Highway to the danger zone

As much as I want to run some Beacon again, I have had a bug in my ear to run something else. I'm not going to go into details on the game system yet because I am not going to tell the players what the system is until we get underway. However I will say that it's short and sweet and hopefully full of win.  I am going to post some setting material here though because it helps me cope. I have a game date set for July 6th and once it happens and I've spilled all the beans, I'll probably be posting some session notes and get into reviewing some of the game mechanics.

Anyway here's the pitch:

You are all novice pilots aboard the CSF space carrier Jeanne D’Arc, a B class fusion drive fighter carrier designed for autonomous operations in the outer solar system. 

The Jeanne D’Arc carries a complement 63 crewmen servicing four full fighter squadrons and three multi purpose tugs. Each fighter squadron consists of five short range high thrust single pilot space craft equipped with solid fuel missiles and a short range pulse laser.  Squadrons are kept in a regular rotation of four active pilots with one reserve, however full squadrons of five are maintained during crises or in times of war. 

The CSF, or Coalition Space Fleet, is the space based military arm of the United National Coalition, an alliance of national entities consisting of the European Union, Russia, Japan, South Africa, various corporations (most notably West American and New York), and their L5, Martian, and Saturn colonies. At this time the CSF is a distinct and autonomous entity from the mostly planet-based CAF (Coalition Armed Forces) although the two share operations throughout the solar system. 

The UNC has the smallest space fleet of the big three powers, relying on high tech equipment and drone systems to compensate for lower manpower.  The UNC space fleet consists of 8 carrier ships, two dozen fast reconnaissance cruisers and some 50 auxilliary, transport and manned gun ships.