Fire Teams Special Assignments (FTSA)

This is a stub of a page intended to flesh out the FTSA organization inside the Space Force Marines Intelligence Directorate. They were notes I made after A Fox in the Henhouse as a character cheat sheet for A Dragon in the Foie Gras, which I am adding to and expanding now I'm writing The Clerics in the Kitchen, which goes in between them.

In A Fox in the Henhouse the following are introduced as connected to what will become FTSA1:

Delaney Wolff Fox: Captain, USSFM, assigned to USSFM Intelligence Division, Humint Section.

John Conner Wolff: LtGen, USSFM, CO, USSFM Intelligence Division.  “Grandfather” of Delaney Wolff Fox.  (Her real grandparents are John and Sarah Wolff in TL1.)

Christopher Lee von Barronov: MajGen, USSFM, Deputy CO, USSFM Intelligence Division.

Ariela Rivers Wolff: LtCol, USSFM, Regimental Commander, 1/1 USSF Marines

Fred Fox (AKA Friederich von Fox), SgtMaj, 1/1 USSF Marines.  Yeah, nepotism, shut the fuck up.  Delaney works for her Grumpaw, too.

Fire Team Sierra Alpha One (“Special Assignments”), part of the 1/1, but assigned permanently to the Intelligence Division:

• Harbinger, Norman ("Harb"):  Gunnery Sergeant (E-7), USSFM; inventor of the M12 Harbinger Machine Pistol.

• Stirling, Alphonse ("Al"): Staff Sergeant (E-6), USSFM
• Conyers, Jack: Sergeant (E-5), USSFM.  Second team sniper
• Brown, Theodore ("Theo"): Sergeant (E-5), USSFM.  May be same Brown who boarded the uptime ship with Ariela in The Lion of God.  Probably not, though.  More likely a son or grandson.  Actually if I remember right, he's a different person altogether, not related, just has commonality of surname.

• Foster, Adrienne:  Sergeant (E-5).  Primary team sniper.  Winner (with Conyers as spotter) of the International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning, 2097. She was added to the team as Conyers' backup in around 2092. She became the team's lead sniper after winning the 2097 competition, because Conyers said so.

• Smith, Charles ("Charlie"): Sergeant (E-5).  Team driver, also heavy weapons expert.

There is also a team of SFCIS (NCIS in space!) that “follows them around” to deal with the aftermath of their “breaking things and killing people”.

In The Clerics in the Kitchen:

This is weird because this book is written AFTER A Dragon in the Foie Gras but the story precedes it. Which is why I have to keep this shit straight.

I think (because I haven't written it yet) this is what will happen:

• FTSA1 will christen itself "Delaney's Destroyers" (see below; it's used in A Dragon in the Foie Gras, if only in chapter headings).
• Lyn Fox is not yet the group's medic, because she isn't found in her cryo chamber until A Dragon in the Foie Gras. And if I remember correctly, she's brand new to the team in The Lion in Paradise, some 20+ years after that.
• See the next section where specialties are discussed; the sergeants mentioned have those specialties in this book, and Delaney knows that in A Dragon in the Foie Gras because they used them in Clerics.
• ????

In A Dragon in the Foie Gras:

• FTSA1 has the moniker “Fox Tango Sierra Alpha One” tagged to it, even though it’s too damn long.  Sometimes that's abbreviated to "Fox Tango Alpha One" because the author had a brain fart. An unofficial tag of “Delaney’s Destroyers” is used as well. (Other thoughts I had for this were “Fox’s Firebrands", (with the profane alternative, “Fox’s Fuckers”, with motto “Find ‘em and fuck ‘em up.” Those weren't used, or at least haven't been used yet.)
• FTSA1 will be assigned a HM1 (E6) USSF Hospital Corpsman First Class.  Female.
• The HM1 has been changed to a regular Marine medic.  This medic will be an E6 (Staff Sergeant) with formal medical training equivalent to a 1^st year resident.  In this case she will be Staff Sergeant Lyn Fox.  “Lyn Fox” is the name taken by TL0’s version of Mei-Lin Lai, to differentiate her from the Mars Base CO.  She went by Mei, but always liked “Lyn” as an Americanized version of the second half of her given name.  She took the name “Fox” after she and Delaney became fast friends and practically sisters (somewhat like Ari and Mei had done years before, just without the one-time fling). (Her name is better explained in The Lion in Paradise and The Dragon's Sister.)

• Harbinger is commissioned Captain (O-3)
• Stirling is promoted to Gunnery Sergeant (E-7)
• Delaney is promoted to Major (O-4)
• The idea is that two more fire teams will be added to “Sierra Alpha”, making it a rifle squad.  The three fire teams will be nominally commanded by Harbinger, but he will really command only FTSA1 unless all three fire teams are on the same assignment. FTSA2 and FTSA3 will be led by first lieutenants answering to Harbinger.
• One reason Harbinger is being promoted is to ensure there is no BS about Delaney’s relationship with him.  But the fact is, these special teams (and probably more, up to a company’s worth) are needed, and Harbinger has been around so long he knows what’s what.  So, like John Wolff 50+ years before, he gets a bump from enlisted to officer primarily because of his expertise.
• No decision has been made (in A Dragon in the Foie Gras) on the Staff Sergeant position in FTSA1.  It will probably be Conyers, but might be Brown. Foster is too valuable as a sniper, Smith is basically just a driver – but a really good one.  And his heavy weapons experience also makes him a bad choice for Stirling’s replacement.
• Smith is also an electronics wizard.  Handles comms and anything else of an electronic bent, including timers for detonators.
• Foster is also a demolitions expert.
• Brown and Conyers are the alternate drivers, backing up Smith.

FTSA2 and FTSA3

FTSA2 and FTSA3 are partially introduced in Book One of The Lion in Paradise. In Book Two of The Lion in Paradise, there is a rump FTSA2 team (3 members) aboard the liner USS Star of the Orient when it is hijacked in 2249.  They fall in with Raven Wolff Fox to retake the bridge and end the hijacking. They don't let on that they're connected with FTSA until after the hijacking is over.  The leader says he reports to Harbinger, who by that time is a Lt. Colonel (Delaney is a Colonel and still in charge of the FTSA group within the Intelligence Directorate.  The known members at that time are

• 1st Lt. Pete Moore (CO)
• Gunnery Sergeant Rafe Sorensen
• Staff Sergeant Blake Sanders (female)

In addition, we will meet (earlier in the book, believe it or not), (although as I remember this did not happen, but I need to go back and look)

• Sergeant ??? Morrison (first team sniper, explosives)
• Sergeant ??? Sawaguchi (second team sniper, electronics, comms)
• Staff Sergeant ??? Fletcher (medic)
• Sergeant ??? Oleson (driver, heavy weapons)

There is also an FTSA3 team on al-Saḥra' during Book One of The Lion in Paradise, but they are characterized as "green" and in need of a little more operational experience.  They are not named, but the team follows the same general structure as FTSA2.