UMBER are teams of specially trained scientists and engineers used by Star Army Special Operations in the Star Army of Yamatai. They are multi-disciplinary field research and containment teams sent to places or scenarios when general Star Army Research Administration personnel ask for assistance. These units were formalised in YE 43 as part of the creation of Star Army Special Operations, but had existed before then in various forms under different names. Some RISE HAZMAT teams were consolidated into UMBER teams.

The name UMBER is derived from its meaning as a hue of brown, the colour you get when you mix green and red. This is to symbolise how these teams are a merger of many green and red panels from various backgrounds. UMBER teams stand slightly apart from their regular Star Army Research Administration colleagues. Rather than focusing on work that occurs in a lab, or even from a ship or similar posting, UMBER teams are expected to deploy rapidly to scientific hazards or anomalies.

UMBER teams are tasked to 'crisis scenarios' where well-trained personnel with heavy scientific and engineering specialisms are required. They are not dispatched to tasks that Science Officers can perform by themselves. Science Officers aren't 'pushed aside' by UMBER teams, generally a science officer or commanding officer has to ask to Star Army Special Operations for UMBER support, and are kept on site to advise the UMBER team if they feel comfortable doing so.

These 'crisis scenarios' are such things as containing released WMDs, investigating dangerous spacetime anomalies, rogue nanobots, unknown substances or those requiring extensive HAZMAT cleanup. While most Star Army Research Administration personnel can perform the vast majority of duties, there's only so much that can be done by one science officer on one ship. UMBER teams exist to rapidly deploy specialists to incidents that cannot be adequately handled by personnel present at an incident.

Additionally, UMBER teams are given greater survival and general combat training than other members of Star Army Research Administration to assist with their survivability if operating close to frontlines. However, this is not to the level of Star Army Infantry, let alone other special forces. They're expected to perform their duties practically when being shot at, so to be in an UMBER one must be either very level headed or an adrenaline junkies.

UMBER teams often work alongside SAR/CSAR teams when an incident has already caused a large number of casualties, and/or extensive damage to local infrastructure, ships or bases.

UMBER teams tend to be composed of a reasonably large number of individuals. UMBER teams are generally comprised of no less than 10 individuals, but are often up to 30, with multiple of these teams being tasked to very substantial incidents. Usually, an 'incident commander' is appointed from the officers amongst their number with the most experience with the kind of incident they are attending.

UMBER teams are provided with very fast craft, with little to no offensive arms. Their transports are loaded with specialist scientific and engineering gear, as well as fabricators and measuring instruments. They always contain a large cache of HAZMAT containment resources and PPE. Sometimes for incidents with potential for high casualties, an UMBER team can deploy with a ST machine to ensure backups are taken from people exposed to any potentially fatal substances.

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ethereal created this article on 2022/05/21 15:22.

It was approved by Wes here. (Pending sub-article approval)

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