Diplomacy

The Death of pacifist Nox rises the already boiling tensions among Mankind and the the Atrians. In a last ditched attempt to prevent a conflict of unknown proportions the Humans offer to allow Roman to enact his revenge on Ray Whitehill. Roman, wishing to keep his father's ideals, makes a plan of his own, not knowing how much closer that will get him to Emery. Semi-AU.

Chapter One: Wake.

Maia, Roman and Sophie watched the wake in silence. It was not a happy day for they were parting with a loved one, but the attitude their kind was expressing as they paid their respects to Nox only made this horrible event ten times worse on the family. Nox had been a pacifist, he had true hopes that, given time, Humans and Atrians could learn to share the Earth. His death not only pushed that ideal back, but strengthened the opposing opinion that their people freedom would have to be taken by force, and not given by trust. It disgusted them.

As the last people of their kind offered parting gifts and words, an envoy of human soldiers approached the garden, the reactions to that movement were diversified, with some Atrians running away, others making a line between the incoming armed officers and the Body, and Rowan and Sophie placing themselves before Maia, only to be guarded themselves by other Atrians.

"There shall be no fighting in this wake!" Thundered the voice of Maia. The woman pushing the two teenagers aside and breaking the alien barrier between the soldiers and herself. Her temper and expression were overflowing, making everyone in the garden, the humans included, freeze on the spot… some even took a step back. She faced the officers and spoke courteously, but with a threat in her voice "While I don't mind your presence here, it frightens my guests and causes civil unrest, so if you have anything to do here I recommend you do it quickly."

"We do not seek a confrontation." Said a male voice between the group of soldiers. They parted to show a man dressed in civilian clothes… Atrian civilian clothes, and not exactly the rags people were often seen wearing around the district. "We came here to pay our respects and express our deepest regrets over what has come to pass." The man said walking towards Maia, his eyes conveying a request to approach the Casket, which the woman agreed to.

The man kneeled by the Casket and murmured an elaborate chant in Atrian before turning to the people. He then turned to Maia and bowed to her in a thank you gesture. "I am here to tell you that the SEU has, despite attempts to the contrary, finished an evaluation of the circumstances which led to this disaster. Again, despite attempts to the contrary, it was decided these events would be made public, as we felt any attempt to hide these tragic events would further enrage the Atrian society by leading them to believe we would not care, which we do.

This was met with glares and murmurs, but an even more determined glare from Maia prevented any outbursts. The woman nodded and returned to the side of Roman and Sophie, who were now facing the male human in civilian clothes. "Tell us what happened." Roman demanded.

The man nodded. "It was determined that some people have used counterfeit technology to bypass the barrier and curfew. This was because the police force failed to prevent an attack on Roman, one of the chosen for the School integration project. The idea was to give a response in kind to the humans who attacked Roman. We have also determined that Roman himself broke the curfew to prevent that fight, which he was able to carry out in part."

This was met with a panicked reaction on most of the guests, with people placing themselves between the guards and Roman. The man shook his hands in a dismissive way "While both of these accounts constitute a break on curfew, it was determined that Roman's actions were justifiable since he acted so to prevent a confrontation, the SEU has decided to overlook this transgression, be aware thought this was a one time deal and further transgressions will be severely punished. We will increase the protection of the Atrians in the school to prevent any further incidents. The point is Nox discovered what happened and confronted the person responsible for providing the escapees with illegal technology, upon which he led SEU to the criminal."

There was a breath on the part of the human man, a clear sign of frustration over the situation. "SEU discovered the dark technology and moved in to apprehend it and the criminal. The black market dealer reciprocated with a weapon, which caused Nox to react to prevent a gunfight in the district market, this caused the SEU officer aiming at him to react and shoot him… fatally."

This confession was met with silence. The Diplomat would be more comfortable if people were crying in outburst. He could feel their anger, their wish to revolt and cause as much damage as they could to the envoy of humans that was interfering with the wake. He knew that, had he come alone and unarmed, he would likely have been used as an example of reciprocation.

"We admit to the terrible consequences our actions had that night. Consequences that could have been avoided had Humans and Atrians been on more peaceful terms. While it is too soon for the day when the barriers between this place and the rest of our planet are to be taken down, these events have reaffirmed that, for the good future of both Humans and Atrians, we must do whatever is in our power to avoid another decade of segregation and prejudice."

He turned to Roman. "Mr. Roman, It is my understanding that your government system places you as the spokesperson for your father's wishes, and the judge for the consequences about he or she who killed him. I come to you with the assurance that my people have agreed to let your desires prevail over your constitution. I will take any decisions you make and have them sanctioned and enacted to your very specifications."

Roman placed his hand on the balcony, suddenly feeling a lost of air. He was certainly not the only one surprised by this turn of events. Confusion, Panic and Anger emerged among the Atrians in the wake. Roman had no doubts that, were not for the presence of Guards and Maia's intention on keeping the Wake free of conflict, there would have been people calling for that man's death. It really put him in a tight spot.

"I need time to think about that." Roman answered in a cold voice. The diplomat nodded.

"In that case, we will no further trouble you with our presence. But If I can part you with some advice, the mistakes of a man does not prove an action that would only further the hate between our peoples, I am sure your father would not like to see a girl in the same situation as your own family and the hatred that will be born out of that justified death.

"I shall take that in consideration." Roman agreed. "Please leave."

The spokesperson nodded and rejoined the soldiers, he repeated his prayers in Atrian and left the gardens and the complex. Soon enough the last sunlight came over the district and people retreated to their homes, with what transpired the roads were not safe at night.

Roman found himself in his bedroom doing his homework. He was still impressed that Drake's actions and the Death of his father had not pushed the school to bar the Atrians from going there if someone decided to set fire to the inflammable tempers around his kind. On top of that he had to decide how he should punish the killer of his father, a move that in his planet would have been an easy thing to do, but here on Earth it could translate into huge problems.

There was a knock and Maia appeared with a tray of Dinner. "Castor would like a word with you."

Roman agreed with his head, not surprised to see his uncle determined to give him pointers on this situation. Unlike Nox Castor was not an ally of the Human Atrian integration, at the same time Roman could take solace that the man would not join the usurpers. Castor was an opportunist and he would certainly try to use Roman to help himself pick the side he would join.

Castor came beating around the bush, they talked about Nox youth in Atria and good memories they had from Roman's past. Like a farmer, the advisor was preparing the soil by giving Roman a mindset to the challenge in question while probing for any responses by the boy. Finally, after what felt like days for Roman, and was in fact less than two hours, he went to the point.

"I can tell now that you are not going to have that man executed."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Roman argued. "I do have that option."

"And on Atria no one would have minded your decision… It would have been a fitting punishment for someone who had allowed his actions to bring the death of the leader of a family. But we are not in Atria. If you kill that man, regardless of your right to do so, you will be seen as nothing but a murderer in the eyes of the humans. That would be, pardon the words, the last nail on the coffin of your dads Idealistic integration… and the fuse to a war."

"And you do not want that." Roman pointed out.

"Even tough information on the outside world is a commodity around here I have no problems knowing one or two things about these humans. Their determination is admirable, so is their cruelty. I am not saying those foolish rebels cannot pull a conquest of the planet… we do have technology and some unique abilities in our favor. That said, the moment they found themselves pressured the Humans would retaliate with Nuclear Bombs… that would be terrible for the planet and a too big of a price on our people and future generations."

Roman couldn't argue that point. The Humans were quick to show them the power of the Nuclear bomb by displaying movies of it's past uses against the Japanese. With them corralled in a district it would be simple to have most of them annihilated by the bomb. It would be their way of making the Atrians pay for daring to oppose the dominant species. And in the end it would most likely just kill the wrong people… Including many humans.

"A More diplomatic move them. Something that would make it clear there are consequences for this kind of attitude on our people, without making it look like we are a bunch of uncivilized aliens hell bent on having humans killed."

"A statement that would be fitting, had the roles between us and the original inhabitants of this planet been reversed." Castor jabbed. And Roman couldn't help but chuckle in half agreement.

"Not all of them Castor, And I cannot say all of us are civilized either. So, anything you would want to do with the murder of your old friend?" Roman asked.

The man made a thoughtful stance. "In the end it is about tipping the scales back where they belong, I think." Castor said more to himself than to Roman. "It boils down to the fact that you and Sophie were robbed of your father. Human or Atrian that is something that is destined to happen, but the way it happened is inadmissible in either species."

"Then again…" Castor continued "This is also about keeping the ideals of your father afloat… and proving to the humans and to our own kind that we can be very civilized when we are not treated like rabid dogs."

"Really, cause I thought this was all about pleasing our people without making enemy of their people. Any other day I would have rather done nothing than take some feeble pleasure at having revenge. But I know our people will not be satisfied with me doing nothing. I would be basically telling the humans that they won't go punished for killing us without care."

"Then perhaps we should seek the answers in the ancient teachings." Castor grinned presenting a book to Roman. The boy looked at the manuscript with a mixture of awe and dread. In the age of space travel it was rather obvious that his people were not the kind that would go around carrying paper manuscripts in lieu of using their very advanced and robust computers to store thousands of pages of library. That this book was taken out of Atrian when the planet was in the edge of it's destruction implied that Castor had a great respect for it, and most likely that it's contents were somehow banned or removed from the general library. "Consider it a gift towards your new status. May it enlighten your path and make you as wise as the late Nox."

Roman nodded, opening the book and starting to read it in silence. Castor took it as his cue to leave the room and let Roman do some thinking on his own. The elder Atrian knew the book backwards and upside down, it was one of the most ancient Atrian Journals, dating to the golden ages and the birth of their constitution. It could give Roman a lot of insight, but how he would use it was something not even Castor could predict, even if he had a few scenarios.

Maia waited for him in the kitchen, two cups of tea in hand. "How did it go?"

"The man will not be killed, but there is no telling what Roman will do to punish him. In the end Death could have been a less painful choice."

The woman raised her shoulders. "It is not our fault that things are never that simple in Earth. I like to think Roman will not betray the memory of his father. Whatever he chooses I will stand by it, praying that it will, at the worst case scenario, keep the things as they are."

Castor nodded in agreement. "Very well, so will I, although we may come to regret those words."