HU Space-based Interstellar Fleet (HU-SIF)

the SIF is the space and aeronautics branch of the HU armed forces, covering both atmospheric craft and starships, as well as fighters, space stations and orbital weapons platforms, both mobile and fixed. any member of HU that owns a spacecraft is registered with the SIF, up to and including the commanders; while the SIF possesses an upward of 90% of the spacecraft under the command of HU, around 10% are still owned and operated by independent pilots and soldiers.

due to the incredible industrial manufacturing capability of HU, the SIF is one of the organization's greatest assets; HU has never lost a space engagement to date, and the only fleet equal to the SIF in numbers, if not in technology, is the Alliance Military Fleet, or AMF.

the HU Navy is a branch of the SIF, and is generally only used as a last line of defense for Osrisis, but SIF-Navy ships have occasionally been deployed on mainly water planets.

Ship Classifications
there are a multitude of ship classifications in the SIF, ranging from the tiny, unmanned sub-fighters to the huge, hundred-mile-long Planet Killers. each type of ship is primed for different types of engagement, and some aren't even intended for interplanetary engagement.

Sub-Fighter
Sub-fighters are a classification of drones that range from three inches to five feet in diameter, typically used to defend larger starships or launched from carriers to defend against enemy ground forces. as sub-fighters are designed to be inexpensive to build and therefore expendable, none carry any major weaponry or reactors, typically relying on supercapacitors and solar cells to remain operational. soldiers in the field have been known to commandeer sub-fighters for use as power sources for field equipment, which the drones can do even with their limited power sources.

Fighter
fighters are a class of small, manned ships ranging from eighteen to thirty feet in length. fighters are typically considered higher priority than sub-fighters, and private fighter class ships often have high-class reactors and even interstellar drives, such as Elexion's fighter class ship, the AMS Orion. some of the earlier models of HU fighters also used high-class power sources, but recently the smaller, single-man crafts have been using plasma reactors or, in the case of long-term patrol ships, supercapacitors and solar cells with a backup generator.

Due to the principles that govern space combat and movement, Fighter-class vessels are designed more for atmospheric efficiency and flight, and are not necessarily meant for zero-g, no atmosphere engagements.

Sapper
sapper class ships are mostly used as either mine-laying ships, troop and equipment transports, or cargo haulers, and range from thirty to a hundred and fifty feet long. sapper classes are typically armed with only basic defensive and offensive tech, preferring to rely on speed and agility to evade attackers. while sappers are lightly defended and armed, they tend to attract some of the best pilots, as the sappers have incredible agility and speed for such bulky machines.

Grenadier
the Grenadier class is the first of the mid-class ships, and is often seen carrying heavy equipment to the front line or bombarding enemy armor. unlike most of the other ship classifications in the SIF, the Grenadier is used exclusively for combat, and is armed with wide-bore weapons as well as high power plasma cannons for assault and air-to-air missile launchers, and possess some of the thickest armor on any HU ship. due to this, HU soldiers typically refer to Grenadiers as "Juggernauts", "Reapers" or "Grave-Diggers", for their tendency to dig trenches with weapons fire alone, and the assignment of a grenadier to a mission is considered an ill omen, and even have a saying that goes: "when a Reaper's been working, there are no survivors". where the Sapper is a drop ship, the Grenadier is a gunship, capable of taking on even the toughest of ground forces, and the pilots and crew are considered almost forces of nature.

Patrol
the patrol class ships are larger ships that range from about 200-400 feet long, and while they are more heavily armed than any Class I ships, they are lightly armored, tailored more for scouting and patrol missions than military engagements, though some Patrol class vessels can be seen on the front line of just about every HU-SIF engagement to date, due to their status as the smallest, and therefore hardest to hit, of the vessels designed for space engagements.

While Class I vessels and Grenadier ships are not suited to space combat due to their relatively small mass, Patrol vessels are the smallest ships that are designed to engage in a zero-g, no atmosphere environment.

Dropper
the Dropper class ship is a supply ship built and designed to drop equipment and supplies to troops in the field when it isn't convenient for a Sapper class ship to fly them in and there isn't a OWL assigned to the planet or in range. Droppers have also dropped troops behind enemy lines using specially designed drop pods. because Droppers typically take high orbits, they are often out of the range of any anti-orbital weaponry employed on their target planet, meaning that they can drop crates down to troops moving in on said defenses without necessarily being in danger themselves

Light Destroyer
light destroyer class starships have heavier armaments and armor than Patrol class ships, but have less tonnage than normal Destroyer class ships, and are often equipped with re-entry panels along the bottom of the hull. Light Destroyers are typically used for attack runs on ground defenses when Cruiser class vessels are unavailable or unnecessary. because of this, Light Destroyers are not usually suited for space combat, and tend to avoid it in favor of attacking ground forces, gunships and drop ships. because of their light armor and reentry panels, Light Destroyers are especially suited for atmospheric combat, as they do not need to decrease speed during reentry therefore can easily dance in and out of range of enemy fire within seconds while still hammering the enemy positions.

Heavy Destroyers
Heavy Destroyers, unlike their smaller sister ships, are heavily armed and armored, capable of surviving a mid-level barrage from a Cruiser class ship. while still faster and more mobile than higher class ships, the Heavy Destroyer is typically armed with two MAC cannons, fifteen missile launchers, eight heavy ballistics cannons and four heavy plasma cannons, enough to punch through the armor of anything up to a Cruiser or Battlecruiser class vessel. Heavy Destroyers were, in fact, designed to serve defensive details for OWLs or Ropes in space engagements that would require them, the importance of which would lead to enemy Cruiser and Battlecruiser class ships being deployed.

Rammers
While not a particularly large portion of the HU-SIF, Rammers are nevertheless present. These ships are more-or-less layers of armor wrapped around a rudimentary command hub and engines, for the simple purpose of ramming other vessels in space engagements. The point of this maneuver was inspired by observation of engagements of which HU did not take part, where-in a heavily armored ship used a much larger, disabled ship as a weapon against other large ships.

However, Rammers are not equipped with particularly effective weaponry and must rely on their particle fields and armor for protection, and are not particularly fast or maneuverable. For this reason, Rammers spend most of their time in permanent assignment to Osrisis orbit, or orbit around major HU holdings. Their primary purpose in this capacity is to provide screening and support for defensive lines.

Orbital Weapons pLatforms (OWLs)
Orbital Weapons Platforms, also called OWLs by ground troops, are starships designed to orbit a planet and rain fire down on anything unfortunate enough to be below it. OWLs are typically armed with a huge array of MAC cannons for bombardment from space, as well as multiple supply drop tubes for dropping crates and pods full of equipment and supplies to troops in the field. While OWLs are reserved for only the highest priority targets, they have seen use in every major HU battle to date.

Trawler
Trawler class ships are lightly armed, but armored, cargo ships that are used to haul large amounts of cargo, equipment or heavy armor from place to place when the load is too much for Sapper class ships. Trawlers, despite their lacking defensive weaponry, are invincible behemoths that can ram through pretty much anything in their way. enemy boarding is a non-issue, as it would take the most sophisticated laser drill a couple of hours to drill through the armor that encases the ship, not including the three additional layers underneath the first one. in fact, pirates are sometimes caught because they started drilling through the armor shortly after the ship left port, and are still anchored to the hull when the ship reaches it's destination. Trawler class ships are sometimes used as a sort of space-based cover for OWLs, Ropes or even Light Destroyers, being that they can provide a nigh-impenetrable barrier between the allied ships and the enemy.

Cruiser
cruiser class ships are the largest of the Class II ships, and by far the most powerful, as the only Class II ship able to take on a cruiser is the Heavy Destroyer. Cruisers have the heaviest weaponry and armor of the Class I and II ships, and can easily overpower most vessels other than Class III, IV and V. Cruisers are typically assigned to the command of high ranking HU officers, and are committed only one or two to an engagement at a time, and are often used to enter the upper atmosphere and bombard enemy defenses and troop placements with heavy MAC cannons that can fire antimatter rounds. the typical Cruiser also has four Fighter class ships attached to various locks on the ship's hull, as well as docking ports for two Dropper or Grenadier class ships.

Heavy Cruiser
Possessing of more armor and weaponry than a regular cruiser class, though not enough to fall under Battlecruiser, the Heavy Cruiser class was intended to be the front-line workhorse of the HU-SIF in any and all space engagements. HU is capable of fielding tens of thousands of these ships, and they are often used to patrol hostile sectors. A squad of Heavy Cruisers is often enough to quell a hostile planet. Heavy Cruisers are also capable of operating as small Carriers, as they have the capacity and capability to carry a moderate amount of sub-fighters and even up to eight fighter class vessels.

However, due to their heavier armament, they are incapable of in-atmosphere firing runs and instead rely completely on orbital fire support for ground forces, and are therefore kitted out for such an occurrence. Heavy Cruisers are often used as local drop points, dropping troops, supplies and equipment to the surface, and can even drop ADOM units or ground vehicles. In rare cases, Heavy Cruisers have even been utilized as transport for air assault vehicles, which are then dropped into the upper layers of the atmosphere.

Elite Cruisers
Elite Cruisers are the most advanced ships in the fleet, and are often used as an experimental basis for new technology and military hardware. Because of this, an Elite Crusier will often have advanced equipment, weaponry and advancements that are beyond the rest of the fleet; due to the fact that these pieces of technology are often regarded as inconvenient or impractical for mass manufacture for the rest of the HU-SIF, they are often simply remained installed on the ship they were tested on. As such, these ships always have the best equipment out of any branch of the HUAR.

Elite Cruisers are numbered and differentiated by two factors. First, by their appearance, which is wildly different from ship to ship, and second by their letter. Each Elite Cruiser is christened with a letter in the Greek alphabet, and carries that letter through every iteration of the same ship.

Carrier
Carrier class ships are vessels dedicated to the carrying and defense of any ship from Sub-Fighter up to Dropper class ships. while they do not carry the armaments of other Class III vessels, Carriers are still armed with ship-to-ship defenses including missiles, ballistic-laser turrets, railguns and a single MAC cannon.1 despite their light armaments, Carriers have been known to take down even Battlecruisers without support by hitting them suddenly with a hail of Fighters and Sub-Fighters and using the distraction to get a clear shot of the enemy ship's reactor with their MAC cannon. because of this, in engagements with forces familiar with HU starship tactics, the Carriers are often the first attacked, only for the attacking forces to break against a defensive line of Heavy Destroyers and Cruisers, making Carriers both a useful asset and convenient bait.

Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers are the same size and tonnage of regular Battleship class ships, but have reduced or lightened armor and weaponry to improve mobility and speed. while they lack the strength and armaments of a true Battleship, Battlecruisers can outclass Cruisers, and are typically used in engagements where a combination of firepower and mobility is imperative, and despite their weakening when compared to Battleships, they can take quite a bit of damage before becoming inoperable. Battlecruisers are typically chosen for stealth missions where a Patrol or Cruiser class will not suffice, and many can run so silently that not even other HU ships can detect them outside of ramming into them, which can cause issues in simulated combat.

Battleships
Battleship classes are the heavy armor of the SIF; when enemy forces see a Battleship enter the fray, they typically go running in the opposite direction. Battleships can take huge amounts of damage and can dish out even more, and can ram right through any ship of Cruiser class or below without damaging their hull. one of the most notable effects of this class of ship is seen when it simply enters into a battle, as they tend to galvanize allied forces and their presence can turn the tide of battle, if their vast amount of firepower didn't do that already. Battleships can also serve as perfect staging points for long-term space engagements, as they are big enough that most ships can dock with them and shut down their systems for repair while the Battleship handles their vessels normal processes, including life support.

Repair and Outfitting Platforms
this class, typically referred to as Ropes in SIF terminology, provide support and repair work in space engagements beyond what Battleships can provide. these hulking cradles of metal are lightly armed and possess only basic engines, relying mostly on their entourage of Cruisers or Heavy Destroyers for defense against enemy space forces. the typical Rope can strip and re-outfit a Cruiser class ship within an hour, and can take up to three Cruisers or a single Battleship at a time.

Heavy Cruiser
while not the largest of the Class IV ships, the Heavy Cruiser is still a force to be reckoned with. their incredibly heavy weapons and armor attached to a heavily modified Cruiser framework makes them slow and unwieldy in flight, but incredibly strong in combat. while Heavy Cruisers are no match for the other Class IV vessels, they can match most Class III vessels and easily outperform any Class II ship. Heavy Cruisers are typically used as front line ships for the incredible amounts of fire they can survive.

Heavy Carrier
the Heavy Carrier is a severely upgraded version of the normal Carrier; Heavy Carriers are larger, more armored, and carry a huge amount of weaponry that the Carrier does not. while Carrier class ships rely on tactics and subterfuge to achieve their goals without support, Heavy Carriers can smash through most defensive lines with their weaponry alone, making them an incredible vessel that can match a Battlecruiser for offensive power. Heavy Carriers are large enough to carry a Heavy Destroyer for personal defense in addition to the usual array of smaller ships, and can even dock with Battleships to increase their offensive power. where Heavy Battleships provide a tactical base, Heavy Carriers provide a hardware base, as they contain all the equipment and facilities to repair and even refit most ships that dock with it. some of the older Heavy Carrier class ships have been re-tasked as outposts and space stations, though their original systems remain intact and operational in case of emergency.

Heavy Battleships
there are only a few hundred Heavy Battleships in the SIF, and the few that exist serve as flagships in engagements that don't require a Class V ship. Heavy Battleships can provide all of the advantages and services of a Battleship to an even greater degree, and each is armored with a full foot of analite over a skin of terralite, making them nigh impregnable, to an even higher degree than Battleships or Trawlers, two classes famous for their armoring. there is a legendary space engagement where a lone Heavy Battleship took on a Vice Planet-Killer alone and came out victorious, ending the speculation over the tactical necessity of these hulking ships.

Mobile Space Station (MSS)
MSS classes are not really starships in the traditional sense; instead, they are gigantic space stations, sometimes up to seventy miles in diameter, that have been given huge ion engines, as well as wormhole drives and QVEs. there are fewer MSS in service than any Class I-IV ships, but the few that exist are unquestionably powerful. despite their prowess in battle, MSS are not often deployed in spacial engagements due to the fact that MSS are typically cities first and military installations second. MSS are set up orbiting high-value targets or locations marked by HU as top priority, such as sources of high-grade pre-flight race artifacts or important military outposts installed outside HU space, and they often have full laboratories and archaeological facilities.

Blockaders
blockaders are a special type of ship intended to be immobile for long peroids of time, defending a single point, the entire description of a blockade. Mostly, Blockaders have been used to prevent enemy retreat from a planet, with the idea being to force them to surrender to occupying HU forces. Despite their defensive weaponry and armor, Blockaders are not very suited to engaging enemy forces offensively due to their slow movement and large target they present, making them better for defensive actions than offensive actions.

In certain situations and engagements, Blockaders have been utilized as offensive or defensive picket lines against an attacking enemy force, but cannot operate for long in this capacity without ongoing fire support from other, more maneuverable vessels.

Vice Planet Killers
VPK classes can be in an excess of fifty miles long and three miles wide. VPKs are huge ships used as a deciding factor in battles where size, armor and weaponry would triumph over speed and maneuverability. In these types of situations, HU is not looking for retreat, they aren't lookign for surrender; in most of these cases, HU has come up against an enemy that they intend to wipe out completely, leaving no survivors. The only other real situation where VPKs are used is when HU is meeting against a force or nation that has incredible manufacturing capability, at least enough to produce Class V vessels. In both of these situations, mercy is out of the question.

Planet Killers
PKs are the last word in space combat. these hulking ships, which can be several hundred miles long, are the highest achievement of HU engineering and manufacturing, being that the smallest of PKs has enough firepower to crack open the crust of a planet and fire directly through the mantel and into the core, which typically shatters, if not outright destroys, said planet. MAC rounds fired from these ship's cannons are typically ten or more miles across and reach near the speed of light when exiting the barrel of the weapon. due to their destructive capability and invulnerability in space combat, the HU-SIF has seen no need to manufacture more than forty of these behemoths, as HU's close ally, the Alliance, only has twenty-seven, and the Alliance is one of the foremost military superpowers in the multiverse.