Becoming an Ashes Agent meant sacrificing one's future freedom, wealth, every kind of power, and even one's life.
Everything was devoted to the Empire and the emperor. Even in death, honor and achievements would endure.
Selection for Ashes Agents was extremely strict. Candidates had to undergo both code and psionic screening to ensure absolute loyalty to the Empire and the emperor. Once someone became an agent, they were dedicating the rest of their life to the nation.
This differed from the previous social structure. After ascension was completed, the concept of family was abolished, leaving every individual alone, without vulnerabilities.
After someone became an agent, Ashes subjected the new recruit to prolonged loyalty education before applying a Thought Imprint, ensuring that they would remain loyal even if the Thought Imprint was accidentally erased.
Next, Ashes Agents began learning the various skills of their trade. This was extremely simple: knowledge only had to be injected into their consciousness through a server for them to learn it permanently. A few rounds of field experience afterward would make them excellent agents.
In reality, however, most agents received only the most basic training before returning to society undercover, monitoring every development within the Empire. Unless something unusual happened, their entire lives would pass uneventfully.
But whenever instability arose within the nation, those undercover agents could swiftly stabilize the situation.
Agents involved in foreign operations were very different.
Under the leadership of Kai Sha, head of Ashes' foreign affairs department, the Ashes Organization built a tightly woven intelligence network spanning the galaxy. By investing vast sums of money, it ensured that the Empire could obtain intelligence from across the universe at any time.
Besides recruiting informants among aliens, the Empire also trained large numbers of elite agents of its own.
Unlike domestic agents, these agents