Union Science Bureau

The Union Science Bureau is the central administrative body for universities, colleges, scientific institutions, and think tanks throughout Union space. Ostensibly an apolitical entity, the USB works outside and parallel to CentComm’s chain of command, though it is subject to some oversight from CentComm and GALSIM.
The most common site of interaction between the public and the USB is its exhausting list of colleges, universities, and public schools – however, it is most commonly represented in media in the form of the far-field team (FFT) – popularly called “rangers”. Flying their iconic Ranger-class nearlight ships, FFTs are small parties of scientists and support staff responsible for venturing to never-before-seen worlds, exploring uncanny or anomalous interstellar phenomena, and all manner of other fieldwork involved in scouting new worlds.
FFTs are made up of romantics, wanderers, and loners, alongside passionate scientists, technicians, philosophers, and engineers of all disciplines. Their missions are dangerous, often requiring long-term stasis and relativistic travel into unexplored systems not connected to the blink network – the data returned is invaluable, more than worth the risk.
Although the popularity of rangers in romanticized omninet dramas drives USB recruitment, they make up a minority of USB personnel. The vast majority of USB staff are employed in terrestrial and orbital education centers, laboratories, and fabrication sites as researchers, engineers, designers, and technicians. The accessibility and secrecy of these institutions vary: most operate in the public eye, with doors wide open; by contrast, the campuses where the most secret and sensitive work takes place are hidden or otherwise inaccessible to those without clearance.