The Red King - Michael A. Martin [13]
One branch had yielded an idealistic Federation, born of cooperation. And apparently another branch had instead created a hegemonic empire, forged in the fires of conquest.
But Riker knew that Earth’s upward social evolution had by no means been inevitable. Only a few years before the destructive Romulan-Earth War of the twenty-second century, and the subsequent coalescence of the Federation, first contact with the Xindi had cost millions of human lives. The Xindi attack on Earth had spawned the xenophobic Terra Prime movement, and might very well have placed human culture on precisely the same distrustful, aggressive trajectory that Neyel civilization had evidently taken.
And the Neyel path was never set in stone either, Riker thought. Their empire grew out of the decisions they made both as individuals and as a society. And those decisions would have created consequences of their own as time went on.
That idea brought to mind a salient question.
Turning toward Akaar, he said, “Excelsior’s reports said nothing about follow-up Federation contact with the Neyel after 2298.”
Akaar nodded. “That is because no such contact has occurred.”
Riker smiled, relishing the prospect of gently correcting the admiral whose presence had made Titan’s maiden voyage so much more difficult than he had anticipated.
“That isn’t entirely true, Admiral. A good deal of human-Neyel contact may have gone on for some time after 2298.”
A look of comprehension dawned in the large Capellan’s dark eyes. “Burgess.”
Tuvok again raised an eyebrow, then nodded. “Indeed.”
“Who or what is Burgess?” Vale asked.
“Aidan Burgess was a Federation special envoy whom Excelsior ferried to a diplomatic meeting with the Tholians,” Tuvok explained. “She ended up settling a war between the Tholians and the Neyel, using rather unorthodox means.”
Akaar nodded. “Means that included appropriating one of Excelsior’s shuttlecraft and taking it on a one-way journey through the rift that linked Tholian space with the region in which we now find ourselves.”
“I can only think of one reason any human diplomat might do something that extreme, Admiral,” Vale said. “This Federation envoy must have planned to live among the Neyel and teach them how their human cousins deal with their problems without A: wiping each other out or, B: trying to conquer the known universe. Am I right?”
“Essentially,” Akaar said. “Or so we have hoped all these years.”
Vale offered the admiral a thin smile. “So how did the ambassador’s plan work out?”
Akaar answered with a mirthless smile of his own. “We are the first Starfleet personnel since the time of Excelsior’s encounter with the Neyel who may have the opportunity to answer to that question.”
Riker’s combadge chose that precise moment to chirp. “Engineering to Captain Riker.”
“Go ahead…Dr. Ra-Havreii,” the captain said after tapping the badge. He had almost used the name of Commander Ledrah, Titan’s recently deceased original chief engineer, and hoped that no one had noticed his near-lapse.
“The repairs and replacements of the burned-out bridge stations are all nearly complete, Captain. And the shield generators will all be back on line within the next three hours. All other systems are already working within acceptable norms, though I believe we can still improve engine performance a great deal.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Commander,” Riker said. Titan’s new Efrosian chief engineer would take some getting used to, but not because Riker had any real concerns about the man’s competency. Xin Ra-Havreii had, after all, been Titan’s principal designer at Starfleet’s Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, and therefore knew the vessel’s every specification better than any other living sentient being did.
“The damage control teams have already put right the new hull breach deck five sustained