.
Eight had to admit it - Daplona City was among the nicer locations he’d been assigned to work. As an ISB agent, his specialty had always been clandestine and foreign operations - and it meant that the agent was never at a loss for interesting and high-risk assignments. It typically involved sulking around war-torn planets and working directly with insurgency groups on the fringes of civilization, working from the background to further Imperial objectives.
But Ciutric IV - with a flourishing economy and marble-paved streets - couldn’t have been farther from assignments that Eight had taken in the past. Nevertheless, ISB had taken a keen interest in the planet all the same. The collapse of the Mandalorian Crusades - and the tentative Imperial Alliance with Nox Solus - had left a power vacuum in the region. It left entire star systems scrambling to reinstate democratic institutions and recover from years of occupations, and presented an opportunity for the Empire to capitalize.
Elections were underway across Ciutric IV - evident by the multitudes of political advertisements that flooded into the capital. The field had gradually narrowed over the preceding months, leaving only two serious contenders to the office with drastically different opinions on foreign policy for their homeworld. While some within the Empire advocated for military intervention to reassert dominance in the region, ISB had deployed agents to the planet in order to ‘assist’ the pro-Imperial candidate into office by destroying his rival.
As one of the most important planets in the region, neighboring systems like Axxila and Vandyne would inevitably alter their own foreign policy to match. It was the first step along a larger strategy to organically - diplomatically - re-integrate systems that had chosen to break away from the Empire. Moreover, represented the staggering difference in how ISB operated when compared to other Imperials.
And it was the reason that Ciphar Eight had been deployed to Daplona for roughly two weeks. In that short time, the agent had taken up work as a part time Spuber Driver - enabling him to conduct the groundwork necessary with every field operation. He’d gotten himself a room at a local hotel, familiarized himself with the city layout, and had followed the political campaigning from afar - only reaching out to ISB upon discovery of an upcoming fundraiser event, hosted from the candidates personal residence.
Knowing that his partner would be arriving before long, Eight finished up the complimentary breakfast that came with his room and sat in the lounge - enjoying the gentle music that played for guests. He wore a simple black suit-vest and dress pants, accompanied by a white-buttondown underneath. His wrist was adorned in a simple silver watch, drawing his gaze downward to check the time once more. Six would know where to rendezvous with her fellow ISB Agent and likely wouldn’t have trouble picking him out of the crowd.
@Sreeya