Fleet Uniforms

Standard Uniform

The Alliance Fleet has a standardized set of uniforms for its personnel on base and serving on ships.

Logistics

Uniforms are designed by the Fleet Uniform Authority and shipped from Class II Supply depots.

“Spare uniforms from Supply. Class II. Looks right?” He frowned at it. “Shipped from Alpha. That would be the closest depot, wouldn’t it?” “It would be, yes,” Taylitha said. “And it would have been accurate half a year ago. But the depot on Alpha’s stopped serving this part of the frontier. They built a new facility in Sector Fe specializing in troop resupply classes, and everything spinward of Alpha is receiving from there now.”^[1]

Clothes

Undergarments

There is a unisex undergarment issued for use under all Fleet uniforms. Most people call it a stretchsuit. The stretchsuit is used by most officers as both an undergarment and a workout outfit.^[2]

The workout uniform was changed during Alysha Forrest's tenure, around a year before she was assigned to the UAV Stardancer; its sleeves were removed in place of a halter top, lined with rank braids printed on the fabric. The bottom half remained the same, cut off at mid-thigh. This was particularly welcomed by the races (like Alysha's Karaka'A nature) who had an inefficient way of dispersing excess heat.^[3]

Service Uniform

Standard uniform is unisex and consists of underwear (standardized), tunic, pants and boots. The overall uniform is black, with a dark blue panel on the breast down the front of the tunic. The pants have pockets, accessible through the tunic hip slit. Boots are also black and come in plantigrade and digitigrade models, the latter with reinforced toe patches (to prevent accidents with claws). Tunics are long-sleeved and high-collared, and collars are marked with pips indicating rank, service and other acts. Collars are anchored at the point with a gold disc.^[3] The clothing is wrinkle-resistant.^[4] Tunics are slit up the sides to allow the digitigrade Pelted to move more freely.

Lighter-weight, sleeveless white blouses may be substituted in high-heat environments. Boots are technically optional for digitigrade species.^[5]^[6]

The left shoulder of the uniform includes a name tag with depending tassels, connected to a rank stripe. The same rank strip is repeated down the outside seam of the pants, exposed by the split in the tunic.

Dress Uniform

Dress uniform is unisex and consists of tunic, pants, boots, gloves, underwear (standardized, also used for training uniform), and a short or long cloak. It also includes a dress dagger.^[3] The basic collars are as in the standard uniform, but with gold and white trim. The name tag anchors an additional rank braid looped around the left shoulder, with two depending gold cords and tassels for command officers, one (gold-capped) indicating years at current rank, and the other (silver-capped) years as a command officer. The left hip at the tunic split also has gold cords and tassels, indicating years in service: one (gold-capped) indicating years of active duty, and the other (silver-capped), years in service, on-duty, off-duty, and in training.

In addition the sleeves of the uniform have broad, turned back cuffs in white, buttoned in gold.

Cloaks are pinned with a brooch with the Alliance sigil, or the variant Fleet sigil. The way the cloak is swirled on the right shoulder for pinning is taught, with specific variants: most of the colony campuses of the Academe teach the Sheveii knot, with the excess folded visibly on top of itself above the knot; the Terracentrus and the Core campuses teach the Elnor knot, with the excess folded under the pin. The Terracentrus campus is the only campus to teach the "full Elnor", which involves the cloak slung diagonally across the back; this style is traditionally limited to admirals.

Pants do not have pockets, the way they do in the service uniform.

Boots are white, and famously difficult to clean.^[7]

Training Uniforms

Cadet Uniforms

Cadet uniforms are issued to Academe students and are worn until their graduation in situations not calling for training.

The training uniform is a leotard of moisture-wicking fabric, sleeveless with shorts ending halfway down the thighs, with the rank braid around the hem of the thighs. It is used both in training and under the standard and dress uniforms.

EVA Uniforms

EVA uniforms are white for high-contrast against the background of space and are zipped up the front. The left arm has the rank braid as a solid design from shoulder to wrist. The right upper arm features the Alliance sigil. Ship umbilicals are typically attached via port at the leg.

Collar and Name Badges

Put the info about the braid ID here.

Uniform Tabs (Name Badges)

Uniform tabs have the person's name centered. The top left has a mark for the current specialization (command, medical, etc). The bottom right gives marks for training specializations (communication, history, technology, etc). Depending tassels also indicate rank, and come in black or gold to help indicate what rank (for example, third commander uses the three hanging tassels of the command rank, two black and one gold; second commander has two gold tassels and one black; first commander has three gold tassels).

Collar pips indicate rank, duty status (active/inactive/retired), command training (if applicable), duty station (starship/base/academe), and milestones such as training tour of duty's completion, community service, and secondary education completion.

Medical has Aquamarine dots. ^[8]

Allied Flashes

Terran Space Navy

Human crew on loan to the Alliance Fleet wear the badge of the Terran Space Navy in gold in their right shoulder.

Faulfenza

Historical Fleet Uniforms

First Uniforms

The Fleet uniform has been through several revisions (and Fleet Uniform Authority continues to make modifications), including several major changes early in Fleet's history. Now the changes tend to be minor; many officers will be wearing variations of the uniform throughout their careers.

There were three major revisions from the original uniforms:

From the boned initial uniforms, the uniform tunic became a slouchy top that was flattened with an external bodice (laced!). This original tunic had a turtleneck, and the skirt panels extended to mid-calf. Since the rank badge information couldn't be easily pinned to the turtleneck collar, it was moved to the left breast.
The second, short-lived interim uniform involved bared shoulders/off-the-shoulder designs, both single and double-shouldered. The rank badge returned to the right shoulder, but didn't have the braid (since the shoulder was bare). Pants were optional in this version, for the Pelted with significant fur, but boots were much higher, above the knee.
The final revision brought us to the current standard duty uniform, worn today. While dress uniform had several more evolutions (struggling to keep some of the motifs of its antecedents), the current shorter tunic with rigid collar, right rank tag with braid, pants and boots have won the comfort + utility war.

Additionally, there were some random experiments that were worn for a while and then discarded, as with the boots with furred inner cuffs and external sword belt.