Fiction:Draconid Imperium/Military

"The navy is not just a military force. It is the very symbol of the Imperium's might, it is so much more. Trillions of soldiers, billions of warships; when the paragon calls we bring his vengence upon the Imperium's enemies!"

- An officer describing the nature of the Imperial Talon navy

The Imperial Talon Navy - also known as the Talon Navy, Imperial Navy or the Talons - is the military arm of the Draconid Imperium and the imperial senate. Outside of local colonial defence forces they act as both a fleet and ground assault force. Soldiers are recognised with either the inverse-teardrop emblam of the empire or the three-toed claw shown right.

History
The entity now known as the "Imperial Talon Navy" has gone through several previous incarnations. The modern navy was formed in ID.23787 by Lord-Admiral Tothanor who noticed during the that while the PIN served as an adequate peacekeeping force it was not capable of effective offensive logistics. Before that it was the Paragon's Imperial navy. For the next several millennia the navy has served as the Imperium's official peacekeeping force and as a tool for war, constantly battling pirates, smugglers and whatever threat faces the Imperium next.

On several occasions the Imperium has had to demand a severe upscaling of it's forces to meet the emerging political situation. When the was absorbed, they added over 600,000 colonies to the imperial fold. To prevetn over stretching commanders needed to order one of the largest upscalings in imperial history and thousnads of worlds dedicated industry to new warships. The number of warships has mre than doubled since with more under construction. The proportion of the population serving in the military is also at it's highest since the era of the Imposters, bulked up with the increased admission of aliens to serve on warships and having cetain alien species such as the Val'Kar and the Drallivians being permitted to serve the marine corps for the first time in history.

The outcome of this upscaling is that the Imperium currently boasts one of the largest fighting forces in Andromeda, with a sizeable proportion of the navy serving in other galaxies, particularly Borealis and the Milky Way. With the imperium involved in conflicts such as the, Kraw Galaxy campaign and the along with thousands more new colonies outside of the Andromeda Galaxy, the current consensus is that this upscaling was a keen act of tactical foresight.

Organisation


The Talons are organised into several administrative divisions - the fleets, marine corps, mechanised units and the auxillaries - each of which work together. The supreme commander is referred to as the Lord-Admiral and is supported in his duties by one or more executive admirals.

Ranking
Since the reformation the ranks of both naval and ground units are considered the same and use the same names. The only exception to this rule is with NCOs where marines and low-ranking shipmen (shipmen who come under this would have had little to no academy training, which is rare among the draconis but common amongst alien ranks). The navy uses the following titles arranged in descending order alongside the dracid word:

--Comissioned Officers-- --Non-comissioned officers-- A lord-admiral does not have to be of noble blood to achieve the title. Promotion is based on field service and ability and promotion through long service is unheard of. While it is possible for someone to join the fleet without prior training, however it is rare to find one of the draconis with such a record due to a tradition of military service and academy training. As a result NCO positions on board ship are often reserved for auxillaries. Marines begin their career as privates regardless of training.
 * Lord-admiral - parla'elmiladrus
 * Exective-admiral - Alkath'elmiladrus
 * Commodore - polomarus
 * Admiral - elmiladrus
 * Rear admiral - Sectin'poltharmir
 * Captain - elmitharis
 * Commander - poltharmir
 * Subcommander - orlpolthamir
 * Lieutenant - entharis
 * Sergeant/warrrant officer - kaltharo / orlast'paris
 * Corporal - lotharo
 * Private/crewman - palthorid / elmisatir

When an officer reaches commodore status he or she becomes eligible for a position as the naval chief of a specific region depending on rank. Commodores are placed in charge of subsectors while executive admirals are placed in charge of sectors. While there can be one or more commodores per subsector (withone acting as a senior) there is only ever one executive admiral per sector. Orders descend the heirachy in order to keep everything in line making it rare for executive admirals to reposition specific fleets without advisory from the involved commodores. administrative officers (commodore and above) may also be granted a seat on the security council although the council itself consists mainly of the executive admirals.

Naval Forces
Below the Lord Admiral are the executive admirals, each of them acts as a supreme commander for an entire sector. In charge of each fleet is an admiral who can command anything up to several thousand vessels. Each vessel has a contingent of marines used to protect against boarding parties, board other ships and engage in ground operations.

Marines
A standard Talon Marine is equipped with a fusion rifle, powered full-body ceramic armour, a shortblade, fusion pistol, five plasma grenades and combat software. Many marines augment themselves with stimulants, optics and non-invasive cybernetics. Marksmen exchange their fusion rifle for a rail rifle which provides much longer range at the expense of rate of fire. Most marines have trained extensively for at least two decades before being qualified. Over the course of the imperium's history the marines have become synonymous with the Imperial Navy as a whole depite the fact a single auxillary unit can often outnumber them.

During siege operations marines are the first to be deployed, engaging in hit-and-run tactics on frontier and outlying populations, forcing them into the cities and denying planetside food supplies. Marines will often be assigned as bodyguards for high-value personnel, however guarding the Paragon or their brood-relatives remains the domain of the Blood Dragons. Combat tactics of the marines focus on several well-equipped fireteams that conduct ambush and hit-and-run firefights. Emphasis is given on striking a target fast and hard, leaving little room for retaliation. On occasion marine detachments are given permission to call in air or artillery support, along with having reserved AO-8 dropships for every three fireteams.

912th Legion
Originally a typical marine legion this specialist force was the first legion chosen to undergo nanite infusions based on the newly-developed Morphis serum. The technology allows the user to augment their body any way they desire. As a result the 912th have become drastically different from other marine legions and can be consdidered super-soldiers. While not externally different all of them carry an improved physiology although specifics vary between marines: All members of the 912th Legion bear an orange horizontal band of colour on their left shoulderpad occupied in the centre with the dracid letter 'Kothi'. Below this is the number 912 which denotes the legion. The 912th have become the flaship force to use morphis as the technology becomes increasingly common across the Imperium.
 * Hardened dermis
 * Carbon-fibre laced skeleton
 * reinforced scales
 * Improved cognative thinking
 * Increased regeneration

Talon Ground Legions
The Talon Groudn Legions act as the bulk of the navy's ground forces. They fulfill all roles that require numbers, support or crew skills. Most legion soldiers come from the many protectorate of the imperium and those with this status are considered lower-ranking than Draconis soldiers even if an individual holds an equal or senior equivilent rank to a Draconis soldier. they are never placed in command of any Draconis soldiers and cannot become high ranking officers and admin within the auxillaries is typically reserved for senior draconis officers.

The draconis place duty-bound respect for the protectorate legionnaires because they have volenteered to serve on the frontlines despite knowing they are subordinate to the draconis in almost every way. Legionnaires are outfitted with full-body ceramic armour, coilguns, powerpacks, plasma grenades and stimpacks. Sometimes legionnaires equip themselves with equipment issued from their protectorates if Talon officers deem that piece adequately superior to the standard-issue.

TGL tactics involve sending troops en-masse against the enemy; relying on sheer firepower backed up by long range artillery and fast attack vehicles. Unlike the marines, auxillaries are typically deployed via larger landing craft and (with the exception of black-ops operations) little discretion is given during deployment. During a siege assault larger dropships would be used to deploy legionnaires on the outskirts.

Distribution
With quadrillions of soldiers, crewman and support staff on permenant or semi-permenant service; The Navy's ground and space forces make it something of a military juggernaught. The scale is designed not just to crush any enemy but also to deter agggressors or rebels who think the Imperium may be vunerable.

A singe sector typically supports over 100 fleets, with fleet command based in the sector capital. Each planet is garrisoned with either auxillary detatchments or a militia force (Who are either frontiersmen or trained militia, depending on the planet's level of development). Marines are typically stationed within fleets and deployed either to defend a besieged planet or as the vanguard assault force.

On at regular intervals fleet command can agree to swap fleets with another sector. This is done to both relieve war-weary fleets and provide fleets previously posted in secure sectors with a chance of action. In both cases this provides a morale boost to both sides along with the potential of breaking monotony. Navy protocol will have fleet A (posted in a secure sector) meet up with fleet B (posted in a more dangerous sector), giving the signal for fleet B to proceed to fleet A's previous post upon arrival. In the event of fleet A finding fleet B in battle, fleet A is required to support fleet B who will proceed to the nearest shipyard afterward for repairs before reposting.

This distribution method also applies to subsectors, especially if two subsectors contrast in the amount of danger. This distribution routine - known commonly as fleet cycling - has been in action ever since the creation of the Paragon's Royal Navy during the Prime Paragon Era.

Communication & Nomeclature
Within the field marines use shorthand expressions to both improve effectiveness, minimise distraction time and potentially confuse the enemy. These commands are normally a series of words that would make no sense to the casual outsider. Below are a list of the more common phrases with explainiations
 * Down = Partcular sqyad-mate is incapacitated
 * Grenplas = Plasma Grenade
 * Hold = Hold position/Hold the line
 * Close-quarter = Switch to melee
 * Fore = Move forward
 * Livarm = Units with living armour
 * Focus = Focus fire

Military equipment is usually identified with an acronym describing what kind of weapon it is along with a number referring to the version. For example; A mk21 rifle that uses coil technology to propel the shot is classified as an RC-21 (RifleCoil-[version]21). Lowercase letters denote a subfeature such as a variation (for example in energised swords, the letters l s and b denote the weapons as long, short and broad respectively). Below is a list the different letters used. naming genreally follows the formula of: Fuction, primary feature, subfeature, version.
 * H = handgun
 * R = Rifle/Rail
 * C = Coil
 * F = Fusion
 * P = plasma
 * E = Energy
 * S = Sword
 * G = Grenade

below is for protective gear
 * A = Armour
 * C = Ceramic
 * F = Fullface
 * K = Kevlar
 * P = Powered

Mechanised Units
The navy deploys a wide range of vehicles for combat purposes, many vehicle models are in fact millenia old, kept useful by technological advances.

Ground
HUNTER-KILLER PROBES were one of the first devices to use antigrav technology. Measuring 1.2m long and armed with powerful sensors, a miniature cannon and micro-rockets, the probe's primary task is to find and kill specific targets or a particular group. Along with acting as remote reconissance, Marine units are typically deployed for support. Although the coilgun cannot compare in sophistication to the fusion rifles, it's robust nature and low noise generation make it an ideal hunter (hence the name). Their drawback comes from their ligt armour making them fragile (a high risk in open combat). Their low cost and remote operation means the empire can quickly deplopy many thousands on a single campaign.

BATTLE DROIDS have been of common use since the Imperium's rivalry with the Confederation of Andromeda and are typically used to bolster the ranks within military operations, as such they are frequently seen alongside the Auxillary corps. Posessing advanced targeting, navigation, awareness and strategic algorithms droids function well as effective ground troops. While they are self-aware they are programmed to follow the orders of organics and are primarily controlled and coordinated by an orbiting Highcortex-class cruiser. Battle droids themselves are outfitted with phasic shielding, weapon technology adapted for use on a machine and resistant armour plating containing a zinc-tungsten weave and as a result even a single squad of battledroids can be a challenge to overcome.

SKIMMERS are often refitted skybikes; given extra armour, weapons and long-range sensors. During a campaign they act as a vanguard for more fortified targets, as FAVs and can hunt down smaller and faster targets. Armour is only basic and the craft is fitted with two missile pods and two twin-linked coilguns to preserve speed and agility. Skimmers are not as common in the main body due to a general fragility found in hovering vehicles - the danger of grav-panels failing is often more serious as when tracked vehicles' tyres fail. Due to theri nature as a vanguard and patrol force, skimmers are often sided with hunter-killer probes for any hard-to-reach targets. Currently the empire uses the PK-742-A skybike retrofit; refitted from the civillian Gravis-Syncher Clarity, a popular model in rural areas.

FAST ATTACK VEHICLES are designed for hit-and-run tactics. While most FAVs are essentially purpose-built variations of skimmers, the role does include the aformentioned vehicles. When purpose-built they often exhibit heavier armour, a more robust design and more powerful weapon systems. The most common vehicle at present is the FAVT-75; favoured for it's all-terrain capability and it's simliarity to a car. There is frequently a swivel-mounted chaingun on the roof. it is common for larger FAVs to be used by officers for transport across the field and in some cases (Such as the ReT-81) FAVs act as dedicated officer transports and patrol vehicles in more dangerous environments. The FAVT-75 is so popular that the automotive company Samis have developed a civillian line known as the Favous from it.

LIGHT TANKS are lighly armoured versions of the main battle tank and act as 'bodyguards' to heavier armour, it is possibe for them to pack as much punch as an MBT but this severely compromises flexibility. Three models currently in service include the LT-158, LT-159 and LT-160.

MAIN BATTLE TANKS such as the T-472 act as the backbone of a major campaign, plated in high-resistance ablative armour with reactive underlayers, there is little that can stop these icons of imperial force. Of the two designs in service, The T-472 Dragon is armed with a twin-linked fusion cannon while the T-359 Condalid is equipped with a heavy rail launcher. Both vehicles are equipped with missile pods and can withstand extreme heat and punishment. Out of all ground vehicles however MBTs have a habit of being the most expensive and energy-hungry.

LONG RANGE ARTILLERY such as the A-59 Farseer tend to stay far outside of hotzones, preferring to fire shells of plasma, rail charges or depleted uranium at fortified targets. Due to their nature as sternguard vehicles they tend to be poorly armoured, with much space dedicated to targeting and storing ammunition.

Fleet
A typical fleet will hold anything between 50-100,000 distinct vessels. Many ship designs are ancient and some - such as in the 182nd fleet - have been in service since the Janos War. The reason for the fleet's success is the ease of upgrading. Although some ships can boast nearly 200,000 years of service, they are completely indistinguishable from their original commission aside from the chassis. Far from nostalgia, this is the result of the navy preferring the 'tried and tested'; If a ship design works well, why change it? Occassionaly a new design will come out but it will take time to replace.

Along with the neccessities for space travel, most warships are fitted with four protective layers:
 * The first line of defence is a non-phasic shield effective against all types of traditional weapons along with phasic warheads. Since the Imperium's warships are not as dependant on energy weapons as other empires they can dedicate more energy to the shields.
 * If anything does get through the shields it impacts a layer of ablative armour, vessels compensate for the lack of regenerative nanobots with nano-forges placed at key locations under the hull which provide both stock material and allow millions of nanobots to be made in seconds. The ablative armour is angled and laced with nanotubes to spread the damage out and minimise the amount of penetration.
 * Underneath the ablative plates is a layer of reactive armour. Designed to absorb the shock and capture the projectile along with providing a cushion in case the round or missile is explosive.
 * The final layer is a nanotube-reinforced bulkhead designed to protect the crew. Bulkhead panels consist of graphene and carbon nanotubes laced within titanium-alloy panels to ensure all but the highest degrees of impact does not compromise the vessel.

STRIKE CRAFT The navy fields two variations of craft, both are designed for atmospheric use as well as in the vacuum of space. Because of their nature they are not given proper identifying names - instead using the naming system found on vehicles and equipment - and are designed primarily to swarm targets from other fighters to capital ships. All strike craft are classed as VTOL and so do not require much space for storage or take-off, allowing carriers to field hundreds at a time. A typical fleet cwould have at least 700,000 strike craft depending on how many carriers are available.

ASf-class strike-craft are operated by a single pilot. Their arnament consists of two gauss cannons, two turbolaser cannons and one torpedo launcher. While their arnamant might not match up to larger vessels such as frigates they compensate by flying in squads of 20 along with using sophisticated manouvering thrusters to weave through fire.

ASb-class strike craft re primarily bombers and carry smaller variations of missiles found on larger vessels. Because of their small size they are limited to carrying 50 at a time and will lanch them in clusters. Squadrens of ASbs are normally escorted by surrounding ASf squadrens. The missiles themselves are designed to punch through more heavily-armoured targets than the torpedoes used by ASfs such as froigates and cruisers. ASbs are slightly larger than ASfs and can be operated by one or two pilots using a variety of warhead patterns.

Frigates


GLORYHUNTER One of the oldest and most commonly seen vessels in imperial space. They are designed for short-range patrols and due to their size, cost and ease of manufacture they make up the bulk of any fleet. While gloryhunters lack the sheer firepower of other, larger classes they make up for it in flexibility and numbers; their weapon batteries operate on swivel-mounted turrets allowing them to focus fire at almost any angle and often operate in wolfpacks of 35-50 individual vessels.
 * Role: Patrol cruiser
 * Length: 450m
 * Decks:18
 * Crew:110
 * Weapons: 2 Turbolaser Arrays, 5 Rail urrets, 1 missile bay
 * Defences: 3m-thick ablatve plating, non-phasic shielding

FIRELANCE Designed to act as artillery frigates. Armed with ten LRM batteries (8 at the front, 2 at the back) and three turbolaser batteries the brightlance's primary task is to act as long-range support, firing remote-controlled missiles and staying far from view. The firelance is only slightly smaller than a gloryhunter and holding even fewer crew in favour of storing as many missiles as possible. The firelance is also equipped with a high-power embedded turbolaser cannon.
 * Role: Missile frigate
 * Length: 400m
 * Decks:16
 * Crew:91
 * Weapons: 2 missile bays, 1 turbolaser cannon, 4
 * Defences: 3m-thick ablatve plating, non-phasic shielding

FLAKCLUSTER Outffitted with fast-tracking turbolaser turrets. While not as powerful as turbolasers on other vessels the flakcluster's task is to pick off strike craft. In certain cases these vessels can be assigned to target softpoints on larger vessels; this could be a certain hardpoint, exposed bridge or a hanger but this is only done in the abscence of enemy strike craft.
 * Role: flag frigate
 * Length: 415m
 * Decks:16
 * Crew:108
 * Weapons: 6 fast-tracking turbolaser turrets, 3 Rail urrets, 1 missile bay
 * Defences: 3m-thick ablatve plating, non-phasic shielding

Cruisers


STARFURY These cruisers are the mainstay of the Talons. Their presence has been a constant sign of security for over 200,000 years. Typically operating in packs of 100, the starfury will head fleets in the abscence of capital ships.
 * Role: Heavy cruiser
 * Length: 900m
 * Decks: 60
 * Crew: 520
 * Weapons: 6 Turbolaser Arrays, 6 Rail Batteries, 2 missile bays
 * Defences: 7m-thick ablatve plating, non-phasic shielding

HIGHCORTEX These cruisers act as command vessels within fleets. Along with officers and tacticians the cortex houses an A.I. bank programmed for reactive battle analysis. Due to the vessels' importance within a fleet they are heavily armoured but - not being combat vessles - are lightly armed. Should one come under attack a fleet must prioritise with their defence but can remain competent without them. There are normally at least twenty in any given fleet, many more in larger fleets.
 * Role: Logistics, drone command
 * Length: 800m
 * Decks: 57
 * Crew: 425, Anylkis-pattern A.I. core
 * Weapons: 3 Turbolaser Arrays, 2 Rail Batteries
 * Defences: 8m-thick Ablative plating, adaptive phasic shielding

GANGPLANK These cruisers have one goal: Capture. The gangplank will head for outlying ships in an enemy fleet, disable the engines of any stragglers before launching boarding pods at the disabled ship. For defence the gangplank is equipped with four turbolaser batteries,four rail bateries, two missile bays and heavy ablative armour.
 * Role: Boarding
 * Length:750m
 * Decks: 61
 * Crew: 350 (3500-marine capacity),
 * Weapons: 2 Turbolaser Arrays, 12 boarding-pod launchers, 1 missile bay
 * Defences: 6m-thick Ablative Plating, adaptive phasic shielding

BIOCOSMIC These cruisers are support vessels. Originally based on commercial freighters this military version is equipped with remote service pods, fuel bays and storage units these vessels supply and maintain the fleet and will remain behind in the event of a firefight. They boast larger medbays for emergency situations. Biocosmics also act as frontier exploration vessels.
 * Role: Support, exploration
 * Length: 1km
 * Decks: 52
 * Crew: 320
 * Weapons: 2 Turbolaser Arrays, 1 Rail Battery
 * Armour: 4m-thick ablative plating, adaptive phasic shielding

Capital Ships


DRAGONFIRE These vessels are equipped with twenty fusion batteries bult into the underside of the ship. Along with the clear presence of blanet-bombing guns the dragonfire's main focus is in beam weapons. They have 3 fusion launchers for orbital bombardment along with 6 missile bays and a Ribaud-pattern megalaser cannon built into the bow. This vessel is actually small and new for a capital ship. Unlike other vessels this class is only 80 millenia old and built to replace the ageing serpentflame-class.
 * Role: Orbital Bombardment, support capital
 * Length: 2.1km
 * Decks:100
 * Crew: 1500
 * Weapons: 10 Turbolaser Arrays, 7 Rail Batteries, 6 Missile Bays, 3 artillery bays
 * Defences: 18m-thick ablative plating, non-phasic shielding, adaptive phasic shielding

CLUSTERMASTER Vessels that function as carriers. Most are 60 decks high and reserving the 8 central decks as hanger bays. the average vessel accomodates around 900 strike craft and 1100 pilots. Normally a fleet will contain several of these. Despite having only 80 fast-tracking turbolasers for defence the vessel relies on the sheer numbers of strike craft to achieve victory. Alongside the Battlemaster-class, wing commanders (who are in charge of sections of a fleet) will chose this as a command vessel.
 * Role: Carrier
 * Length: 3.4km
 * Decks: 70
 * Crew: 1500
 * Weapons: 8 Fast-tracking Turbolaser Arrays, 3 Raial Batteries, 2 Missile Bays
 * Defences: 14m-thick ablative plating, adaptive phasic shielding

BATTLEMASTER These vessels are behemoths of battle and each one is considered the pride of the navy. 160 decks high and 2.5km long, these vessels are built for the sole purpose of maximum firepower. The aptly-named battlemaster is always imposing both in orbit and on patrol. The reason wing commanders use this as a command vessel is due to it's immense firepower and imposing nature however many will take leger vessels given the chance. Along with a devastating broadside, battlemasters are also fitted with a Ribaud-pattern megalaser cannon built into the bow.
 * Role: Battleship
 * Length: 2.5km
 * Decks:160
 * Crew: 2000
 * Weapons: 12 Turbolaser Arrays, 9 Rail Batteries, 8 Missile Bays
 * Defences: 24m-thick ablative plating, non-phasic shielding, adaptive phasic shielding

Titans
Titans are the largest vessels the Imperium fields. Because of the sheer scale of them they must always be built in an orbiting drydock and are very material-consuming. As a result there are very few titans compared to other classes.

WARLORD The Imperium so far only fields WARLORD-class vessels. At 20km long this design far outscales almost anything else on the field. Along with being capable of launching 2000 VTOL-based strike craft and accomodating entire marine legions. Built into the bow of the ship is an Extermias-pattern siege cannon - A hypermatter-based particle cannon capable of cleaving through entire fleets and devastating both orbital installations and potentially small continents.
 * Role: Dreadnaught
 * Length: 20km
 * Decks:700
 * Crew: 80,000
 * Weapons: 400 Turbolaser Arrays, 410 Rail Batteries, 150 Missile Bays, Extermias-pattern hyperlaser
 * Defences: 40m-thick ablative plating, non-phasic shielding, adaptive phasic shielding

Equipment
Despite the widespread coverage of the navy, the frequent presence of high-density and industrialised colonies in each sector means that the navy can maintain an effective level of standardisation even if access to other sectors is cut off. Many established colonies are provided blueprints to create equipment to supply and maintain a Talon garrison.

Fusion weapons
Marines are equipped with an RF-31 assault rifle, a 120-year-old version. The fusion canisters can - under normal settings - hold up to 3000 shots before reloading while the rifle itself is capable of firing 2 shots per second. The refinement of the design makes the weapons highly accurate and have a default setting of controlled bursts. The magnitude and density of the fusion bolt can be manually or automatically changed to optimise for the situation (this changes the number of available shots) however the default setting is still effective.

The HF-54 handgun is a smaller variant carried by officers and off-duty personnel. While not as powerful as the rifle variants it can still cause considerable damage to unarmoured targets. Unlike the assault rifle the HF-54 does not come with a scope, this does not however stop soldiers fitting their own.

The RFc-32 carbine is a smaller variant of the RF-31. The difference being that it has a faster rate of fire at the cost of accuracy and velocity. These weapons are often used in boarding operations when soldiers might have trouble wielding larger varients, accuracy and range is also less important than on the open field.

Rail weapons
The SR-21 is a sniper rifle. The rail feature is designed to maximise the weapon's penetrating power and range however extensive use of silencers is required to keep subtle. The SR-21 is capable of firing through lighter vehicles since the rounds are capable of a much faster velocity of mach-9+. When fitted with AP rounds and the right sights the rifle is capable of killing the crew of main battle tanks with little external damage. To make better use of this ability the SR-21 has a range of different scope modes using the EM-spectrum from infra-red to UV and, in some cases, X-ray.

Railguns are also one of the primary launchers used on Imperial warships, often alongside more rapid-fire gauss cannons. Rail launchers are also used to launch missiles at their target, giving the missile a significant launching velocity before it's booster has even ignited, adding to it's impact and penetrating power.

Plasma
Most military units use the standard GP-5 charges. When thrown the grenades lock to a stationary surface before exploding. The explosive delay can be manually set and can range from 2 to 30 seconds after the grenade hits the ground or a wall. Plasma greandes are used for a wide variety of purposes and can tackle vehicles just as effectively as infantry.

More uncommon are the GPa-7 adhesive variants. These stick to any target before exploding after a timed delay. Once impacting the surface they are virtually impossible to remove doe to the release of an industrial-strength adhesive gel.

Protection
Military forces are often equipped with ceramic armour in the form of various reinforced plates. COllosal industrial and logistics capabilities allow for most the use of full-body ceramic armour. Powered variants are restricted to the marines. Several protectorates had developed their own varieties prior to assimilation. Marine-issue gear is outfitted to function as powered armour; The reinforced ceramic plates absorb impact energy which is then transferred to batteries for storage, this energy can then be used to power shielding and boost user or weapon performance. Ceramic armour of this type can be expensive.Talong Ground Legions are restricted to standard forms of armour with reactive ceramic armour being used by officers.

Vehicle protection ranges from several forms of reactive armour for light-to-medium vehicles and albative armour for heavier vehicles and starships. Most combat vehicles use angled plates to negate impact damage or possibly deflect the shot. When an impact hits, a layer of armour (Normally 10-45 micrometres thick) dissolves off. Many combatants refer to attacking layered ablative armour as 'onion peeling' (normally an analogue of the onion, depending on species). The prevalence of beam and missile weapons in space make ablative armour a common sight on starships of all sizes.

Cybernetics
Cybernetics are rare. Most will have non-invasive systems such as combat optics. In the event of injury or dismemberment a soldier is usually cared for with stem-cell therapy to regrow the injured area. In rare cases when a soldier does accept full cybernetics the designs are streamlined to appease both the wearer and make them less intimidating among relatives.

Morphis is a form of nanotechnology that is becoming increasingly common in the military. Hosts have a colony of nanites flowing within their body that allows them to augment themselves with the right thought patterns. The nanites recieve the signal and will assemble microscale augmentations in the intended location. It takes time for the user to adapt to augmenting theselves in the way they desire as certain subconscious thoughts can trigger an undesired change.

Morphis reacts subconsciously for the surivability reasons of the host, as thesucosncious works on a different level to the conscious. it takes the attention of the user to suppress a subconscious signal and only then this is in certain cases.

Invasion protocol
During a war the Talon Navy would deploy one or more fleets to blockade the planet. Once orbital superiority is achieved, the Imperium deplays troops and vehicles en masse. Despite the high risk, soldiers are often deployed on rooftops to flush-out any occupants and use the buildings to support units on the ground.

During the siege the planet's leadership is given every oppertunity to surrender. If the planet refused surrender the populace is expected to unconditionally accept imperial control after an occupying campaign. Once the planet is secured the population is detained in internment camps until the arrival of slave transports. During this time automated drones, otherworld slaves and drafted citizens work on restoring basic infrastructure and officers catalogue the population. Upon the arrival of transports the survivors are loaded up and then moved to other parts of the empire with little regard for family ties. Colony recruitment campaigns select draconis ciizens eager for a new life in the now-conquered world. Detainees who help rebuild are offered a chance to stay planetside, (or get moved to a nearby system) offering this as an incentive to encourage a more cooperative populace if not a faster way to restore the planet ready for the new colonists.

If the planet's government agrees to surrender then the government is replaced with a draconis council, the solar system effectively becomes part of a protectorate under strict imperial occupation. Unlike other protectorates the provisional government is very strict on who can enter or leave the planet until some time after the war and governors themselves are required to acclimatise the popuulace ot their new way of life.

Gallery

 * Monet47 keeps an updated Sporecast of the navy's current line of ships

Quotes
"I give credit to my forerunner, Tothanor has devised a very effective system."

- Lord-Admiral

"I served for a time on one of the navy's warships, the whole operation is a marvel of logistics."

"Once the Imperium is mine, all of the galaxy will bow to the navy's might!"

"A prime example of an army, I am proud to have them fight alongside my own Zazane!"

"A fitting army for a fine empire."