Star Trek: Brinkmanship Read Online Free PDF Page B

forward and raised his palm in a formal but friendly greeting.
    “Negotiator Detrek. I’m Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Welcome aboard the Enterprise. May I introduce Glinn Ravel Dygan, who has been serving with us recently? He is a credit to your military, and I’m delighted to be able to attach him to you for the duration of our mission as an aide-de-camp.”
    Detrek gave Dygan a brisk brief nod. She shifted the pile of padds that she was carrying to her left arm and pressed her free palm quickly against Picard’s.
    “Captain Picard, I owe you a double apology,” she said. “First, I hope you will forgive my last-minute inclusion in this mission. I must surely have thrown your preparations into disarray—”
    “Not at all, Negotiator,” Picard said smoothly, although everyone on the Enterprise guessed how frustrated the captain had been by this sudden change to their well-made plans.
    Detrek smiled. “That is very kind of you. But I must apologize for my subsequent delay in coming aboard. All will become clear very soon.” She looked around. Her voice went low. “Where can we speak? Privately, of course.”
    Picard showed no outward sign of being disconcerted by the speed at which Detrek was moving and gestured toward the door. “The observation lounge is of course at your disposal,” he said.
    “Thank you.” Detrek began to move in the direction Picard had indicated. “May I impose upon you with one further request?”
    “By all means,” said Picard. Dygan, attuned to him by now, caught the merest hint of dryness in the captain’s tone.
    “I must speak to the other chief negotiators.”
    “We have a briefing session scheduled for the morning—”
    “Immediately, Captain. Please.”
    Picard turned to Dygan. “Perhaps,” he said softly, “you could convey my apologies to Madame Ilka and Ambassador Jeyn for waking them, and ask them to join me in the observation lounge as soon as they are able.”
    “Of course, Captain. Right away.”
    Picard, pausing in his pursuit of Detrek, added, “I’d like you at this meeting too, Dygan.” His eyes flicked sideways imperceptibly, toward the newly arrived negotiator. “I’d like your perspective on what’s happening.”
    Dygan nodded his understanding. He contacted both Ilka and Jeyn, and then hurried to join the captain and Detrek.
    Detrek seemed to have made herself at home in double-quick time. Her padds and data rods were spread out across the table, and she was standing, hands clasped before her, studying a large holodisplay of the border between Cardassian space and the Venette Convention that was projected on the nearest bulkhead. When the other two negotiators arrived—Jeyn in slight disarray, Ilka meticulous—Detrek turned to speak to them.
    “Forgive me for waking you,” she said to her colleagues. “Forgive me also for moving past the formalities of introduction. We have all familiarized ourselves with each other’s names, careers, histories, strengths, and weaknesses. We all know our business here. But we have very little time and we must move forward quickly.”
    Through the displayed star chart, Dygan and Picard shared a surprised look. Cardassians loved protocol: it was a game, a delight, the warp and weft of their social interactions. To forgo protocol completely implied that something was badly wrong.
    “Our mission to the Venette Convention has become more critical than any of us were prepared for,” Detrek went on. “This is no longer a matter of making overtures to the Venetans and offering them an alternative to friendship with the Tzenkethi. Events have overtaken us, and we find ourselves already longpast that point.” She sighed. “The castellan regrets to inform you that today our intelligence sources within the Venette Convention learned that the convention has agreed to lease three of its starbases to the Tzenkethi Coalition. When I show you the location of these bases, you will understand our concerns—and the urgent