Taking Wing - Michael A. Martin [47]
Still, he had to admit that the praetor did have a legitimate point. The Reman faction’s absence from the first session might arguably ease some of the intra-Romulan tensions, though actually holding a meeting without the Remans posed some very real problems.
As would flatly refusing to go along with the praetor’s plan. A rock and a hard place, he thought grimly.
Riker slowly paced toward the starboard side of the bridge as he addressed both Tal’Aura and Tomalak. “Can I assume that you’ll take every precaution to keep this…preliminary meeting entirely secret? If the Remans were to find out about it—”
“The Remans will learn only what we wish them to learn,” said Tomalak, interrupting in unctuous tones. “Their demands will be considered in due course, to be sure. At the start of the general negotiations between all the competing efvir-efveh .”
As his motions carried him back toward the center of the bridge, Riker noticed that both Deanna and Vale were still looking up at him. But now they were regarding him with unconcealed trepidation. Both were clearly asking him, without words, whether he understood the implications of what he was about to do.
He knew there was another important consideration as well: If the Klingons were indeed listening in, then they, too, already knew of the Romulans’ intention to exclude the Remans from the first meeting. The Klingons had come at the request of the Remans; might they not be inclined to spill Tal’Aura’s secret immediately?
But wouldn’t Tal’Aura and Tomalak have anticipated that, too? he thought. They must be gambling that the Klingons don’t want a Romulan-Reman war any more than they do.
Riker met the praetor’s hard gaze without wavering. “Who else is going to attend this…preliminary meeting?”
“The proconsul and I will receive Commanders Donatra and Suran, the most prominent leaders of our military. And Senator Pardek.”
“Receive” them, Riker thought, silently weighing the significance of this verb. Because she can’t just command them to attend. It must be killing Tal’Aura to have to appear so weak in front of old adversaries.
But he also knew that Romulans were nothing if not pragmatic. And a Romulan praetor who did not face reality forthrightly surely could not hang onto her power and position for very long.
“Pardek, for one, will be most disappointed if we cannot arrange the initial meeting we are proposing,” Tomalak said.
Pardek, Riker thought. He would probably be attacking the Federation right now if he had access to enough personnel and firepower. He was glad that Commander Donatra would also be present; if she were still as honorable as she had proved herself to be during the battle against Shinzon, then she would certainly do everything possible to prevent Pardek from waging war against anyone.
Riker knew that he had a decision to make, and that it had to be done quickly. He spared a quick glance at Deanna, whose dark, fathomless eyes offered no hint of a solution. Vale, still seated at his other side, was completely poker-faced. Nor was there time to adjourn to confer about what was to be done—not without risking giving insult to the praetor.
Am I about to grant de facto Federation recognition to a single Romulan faction? Riker thought, carefully keeping his rising anxiety from reaching his face. However legitimate Tal’Aura’s claim to power might be, there would be hell to pay with the other factions were they to perceive that the Federation was in any way predisposed in Tal’Aura’s favor. The Federation had to be perceived by all sides as an “honest broker,” or else the entire mission was doomed to failure.
Hell, he thought. Sometimes playing fair means asking annoying questions. Aloud, he said, “I can certainly understand why you might want to start the talks without having the Remans in the room. But I wonder why you’re also excluding some of the other important Romulan constituencies.”
Tal’Aura studied