Ebony the Black Dragon
aka Draco Draconis Ebenium
known to Interpol as Aaron F. Johnson,
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com

(Known and Wanted Encourager of Creativity in Five Countries)

Among other things. The Federation absorbed the WDF's contract with the United Galactica when it superceded the UG in the 2330s, so the WDF currently assists the Federation Starfleet in patrolling and securing the United Federation of Planets against various hostile or potentially hostile forces (the Romulan Star Empire, the Empire of Kilrah, and the Cardassian Union, to name the most prominent). It also provides humanitarian aid when called upon. What the WDF doesn't do is exploration and charting; Starfleet handles that as part of their dual defense/science mission.

As such, there's a lot of overlap in the four forces you named. Starfleet and the WDF both cover pretty much the whole Federation, except for the sovereign members that have their own space forces to patrol their home territory (Earthforce, the Royal Salusian Armed Forces, and the Gamilon Imperial Navy are examples). The IPO's space fleet is very small, and will not likely ever be big enough to engage in concerted patrol operations; instead, it's intended for activities appropriate to the law-enforcement and investigation model of its parent organization, such as piracy interdiction and disappeared-ship tracking, once it's grown to the point where the entirety of the Space Force isn't stuck hanging around Bajor to make sure nobody makes the fifth attempt at Babylon Station go away.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/