Jack of Harts

The Republic of Texas Navy’s primary spacegoing mission for decades was securing the New Earth-Dallas Hyperspace Run. They escorted supply and personnel convoys to the new colony, and patrolled for State-sponsored raiders looking for easy prey. Their deep space cruisers the size of modern-day frigates carried minimal onboard weaponry compared to modern starships. Beyond a few onboard lasers and missile launchers, their primary combat power consisted of the strike fighters they carried into firing range. The fighters were extremely short-legged compared to modern starfighters, and so they usually stayed close after launching and linked their systems with their starship for coordinated attack and missile defense. This tactical doctrine still dominates modern combat, and has been adopted by all major powers.

The Republic of Texas Space Force thought it had outsmarted the Navy when it demanded that all new Navy ships carry fighters. The Navy did not operate its own fighters, and had always relied on Air Force or Marine fighters to protect them. So the Space Force knew that demanding the Navy carried fighters would allow them to operate off Navy ships without all the boring drudgework of maintaining them. And it would cement their position as the superior space military arm. That is what happened in most cases, but the Texas Marines had their own say in the matter as well. They did not have as much expertise operating in space as the Space Force did, but they had far more experience operating fighters off ships. And they did operate some aerospace fighters retired by the Space Force many years before. The Marines put their foot in the door and managed to get some of those squadrons assigned to spacegoing Navy ships after passing tests no one else thought they could.

The Republic of Texas Space Force charted their path into space and the stars as time went on. They were made of small ships, often commanded by lone astronauts who came home between missions to press the flesh and encourage wealthy donors to provide more money in support of further explorations. If the Texas Space Force had any weakness, it was that their culture and experience enshrined the idea of going places and then coming back. What was in between was of little notice to them, and staying there held no interest to them. So they surveyed the Xi Bootis system, and secured the Dallas colony that took it over in 2145. They escorted numerous claim jumpers out of the system in those days, and proved singularly successful in that mission. But they did not explore the space between Dallas and Alpha Centauri. The glorified Space Force fighter jocks were not interested in sitting in the vast void watching nothing happen.