"Spare no one. We can't take the risk."

Ione never found it easy to relate to people. It didn't make them nervous or self-conscious, nothing as commonplace as that. It was just hard and uncomfortable; it required a kind of careful song and dance that was irritating and difficult and opaque to understand, and made them feel useless.

They weren't good at it, and they liked - craved - being good at something.

So Ione gravitated to a lifestyle where the stakes were clear, the objectives obvious. Though some people saw the military as an unfeeling place, to Ione it was a sanctuary, a place where excellence could be rewarded, where things were simpler, where they could rise. A blessed relief.

So it was with becoming a Spectre. That was the ultimate role, Ione thought: To be able to serve a powerful authority like the Council, being trusted with missions where ruthlessness and efficiency were rewarded, where unique tools would be at their disposal.

Where all that mattered was completing the objective.