The Romulan War_ Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Book 1) - Michael A. Martin [237]
“What’s happened?” he repeated. And if Ych’a and Denak are off somewhere in a meditational funk, then who the hell is keeping an eye on Terix?
“I need your help,” T’Pau said, still explaining nothing. “All of Vulcan needs your help.”
He could hardly refuse a plea from the head of Vulcan’s government while he remained a guest on her world. But it wasn’t Trip’s preference. All he wanted, still, was to go home.
Tucker looked at T’Pau and realized that his prospects of going home had just vanished.
EIGHTY-FIVE
Enterprise, near Deneva
ARCHER LEANED AGAINST his command chair, feeling numb. The news of Andoria and Tellar’s intended withdrawal from the war effort had just arrived, via both the civilian media and a Starfleet dispatch.
“They can’t just pull out like this,” Ensign Leydon said from the helm console. “Can they?”
“The Coalition Compact says they can’t,” Reed said. “But Vulcan has already set a precedent.” When T’Pol fixed him with a sour stare, he amended his small gaffe by adding, “Present company excepted, of course.”
“So what happens now?” Hoshi Sato wanted to know.
“Admiral Gardner has promised to explain all the logistics and other details about the pullout,” Archer said. He didn’t want to further wound the morale of an already frightened crew, but he knew he couldn’t afford to sugarcoat reality for them either. “I’m afraid it already adds up to just one thing: We’re going to have to face the Romulans alone.”
With the Coalition essentially coming apart at the seams, the human species—essentially Earth, Alpha Centauri III, and a handful of remote, mostly dependent colony worlds that would likely prove to be liabilities rather than assets—was now on its own against an aggressive, conquest-driven empire.
Unless somebody else joins us, or intervenes on our behalf, Archer thought. He wondered idly whether the Klingons might be persuaded to help, given their ongoing enmity with the Romulans. Teaming up with the Klingons has got to be one of the worst ideas in the entire sad, sorry history of bad ideas.
Hoshi’s console began beeping insistently.
“Who is it?” Archer said, moving to the comm station.
“The signal is coming from Vulcan, Captain,” Hoshi said. After she paused to study the console display, her eyes widened and became fixed on Archer. “It’s Foreign Minister Soval.”
“Do you suppose Vulcan might have had a change of heart about throwing us to the wolves?” Reed said.
T’Pol said nothing.
“From your mouth to the Great Bird’s ears, Malcolm,” Archer said. “Pipe it to my ready room, Hoshi. T’Pol, you’re with me.”
Soval didn’t need to say a word. The veteran diplomat usually excelled at hiding his emotions, but his despair was apparent.
“I have met with Administrator T’Pau on multiple occasions, Captain,” Soval’s image said from the terminal on Archer’s ready room desk. “I attempted again to persuade her to join in your fight against the Romulans before both the fall of Kaferia yesterday and today’s announcement from Andoria and Tellar. And I repeated my efforts yet again after those events. She still will not listen.”
Archer wasn’t surprised, though he was disappointed.
“You have my sincere thanks for continuing to try, Mister Foreign Minister,” he said, shifting in his chair and straightening his posture. “But I’m confused about one thing: The last time I contacted you, you seemed to think you had a reasonable chance of changing her mind.”
“So I did, Captain.” Despite his disciplined emotional control, the lines of despair on Soval’s face seemed to both deepen and lengthen. “But that time has passed. There is no longer any chance that Vulcan will enter the war. I expect those who wish to maintain Vulcan’s isolation to be impossible to persuade now.”
“Why?” Archer said.
“Because someone has perpetrated an unspeakable act of violence on Mount Seleya,