FAQs (Loaded March)
There's only so much that I can write for posts right now that aren't to the tune of accomplishment for the day: did not murder anyone or my favourite beta won't stop laughing at me because I keep coming up with random plot bunnies that make me cry, so let's go for a change of pace.
kamihana, who is putting together a LM website, sent me a question in a PM. It was a good question and I thought I'd answer it here for anyone who's interested. Mostly because I can't give short answers (sorry).
Speaking of -- if anyone has a specific question about LM that they'd like cleared up, please feel free to ask (anonymously or not) in the comments. I'll answer them in separate posts like this one, under a spoiler in case people want to avoid those.
When Excalibur was seconded to Directory, is it safe to say that Solomon Bayard became their superior officer? Or is he their handler just like Kilgarrah? Or Is there another term?
Yes, and not... exactly.
I'm afraid that, in this instance, I am not exactly clear on the rules and regulation for transferring a member of the army to another division or government agency, but I do know that it happens, and it happens frequently during wartime. Especially during wartime.
The plain and simple truth is that, as civilization evolves, so does war. It becomes more sophisticated and more specialized, requiring different approaches to handling a situation. Each military division has its own specific skillset that becomes even more specialized, and this is a good thing because no single person is an expert at everything.
It does mean that individual soldiers can get assigned to a squadron or a division that isn't their "official" squadron or division. A team can be assigned to a different squad, a squad can be assigned to a different squadron, a squadron can be assigned to... well, suffice it to say that if this sniper just happens to be the unlucky fuck lurking nearby just when a mission is about to go live and the team's regular guy is in the next town doing mop-up, that officer who outranks him can point at him and say, "Hop in". But that's also within reason. If Captain Walsh happened to tap you on the shoulder, you'd laugh in his face before he finished giving you an order to hop on the back of the lorry, right?
Anyway, inter-agency "loans" isn't unusual. I've read several autobiographical works where a soldier got assigned to a security detail for a diplomat. Or the one where the guy is training the locals to police their area. Or the one where a military specialist gets loaned out to law enforcement. It happens, and it happened with Excalibur getting "seconded" to the Directory.
It's a loan of personnel, nothing more. And by "nothing more", I mean, authority does not change hands. The people who are borrowing the soldiers might think that they can order them around -- and for the most part the soldiers do as they're told, but only because it falls within the scope of their original orders. Anything above and beyond that? Well... In this universe, I've left it up to the most immediate military authority to make the call, which in LM, happens to be Arthur most of the time.
Bayard might have borrowed the team for his own personal "mission" (under Directory auspices, obviously), but ultimately, Kilgarrah was in charge while he was on-site, and, to some extent, also while he was off-site as long as he was in communication with the team. But Kilgarrah being Kilgarrah, he was either not present, or pulling the strings from the background to facilitate the situation for the team even when he was out of communication with them. Bayard had absolutely no direct authority over the team, despite believing otherwise.
kamihana, who is putting together a LM website, sent me a question in a PM. It was a good question and I thought I'd answer it here for anyone who's interested. Mostly because I can't give short answers (sorry).
Speaking of -- if anyone has a specific question about LM that they'd like cleared up, please feel free to ask (anonymously or not) in the comments. I'll answer them in separate posts like this one, under a spoiler in case people want to avoid those.
When Excalibur was seconded to Directory, is it safe to say that Solomon Bayard became their superior officer? Or is he their handler just like Kilgarrah? Or Is there another term?
Yes, and not... exactly.
I'm afraid that, in this instance, I am not exactly clear on the rules and regulation for transferring a member of the army to another division or government agency, but I do know that it happens, and it happens frequently during wartime. Especially during wartime.
The plain and simple truth is that, as civilization evolves, so does war. It becomes more sophisticated and more specialized, requiring different approaches to handling a situation. Each military division has its own specific skillset that becomes even more specialized, and this is a good thing because no single person is an expert at everything.
It does mean that individual soldiers can get assigned to a squadron or a division that isn't their "official" squadron or division. A team can be assigned to a different squad, a squad can be assigned to a different squadron, a squadron can be assigned to... well, suffice it to say that if this sniper just happens to be the unlucky fuck lurking nearby just when a mission is about to go live and the team's regular guy is in the next town doing mop-up, that officer who outranks him can point at him and say, "Hop in". But that's also within reason. If Captain Walsh happened to tap you on the shoulder, you'd laugh in his face before he finished giving you an order to hop on the back of the lorry, right?
Anyway, inter-agency "loans" isn't unusual. I've read several autobiographical works where a soldier got assigned to a security detail for a diplomat. Or the one where the guy is training the locals to police their area. Or the one where a military specialist gets loaned out to law enforcement. It happens, and it happened with Excalibur getting "seconded" to the Directory.
It's a loan of personnel, nothing more. And by "nothing more", I mean, authority does not change hands. The people who are borrowing the soldiers might think that they can order them around -- and for the most part the soldiers do as they're told, but only because it falls within the scope of their original orders. Anything above and beyond that? Well... In this universe, I've left it up to the most immediate military authority to make the call, which in LM, happens to be Arthur most of the time.
Bayard might have borrowed the team for his own personal "mission" (under Directory auspices, obviously), but ultimately, Kilgarrah was in charge while he was on-site, and, to some extent, also while he was off-site as long as he was in communication with the team. But Kilgarrah being Kilgarrah, he was either not present, or pulling the strings from the background to facilitate the situation for the team even when he was out of communication with them. Bayard had absolutely no direct authority over the team, despite believing otherwise.