Imperial Intelligence
Bureau of Analysis
This bureau handles gargantuan amounts of data from tens of millions of sources. In addition to looking for enemy activity, it looks for patterns or trends in social data which might be useful to the agents over in Intelligence. Analysis also handles, examines and copies useful technologies, even developing a few of their own.
Media
Media branch pores over public scandocs, newsdocs, holos, comlinks, beamcasts, every form of media in the Empire, looking for patterns or hidden meanings which might betray a clue as to an enemy’s plans and operations. Media can, with substantial assistance from Sector Plexus and the Imperial CompLink, give at least a cursory examination of all media in the Empire simultaneously. While they regularly concentrate on a significantly smaller portion of the Empire, they do cast their net wide often enough to make a professional judgment whether or not a new media source should be monitored on a more regular basis.
Signal
Signal has a saying: “Media examines every media message in the galaxy. We handle everything else so they can have the easy stuff.” This is probably an exaggeration, but the job done by Signal is indeed enormous. While Media monitors the intended message, Signal examines the channel through which the information was transmitted.
Signal samples and checks carrierwave codes and CompLink protocols, scan rates on scandocs and imagepacks on holos to see if any information is being squeezed into the space between what a citizen would ordinarily sense. Signal examines line noise to see if it might contain a pattern rather than random error. Broadcasts and beamcasts are examined to see if the backup information sent with the primary information actually matches and, if not, how they differ.
The agents in Media sarcastically refer to Signal as “a group of beings who sort through the garbage in order to discover what a family said to each other at breakfast.” Signal does occasionally overreach itself, applying blindingly sophisticated mathematical techniques to squeeze nonexistent meanings from chaotic data. However, it was a Signal which discovered that Leia Organa had the plans to the Death Star through the analysis of un-shielded ELEL (Extremely Low Energy Level) transmissions from her ship.
Cryptanalysis (Crypt)
When Media or Signal finds evidence of coded communication, they give it to the Crypt. Those who work in Cryptanalysis call themselves “lignyots.” Why they call themselves lignyots, and if the word has any meaning independent of Cryptanalysis, is not known by anyone in other branches. This is as intended.
Lignyots have gone out of their way to create a bizarre reputation for Crypt. They have sent scandocs to other branches in simple codes, which mutate into an unflattering holo if not broken quickly enough. They try to break the security of the communications between branches, forging inflammatory messages on a secure channel when they succeed.
They will often move the entrance to their offices or relocate their factories entirely, leaving only a puzzling scandoc as to their new location. All communications to the Sector Plexus from the new branch office have invariably been relayed through thousands of points before reaching Sector Plexus, making successful tracing almost impossible.
The bureaus have complained to the Ubiqtorate about the unprofessional behavior of Crypt. Lignyots have always defended themselves by saying the relentless, time-critical nature of their responsibilities entitles them to be a bit crazy. The Ubiqtorate decided that Crypt’s behavior was an opportunity rather than a problem. Whenever a Crypt office does something off-beat, another branch assigned is deal with the problem as if it were an example of enemy-generated activity. The lignyots have calmed down quite a bit since the time one of their branch offices relocated and within eight days Assassination had found and liquidated it.
Tech
Tech has two jobs – to figure out how an enemy’s hardware works, and to provide Imperial Intelligence with hardware which is superior to that. Tech has a lavish budget and a number of highly skilled personnel whose moments of brilliant inspiration can translate into innovative technology. Unfortunately, the administration, chosen from scientists and technologists within the branch, is often lost when having to decide upon the proper priorities for projects which lie outside their area of expertise.
Consequently, Tech does a better job analyzing enemy gear than in producing its own. With the hardware in front of them and orders to figure out how it works, Tech scientists do the job better than anyone else in the galaxy. It is when they must set their own goals and criteria for project success that the process goes off kilter.
Interrogation
When Rebels or other enemy agents are captured by Imperial Intelligence, they are usually sent to Interrogation. Interrogation is not as bloodthirsty as its counterpart in COMPNOR, and it is slightly less effective in cracking Rebels. Interrogation often has a larger purpose, working on the assumption that the Rebellion will work as hard as possible to render any divulged information useless. Unless the Rebel is believed to hold vital information, interrogation will be light.
However, a larger number of psychological probes will be made of the prisoner, and direct neuroprogramming of susceptible prisoners will result. The results of their novel techniques are undetectable by everything but the most advanced medical probes, of which there are very few and every one of which is under Imperial control. While expensive, reprogrammed Rebels have a high reliability as double-agents, and have provided Infiltration with some of their best agents.
As the Rebellion is slowly becoming aware of this tactic, Interrogation has modified its approach to stay one step ahead of the Rebels. They now release more Rebels than they once did, including some fairly valuable to the Rebellion. They only reprogram a few. As suspicion falls on all of the released prisoners, the Rebellion is torn whether or not to accept any, all or none of the prisoners. The doubt and debate has been enough to significantly lower the morale at some Rebel bases.
The second modification is to use image surgery on a reprogrammed agent, have Infiltration brief him, and then have him join the Rebel Alliance as an unknown recruit. While this method takes considerable time, no agent who has been infiltrated in this way has yet been discovered.
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