Capítulo 31: The Boring Diplomacy
Nuan and the Alliance diplomats greeted each other in a language I didn't know. It could be Chinese, Russian, Indian... or perhaps all of them. I quickly searched my pockets to find my real-time universal translator and activated it. I could at least make sense out of the rest of the conversation.
"...were very concerned about your safety when we got the news. But hopefully, this meeting will lead us to a future where we assist each other with no mistrust."
"Thank you for the kind words, Prime Minister. I can already see we have lots of common interests." Nuan replied.
"Despite all the problems you had on the way, you made it in time; and we wouldn't like to keep you waiting either."
The group of diplomats started walking away from the landing pad as curious cameramen followed them. With most of the police force behind me (and some far in front of the crowd) I was simply watching the surroundings and people who were around us.
"Don't be so tense." Ling said. "There is a prime minister and a president in the crowd. You couldn't possibly be any safer than you are right now."
"If you had told me while I was back on Mars, I would believe it." I said. "But after what happened during the flight, I am not so sure anymore. And, you know, rulers have been assassinated quite a few times in history, even those in charge of the superpowers of their times."
"Times have changed, friend." Ling said. "People are living in a universe of technology. We have eyes, ears and hands everywhere."
"And so do your enemies." I said. "Don't let your overconfidence pull you down."
"Earth has not seen a major conflict for centuries." Ling said. "Countries now prefer waging wars in the world of economy, trade and technology instead of the battlefield. People came to their senses, and the citizens of this planet are enjoying the once utopic peace. I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to spark a conflict after this point."
"Martian citizens had the same view, once." I said.
"With all respect, it was the People's Republic of Mars who declared the war." Ling's voice changed a bit. "Although we dislike the Federation, that fact disturbs us. We are quite fond of the peace here, and we have no intentions to ruin the harmony."
"If we didn't declare the war, the Federation would do it anyway." I argued. "But the thing is, if we had let them do the first strike, we would immediately lose." I said. "Meh. Like we are doing any good right now." I silently completed my words.
"In a way, I really admire what the four countries did. If Japan, Turkey, Ukraine and Korea-"
"Hey." I interrupted Ling before he could finish. "We are not the diplomats here, so let's leave it be and watch how the events unfold."
"Okay, I will agree with that." Ling said.
"So, tell me about... this place." I told him to start another conversation.
"Beijing is... quite a busy place, as you probably have noticed." he started. "A pretty crowded one too. Fortunately, the government establishments seem to be much quieter, so I like working around here, watching all the tall buildings and business districts from afar."
He kept talking about his job as I watched the diplomats walking. Eventually, we reached a helipad. There were two quadcopters standing side by side. Those were a common method of travel on Earth, and especially in China, because the ground lines (even the railways) had more than enough traffic already.
Suddenly, I noticed Nuan trying to look outside the crowd. When she saw me, she raised her hand and gestured me to come closer.
The crowd separated into two and each party boarded a quadcopter. I, of course, got on the same quadcopter with Nuan, who was accompanied by an Earthly diplomat. Ling went running to some other helipad, and the police vehicles lifted off to escort us. The quadcopter's amazingly quiet engines started working, and we lifted off.
On the way, I listened to Nuan and the other person, who was apparently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
"...could possibly make use of the Alliance membership, but that old rivalry with China didn't allow it." Russian minister said.
"Do you have any plans to improve the situation?" Nuan asked him.
"Russia's full membership to the Alliance would surely upset a few European nations, but this isn't something people aren't aware of. It is simply... not official at this point."
"I can see." Nuan replied. "However, this caused a lot of confusion among..."
I sighed. All this talk about politics... This was probably the only thing I was going to hear during my stay here. I still haven't seen the embassy yet, but I was already bored of my job!
I ended up looking outside the window for the rest of the flight. In the end, we arrived at Zhongnanhai, next to the China's infamous Forbidden City. Everyone got off the quadcopters. The first talks were going to happen there, and we would get to the embassy in the evening.
The embassies were not located far from the Forbidden City; there was a large complex allocated for Federation nations, and the Martian embassy was between that complex and the Korean embassy. Since they have recently left the Federation; Japanese, Turkish and Ukrainian embassies were still inside the Federation complex, but Korea has somehow managed to move out early.
Nothing interesting was going on, and the entire police force was on duty, so I simply sat down and got some rest until the talks ended.
- - - - -
At the end of the talks, everyone started to go some other way. Nuan left the crowd and started walking towards the quadcopters. I looked over to where Ling was, and signaled him to prepare the escort vehicles. The crews boarded their vehicles and prepared to start the engines up.
Nuan saw me when she got closer to the quadcopter.
"Haaah... So tiring!" she complained.
"Tired already?" I asked.
"Like, I know that a good welcome is a must, but did we have to schedule the talks so early? Hell, we just came here and set foot on a completely different planet, I can barely walk under a constant 1G gravity, and people want me to do politics..." she said.
"The war doesn't wait for anyone." I said.
"Oh, and guess what." she continued. "I was right. The entire Martian Ministry of Foreign Affairs were right. The Alliance probably has no interest in supporting our war efforts or undermine the Federation's. They are only here for the trade deals and research agreements... But our dear lovely president wants us to go like ALL THE WAY to Earth and try our chances. Screw him, screw the Alliance and screw everything!"
"Lower your damn voice!" I said. "Someone will hear you!"
Like I wasn't feeling bad enough already, I also had to have Nuan pouring everything out on me. I listened to her without replying until we came to the embassy.
The embassy wasn't an impressive building; but luckily, on the tactical side, it wasn't a hard one to keep under watch. It had references to traditional Chinese architecture, including the curved roof edges, cylindrical columns and spherical lamps hanging around.
Nuan quickly got inside and went upstairs to do something that didn't involve me. I took the opportunity to notify the HQ of our safe arrival to the embassy. I found the comms station inside and opened an encrypted channel.
"This is Olympus Mons Navy Headquarters on the secure channel."
"This is Commander Kagan of the Martian embassy to the Alliance. The envoy Nuan Qing have safely arrived here, and I am now in charge of the security matters."
"Great work, Commander. Please wait a minute. I have to get the Grand Admiral on the line." the person on the other side said. After waiting a few minutes, Grand Admiral spoke.
"Congratulations, Commander. Now that we got all the boring stuff out of the way, we can finally start our mission."
"I have met the chief officer at the spaceport. The police teams are now in position for-"
"Not that one, Commander." Grand Admiral interrupted. "You can completely forget about the security of the embassy. Now, the rest is top secret information, and I can not risk saying more on this channel, even though it is encrypted. You will get the details from one of our retired envoys in the embassy, named Eren Schulze. Find him, and he will give you a briefing."
The connection ended.
I sighed. What could they lose if they had just gave the briefing before I came all the way to Earth? But thinking of it the other way... This was probably one of the best plot twists of my life.
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