Intelligence Division Meeting
I. Introduction to Intelligence and Updates
I. Introduction to Intelligence and Updates
They were all gathering, whether they liked it to or not. Zinkenite knew instinctively and by the nature of his power who was there and who was not there, who he would have to grab out of their warm beds or wherever they were in that moment...and who didn't belong there at all. Ilmenite had transferred out of his division, his plaid presence missing. Benitoite was there despite his ascribed shame over what had been done to Bazzite, now a missing member of their company. Azurite was hovering not far from his chair, ever the faithful guardian senshi that he absolutely didn't need.
That was part of the problem with the Negaverse. You could summon officers at a whim. Unsummoning them was a trickier thing altogether.
Overall they were a fairly quiet bunch, which made it easy for their branch leader to begin.
“Greetings.” The man turned to greet you all with a nod, the voice surprisingly coming from him. It wasn't what you would have expected as but for his aura of power he was unremarkable, slight of stature, slight of build. Most notable perhaps were the pale blue eyes: like ice and hard to read.
"You are all, obviously, officers of the Dark Kingdom; we seek to convert, or remove the senshi from this city, the last strong hold on this planet. We gather energy to help us complete that goal.
"You are also all here because you are part of the Information Division, I am, as you should know…General-King Zinkenite. As part of this division, you have certain responsibilities that will be your primary focus, which I will go into detail about as I continue. But before I tell you the details of your duties within this, particular division..." He paused, those cool eyes skimming the faces around him all to see who was paying attention, who was flippantly ignoring him, and who was going to need to be given extra patrols for it. "You need to be aware that the woman formerly known as Queen Beryl is dead." The pause for effect here was deliberate, allowing the murmurs to settle before again continuing.
"You no longer need to attempt to report to her, or to fear her. You will report to the General Kings, and Queens as the highest ranking officers in the Dark Kingdom, and ultimately to our true ruler, who we will represent to the best of our abilities. " Like some sort of CCTV camera or scanner, eyes continued to pass across each face, looking for reactions or confusion before moving on.
“You will gather information about what you see from the side of ‘Order’, what they do, where they do it, convergences, alliances, even if something seems trivial, it can be a clue to something larger. Information is power, the more that we have the better prepared we are. Secondly, and this may surprise a few of you," More than a few, was his mental addendum, "is that we encourage you to speak with the White Moon people.” His pose shifted, allowing time for reactions to this revelation; no doubt some of the newer officers knew only the basic command to fight those of the White Moon.
“You can do this in a great variety of ways: confrontation, coercion, a combination thereof. I encourage diversity in your methods, you could, if you needed to follow my own, but I think that that would limit us, ultimately in the information we can gather.
Information that you gather will then be filed, and good God yes, we have paperwork." What was it with lieutenants and their aversion to paperwork?! It seemed he was always wasting resources to have captains hunt down their unruly lieutenants, getting them to simply follow basic procedure. "These papers are important, not just to us…but to everyone we work with. If an officer in another branch meets a senshi or knight in passing, or plans to search for one, then they need to be able to find as much information as they can as quickly as possible. Powers, range of attack, things that aggravate them.”
Giving himself time to catch his breath, realizing that eyes were perhaps beginning to glaze and giving them time to catch up as well, Zink rested a booted foot on his knee where he sat. "Things you may not enjoy about this division, but that are vitally important, you must at all times keep your eyes on our own officers, as well as on our allies, the Dark Moon. We must know who is deficient in what area, and on rare occasions, who positions themselves to be a threat to our goals. Our work is stressful, and don’t think for a moment that the side of Order won't try and woo you, as much as we try and woo them. The obvious problem is that they have a greater history of killing us than offering us their so-called salvation. Keep that in mind. If you think someone is a risk, bring it directly to me." This was perhaps the most that anyone had ever heard Zinkenite speak. Ever. The normally stoic General-King was doing his level best to be the resource for his people that they needed.
Also, God forbid, he couldn't afford to have them compromising his data! "Other information you can take to superior officers, they will help record it, cross-reference notes and so on. I also want all of you to search for potential recruits. The more places in society we can reach, the better, but I don’t want to sacrifice the quality of our officers to achieve that goal. Choose carefully, research well. I’m not opposed hearing you recommend friends but I think you’d like to hear a list of why you think they’d be good officers, regardless of the division you think would appeal to them most.
Remember, the information you gather goes to every other division, it helps people in Infiltration to feed information to the civilians, it lets them direct their methods so that we don’t waste their time and resources.
It helps Special Operations know what they are up against. True they are our best fighters, very good at what they do, but if we can prevent even one bruise on our officers then we are bound by honor and duty to give them that edge in victory." He was ramping up now, the light of his dedication and fervor to the cause of the Negaverse giving a warmth to eyes that otherwise normally seemed too frozen to be companionable. It gave him life and verve, something that would perhaps surprise those he was speaking to.
"In short: make connections. Make them everywhere. The more people you know, the better you will be able to do in your role as an Information officer. It will also, in case you decide that this branch is NOT for you, help teach you about the other branches, and people who work in them. Know yourself, know your goals, carve yourself a place in our ranks, and make it special to you. Find your ideas, find how they fit with us, talk to your superiors and your peers and find your place among them." Finishing with this crescendo, he let it linger in the air before bowing his head a moment in repose. When he looked up again, those eyes which had not yet lost their fervent light, again skimming faces and waiting for reactions.
This information, after all, was just as important as the rest.
Picking up a piece of paper with a bit of his personal handwriting on it he nodded as if remembering something pertinent. "You should all take note that we will also be returning to energy collection from the civilian population of Destiny City. It seems that the Surrounding is unable to meet the needs of the organization and we must supplement." Why it was no longer viable was not explained, did not need to be. It simply was fact.
After the somewhat passionate speech of before this was a bit reminiscent of a school-wide announcement. “Those of you who have not yet collected energy from civilians on their own should report to your superiors for training and details on personal quotas. Since you will also need to collect detailed information on the senshi, please make sure that you learn how to create and utilize energy collecting items so that you can multitask." Eyes lifted from the paper, setting it aside carelessly. "I hope you all understand that this should not interfere with your primary duties."
