Bretonian Intelligence Service (player group)

This is an unofficial player group. For the affiliated NPC faction, see Bretonian Intelligence Service.

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Bretonian Intelligence Service
Origin	Bretonia
Alignment	Lawful
Profile
Date of founding	10AS A.S.
Founder(s)	Unknown
Current leader(s)	Lord Admiral John Fairfax
Base of operations	unknown
Identification
IFF	Bretonian Armed Forces
Tag(s)	BIS|
Table of contents

Overview

For eight centuries, the Bretonian Intelligence Service has been the eyes and ears of Bretonia. A tradition brought with the colonists from Sol, where it had been known as the British Secret Intelligence Service. Their reputation for superb information gathering and skilled agents was continued on by the agency in Sirius.

They were not infallible however. The Service had been unable to discover or prevent the Nomad war, and had only learned of the Nomad’s existence near the end of the war, just before The Order’s raid on Alaska. This event had shaken the government’s faith in their intelligence agency.

After the disastrous failure by Bretonian Intelligence to discover the size and composition of Kusari’s forces in Tau-31, and the subsequent loss of Glasgow and Stokes due to the failure of the Kusari Agent, Tadao Saga, the Bretonian Intelligence Service was put under the control of Sir Dominic Windram Norrington. Following the staggering loss of agents and information in MI6, a service-wide restructure was started.

Military Intelligence, Section 5, commonly known as MI5, was the first division to suffer. This entire division of the service was rebuilt from ground-up. Many of the old agents were given their retirement and replaced by new, younger agents. Then MI5 was split into several subdivisions that covered six operational areas, to streamline efficiency.

Military Intelligence, Section 6 was the next. All of the high-level, 00, agents that still remained at the time were recalled and given positions in MI5, or given their retirement, and infiltration of new agents was begun.

Director Norrington then supplemented these forces with an entirely new division. The kind of which hadn’t been used since the Alliance-Coalition war. Section D, originally created before World War II in Sol, was responsible for the execution of operations that involved sabotage, assassination, and para-military strikes. Using information gained from MI5 and MI6 agents, Section D would be used to strategically strike targets revealed by the other divisions. The revived Section D was designated The Black Guard.

Director Norrington resigned shortly after the restructuring the agency, due to health concerns, and was replaced by the controversial Director Regis Lawson and the renamed Intelligence Agency of Bretonia, the IAB. Lawson’s administration had good early successes, but repeated diplomatic scandals resulted in the Director’s resignation.

After the repeated upheaval and leadership changes in the Service, the Bretonian War Cabinet decided to place the agency under more direct control of the Armed Forces and the Cabinet, removing the Director’s seat on the Cabinet, and making it subservient both to the Cabinet’s authority and the Armed Force’s Admiralty Board. The War Cabinet then appointed Lord Admiral John Fairfax, the commander of the 2nd Great Fleet, as the Agency’s new Director, solidifying the Armed Force’s control over the intelligence service.

Now with an even greater threat on the table than even Kusari could pose, the Bretonian Intelligence Service was overworked and undermanned. The decision to bring in another member of the Admiralty to serve as Assistant Director was taken, the job in hand went to Commodore Bentley Ashers. Ashers would work directly under Lord Admiral Fairfax as a go between handling operations and Agent numbers along with various other tasks.

Ashers’ first act as Assistant Director was to bring in Department Heads to lighten the work loads on himself and the Lord Admiral. “M” was made head of MI6 and Colonel Amanda Churchill was made head of the Black Guard, a choice that would pay off greatly to deter the might of Gallia, leaving Ashers time to plan operations into its heart.

Ashers’ second act was his most controversial, he wanted to again separate the Admiralty and the Intelligence Service and make its own separate entity. His reasons for doing this were valid points, Gallic Agents had been found within the ranks of the Armed Forces since they had been discovered, no one knew how far they went but something had to be done about this risk. If the Admiralty was compromised then so too would the Intelligence Service. This could not happen, if it did, Bretonia may as well give up the will to fight and let the Gallics pour in. So the Cabinet made the reluctant decision to allow Ashers to part ways from the Admiralty. This allowed more freedom in operations and the possibility to work alongside the Privateers and other organisations with the same goal as the Intelligence Service.

Military Intelligence, Section 5

Since the days of the first World War before the destruction of the solar system in the earth year 1914, MI5 has safeguarded Britain from threats to its survival. With duties ranging from gathering intelligence, to counter-terrorism. These days MI5 is doing much of the same, they patrol Bretonia and keep it safe from foreign threats within the borders. However, as of late and the restructuring of MI6, they have ventured out to become a more visible reconnaissance wing. This maybe seen as a bad idea for a visible reconnaissance wing, however, in the times of war deception and falsifying information is the game. The target would proceed to defend against the visible force whilst the much more stealthier MI6, infiltrates whilst they are distracted. It is an old tactic but it still works. MI5 also now specialise in preventing foreign excursions to Bretonian space by organisations such as the Order.

• National Security (NS) - This division of MI5 handles all possible threats to Bretonia, whether they be foreign or domestic.
• Counter-intelligence (CI) - This division of MI5 handles the discovery, monitoring, and elimination of foreign intelligence assets within Bretonia, its companies, or its military.
• Counter-terrorism (CT) - This division of MI5 handles the containment, investigation, and elimination of terrorist groups targeting Bretonia or its assets.
• Foreign-based Assets (FA) - This division of MI5 handles the security of all Bretonian assets outside of Bretonia-proper, including embassies and nationalized corporate assets.
• Corporate Security and Intelligence (CSI) - This division of MI5 handles the investigation and monitoring of corporations, foreign and domestic.
• Nomad Operations (NO) - This division of MI5 handles the security, intelligence, and research of Nomad threats, artifacts, structures, and information.

Military Intelligence, Section 6

While MI6 was created alongside MI5 near the start of The Great War, it was the Cold War that marked the golden age for the Secret Intelligence Service. Since then, MI6 has kept its reputation as a premier infiltration agency. MI6 specializes in the gathering of information on foreign powers.

• Sirius Core

Liberty, Kusari, Rheinland

• South Sirius

Omegas, Southern Omicrons, Corsairs

• North Sirius

Taus, Northern Omicrons, Outcasts

• East Sirius

Sigmas, Eastern Omicrons

• Gallia

Core, Border

Military Intelligence - Section D: The Black Guard

MI5 and MI6 focused on the gathering and interpretation of intelligence. This information was then passed on to the Armed Forces, Police Authority, or Special Branch to be used. With the reshuffling of intelligence assets and dissolution of Special Branch, The Intelligence Service found a need for a force to exploit weaknesses found by the other divisions. The Black Guard was created to be that force. They strike hard and fast at the heart of the enemy weakness, their main aim is to cause as much disruption as possible.

HMS Craven’s Nest

• Black Guard Mobile Base

The Craven’s Nest was built on request of former Director Norrington to house the new, mobile, Headquarters. By separating the Agency’s main intelligence database, and the personnel with the ability to acquire important information, from Planet New London, it made it increasingly difficult for foreign spies to send any classified information to their controllers.

The Nest was also created to be used as carriers had on Earth; To transport Special Forces units to and from operation zones and serve as a staging and support base. The Black Guard would be that Special Forces unit, and would base all of its strike craft from the Craven’s Nest.

With Director Norrington’s retirement and Director Lawson taking over, the Agency’s plans were scrapped, and the Craven’s Nest was reassigned to the York Great Fleet as a standard Dunkirk for the Armed Forces, crewed and commanded by Intelligence-trained personnel.

When the Armed Forces took direct control over the Intelligence Service, the Black Guard was reborn using Armed Forces pilots. The Craven’s Nest was, again, reassigned, this time to a joint command structure shared by the Intelligence Service and Armed Forces. The Craven’s Nest, during the prior administration, had had many intelligence data transferred to its databanks, and its construction had deviated from the normal Dunkirk designs, to better accomplish its intended purpose. The ship’s cargo and hull plating had been reduced in order to allow a larger hanger bay.

Now with Gallia pushing in on the borders of Bretonia and the Intelligence Service once again separated from the Armed Forces, the Nest has once again been reassigned. Not the ship, but the name. It has been moved to a more Intelligence Friendly vessel. A "Conqueror" class Destroyer which has been outfitted to carry the Black Guard vessels in specialised harnesses mounted on the outside of the ship. As it is much smaller than the original it will be much harder for the enemy to detect whilst entering hostile space. Because of this the Intelligence Service has seen fit to mount the highest type of electronic countermeasures available to themselves aboard. These will defend the vessel from attempts to break into its mainframe and take control of the ship. It is also mounted with one of the highest classes of scanners available, so to detect possible threats from a greater distance than normal vessels.

The databanks from the original have also been moved to the headquarters of the GCHQ where they are under constant monitoring to protect them from hostile Agents. The decision was taken after it was voted that having them aboard a combat ready vessel was to much of a risk, not only if it was destroyed but in case the vessel itself was captured. It would be too much of a loss. The original is currently going under a refit to install new, thicker armour under a different name. It is still associated with the York Great Fleet.

Home Activities

• Leeds Operations

The Black Guard’s main goal is to damage Gallia’s ability to make war. In the case of emergencies, Black Guard vessels present in Leeds are used in cooperation with the Armed Forces to combat any Gallic offensives in the system. During Armed Forces offensives, Black Guard units are to be used indirectly to aid the Armed Forces. This means cutting off retreat paths for the enemy ships, delaying or destroying reinforcements or support units, or using the opportunity to launch an attack behind enemy lines.

The Black Guard also works to prevent any pirate or terrorist activities within Leeds, and stop any attempted interference with Armed Forces activities, usually in cooperation with agents from the MI5 branch.

• Bretonia Core Operations

Within the systems of New London, Manchester, and Cambridge, the Black Guard is to be used primarily as support to Police Authority units.

• Bretonia Border Operations

Within the systems of Dublin, Omega-3, Cortez, and Magellan, the Black Guard is to be used in protection of Bretonian military and corporate interests, and not as regular security units. The only exception to this is in the event that MI5 operations in the two systems require greater force to be successfully completed.

• Tau Operations

The Taus are the Black Guard’s main area of activity. Primary focus on this region is protection of Bretonian interests and disruption of Gallic military efforts, reinforcements, and supply lines. The Black Guard’s duties here also include interdiction of all cargo deliveries made by Gallic corporate transports, or being delivered to Gallic-controlled stations.

• Gallic Operations

Gallic operational protocols are similar to those of the Taus. However, commerce interdiction in Gallic is handled by the Privateers. The only supplies that should be interdicted within Gallia are those of Military Vehicles, Oil and H-fuel. Black Guard ships within Gallia focus on weakening Gallic military units tasked with defending the homeland, or heading into the Taus, as well as assisting the local pirate and revolutionary groups in order to erode the government’s control further.

• Protocol For Gallic Operations

Intrusions into the Gallic Core require the approval of a Major, the Colonel, the Directors, or an Admiral of the Armed Forces. All operations inside Gallic space must be led by at least a Captain.

Government Communications Headquarters

The GCHQ is the backbone of the Intelligence Service. Whilst MI5 and MI6 collect information from various sources, they lack the appropriate staff and equipment to be able to read the data they collect. This is where the GCHQ comes in, all information collected by the various departments gets sent to the headquarters on New London for analysis and de-coding. It gets entered into a state of the art and highly Top Secret decyphering machine codenamed "LEVIATHAN". Once decoded, which may take a few hours to a few days, the decoded data is then passed onto the various department within the GCHQ. Once the information has properly been sorted, it is then categorised into three categories: Green - No Threat, Keep Monitoring, White - Possible Threat, Alert Relevant Agents and finally Red - Immediate Threat, Stop at All Costs. Red level threats are always passed onto all departments of the Intelligence Service, MI5, MI6 and the Black Guard. These departments will then do everything they can to stop the threat. If they are successful, it will then be moved down to a White Level threat, in which case, the standby order is still issued and communications monitored. A Green Level is always kept within the GCHQ its self, as there is no possible danger at the present time, if anything suspicious were to happen within that time it would be moved up to a White Level.

The GCHQ now also controls the Intelligence Service's databanks. The exact whereabouts of them is a mystery to all but the higher echelons of the Service as the information they hold could fuel wars which would last many years. All processed information is stored onto these where it will then be sorted via remote access to only the upper most levels of them. Only two backups of this system exists, one aboard the Menwith Hill and one in a highly classified location within Bretonia. The GCHQ also has plans to build a new headquarters that better grasps their needs, the databanks would then be moved to this location where an even heavier guard would be assembled. It would mainly be made up of Black Guard Marines and MI5 Agents.

This is not the only responsibility for the GCHQ, we are also tasked with monitoring communications, let it be by electronic means or radio waves, throughout Bretonian space. The GCHQ is on the front line of the Hackers campaign in our space. We are constantly finding new and ingenious ways to keep them out of our vital systems. Sometime soon we will have succeeded in blocking them completely and trade will once again be free without the risk of Hacker interception.

We also take responsibility of securing corporate data from hostile attacks, from competing firms. If such an attack is found and traced, it will be passed onto the Police Authority as it is a civilian matter.

Our Sites

Currently we have four sites within Bretonian space including our main GCHQ building on New London. We also have listening stations situated in Cambridge and Leeds, the locations of these are classified. Our last 'site' is our mobile Headquarters, the HMS Craven's Nest. As it has been assigned to the 2nd Great Fleet, the GCHQ building on New London has taken over many of its roles. However it still holds the primary databanks for the Intelligence Service.

GCHQ in the Public Eye

As of late, the GCHQ has relatively been forgotten about by the public, we maintain a high media shield to stop any unwanted stories breaking out onto the news about what we do and where we are situated. It may appear that we are trying to stop the public knowing what we are doing on our sites across Bretonia, this would only be part of the truth. The reason why we keep such a high security presence is not only because we work with Top Secret information but also to keep our staff safe, our staff are nearly as important to us as the information we handle. They are one of our top priorities.

Diplomacy

Faction Relationship Bowex Allied Planetform Allied Bretonia Mining and Minerals Allied Bretonian Corporations Allied Bretonian Police Authority Allied Mandalorian Mercenaries Allied Queen Carina's Privateers Allied Bretonian Armed Forces Allied GC Friendly The Ronin Friendly The Council Friendly Blood Dragons Friendly Bounty Hunters' Guild Friendly Liberty Police Inc. Friendly Liberty Navy Friendly Liberty Security Force Friendly Liberty Corporations Friendly Gateway Friendly Artisan Farmers Alliance Neutral

Faction Relationship Kusari State Police Neutral Kusari Naval Forces Neutral Kusari State Police Neutral Kusari Corporations Neutral Zoners Neutral Mollys Neutral Outcasts Neutral Zoners Neutral Rheinland Military Neutral Everyone Else Neutral Independent Miners Guild Unfriendly Mollies Unfriendly Red Hessians Unfriendly Gaians Unfriendly Lane Hackers At War Xeno Alliance At War Corsairs At War Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army At War Gallic Royal Navy At War