Man, Mare, Machine

Sct-1: Sir, have there been any issues on the pickup time?

Crnl Gd-2: There has been a change in plans, we're sending in a diplomat to begin relations immediately, follow his orders from now on.

Sct-1: Yes sir.

"Road, street, path." Droned Chrysalis, seated across the cave floor from the scout.

"Good, do geography next."

"Mountains, hills, rivers, streams, lakes, seas, oceans..."

The advantage to having a native speaker nearby meant that they could basically have her talk about anything and it would help the translator. In the last few hours, they had already covered a vast amount of the language, allowing the translator to figure out the rest on it's own.

"Jeremiah, this plan is dangerous. Think of the possible repercussions if they see through your plan early." Warned Angelica.

"Relax, almost all of the races know what a changeling is, they should have knowledge of their abilities. It will help solve the issue of meeting all of the leaders at once."

"I supplied the men out of my own pocket," Inserted the man, still maintaining his position at the doorway despite his earlier statement of just stopping by, "so what does it matter to you? They aren't your precious Valkyries or valuable scouts at risk here."

"It's the fact that they're from your pocket, Mr. Argrave." Growled Angelica, glaring daggers at the man fiercely enough to cause some of the other delegates to back-up in their seats, despite being only holograms.

"I do not expect any issues to occur. Should the plan go awry, I will place the full responsibility on your shoulders." Stated Argrave, updating his men on their own situation.

"Yes sir." Responded the two men partially listening.

"Remember, a slip-up, and those suits are gone." He accented his point with a snap of his fingers. "That means no fighting, no insulting, no anything out of the book."

"We get it. Let's just go, my chest has been hurting like hell today and I want to go home." Replied the slightly surly man smoking a few feet away.

"I wouldn't dream of keeping you."

"That should do it, we can totally understand each other now." Reported the scout.

"Good to know." She replied, that attitude was certainly a little on the grating side but he didn't let it get to him, it was understandable that she was in a bad mood, having only recently gotten out of the rain and into a dank cave without anything to eat, a fact that he would to have loved to correct but sadly fell on it's face when he found out she wouldn't even think about eating meat from that chicken-creature despite his monitors saying it was perfectly digestible.

He just sighed and headed back toward the front of the cave, closer to the fresh air. Unfortunately, this left him standing completely silent next to the Valkyrie, creating a slightly awkward atmosphere.

"So..." he began, "my name is Paul, what about you?" He really hoped that she wouldn't leave him hanging like he sort of expected her to.

"My name is Sylvia." She responded quickly, killing the conversation as soon as it began.

"Okay then Sylvia..." He once-again fished for some topic to discuss, "have you had anything to eat yet?"

"No, I didn't expect to get held-up this late so I packed light." At least she was responding in complete sentences to him, even if that only sentence had been used to explain why she wasn't in the mood to talk.

"Well I'm not sure about the taste, but I have some leftover supplies if you want any, they taste like cardboard but they're something at least."

"I'd appreciate that." She responded holding a hand to her head. "Just think, we could both be home by now if they let us leave, but of course that won't happen."

He handed her a small wrapped ration bar before answering. "I'm going to have to write a report when I get back, and even then I'd be heading back to the barracks afterwards, so I don't mind sitting planet-side for a little while."

"Scouts have to stay in barracks?" She asked. The barracks weren't really used that often on her ship, mostly just during battles when all the soldiers had to be at hand for orders, usually they were allowed to stay at their own homes otherwise.

"Well no, not technically." He responded rather awkwardly.

She thought about that for a second before realizing what he meant. "Oh, so, you don't-"

"Yeah." He responded again, hopeful that this part of the conversation would pass quickly.

It wasn't as surprising as it was awkward, lots of people couldn't afford nice housing on the ships, and even the more slummy parts quickly filled up to capacity. Sometimes the only options were the streets or the military. It's not like being homeless on a ship was as bad as it was on a planet, the ships kept a comfortable temperature and disease was relatively uncommon, the only real danger was from the other people you could meet.

Although she didn't care to admit it, Sylvia had some questions about his situation, none she would ask, but still lingering in her head. Scouts were technically a specialist squad like hers, so their pay should be well above the average soldier. He should be able to afford any place he wants she thought to herself. He could be in debt, though she doubted the military would pay to train some gambler or addict, neither of which she could really picture him being. Without much thought, she finally took a bite of her ration, quickly thrown back to consciousness at the terrible texture, taste, and smell. Yeah, cardboard, riiight. Maybe if you seasoned it with a sock.

Although they hadn't noticed it previously, the sound of polished leather striking the floor could be heard from the mouth of the cave. They backed away from the entrance as a man in a black suit with golden hair stepped in.

"Hello," Spoke the man, "I am Krimwalt, diplomatic emissary  in charge of this region, call me Walt."

"Greetings sir." They both responded, their other guest still silent from within the cave.

"I have been informed you have a guest with you, may I come in?" He spoke without any acknowledgement of the fact that he had clearly already entered.

"Of course, she's in the back. Be careful, she's still weak and hasn't been very trusting."

"Of course." He responded as he removed his jacket and placed it over one of the piles of leaves that had been serving as a bed.

He approached her casually, making sure to progress slowly but not so slowly that he appeared threatened. He eventually knelled down by her, loosening his tie and speaking in a soft, low voice. "My name is Walt, I know about your species, they're called changelings, correct?"

"Yes, they are. How do you know that?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Later, what is your name?"

"I am queen Chrysalis, although my kingdom could be considered scattered at the moment."

"Did something happen?" He asked gently, a tender note of concern visible in his unnaturally symmetrical features.

She shivered a little, the emotions coming off of this creature were confusing, twisting and branching so much that she couldn't actually tell how it felt. "We... tried to invade a country. At the end of the battle, we were launched a great distance away, I hardly had time to spread my wings and slow my fall, I hope my children did the same."

He placed a hand on her hoof, it felt warm and soft compared to the cave floor. "I'm sorry, I certainly can't help you invade a land, but I could give your people a place to live, provided you agree to some terms."

Those eyes of his were piercing directly into her every time she looked at him. It was like he could read her emotions just as well as she could others. She couldn't look him in the eye for more than a few seconds without feeling... exposed and easy to read. She could almost swear she saw them grow larger and smaller as they looked at her but it was hard to tell.

"What are you proposing?" She asked, interested in what this strange creature could do for her.

"Your people will live alongside my race, anywhere you choose. While you are living there, you will not take any military action against any nation if even one of my people is there, that includes neighboring lands."

"Why should we live under the heel of another ruler? My people have as much right to exist as any other!"

He drew closer to her, silencing her. "Because if you agree to help us, I can make your race the most respected on the planet. Nobody will ever think of your changelings with contempt ever again, you will be the pinnacle of what a species can achieve. The best part is, you won't even have to dirty your hands with warfare to reach it."

The maelstrom of emotions running from this man was overwhelming, her mind was fogged and she couldn't even tell what was happening around her. Everywhere she looked, there were more strands of emotions, intent, thoughts, all intertwining with each-other.

She whipped her head away from him, it was maddening. "What do you need?" She questioned as she kept her head down. Changeling senses weren't as black-and-white as the other races, they were able to use all of their senses to detect emotion. Currently, she was dealing with what sounded like a wind tunnel, reeked like incense, felt like an earthquake, and was all happening during a laser light show.

He rose, once again fastening his tie. "I need you to find your children for me, we can go from there." Without pause, he turned and walked to the entrance of the cave, grabbing his jacket before turning to Sylvia. "My associate should have landed by now and he'll need an escort, understand?"

"Yes sir." She replied. She wanted to check on their guest before leaving, but a diplomat was waiting.

"He will be at the base of the mountain, I hope you have a pleasant journey."

"Thank you sir." She replied before jumping out of sight, down the cliff face.

After she was gone for a few seconds, the scout spoke up. "Whatever you did, it hardly seemed necessary, she had been complying well over the last few hours."

"Well we don't have any more hours to wait for her to cheer up." He pulled a small silver clip in the shape of an oval from his tie, twisting it to let the sunlight twinkle on it's surface. "It releases a weak mixture of hormones and stimulants through the air, completely harmless in small doses. She should level-out in a matter of minutes."

"It wasn't fair." He reaffirmed, apparently no more accepting of Walt's trick now that it was explained.

"You're one of those lawful-good types, total paragon of humanity and all that. Haven't you ever realized that there's more to a decision than your moral compass?" He posed the question as he re-inserted the clip behind his tie.

"Those types of devices exploit less-advanced species and only lead to more problems."

"That's very true. When you look at it in that context what I just did was completely unethical, but what about the goal I get closer to reaching by doing it? Peace between the various races and, by extent, ours." He walked up to the scout and let his eyes drift past, briefly locking onto the section of mask exactly where his eyes were. Even through the mask, Paul couldn't help averting his eyes to read the atmosphere readings he had memorized ages ago. In the brief moment of their gazes locking, Paul could make out some odd symbols on Walt's irises. They were lines, like muscle stretched tightly under his irises. "I want you to think about that, can you do that for me? Try looking at things from a more objective standpoint."

"You can't look at things like this objectively, these are entire races we're dealing with. Using tricks like that doesn't let them decide on their own. She had no way to prepare for something like that and what you did was exploitation."

"Never thought I would get to meet a scout with guts. You have no idea what you're talking about, and who are you to lecture me when you haven't even given me your name first?"

"My name is Paul, and who are you to twist my words like that? I understand that I'm out-of-line, but I have to make it clear that I will have no part in actions like that. What happened to actual diplomacy? Talking things out on even terms? Maybe if it had actually seemed necessary, but you just decided to take the easy way out."

"Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing you like to romanticize the whole 'space exploration' thing, don't you? New places, new people, new things." He took a long stretch, letting a few pops escape. "You have to be truly naive to think like that. Haven't you seen it? More or less, all advanced races are the same, species who survived by being more paranoid and exclusive than the rest. Don't tell me you considered our guest back there to be more than a damsel in distress, followed by science-project afterwards. Which method is really more demeaning? Mine, doing what I would be expected to do with any other race in this position, including ours, or yours, trying to defend them by trumpeting their own ignorance? Your method may indeed carry kindness, but it is a demeaning kindness, the kind people pay to an urchin or invalid. "

He was silent for a bit. He could tell that he was being taunted by the array of questions being sent towards him without actually responding to his questions directly. It was an obnoxious tactic but one that rarely had any drawbacks. It reminded him of a bully, trying to get another kid to say something he would regret so he could abuse it. "Why bring it here if the goal is long-term peace?"

"It isn't really that complicated, there's a schedule to keep, it isn't like we can just contact the races one after another back-to-back in meetings, it would take far too long. For now, all we have to worry about is her." He walked back towards Chrysalis, slowly petting a hand along her mane as she laid there, too distracted by constant stimuli to notice any of the conversation. "I think her kind is my favorite, so unfit for war yet so destined to experience it. I think there is a tragic kind of pride in their story."

After getting no response he put his jacket back on. "But here I am telling a soldier-boy about war, she'll be up soon, then we can begin."

Instead of quietly following, Paul had one last question to ask. "Why does a diplomat need implanted eyes, and nice ones at that?"

He turned around half-way before turning his head away again, thinking over his answer. He eventually walked back toward the cave entrance, back to the sunlight. "I looked at your file before I came here, standard procedure for all escorts." He spoke suddenly, apparently finding the words he wanted. "I'll tell you what, I'll tell you about my eyes if you'll tell me about those fake legs you have on you, it's only fair." He gestured toward both of Paul's legs, heavily covered by the scouting gear. "I'm not the only one with above-average gear here."

It was silent for a minute, then two.

"Guess it isn't that important then." Confirmed Walt as he leaned against the wall, waiting for Chrysalis to come-to.