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By Root 575 0

down the package to your coordinates. When it gets there I want you to open it and distribute the contents to the Na’amOberyin and Bilik.” “What are the contents?” “Comm badges. Tell them whatever it takes, as long as they put them on, then signal me when it’s done.” There was a short silence on Mr. Data’s end of the conversation, and then: “Is it your intent to transport the entire Na’amOberyin aboard the Enterprise?” “Yes.” “Ah. For what purpose?” “To confront the Masra’et. Each is the supreme political body on their respective worlds. They have to meet if this is ever going to be settled.” “I do not know if this is a wise course of action at the present moment, Geordi,” Data said. “When Bilik brought me into the presence of the council, he did not limit his remarks to my introduction. He has repeated everything that Ma’adrys told him about the true nature of the world they call Evramur.” “And they believed him?” “He prefaced his recital with what I assume to be a sacred oath of inviolable honesty. To judge by the reactions of the Na’amOberyin, they accept everything he tells them as the unquestionable truth, and they are not happy. I do not think it prudent to bring aboard so significant a number of angered and hostile individuals. It is difficult to gauge any danger they might present. They all wear loose-fitting robes that make it impossible to determine whether or not they are carrying weapons.” “They’re angry at Ne’elat, not us.” “They are angry at Ne’elat and you,” Data corrected him. “Me?” “Bilik spoke rather eloquently of the manner in which Ashkaar has been deceived for so long by offworld agents.-He made no attempt to differentiate between the Ne’elatians and us, you in particular.” “Yes, it would be me in particular,” Geordi muttered, thinking of Ma’adrys and what she had once meant to Bilik.

“When I left the audience chamber, I overheard two of the council members pondering whether my intentions, too, were to be trusted.” “You’d better do what you can to bring them around. We need them to trust you just long enough to put on those comm badges. Signal when it’s done and I’ll beam you aboard first. La Forge out.” He pulled the transporter switch, watched as the package of comm badges flickered away, then settled back to wait.

In the briefing room, things were not going well. No matter where Captain Picard looked, he saw faces contorted by fury. Only his crewmembers— Counsellor Troi, Commander Riker, and Mr. Data— seemed immune to the storm of rage whirling through the room. Regarding Data, Picard idly wished that the android had been present from the beginning of this confrontation. Mr. Data could never be anything but the voice of pure reason, and that sometimes had a calming effect on more emotional beings.

But Data had arrived uncharacteristically late, and he left no time for Picard to request an explanation.

By then the hostilities were well out into the open.

The air crackled with the ranting voices of Ne’elatians, Orakisans, and the sole Ashkaarian, Ma’adrys, each trying to shout down the others. It was no use trying to restore order at this point.

Tempers had risen too high, too many hard truths had been spoken. The disputants had not yet resorted to physical violence, but from where Picard sat it looked as if it were only a matter of time. He touched his badge. “Security to the briefing room, on the double.” Mr. Worf responded to the summons personally, accompanied by two of his staff. They entered just as Udar Kishrit was about to lunge across the table for Avren’s throat. The Ne’elatian agent backed away fast and bumped into the Klingon. It was rather like stumbling into a solidly mortared brick wall.

“Ow!” Avren’s hat was knocked to the floor. He stood there rubbing the back of his head and glowering at Worf.

Worf had no time for apologies. His eyes swept the tumult and he thundered out a single word: “Sit!” One look at the Klingon and they sat. Quickly.

However, even with the contenders under some control, it didn’t take them long to start bellowing at each other again.

“Lies!” Udar Kishrit