30 million, although this number is slowly increasing as the Union further expands. In extreme scenarios, the UPF is capable of mustering a force of several billion soldiers.

Union Star Navy
The USN is the Union's space-based military arm. They operate everything from strike craft to battlecruisers, and are the main line of defense for the Union. USN vessels are generally silver with blue aesthetics, matching the general color scheme of the Union itself. The Navy is quite strict, with breaches of regulation or failure to follow orders harshely punished. Adding "personal touches" such as decals or other things to ships is strictly prohibited, but this rule is more relaxed for the pilots of Strike Craft. The USN strives to maintain an orderly, professional force of experienced personnel.

Union Planetary Forces
The UPF is the ground-based military arm of the Union. In addition to operating on the ground, there are always UPF soldiers stationed on USN vessels, for security, boarding, and planetary assault purposes. They do not receive nearly as much funding as the Star Navy, as the government considers their role to be less important. Nevertheless, they receive more than enough funding to keep themselves up to date in just about every aspect, from technology to training.



The Shadows
The Shadows are a top-secret subgroup of the Planetary Forces, focusing on intelligence gathering, espionage, assassination, and other forms of covert ops. They are made up of elite soldiers trained in the art of stealth and espionage, given some of the best equipment the Union has to offer. They were founded shortly before the beginning of the war with the TSE.

There are about 10,000 Shadow Operatives in service.

Weaponry
Main Article: UDF Weapons 

The UDF employs a great variety of weapons, ranging from small arms to ship-mounted Plasma Cannons. Infantry weapons include the CAR-993 'Peacekeeper' Assault Rifle, the CMP-214 'Shredder' Machine Pistol, and the MALRR-31 'Lancer' Sniper Rifle.

Nearly all UDF infantry weapons have A, K, and D variants which are designed to be ergonomic for their respective races: A being Asathai, K being Krath, and D being Dwerin. The designs don't vary a great deal, but most K variants are designed to be used with only three fingers on each hand.

History
The UDF was founded shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Union. Initially, the plan was to keep each race's military separate, but soon it was realized that a unified military would be much more effective and would also help to ease the integration process of the three species. The main proponents of a unified military were, surprisingly, the Krath. To this day, they remain the most common species in the military, comprising nearly half of it.

The first call to action of the UDF was during the Separatist Conflict of 1533 U.S.Y. The Conflict began with the emergence of what is referred to as the Separatist Movement. The Separatists are extremist insurgents who wish to see the Union toppled and the three races to become separate, as their name implies, again. The UDF performed surprisingly well, with members of the Planetary Forces raiding Separatist bases while the Star Navy dealt with the ships that Separatist supporters had hijacked. The races worked well together, their sense of teamwork and camaradie having increased even further since the Itana War. Soon, the Separatist uprising was quelled, with minimal casualties on the side of the UDF. Since then, they have been involved in putting down many minor terrorist uprisings.

In 1573 U.S.Y., the UDF got its first taste of combat against an alien race during First Contact with the Corrundians. A particularly rude and xenophobic Krath diplomat was unfortunately chosen to be the Krath representative, and along with a Krath guard they angered the Corrundian diplomat. As was quickly evident, the Corrundians do not take insults lightly and slaughtered the diplomats, sending a boarding party about the UNS Venture to try and capture it while Corrundian ships fired on it from the outside. The Venture escaped with heavy damage, and the Corrundian boarders were slain with minimal casualties to the defenders.

Not long afterwards, word got to the Union of the threat of the Terran Star Empire. The Union's fleet was comparatively small, numbering at only 500 ships, but they nevertheless lended their assistance. They destroyed a few TSE frigates before being annihilated, and were instrumental in the destruction of a Terran Wormhole that caused heavy damage to a Terran megastation. The USN's fleet was, however, wiped out. Thankfully, a fairly large amount of personnel managed to survive in escape pods. The three Superior Admirals commanding the fleet were unfortunately killed.