Stranger than FictionTruth could sometimes be stranger than fiction, though for
Rion Ayanami she was used to having to extract the truth from the fiction an operation usually accomplished by having the members of the unit she had command of do what they did best. But today's briefing was like none she'd ever been involved in. Sitting in her office she glanced over at where her colleague
Kayleigh Pryde was standing "Are we seriously doing this?" Rion asked
"Unbelievably yes." Kayleigh said "Weird isn't it? If she'd just said something..."
"She's just come out of university she's not used to the whole having someone following you around thing, she's not used to how we do things." Rion said
"One word, one week and we'd have been ready." Kayleigh said "And she goes and applies for... I don't even know what to call it, Hunger Games but the prize is marrying an Emperor?"
"Pretty much." Rion said "What are you doing with the security assignments?"
"Liam's taking over as primary on Evanthe while she's in Lodja so I've got Kyoko which keeps me in Pyrettania." Kayleigh said
"Ok." Rion said as there was a knock at the door "Come in."
Into the room walked two young women first
Catrin Waterstone followed by
Poppy Locklyn, they took a seat opposite Rion's desk.
"This is probably the weirdest thing I'm ever going to say to you." Rion said "Normally we'd be giving newly minted operatives such as yourselves your commissions, clearances and such, but..."
"But then Sophia Anselmo went and entered herself into the competition to be Empress of Neu Uburzis." Kayleigh said "This is both somewhat troublesome given our current responsibilities but also an opportunity considering certain other things."
"Sophia hasn't been assigned a CPA yet so, and this is where the weirdness comes in, we want you to enter the competitions yourselves we don't know what format this competition takes it could be anything and it could easily involve putting all the entrants in a building together where who knows what's going to happen so having you on the inside of it is what we want. You have two jobs keep an eye on Sophia that's your primary, your secondary if the opportunity arises is to investigate certain incidents around how Orion came to be Emperor."
"Keeping an eye on Sophia doesn't mean help her win." Kayleigh said "If one of you happens to win then this will be the only assignment you're ever given. Treat this as what it is, a contest and try to win it."
"Part of this is a background check which we're not worried about." Rion said "There's no paper trail to here, they'll find your university stuff, they'll find your high school stuff, they won't find stuff relevant to here, no intelligence sharing agreement and all that. Any questions?"
"Are you picking me because of my sexual preferences?" Poppy asked "A bisexual girl for a homosexual Emperor?"
"Maybe," Rion said "That's your advantage, this isn't about love it's about producing an heir and having a positive relationship with Orion, love's a bonus in that."
"Next move?" Catrin asked
"Get yourselves packed and ready to go." Rion said "Get to know Neu Uburzis a bit."
"So a paid holiday?" Poppy asked
"Something like that." Kayleigh said "Good luck."