The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [168]
He felt buffeted by the intense pressure of their eyes and their expectations: Admirals Black and Gardner from Starfleet Command; Captain Erika Hernandez, Archer’s one-time lover and current counterpart aboard the Starship Columbia NX-02; Prime Minister Nathan Samuels and Interior Minister Haroun al-Rashid of Earth; Ambassadors Soval, Solkar, and L’Nel, and Minister T’Pau of Vulcan; Ambassadors Thoris and sh’Rothress of Andoria, as well as Shran and his new bondmates, Shenar, Vishri, and Jhamel; Ambassador Gral of Tellar; and various members of the press, most of whom were equipped with head-mounted imaging equipment.
All of it trained squarely upon him, like some mass-media firing squad.
Archer scowled involuntarily when he noticed Travis’s old flame, the covert Starfleet Intelligence operative Gannet Brooks, sitting among the ranks of the journalists. The press- including the estimable Ms. Brooks- had picked up and run with certain unauthorized remarks made off the record by someone in Nathan Samuels’ office concerning Archer’s Monday conversation with the prime minister about the Coalition delegates’ reluctance to take military action against the Romulans, despite their having attacked Coridan Prime. Although both Archer and Samuels had been ducking interview requests ever since the story had broken- Archer had offered only a neutral but calculatedly surly “no comment” in response to every question the press had hurled his way in public- many among the press seemed convinced that Archer intended to bang the drums of war from the lectern today.
He remained just as convinced as ever that the Romulan threat simply wasn’t going to go away, at least not without a great deal of military “encouragement.” But a declaration of war was the last thing he wanted this day to be about.
Though he couldn’t see any members of his crew, Archer tried to draw strength from the knowledge that Malcolm, Travis, Hoshi, and Phlox were here somewhere pulling for him, probably along with anyone else from Enterprise for whom Lieutenant O’Neill had authorized shore leave.
Of course, his crew would expect eloquence from him, too. It’s too damned bad Starfleet Academy doesn’t really offer elocution classes for captains, he thought, recalling the observation Malcolm had made a couple of days earlier.
His gaze swept over the nearby Vulcan contingent, settling quickly on Soval, who was watching him with his usual reserved expression, though Archer thought he spied a fair amount of curiosity on the diplomat’s face as well. How could he flounder on the dais right in front of Soval? For years, the Vulcan ambassador had considered Archer an unworthy failure, until he’d finally won Soval over following the Terra Prime crisis.
Archer closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reaching more deeply into his inner resources than he could ever remember having done before. He recalled having briefly carried the disembodied katra of the long-dead Vulcan philosopher Surak around in his head when he had helped T’Pau gain control of Vulcan’s government last year. Some of Surak’s knowledge seemed to have stayed with him for a short while afterward, such as the ability to use the paralyzing Vulcan nerve-pinch that T’Pol had never succeeded in teaching him.
Surak, old friend, if there’s any trace of you still left in my brain, I hope you’ll let me use it to calm myself the hell down.
Archer opened his eyes, offered the crowd a gentle smile, and began to speak.
Fifty-One
Day Eight, Month Of Havreen
Dartha City, Romulus
CENTURION TERIX, once again charged with conducting Admiral Valdore’s briefing, finally appeared to be winding down his presentation. “Coridan Prime has suffered what can only be described as a mortal wound, Admiral.”
Ah, to be so young and optimistic, Valdore thought. He allowed the barest trace of a smile to cross his broad lips as he recalled his own stint as a callow young centurion.
Valdore sat behind the heavy sherawood desk in his office in the Romulan Hall of State, scowling up at the semitransparent holographic image that hovered