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Some people say that soldiers make poor diplomats. That solving issues with a bullet is easier than solving it with words. Those people…would be correct. Which is exactly why diplomatic attachés are so damned common in the military. You had witnessed numerous incidents yourself of that nature.
A division, from one end of a planet compared to the next could be vastly divided linguistically, even when Vatan is mandatory for all soldiers, there are still plenty of dialects and wrong pronunciation can lead to fists being thrown about. Of course, then there are cultural, ethnic, historical and many other differences. Hell, you had to break up a fight between two regiments when they found out the results of their world’s football game, each regiment supporting the other team.
Now, take all of those issues, and increase them to a corps size, army size, army groups, entire theatres of war. Add into the mixture noble politicking, a professional officer corps filled to the brim with commoners like yourself that are trying to stay out of dodge, or alternatively dive head first into politics trying to leverage their military postings for noble ranks of their own and you have a recipe for a disaster.
This is of course, not accounting outside institutions like military manufacturers, logistics companies, various intelligence agencies. All of those tend to throw a wrench in cohesion and continued operation of a large military formation. Naturally, there’s of course the enemy that gladly continues shooting at you and raising up your stress levels to the point where you knew a few fellow captains that entered early retirement because of heart issues. It also explains what happened to your once lush golden locks.
Which is why, the man before you is so critical.
Ashwin Heggen is now in his mid-fifties with a bald head and meticulously kept black moustache. He is wearing glasses even as his artificial eyes struggle to make out the words before him. You do not have the capacity nor the skill to repair such sensitive cybernetics, over time they had begun to break down, causing the need for said glasses. Despite being slightly overweight, the man is still full of energy with a large, friendly smile and a rumbunctious voice that can be surprisingly soothing when Ashwin wants for it to be.
This jolly man, who smiles no matter what is before him as he deals with angry and usually bored soldiers right now is frowning.
You had given him the recording of your conversation with Akil as well as a copy of the deal you had sent him.
He had rewatched the recording five times, and re-read your offer…well you do not know how much he had re-read it, but you do know he’s been staring at the thing for over an hour.
Finally, he sighs. Which causes you to prop up and regard the man.
Putting down, he takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. Not needed, but seemingly an old instinct that just did not go away when they were replaced.
