The Martial Unity

“Commissioner Derun,” Rui smiled as her image popped upon his comms display.

He had been issued a premium comms device that allowed him to communicate with the Martial Union reliably despite being a great distance away for the duration of the mission, for mission-related purposes only.

“Squire Quarrier, good of you to contact me, I just finished the report that your diplomatic team filed. Good job, your execution as a diplomat was better than had been anticipated.” She smiled ruefully. “It’s a shame that the diplomatic missions failed, engage with them a bit more, and increasing your offers by a certain margin is the only option left. And if that fails… then I’m afraid we will have to question whether this mission is even worth pursuing in the first place.”

Rui raised an eyebrow at those words. “Is the Martial Union willing to give up on obtaining those techniques?”

She considered his question. “That’s outside of purview, officially at least. However, the Martial Union is cognizant enough to distinguish which avenues of approach are worth investing in, and which aren’t. There have been numerous attempts at negotiating for the techniques of the G’ak’arkan Tribe. Granted, those missions failed for foreseeable reasons that could be rectified on our end, and you managed to avoid those reasons for the most part, it seems. Yet you failed to achieve any success at all beyond that. It is clear that talking to them over and over again is not going to help.”

Rui smiled. “Those were my thoughts exactly. However, I am quite convinced that any further negotiation is meaningless toward actually convincing them, actually. I would rather not spend any time on it. I certainly wouldn’t rely on it.”

She raised an eyebrow at that statement. “It seems you do not intend to go for another negotiation session.”

“Not any serious one, anyway,” Rui nodded. “As I said, it’s futile.”

“Then what are your intentions?” She asked, curious.

Rui paused for a few seconds before replying. “The biggest problem is their ignorance of what it is we are actually offering because demonstrations in these kinds of negotiations only come after a mutual interest to cooperate. However, we cannot be overt and direct in demonstrating the power of our techniques the way Senior Ceeran did, otherwise we will trigger their pride in their own techniques and their aggressive competitiveness. Then it won’t matter how valuable our techniques are, they will refuse to cooperate. I have a better idea to implicitly and passively demonstrate the complete and whole value of our techniques.”

“And what would that be, Squire Quarrier?”

“It’s simple. We inhabit a part of the island, self-sustain, and flourish purely on the merits of our techniques,” Rui simply explained.

“Excuse me?” She frowned.

“What I’m saying is… we show them exactly what we are offering through and through by putting ourselves in their situation and environment, and demonstrating that the techniques we are offering perform far better in the parameters and avenues that they are weak at, allowing us to solve mutual issues that plague us both,” Rui explained.

Her eyebrows widened, as she considered his suggestion.

It was beginning to make sense, in theory at least.

After all, the ‘value’ of a technique as far as utility went was nuanced and multi-layered. Pure numbers on the parameters of a technique alone could not convey the practical long-term benefits and utility of a technique.

In reality, it was impossible to predict the entirety of all direct and indirect benefits and impacts a new widely adopted technique might have without actually doing so and observing the results.

Thus, such intangibles were generally not accurately conveyed, not as explicitly and objectively as numbers of the performance parameters of a technique were.

But what Rui was offering was a way to convey both the explicit and the implicit value of the techniques that the Martial Union was offering.

“I see…” She mumbled as her eyes widened as she shrewdly understood exactly what Rui was trying to achieve. “That’s actually a great plan, better than any non-forceful measure that we have come up with.”

She turned to Rui with an amazed expression. “You came up with this all by yourself?”

Rui nodded.

“Did you have this in mind before the diplomatic negotiation with the G’ak’arkan Tribe?” She couldn’t help but wonder aloud.

“I came up with it fifteen minutes ago as I considered the various measures that we could take to make them more pliable to our demands.”

“Quite remarkable,” She nodded. “Thus far, you have completed your role as a diplomat of the Martial Union quite professionally. As professional as our actual professionals, dare I say.”

“Thank you. Still, I haven’t gotten to why I actually called you,” Rui told her. “If this was something that could easily be achieved with our own prowess, then I would have straightforwardly gone and implemented it. After all, I possess the authority to do so since it is my mission. However, this plan requires measures that I do not possess the authority and means to execute.”

“And you need my authority to help you fulfill your plan?” She smiled.

“That’s right,” Rui replied to her.

“You are aware that the moment I exert my authority to cede to your demands as a Martial Artist fulfilling your mission, then I become more liable and responsible for the outcome of the mission than I already am?” She asked him with a raised eyebrow.

“I am aware of that, commissioner Derun,” Rui nodded. “I can only request you to aid me on this mission.”

She considered the matter for several missions before looking back at him. “Alright, Squire Quarrier, I am willing to give you some leeway. What is it that you need exactly?”

Rui smiled.

The fact that she acquiesced to his request meant that his plan had likely earned her confidence and that Rui himself had earned a bit of her trust, as far as his capability went. That was optimistic to Rui as far probability of success went. A rank-three Martial commissioner was anything but incompetent.