Taking Wing - Michael A. Martin [103]
“Two standard months ago, I told you that the tensions between the Romulan Senate and the military factions were swiftly headed toward a breaking point,” Spock said. “None of us could have guessed how swiftly the crisis would come to a head, nor what the ramifications of Shinzon’s actions would be.
“While you were incarcerated, the Romulan Star Empire was brought to the very brink of ruin. Although logic dictated that the Unification movement would stand little chance of success in the current climate of political upheaval, I have attracted more followers to my cause than ever before. And not solely from the obvious sources.”
He paused for a moment, steepling his fingers before him. “I have come to realize the value of brokering rapprochement and peace with the Remans. The Federation seeks peace only with whoever controls the Romulan Star Empire’s levers of power; but it has underestimated the will of those within the Empire who believe that the established power structure on Romulus has reached the end of its useful life.”
“Surely you realize that whoever currently controls Ki Baratan’s political and military hierarchies will never step aside voluntarily,” Tuvok said.
A look akin to sadness played across Spock’s eyes. “Yes.”
Tuvok felt a deathly chill slowly ascend the length of his spine. “It sounds as though you are working with the Remans to engineer an outright armed rebellion. Have you been away from Vulcan so long that you have forgotten the teachings of Surak?”
Spock gestured toward Colonel Xiomek. “The Remans have not moved against the Empire, although I can assure you they have the capability of doing so. Were that to occur, the fires of violence that still burn within the Romulan heart might be stoked beyond anyone’s ability to bank them again.”
And what would become of your life’s work then? Tuvok thought, nodding. “I see,” he said aloud.
“I am attempting to show the Reman leadership the need to curb their people’s desire for revenge, and to seek other methods of redress and social change,” Spock continued. “They may even have a better affinity for pure logic than that of our Romulan cousins—at least, those who reject out of hand the path of Unification.”
Though his respect for Spock’s accomplishments and expertise remained vast, Tuvok could not deny his growing sensation of foreboding. “You cannot be unaware of the dangers inherent in trying to engineer even a nonviolent revolution,” Tuvok said, turning the cool communicator over and over in his left hand. “If you were to cause a civil war here, however inadvertently, your name would be—”
“Reviled forever,” Spock said brusquely, interrupting. “My reputation matters little when placed in the balance against the cause of Vulcan-Romulan Unification.”
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, Tuvok thought, recalling an aphorism from Surak’s Analects. “But are you really willing to risk engendering further violence—merely to advance the uncertain end of Unification?”
Spock paused, staring pensively off into the darkness. He seemed about to answer when Tuvok noticed a rippling shimmer begin to gather in the air around the aging diplomat. A millisecond later, he saw it appear around himself as well, and felt the familiar, momentarily vertiginous tug of a transporter beam.
The rocky cavern walls and shocked faces of the Remans and Unificationist Romulans were replaced by the smooth and comparatively sterile interior of a Starfleet shuttlecraft. Tuvok found himself standing on a narrow transporter pad, alongside Spock, whose surprise was being expressed entirely through his right eyebrow. Turning, Tuvok then saw a bearded Trill who was clad in a battered black utilitarian suit, no doubt designed for stealth operations. He wasn’t sure whether or not he had seen the man before. Commander Keru?
The Trill favored Tuvok with a grim smile as he swiped his hand downward over the transporter