The Children of Hamlin - Carmen Carter [41]
Ambassador Deelor waited patiently until the preliminary introductions were complete, then instructed Ruthe to confirm the conditions of the earlier exchange agreement. She translated his words into a new melodic form and paused for the response.
Picard heard the dissenting notes in the Choraii’s answer even if he could not understand the cause. The look of concern on Riker’s face indicated he had also caught the change in key. “What’s gone wrong?”
“The Choraii want more lead,” explained Ruthe. “Twelve pounds instead of the original ten,” she looked to Deelor for his next directions.
“No. Tell them the terms have been settled. Ten pounds in all and remind them the first payment has already been made.”
Ruthe proceeded to translate back and forth between the Choraii language and Deelor’s Federation Standard. The captain wondered if the laborious process was a concession to the Choraii or an attempt to shield some portions of the negotiations from the crew. While his attitude toward Andrew Deelor had shifted over the last hour, and the captain was more inclined to trust him than before, there was still no way to confirm the accuracy of Ruthe’s version of the transaction. Picard knew Data’s language computers were making progress, but not enough to follow the complexities of this bargaining session.
The dissonance of the B Flat’s transmission increased. Ruthe shook her head at its conclusion. “The Choraii maintain this is a new vessel, so a new contract is in order.”
“Agreed,” said Deelor emphatically. “Three pounds for their captive since the Enterprise is a stronger ship and has defeated them in battle. Unless they wish to fight again and negotiate a new price when the combat is over.”
Picard cleared his throat with a deep rumble, but he did not protest the ambassador’s challenge. He had agreed to leave this part of the mission to Deelor. The captain’s discomfort was noticed, however.
“The Choraii respect a hard bargain,” explained Deelor in an aside to Picard. “Besides, the less metal they have, the sooner they’ll be ready to trade more captives.”
Ruthe must have conveyed Deelor’s convictions to the aliens. “The original price is acceptable,” she reported at the conclusion of another passage of song. “They are ready to discuss the exchange procedure.”
“The captive must be brought over first.”
Until now, the translator had repeated Deelor’s statements without comment. This time she ventured an opinion. “They will expect a security.”
“No security,” he said firmly. “They forfeited that accommodation by their actions against the Ferrel. My terms or nothing.”
She shrugged and lifted the flute to her lips. A staccato series of discordant notes emerged.
Deelor leaned back in his chair. “Relax,” he advised the captain and Riker. “This one’s going to take awhile.”
“What happened with the Ferrel?” asked Picard in a low voice. He expected another evasion from the ambassador, but this time he received a straightforward reply.
“We beamed over a half-payment of the lead as proof of our trust.” Deelor frowned at the result of his previous action. “And the B Flat took off like a bat out of hell.”
“Then you tried to detain them with a tractor beam, depleting your power reserves in the process,” suggested Data. “At least that is my theory, based on available data. Is it correct?”
Deelor remained silent for a moment, brooding over the helmsman’s conjecture. Ruthe’s music floated above their heads. “Yes,” he said at last. “When they hit us with the energy matrix, we were too weak to break loose or even to fire our phasers.”
The translator’s song came to an end. She lowered her flute. “They are very upset by your restrictions.”
“The Choraii have closed their frequency channel,” Yar said, checking her console.
“But they’re not moving away,” observed Deelor thoughtfully. “So we wait.”
“Damn!” said Beverly Crusher when she reached the end of the Hamlin file. “Double damn.”
The doctor ejected the cassette, removing the security-restricted data from the medical computer system, and considered what she had