Royal Intelligence (Golden Empire)

Royal Intelligence (often shortened to Royal Intel or just Intel) was an arm of the Golden Empire's Armada, charged with conducting both internal and external espionage. Its activities were highly secretive, and very little was known about the agency by anyone who was not part of it.

History
During the first two decades of the Golden Empire, the Empire faced no multisystem enemies; worlds it acquired by force were alone against the Armada, and the only major system with intersystem ties, Iscandar, joined the Empire willingly. During the war against the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob, intelligence activities were conducted mostly by the two Centurions of the Order of Keltrayu. Other information came from disgruntled citizens of the Tetrarchy itself, but there was no standardized means of collection; most reports came from crews defecting to or seeking the protection of Rin Sakaros.

After the war's conclusion, Tariun Sakaros (now Prime Legate of the Armada) recognized that the disordered intelligence gathering system could not be allowed to persist in an Empire now composed of nearly one hundred and fifty systems, nor could the Order of Keltrayu be relied upon to gather sufficient intelligence in addition to its numerous other duties. He requested permission to form an intelligence branch, though the project was delayed by the need to reorganize the newly acquired worlds of the Tetrarchy and the other major expansions of the government.

In 107 ABY, Royal Intelligence was finally formed, composed of a variety of loyal former Tetrarchy intelligence agents, experienced law enforcement personnel, Iscali government officers, and Centurions. It immediately began work at the borders of the Golden Empire, assessing threats and gathering information from the fringes of the Empire's control. In 115 ABY, it was Royal Intelligence that learned the location of the Red Eclipse base on Harth Gool, and thus set in motion the destruction of the slaving syndicate.

Royal Intelligence continued to operate throughout the reign of the Empire, often sending its agents ahead to assess the strengths and weaknesses of potential member systems. After great effort, Royal Intelligence even succeeded in placing two spies in the Chiss Ascendancy in the period before the conquest of that government in 137 ABY.

With the creation of the Royal Corps of Gendarmes and the Household Guard in 151 ABY, Intelligence ceded some of its internal security responsibilities. It also shared relevant intelligence with both organizations.

Function and operations
Royal Intelligence had two distinct missions. The first was to gather intelligence on foreign powers and assess their usefulness and threat level to the Golden Empire. In the case of a system open to foreign visitors, Intelligence agents would often simply travel to the system with forged documentation. In more xenophobic societies, like the Chiss Ascendancy, more elaborate covers and even disguises could be employed. Royal Intelligence also stationed at least one officer on every Exploration Corps task squad.

The second mission was internal surveillance, monitoring and gathering information on separatist groups, terrorists, and organized crime operations. Though careful to heed his sister's command not to use Intelligence to spy on legitimate, peaceful protestors, Tariun Sakaros employed Intel to find the best way to undermine internal enemies before sending his Centurions in for the kill.

Intelligence had a wide variety of clandestine surveillance tools at its disposal, as well as a variety of codes for Royal HoloNet transmission. It also worked with the Astrogation and Starship Commission database (though sometimes without the Commission's knowledge) to arrange false transponder codes for its spy vessels. Intelligence maintained a small fleet of modified freighters and other small ships for intelligence-gathering purposes.

Royal Intelligence also trained the various branch-specific Military Intelligence divisions of the Armada, and could be assigned to a Legate or other senior military or civilian officer to provide briefings and intelligence support. The Sovereign and the Phoenix Prince received a daily briefing from an Intelligence officer.

Intelligence had its own miniature army of droids. It used maintenance droids to maintain its areas of operation, and used interrogation droids on subjects, though these could only perform some forms of interrogation, such as drugging or brainwave analysis, as Rin Sakaros had outlawed torture without her personal consent (and rarely gave it). probe droids were often sent on scouting missions to worlds of interest. While Intelligence maintained a staff of protocol droids for translation of foreign languages and explanation of customs, all such droids underwent monthly memory wipes to ensure they did not develop distinctive personalities which might divulge sensitive information. Rumors persisted that various droids onboard Royal Navy ships had secondary Intelligence programming.

Organization
Royal Intelligence was led by a Director, appointed by and reporting directly to the Prime Legate of the Golden Empire. The Director was aided by several Assistant Directors, each of whom had primary responsibility for one of the agency's main divisions:
 * External Operations Division
 * Internal Operations Division
 * Support Division
 * Technology Division

Both Internal and External Operations conducted intelligence-gathering activites and interrogation of prisoners. The Support Division provided coordination of intelligence-gathering efforts and tactical support, while the Technology Division maintained Intelligence's complex computer databases, as well as its staff droids.

As part of the Glorious Armada, Intelligence paid its officers on the military pay scale; however, the lowest starting rate was E-5, and most collection agents and analysts were paid in the officer pay scale.