Frances Coen was a Third Echelon Field Runner stationed in East Asia, mainly Japan. She was Sam Fisher's main Field Runner following the death of Fisher's previous Field Runner, Vernon Wilkes, Jr. in 2004. She remained as Sam Fisher's Field Runner until at least some point in 2007, where she was replaced by William Redding and stationed back in Japan.

Biography

2004: Georgian Information Crisis

Frances Coen was the replacement field runner for Splinter Cell agent Sam Fisher. Fisher's previous field runner, Vernon Wilkes, Jr., was mortally wounded in a shootout with Russian mercenaries on the roof of the Kalinatek building in Langley, Virginia during the Georgian Information Crisis. Coen's first mission with Fisher was during their first infiltration of the Chinese Embassy to Myanmar. Coen was responsible for Fisher's insertion and subsequent extraction from the embassy grounds, and allowed Fisher to infiltrate Mouke Tsoe Bo Meats where US soldiers held prisoner by Kombayn Nikoladze were nearly executed. Coen then enabled Sam to infiltrate the embassy a second time to retrieve evidence that the personnel there were supporting the Georgians without the PRC's knowledge or support.

From the conversation Fisher has with Coen prior to their first mission at the embassy, he still feels frustrated, perhaps responsible, for Wilkes' death.

2006: Operation Barracuda/MRUUV Incident

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2006: Indonesia Crisis/Biological Warfare

Coen continued to serve as Fisher's field runner in 2006 when conflict broke out in Indonesia over the sovereignty of East Timor. Coen retrieved Sam from the US Embassy to Dili, which had been seized by militants of the Darah Dan Doa. Fisher and Coen then pursued Norman Soth, a rogue CIA agent aligned with the guerrillas to France where they learned he was en route to Jerusalem to retrieve a biological weapon on behalf of his Indonesian allies. During the mission, Coen expressed enthusiasm for finally having come to Israel. To this, Fisher promised to retrieve a postcard for her if he happened to come upon any.

Coen traveled back to Indonesia to aid Fisher in his pursuit of Suhadi Sadono, the leader of the Darah Dan Doa. After foiling the terrorist leader's plans to unleash smallpox upon the American population, Coen and Fisher traveled to Jakarta to capture Sadono. Prior to the mission, Coen expressed her misgivings regarding Ingrid Karlthson, a CIA agent who had earned Sadono's trust. She warned Fisher not to trust her too much, as she had correctly anticipated the betrayal of Shin Bet agent Dahlia Tal in Jerusalem. After Sadono was captured with Karlthson's help, Coen returned with Fisher back to the United States.

Upon receiving word that Norman Soth was stateside with the last smallpox-armed ND133 in his possession, Coen raced to Los Angeles International Airport so that Fisher could prevent him from detonating the device inside the terminal. Soth was dispatched and Coen retrieved Sam after the device was destroyed by the LAPD.

2007: East Asian Crisis

Coen was active during the East Asian Crisis in 2007, when she had been stationed in Japan to monitor the activities of a Yakuza organization known as the Red Nishin. When Fisher was asked to tap three telephone lines in a Japanese bathhouse in Tokyo to aid Coen in this, he replies, "For Frances... of course I can." After tapping the telephone lines, William Redding tells Sam that Coen shares her thanks, and Sam replies, "Tell her it was my pleasure."

2009: The Fisher Investigation

After completing the game, the game will reward the player with 3 bonus missions. One of them is the Hesperia Railways, Paris-Nice France train. The other one is the Herion Refinery, Kundang Indonesia and the last one is Jakarta Indonesia. In the last bonus mission coen appears, like in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. She is appeared at the beggining of the mission.

Profile

As a Third Echelon Field Runner, Frances Coen's primary duties involved delivering Sam Fisher into the mission, as well as extracting him after the mission was complete. Held with the position of delivering Fisher, it is shown that she shows remarkable skills driving vehicles as she is able to park an SUV next to a wall during a mission at LAX International Airport in Los Angeles, California. Before missions, Fisher has the opportunity to talk with Coen and provide good-humored banter and additional information regarding the mission. She and Sam Fisher got along real well following additional missions, with her pointing it out before the Paris-Nice, France mission. It is shown that she is Jewish, as she mentions to Sam that her mother always wanted her 'to make the pilgrimage' to Jerusalem in Israel.

Trivia

• In the timeframe of the novel Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda (c. 2006), Sam initially resented being forced to work with Coen to track down The Shop , and was initially against the Field Runner program entirely. This may have been due to the Splinter Cell program losing several of its agents, having lost three to four Splinter Cells in the previous year, 2005,^[1] as well as Sam himself losing his first field runner, Vernon Wilkes, Jr., just over a year before (2004, though this is not mentioned in the story). He had previously been working solo during 2005 (Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (novel)) without the use of field runners and was concerned for Coen's safety, worrying what would happen to her if she was captured and tortured.^[2] By the end, however, he warms up to her considerably and is glad to be working with her.
• Coen is described as having "a large scar on the side of her neck that disappears into her collar." It doesn't appear in her character model in the games.
• It is revealed that Coen is Jewish in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow.
• She is also possibly a lesbian. In Pandora Tomorrow outside of the TV Station in Jakarta, Indonesia, Fisher states that he gets the feeling she doesn't like women to which she responds: "Like isn't the word, but don't ask me about it and I wont tell you." This may be a reference to the former "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.
• The last Splinter Cell title that Frances Coen appears in is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, but is mentioned in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

References