Subject: Hmm.
Author:
Posted on: 2013-12-20 09:15:00 UTC
Have you got a source for that? The only thing that springs to mind - other than J&A not being allowed to use portals in-mission, which obviously is no longer the case - is Vemi's Tale, in which she goes home on a vacation. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you - just asking.
SIELU: well, partly it's in the name. ;) The 'Special' implies something is different about them, and the 'Interdepartmental' suggests - to me - that they (mostly) operate as specialists, moving between departments.
Then, there's Lambda's website. Specifically, the Lambda's Office section is described on the homepage with 'When not on a mission, Agent Lambda sorts papers in her office, and sometimes writes'. That's already suggesting the 'more downtime than you'd expect' part.
Then, there's the missions themselves. I realise we have a sample size of two, but her first assignment (and it is her first) is the one which she tackles by herself. Her second recorded mission (it does seem to be her second), she gets sent to the DI, with no suggestion that this is unusual. I like to imagine the Poison Ivy expected her to just know she was supposed to wait for a partner the first time, only to discover that no, she needs outright telling.
(Her second mission tells us there's a Sunflower in the Weeds. Fascinating)
Finally, in one of my in-progress missions, Agent Huinesoron - who's filling the 'specialist' role with DOGA right now - gets to work with someone who has a habit of asking for specialist partners. She mentions DMFF, DTE, DOGA, DOOCH (heh), SIELU, DTO... of course, she also (used to) call for help from DMS, DBS and the like, but they stopped listening. ;) I picture a lot of the smaller, specialised departments having specialists on staff - un-partnered agents who get farmed out when needed. Whether they're specifically employed for that purpose (like Lambda), or just perpetually between partners (Huinesoron) depends on the agent and department.
hS