Laian Exploratory Office

Organisation
The Laian Exploratory Office holds responsibility for all interstellar grade vessels via a system of Charter Licenses. In effect when a ship begins construction, the Exploratory Office will establish a Charter License which will become available to apply for. During the early construction period, prospective charter groups have time to develop their bids, receiving pledges to join the charter from senior crew if the bid is successful. When it comes time to crew the ship, one Charter Bid is licensed, and becomes the official Charter for that ship. It then becomes open for crew to apply to sign onto the Charter.

Officially, a ship with a Laian charter is free to travel and pick up work. In practice however, the only valid sources of "contracts" are the Exploratory Office or the Cosmological Office. Further, all ships are liable for National Service in the event that the Laian Unity enters a State of Emergency.

Active Ship Classes

 * Laian Explorer - Similar to the Constitution-A class explorer of Starfleet
 * Laian Frigate - Obsolete and being phased out in favour of Patroller-A frigates.
 * Patroller-A - The new frigate force of the Laio
 * Renaissance - An established design elsewhere, but new for the Laio, and capable of being a backbone in combat.
 * Egillah - A battleship purchased off surplus by the Ked Paddah.

Personnel
Unlike most fleets, the Laian fleet is not held in a unified personnel structure. All crew instead are co-holders of their Charter, and are employees within the ship. As a result, there is no crew-officer divide, and the structure of the ship's organisation chart would be more familiar to a Caitian or Rigellian company than a member of Starfleet. There is still a Captain who serves as the Boss, particularly during any manner of operation involving risk. Each ship has a Laian Resources office that handles further hiring and firing of crew. Because of the nature of the Charter system, transferring to another ship actually involves resigning from one's current post to take on a new job contract with another ship, a concept that mystifies many other fleet's members.

All crew share in any labour vouchers earned by the ship for its work.

Coreward Border War
The Laian Exploratory Office took part in the Coreward Border War, fighting alongside the Arcadian Empire against the Outer Space Alliance. The war entered a ceasefire before the LEO encountered major combat operations. Instead their role through this period revolved around screening wolfpacks and escorting convoys, freeing up the Arcadian Empire to direct their more capable and experienced deep-space forces towards Ikeganoi.