A bit of insight into the Vasudan military.
Named Vasudan Units
It is rare for a Vasudan unit to be named as most Terran units are. Such names are granted only for exceptional service, by direct Imperial decree, and never posthumously. In the history of the Imperium, dating back thousands of years to when Vasudans fought wars amongst each other with crude melee implements and bows, only forty-six units have been granted a name. Vasudan unit names are not generally nouns as those of Terran squadrons, but rather adjectives, qualities or concepts the unit has demonstrated or upheld to earn its name.
Names are generally granted at the regimental level for ground units, and the squadron level for aerial or aerospace craft, though exceptions exist to the first rule. By type, the forty-six units granted names break down as sixteen infantry, four marine (spaceborne) infantry, seven armored, four atmospheric fightercraft, one naval, one artillery, two battlegroups, and eleven aerospace fightercraft. A unit has not been granted a name since the 112th “Steadfast” Fighter Squadron was given one for their heroic efforts covering the evacuation of Vasudan civilians during the Siege of Vasuda Prime in the Great War. (This was itself the first name granted in slightly more then a decade.)
A named unit recieves the best equipment, personnel, and training, as they are considered the elite of the elite and the best the Imperium has to offer. So long as a single fighting member of a named unit survives, the unit will be rebuilt should it suffer losses in combat. Should it be wiped out, the unit is disbanded and its unit number permanently retired. The names of its members at the time of its destruction are inscribed upon the stone walls of the Hall of Martyrs in the Imperial Palace, alongside those of the greatest heros of the Imperium. This has not happened often in Vasudan history, but the Great War exacted a heavy toll and seven named units were completely wiped out during the Shivan conflict. Another rebelled and joined the Hammer of Light; that unit, upon its destruction, had its name and the names of its members completely erased from all Vasudan records, as if they had never existed.
4th Vasudan Battlegroup
The GVD Memphis came back from Capella with the remains of a Shivan Lilth cruiser sticking out of her bow, a massive hole in her left stern that showed where a Ravana destroyer had scored a direct hit with its entire main and secondary battery, and close to 65% of her crew killed or wounded. Of her escorts, the GVCv Luxor escaped with only minor damage she could repair herself, but the GVCv Bahiti lost thirty percent of the ship off her bow to Shivan bombs and the GVCv Hathor had her keel broken; it is a minor miracle that the Hathor didn’t fold up as it entered subspace to leave Capella or while exiting subspace when it arrived in Vega. Two of the Memphis’ cruiser escorts were lost in the Nebular Campaign; the other four did not survive the massed bomber attacks the battlegroup suffered en route to the Capella-Vega node. As for the Memphis’ aerospace group, it came off Capella actually slightly overstrength, having absorbed fightercraft and pilots from the destroyed GVD Psamtik and GVD Apothesis. These were integrated into the Memphis’ own squadrons, and more then made up her losses.
Despite truly heroic, round-the-clock efforts on the part of her remaining crew and repair crews from the Vega Installation, the Memphis could not be rendered battleworthy again in time to assist with the final assault on the SD Famine. The GVCv Luxor’s light damages meant that she was able to assist GTVA forces during the Famine crisis, but she played no major role in the campaign, serving to reinforce the escort groups of various convoys. The Hathor and the Bahiti were too badly damaged and could not be made operational in time to assist either; indeed, the Bahiti was not ready for service again for another two months.
The Memphis is still short by 15% of her normal crew complement, but otherwise is fully operational. The Luxor, Bahiti, and Hathor, the latter two now completely repaired though still slightly undercrewed, continue to operate with the Memphis in Vega. To replace her lost cruisers, three Atens and a Mentu were assigned to escort the Memphis. They are the GVCs Re, Abtu, Sanura, and the GVC Somtus, respectively. The Re has been upgraded to the Mark II standard; the Abtu is next in line as soon as she can be spared from escort duties.
Mentu-class Cruisers
The Mentu-class currently hovers on the brink of extinction. The class entered the Second Shivan Invasion seventy-three ships strong: it came out of it with only seven, a casuality rate of 90.4%, the worst of any ship class in GTVA service. With weaponry similar to the Aeolus, but lacking the fire arcs of the Aeolus, Mentus were consistantly targeted first by Shivan fighter and bomber wings, but were not able to defend themselves as well as the Aeolus and racked up nothing like the incredible kill score the Aeolus did. Their lack of anti-capital beam cannon also counted heavily against them, and many fell to Shivan corvettes or cruisers they might otherwise have been able to fend off.
In the end, despite its early successes against the NTF, the Mentu failed in its original design purpose: to combat the Shivans. Vasudan Command’s disillusionment with the design has resulted in the scrapping of the five cruisers that were under construction, and a search for a new front-line cruiser for the Imperium.
A search that may have been abortive, as it turns out.
Aten-class Cruisers
The GVC Aten class of cruisers has a long and varied history of service with the GTVA and the PVE before it. Despite this, it has always been universally despised by crews and commanders alike. Nevertheless, the Aten has in a sense been the salvation of the IVN. Many corners were cut in the Aten’s design, for one purpose: to keep the crew down. As a result the Aten can be crewed with only 300, as opposed to 750 for a Terran Fenris. The tradeoff was probably not worth it in the end, but when the crunch came after Capella, the numerous mothballed Atens could be put back into service rapidly to replace the near-extinct Mentu class.
While this gave the Imperial Vasudan Navy back its cruiser arm, it also lead to much profanity and agony of mind among the IVN’s commanders, as the Aten was simply not effective in a modern combat environment. It was the 4th Vasudan Battlegroup that threw in the towel on using stock Atens first, handing over one of theirs to the civilian shipyards orbiting Vega V. There the unfortunate GVC Re was subjected to more “cut to fit, bend to match, weld to suit” outright butchery then any other GTVA warship has ever been, but the results were gratifying.
With more turrets, two small Type 3 beam mounts for anti-capital work, a new collapsed-core molybendum armor plate, and a desperately needed overhaul of the drives and electronics, the new Atens, dubbed “Mark II”, are formidible combat craft and easily the equal of the Aeolus-class. The Admirality has issued orders that all serving Atens be refitted to the Mark II standard ASAP, but the conversion is a time-consuming process, and most battlegroups or system defense forces only field one or two converted ships.
Vasudan Scout-Bomber Squadrons
In essence, a scout-bomber squadron is a self-contained reconnaissance and attack force, able to operate completely independently of other squadrons. They are expected to be their own escort on all missions, to conduct standard reconnaissance and recon-in-force, and to do all this while maintaining a medium or light bomber capablity to be exercised if presented with a target of opportunity. They are also often called upon to perform a more traditional light or medium bomber role.
While the last Terran units with a scout-bomber designation were retired in the mid-20th century long before the GTA was formed, Vasudan forces have maintained the concept. Vasudan scout-bomber squadrons are considered elite units, and provided with some of the best pilots, support staff, and equipment the Imperium can muster. They have earned their reputations; during the early stages of Terran-Vasudan War, Terran Command was often left scratching its collective head when attempting to figure out how a Vasudan scout-bomber unit could accomplish as much as it did. Deprived of their beloved Ptolemy fighter-bombers in the second half of the T-V War and during the Great War, they were forced to use modified Seth fighters that severely compromised their capablities.
The modern scout-bomber squadron makes use of the GVB Bakha exclusively; in fact, the need for a new ship for the scout-bomber pilots was one of the driving forces behind the design and production of the Bakha. Since being reequipped with the new bomber they have proved they still deserve their reputations; among their feats were the destruction of an NTF destroyer and three NTF corvettes, two Shivan destroyers and seven Shivan corvettes, and having successfully performed critical strikes against the first Shivan Sathanas.
To serve with a scout-bomber unit, no matter one’s posistion in the squadron’s hierarchy or support staff, is an honor considered second only to service with a named unit or the Imperial Guards. Vasudan units are rarely given names, but of the eleven squadrons that have been so graced in the history of Vasudan aerospace flight, seven of them are scout-bomber units.
