In the fictional world of The Section, certain conventions are followed. It may help the reader to know some of these when coming to The Charlemagne Files for the first time .
Who/what/ where is The Section?
The Section is a department of an intelligence agency of the United States. Its employees are civil servants. It includes support staff members who provide identity documents, financial controls, and physical and document security. Operational agents are called babysitters. They arrange on-site logistical support for freelance specialists during operations. Most operations are not conducted within the United States, with some exceptions. Babysitters themselves do not carry identity documents in their own names during an operation and never carry any official identification from their organization. Their purpose is to allow the organization to deny any association with them or their mission. The offices are near the east coast, maybe Virginia.
Nicknames and coins
Babysitters in The Section receive nicknames from their coworkers when they join the office. These names are often undesirable and used mercilessly among the members of the office. It is part of team building in a stressful occupation.
Challenge Coins are traditionally stamped with symbols or mottos that designate the intelligence unit of their owners. The tradition is that when members of the unit are present at the bar, if one produces his coin, then all must produce theirs. Anyone failing to show their coin is responsible for the bar tab. If all produce their coins, then the person making the challenge is responsible for the tab.
File designations
The highest classification of information is Top Secret. Beyond that, more sensitive information is strictly controlled in a number of ways including designation as special compartmented information (SCI). This requires an additional clearance and often a named clearance based on Need To Know. In The Section, files on specialists or specialist teams receive a one-word code name, printed across the file and restricted to very few people. When that solo or specialist team is employed on an operation, another designator word will refer to the operation and will be used for funding, reports, etc. Thus CETUS WEDGE (#2 of the Charlemange Files) means an operation dubbed CETUS employing a specialist team with file name WEDGE, which is The Section’s file name for Charlemagne.
Specialist
A team or solo operative used by western governments for black operations conducted without fingerprints in high-risk situations expected to involve death.
