Echo Legacy: BoH IMPORTANT INFO

[Jag]

Earth Defense Force Background

The year is 2X94. Triton Station – Home of the Earth Defense Force’s training academy. In world where the manifest destiny of the human race extends to the stars, the Earth Defense Navy and Earth Defense Marine Corps are the armed forces of exploration, peacekeeping and defense serving Terrans in their expansion throughout space. The world below is a society where a number of the major nuclear powers such as the United States, Great Britain, China, Russia, France, Japan and others have allied to form central governmental units aimed at efficiency and the presentation of unified force to the species beyond.

The result is a society that enjoys a great deal of economic success and societal norms much higher than those experienced in the early 21st Century. The price of this is simple but steep. Each family must provide their firstborn child to the government for SAPS – the Skill and Aptitude Placement System. SAPS traces the children through their primary education years and then evaluates their genetic predisposition and developing skill and aptitude for certain positions. At the age of twelve, all SAPS students are “placed.” Some are placed in higher education in the hopes of becoming the next great exobiological researcher or a member of a Regional Government Council. Others are placed in trade schools to become the masters of the environmental containment fields or agricultural production facilities.

Others are chosen for their resilience and genetic prowess to become members of the EDN and EDMC. At the age of 14, those chosen for the Earth Defense Force are sent to Triton Station. The risks and rewards of the program are great – those that succeed are the future officers and leaders of the space military front as ambassadors and defenders of their world. Those that fail are sent back to Earth and doomed to life as menial wage slaves working in the jobs and positions deemed undesirable but necessary by society – a drag on the economy and a shame to their family. At cadets that reach the age of 20 and pass their final examinations are granted their ranks and join the EDF as full officers.

Once entering Triton Station, all students are placed in a Company. The members of Echo Company are a mixture of potential Marine Corps and Navy officers combined together. Young cadets, or “plebes,” are placed under the wings of the older cadets in their company with the older members assigned to protect and guide their fledging company comrades through the rigorous training of Triton Station. Once attaining the age of 16 and passing the first two years of general training and education, “plebes” are granted ACAT (Advanced Class Action Training) status – giving them their specialization including piloting, infantry lead, special operations and intelligence just to name a few.

The companies are not separated by age or gender. Cadets of different ages are forced to work together with the older cadets protecting their plebes in the name of company pride. Trained from a young age and supplemented with chemicals in their food that all but completely erase sexual drive and tension, no gender lines are drawn. Cadets of both genders sleep, shower, and live together with little to no thought of social distinctions that would have been drawn in the 21st Century.

Classroom instruction and physical training is only a part of the program. The main goal of every company is Ender’s Legacy, the championship cup granted every year to the company that wins the competition comprising academic success and victories in simulated war games between companies. Victory is everything.

Triton Station was destroyed by a nuclear attack that signaled the official beginning of the Thalian War and thus ended the first Chapter of the Echo Legacy.

[Jag]

Name: Elena Ramirez

Age: 51

Rank: Captain

Current Duty Assignment: Captain and Commanding Officer, EDF Atlas

Notes: Calm and distanced in her relationships with officers and crew, academic in her approach to situations with little passion shown.

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Name: Kaito Narita

Age: 42

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Current Duty Assignment: Executive Officer, EDF Atlas; Ranking Marine Corps officer aboard ship

Notes: Former Marine sniper and Triton Station instructor. Gruff and unrelenting command style shields a deeper knowledge on a person level of those under his command than generally known.

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Name: James “Joker” Castillo

Age: 27

Rank: Lieutenant

Current Duty Assignment: Combat/Utility Pilot, Flight Wing, EDF Atlas

Notes: Boomer pilot recently qualified to fly Angel-class fighters as well. Though well liked, generally considered a middle-of-the-road officer with no ambition to rise through the ranks.

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Name: Nora Grey

Age: 24

Rank: Specialist

Current Duty Assignment: Communications, general bridge staff EDF Atlas

Notes: Enlisted, though trusted as an unofficial confidant by many bridge officers and often knows far more than someone of her rank and position should.

[Jag]

EDF Ships

Titan-class Carrier EDF Atlas

The Titan class of carriers once served as the backbone of the EDF Naval Fleet. Although larger and more powerful carriers and capital ships have been developed and replace the Titans on the cutting edge of the technology, the reliability of the aging carriers makes them still a viable and durable piece of humanity’s strength amongst the stars. The Atlas is a refitted carrier designed to operate in deep space with little to no Fleet assistance.

She carries a full complement of Boomer-class utility craft as well as a full division of Angel-class fighters which serve as the primary fighting ability of the Atlas. While the Titans were originally not designed with ship-based offensive weaponry due to their tactical design to fly within a fleet, the Atlas refit has seen it installed with a number of shipboard weapons allowing it to provide a substantial amount of added firepower however limited by the lack of maneuverability in the carrier.

Name: EDF Atlas
Classification: Titan-class carrier
Commanding Officer: Captain Elena Ramirez, EDF Naval
Ship’s Complement: 1, 134
Shipboard offensive weapons: Twelve concussion-impact missile tubes (six starboard, six port), two pulse cannons (electromagnetic weaponry), twenty-four anti-fighter rapid-fire turrets, forward-mounted mass driver.
Flight Deck complement: Thirty-six Boomer-class utility crafts, seventy-two Angel-class Fighters
Tactical divisions aboard: 11th EDF Naval Fighter Division (“Angel Eleven”), 84th Marine Corps Infantry, EDF Intelligence Section

Angel-class EDF Naval fighter

The heart of any carrier is its fighter complement. The Angel was built for space combat and serves at the backbone of EDF Naval Aviation. Relying less on the light shielding and more on the physical defensive attributes of the ship’s rugged but careful design, the Angel is capable of operating both in space and in most atmospheric conditions on a limited basis.

Armed with wing-mounted concussion missiles and a dual-turret forward-mounted cannons, the Angel is a medium-class fighter capable of a refit to carry anti-ship torpedoes or other specialized weaponry. Also, the Angel can be refitted and stripped down for a light and more agile reconnaissance craft. While the Angel fails in comparison to Thalian ships regarding shielding and top speed, it is actually capable of better acceleration and agility than its counterpart in the skies.

Boomer-class EDF Naval utility

The Boomer does it all. From a troop transport to supply vessel to maneuverable recon and research platform, the ship is a catch-all utility craft used extensively by the EDF Navy. Pilots are required to train in the Boomer and be capable of piloting the bird as well as the more nimble and powerful fighters, but each Boomer usually has a technical officer serving as a co-pilot to the ship and manning the Boomer’s various accessory functions while the pilot navigates the ship. It is neither fast nor agile, but it is capable of tactical maneuvers and a skilled pilot can often get through heavy fire with the right amount of luck. Her heavy armor allows the Boomer to take a great deal of damage and continue.

Boomers can be refitted to carry heavier weaponry and serve as “bombers” when necessary.

[Jag]

Note: Posted below is the original introduction for the game.

Echo Legacy: Burdens of Honor

EDF Atlas, Captain’s Log

Three days ago, I accepted the most difficult mission of my career. My ship, the Titan-class carrier Atlas, was attached to the 4th Earth Defense Naval Fleet under the command of Fleet Admiral Perry Benson. We were operating in the Melchoir system when we detected a vanguard Thalian force streaming into the system. With superior numbers, we decided to exert our control over the area and engage. That was went the rest of the Thalians showed up and went on a complete offensive. Their speed was too much and they quickly started to disperse the Fleet.

There’s not much in the Melchoir system worth fighting for except for the Melchoir Jumpgate. The network of gates provides for the instantaneous travel of ships across massive distances throughout space. Without it, we’d barely be out of the Sol System by now. We don’t know who built the gates or exactly how they work, but we do know that we’ve been fighting with the Thalians for years over control of the jump network. We go back and forth, but neither one of us has ever captured enough gates to make it to the other’s home except for the sneak attack against Triton Station five years ago. That’s what really started this damn war.

Knowing that Melchoir was lost, Admiral Benson gave the order – Evacuate through the gate and destroy it behind us. Although I knew the Admiral was right, I couldn’t help but feel my heart break as the order came through. Destroying the Melchoir gate would strand us two systems away from Karas where we have thousands of colonists and some key tactical locations. Benson knew it, too, because soon after the general order came down I received a secure communication directly from the Admiral.

He was ordering the Atlas to jump to the Karas system before the evacuation and destruction of the gate. He was asking us to go it alone without the hope of reinforcements for several months at the absolute earliest and, knowing the status of war, probably never. My mind went to two pieces of Terran history. First, I know the old Titan-class carrier was living up to her name – the ancient Greek Titan charged with holding the entire world on his shoulders. At the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a bit like William Barrett Travis, receiving my orders to defend the Alamo to the last man. Still, I knew there was no other choice.

As soon as we jumped into Karas, we found the place a veritable ghost town. No trace of the Thalians, but no response from any of our outposts in the system, either. So far, we haven’t encountered a living soul. As soon as the last round of recon patrols return to the ship, I intend to send down a full contingent force down to the surface of the Karas II and find out just what happened here.

The world may be on our shoulders, but we will fight. I believe in this crew. Here, we will write our legacy.

Capt. Elena Ramirez, EDF Atlas