Diplomacy is Not an Option

Three crewmembers were killed in the battle that ultimately saw the sinking of the enemy ship. And during the initial boarding I, for the first time, put another mortal being to death. Not the head of an M-II or the animated body of an M-VII parasite, but a regular human. A pirate, but ultimately, that has little bearing on how it feels. Which is why I wish to dedicate this day to matters of morality and philosophy, starting with the nuances of war and diplomacy. A famous passage from Kang's progenitor Sol declares that the most successful form of warfare involves subduing the enemy without fighting. This concept is utterly alien to the resident noble on the vessel, who is increasingly becoming an adversarial nuisance and dismissive of all suggestions not originating from his deficient royal faculties. In fact, I will reiterate my earlier assessment (entry of 17 jul. 7/2397) of him exhibiting a gravitational ego; upon returning to Harasan to debrief the emir of the battle (where rumours of our deaths had been greatly exaggerated) and as a result of the worthless oratory skills of Aledein, the adventurers that had foolishly gathered to slay the blue dragon wisely started to leave, whereupon Nakor became ENFLAMED BY RIGHTEOUS FURY, COMMANDING THE LOWER CLASSES TO CONDEMN THEMSELVES TO CERTAIN DEATH: SO SPAKE THE _{SEVENTH SON OF THE SEVENTH} SON OF HEAVEN. He accused the people of the Alliance to be gloryhounds and thus inclined to go and perish in battle, but the one true whore of self-instilled vainglorious honour is painfully clear. Nevertheless, a small number agreed to venture along with Aledein the Fully Reliable and Upfront Guide to the lair of the dragon. Sarcasm.
 
Conn Dhuine has been a welcome change to the crew; surprisingly, he has a sense of self-preservation and ability to calculate risk on a scale from "Nakor's threat level" to "Nakor's own perceived threat level." The self-described freedom fighter was hence unwilling to connect to this caravan of death, but a faint moral obligation resulted in a discussion which terminated in a shared agreement to join them, but only in order to keep Aledein from doing anything nefarious on the way. I decided to pose as Josephine for this endeavour, but Dhuine felt comfortable enough to engage in friendly banter which produced two new personas entirely: Charlotte (surname von Edelweiss, created after the fact) and Bob, son of Bob. In two days, he has managed to inflict upon this madhouse an air of reasonable normality, long assumed gone after it went out for a drink at the inn and never returned.
 
This afternoon, a servant of the blue dragon confronted us, demanding that we leave whilst providing us with the repugnant reasoning behind his apparent father's actions. Nakor, ever the diplomat, attacked him immediately. Luckily, further hostilities could be averted, and I made a less confrontational case to him. An audience with the blue dragon itself is now on the table, and Nakor does not like tables. In all fairness, none of the other venture-seekers are interested in a three-step solution or an alternate conflict resolution. What I plan on doing is ensuring an immediate cessation of the dragon's indiscriminate rampage against civilians, which can probably be attained by "recognising" its claim to the area, and agreeing to a system of local tribute. Afterwards, I would inform the emir of what was said, what we saw, and say that any tribute that the dragon collects can be repossessed from its source. And also that there is no shortage of professional dragon-hunters in the world. The most successful form of warfare involves subduing the enemy without fighting; but victory is only achieved when the enemy is annihilated. And it is better to annihilate with guile and precision rather than by sprinting blindly into the problem with no regard for the loss of life caused as a result. However, I maintain no illusion in the matter; everyone in this haphazard task force, save for Dhuine, wishes to fight, not talk. There are days when I am tempted to skirt around ethical safeguards and make known the reasoning and process behind these types of long-term strategic solutions. But they exist for a reason.
 
There is a changeling amongst the adventurers. His past is suspicious, and of course it relates to a deity. This should be a concern, but I am more than glad to let Nakor shoulder the main responsibility of conversation with this Ohm. Or is it Um? Om? Uhm? If he tries to have me assassinated, I will write /ʌm/, /əːm/ in the personnel file. Oxide-type designation Upsilon-4.