Good Evening, welcome to the latest in my series of using a daily writing prompt to spend 10-15 minutes getting some practice in (although I’ve been averaging 40-50 minutes these last few days, I get into the ideas). Please leave your feedback and your own responses to the prompt.
Prompt: An extraterrestrial diplomat is caught spying on a black ops mission between planetary councils.
Genre: Espionage/Science Fiction
Source: 121+ Spy Story Ideas That Will Keep Readers Guessing
Time Spent: 35 minutes
Word Count: 1002
Ga’vek’na’mar’an squirmed in the hard metal chair that they had been place in, purple tentacles crossing and uncrossing themselves upon the table. Other than the chair, the table, another chair opposite, and walls of grey, impersonal metal, there was nothing else in the room. The Vel’an’ra’kan Ambassador had to image there was cameras, but even with vision well into the infrared spectrum, it could see nothing. A gentle mist was being pumped into the room, but even so their species was not used to being so long out of the water, which added to their obvious discomfort.
It was unclear how long it had been sitting there when a panel opened in the wall opposite to admit a small and fastidious human where what the ambassador believed was called a suit. He, at least it thought the human was a he, it had trouble telling humans apart from one another. The human sat down at the table opposite, opened up a file pad, placed a metal box which it recognized as a translator, and coughed before speaking
“Ambassador Ga’vek’na’mar’an of the Vel’an’ra’kan Conglomerate, leader of the delegation from your people to the Alpha Centauri Republic for the last eighteen of your system’s solar cycles. Do you know why we brought you in here?”
The Ambassador drew itself up to its nearly six foot seated height and replied in its own tongue, and just as the human’s address had, the box on the table almost immediately rendered it into the human’s language, “This is an outrageous breach of diplomatic principle. I have full immunity. You cannot keep me here.”
The man, the diplomat was becoming more sure of that the longer it stared at him, seemed to chuckle, “Ambassador, please save the protestations. We both know that anyone who is brought to a room like this has been taken without anyone’s knowledge. By my count, it is nearly four hours before anyone comes looking for you or misses you, that is more than enough time to do what we need to do.”
“You are going to kill me then?”
The human shook his head, “If your death were our goal, there are many more convenient ways to arrange that. Especially given your habit of wandering along beyond the embassy.”
The Diplomat shifted uneasily, “torture then?”
Again the human shook his head, “I doubt that will be necessary. What I really want to talk to you about is why you were outside spaceport a few hours ago and what you saw?”
Ga’vek’na’mar’an was taken aback and had to think for a moment before responding. “I am fond of an evening stroll, or perhaps more accurately an evening swim, and the water here is really quite lovely.”
He swallowed hard before continuing, “What I saw was a group of soldiers, as far as I can tell, dressed for combat and loading equipment into their shuttle.”
The human was taking careful notes on this, “did you notice anything else odd or unexplained?”
The Ambassador sat back for a moment in thought before adding, “Well, not sure why the soldiers were in their full combat gear, but the odd thing that I noticed was that the uniforms and decals on the shuttle looked more like it belonged to the Empire of Earth, but the weapons being loaded appeared to be Alpha Cenauri in origin.”
The human sighed at that, “yeah, that was what I was worried about, that you had seen our team load up the equipment they need.”
The Diplomat, naturally curious, leaned forward and said: “What is their mission?”
An almost smile played on the human’s face, “You cannot honestly believe I will tell you that.”
A rumbling chuckle shook the room and table, “I guess not. What becomes of me now that I have seen your secret.”
The human leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes for a moment before sitting up straight once more, “I have no real interest in killing you, especially not for what was clearly an accident. So, what will it take to get you to forget what you saw and never speak of it again?
“You offer me a bribe?”
“What will it take?”
The Ambassador thought for a moment, “it would have to be something that would benefit my people.”
The human thought for a moment, “well, with any luck there are going to be some changes to the balance of power in this sector, and there will be plenty of contracts that we will need to be fulfilled and I can arrange for your fine country gets the first choice on them.”
The ambassador was almost giddy at the process, and eagerly shared all that had seen, in every small or large details. With an offer for the first of the contracts in hand, the Vel’na’ra’kan Ambassdor was escorted back his cell, having just discorged much of his life’s story to his great uncle
*THREE MONTHS LATER*
An intelligence officer scrolls through a news feed, to see if there was anything of noted.
Alpha Centaury XII fleet defeats Earth Fleet orbiting Titan “old news”
Vel’na’ra’kan Conglomerate delivers first shield coils to Alpha Centaury, “story told to death”
Death of. . .with a start, she gives a yelp of surprise and runs into her boss’s office and shows him the article that says Ambassador Ga’vek’na’mar’an died of what his doctor’s describe as the equivalent of a stroke. She finally gather herself and said, “the timing, so soon after the signing of the treaty between us and the Conglomerate, sure makes it look like it was done deliberately. Earth do you think?”
The fastidious man shook his head, “no, not earth. Let us just say that he saw some things that would be dangerous for everyone if it got out.”
The woman looked puzzled, “how did we do it?”
“One of these days I will need to make sure you actually learn about poisons and the benefits of those that have a long duration before it becomes lethal.”
I hope that you enjoyed! I would love to read your response to this prompt as well and also what you think of what I wrote!
I hope you all have a wonderful day, get the chance to do or experience something creative, and I’ll catch you on the next one.
– Jon
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