Jack of Harts

American Samoa is home to the Samoan flying fox, one of the many animal species uplifted by American gengineers for military service. They were chosen after an exhaustive search of character traits picked them as one of the bat species most optimal for working with humans. They are naturally monogamous in the wild, roost alone or in small family groups, and are curious and friendly when meeting new individuals. It was hoped that these natural tendencies towards forming small communities would make them more capable of forming bonds of loyalty with their human allies after the uplift process, and it worked. They are still shy but friendly, and you often find them sitting atop the shoulders of humans they’ve befriended. They serve primarily as organic scouts for ground units, and usually fly with the more aggressive uplifted falcons that protect them from other flying creatures who may think them an easy meal. Few things are as embarrassing to all involved as losing a highly trained flying fox recon specialist to a dumb eagle or other predator just canny enough to snatch him out of thin air after all. The vast majority of uplifted flying foxes not in military service live in Samoa, where they raise their own fruit trees and try to keep their less intelligent cousins from raiding trees belonging to other people. You sometimes see them traveling elsewhere in the Western Alliance, but they don’t like to bother other people, so are nowhere near as common as uplifted dogs and cats.