Part 15 (1/2)
”And what is that?” Yorgas asked with a broad smile. This is going well. This foolish old woman will give me everything I ask for. She even apologized!
”That you have stonewalled these negotiations. That, in fact, you have not been acting in good faith but instead doing everything you can to drag out this process.”
Yorgas's face went cold again. ”Yar Bacco, I can a.s.sure you that I have done no such- ”
”Spare me, Mr. Amba.s.sador. Your offers haven't been generous, they've been outrageous-and what's more, you know they're outrageous. Unless, of course, you're far more incompetent than we've been led to believe. Either way, the Carreon have insulted the United Federation of Planets, and we are not going to stand for it.” She stood up. ”Quite simply, Mr. Amba.s.sador, we've had enough. You've been hara.s.sing the Deltans for a long time, and now you're holding them up over a water reclamation system that will cost you nothing to provide, yet they cannot live without.” She pointed an accusatory finger at him. ”You, sir, are condemning an entire species to dehydration just so you can derive pleasure from watching Amba.s.sador Tierra and her staff squirm. I gotta say, Mr. Amba.s.sador, how you can do that and still claim any kind of moral high ground is a mystery that I will take to my grave.”
”Yar Bacco- ” Yorgas started, but this time it was he the president interrupted.
”Mr. Amba.s.sador, if you do not come to an agreement with Amba.s.sador Tierra within the next thirty minutes, the Federation is going to declare war on the Carreon.”
Yorgas felt his breakfast start to rise in his throat. He swallowed it down, but the bitter taste remained in the back of his mouth. He stood up and clenched his fist. ”This is outrageous! On what grounds would you declare war?”
Bacco actually smiled-smiled! Yorgas had never been so insulted in his life. Then she said, ”Well, for starters, the person in my position is properly addressed as 'ma'am' or 'Madam President.' ”
That, Yorgas could not believe. ”You would go to war, engage your Starfleet in a military engagement that would result in countless casualties-over an insult?”
”I did say 'for starters,' Mr. Amba.s.sador. We'd then go to the depraved indifference of allowing this situation to continue, and negotiating in bad faith. It's that last one that especially got my dander up-you see, Mr. Amba.s.sador, negotiation is all we have to prevent war. But if you're not even going to give us that, then we only have one option left.”
Yorgas put his hand to the back of his head. This was disastrous. The Federation was the largest power in the quadrant. They'd successfully beaten back the Dominion after they'd gained a foothold in Carda.s.sia. They were allied with the Klingons, who were experts at warmaking.
Then he calmed down. She had to be bluffing. ”Then declare your war, Yar Ba- ” He hesitated. ”Madam President. Send your fleets.”
”Oh, I don't have to send any fleets. Right now there's a s.h.i.+p in orbit of Carrea, the U.S.S. Cheiron. It's a Centaur-cla.s.s s.h.i.+p, it's got eighteen phaser emplacements and four torpedo launchers. Not sure what its complement of photon and quantum torpedoes is, but you can rest a.s.sured that it's enough to pulverize your planet.”
”You wouldn't,” Yorgas whispered. The Cheiron had been investigating solar flares in Carrea's home star system, at the request of the Carreon Science Inst.i.tute, since Starfleet had better sensors than the Carreon science s.h.i.+ps. I can't believe that they'd- ”Now you could risk an interstellar incident, Mr. Amba.s.sador. Or you can let the Deltans have the water reclamation system.”
Trying to maintain some shred of his mission, Yorgas said, ”We must have something, Madam President.”
”You're right.” Bacco turned to Tierra. ”Why don't you give them Brannik IV?”
Tierra nodded. ”Very well.”
Yorgas's mouth fell open. He closed it quickly, then said, ”You'll-you'll give us Brannik?”
”No,” Tierra said in a soft voice that sounded like honey, ”but we will allow you to set up your scientific base. Our satellites will remain in orbit, and they will be watching you to make sure that all you do is watch the animal life.”
Yorgas looked back and forth between Tierra and Bacco. ”You two planned this.”
”That's right,” Bacco said. ”We got together and decided ahead of time to make you look stupid. Kinda like what you've been doing to her for the past few months.”
The Carreon amba.s.sador found that he had nothing he could say in response to that.
Bacco clapped her hands together. ”Well, then-I'm glad we had this chat. I'd hate for us to go to war, especially since we'd likely torpedo you back to the Oida age. I'll leave you all to work out the details.”
Tierra and her staff all said, ”Thank you, Madam President.”
Yorgas said nothing, but he did remain standing, even after Tierra sat back down. I have been humiliated. And now I must return to Carrea and tell them that I gave in.
He sighed. I can only hope that finally getting the base on Brannik IV will mitigate my punishment.
Amba.s.sador K'mtok did not like to be kept waiting.
He sat in the waiting area outside President Bacco's office. According to the supercilious Vulcan, the Federation leader was in some kind of meeting. The Vulcan also pointed out that if the amba.s.sador would set up an appointment, there would be a much better chance of his arriving at a time when the president could see him.
Were he on Qo'noS, the Vulcan would have been dead before he could have completed his sentence. Indeed, it had taken much of K'mtok's willpower not to take out his d'k tahg and plunge it into the Vulcan's chest. Still, such actions would not only cause an interstellar incident, but they would also provoke the guard standing at the entrance to the president's office into firing her phaser sidearm at K'mtok, disintegrating him in an instant. He had only been amba.s.sador a few months-he wanted to enjoy it for quite some time.
He was not enjoying waiting, but he would have enjoyed even less waiting until his official appointment tomorrow. This Bacco woman was toying with the empire, and he would have none of it.
The turbolift doors opened to reveal another guard, as well as President Bacco and a Deltan woman K'mtok didn't know. The amba.s.sador only knew she was Deltan from her distinctive scent-Deltans all smelled of fornication. If they weren't such hideous, hairless creatures, K'mtok might have found it invigorating.
”- right,” the Bacco woman was saying as she and the bald-headed woman exited the lift and headed toward the door, ”but putting you on judiciary's gonna be tricky.”
”I believe, Madam President, that it is the least you can do after costing us Brannik IV.”
”No, the least I can do after costing you Brannik IV is getting you a water reclamation system that will actually reclaim your water. Anyhow, the appointment's got nothing to do with the deal with the Carreon, it has to do with Artrin resigning. The fun part's gonna be replacing him on the security- ” She finally noticed K'mtok. ”Mr. Amba.s.sador-I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow.”
”Tomorrow will be too late. I will speak to you now.”
Bacco turned to Sivak. ”Have I got anything else besides Tos.h.i.+ro's s.h.i.+ndig?”
”No, ma'am-however, you are already fifteen minutes late for that.”
Turning to K'mtok, Bacco said, ”Well, I wouldn't be much of a leader if I showed up any sooner than half an hour late to an official function. You've got fifteen minutes, Mr. Amba.s.sador-I suggest you make it good.” She then turned to the Deltan. ”Councillor, I'll see you at 1330.”
”Thank you, Madam President.” The Deltan then looked at K'mtok. ”Mr. Amba.s.sador.”
”Councillor,” K'mtok said, realizing that the woman was Eleana, the representative of Delta IV to the Federation Council.
Bacco moved toward the door, where the second guard had also taken up position. She expected K'mtok to follow her without prompting, a compliment the amba.s.sador hadn't been expecting.
As soon as the door shut behind him, K'mtok said, ”You are not considering granting asylum to the Remans at your outpost.” He deliberately did not phrase it as a question.
”Really? I wasn't aware that precognition was among your many talents, Mr. Amba.s.sador.”
K'mtok frowned. ”I a.s.sume that was a typical human attempt at humor.”
”Actually, my attempts at humor are pretty atypical, but that's neither here nor there.”
”That was not a prediction, Madam President, it was a statement.”
”Sounded like an order to me.”
Shrugging, K'mtok said, ”You may interpret it that way if you wish.”
”Oh, I don't wish-because, you see, there's only one person who gives orders in this office, and it is most a.s.suredly not you.” The woman sat down at her desk and indicated the chair opposite it. ”Have a seat, sir.”
”I prefer to stand.”
With more steel in her voice than K'mtok would have expected from an elderly human woman, she asked, ”Remember what I said about giving orders, Mr. Amba.s.sador?”