An Interview With Nick Crowe
Simon: So, what do I call you? General Crowe?
Nick: Nick will be fine.
Simon: Excellent, so, can you tell us about the Sioul Defence Force?
Nick: There's not much to say, the SDF is an independent government funded military force. Sioul's governments end up hiring mercenaries from SDF side factions to kill other mercenaries over things like natural resources and disputes, this ends up stopping wars because in the end the stupid side starts hiring mercs without realising they will have to pay them. The SDF's success was obviously because of the disbandment of Sioul Armies. When something cataclysmic comes up the SDF main force, not the side factions, steps into action. Derias is usually the main force during these incidents with Vercent offering aid wherever possible and taking actions into their own hands when deemed ideal. Of course, anything about these operations are level one classification.
Simon: Classification? I've heard a lot about classification, what scale is there for classifications?
Nick: Well, there's seven levels... These apply to military rank as well as security levels. There's level five, this is your basic grunts, and there's barely any security stopping someone walking out the door with a filing cabinet. Level four, these are the grunts that have seen some action and data or operations that need the media to be controlled around the scene, beyond on the ground we don't really care.
Level three classifications are your veteran front liners, people who hit level three usually go right up to two pretty fast. Security in level three classification areas is absolutely no media on scene and strongly defended data. Level two is captains and field commanders, these guys have seen quite a bit and are trusted to make sure some of the rookies won't have to. Security at level two is tight, media is forced out of the area and it may be a no fly zone during ops, physical data requires keycard access and codes.
Level one is the big leagues, personnel here are base commanders and field generals. The areas during ops are strictly no fly zone and anyone in five kilometres can be arrested with harsh force for being there without permit. Physical data is usually protected by enforced databanks and required a keycard, a code, and sometimes a retinal scan. Level zero are the generals and ghosts of the SDF. Personel here are usually the only ones able to access level zero information anyway, because of the multilayer double digit codes and blood sample checks required. Scenes are usually forty kilometre no fly zone and non lethal offensive weapons to anyone stupid enough to slip past the barriers.
Now, five years ago what I'm about to tell you wouldn't officially exist. Level negative one is usually exclusively the lifetime ghost agents, these people spend their entire lives in the SDF not even having friends outside for a drink on fridays to leak things to, not that they would on threat of death for letting negative one information out to the public. Information in negative one is usually stored in several hundred different civilian servers with their own encryption for each part. Scenes with negative one protection offer a twenty kilometre kill zone where anyone dumb enough to wander past our barricades is shot dead and vehicles are destroyed without question or second though.
Simon: Well, that was extensive, but informative. Can you tell me about Derias?
Nick: Derias is a unit known for excessive force, and I'm proud to be in it. We're called in when everyone else would probably be dead in the same situation. We use heavier armour than the Vercent, but most of our unit are usually the heavily trained veterans, and our people pioneered the multiple mode redeemers as an effective military weapon. Of course, we've gotten a lot of flak over the unexplained nuclear detonations and damage to the water treatment plants... Don't ask...
Simon: How about you? How did you grow up to join the SDF?
Nick: I never knew my mother, and as for my father I would kill him myself if I ever got the chance. I was actually raised by an old man named Flatley. He lived in the middle of the bush and I grew up hunting whatever I was big enough to drag back home. Flatley taught me a lot about life, and told me so many stories of the SDF they were practically tattooed on my eyelids. I got into the SDF myself at fifteen and met another old man, General Sabbath. He took me under his wing and that's how it's been ever since.
Simon: What about Flatley?
Nick: I've heard he died.
Simon: I try to ask every military man I meet what they think about killing for a living. How about you, Nick?
Nick: I like what I do, and I won't try and hide that. But I have my moral code. For every man I've killed I've saved two civilians, and because of that I'll keep going until I die myself.
Simon: Be honest. What do you really think of the Vercent?
Nick: I value the Vercent for the loyal and strong soldiers they are. Some people consider the Vercent just the hired muscle for when Derias need someone to watch the door, but I've made quite a few friends in Vercent and I can vouch for the entire squad as hard working and underapreciated.