Versions of Diplomacy

Sino Naite had only been in the city two days and he already hated it.  It was hot, the people annoyed him, and the entrenched bureaucracy annoyed him even more.  Still, he had to admit, this was entirely his fault.  He'd been the one to jump at the chance of getting a mission far, far away from his office.  It'd been too long since he'd been able to command a skimmer.  It'd been far too long since he'd been able to get personally involved in anything, in fact.  And this mission was perfect.  A single officer, working undercover, with orders to cause some damage to the existing authority and political structure.  It appealed to him.  The climate, however, did not.  He didn't discover this until after it was too late.

So he spent most of his time near the docks.  This was fine with him.  In fact, it was even preferable.  There were other officers within the city that worked with the government and acted as contacts for him.  He had met with them already and would meet with them again in a couple more days – carefully.  After all, he was undercover at the moment and they were not.  It wouldn't do to let any of the Swerthian officials know that there was a third Cadre officer within the city that they didn't know about.  Especially not with orders like the ones he currently had.  Sino grinned and leaned against the crumbling brick of a nearby building.  It was like the entire city was disintegrating in protest to the dry heat and pieces flaked off as his shoulder brushed against the dusty stone.  At least near the harbor he could tempt in some sea breeze that would help with the heat.

Sino had done his best to blend in with the local population.  He wore their clothing – light fabrics that covered most of the skin to protect against sunburn – and a distinct touch of Swerthian background somewhere in his family lineage helped complete the image.  It gave him the tendency to tan rather than burn and put some red into his dark hair, just enough so that he could easily pass for a Swerthian.  The accent was the only giveaway but there were plenty of Swerthians that had been born and raised partially in Alannis before returning here.  They weren't looked upon too fondly, of course, but that was also why Sino carried his rapier openly.

The heat was enough to make Sino want to get this mission over quickly, no matter how nice it was to be out of the capital and away from his desk.  So when opportunity marched past him, grumbling loudly, he couldn't resist following.

The two were talking in Swerthian but thankfully Sino had decided to go ahead and learn that as his second language while in the Academy.  It was a good move too, as otherwise he wouldn't have been allowed on this mission.  It was that or one of the difficult languages – Skiridian or even worse: High Elven.  

Sino got a look at the pair before they walked by and had to hide a smile at the bleeding and puffed-up lip of the shorter of the two.  And the fact that both of them were drenched and smelled of salt in their nice, proper, port authority uniforms.

"…that constituted assault," one of them was saying.  Sino sniffed softly and caught the faint smell of ‘mancy.  The other one.  The short one.

"So we'll just report it and let foreign relations deal with it," the ‘mancer said, annoyed.  He seemed to be having trouble talking without slurring.

"Two ‘mancers, right?"

"The captain and that other boy.  The one that threw you over."

The official growled.

"Fine.  I'll handle this from here – we'll have the guards on them in no time and I'll drop a couple words to get the fine for harboring slaves pushed up to something ridiculous as revenge.   You go home and see to that busted lip."

"Thanks.  Wretched Alannians."

And the two parted ways.  The official hurried on towards the interior of the city, where all the political offices were located.  The ‘mancer stopped where he was and looked around to get his bearings.  He didn't have a chance to pick a direction before Sino grabbed the collar of his shirt and hauled him into the nearest alleyway.  It was a neat and fast maneuver and he didn't give the man a chance to yell for help, just slammed him against the wall, one fist buried in between the man's collarbones and the other with a knife out and the tip resting on his cheek, just below the right eye.

"Hi," Sino said cheerily, "I recognize you.  You're one of those dogs the slavers have sent out to sniff out anyone with a slave-mark on incoming or outgoing skimmers, right?"

"This is-!"

"Assault, I know.  Getting familiar with the term today, are we?"  And Sino pulled him away from the wall to give him enough room to slam him against it again, knocking all the breath out of the man's lungs and cracking the back of his head against the brick.  The ‘mancer reeled.

"So what did you find?  Hrm?"

"Who the hell are you?" the ‘mancer snarled through gritted teeth.

There were a number of officials like these that boarded skimmers for the express purpose of finding escaped slaves.  Sino had made sure to find out who they all were the first day he arrived in Swerthia.  That night he'd figured out how to break into their houses and take a peek at their records whenever he needed to.

"See, you're not grasping the situation here," Sino replied calmly, "If you don't tell me what you found I start removing bits of your face, starting with the eyes.  And don't even hope for someone stopping to help because let's be honest – this is the harbor.  And I'm a far better ‘mancer than you.  So.  Is your job worth dying for?"

The man swallowed hard, his eyes tracking on the blade that Sino was casually rolling across his cheek.

"Alannian skimmer," he finally blurted out, "Called Langley's Ark.  We were to let it in without trouble, don't ask any questions about the cargo, but we gotta check for escaped slaves, see?  New laws, see?"

"And fattens your paycheck when you find any.  Found one?"

"Said he was Alannian-born," the man replied sullenly, "But he's got the mark."

"And what does your friend plan to do about this?" Sino's voice had gone cold quiet and this made the ‘mancer even more frightened than he already was.  It was as if the alleyway had turned into ice despite the blazing dry heat.

"Report it to the authorities.  They'll go arrest the man and that'll be that.  Slavers get him back, captain pays fine, done."

Sino could fill in the gaps just fine.  It'd happened before, according to his contacts.  Alannian law claimed Swerthian slaves as citizens after a period of residency.  Swerthia refused to recognize this and would confiscate anyone who came near their continent with a slave-mark on them.  The irate captain would then have to pay a hefty fine and then an even heftier bribe to get their crewman back – if they were able to do that at all.  The usual situation.  The very usual situation that Alannis was tired of.  This was too perfect.  Time to make a mess of things.

"So what's the name of the captain?"

"Uh, Stormrider something."

Even better.

"Wonderful.  You've been ever so helpful," Sino said and then punched the dagger into the ribcage, covering the man's mouth with the other to hide his dying cry.  Once the body went limp Sino let it drop to the ground, kicked it aside, and sliced his belt purse off and tucked it in his own pocket.  Might as well make them think it was a simple mugging for now – that'd give him enough time to cause some chaos before they started to catch on.  And by then, they'd have enough trouble on their hands to make them consider taking his fellow Cadre officers firm suggestions to abide by the Alannian citizenship law seriously.

The fact that a Stormrider captain was involved just made it even easier.  It was typically against Cadre policy to enlist civilian help in undercover missions but this was a special case.  These were Stormriders.  And whenever the Cadre needed a mess made it always helped to throw a few Stormriders into the mix because even though not even the Cadre itself could tell what was going to happen, it was usually chaotic and more than a bit spectacular.  Whistling, Sino cleaned off his knife and tucked it back into the sheath before walking out of the alleyway, leaving the body slumped behind a pile of trash.  Now to find Langley's Ark and the captain.  If he were lucky he'd arrive at roughly the same time the guards were so he could watch the impending confrontation and get an idea of just what sort of people he was going to recruit.

And if he arrived late, well, there'd be enough second-hand accounts going around about the incident later.  These were Stormriders, after all.  It was in their blood.

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