Chapter 8, part 3
“This is certainly an impressive array of abilities.” Commander Summers said with a steady voice despite the clear expression of shock that Shadowcloud could see on his face. “Do all Loroi diplomats have such… potent telekinetic abilities?”
“No, quite the contrary, the vast majority of the Mizol caste which is tasked with the diplomatic and intelligence affairs of the Loroi Union are either non telekinetics or too weak to pose a physical threat. Telekinetics such as myself are rare among my caste and are sent to negotiate only with species that are known for their physical strength and temperamental instability.” She replied truthfully while pondering if the human was hiding something. From the moment she saw him it felt like he was uncomfortable about something; perhaps she would be able to have him tell something that he didn’t want to, if this conversation went on for long enough.
“Physical strength and temperamental instability?” Commander Summers asked.
“Yes, there are some species that are physically imposing and aggressive. Two member species of the Union, the Delrias and the Barsam fill this category. Both are known for their overwhelming physical strength and the natural temper. The Barsam to a lesser degree now with their pacifist and religious ways but the Delrias are troublesome to work with. They are carnivorous with a well known tendency for inter personal violence and aggression. Having strong telekinetics at hand to restrain them is standard procedure when conversing with their appointed delegates. Of course most of their delegates have been carefully selected but sometimes some of them can be troublesome. Personally I have been sent to delegate mostly with Delrias and a couple of Barsams who were know for their temperament.”
“How strong are these two species that would warrant such… precautions?” Commander Summers asked full of curiosity.
“Strong, the Delrias are almost 3 mannals tall and with a strength to match while the Barsam three and a half mannals tall and far stronger than the Delrias. If I was to compare them with Lieutenant Allerberger I would say that the Delrias are slightly more massive than him and the Barsam are twice as massive as he is.”
“They sound dangerous.” Lieutenant Allerberger commented as he and Commander Summers looked at each other in shocked disbelief.
“They are.”
“We appreciate you telling us about your…abilities.” Commander Summers begun after some thought. Obviously trying to find a way to say what he wanted to say as diplomatically as possible. “If I understand them correctly, these abilities are as much part of you as your hands and legs are.”
“That’s the way it is, we can’t shut them off or disable them in any way other than knocking the user unconscious.” The human’s expression peaked her interest into what he was about to say.
“I understand. However it has to be said that future diplomatic contacts between our governments will run far smoother if your representatives and their honor guard are not perceived as threats due to their potent telekinetic abilities.” The way he put it was genuinely surprising.
“That is understandable and I will make sure that my colleagues are properly briefed when I come in contact with them.”
“And I will inform my superiors that the subject has been raised by us and that you have understood our concerns.”
“Of course.” It was obvious that their diplomats would have reservations of conversing with someone who could kill them with telekinesis, all of the aliens had these reservations and in fact the same was true with the Loroi themselves. They didn’t demand that telekinetics be barred from negotiations, which is what will be formally agreed on when negotiations on a higher level will begin, something that always happened, but they politely informed the representatives of the Union they had in front of them about it and now it was up to the Union to respect this wish and show goodwill towards them or to ignore it and show something else entirely. It left the weight of goodwill on the matter completely on the Loroi side and she couldn’t find this anything but impressive.
“With what you said in mind, would it put your mind at ease if I took off my amplifier?” She asked knowing full well that they would more than appreciate it now that they knew what it was.
“It would certainly help.” Commander Summers replied and all of the humans visibly relaxed as she did so. Normally she wouldn’t even wear it in such a meeting but there were still too many unknowns about these humans and she wanted to see how they would react when they would learn what it was and how they would try to convince her to take it off. She was prepared to take it off as a gesture of goodwill depending on how they would go about it but now she saw no reason to play that game since they demonstrated reasonable diplomatic decorum and if she read them well enough the per-emptive gesture would help open them up a little.
“Thunderspear, I need you to hold my amplifier until this meeting is over.” She sent to Thunderspear who stood guard outside with Longblade.
“What? Why? Why not Longblade?” The Teidar replied.
“Because she didn’t forget to keep hers with her at all times!”
“But she is the young one, those like her are the ones who flay the miros.” Thunderspear protested.
“I am sure that you holding my amplifier for some time will help you remember yours in the future.”
“Fine.” With that Thunderspear opened the door, drawing questioning looks from the humans as she walked up to Shadowcloud who gave her the amplifier to hold.
“How goes the treatment of Soroin Torret Darkwing?” Shadowcloud sent to Doranzer Needle as Thunderspear walked out of the room.
“It goes well, her regeneration is almost complete and we will start the post op physical examination soon.” The Doranzer replied.
“Good, inform me when she is ready.” Shadowcloud replied and barely held back a smile as she sensed Longblade’s amusement.
“The captain of the ship is still being treated, until she is ready I would like for us to ask and answer each other any questions we may have.” Shadowcloud said and all of the humans visibly perked up at that.
“Of course but you must understand that we are not authorized to divulge sensitive information. I imagine that the same applies to you as well.” Commander Summers replied.
“I understand, I only wish for us to better understand each other.” Shadowcloud replied and thought of what to ask first. “In your greeting you said that you represent the Terran Colonial Authority on behalf of the six worlds of humanity. Does this authority represent the entirety of humanity?”
“Yes, the TCA represents all human nations with space faring capabilities while the overwhelming majority of the remaining nations are either affiliates or observers. The TCA is also the sole organization allowed to field military spacecraft that are capable of faster than light travel.” Commander Summers replied with what felt like a stock response.
“That will certainly prove advantageous to you in any future negotiations.” Shadowcloud commented and the human nodded in response.
“The Orgus refugees have informed us that your form of governance is Imperial, is this correct?” He asked in return.
“Partially, we do have an Emperor and we sometimes refer to the Union as an Empire but that’s not an accurate way of describing our government. The Emperor is elected by the members of the Diadem which is a council made up by the highest ranking members of the Torrai caste, our leadership caste that is made up from those warriors who have proven themselves capable to rise above their own castes. The Emperor is primarily a military leader who has a wide range of powers at her disposal. Most of the lawmaking regarding the day to day workings of the Union falls into the jurisdiction of the representative Assembly in which all species that are members of the Union are represented one way or the other. In times of peace the Assembly guides and the Emperor executes, in times of war the Emperor leads and the Assemble obeys.” Shadowcloud replied, knowing full well that this was not the full picture and that some uncomfortable details were hidden.
“That is far more benign than what we were lead to believe.” Commander Summers replied.
“We know that Umiak propaganda is far reaching and that it is able to easily sway those who have never come in contact with us.” Shadowcloud commented as she thought about what to ask next. She already got what she needed to know about their organization and knew that since it represented all of their space faring nations and was their sole military arm then it was obvious that designated representatives of this authority would be able to legally bound humanity into a treaty. “I would like to know about your mission and what your objectives are.”
“We were informed by the Orgus refugees of the war between the Loroi Union and the Umiak Hierarchy as well as the fact that both sides refused to recognize the right of neutrality for other races. Our leaders wished to find out more about the two combatants and their outlook towards humanity in order to make a well informed decision on the matter since neutrality is not an option.” Commander Summers replied with another stock like response.
“That is… prudent of your leadership.” She felt Sulfur next to her tense at that.
“This isn’t their war Listel; neither we or the Shells would even know about them until the war would reach their territory.”
“I understand.” The Listel sent in return even if she didn’t like it. She knew that the young ones tended to see things in black and white instead of the grey they are so she let the Listel’s apprehension go for the time being.
“I am glad that you understand…” Commander Summers paused in thought for a few moments before asking his next question. “I would like to know more about your rank and position , Mizol Torimor Shadowcloud.”
“I am a Mizol, which is the Sentinel warrior caste and we are primarily focused on diplomacy and intelligence gathering, both internal and external. Torimor is the highest rank within the Mizol caste and literally translates to ambassador; however those with this rank cover a wide range of activities and have many responsibilities. I am primarily an intelligence officer and it has been some time since I took part in official negotiations.”
“I understand.” Commander Summers replied while nodding.
“Some say that the diplomatic corp being also the intelligence corp is a sign of inherent dishonesty.” Shadowcloud added at that.
“It is widely known that human diplomats work in a similar way. Covert information gathering by diplomats is tolerated up to a degree. This tolerance helps build up trust between nations since hiding everything brings forth in depth scrutiny by everyone who might want to find out what the other side is trying to hide so hard.” Commander Summers replied.
“I imagine that there are some boundaries that are respected.” Shadowcloud commented.
“Of course, some secrets need to be kept even from one’s closest allies and certain logical boundaries need to be respected and abided by for continuous good relations and cooperation.”
“That’s a pragmatic way of doing things and one that my caste can relate to and respect.” Which was true as far as the Mizol were concerned. If that was the way the humans played their games then the Mizol shouldn’t have much trouble dealing with them even when taking their Lotai into consideration. “I have noticed the difference between your uniforms and the uniform worn by Lieutenant Allerberger. Is there a special meaning in these differences? Like a different caste or warrior branch?”
“We belong to different branches of the TCA military and our uniforms are designed to show that.” Commander Summers begun full of pride. “I and my team belong to the Scout corps, a tight knit and elite branch of the TCA, tasked with space exploration, cartography and first contact with alien civilizations in case we run into one when exploring. Although we are considered a military outfit we see ourselves as the inheritors of the pioneering spirit human explorers have shown throughout our history. Our uniforms are blue in order to honor the sea explorers of antiquity and to remind everyone that we follow their footsteps with the only difference being that our sea is the infinity of space. The patches on our uniforms are a tradition held from the first space explorers centuries ago while the golden stripes and turtleneck are a constant reminder of the high standards that we are expected to abide by.”
“That is an excellent abstract way to present your status.” Shadowcloud commented.
“The other branches of the TCA see things differently.” Commander Summers said as he nodded to Lieutenant Allerberger.
“That’s one way for the boy scouts to say that they consider themselves higher than the others for no reason at all.” Lieutenant Allerberger commented and Shadowcloud couldn’t help but smile at that, it was good to see some understandable rivalry between two different warrior branches. “The TCA marines serve as the ground and ship borne martial arm of the TCA. Our uniform represents the conflicting duality of our mission. Pure white for our legs to show the noble intention of maintaining the peace in space and black for our body for the perils that exist in the infinity of space and the struggles that are necessary in order for peace to be maintained. The trident is our badge, a reminder of our roots to the naval marines of old.” Lieutenant Allerberger then patted the single star at the top of his left shoulder with his right hand. “This is my rank insignia and these...” He patted the numerous ribbons that decorated his chest. “These are my award ribbons that commemorate my military career.”
“I guess that each has a special meaning?”
“Yes they have. Ribbons have to be placed in a predefined order of precedence based on the tier and importance of each given award. The lowest tier of awards are for showing excellence in training.” Lieutenant Allerberger pointed at some of the ribbons at the two bottom rows, five ribbons in total. “The next tier is for participation in military campaigns.” He said as he touched the next four ribbons. “Which are followed by unit awards” He pointed the next three ribbons. “Which are then followed by personal combat awards.” He finished as he pointed the last three of his awards.
“I see that you didn’t have a peaceful career.” Shadowcloud commented.
“Humanity is a… rowdy species.” Lieutenant Allerberger replied.
“I see… I take it that the Scout corps has a different tradition with its awards?” She asked Commander Summers.
“That’s accurate. Due to the nature of our mission the vast majority of our awards are unit awards and as such only the Captain of each vessel is allowed to wear award ribbons on most occasions. We also don’t wear our rank insignia for traditional reasons.”
“Mizol Torimor Shadowcloud. Soroin Torret Darkwing has been fully healed without any issues and she is on her way.” Doranzer Needle sent to her.
“How is her mind?”
“She is… angry.”
“Understood.” Spreading her mind a little she kept her attention to Darkwing as she walked towards the small conference room, quickly realizing that she didn’t have much time before she got there.
“I have just been informed that the commander of this vessel is on her way. Do you have any last questions?” Shadowcloud said to the humans.
“Yes.” Commander Summers replied. “It’s obvious to us that your armors hold a special cultural meaning. Do you always wear them?”
“Not always but most of the time. Our armors are proof of our status as warriors and the caste which we belong. We have to wear them when on duty and in public but we can take them off when we are relaxing among friends and fellow caste mates.” She replied.
“That’s different from the way we do things. We only wear armors when on duty and only for specific tasks. Wearing them in any other situation would be seen as expecting trouble or looking to cause it.” Lieutenant Allerberger commented.
“That is understandable but as you said our armors are very important to us and we don’t like to part with them.” She said with a forced steady voice.
“We were just curious about them from a cultural point of view.” Commander Summers added hastily. “Do the colors of your armor represent something in particular or have some sort of meaning?”
“Unlike your uniforms our armors don’t show anything personal about us beyond our caste and rank. But as anyone can guess each caste has a special meaning behind their chosen colors. The colors of my caste, the Mizol, represent Perrein, the planet from which the caste originated. Perrein is a lush jungle world with trees tall and thick enough that can completely block off the sun for those beneath them. The green plates represent the trees and the gray ones represent the shadow world beneath them where the Perrein Loroi live their lives. A constant reminder of where we come from and what type of conflict we specialize in.”
Shadowcloud sensed that Darkwing had almost reached them, the Soroin’s anger so palpable that she couldn’t hold back a sigh. She reassured herself with the thought that she could work with an angry Soroin far better than with a mentally broken one.
Chapter 9, part 1:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 455#p19455