TSAB Intelligence Department
The Intelligence Department existed since the day of TSAB foundation and served the purpose of gathering intelligence both by overt and covert methods, as well as conducting all sorts of covert operations in any case when open involvement of TSAB forces was unwanted or impossible. Due to the nature of their tasks Sections of the Intelligence Department are granted varying degrees of freedom from the TSAB laws depending on the situation. In general only most obvious violations for no apparent reason ever lead to a member of the Intelligence Department being returned guilty. Sections of the Intelligence Department often abuse this condition, which gave birth to a lot of rumors about many questionable and even outright criminal activities conducted by the Department. It’s quite possible that not all of them are groundless.
The Intelligence Department has a common insignia for all Sections.
Personal rankings are designated by collar insignia on the ceremonial uniform. Following ranks are recognized by all Sections.
Cadet.
Junior Investigator.
Civil Investigator.
Investigator.
(Starting from this rank the members of the Intelligence Department are permitted to carry lethal weapons aside from the primary device and may remove personal limiter at will if present)
Senior Investigator.
Head Investigator.
Brigadier General.
General.
Department Director.
(This is not exactly a rank in common sense but it possesses its own individual insignia)
Certain Sections may also have its own additional ranks and corresponding insignia.
At the beginning the Intelligence Department consisted of three Sections:
- Section A:
General Reconnaissance and Human Intelligence Section
Unofficial: "Recon", "Recce".
Section A has the largest number of members compared to the rest of the Intelligence Department. Its main purpose is the gathering and analysis of general information about all recent events across the administrated as well as not-administrated worlds. Despite the access to some of the most advanced reconnaissance technology the task is almost impossible and Section A always tries to recruit more members to somehow keep up with it.
As the members of Section A aren't supposed to engage in open confrontations, high-ranked combat mages are rarely seen among them. The members may work alone as well as in groups depending on the situation and their tasks. Section A has a large interdimensional fleet, consisting mainly of shuttles and cloaking frigates, which aren't very well suited for combat either.
“Hudson”-class interdimensional shuttle.
“Specter”-class cloaking frigate.
Several large shuttle carriers play the role of mobile recon bases in distant regions.
“Harvester”-class shuttle carrier.
Section A always gets the blame for all unexpected events occurring in the worlds under TSAB jurisdiction, thus young mages generally have little motivation to join it. To counter this Section A is constantly carrying out advertising campaigns and provides different kinds of benefits for its members, such as free travel between administrated worlds and considerably longer paid vacations in comparison to other TSAB Sections. Also the cadets with the lowest grades are usually made to join Section A automatically.
- Section B:
External Investigation Section
Unofficial: "Investigation", "Time-Space Investigation Bureau (TSIB)".
Section B has the main purpose of deeper investigation of certain events that may be of importance for TSAB. Unlike Section A its members quite often get involved in life-threatening action, though it’s rarely intended by their direct objectives.
Members of Section B often act under cover, but that's not a general rule. Due to much higher risks all members must have at least basic combat training. The members usually act alone or in pairs but in certain cases many mages may be involved at once. Section B doesn't have its own interdimensional fleet, but every member of at least Investigator rank is provided with an aero-space fighter capable of short-term interdimensional travel.
“Falcon”-class aero-space fighter.
Due to tight connections with Section A both tend to use the same field bases and often cooperate with each other. In comparison to other TSAB Sections members of Section B are the most independent from the authorities, which makes it quite popular among the cadets.
- Section C:
Covert Action and Preventive Interference Section
Unofficial: "Covert operations", "COps".
Section C performs specialized operations which TSAB doesn't want to make public knowledge. The tasks vary greatly and don't always go well along with TSAB laws. In extreme cases they may involve assassinations, sabotage, thievery etc.
Section C has a limited number of members, but they're all experienced and trusted mages, usually of a considerably high magical rank or possessing some kind of valuable abilities. Entire Section is divided into 5-men groups, fully capable of acting independently on the enemy territory. Each group possesses an interdimensional attack frigate carrying several aero-space fighters and shuttles.
“Lightning”-class attack frigate.
“Zero”-class heavy aero-space fighter.
“Avatar”-class combat interdimensional shuttle.
Section C also has two interdimensional battleships acting as mobile headquarters when needed and a whole network of hidden supply facilities in the majority of important worlds.
“Warmonger”-class interdimensional battleship “Kearsarge”.
“Olympus”-class interdimensional battleship “Pandora”.
Unlike the much respected Special Forces of regular TSAB military Section C is hated and feared for the ruthless tactics used by its members and their apparent lack of honor.
More recently another three Sections were added:
- Special Section D:
Special Phenomena Investigation Section
Unofficial: “Section X”.
Special Section D is currently under command of Head Investigator Serge Blanc Romardo. It was earlier a branch of Section B but the authorities made a decision to turn it into an independent Section. Its purpose is thorough investigation of the cases involving Lost Logia and other ancient artifacts or similar phenomena unrelated to the existing and well-known civilizations.
Section D includes Serge's own unit "Vanguard" as well as multiple other groups of mages, generally consisting of 3 or 4 persons. Except Serge's battlecruiser “Niddhogg” all groups are provided with a cloaking frigate and several interdimensional shuttles.
“Stiletto”-class advanced cloaking frigate.
“Ascender”-class cloaking interdimensional shuttle.
The Section is rumored to be closely related with the S'Zet family, having free access to their financial and material resources. It’s also notable that Special Section D is the one most actively using its position in the Intelligence Department to cover various kinds of forbidden research and other cases of intentional violation of TSAB laws.
- Special Section E:
Internal Investigation Section
Unofficial: none wide-spread.
Most of the information about Special Section E is confidential, even every its member is hand-picked by the Intelligence Department Director himself. Section E is supposed to watch over internal affairs in TSAB and among their allies, preventing coup d’etat or neutralizing hostile undercover agents. The rumors say that its actual purpose is spying over the persons with a certain degree of influence inside TSAB, including the Intelligence Department, and moreover – putting a certain degree of pressure on them when necessary.
- Science and Technology Section:
Unofficial: “R&D”.
Though TSAB has a separate Department serving the same purpose, the Intelligence Department created their own “R&D” Section to conduct more specialized research towards their needs. The Section is currently almost entirely owned by S'Zet family. Due to its isolation from the rest of TSAB it’s rumored to serve the purpose of conducting forbidden research on the subjects retrieved by the Intelligence Department but never revealed to the higher authorities. Considering the influence of S’Zet, repeatedly accused in performing similar deeds, and not unfounded frankly speaking, the rumors could actually be true.
The Intelligence Department is administrated by the Council consisting of the Heads of every Section and the Department's Director. The current Director has two assistants doing most of the work instead of him and is rarely seen involved with the Sections' business. It's rumored that he's going to resign from his position in the nearest future. It’s probably true as he’s almost 70 years old already, but it’s hard to say anything for sure regarding SS-ranked mage specializing in illusions and mind tricks who’s been leading the most deceitful Department for more than 50 years.