Galactic Diplomat (#2)

Retief is an officer of the distinguished Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne, a supra-national organization devoted to keeping the peace – or more accurately, to maintaining a state of tension short of armed conflict.
Retief is not exactly in the mainstream of current Galactic diplomacy, as expounded by such giants of the C.D.T. as Crodfoller, Hidebinder, Straphanger, and his own immediate superior, Magnan. Deviously sincere, uncompromisingly venal, fearlessly cowardly, these great, dedicated public servants will seem curiously familiar as they strive to keep the peace seven hundred years in the future.
But when Retief’s on the scene things have a way of coming right in the end…

Includes:
“Ultimatum” (1965) • novelette (aka Mightiest Qorn);
“Saline Solution” (1963) • shortstory;
“The Brass God” (1965) • novelette (aka Retief, God-Speaker);
“The Castle of Light” (1964) • novelette;
“Wicker Wonderland” (1965) • novelette (aka The City That Grew in the Sea);
“Native Intelligence” (1965) • novelette (aka The Governor of Glave);
“The Prince and the Pirate” (1964) • novelette;
“Courier” (1961) • novelette (aka The Frozen Planet);
“Protest Note” (1965) • shortstory (aka The Desert and the Stars).