The United Defence Directive is the standing defence force of the colonies throughout the Unity Protocol, serving as their lines of defence against hostile aliens, pirates, and other threats.

Having being around for as long as the Unity Protocol has been gathering wayward species and their ways of life, the United Defence Directive incorporates centuries of combined technological and strategic knowledge to create a defensive perimeter around the planet Traveller and its many colonies. In particular, the Defence Directive has been the first line of defence against hostile alien invasions on the colonies. They also work with colony police forces to go after pirates.

Recruitment patterns have been diverse. Like-minded people or species will be sorted into units which suit their needs.

The following units, divisions, and theatres are notable within the United Defence Directive:

The UDD allows colonies to run a citizen's militia in hostile areas, if the local politics agree with the idea. UDD Militia are considered the bottom rung of the Defence Directive, made up of concerned citizens and weekend warriors who have a bare minimum of training necessary for combat. They are rarely sent abroad, and are supported more often by local resources than the larger logistics scheme of the Defence Directive, bringing their own weapons, armour, ammunition, and vehicles to the fray.

For GMs	Consider UDD Militia to be the first responders to an alien or pirate invasion making landfall on a colony. They are often the first to get their noses bloodied, and report the news higher up the chain. PCs could be part of a militia on a backwater colony holding out for reinforcements against a pirate attack.

The ground force of the Defence Directive includes footsoldiers, powered armour, light combat exoskeletons, and smaller mecha between two and eight metres tall. Their motorpool includes various tanks, artillery pieces, transports, and logistics trucks.

For GMs	The mainstay of any UDD attack, the Army is present. An easy plot to run is as an Army Squad containing PCs doing an attack or a defence against giant insects in a nearby colony of Traveller.

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For GMs	Ideally, the operation of the Navy should be unnoticeable to player characters who are only moving from place to place. Put detail into it if players are going to be helping the ship.

Currently disbanded in the wake of scandals involving the use of the EAD as a means to eliminate political rivals, the Emergency Assault Division was formerly a group of individual specialists. EAD employed beings such as combat-oriented spellcasters, psions, cyborgs, mecha jockeys, and veteran fighters to act as a special operations unit against especially large threats, such as Kaiju.

However, the team's use as an internal policing mechanism lead it into being twisted away from its original purpose, with the EAD Commander ordering EAD to attack political targets such as counsellors. When the scandal came to light, the EAD's combat personnel were suspended pending trials and investigation, and all assets were mothballed or redistributed to other units.

For GMs	Many EAD units didn't put their gun down after leaving EAD, and work as roaming mercenaries, bounty hunters, pirates, terrorists, or criminals if they were not jailed during the investigations. Ex-EAD personnel can make frightening villains, or useful allies.

The elite force for piloting mecha between twelve to eighteen metres tall and higher, Bashkarl-Altiers Mobile Force serves as UDD's best and brightest for large scale mecha combat in space, and urban environments. Named after the mech pilot duo who stopped an orbital residential station from dropping on the Shade colony, Robert Bashkarl and Altiers-334. Named in their honour, BA-MF units are at peak performance in their customised mechs.

For GMs	Yes, they are BAMFs, and they wear it on their sleeves. They're the perfect cavalry for stranded fighters.

The UDD's intelligence and analysis division, staffed primarily by Units, and computer-oriented Oddbodies and Mindeyes who are able to keep up with their peers. They rarely see direct combat involvement, but they are happy to provide intel on the latest objective, expose flanks for the Army and Navy to attack, and disrupt supply lines.

With the diverse array of equipment available due to how many civilisations have contributed their knowledge and armaments to the Defence Directive, equipment is split into broad groupings.

The UDD's arsenal requires a vast amount of logistics to keep organised and supplied adequately.

• Handguns
  • Mk.8 Laser Pistol - A laser pistol with a self-replenishing battery magazine and the ability to charge a powerful shot, this standardised sidearm of the UDD has seen decades of war. It has few moving parts, leading to better reliability. The internal battery holds fifteen shots, and recharges one shot per ten seconds via movement. Can be fired indefinitely if connected to an external power source.
• Submachine Guns
• Assault Rifles
• Battle Rifles
• Sniper Rifles
• Grenade Launchers
• Rocket Launchers
• Missile Launchers

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UDD! UDD!