The moment of discomfiture passed, however, dispelled by a wave of politely indulgent laughter, apparently started either by Ambassador Avaranthi shRothress or the newly promoted Andorian Foreign Minister Anlenthoris chVhendreni. The encouraging sound rippled quietly across the rest of the usually taciturn Andorian delegation. Vulcans contingentthe recently promoted Minister Soval, flanked by Ambassadors LNel and Solkarreacted as one with gently surprised expressions that probably would have been polite laughter had the Vulcans belonged to just about any other humanoid race with which Samuels was familiar.
In the VIP observation area located behind the semicircular array of diplomatic tables, Admirals Samuel Gardner and Gregory Black, along with Captain Eric Stillwell, the man in charge of Earths new warp-seven stardrive development program, and General George Casey, the iron-haired commandant of Earths Military Assault Command Operations, all looked like still-life studies with their medal-bedecked coats, folded arms, and grave attentiveness. From the press area positioned behind the Starfleet and MACO officers, several members of the mediaincluding, Samuels noticed, that entirely too persistent female reporter Gannet Brooksused the holocams that rested on their shoulders or in their heads to soak up every word and gesture. Grethe Zhor, the observer from Draylax, sat behind the press corps, taking in the entire tableau with an unreadable expression.
Samuels clung to the hope that Zhor would prove to be the key to working through the Coalitions current difficulties, the keen blade that would slice through the tangled dual Gordian knot of galactic one-upmanship and cutthroat domestic politics.
A flash of motion in the observation gallery momentarily caught Samuelss eye. When he recognized the small group of people moving quietly toward the balcony railing, he felt simultaneously relieved and disappointed that the newcomers werent yet another group of xenophobic former Terra Primers out to assassinate him in the name of God, Earth, and the late John Frederick Paxtons obsession with human racial purity. Instead, Samuels found his eyes drawn to the one person he knew besides Grethe Zhor who might help bring the current unsettled situation to a satisfactory resolution: Captain Jonathan Archer, a man whom hed once heard Minister al-Rashid describe as “a crisis that walks like a man, perhaps because wherever he went both peril and opportunity seemed inevitably to follow. Samuels could only wonder which of those two aspects Archers presence here today augured.
“The Centauri representative is as clever a talker as the Terran prime minister, Gral continued, apparently as unmoved by the words of Ambassador Li and Earths ministers as by the Andorians uncharacteristic good humor. “And I do not doubt the truth behind anyones claims of human contentiousness, which no doubt fuels the obstinacy of both Earth and Alpha Centauri on the issue of the admission of Centauri III. With that, the senior Tellarite diplomat sat, leaning back from the table with his arms folded truculently before him.
Anlenthoris chVhendreni of Andoria, known to most of the other diplomats present simply as Thoris, rose and began to speak before either of Earths ministers had time either to formally give him the floor or to interject any response of their own.
“Indeed, Thoris said, his antennae flattening aggressively backward along his well-groomed, white-maned skull. “Could this stubbornness be born of the fear that whatever remains of the outlawed Terra Prime movement might pressure the United Earth government to withdraw from the Coalition absent some guarantee of a human parliamentary advantage over the other members of this alliance? Centauri IIIs admission would appear to represent just such a guarantee.
“Thats both ridiculous and unfair! al-Rashid said, startling Samuels, who wasnt used to seeing his colleague react with such vehemence. Samuels saw his usually phlegmatic colleagues overstressed outburst as an ominous sign. It was also a tacit admission that the Tellarites assertion was anything butridiculous. After all, no one who monitored Earths popular media, its independent editorial journals, or its talknets could plausibly deny that humanitys small minority of committed xenophobes still maintained a formidable presence in the planets collective hindbrain, if only on a rhetorical, propagandistic basis.
Nevertheless, this was a point on which anyone representing Earths interests could ill afford to give ground. Playing up Homo sapienss lack of unanimity for the purpose of defusing the other Coalition members fears of human hegemony was one thing; making Earths population appear ungovernable, or portraying its leaders as dysfunctional without the advantage of a potentially unfair plurality, were other things entirely.
At the Vulcans table, Minister Soval rose, his hands clasped before his conservatively adorned Vulcan diplomatic robes as he addressed Samuelss lectern. “Ridiculous or not, it is abundantly apparent that we will not resolve this matter soon or simply.
“At least thatmuch is certain, Gral muttered, evidently just within the universal translator systems hearing threshold.
Depressing as the realization was, Samuels had to admit that he was inclined to agree.
“No wonder nobodys been listening to my warnings about the Romulans, Archer said quietly to Doctor Phlox, who sat to his left, his uncannily blue Denobulan eyes riveted to the diplomatic tableau unfolding beyond the railings that separated the balcony from the council chamber below. “These guys have their hands full just keeping the alliance from unraveling.
“I pledge never again to complain about the difficulties inherent in practicing medicine, Phlox said with a somber nod.
“Indeed, said TPol, who was seated at Archers other side.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed leaned forward against the railing between TPol and the seats that Ensigns Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather had taken. “Makes myjob look dead easy, Reed whispered, to silent nods of agreement from Hoshi and Travis.
Archer watched as Soval addressed Minister Samuels, who stood at the central lectern. “I recommend we table the issue of Alpha Centauris admission pending a special meeting of this body dedicated to that purpose. We must move on to other essential business, most notably our collective security.
“Agreed, Minister Soval, Samuels said, nodding. He then turned toward the observation gallery and did his best to make his voice project to the back of the room. “I call Captain Jonathan Archer of Starfleet to address the Coalition Council on these matters.
Phlox offered an encouraging smile as Archer rose from his seat. “Good luck, sir, Hoshi said as he passed her chair and began making his way toward the nearby staircase that wound down toward the center of the council chamber.
As he stepped onto the central dais to stand beside Minister Samuels, Archer did his best to ignore the sheer terror that always gripped him whenever he was called upon to address the crowned heads and eminences of the Coalition of Planets. Is it too late to order Malcolm to shoot me?he thought. He could take some comfort, at least, in the fact that his slightly late arrival seemed to have come just in time to preempt a filibuster that might have lasted for days.
Samuels shook his hand warmly, gestured toward the lectern, and took a seat, yielding the floor to Archer. The delegates of four worlds, all of them once again seated behind a semicircular array of curved tables, watched him quietly, jangling his nerves further. Archer looked up and past them toward the gallery, where his senior officers sat watching him expectantly. Not far from them, Admiral Black, Admiral Gardner, and General Casey uniformly glowered at him over folded arms, like a trio of gargoyles. The light babble of applause that usually accompanied a guests ascension to the lectern was conspicuously absent, creating a lacuna of uncomfortable silence that Archers imagination filled with the stridulations of crickets and the low, warp core-like thrumming of his own anxious heartbeat.