"I'm Diplomat Mayler, please call me as such." He was older. Not older, just older. His thinning hair was grey, but the wrinkles hadn't yet taken over his face and he carried himself like a professor. Shoulders back and hands clasped behind his back.
The grey uniforms of the Diplomatic Corps weren't very attractive. They contained none of the ornamentation the other uniforms used to celebrate their history or to differentiate between the branches. Whether that was because the Pacifists didn't want anything that seemed even vaguely militaristic, which seemed pointless since they were uniforms in the first place, or it was the new government's way of reminding them of their lack of…everything.
Martinez and Ookami and the rest of the officers on the deck glanced at the grey uniforms, then at Finley and quickly turned back to their work. Even Beau had turned back to the aircraft instruments at the front of his station.
An alert flashed on Finley's tablet, and she turned her attention to the notification from Evan that he was checking on something with engine 2.
She tapped an acknowledgment as Mayler cleared his throat.
He clearly wasn't used to being ignored because he kept inching closer, even though Martinez was giving him the evil eye. "Captain Fearghail."
Finley inhaled, deep, let it sit in her chest. She was captain of the Loss. She'd been a Captain for a decade now and she'd had to deal with crew members she didn't like before. Personal feelings aside, the Captain of a starship had a responsibility to every heartbeat on their ship.
It was Finley's job to bring them all back alive and to help them become the best person they could be.
But she really, really didn't like the Pacifists.
"Diplomat Mayler." And she realized immediately that she hadn't kept that dislike as out of her voice as she should have.
Maylor huffed and a few of his diplomats shifted, sharing dark looks like the entire Command Deck couldn't see them. "It is unfortunate we couldn't met before now."
It really wasn't.
"I tried to reach out through General Abernathy during the planning for this mission, but it seems we could never align schedules." Maylor wasn't outright accusing her of dodging him, but he was coming awfully close.
The amusing part was that Finley had never heard anything about the attempts that he was talking about, which meant he was lying, or Abernathy had blocked them for, well, Finley could think of a few reasons off the top of her head.
No point in telling Maylor that though. It was unlikely he'd believe her.
Finley glanced up at him, plastered a smile on her face. "Did we have something we needed to discuss?"
Maylor gave her his own fake smile. "I find it wise to communicate well before any joint venture."
Finley stared at him. "I'm aware of your duties on this ship. Do you find them confusing?"
Maylor's smile fell. "No, I understand them quite well, but I understand you have never worked with a Diplomatic Corps before."
"It didn't exist before now." Finley pointed out. "Besides, all soldiers are diplomats."
Maylor couldn't hide his expression of disbelief fast enough.
Finley's smile grew. "No other profession deals with first encounters and establishing new relationships more than the military. And they have additional skills on top of that. You hardly need a dedicated diplomatic corps when you have the military, but I suppose its good to have a backup option. I'm sure we'll find a way for you to be useful on the ship."
Maylor's lips thinned as he pursed them. "We are not soldiers, Captain. Our beliefs do not allow-"
"I'm well aware of everything you can't do, Diplomat Mayler. I'm sure with a little time we'll find something you can do to be a part of this crew."
"We are a part of this crew. There's no need for anyone else to handle diplomatic duties with us present."
"There's also no guarantee there'll be any need for full time diplomats. At which point, you will need to find other ways to be useful on this ship, because this is a military ship, not a passenger vessel."
Their eyes met and neither one was willing to look away first.
"This ship has a crew of five hundred. And twenty." Finley said. "You can either be a part of the crew or the twenty people that get dropped off at Sky Colony."
Sky Colony was the first human settlement they would reach beyond the light wall. It was one of the oldest human colonies in space that was still in operation and had long been somewhat of a poster child for human colonization in space. Its official designation was a bunch of numbers and letters Finley didn't remember off the top of her head, but it had been nicknamed Sky Colony because of its unique terraforming engines. Something had gone terribly wrong when it was being built and while it had turned out well, the end result was what it was supposed to be, but the engineers had put the recycling system in backwards and it vented unused oxygen into space, creating clouds that surrounded the colony.
The whole thing looked like a hot air balloon floating among clouds in the middle of space.
The mistake had made it famous overnight, and it still made the majority of its money as a tourist destination.
Well, it had before the building of the Light Wall. The residents of Sky Colony had been given a choice to move to one of the colonies inside the Light Wall, but very few had taken the offer. Sky Colony was one of only three human colonies that had decided to stay beyond the Light Wall and part of the UES Loss' mission was to reestablish contact with all three.
Maylor lowered his voice. "It would not reflect well on you to leave us behind simply because you do not agree with our charter."
"This entire mission is meant to keep me away from the new government. What do I care if they decide they like me even less than they already do?"
~ tbc