Bravo: the second letter of the Union Forces Radio Alphabet (see); a colloquial name for Epsilon Indi III (see).
BuDes: (pronounced “Bew dess”) Bureau of Design. The naval office responsible for designing warships and warship power plants. Its most important component offices are: OfSpaF (pronounced “off spaf”), Office of Space Frames which is responsible for designing the hulls and the interior support structure that gives them strength and rigidity; OfPropSys (pronounced “off prop sis”), Office of Propulsion Systems which is responsible for designing the engines and drives; OfHab (pronounced “off hab”), Office of Habitability which is responsible for designing the interiors of the ships, location and arrangements of compartments and furnishings; and OfSupSys (“pronounced “off soup sys”) Office of Support Systems which is responsible for designing the life support, plumbing, and similar systems necessary for sustaining life in space. Weapons, sensors, navigation systems, communications systems, and building of the ships after they are designed are all supervised by separate bureaus.
BuPers (pronounced “bew perz”): Bureau of Personnel. The naval department responsible for managing naval personnel assignments, recruiting, and similar matters.
c: The speed of light in a vacuum, commonly stated as “lightspeed,” 299,792,458 meters per second or 186,282 miles per second. Unless a warship is traveling very slowly (in which case, its velocity is given as meters per second), its speed is generally given as a fraction or multiple of c, e.g., .25 c for one quarter of lightspeed or 325 c for three hundred and twenty-five times lightspeed. In common usage, only the number is given. Hence, a tactical officer might inform his Captain that a “bogie is approaching at point 25,” or an Engineer might advise that the ship “should not exceed 250.”
ca c’est bon: (Cajun French). That’s good. Equivalent to c’est bon in Parisian French.
Cajun: a person descended from the French-speaking Roman Catholic residents of Nova Scotia (which they called Acadia) who were exiled by the British at the end of the French and Indian War because of concerns regarding their loyalty to the British crown and who settled in what was then the French Territory of Louisiana. Most Cajuns spoke their own version of French well into the twentieth century and maintain a distinctive culture to this day. On Earth, Cajuns mostly reside in the Parishes of South-Central and Southwest Louisiana, centered on Lafayette. The planet of Nouvelle Acadiana, regarded as undesirable by most prospective settlers because so much of its land area consists of river networks, swamps, marshes, and bayous, was colonized by an expedition consisting primarily of Cajuns in the late twenty-second century. In the year 2315, it was home to approximately two million people of mostly Cajun descent. Cajuns are often referred to by each other and by their friends as “Coonasses.” The word “Cajun” is a worn down form of “Acadian.”
Carrier: a large vessel designed to launch, retrieve, arm, fuel, and service Fighters and other smaller ships. Large Fleet and Command Carriers can carry as many as two hundred fighters, while smaller Escort and Attack Carriers as few as thirty. Carriers range in size from 40,000 to 1,000,000 tons. As of January through March 2315, there were rumors that the Navy was currently constructing a new class of carriers massing 2,000,000 tons, with one being built at the Luna Fleet Yards, one being built at Alphacen, and two at 40 Eridani A. These vessels are supposedly to be known as the Churchill Class.
c’est pas rien: (Cajun French) It’s nothing, think nothing of it. Equivalent to de rien in Parisian French.
CDR: Comprehensive Disciplinary Record. A complete compendium of all disciplinary actions of any kind taken with respect to a particular man. Those who wish to advance in the Navy strive to keep their CDRs as short as possible and devoid of “flamers.”
Cherenkov-Heaviside Radiation: the burst of radiation emitted as an object emerges from a jump (see). So named for its two components: Cherenkov radiation, which is the radiation emitted when a charged particle passes through a dielectric medium at a speed higher than the normal speed for the propagation of light in that medium; and Heaviside Radiation, the radiation emitted when a particle traveling faster than the speed of light in a spacial regime in which that can occur (e.g., in n-space) is decelerated to subluminal velocities in our own spacial regime.
Chief of the Boat: the senior non-commissioned officer on board any naval vessel. He is considered a Department Head and is the liaison between the Captain and the non-commissioned ranks. Sometimes referred to as COB (pronounced “cob”) and informally known as the “Goat.”
CIC: Combat Information Center. The compartment on a warship from which the ship’s operations are controlled, analogous to the “bridge” on an old seagoing vessel before the functions of that space were split between the Bridge and CIC with the introduction of radar to combat ships in the years leading up to World War II. The concept of a “bridge” located at the peak of the dorsal portion of a space faring warship is not only laughably absurd, but impractical and not used by any Known Space navy. CIC on most ships is surrounded by an extremely robust, multi-layer pressure bulkhead and is located deep in the heart of the ship where it is most completely protected from damage by enemy action and close to the computer core of which it is the heaviest user. Access to CIC is tightly controlled by code access systems and by armed Marines. CIC personnel receive assistance from several “support rooms” in which a team is assigned to support each major station in CIC, providing the man at that station with more information and analysis than he could provide on his own, making the CIC the peak of a pyramid of information. The “support room” system is derived from the “Staff Support Rooms” or “Back Rooms” that supported NASA flight controllers who worked in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR, rhymes with “poker,” popularly known a “Mission Control”). This space is sometimes referred to as “Command” by people who serve on Carriers, Battleships, and other ships that frequently serve as flagships, and as “Control” by people who serve on smaller vessels.
CIG: Change in Grade. Promotion or demotion. Official orders will never state that a person is “promoted to Commander.” Rather, they will say that the person is “CIG to Commander.” A CIG order always states the date, hour, and minute the CIG becomes effective, so that there is no question of the relative seniority (and, therefore, who gives orders to whom) of two officers of the same grade.
Clarke Orbit: synchronous or stationary orbit. An orbit in which the orbiting body remains stationary relative to a point on the surface of the orbited body on the latter’s equator, also defined as an equatorial orbit in which the orbital period is equal to the rotational period of the orbited body. Known as a “Clarke Orbit” because the concept was first described in detail by British science and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke in a 1945 article published in Wireless World magazine.
Class: A production series of warships of highly similar or identical design, designated by the name of the first ship of the series. Accordingly, if a series of Heavy Cruisers is produced from the same design, and the first ship of that design to be produced is the USS Faget (pronounced “fah zhay”), then the vessels of that class are known as Faget Class Cruisers. Vessels of the same class are usually named after the same thing. For example, Faget Class Cruisers are all named after influential designers of Aircraft, Launch Vehicles, and Space Vessels: Hence the class contains the Faget, Wright, Bleriot, Langley, Kelly Johnson, Von Braun, Korolev, Caldwell Johnson, Northrup, etc.
Class (Krag Vessels): The Krag apparently have a class system similar to the Union, producing warships of similar design in series. Because Krag vessel names are, however, unknown, difficult to pronounce, or impossible to remember, the Navy uses a system of “Reporting Names” for Krag vessel classes. Essentially, when a new class of Krag vessel is identified, a name is assigned to that class by Naval Intelligence. Class names generally start with the same letter or group of letters as the name of the vessel type, with the exception of Battlecruisers, the class names of which begin with “Bar” to
distinguish them from Battleships. In this way, a ship’s type can immediately be determined from its class name, even if the name is not familiar. Examples of class names for each major warship type follow:
Battleships: Batwing, Battalion, Battleaxe, Baton.
Battlecruisers: Barnacle, Barnyard, Barrister, Barsoom, Barmaid
Carrier: Carousel, Carnivore, Carpetbagger, Cardigan
Cruiser: Crusader, Crucible, Crustacean, Crumpet, Crayfish
Frigate: Freelancer, Frogleg, Frycook, Frigid
Destroyer: Deckhand, Delver, Dervish, Debris, Deputy
Corvette: Corpuscle, Cormorant, Cornhusker, Corsican, Cordwood
Clear the datum: as a “datum” or “datum point” is a location from which a vessel has been observed, “to clear the datum” is to move away from a point in space where it (1) has been observed or (2) it did something that might have allowed it to be observed. Since a ship coming out of a jump emits a detectable burst of Cherenkov-Heaviside radiation, most Captains will want to clear the datum by leaving the vicinity of the jump point as soon as possible after completion of the jump.
Comet: colloquial term for the Warship Qualification Badge, a medal—shaped like a comet with a curved tail—indicating that the wearer has passed either a Warship Crew Qualification Examination or a Warship Officer Qualification Examination, showing that he can competently operate every crew or officer station on the ship, perform basic damage control, engage in close order battle with sidearm and boarding cutlass, use a pulse rifle, and fight hand to hand. The Comet was created in the early days of space combat to be the equivalent of the “Dolphins” from the United States Submarine Forces.
compression drive: one of the two known technologies that allow ships to travel faster than lightspeed (the other being the jump drive). The compression drive permits violation of Einsteinian physics by selectively compressing and expanding the fabric of the space-time continuum. The drive creates around the vessel a bubble of distorted space-time with a diameter approximately thirty-four times the length of the ship. This bubble, in turn, contains a smaller bubble of undistorted space-time just large enough to enclose the ship itself. The density of space-time is compressed along the ship’s planned line of travel and expanded behind it (hence the term “compression drive,” which was thought to sound better than “Expansion Drive” or, heaven forbid, “Warp Drive”), creating a propulsive force which moves the ship forward faster than the speed of light as viewed from the perspective of a distant observer. This superluminal motion does not violate Einsteinian physics because the ship is stationary relative to the fabric of space time inside the bubble and, therefore, from the point of view of an observer located there, does not exceed the speed of light. Because the volume of distorted space rises as a geometric function as ship size goes up under the familiar V = À r2 formula multiplied by thirty-four (pi times half the length of the ship squared times thirty-four), even a small increase in the ship’s dimensions results in a substantial increase in the energy required to propel it through compressed space. Accordingly, only smaller ship types can move at high speeds or for any appreciable distance using compression drive, which means, in turn, that major fleet operations and planetary conquests require the taking and holding of jump points so that Carriers, Battleships, Tankers, and other larger or slower vessels can be brought into the system.
compression shear: a dangerous phenomenon caused by a compression drive experiencing poor speed regulation, a common occurrence at speeds of less than about 80 c. Compression shear occurs when radical fluctuations in the degree of space-time distortion caused by a poorly regulated drive exert variable and rapidly fluctuating force against the “bubble” of normal space-time surrounding the ship. As the small undistorted bubble around the ship must exist in precise equilibrium with the larger zone of differentially compressed and expanded space that surrounds the smaller one, sharp variations or “shear” along the boundary rupture the bubble and destroy the ship.
Conviction by Order: a procedure by which an officer of Command Rank (Lieutenant Commander or higher) in actual command of a rated warship in a combat zone on detached service during wartime can, on a finding of clear and convincing evidence that the offender committed a felony on board the convicting officer’s vessel or in interstellar space, can find the offender guilty of the offense and impose any sentence prescribed for that offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, provided that no sentence of death shall be imposed and executed without review by higher authority except in the case of Treason. If the vessel is not in a combat zone or is not on detached service, the Captain must hold the offender to be tried by a Court Martial.
Core Systems: the fifty star systems located near the astrographic center of the Union which, while constituting only about 10% by number of the Union’s inhabited worlds, are home to 42% of its population and 67% of its heavy industrial capacity.
Cruiser: a large, heavily armed, and heavily armored vessel providing an excellent mix of firepower, armor, speed, and endurance. Cruisers are highly powerful and flexible warships that can operate as component parts of large task forces or as the center of small task forces of their own. Cruisers are capable of delivering heavy doses of sustained weapons fire against warships, orbital installations, and surface targets, and can operate without support for more than a year. Most Cruiser types mass between 25,000 and 40,000 metric tons and are often loosely divided into the subtypes of Light, Medium, and Heavy. A heavy cruiser is only slightly smaller and less powerful than the smaller classes of Battlecruiser.
das ist streng verboten: (German) That is strongly forbidden. Given the adherence to rules and deference to authority that is (at least reputedly) part of the German national character, this statement has a stronger meaning in German than it does in Standard. One would apply this expression only to an act that is so powerfully forbidden and so generally agreed to be wrong that only a person of strong anti-social, rebellious, or criminal leanings would engage in it.
DC: Damage Control. The set of duties and techniques associated with limiting and repairing damage to a ship sustained in space, particularly battle damage. The term is also used to refer to the CIC station used to display damage to the ship and coordinate the efforts of damage control parties as well as to the person who mans that station.
delenda est Krag: (Latin) Literally, The Krag must be destroyed. An allusion to Cato the Elder, the 2nd Century B.C.E. Roman statesman who, in an effort to induce the Roman Republic to declare the Third Punic War and wipe out its arch rival Carthage once and for all, ended every speech in the Senate, irrespective of subject, with the phrase, “et ceterum censeo, delenda est carthago,” meaning, “and, furthermore, I believe Carthage must be destroyed.”
delta V: change in velocity. Delta is the physics/aerospace symbol for “change” and V is the symbol for velocity (velocity technically being both speed and direction). Space vehicle maneuvers are typically measured in terms of the delta V necessary to carry them out, as that number immediately tells a pilot whether he has enough fuel and thruster power to complete the maneuver.
Destroyer: the most numerous Type of Rated Ship in the Navy, Destroyers are comparatively small vessels optimized for speed, maneuverability, and firepower. Known as the “workhorses of the Navy,” Destroyers typically mass in the 16,000 to 20,000 ton range. They are not heavily armored and are not capable of carrying enough stores, fuel, and munitions to operate for long periods of time without resupply, but carry pulse cannons equal in power (though usually fewer of them) to those carried by most Frigates. Destroyers are typically operated as escorts to larger vessels as part of a fleet or task force. When a Destroyer encounters a ship of greater force, it is supposed to either call upon a heavier vessel with which it is operating or, if none is available, rely on its maneuverability and speed to evade and run away (ELEVES or “elude, evade, and escape). The CO of Destroyer is typically a Commander, although ships in the smaller Destroyer classes sometimes have an unus
ually able Lieutenant Commander as a skipper.
deuterium separation plant: a facility for producing deuterium fuel for fusion reactors. Such plants function by separating naturally occurring deuterium oxide, also known as heavy water, from ordinary water, taking advantage of the two substances’ differing densities through the use of a series of high speed centrifuges. Once heavy water of suitable concentration (more than 95%) is obtained, the deuterium is then broken down by electrical hydrolysis into elemental oxygen and deuterium. Such facilities tend to be located on water-covered moons similar to Europa in the Sol system because they provide a large supply of relatively high deuterium water, a shallow gravity well, and some kind of large hard surface (either ice or rock) on which to construct the facility.
dobber: (British English slang) major example, roughly equivalent to the American slang “doozie.”
droga, merda, porra: (Brazilian Portuguese) bummer, shit, fuck. An exclamation of shock and dismay.
Dummkopf: (German) Stupid. In German, though, the term Dummkopf can be used as an appellation in a way that “stupid,” which is primarily an adjective, is rarely used in Standard. Accordingly, in some ways, the term may equate better with the Standard nouns, “idiot” or “moron.”
“E” for “Excellence”: an award, conferred upon a vessel by a Task Force Commander or higher authority, for conspicuous excellence or achievement in any area of endeavor. The award is displayed by illuminating running lights arranged in the shape of a large letter “E” when the vessel is not stealthed. The award is typically made for some demonstration of outstanding proficiency by the vessel and is authorized to be displayed for a limited number of days, usually 60.
Earl Grey: a blend of tea flavored with oil from the rind of the bergamot orange. Unlike many British teas, Earl Grey is traditionally taken with lemon, not milk. Named for the British Nobleman of the same name, Prime Minister of Great Britain on Earth in the first half of the 19th Century.
For Honor We Stand Page 49
