Resistance - J.M. Dillard [8]
How could he ever weep or confess his inadequacies to a Vulcan?
Picard brushed aside the question. Such a horrific incident was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Besides, it was no longer time for such concerns; he had made his decision to accept T’Lana as his new counselor. Now it was time to adapt to the change and make the best of what was rather than what had been.
“Would you like to be shown to your quarters to rest?” he asked politely.
“No,” she replied.
Ah, the first sign of Vulcan bluntness.
“I am well rested, Captain. I would prefer to report for duty.”
“Very well.” Picard gestured toward the door. “Then let’s proceed to the bridge.”
As he led her through the corridors, he began a discussion of the most pressing matter at hand. “I understand you have experience in dealing with the Trexatians.” He had studied her file more than a dozen times and knew her history well. The Trexatians were marauders with recently acquired warp capability and a complete disregard for the rights of other societies. Some years ago, they had begun pillaging two other planets, T’hirada and Xochin, in a neighboring solar system. Their victims were even more technologically advanced than the Trexatians and fought back with a vengeance: a three-way war broke out, with none of the parties interested in a diplomatic solution—until the T’hiradans finally asked to join the Federation and requested Starfleet’s assistance.
T’Lana had counseled Admiral Yamaguchi and his diplomatic team, and been present throughout the negotiations. The mission had met with resounding success, and the Trexatians, although they had refused to join the Federation, had signed a treaty agreeing not to prey on their neighbors. They had kept that promise…until now.
Now they were raiding a planet in their own system—Repok—for a rare ore, vadinite, recently discovered to cure a disease that had been ravaging the Trexatians. The raids had begun slyly, with Trexatians shielding their vessels and conducting secret mining operations, beaming the mineral directly into their cargo holds. But the Repoki soon discovered the losses, since they mined vadinite themselves, and they were resoundingly disinclined to be generous—vadinite was their currency.
An all-out war soon erupted. The Repoki were at a serious disadvantage. They possessed only a first-generation warp drive that permitted them to put up a limited defense. The Trexatians were far more technologically advanced and became more brazen in their efforts to seize vadinite. They used phase weapons to slaughter Repoki workers at the mines, which they seized; they quickly destroyed most of the Repoki defenses. The natives began forming land armies to try to resist the impending Trexatian invasion.
But the Repoki realized they had little chance against their enemies, and so they contacted Starfleet for help. They had resisted earlier overtures from the Federation, but they were now willing to ally themselves in order to avoid the devastation of their people and their world.
“Approximately seven years ago, I worked for a short time with Trexatian representatives to resolve a conflict,” T’Lana said. “During that same period, I was also part of a delegation who visited Repok, at the invitation of a faction interested in joining the Federation.”
Picard lifted his eyebrows. “Indeed?” He had not seen any mention of the latter fact in her file but, then, the document was massive, referring to hundreds of missions over a twenty-year period. “How did you find Repoki culture? What drives them as a people?”
He was curious; he’d found only a smattering of information on them in the ship’s computers. There had been far more about the Trexatians because of the earlier war. They were a competitive race that embraced technology; physical appearance and abilities were enhanced by prosthetic eyes, limbs, cybernetic implants. Eye and hair color, as well as facial structure, were constantly changed; skin was colored and etched to create interesting designs and textures. Precious metals and gems were embedded in eyes, ears, and