Directorate Officer
“A skytrooper? You mean a failed engineer or a smart street thug?” ~anonymous Antarian Ranger officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION- Intent: To provide the Silver Jedi Concord with a common airborne unit
- Image Credit: Background image is Kashyyyk concept art from the Force Unleashed, original source no verifable but in existence since at least 2008; trooper is a mixture of HALO Reach armors made using Vanity application. All merged and modified together by yours truly.
- Role: Skytrooper Regiments mainly fulfill the traditional role of airborne infantry within the Silver Jedi Concord’s forces, often forming the vanguard of assault or relief forces before the main army lands in ships. Skytroopers also see extensive use on worlds where vertical maneuverability or airborne mobility is key, such as dense urban terrains similar to Coruscant or on gas giants like Bespin.
- Permissions: None
- Links: Silver Jedi Concord, Lucerne Personal Defense, Lucerne Labs, 1st Directorate Jump Troopers Regiment
- Unit Name: Silver Jedi Concord Skytrooper Regiment
- Affiliation: Silver Jedi Concord
- Classification: Airborne Infantry
- Description: Skytrooper Regiments are among some of the most flashy military units within the Silver Jedi Concord, with dozens of holovids of the troopers jetting off from skyscrapers in colorful power armor and into the sky to fight invaders or dropping down from orbiting starships before unleashing a storm of firepower on their foes. Despite an almost mythic status, most Skytroopers see their job as their second occupation, many of whom enlisted as a chance of redemption: to either pay off educational loans or expunge criminal records made in the slums. But the motley backgrounds of its soldiers also a key source of their strengths, with Skytroopers known in particular not only for their aerial daring, but also for being viscous and canny streetfighters and unusually resourceful. But there always seems to be a shortage of men willing to risk flying around in the open sky and getting shot down, making Skytroopers more rare than many of their other infantry counterparts. The unusual abilities of these troops makes them almost invaluable resources to the Silver Jedi Concord military, and one that is judiciously employed for high-intensity, short bouts of fighting.
- Unit Size: Large
- Unit Availability: Common
- Unit Experience: Trained
- Equipment:
All troops: Raptoran-class Aerial Combat Armor & Silverthorn Stiletto
Typical Squad Layout with equipment
Command Element (1 Squad Leader, 1 L4 Veles-series Orbit Deployable Autoturret droid)
1 Stormfire Heavy Repeater (Squad Leader primary weapon)
1 Akk Dog Portable Shield Generator (Squad Leader secondary equipment)
Fire Team Aurek (2 Skytroopers, 1 Skytrooper CQC Specialist, 1 Skytrooper Gunner)
-2 Firespray Shotguns (Skytrooper primary weapon)
-1 Hailstorm Flechette Carbine with anti-personnel cannisters in top barrel, missiles in bottom barrel (Skytrooper CQC specialist primary weapon)
-1 Stormfire Heavy Repeater (Skytrooper Gunner primary weapon)
Up to four total of the following grenades per team member: (Fireblast Dual Purpose Grenades, Coldblast Cryoban Grenades, 7-PrG Proton Grenades)
Fire Team Besh (2 Skytroopers, 1 Skytrooper CQC specialist, 1 Skytrooper Gunner)
-2 Firespray Shotguns (Skytrooper primary weapon)
-1 Hailstorm Flechette Carbine with anti-personnel cannisters in top barrel, missiles in bottom barrel (Skytrooper CQC specialist primary weapon)
-1 Stormfire Heavy Repeater (Skytrooper Gunner primary weapon)
Up to four total of the following grenades per team member: (Fireblast Dual Purpose Grenades, Coldblast Cryoban Grenades, 7-PrG Proton Grenades)
- Combat Function: Skytrooper tactics and strategy are almost exclusively formed by their airborne capabilities. On a strategic level, Skytroopers are rarer than conventional infantry units due to the cost of their specialized equipment and a smaller recruitment pool due to the inherent hazards of airborne operations. This means that they tend to selectively be deployed only when needed, and they are often relieved by more conventional infantry in offensive operations once a landing zone is secured in order to prevent future casualties. Consequently, most Skytroopers are stationed as part of rapid reaction forces on fleets or worlds where vertical mobility is essential, such as on ecumenopolis worlds like Taris. The need to conserve manpower yet promote mobility also makes it common for regiments not to be commonly stationed together in central locations, but rather be scattered in base camps in mutually supporting conditions: in the event of unexpected attack, other nearby Skytroopers can rapidly arrive to another’s base location via flight pack. This mobility, of course, is more than advantageous for defensive purposes, but offensive purposes as well – large scale Skytrooper attacks often occur as converging movements from a variety of directions and subunit strengths down to the platoon level in order to keep enemies off balance. On a more immediate tactical level of a squad or individual, Skytroopers tend to use surprise, speed, and heavy short-ranged firepower to suddenly appear and try to wipe out opponents in a high-intensity burst of fighting. Most direct-fire weapons in the squad have the ability to use projectile explosives, while the only other primary weapon can be used as a fully automatic machine gun, with combined with grenades and an auto turret tends to work quite well against unprepared foes – turret droid is often directly inserted from orbit into the enemy position. For situations that require a bit more subtlety, many Skytroopers turn to their background in the streets and silence their guns and employ injector stilettos in almost silent attacks to dispatch their foes. On the defensive, Skytroopers tend to have a single prominent point of defense formed around the squad-leader, his shield projector, and the auto-turret droid which acts like a machine gun nest. While powerful, this is actually most diversionary, with most of the Skytroopers actually individually laying in wait from hidden positions to use ambushes and other streetfighter tactics common in the slums of ecumenopolis worlds. As flashy as Skytrooper tactics seem to be, there is quiet but steady undercurrent in leadership thought that recognizes their vulnerability in that they do not often have the logistical support that other units have – this leads Skytroopers on all levels to make contingency plans with which to act upon in certain situations, as well as a wariness that they might wander into the type of ambushes they tend to employ themselves. Many of the more education members of the Skytroopers (most of whom are serving to cancel out education debt) are frequently called by their comrades to help with this lack of logistical support. Those with language skills can frequently barter with inhabitants to obtain extra supplies while the more technically minded can frequently scavenge and jury-rig solutions to their needs.
- Airborne Combatants: As their name suggests, Skytroopers are unusual in that they are able to fly through the air, making them exceptionally mobile and fast on the battlefield.
- Power Armor Users: Skytroopers are all equipped with Raptoran-class Aerial Combat Armor, which not only provides their ability to fly, but also provides the average Skytrooper with more self-enhancing abilities and options than the average soldier.
- Street Fighters: A significant portion of Skytroopers are drawn from urban youth who have been part of street gangs before being offered expunged criminal records in return for their military service. The resulting troops are fairly experienced street fighters, skilled in wielding small blades like the Silverthorn Stiletto at close quarters and frequently utilizing “dirty” tactics and ruses in urban terrain. These skills have largely flowed throughout the rest of the regiment, making the collective group particularly dangerous in urban settings.
- Targets in the Clear: While being airborne provides Skytroopers with excellent mobility, it also often makes them fairly easy targets to spot and attack. There’s no cover high in the sky, and concealment by clouds and other weather phenomena usually doesn’t prevent those with most sensors from finding and targeting them either.
- What heavy weapons? Skytroopers wield fairly compact weapons, which while perfectly adequate against most other infantry, these weapons often do not have the power to significantly damage armored vehicles like tanks, heavy walkers, and many aircraft.
- Burst Fighting: By their very nature, Skytroopers do not have intensive and indepth logistical support – a single person can only carry so much, and the regiment does not have any vehicles of its own. This means that on a practical nature, Skytroopers only have enough supplies that the individual trooper can carry while airborne. This means that in extended engagements, it’s quite possible to run out of critical supplies such as ammunition, munitions, power packs, medpacs, and other similar war material.
Airborne units have existed in various governments and parts of the galaxy for millennia, from the Republic’s Rocket Jump Troopers to the later Clone Jet Troopers. With the reformation of Silver Jedi-influenced space into the Silver Jedi Concord, a stronger federal government began to coalesce increasingly standardized forces. Many existing local airborne units were consequently reformed into a standardized pattern for logistical reasons or entirely raised up as new federal forces into what have become known as “Skytrooper Regiments”. Most of these newly (re)formed Skytrooper Regiments received training from elements of the 1st Directorate Jump Troopers Regiment or one of its protégé Skytrooper Regiments before being fitted out with standardized equipment that Lucerne Personal Defense. This initially led to each Skytrooper Regiment having the exact same basic capabilities of its sister regiments, but the regiments have evolved some different traditions derived either from their recruiting stations or from different assignments. This in turn has led to a strong sense of unit identity and espirit de corps that have engendered a reputation around the Silver Jedi space as intensely proud, daring, and tough warfighters that continues to precede them into the current combat zones. Skytroopers are found across the whole of Silver Jedi Concord space, especially on urban worlds or other areas with significant vertical obstacles. Skytroopers are also commonly found on Silver Jedi warships as part of the vanguard to either quickly relieve allied defenders or invade hostile holdings.
