Samuel Cassell

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(This article includes ideas, technology, or events which have been declared "Heresy", or not true in the Swarm Cycle's universe.  These concepts cannot be used in a story claiming to be 'canon'.)

Sir Samuel Cassell

Sir Samuel Cassell is the Director of Intelligence for Central Command. A former head of the British Security Service, the British counterintelligence agency also known as MI5, Sir Samuel is responsible for coordinating the upward flow of the various different alien, civilian and military intelligence branches, with limited success.

While a capable administrator, Sir Samuel lacks the ability to force DNO and DECO to share their information. This has contributed in no small part to at least two major Navy Fleet and Auxiliary Fleet defeats, where inadequate intelligence resulted each time in the loss of capital ships during hasty ill-prepared retreats. Sir Samuel enjoys entertaining and the high social life, and normally keeps his personal office with the First Confederation Navy (*).

Terry Wagner worked out Sir Samuel's real responsibility, which was counterintelligence and security against Earth factions that would interfere with the Confederacy, independent preparation for defense against the Swarm, or both.

(* The 'real' Confederacy does not have a military of any kind, so no fleets.  Any mention of 'First Fleet', etc is heresy. -ZM)

References

The following quotes were taken from the stories archive documenting how this story element has been handled using get_paras.py v1.31 9/14/2019.

From We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers by LughIldanach relevance:4674 at paragraph 345 of 2913
Terry was able to negotiate a mutual bureaucratic nonaggression pact with the- Sir Samuel Cassell. Terry liked Cassell well enough personally, but, as former Director of the British Security Service (MI5), Cassell was a counterespionage rather than a strategic or defense intelligence official. From an external perspective, didn't think offensively, had discovered he had relatively little authority, and diverted himself with ceremonial and social functions. He and Terry had come to an unspoken agreement that they wouldn't interfere with each other as long as they didn't embarrass one another. At one official reception, they had discovered a mutual appreciation for single-malt Scotch, and adjourned afterwards to Cassell's quarters--but talked in his SCIF-shielded study.

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:3828 at paragraph 728 of 2187
"Let me try again, let's sit down." Mrs. Danvers gestured toward the table and chairs. Once seated, she began again. "Randy, my father worked for the Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group." Everyone with an implant sought clarification. "They did things to America's enemies that were never acknowledged." The three men nodded. Randy leaned forward. "He often worked with a man named Samuel Cassell. That same man now has the responsibilities for keeping Earth First from interfering with extractions." Governor Danvers waved her hand in the air. In front of each of them, a list appeared. "This is Mr. Cassell's itinerary for a visit to London in five weeks." The list disappeared. "This was found in the memory of the Aurora transport Foxfire." She paused, letting the implication sink in. "Mr. Cassell is stationed on the moon. The politics of Central Command are twisted. Though they deny it, people are controlling information, trying to grab power."

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:3392 at paragraph 1220 of 2187
"Ma'am, Sirs, Sergeants," internally Siân wanted to panic, concern over sounding foolish swelled. She pushed those feelings aside and formulated an answer. "A reference to shadows was made during Lieutenant Percy's debrief of Commander Carter. Calculating where the shadows would be at that time gives only three positions where a qualified Confederacy Marine marksman could position himself for a shot." Turning to Sergeant Roberts, she continued. "Those positions have been identified and we have implemented Sergeant Roberts' suggestion to position force fields to cover those lines of sight." She turned back to the black sergeant. "I think that the cemetery reference is there to identify where Sir Samuel Cassell will be." The described positions became visible on the displays. The force fields began appearing blocking the lines of sight.

From We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers by LughIldanach relevance:3088 at paragraph 61 of 2913
"Before I go further into the threat, I need to give you some context. The AIs initially hesitated to make contact with intelligence agencies or politicians, concluding, from their monitoring, that military leadership was most competent and honorable to hold the information. You know that the heads of DHS intelligence, the CIA and FBI, and the British SIS retired recently. The AIs distrusted the more civilian and political intelligence agencies. They prefer the organizations with military leadership, and purely analytic organizations like INR and Canadian CSIS, although they thought well of the British Security Service. I was among the first Americans to whom they revealed the situation; Sir Samuel Cassell of the Security Service may have been the first Briton.

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:3030 at paragraph 1451 of 2187
Sir Samuel only had to wait about twenty minutes on the admiral and the general after arriving in Dover. Once aboard Matilda, they discussed recently retired and potential discharging NCOs. "I will not say how he knows about our arrangement," Sir Samuel handed each person a copy of the request, "but my favorite Van Doo requested a list of non-coms. As you can see he is seeking," Sir Samuel lifted the paper to read, "particularly stubborn individuals who will strive to perfect their unit commanders."

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:2468 at paragraph 2149 of 2187
Director Cassell looked at the naked man, "I have enough evidence to convict you, Nicholas Christos, aka Milan." Cassell waved his hand. The black man tumbled the one called Milan onto the pad. The locus flashed and naked man disappeared. "As you can see his sentence was just carried out before you. In a few moments his body will be disposed of by burning up in the Earth's atmosphere." Murmured curses and a few gasps filled the silence. "Fifteen of you will not leave here as sponsors. You have a chance to die with honor. Walk up here, you will be stunned and transported to near Earth orbit, dying painlessly."

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:2416 at paragraph 2033 of 2187
Where Randy felt the true seductive nature lay was in the truth about these reports. Director Cassell had them created for use in this investigation. The specialist from Wayward compiled them. AIs if questioned would state they were of no value what so ever. The last bit of mischief Randy wanted to attribute to the manipulative skills of his little sisters, devious little witches he loved. Simple reverse psychology, he suggested that Director Cassell to confirm that his position as Director of Intelligence dose not give him the authority to circumvent Privacy Mode, to spy on Confederacy Personel.

From We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers by LughIldanach relevance:1828 at paragraph 1813 of 2913
Back in his office, Terry returned to his thinking about the development of the Confederacy military. From what he had seen, the CNO, Admiral Jason Tucker, appreciated tactical, but not strategic, intelligence. He knew that Admiral Hawkins felt the same way, as did Sir Samuel Cassell, the ostensible head of Confederacy Intelligence. Sir Samuel was actually focused on intelligence about Earth organizations' focus on the Confederacy, as well as security.

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:1682 at paragraph 2120 of 2187
Nicolas Christos knew this voice. He looked toward the source. This confirmed that everything he had hoped for was now lost. Reality as he knew it caved inward, there was no foreseeable future. His executioner had once been a close confidant. In the early years, working with Director Cassell held the lure of being counted as one of the saviors of humanity seduced him. Then true to human nature, some individuals out of pride, others covetous of the selected, or those who wanted to deny reality began to act. A few took the chance to fan the flames of fear, cabals sought the opportunity take control of whole countries, or a twisted combination those groups moved within the eddies of change. What had been noble suddenly seemed tarnished and brittle. Nicolas had moved to care for himself; as the world crumbled, he decided to survive.

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:1616 at paragraph 1433 of 2187
With that out of the way, he checked a few concealed compartments. The two Ingram MAC-10s were secure, extra magazines at the ready. Sir Samuel Cassell was never a marksman: he preferred using the .45 APC variant, big bullets with the potential to transfer tremendous amounts of kinetic energy. He trusted stingers but, if the need arose, he wanted no misunderstandings about the message he was sending.

From Woolly Wilds 2 by starfiend relevance:1568 at paragraph 3426 of 3787
Almost an hour later, a second one arrived, through Siân. It was signed simply 'Percy', and the message read "Recovered it." Ten minutes later, a second message, this time from Percy Meers and direct to me, made me realise that the first must have been from Priscilla. Meer's message was a good deal fuller, and explained that through Wilkerson and Maggor, the device had been discovered to have been in the hands of the US government, 'some secret offshoot of DARPA', Percy wrote. "They were reluctant to relinquish it. Even at Wilkerson's 'urging', so Cassell authorised PP to 'retrieve it' through her own inimitable means." I assumed PP was Priscilla and smiled in amusement. "We've passed it on to our own R&D, but we've also passed it back to Lued. Not sending it to Britain."

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:1432 at paragraph 1994 of 2187
"However, if I use your suggestion, the man might just choke on his own terror." Cassell leaned back and stared at the ceiling a moment. "I decided to ratchet up the pressure. Along with that tidbit you suggested, I canceled today's meeting of the Council of the Directorate." Sir Samuel leaned into Randy, "I needed a break from infighting and backbiting."

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:1414 at paragraph 2130 of 2187
Cassell kept speaking, "You have seen what an AI subliminal information extraction does to the minds of the disposable Earth Firsters." He pointed to a door. Nicholas could see where a modified medtube lay waiting for use. "Either way you are a dead man, Nico. Save yourself the pain and humiliation." He pointed at the Scots monster. "Remember the things I did in the late seventies and early eighties to her majesty's enemies?" The pause caused the tension to increase. 'Fletcher here has family roots with the gamekeepers from Balmoral. He has the skills to skin and dress animals, such as you." Cassell walked into the room. "Exactly how long you will remain aware of his actions is subject to debate."

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:1328 at paragraph 1700 of 2187
Being a creature of action, the wait chafed at Clem. Years of working for the Confederacy had reinforced the concept of waiting for Sir Samuel to form a conclusion. In Clem's experience, Sir Samuel proved over and over to be very decisive. He only worried his nervousness would hamper the effort. He slipped outside to the hallway.

From Wayward by Justin Radically relevance:1230 at paragraph 970 of 2187
"There are three people of interest." Why AIs had to be dramatic was a semi scholarly topic of debate. "Major General Alistair Vickers, Commandant of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, is secretly in contact with the Confederacy Department of Evacuation and Colonial Operations. General Vickers covertly supports and encourages retired military or discharged service personnel to join the Confederacy. Rear Admiral Edith Ogden-Sikes shares General Vickers' conviction. There is one active Confederacy Citizen, Retired Naval Commander Samuel Cassell, the present Director of Intelligence for Central Command."

Story Appearances

The following stories contained the most references to the word 'Samuel/Cassell' and words associated with that word.

• Favors Small and Great by Col. Jack Harrison
• The Librarian by deGaffer
• Destination Azahar by deGaffer
• We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers by LughIldanach
• Victoria Per Scientiam by SGTStoner
• Wayward by Justin Radically
• Woolly Wilds 2 by starfiend

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