One of the lesser-known divisions of Foxx Industries is the Intelligence Services Section (ISS). The ISS has been present in one form or another within the corporation since the Twilight War of the late twentieth century. Originally concerned with industrial espionage, its scope of operations has expanded considerably since its early beginnings. Its greatest change came with the inception of Independent Military Services (IMS), and its subsequent attachment to the Armaments/Defense Division in 2204. In 2225, when IMS became a separate corporate entity, it retained control of the ISS, further expanding its role.
As of 2300, the ISS operates under IMS authority, but has a much broader, behind-the-scenes role in Foxx Industries than the more visible IMS Division. It provides necessary support for IMS and personnel for situations where a 'low-key' presence is preferred. All personnel are screened extensively prior to being hired and undergo periodic screening to ensure loyalty and non-compromise of their motives.
The ISS is currently headed by Rebecca Foxx, who took over the post in 2290 following ten years service in the intelligence services of the Royal Australian Military. ISS has several sections, each dealing with a particular branch of intelligence: military support, personnel, protective services, counter intelligence, and industrial espionage.
The Military Support Section is charged with the accumulation, analysis, and prediction of military intelligence directly linked to current IMS deployments. This section has the largest area of responsibility, as it must consider the entire corporate sphere of operation for developments that may require IMS involvement or affect IMS and other corporate assets.
It contains an extensive analysis group and correlates and compiles data from the other sections, issuing Threat and Military Intervention Assessments weekly. It also contains a large think tank of personnel working solely on the Kafer threat in the French Arm. Assessments are issued from the Core and each of the three Arms, representing the four sub-areas of operation.
Almost every IMS unit has at least one member of the section attached to it, resulting in an impressive intelligence net. In addition, IMS reconnaissance units report directly to this section, in the form of the local Military Support Section leader, providing immediate battlefield analysis.
The Personnel Section controls and monitors the personnel of the ISS as well as outside 'free-lancers' who are employed periodically. This section is the administrative branch of the ISS and is based in the Core with field offices in each of the three Arms at the corporate branch offices.
The Protective Services Unit provides bodyguards and protective details for corporate VIPs. These individuals are highly trained and extremely loyal to their charges. They are generally plain clothed, wearing tailored body armor suits and carrying concealed weapons. Cybernetic implants may also be present.
When necessary, this unit may call on additional troops from the Counter Intelligence Section or IMS units. A high level of 'espirit de corps' exists within this unit and those within the unit consider themselves to have the most dangerous jobs in the ISS. They can be found wherever Foxx Industries VIPs and their families are stationed or travel.
The Counter Intelligence Section is the most diversified sub-unit of the ISS, and its duties are simple: protect the corporation from other intelligence forces. Some refer to it as IMS without uniforms, but its scope goes much beyond that. Every spy / agent knows that the penalties for being caught with their hand in the Foxx Industries cookie jar are severe… and the Counter Intelligence Section holds the lid. They work against many threats, thwarting attempts to gather intelligence on the corporation.
Methods used to accomplish this range from dis-information, sting operations, to black bag strikes against operatives of other mega-corporations. A sizeable force of strike operatives is employed to accomplish these tasks although less violent methods such as public relations and cyberjockeys are also used extenisvely. The strike operatives are also on stand-by as required for the Protective Services Unit.
The Counter Intelligence Section correlates data acquired with the Personnel, Industrial Espionage, and Military Support Sections to monitor potential threats.
The Industrial Espionage Section is relatively small, having begun as a sub-section of the Counter Intelligence Section. It is charged not with conducting industrial espionage of its own, but with the retrieval of corporate information that has eluded the efforts of the Counter Intelligence Section to prevent it from being acquired by rivals. Due to the nature of its work, its members are relatively unknown, even to each other; all operatives know they may be killed if caught.
The second responsibility of this section is to discover any potential threats/plots against the corporation and expose them if possible. Many of the agents tasked with this responsibility move onto the Counter Intelligence Section once their cover is blown or they are otherwise compromised.
The Intelligence Services Section has composed a pictoral listing of standard military unit symbols. All reports and documents issued by ISS will reference these symbols.
Here is the same file for downloading in windows BMP format (31K). Unit Symbols
Orbital Quarantine Command, OQC, was established in 2176, following a plague scare on the Felicity in 2175. In 2218, the separate civilian and military orbital traffic control operations merged with OQC, and operate under its auspices.
The OQC's mandate is to protect the ecology of Earth. Its mission is to coordinate the quarantine and inspection of all of the Earth-bound spacecraft for potentially hazardous organisms and prevent the introduction of same into Earth's biosphere.
As an example of the extents to which OQC has gone to uphold its mandate, an incident that occurred in 02 Jul 2259 should be considered. At that time, OQC released a report of a deadly alien bacillus that had been detected in a drug shipment from a LEO in a dead glider. Public outcry and the subsequent investigation led to the arrest, trial, and deportation of six leaders of a drug consortium from the L-5 colony. The report was later revealed as an OQC hoax.
Orbital Quarantine Command has jurisdiction over all Earth orbits and all cargo and passengers bound for Earth, however, it does not inspect persons and cargo originating from Earth. To this effect, its charter gives it free run throughout the L-5 colony, and its personnel on L-5 colony answer only to their superiors on Gateway and/or the OQC courts. Crimes as defined under the OQC charter are tried in their own courts, and may be followed by further trials by individual nations.
OQC maintains a multi-layered defensive cordon around Earth, and inspection stations have been established in the geosyncronous orbit through which all incoming vessels must pass. OQC also acts as traffic control for the Sol system, and private vessels and/or filed flight plans are required to contact OQC immediately upon arrival in the Sol system, to be advised of restricted space areas and approved flight vectors.
Orbital Quarantine Command threat response is stated as:
At no time should any vessel violate OQC distance-speed specifications. Warnings may not be issued. Use of deadly force is authorized.
Failure to comply results in the neutralization of that spacecraft as a biological threat. No vessels have penetrated the OQC final defense stage.
Threat response is comprised of stutterwarp warships drawn from the navies of the various starfaring nations. These ships are positioned in orbit around Terra in such a way as to detect every incoming vessel.
The Orbital Quarantine Command is comprised of delegations from each starfaring nations and have their central offices located at Gateway. As well as these delegations, a supplemental advisory board is also present, made up of the non-starfaring nations who wish to participate. Most of the nations on this board have solar system travel capabilities but no starships. The OQC directors are elected yearly by the starfaring nations' delegations from nominees submitted by both the delegations and the advisory board. The advisory board does not have the power to vote in those elections.
Aside from the Gateway presence, OQC has a medium-sized office on L-5 colony with 30 inspectors, although this office is expected to increase with a planned expansion of L-5 colony within the next 20 years. This will be necessary, as OQC will have to expand its ability to police the L-5 colony's increased trans-Earth traffic.
OQC facilities outside of Gateway and L-5 colony consist of inspection stations, which have been established in geosyncronous orbits through which all incoming vessels must pass. These stations are either satellites or stutterwarp capable warships drawn from the navies of the v arious starfaring nations. These ships and stations are positioned in orbit around Terra in such a way as to detect every incoming vessel. Ship rotations occur every six months. All ships operating under OQC are independently operating units of the starfaring nations' navies, and represent and answer only to OQC.
Orbital Quarantine Command quarantine procedures are the most extensive in human space, in both coverage and time duration. Passengers require a minimal passport requirement of class III, and cargo requires extensive paperwork, including permits and other types of authorization.
Passengers bound for Earth require approximately one week for processing. OQC personnel sterilization processes begin with light radiation treatments, followed by chemical purging (aimed at stopping a wide range of diseases), antibody injection, radiation treatments, and more chemical treatments.
OQC personnel searches include "pat-downs"; metal detectors; x-ray scans; chromatic scans for diseases and illegal chemicals; neutrino scans for plastics and non-metallic alloys; magnetic resonance scans for decaying radioactives in blood streams, equipment hidden in bones (especially cybernetic and bionic enhancements, and subdermal equipment; and psychological tests.
OQC does not permit anyone to bring firearms or other weapons on their person onto Earth, without explicit authorization, permits, and much paper work. All food brought into Earth orbit is confiscated and destroyed. Electronic and microelectronic gear must be registered and tested in front of OQC inspectors. Failure to comply results in immediate confiscation of all baggage and immediate arrest of the owner.
Animals brought to Earth must undergo extensive sterilization and quarantine procedures, and OQC requires advance notice of the arrival of such animals. Processing, sterilization, and paperwork take several weeks to a few months.
Organic cargoes require gentle treatment and are quarantined and observed for several days. Non-organic cargoes are typically treated to destroy any latent organisms, then cleared within a matter of hours.
