Two Is Company, Three Is a Liability
Posted on 2025, Fri Aug 8th, @ 9:26pm by Lieutenant Ariana Tessaro
324 words; about a 2 minute read
Mission:
Episode 1A "Shadows of the Empire"
Location: Rome
Timeline: Prior to recall
The second meeting wasn’t planned.
Which, in Ariana’s world, meant it was already off balance.
She sat in the far corner of the dimly lit café, one hand wrapped around an espresso cup she’d barely touched. Her contact — the same pale-eyed man from the fig tree rendezvous — leaned in, lowering his voice as the waiter passed.
“You need another set of hands,” he said. “Someone who can move without your badge showing.”
“I work better alone,” Ariana replied flatly.
“You think you do. But you’re going to hit walls. ‘Argent’ isn’t something you sift through by yourself — too many encrypted silos, too many eyes. One person keeps things quiet. Two gets things done.”
Ariana’s jaw flexed. “And three gets you caught.”
He smiled faintly. “Not if the third is invisible.”
She hated that he had a point. She also hated the flicker of names that flashed unbidden through her mind. People she trusted to follow orders. People she trusted not to ask the wrong questions. People she shouldn’t involve.
Corin? No. Too visible. Too careful.
Rysell? Not her problem to solve.
T’Vera? Absolutely not.
Juno? … reckless, but adaptable.
Voss? Has the skills, but carries his own baggage.
The contact watched her in silence, as if he could read the mental roster scrolling behind her eyes. “Pick carefully. And soon. This window doesn’t stay open long.”
“And if I say no?” she asked.
“Then when it slams shut, you’ll be locked out with the rest of them. And they will finish what you started.”
The waiter returned with the check. Ariana slid enough credits to cover them both and rose without another word.
The man didn’t follow. But his words did — all the way back to her rented flat, where she lay awake staring at the ceiling, trying to decide if the risk of bringing someone in outweighed the risk of facing ‘Argent’ alone.
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