Chapter 10
Chapter 9
Stardate 57255
It had been a little more than a week since the party. The negotiations had begun with several days of long, boring speeches and introductions that accomplished little, but were a standard part of such negotiations. Both Kitty and Picard had spoken at those gatherings, as had Lilandra and several members of her negotiating team.
Three days ago, the actual negotiation phase of their mission had begun.
And immediately had stalled.
By now, Picard and his crew were beginning to get frustrated with the situation. The Shi’ar, it turned out, had some expert semanticists, word experts, who reveled in finding new and inconvenient ways of misunderstanding and misconstruing the terminology contained in the documentation of the Federation’s proposals. The Shi’ar negotiators had spent the past three days keeping the Federation team tied up in knots trying to ‘explain’ terms that, to anyone else, were self-evident.
Picard, Riker and, of course, Data, had shown incredible patience during this process, and in fact, they actually seemed to be making headway on several points. But the frustration was beginning to take its toll on the whole team.
Especially Kitty. Kitty had stopped talking the day before, and had, in fact spent hours slumped back in her chair staring at Lilandra with obvious frustration... and anger. Lilandra, for her part, avoided Kitty’s gaze as much as possible, and seemed to ignore the frustration of the entire Federation delegation. And slowly, over time, Kitty’s glare was changing from one of frustration to outright hostility.
The Shi’ar negotiating team was nominally led by Lilandra, but one of her advisors, Counselor L’Kron, had taken the actual leadership role, and was doing most of the talking for the Shi’ar delegation. Which just made everyone’s frustration all the worse, because L’Kron was a dry, humorless sort man, with a monotonous style of speaking that could put a chronic insomniac to sleep. Given that much of the substantive details of the negotiations dealt with boring issues like economics, finance, accounting, taxes, and monetary policy, L’Kron’s style was not one that endeared him to the Federation delegation.
He was speaking now. “And so you can see the definite advantages of reworking the import-export tax system to the more progressive one that we are suggesting. And now, moving along, Her Majesty’s government would like to revisit Section 112B, subchapter 3 of the Federation’s proposal. Some of the wording in this section leaves a certain level of ambiguity that must be addressed. For instance...”
“Excuse me, Counselor L’Kron,” Riker piped in, “but didn’t we review Section 112B yesterday?”
“Indeed we did, Commander Riker. However, there is still an unacceptable level of ambiguity that must be addressed before Her Majesty’s government can consider the proposal.”
“Sir, Section 112B was originally three sentences long and described the level of maximum tariffs that would be allowed in a specific year,” Riker said. “We understand that there might have been a certain level of confusion as it was first presented. But we have now, at your request, expanded that section with definitions and time limits for all phases of the agreement period. In fact, we have gone from a minor, three-sentence item to one that runs fifteen pages, and is, if anything, too limiting in its definitions. There is no ambiguity in Section 112B.”
L’Kron gave a patient (and rather patronizing) smile to Riker and the rest of the Federation delegation. “Her Majesty’s government begs to differ, Commander. Why, if you would look at subsection 3, line 4, you’ll see that the wording reads ‘with any shipment of materials’. We believe that the definition would become clearer if we were to substitute that line with the words ‘along with any shipment of materials’. You see, by making that one little change, all ambiguity in that sentence disappears.”
Riker looked at Picard in disbelief. The change in wording clearly had no bearing on the meaning of the sentence in question. It was a case of making a change for the sake of making it, with no advantage. Picard simply nodded his head. Riker turned to Data. “Mr. Data, please note the change in wording in Section 112B.”
“Yes, Sir,” said Data obediently.
Kitty’s hand came cracking down on the table with the sound of a shot and she stood in anger, leaning over the table. Everyone in the room (except Data) jumped at the sound.
“No!” she said. “Enough is enough.”
Picard looked at Kitty. With exaggerated patience, and a voice that belied his anger at the rude interruption, he said, “Please retake your seat, Commander.”
“No,” she said. “I will not take my seat, Captain. I’ve had it. I won’t be played the fool anymore.” She turned to Lilandra. “I never thought you would resort to hiding behind lawyers and politicians, Lil. You of all people... how could you insult me that way, lawyering with me? I thought we were friends. I thought I was your Champion. Or was that all crap? Because that’s how you’re treating me and the rest of my team, like crap. What have I ever done to you to deserve such an insult?”
“Well, the hell with this.” She pushed herself away from the table and stormed toward the door. “This meeting is over,” she said. She looked over to Picard. “We’re leaving, Captain,” she said with authority. She opened the door and half stepped through. Then she turned back to Lilandra. “When you feel like treating me with respect, you know where to find me. Till then, we’re adjourned.” She walked out, slamming the old-fashioned door behind her.
Picard looked at Riker and then at Troy in shock. Then he turned to Lilandra, who avoided his eyes. “Your Majesty, I apologize for Commander Pryde. I am so sorry for any embarrassment that she may have caused you, and I assure you that she will be properly reprimanded for her behavior.”
Lilandra continued to avoid Picard’s eyes. But she said, “There is no need for you to apologize for her, Captain. Nor does she deserve any reprimand.”
“You are too kind, Your Majesty,” Picard said as he and the rest of his crew withdrew from the negotiating room.
Kitty was waiting for them at the end of a long hallway.
Picard took her by the elbow, pulling her off to the side, out of earshot of any passersby. “Just what in the hell did you think you were doing, Commander?”
Kitty smiled... SMILED... at Picard. “Before I answer you, what happened after I walked out?”
Riker piped in. “What the hell does that matter? You were totally out of line, Pryde. How could you address a foreign head of state that way during an official event? I don’t care how close to her you are... or were before you pulled that little stunt in there. That kind of behavior is unbecoming of an officer and an official representative of the Federation government.”
“Please, Will, just tell me what happened.”
“The Captain apologized for your behavior, and we left.”
“How did Lilandra take the apology?”
Picard spoke up. “She seemed embarrassed by the whole event. She was blushing and she refused to make eye contact with me. I think you angered her a great deal.”
“YES!!!” Kitty exclaimed. “You reacted perfectly, and she reacted just as I thought she would. This is perfect.”
“What are you talking about, Kitty?” Riker asked.
Kitty turned to Troi. “You’re the empath, Deanna. What was she feeling after I walked out?”
“Anger and embarrassment, mostly. Humiliation.”
“Directed at who?”
Troi’s eyes widened in surprise, as she realized the answer to Kitty’s question. “At herself. She was angry and embarrassed at herself. She felt as if she had humiliated herself.”
“Are you sure, Counselor?” Picard asked.
“Yes, Captain. Some of it was clearly aimed at her own ministers, but those were minor emotional responses. The bulk of her emotions were clearly directed at herself and her own actions. She was embarrassed because of something that she did, not something that Commander Pryde did. It was almost as if she were a little child caught doing something that she knew perfectly well she shouldn’t be doing.”
Picard turned to Kitty, who was grinning from ear to ear like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. “Explain, Commander.”
“She’s been negotiating the shape of the table, Captain, and I called her on it,” Kitty explained. They looked at her in puzzlement.
When she saw that they didn’t understand she continued, “In the old days, when one side or the other in a negotiation refused to negotiate in good faith, but were unable, for whatever reason, to break off negotiations honestly, they would argue about the size and shape of the negotiating table. If the table were round, they would demand a square table. If it were square, they would demand a round one. They would claim the table was too big or too small and demand a different one. And when the other side got frustrated and stopped giving in to stupid demands about tables, they would be able to honestly go back to their constituents and claim that the other side refused to meet even the simplest agreement regarding the shape and size of the negotiating table, much less any substantive matters. That way they could break off negotiations without shouldering the blame for breaking off the negotiations before their own constituents.”
“And you believe that that is what the Shi’ar have been doing?” Picard asked.
“C’mon, Captain,” Kitty chided. “‘Along with any shipment...’? You gotta be kidding me. Of course that what she was doing. She’s been stringing us along for three days, and I suspect that that’s what she’s been doing with the earlier delegations as well. Until now, nobody dared risk insulting her by calling her on it. But by the standards of Shi’ar society, what she was doing was extremely rude. I’ve already told you that in Shi’ar society, negotiators are people of words, and warriors are people of action. L’Kron is a rarity among Shi’ar political leaders in that he’s never served in the military. He’s a word man, Captain. And having him as the chief negotiator was a huge insult, because only warriors deal with warriors. People who see us as warriors should not be sending a semanticist to negotiate. Such is beneath our station as war heroes… and certainly beneath my station within Shi’ar society. Frankly, it was a huge insult. And then to have this semanticist use word games to avoid negotiating in good faith…? By doing that, she was essentially saying that we were unworthy of negotiating with real men.”
Picard nodded in understanding now. “And so you called her on it.” Kitty nodded. “Alright, I can understand that. But if she’s so upset, what makes you think she’ll change?”
“Because she owes me now, Captain,” explained Kitty. “She offered terrible insult, by Shi’ar standards. To all of us, but to me in particular as a Shi’ar noble and decorated soldier in their military. Technically, I would be within my rights to challenge her to a duel. I have no intention of doing so, of course. When she was younger, I might have… not a death duel, but certainly till first blood. And in her youth, Lilandra was a good a fighter as you could find anywhere in the galaxy. I have no doubt that she could have stood toe-to-toe with me. But she’s older now…”
“In any case,” she continued, “she knows the insult she offered me, and knows that it is only our friendship and my current position as a Federation delegate that’s keeping me from challenging her and gaining satisfaction. So she owes me that satisfaction. It’ll take a while for her to get a grip on her emotions… I rubbed her face in it, and she’s embarrassed by it. But once she does, she’ll call us. I give it twenty-four, maybe thirty-six hours before she calls.”
“You’re that sure of yourself?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Picard thought for a moment, and then sighed. “I really wish, Commander, that you would stop pulling these stunts without consulting me first. I am supposed to be in command here.”
Kitty looked contrite. “I’m sorry, Captain. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. There wasn’t time to consult. It had to seem spontaneous… which it was. She really did insult us, Captain. But when L’Kron crossed the line like he did with that idiotic little ‘correction’ of his, I saw the opportunity to break the stalemate. I apologize for not consulting with you ahead of time.”
“I understand, Commander. But do try not to make a habit of it.”
“Aye, Sir.”
**********
As Picard and crew left the building, there were three sets of eyes watching them from the twelfth story of a building across the courtyard. The room in which they were located was supposed to be vacant at the moment due to construction upgrades to that entire floor of the building. But there were three people carefully watching the main exit of the government building that housed the Shi’ar Foreign Office.
One of the three, the leader of the group, said “That’s them. Do you see the target?”
“Confirmed,” said another of the two. He was looking through a pair of electronic binoculars. Target is second from the right, just passing the statue now.”
“Target confirmed,” said the third as he peered through the scope of a sniper rifle. “I have the shot. Awaiting green light.”
The leader looked at his watch, checked his personal comm unit for any messages that might cause them to abort their mission. There were none.
“Green light,” he ordered. “Fire at will.”