And the Coalition Council, whose members all too frequently seemed only barely able to trust one another to begin with, might be swayed all too easily by such a convenient narrative. Even after adding to the equation the new evidence he had just acquired on QonoS, Archer could hardly fault anyone who had ever gotten on the wrong side of a Klingon captain for failing to believe the Klingon Empire to be unequivocally innocent of the Draylax incursion, much less beyond a reasonable doubt.
Still, as he said his good-byes to Gardner and Hernandez, then reached for one of the alien herbal painkillers that Phlox had prescribed for him, Archer was at least comforted by the knowledge that he would be taking the more hazardous patrol route. According to Gardners orders, Columbiawould be headed for safer territory, while Enterprisewas to set a course for the Gamma Hydra sector, perilously near Romulan space. The fact that the region was under dispute by both the Romulans and the Klingonsas well as near the Coalition-proposed “Neutral Zone intended to create a buffer separating both the Klingons and the Romulans from Coalition territory as well as from each othermeant that if another ship-to-ship engagement was in the offing, it was more likely to occur on Enterprises flight path than on Columbias.
Archer exited his ready room and entered the bridge, the determination in his stride slowly wrestling the pain from the duel with Krell into submission.
“Travis, lay in a standard commercial convoy heading for Gamma Hydra, section ten, he said. “And dont spare the horses.
THIRTY-FOUR
Tuesday, July 22, 2155 San Francisco
I NTERIOR M INISTER H AROUN AL- R ASHID FELTnowhere near as serene as he strived to appear. Though he kept his hands folded meditatively atop the wide, semicircular negotiation table in the Coalition Council Chamber, he waited anxiously for the hammer to fall on a pair of urgent but still-unresolved questions.
The foremost of these questions involved the rising likelihood of war with the Klingons. And the second, whose long-term implications arguably outweighed most conceivable consequences of the recent Klingon-Draylax incident, would almost certainly have a profound effect upon the outcome of the first.
The heavy oaken doors that separated the central auditorium from the small private conference rooms at the rear of the building opened with an echoing impact that made al-Rashid believe that the metaphorical hammer had fallen at last. Momentarily glancing away from the senior representatives from Andoria, Tellar, and Vulcan who were striding purposefully through the doorway at the opposite side of the chamber, he saw his own internal feelings of tense anticipation reflected on the faces of the humans who sat at the table with him: United Earths Prime Minister Nathan Samuels and Centauri IIIs Ambassador Jie Cong Li.
Like al-Rashid, both of his fellow humans had opted to have no staff members or junior functionaries accompany them to todays special closed-door meeting, in hopes of blunting the prevalent nonhuman perception that Homo sapienswas attempting to dominate Coalition business. In the same spirit, al-Rashid and his human colleagues had all agreed not to apply undue pressure on the nonhuman Coalition members to close the current human-nonhuman political rifts in favor of Earth and Alpha Centauri.
Despite the new compromise proposal that the representatives of both the United Earth and Alpha Centauri governments had signed off on yesterdayand the looming conflicts it would no doubt engenderal-Rashid still had no reason to think that anything had changed since the last time the full Council debated the issue; so far as he knew, Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar still vehemently opposed Earths initiative to confer full Coalition membership upon the human-inhabited Alpha Centauri settlements, citing as unfair the resulting “species voting bloc that would favor humanitys interests over the Coalition Councils nonhuman world.
Its going to take a long time for us all to learn to really trust each other,al-Rashid thought as the Vulcans approached the table, followed by the Andorians, the Tellarites, and Grethe Zhor, the official diplomatic observer from Draylax. Feeling dispirited by the nearly constant birth agonies that the nascent alliance continued to experience, he tried to buoy his sense of hope by reflecting on the manifold difficulties humanity had already overcome over the past century on its painful way to resolving Earths internal strife and numerous social evils; his own people, for one, had both bled and shed the blood of others for generations prior to the eventual peaceful resolution of the long-standing and bitter Israel-Palestine conflict. If humanity could find peace among its own, then surely it could do so again out among the stars.
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall in that closed-door meeting they just came out of,al-Rashid thought, rising to his feet along with his human colleagues to face their nonhuman counterparts as they reached the opposite side of the semicircular ranks of the council tables.
But as the assembled delegates from six worlds acknowledged one another with silent and respectful nods, al-Rashid found his eager anticipation slowly morphing into a gradually deepening sense of dread. What if today is the day it all finally falls apart?he thought, not relishing the prospect of Earth suddenly finding itself standing friendless and alone against the heavily armored belligerence of the Klingon Empire.
Although the somber Vulcan contingentwhich consisted of Vulcan Minister Soval, flanked by Ambassadors LNel and Solkar, his senior aidesreached the council table first, they remained standing until each of their colleagues had taken their seats. The hirsute Ambassador Gora bim Gral of Tellar and his two all but indistinguishable aides were the first to sit, followed by Andorian Foreign Minister Anlenthoris chVhendreni and his somewhat younger adjutant, Ambassador Avaranthi shRothress, and finally Grethe Zhor of Draylax.
“Thank you all for agreeing to attend this special meeting today, said Nathan Samuels, addressing all the nonhuman delegations simultaneously once everyone had taken their seats. Casting a significant glance at the woman from Draylax, he added, “I know I speak for everyone here when I offer my sincere hopes for our success in maintaining interstellar peace, especially beyond the present boundaries of Coalition space.
Not to mentioninside them,al-Rashid thought, taking comfort in a bit of gallows humor.
But no amount of humor, gallows or otherwise, could contain his mounting impatience to discover the outcome of the nonhumans just-concluded meeting-within-a-meeting. Addressing his alien colleagues, al-Rashid said, “Have you come to a decision yet about how to deal with Draylaxs, ah, Klingon problem?
Samuels scowled, evidently not comfortable with such a blunt frontal assault, while Li seemed only mildly surprised at the forwardness of al-Rashids question. Fortunately, none of the nonhumans present appeared offended. Gral, Thoris, and Grethe Zhor merely looked silently toward Minister Soval, almost as though they had all agreed to make the phlegmatic Vulcan their spokesman regarding the matter.