Radiance Ch. 101

Chapter 101: Diplomatic Immunity.

"Slavery under whatever fancy name you give it is still slavery, nobody should be treated in such a manner non-human or human alike, taking slaves is the domain of tyrants and dictators, it has no place among the civilized races and yes before you mention it I know humans in the form of raiders take slaves but surely our job here is to show that we are better than the lowest of the low, not act like them?" Raymond said passionately as he sat at the table before the Valkyrie elders.

"How is this any worse than simply imprisoning him? At least in service, his life has value?" one of the elders said and Raymond ran his eyes over the faces of all of them while in his mind he heard Zixxy's voice.

"Keep pushing they are beginning to waver and to question their position," she said.

"It is not for you or anyone else to decide whose life has value or what value it has, we are all children of this world and we are all born into it in near enough the same way with a few notable exceptions in the way of my kind for example, but just because I was created does that mean my life is of less value than say one of your own?" Raymond said.

"That is not the issue at hand here......." the owl elder began turning his feathered head to focus on Taymond but Raymond cut him off quickly.

"Isn't it? We are discussing the value of sentient life as I see it, my life began as a human and I was kidnapped and transformed into the being you see before you now, but does my existence such as it is mean that my life or remaining days are of less value than somebodies who have spent their untouched?" Raymond said.

"Well no I would say that is not the case," the owl elder conceded.

"Why not?" Raymond asked catching the elder owl by surprise and he could see him searching for an answer to that.

"Well because you are sentient as anyone in this room and you conduct yourself with respect and civility, you seek not to harm life but to preserve it," he said after some considerate thought.

"Ahh but that's you assigning my life value based upon your preconceptions of the value of life itself, the answer is actually quite simple, my life has value because it exists, a group assigns value based upon contribution to a whole, does this person pull their weight, do they help out, are they contributing to the society, but an individual assigns value very differently, in truth all life should be important but we all know that cannot happen with the way the world is unless we change it," Raymond said.

"I am confused what does this have to do with Adam?" the swan elder asked lifting her head on her long neck to look over Raymond's head at the human man sitting in the rear of the chamber and now flanked by his group protectively.

"Simple, yes this man wronged your people, he is a soldier from an opposing army, his people attacked yours and you have killed theirs as they have killed yours, taking prisoners is one thing, it is an act of mercy lifting them from the field of battle when you could have quite easily cut them down, but taking slaves is quite another, how would you feel if you were to find out that the Brotherhood had been taking your warriors and forcing them to work as slave labour, carrying produce or toiling under the intolerable circumstance?" Raymond asked.

"Well we would be outraged obviously, but we did no such thing, this man was treated fairly and his honour in this very room spared his life!" the swan elder protested.

"I'd hardly called being forced against his will treated fairly honoured elder, how would you feel if you were to learn that your people had been taken and used as nothing more than comfort men and women for a hostile force?" Raymond asked and that really set them talking as an angered murmur rose.

"Got them," Zixxy said in his mind.

"We'd be outraged and would seek vengeance for such a thing," the owl elder admitted and Raymond nodded.

"Exactly and how is this treatment of him any different? Yes Jewel freely admits her mistake and she has sworn to make amends for it even if it costs her her life which given the circumstances is all one could ask for, rape is rape regardless of gender or species, she acknowledges what she has done and is prepared to pay for it, she has clearly stated her intentions to join our group after the conflict between your people and the Brotherhood is done, but in the meantime, as a gesture of goodwill we ask that Adam's sentence be commuted and treated as served due to what he has suffered, we will arrange to have him returned to his people and will make this gesture count for something," Raymond said.

The elders deliberated and argued among themselves for a few long moments totally unaware that Zixxy was translating everything they were saying for Raymond to understand, from what he could overhear the group was split with some arguing that Jewel had done nothing wrong under their laws, while others were arguing the point that Raymond was indeed correct and no prisoner should be treated in such a manner regardless of their station.

Eventually, the group came to a consensus and voted on the matter, the owl elder turned to Raymond, "You have pleaded an interesting and compelling cade Raymond of the free peoples, you are a shrewd negotiator and we hope that you will be as passionate at the table when both ourselves and the Brotherhood are seated on either end of it, Adam's sentence is hereby quashed and he is freed into your custody know that we bare him no ill will and wish him a speedy recovery," the owl elder said.

"Thank you, honoured elders you have made the right decision this day, we will begin working on establishing a line of communication to the Brotherhood immediately, but may I ask what of Jewel?" Raymond said glancing back at the eagle genus woman who sat among his people at the rear of the room.

"She has expressed her wishes to us to resign her commission after the hostilities between ourselves and the Brotherhood is ceased if she wishes to travel with yourselves after that she is of course free to do so, for now, we will attach her to your people along with young Oliver so that you will have immediate access to a diplomat authorised to make decisions on behalf of our people should the need for rapid negotiations arise, now if this matter is settled this session is adjourned," the elder owl said as all rose from the table.

Raymond bowed to the elders and turned to nod at Oliver as he walked over to join him, "That went well, I never expected you to be able to reach the elders so easily Raymond, you really do have a talent for this," Oliver said ruffling his feather happily.

"Let's just say I play my cards close and have good friends to guide me," he said shooting Zixxy a knowing smile and nod as the little alien sat swinging her legs on Lia's broad shoulder happily.

Adam looked up as Raymond approached him and he saw the momentary look of fear cross his face before he realised who it was approaching him, that reflex action to his kind was going to be a hard one to shake for him and Raymond know it.

"So good news Adam, the elders have quashed your sentence, you're a free man, and you've been released into our custody for the time being while we arrange to have you returned to the Brotherhood," Raymond said.

"What about Jewel?" Adam asked glancing at the young woman sitting on the bench with him.

"The elders have accepted her resignation as of the cessation of hostilities between their people and the Brotherhood, so the quicker we get the guns down and people talking the quicker everyone is free, infact we were kinda hoping you could help us out there," Raymond said.

Adam looked at him in confusion, "Me? What can I do?" he asked and Raymond smiled.

"Well we really don't know anyone within the Brotherhood let alone its chain of command, so we were hoping that you could help us out there, either give us a way to contact them directly or do it yourself so that we can begin the process of getting them to the table to talk, something tells me if one of my people just show up on their doorstep it doesn't matter how many laural leaves or white doves we're carrying we're getting our arses to slash tails shot off," Raymond said.

"Only one who gets to touch MY male's green arse is me!" Lia snarled making Zixxy giggle on her shoulder.

"If you ever get that far," she said with a grin and the big Claw girl huffed and seemed to sag a bit.

"Fucking tell me about it," she mumbled to herself.

Adam seemed to think for a few moments then he snapped his fingers as an idea struck him, "Most of the commanders wouldn't be willing to listen, they'd be far more interested in any kind of tactical advantage me having been here and seen all this would bring but I do know one Paladin who I'll bet will be willing to listen," he said.

"Will one Paladin be enough?" Raymond asked running through the Brotherhood's command hierarchy in his mind's eye, the Paladins were quite high up the chain, not quite an elder but pretty high enough for their opinion to matter.

"I don't know but it's a start and she might know of others that might be willing to lend their support and voices to the cause, it's all I got for now," Adam said and Raymond nodded.

"Alright better than nothing, what do you need from us?" he asked.

"Well the first thing is to contact Paladin Evelyn Wright, if I go back to the Brotherhood now they'll have me in a holding cell with scribes interrogating me for days on end, I'll need her protection if I'm to pull this off," he said.

"Alright so how do we contact her?" Raymond asked.

"I know some frequencies that we can use, she's Force Recon, those guys hold a lot of sway, I got friendly with one of their numbers a while back and he gave me some codes to use if I ever got into trouble, said it would give me a line direct to them, hopefully, it should help us cut through some of the bullshit and red tape," Adam explained and Raymond nodded.

"Now that's what I like to hear, alright let's get this man a radio and get this ball rolling," he said.

The group returned to the hotel with Jewel and Oliver in tow where they found Abigail waiting for them, "Ahh you're back dearies, did it all go well?" the motherly hen asked as they walked in through the front door.

"Better than alright I'd say," Oliver said smiling at her.

"Oh mister Oliver it's good to see you again, will you be joining us for dinner today I could do with some more handsome men around here to liven the place up," Abigail said puffing up her feather and eyeing the now nervous-looking young owl.

"Umm well yes if that's alright, the elders have seen fit to attach me to Raymond's group for the foreseeable future in order to help get the conflict with the Brotherhood resolved," he said nervously.

"Och excellent, I'll set a couple of extra places at the table then, I assume miss Jewel will be joining us too," she said glancing at the solemn-looking woman who simply nodded and thanked her.

"Och no bother, now mister Oliver you come with me and help me set the table, this lot has mighty fine appetites you know, but don't you worry I'll make sure there's enough for you, we'll have you looking like young Raymond over there before you know it!" she said making the young owl male glance at Raymond in alarm as the big super mutant tried and failed to stifle a giggle as Abigail pounced on Oliver and shepherded him away towards the dining area.

While Oliver was having his tailfeathers fussed off by Abigail Raymond set about setting up Adam with their radio receiver which they'd been using to stay in contact with Seven and the others, he watched as Adam turned in the frequencies from memory and began broadcasting on the encrypted frequencies.

"This is Charlie Oscar Two Two is anyone receiving me over?" Adam asked into the radio as the group sat around watching him, the Ronin had joined them now and Raymond had filled Jack in on what was happening so they were now listening in with fascination.

After two more attempts a voice suddenly cut through the air, "Who is this? And how did you get these frequency codes?" a distinctly sharp and authoritative female voice said.

"Is this Paladin Evelyn Wright of Force Recon?" Adam asked and there was silence for a moment before the voice came back.

"How do you know that name? Identify yourself at once!" the voice demanded.

"My name is Knight Adam Hill call sign Charle Oscar Two Two, serial code 25252711, the passphrase is blunderbuss," he said.

There was a pause for a moment, "Hold for verification," the voice said a little calmer sounding now.

Raymond looked at Adam questioningly, "All operatives are given both a callsign which identifies you on the radio and a passphrase to recite on the day you go into the field, well technically you're given two, one indicates if you are broadcasting of your own volition and the other indicates that you are being coerced, that one is musket," Adam is explained.

Raymond nodded in understanding, "Smart, I like that idea, might have to start using that ourselves," he said and Jack nodded also.

"Yeah mercs use that kinda trick all the time, works well because your captors never know that they've been ratted out until the door comes in and hell breaks loose," he said with a knowing grin.

"Exactly," Adam said.

"Ok your credentials have been verified but it shows you as MIA, this is Paladin Wright what the hell is going on Knight?" the voice said suddenly.

"Ok Paladin I'm going to need you to listen to me very carefully this is going to be a lot to take in so please bare with me, is this channel fully secure?" Adam asked.

"Yes the encryption is solid," she replied and Adam then began to tell his tale along with their plan.

After he was finished there was a long moment of silence before the Paladin came back, "Wow well I certainly wasn't expecting this when I put my armour on this morning, sounds like you've royally been through the grinder Knight, I'll need to meet with these friends of yours first before we take this any further or commit to any action, this is a lot to take on trust alone," she said and Raymond nodded his consent to Adam who glanced at him hopefully.

"They are prepared to meet with you Paladin, though might I suggest some neutral ground, the last thing we need is some over-trigger-happy initiates shooting at them, we're trying to stop a war not kick a second one-off," Adam said.

"Agreed and I think I know just the place, hold for coordinates," she said then she rattled off a series of long numbers which Raymond quickly plotted on the map he had.

"Shows as a warehouse at a dock about ten miles from here correct?' he asked and Adam confirmed it with the Paladin before nodding.

"We will meet you there in two days Knight and I do hope your new friends are good to their word otherwise there will be consequences Wright over and out," the Paladin said and Adam handed the radio back to Raymond.

"Alright then two days to prepare, we'd better have Oliver arrange our transport, bet your Paladin is going to have the shock of her life when she finds out that the group that negotiated your release is mostly non-human eh?" Raymond said noting that Adam had left that part out of his report.

"Sorry if that offended you, I just thought it wise to not broadcast it for fear of scaring the Paladin off, I thought that if she meets with you face to face and gets to see who you are for herself then it will hopefully help to not colour her opinion of you and your people," Adam said and Raymond nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry you did well, I just hope that this runs as smoothly as the talk with the elders, really don't want to be having a shoot out in a warehouse before we try to sit down with people to negotiate, it's not a good look," Raymond said.

They won't shoot at you as long as I am with you," Adam said confidently.

"Well then let's go and get something to eat and save Oliver from Abigail shall we before she really does feed him up to be my size?" Raymond said with a chuckle.

The group sat around the dinner table and Raymond explained to Oliver who was sitting at Abigail's side and trying desperately to fend off the fussing of the motherly hen woman what was going to happen in two days.

"Do you really think they'll treat fairly with us?" Oliver asked after dodging an overloaded spoon of corn offered by Abigail with a polite shake of his head as well as a ruffle of his feathers.

"We can trust Paladin Wright, she's the one who argued against fighting with your people in the first place and defended your people in front of a room full of others, she's a good woman," Adam said defensively.

"Plus we will be there to ensure nothing untoward happens, if they are trying to deceive us or mislead us we have our ways of sniffing that out," Raymond said confidently shooting a pointed look at Zixxy who simply gave him a smile and a nod as she tucked into her meal.

"Well I hope you are right both of you, the sooner we stop this pointless and needless bloodshed on both sides the better," Oliver said.

"What about transport down there?" Jack asked from his place at the table.

"My people are arranging for an airship to take us down, it will drop us off and then loiter in the clouds out of sight in case we need a rapid retrieval, hopefully, it won't be necessary but it never pays to be unprepared," Oliver responded.

"Alright good, we'll set out first thing in the morning tomorrow so everyone gets some rest tonight, it's going to be a long day tomorrow," Raymond said raising from the table along with everyone who had finished their meal before turning to Abigail.

"Thank you once again for your hospitality towards us Miss Abigail you have been wonderful," he said politely and the motherly hen simply fluffed her feathers and smiled back at him.

"Oh think nothing of it dearie it's been lovely having you all here, I never imagined I'd get to meet such a colourful array of characters let alone have them all stay in my place but you have been fantastic guests and you'll be most welcome here any time, now go on off with you to bed before that big Claw girl of yours carries you out of here on her shoulder," she said with a sly smile that made Raymond pause then glance behind him to see Lia staring at him with clear intention written in her bright eyes.

"Probably for the best if she gets any more anxious she'll probably start vibrating," he said with a chuckle before Lia grabbed his large arm.

"What do you mean 'probably?'" she said then she glanced around at the others.

"I swear to all that everyone holds holy, if anyone interrupts us this time I'm skinning them, plucking them and gutting them, possibly all of the above," she said and with that, she turned and dragged Raymond by the arm off towards the stairs to a chorus of laughter mainly from the Ronin.

"Go get her big guy!" Jack called after them.

"Too late," Raymond called back as Lia manhandled him up the stairs.

Once again Lia locked the door behind them and this time she wasted zero time pouncing on him, the big Claw turning and squatting low to the ground causing the massive muscles in her thighs and calves to bunch like bunched steel cables before she sprang at him catching him full in the chest and toppling him backwards onto the bed with a heavy thump and a protesting creak of wood.

"I've got you now beautiful male and this time there will be no escape from my love!" she growled in his ear before catching it between her teeth.

One thing Raymond had very swiftly learned about Lia was that she was a very energetic girl who like to work herself up, play fighting and struggling obviously turned her on, it was like her hunting instincts were intrinsically linked to her mating instincts, she liked to stalk him, pursue him, then tackle and struggle with him so that she could prove her strength and in her mind her worthiness before finally having him submit and allow her to receive her reward for all of her hard work and dedication, though they'd never actually made it to that final part fully yet.