This planet is actually a pretty good neighbour. I checked their history while I was hiding from the crowd, and they've basically never waged an aggressive war. When they were attacked, they kept the door open for negotiations almost constantly. On the two occasions they were forced to fight a war to its conclusion, they were reasonably generous with the defeated party and have good relations with both worlds now.
So with the Reach properly intimidated, this is going to be pretty easy. I mean, I doubt that Yuna will intervene on our side unless I use mind control, but-.
Well... That's a pretty good track record. It's impressive that they're so restrained in wartime. Then again, he's going off their records, and, after all, history is written by the victors...
My ring blinks.
"Lantern Drusa to Illustres."
Ah, how went the trolling, student?
I smile at her construct image.
"What news?"
"I think that it worked."
Huzzah! I do hope you dropped some suitably OL-worthy burns, though. He has a
reputation to uphold.
"Good show. Did they say anything interesting?"
"They put some sort of nanite in the fruit juice they gave me to drink. I scanned it and destroyed it."
And discreetly called them out on it, I do hope? Wonder if they intended it as a control method or an assassination play? Not that it would have worked, and they should have
known that...
Bad-guys gonna bad-guy...
"Naughty of them. Anything else?"
"I could have given the mercantilist speech their negotiator gave me myself."
That unimaginative, eh? A pity you couldn't look deeper via Empathic Vision, but they probably had shielding against that anyway...
"I suppose that after all this time, it would be a bit much to expect them to change radically for our benefit."
"I took off the illusion charm somewhere where they might notice that I wasn't you."
Oh, boy. That'll set the Reach to confused counter-plotting.
Hm. That's… It would be a little awkward if I somehow managed to fail to achieve Dox's mission by tricking the Reach too hard. But it should produce amusing results at some point, and even if it doesn't I can clear that up before I leave.
"Good initiative. Did you find the experience satisfying?"
The chance to mess with people without incriminating her own face? Who
wouldn't?
She nods.
"I did."
"Do you want to sit in for me in this next meeting as well?"
I suspect once is enough.
"No. There are too many potential variables for me to predict how you would respond."
"But do you want to?"
Oh, dear. Trying to convert her to the trolling side?
"Yes. If I thought that I could do it successfully."
"Well, we'll-"
Incoming transmission.
Betting that'll be the diplomats he was trying to get the attention of.
"-see. One moment, I have another call." I generate a phone construct. "Illustres here."
"My lord, representatives of the Yuna government are seeking a meeting with you. Somewhat urgently."
Yep, there we are. Amazing how effective a little poking the bad guys can be sometimes.
I smile. "Thank you, captain. Please tell them I'll be with them momentarily."
"My-? Ah, yes, my lord."
Heh. The Captain doesn't know about greediporting, does he? This will be
entertaining.
I cut the connection. "Lantern Drusa, please come to the location I'll be in a minutes from now at your earliest convenience. No massive rush."
"And if the Reach are following me?"
"Do whatever amuses you."
"Excellent. I have quite a few
ideas, courtesy of copying you."
I wave my left hand, cutting the connection. And then I unfocus as I look at the entirety of this planet's civilisation. Who urgently wants a meeting with me? There and there, but that's just the people who want the meeting to happen, and therefore are senior to the people who are supposed to be taking the meeting. Who are probably less panicked because they don't get full intelligence briefings quite as fast…
I step out
And reappear in the room with them.
Yeah, no need to poke the higher-ups..
yet. Don't know how their health is, after all. No need to go giving them heart attacks.
"…shortly. Ah, there he is now."
The captain nods through the monitor and one of the more on the ball civil servants turns around, a mild greening of her skin marking the point where she sees me.
Yeah, green is definitely their 'shock/concern' tell. Good to have that confirmed.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, captain."
The screen shuts down as the rest of the government team adjust themselves, straightening eye protectors and tracksuits.
"Did you just.. teleport..?"
...Okay, I'm guessing their eyes have a wider field of vision than a Human's, and presumably the blinkers include things like display screens, as if they were an awkwardly designed Google Glass.
"As a diplomatic official, I was able to apply for an expedited licence." I spot the tracksuit decoration indicating the Department of Diplomatic Affairs, and make eye contact with the wearer. "Thank you, your people were most helpful."
A group of five. Four of them are gyuanite, with the fifth being torcite. Narrowly humanoid silicoids, this one is four feet tall, four feet wide and made of what looks like rock. It's actually a lot more sophisticated than that, being able to move on certain planes without cracking or bending.
...Why am I picturing the LEGO Rock Raiders'
stone creatures now?
I don't care
what you say they look like, I'll stick with that image.
Let's see: Diplomatic Affairs, Defence Force, Trade, Public Order and High Council's Office. About what I'd expect. HCO has seniority by default-.
She smiles and gestures to the table. "Shall we sit?"
"Thank you."
Good to see they're good at recovering from shocks. Down to business, then.
The table is round, with a holopit in the central space. The chair's proportions are a little off for me, but they're designed to be able to cope with a variety of morphologies and it's certainly not uncomfortable. They sit down as well; the gyuanites' chairs shifting slightly so that their heads are at the same height as mine despite them being taller, while the torcite's chair does the opposite. HCO pulls a couple of datapads over to her and glances at the for a moment before returning her attention to me.
Clever design, to promote a feeling of equality, no doubt. Now, how best to get what you want from them...
"You're not bringing a staff with you?"
"Lantern Drusa may be popping along later, but it isn't as if this is particularly complicated. Particularly at the level of introductory talks."
Besides, a Power Ring is all the staff he needs. Personal assistant, research team and security staff all in one...
"Ah. Well, alright then. You.. told our representative that your.. objective was… To be 'friends'?"
"We'd like to maintain our existing trading relationship with Yuna, and all secondary trading partners thereafter. And by 'we' I mean all present and future members of the N.E.M.O. military alliance. While I'm sure that our side would be happy if you began acting against the Reach…" I shrug. "That's not really a big deal for us. I've familiarised myself with enough of your history to know that you're happiest not taking sides in that sort of conflict and I'm happy for that to be true in this case as well."
Definitely getting a Venice vibe from them. Avoiding ticking off the bigger groups around them, while making lots of money from trading.
The DF's torcite representative straightens slightly.
"You do not intend to ask us to join N.E.M.O.?"
Well, if you want to, you're welcome to... Although that
would draw the Reach's ire...
I shrug again. "If you want to, you can, but anyone with a passing familiarity with your history should realise how unlikely that is. Though, ah…" I chuckle. "If you were expecting me to try that as an opening position…" I shake my head. "That 'plots for the sake of plotting' nonsense confuses and frustrates me. I'd rather just give it to you straight. So is there..? Something you want to ask me?"
Ah, the joy of a reasonable diplomat. "Oh, minimal chance of convincing them to join us? That's alright. I'll just spook them into not joining our enemy either."
