Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [130]
“I dont know what that means yet, Gardner said. “And I have serious doubts that the Klingons will be willing to ally themselves with us, even to punish the Romulans. Whats your take on that, Captain Archer?
“Iyes, I dont think an alliance with us is in their plans, Archer said. “If theyre going to go to war against the Romulans, their crazy sense of pride is probably going to demand that they do it on their own. But if MRek was making serious plans to go to war against the Romulans anytime soon, he certainly kept them hidden from me. Which is exactly what I would expect him to do.
Gardner nodded. “Me, too. So all I have to do is convince the Council not to move against people upon whom we cant rely for help against the Romulans, even though those same Romulans can attack us any time they damn please while making it look as though the Klingons are really the ones responsible.
Pointing toward his own screenand presumably at both captainsGardner continued: “Its going to be your job to stop any further attacks, which I know is going to be extraordinarily difficult until we find an effective countermeasure to thisRomulan hijacking device. I know youre spoiling to go on the offensive, regardless. Unfortunately, weve been forced into a defensive posture, at least for a while.
Archer listened as Gardner gave a few more instructions to both him and Hernandez, but his insides were tying themselves in knots, and not solely because of the residual pain of his injuries. Despite his own desire to take more precipitous and direct action, he had to admit that the admirals words made a good deal of sense.
Still, it was hard to calm himself in the face of the overwhelming worry that he might not be able to act in time to prevent an unnecessary interstellar warjust as he had failed to reach Coridan Prime in time to take any action that might have prevented the Romulans from effectively destroying most of the planets surface. Despite all he had doneand the combined efforts of everyone serving aboard both Enterprise and Columbia, and Trip as wellthe duplicitous nature of the Romulan remote control system had all but perfectly framed the Klingons as the bad guys du jour.
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, Columbia would be headed for safer territory, while Enterprise was 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 Enterprise s flight path than on Columbia s.
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 FELT nowhere 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