Diplomatic Implausibility Read Online Free PDF

for death.

    “Are you familiar with the world designated taD, Ambassador?”
    Worf had to resist the urge to turn around and see which ambassador had entered the room.
This new title
will obviously take some getting used to,
he thought.
    He sat in the large, undecorated office belonging to T’Latrek of Vulcan, one of the Federation Council’s ministers for external affairs, and the person to whom Worf reported. She had gone over a variety of administrative trivia with Worf, including several items that had been, for whatever reason, left incomplete by his predecessor. T’Latrek also made the Federation Council’s policies on a variety of subjects clear to Worf.
    Now, she had turned to the final order of business: his first assignment.
    In answer to her question, Worf said, “I believe it is a world the empire conquered several centuries ago.”
    “Two hundred and fourteen years ago, to be precise,” T’Latrek said. “The world is quite inhospitable to Klingons, but is rich in topaline deposits. The natives, the al’Hmatti, were given
jeghpu’wI’
status, as is traditional in the Klingon Empire.” T’Latrek pronounced the Klingon word, which roughly translated to
conquered
people
—not quite slaves, but not full citizens of the empire, either—with a mild-but-acceptable accent. “They had lived as such for two hundred and ten years.”
    Worf frowned. He had not known of any change in taD’s status—but then, he hadn’t followed the developments of every conquered world in the empire. “What happened four years ago?”
    “The Klingons invaded Cardassia, and that near-depletion of Klingon Defense Force vessels within the empire proper allowed a rebel faction among the al’Hmatti to succeed in a
coup d’état.
They immediately applied to the Federation for assistance, as well as possible membership. Since the empire had withdrawn from the Khitomer Accords at that point, the Federation was willing to investigate the matter.”
    T’Latrek handed Worf a padd, then continued. “A preliminary investigation was begun by your predecessor. However, that investigation was cut short when the empire retook the world and also re-allied with the Federation following Cardassia becoming part of the Dominion. Hostilities with the Dominion precluded any further pursuit of the investigation, in any event.”
    Worf glanced at the padd’s display. As the planet’s name indicated—the word literally meant
frozen
—taD was an icy world. Worf could understand the value of the planet two centuries earlier, when the empire had been in expansionist mode. Topaline was used in atmosphericdomes, and for a long time was considered quite rare. Within the last fifty years, though, dozens of worlds had been discovered that were rich in the mineral. Worf wondered why the empire bothered reconquering taD. He set the padd atop a pile of other material that T’Latrek had provided.
I will, I suspect, learn the answers to my ques
tions soon enough,
he thought.
    “I take it,” he said aloud, “that the end of the war has changed that.”
    “Yes. Technically, the request the al’Hmatti made is legitimate, and the Federation has an obligation to pursue it. That must be balanced against the needs of the Federation’s alliance with the empire, particularly in this time of rebuilding.”
    “The Federation cannot accept a planet that is under Klingon rule as a member,” Worf said bluntly.
    “On the face of it, yes, that is so,” T’Latrek said. “But the retaking of taD has not solved the empire’s problem, either. The rebels continue to flourish. Last week, they attacked Governor Tiral’s satellite base. The Federation Council has received repeated calls for help from the al’Hmatti, and Tiral has requested assistance from the Klingon High Council. The Federation cannot simply ignore the al’Hmatti’s request. Therefore, a solution needs to be found that will satisfy the Federation, the al’Hmatti, and the Klingons. That is