The Sphere of Research and Intelligence (SRI) is a joint task force between the remains of the former Taldryan Intelligence Directorate and the members of House Ektrosis.
History
Founding of the SRI
After the destruction of Karufr and the rest of Clan Taldryan's holdings, their surviving forces spent much of the following year on the run from the forces of the Iron Throne. A respite from the almost ceaseless chase only came when The Collective announced themselves with a surprise attack on the entire Dark Jedi Brotherhood. The combined Clans of the Brotherhood beat back the initial advance but Taldryan was weary from a very trying period of its history. As a year of endless armed conflict finally came to an end, the Force Users within Taldryan made a play to replace the military officer that was currently serving as Consul, a Chiss named Rhylance, with one of their own. The new Consul was Rian Taldrya who had most recently served as the Quaestor of House Ektrosis.
As one of his first commands upon ascending to the head of Taldryan Rian reached out to his former Aedile, Justinios Drake, with a proposition. Rian wished to make Justiniois the new Questor of Ektrosis but the former professor had little interest in giving up the time he felt could be better used to further his research on additional leadership responsibilities. The Taldryan Consul had a proposal that he knew would get the Aleena's attention, the chance to develop an organization that would merge advanced research into both the physical and metaphysical aspects of the galaxy with covert operations. WIth the Clan forces depleted and stretched thin there was a dire need to create strategic and tactical advantages wherever was possible but with little resources to give to the new organization, it would need to be self-sufficient.
Thinking back to what his teams back at the University were able to accomplish, Justinios agreed to step into the role of Ektrosis' Quaestor and immediately began to work with the remnants of the Taldryan Intelligence Directorate and the highly skilled members of House Ektrosis to lay the foundation for this new organization. This new outfit was named the Sphere of Research and Intelligence to reflect very literally the two functions it was merging into one operation. Knowing that the position of Ektrosis' Quaestor would have significant oversight over the SRI, but also other responsibilities to House Ektrosis, Justinios determined that it would need its own leader. The Supreme Director of the SRI would be empowered to act independently from House Ektrosis leadership while being required to submit regular reports to the sitting Quaestor. Due to the dual purpose of the SRI this Supreme Director would need to have a unique set of skills, the ability to not only direct an intelligence operation but also a team of advanced scientific researchers. With the main forces of Taldryan setting its sights on the Caelus System Justinios turned his focus to the former Imperial outpost on Chyron in the hopes that the Empire left behind more than just infrastructure.
It wasn't long until SRI intelligence assets identified the perfect candidate, Kagu Shi. De-classified documents deep within old archives indicated that as a younger man, Shi had worked at an Imperial facility researching Clouzon-36 gas. The details of this research remained classified but as field operatives sought Shi out on the city-planet they were surprised to find out that he had since turned to running what seemed to be a very successful, albeit small time, criminal enterprise. The former researcher had turned his scientific talents to "alternative pharmaceuticals" and SRI operatives reported that Shi's organization, despite its seemingly small size, not only had the infrastructure to distribute and protect its products but also seemed to be developing new versions of common street drugs on a regular basis. Justinios believed he had found his Supreme Director but needed to somehow coax him away from his likely very lucrative criminal operation. As Taldryan began their campaign to make a home within the Caelus system, an opportunity to recruit Kagu Shi presented itself.
Dealing With Early Failure
The mission to recruit Kagu Shi was a failure, ending in his death at the hands of Kookimarissia Mimosa-Inahj. With Kagu Shi dead, Justinios Drake's entire early plan was thrown out the window. With the surviving parts of Shi’s organization in disarray, the search for a Supreme Director was put on hold to allow for all of the resources of the SRI to be focused on acquiring as much of the relevant possessions that once belonged to quickly disintegrating criminal empire. The SRI was not the only group looking to take advantage of the opportunity. Other criminal enterprises were also looking to scoop up the remains of Shi’s syndicate. As the SRI raced to acquire the means to finally begin working on its research mission, the organization reached out to the main body of Clan Taldryan for assistance.
Andrelious J. Mimosa-Inahj was one of many of the members of House Ektrosis deployed across the Caelus system to recover personnel and assets from the fallen criminal empire. The facility he and his troops infiltrated clearly had no interest in joining the SRI and put up a furious resistance but ultimately it fell to the power of a veteran Sith. Most of the assets within the facility were destroyed or killed but Andrelious was able to return with a handful of datachips containing a very random assortment of data. The intelligence analysts within the SRI worked tirelessly to find anything of use within the data and finally, an interesting name surfaced Torin Morgath.
Morgath had been a leading cybernetics expert before the Battle of Nancora but the recovered files indicated that she had been working for Shi's organization for the months after the Clans assault on the Collective homeworld. Using backchannels and intermediaries, SRI field agents were able to get messages to Morgath at the behest of Justinios Drake and she agreed to join the SRI as Supreme Director to escape the criminal underworld. Once again, Andrelious was called upon to recover the person that Drake hoped would relieve him of the duties of Supreme Director. Andrelious was concerned that the operation would not be as uneventful as Drake has presented it. He was proven right when he and his troops found themselves victims of Torin Morathg's double cross. The Human Sith was able to recover the Collective scientist without killing her but her Collective allies were able to inflict casualties on the Ektrosis forces.
After Morgath was delivered to Justinios aboard the SRI's temporary headquarters on the Paragon she was turned over to the Aleena. The cybernetics expert was taken to be the first resident of the SRI's new permanent headquarters on Iosan. It was there that Justinios had decided to officially introduce himself to his new captive. Even with the revelation that Morgath had used his job offer as a means to ambush Brotherhood forces, Justinios had not given up on convincing the other scientist that it was in her best interest to accept. During the conversation between the two researchers, Morgath revealed that she had a hidden tracker in her body that her Collective allies would use to find and root out the SRI's base of operation. However, Justinios countered that they had found the device and assumed it was a tracker even if they couldn't deceipher the complex encryption. The blue-skinned alien stated that he intended to now set a trap of his own in the hopes that the wanton slaughter of the attacking forcers would convince her that the stated mission of the Collective was folly and that she should instead look to join the Brotherhood, instead of participating in the fruitless attempt to destroy it.
Organization
Supreme Director
The Ektrosis Questor, and be extension Aedile, technically sit atop the SRI chain of command but House leadership plays a guidance and oversight role only. The Supreme Director of the SRI is the day-to-day leader of the organization and is responsible for both the Intelligence and Research divisions. The Supreme Director has final say on the allocation of all resources, the focus of the unit's scientific research and has final authorization for any and all intelligence mission parameters. While operating under the auspices of the SRI members of House Ektrosis are to defer all command decision to the Director.
The position of Supreme Director is being filled by Justinios Drake on an interim basis.
Intelligence Division
The Intelligence Division is structured almost identical to the organization that spawned it, the Taldryan Intelligence Directorate. There are no inherent ranks within the SRI's Intelligence division and instead hierarchy is determined by your title within the sub-unit. Since many of the assets in the early forms of the SRI came directly from the Directorate they also are very likely to hold a military rank. However unlike the Directorate these ranks, whether they be Naval or Army, are not utilized by the SRI in any fashion. Former military personnel who serve within the Directorate are technically classified as reservists. They cannot be recalled like ordinary reservists and instead, a request must be made to the Supreme Director.
Below are the various titles one may hold in the SRI, which mirror the ranks of the Directorate as well as the officer level that it is generally equated to within the other branches. In its current state, not all of these ranks and positions are filled by active personnel and there has been no distinction to separating into sub-divisions. Currently assigned personnel are acting mostly as field operatives, being deployed on missions that best suit their inherent skills. As House Ektrosis and SRI leadership work to grow this newly created organization the structure of the SRI will continue to change as it develops its own identity.
| Intel Ranks Table
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| OR-10
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OR-9
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OR-8
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OR-7
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OR-6
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OR-5
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OR-4
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OR-3
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OR-2
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OR-1
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Supreme Director
SDIR
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Deputy Director
DDIR
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Director
DIR
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Branch Leader
BL
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Cell Leader
CL
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Cipher Agent
CI
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Senior Agent
A1
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Agent
A2
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Senior Technician
T1
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Technician
T2
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Research Division
As it currently stands the Research Division is completely unstaffed, unfunded, without almost any resources or equipment and awaiting the guidance of a Supreme Director.
MIssion and Scope
The SRI is one part advanced research institution and one part paramilitary intelligence organization. The focus of its research mission is to use the resources and knowledge at its disposal to develop weapons, equipment or any other tools that could provide a tactical and/or strategic advantage to House Ektrosis and Clan Taldryan. Using the incredibly advanced work done by the now-defunct Empire as inspiration, the SRI has been directed to use both the physical sciences and those of a more mystical nature to push the limits of scientific progress.
The intelligence mission of the SRI is to fully support the research mission through many different means. This support could take the forms of activities such as recruiting new research personnel, locating and obtaining outside research, setting up credit sources and acquiring equipment and materials to be used in scientific endeavors. It in this function that most of the participation occurs from the highly skilled members of House Ektrosis although they are also welcome to participate in research if they are so inclined and have received the proper authorizations.
Since the organization operates mostly independently from House Ektrosis its moral philosophy waxes and wanes with the influence of its key members upon the Supreme Director. House Leadership does not ask many questions as to the means used to attain results so the organization's members indirectly define its morality based on what they are, and are not, willing to undertake to further the progress of the SRI.
External Links
Systems of the SRI
SRI On-Going Tracking Sheet