Ambassador Tobias

Good God, do I need a vacation. And I’m not talking about a vacation to the entertainment district for a week, I mean a vacation on Titan or some other luxury place where I could just turn off my communicator for a week before coming back. But being United Terra’s premier ambassador to those damn xenos, I, or anyone else on this ship, couldn’t afford a vacation. I rubbed my temples to ward off the migraine that I could feel forming in the back of my head. I reached into a drawer on my desk as I looked around my office. It was absolutely covered in trinkets and various gifts that I was given from the various nations of the world along with some of the things that I was given by the diplomats of aliens that had come to the Strength Through Diplomacy over the last three years.

Or at the very least the ones that I could fit into the room. I stared at the bright blue feather given to me by the delegate from the Cosholay almost exactly three years ago. Feathers were a big part of their culture, and giving one to a person was a sign that they considered you a good friend. While a good portion of the galactic community were wary of us with how secretive we were, they seemed to embrace us despite how we carried ourselves for the first few years of our interactions with them. Thank God for them.

I finally managed to fish out some of the pills and washed them down with the glass of bourbon that I had been nursing for the entire day. I looked over at the computer with the schedule for the rest of my day. Thank God I got done with all the meetings I had with United Terra’s leadership early. Everyone in those meetings were more than concerned about the general goings on outside of the Sol system, and the Strength Through Diplomacy was banned from going anywhere near there in the off chance that one of the xenos delegations had put a tracker on the ship somewhere. Fine by me, with how much security is ramping up, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that no one is allowed in and out of the system right now. I stared at my now empty glass and considered pouring myself another helping of the liquid. Unless something unexpected happens, I’ll just be a warm body in this seat until I go home.

And then my phone rang. “Son of a bitch, I didn’t even have time to knock on some wood!” I complained out loud as I lifted the receiver. “Ambassador Tobias,” I said in a professional voice.

The sound of my assistant came through the phone. “Sir,” he said, “the Cosholay delegate has requested to speak with you.”

I swore under my breath. “And why wasn’t I informed of this sooner?”

“Because the request came in just now, sir,” came the reply.

I gave a heavy sigh and rubbed my temples. “Alright, put them through, they’ve always made time for us, it would be a dick move of us to not do the same.”

“And would you like to take this in the mech or no?” he asked.

“No mech this time, we’ve lied to them for long enough. Just put it on screen.”

“I’ll let him know you’re ready.”

I nodded as I straightened my tie and ran a hand through my rapidly greying hair. If we have any more galactic incidents before I’m retired, I’m afraid I won’t have any hair left to smooth out. And why the hell do we still have ties? My train of thought was suddenly derailed by the appearance of the Cosholay ambassador on my holodisplay. I bowed my head deferentially. “Ambassador Micil, it’s good to see you again, even if it is just over holocall. What can I do for you?”

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Micil seemed to study me carefully with those piercing green eyes of his, his multicolored feather crest betraying the emotions that he was feeling right now. I could tell that he was hesitant to speak to me, but there was a great deal of sympathy written on his features. “In the wake of everything that has happened recently, I never had the opportunity to speak with you. How are you doing, Tobais?” he asked with genuine concern.

I gave a heavy sigh as I considered lying to him. No, he deserves the truth. “I have certainly had better days, that is for sure. With everything going on there’s no shortage of things to do. No less than two thirds of the species in the Galactic Community have made statements condemning the Yalayans and their warmongering.” I shook my head. “I just wish there was someone else that could fill in for me so that I can take a nice long vacation.”

“But no one else has the insight or experience that you have.” I looked up surprised to hear that. He chuckled, still studying me intently. “I would know because I’m in the same boat. No one else in the Hegemony understands Terrans quite like I do, and with the shut down of trade with United Terra, they’re looking for any insight they can find.” He paused for a moment before I felt the familiar ping of my pad going off. I looked down at it to see a file, sent directly from the Cosholayan.

I looked up curiously. “What is this?” I asked as I started skimming the document.

“That’s our statement about the situation. There is also a statement showing our solidarity with United Terra, and that we believe that, considering the outcry of certain groups in the Senate, you were justified in hiding some parts of your biology.”

I started to rub my temples again. There were rather vocal groups in the Senate that seemed to believe that since we lied as much as we did that we weren’t to be trusted in any way going forward. “That’s one way to put lying to the entirety of the galaxy for as long as we did. Why are you doing this? This is going to ruffle some feathers over in the Senate. Why sacrifice the reputation of your people for a group of aliens that you have only known for three years now?”

He was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. “Because if we don’t, then no one will.” He locked his eyes on me once more as he seemed to stare directly into my soul. “If there is one thing that Cosholayans cannot abide by, it’s those abusing their power to bully those they deem smaller than them. I never imagined that that would be so literal, but here we are,” he finished with a bit of a laugh.

I chuckled along with him. “I don’t think anyone could have seen that coming. When are you going to release this statement? I want United Terra to have a response ready for when you do so.”

He nodded in a very Terran way. “We were planning on releasing this in the next three hours, but we can hold off on it for you to prepare your statement.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “That will be plenty of time for us to draft up a statement. Thank you once again for being willing to stand with us like this. I’ll make sure that your people are rewarded for this.”

He moved his feathers in a dismissive fashion. “Think nothing of it. I know if the roles were reversed, you would do the same for my people.” He paused. “It was nice talking to you. Hopefully the next time that we speak will be in person.”

I nodded. “I look forward to the opportunity when it presents itself. Have a good day, Ambassador.”

“And to you as well.” The feed was suddenly cut, and I stared out into the office once again. Micil was definitely one of the good ones, unlike most of the other delegates that just cared about the profit margins and production lines of their nations.

I pushed the intercom button. “You called, sir?” came the voice of my secretary.

“Yes, get word to the merchant fleets that they can resume trade with the Cosholayans as soon as they are able, and make sure we’re giving them a steeper discount than what we’re giving everyone else. I don’t care if we start bleeding money from this venture.” I forwarded their statement over to him. “Also, get the writing department to make a statement on this, we have three hours before it goes live.” As my assistant wrote all of that down and told me he would take care of it, I leaned back in my chair and poured myself another glass of whiskey. So long as nothing else goes wrong, we should be able get through this.

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Alex

“Oh, shit.” I said aloud. “I think I might have a problem.”