The Diplomat's Story (short story)

The Diplomat's Story was the fourteenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Repercussions. It was written by Kathryn Sullivan. It featured the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe.

Summary
The human colony on Teuba has just been attacked by the Hufko. Ormsin Ives' husband was one of those killed in the attack. As Ormsin sits in the assembly hall with the other colonists, the delegates who are negotiating for peace, the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe, enter. Evelyn is impressed by Ormsin and asks Vice President Skemp if Ormsin can take part in the negotations.

The Hufko, a matriarchal society, prefer to negotiate with women, so Evelyn given the task of dealing with Hufko demands. Ormsin impresses the Hufko delegates, and Evelyn suggests to President Henry that Ormsin, instead of Delegate Wolfe, act as the humans' diplomat.

Some time later, Ormsin and her staff are setting up a trade meeting with the Hufko Defence Leader. They are surprised that another Hufko group, led by Neekhm, wants to meet with Ormsin as well. She meets with Neekhm's group, showing them many items the humans have for trade. She also meets with the Defence Leader's group. Both leaders are impressed with what the humans have to offer. After Neekhm leaves, Wolfe enters with a mining representative, eager to meet with the Defence Leader. Wolfe offends the Hufko, but Ormsin is able to smooth things over.

Unfortunately for Ormsin, the humans and Hufko were never supposed to co-exist peacefully. Instead, several colonies were supposed to band together to overthrow the Hufko. The Doctor was forced to remove Ormsin from her time and place her in the time vortex in order to preserve the Web of Time.

Characters

 * Sixth Doctor
 * Evelyn Smythe
 * Ormsin Ives
 * Delegate Wolfe
 * Vice President Audreau Skemp
 * Mehit
 * Defence Leader
 * President Ted Henry
 * Rheoli
 * Tabitha
 * Neekhm

Worldbuilding

 * Ormsin eats tom yum soup.
 * The foods offered for trade to the Hufko include roses, azaleas, grasses, and impatiens. Ormsin also offers cooked grains — oat mash, corn and rice.
 * Ormsin offers a dish of Kaeng Phak — vegetable curry.
 * The Hufko are vegetarians and prefer their vegetables raw.

Continuity
to be added