Star Trek: ALL - Seven Deadly Sins Read Online Free Page B

expect it will happen in our lifetimes. There simply is too much resentment and distrust on both sides to be ignored. With that in mind, it is in our best interests to continue developing effective measures should we find ourselves once again on a war footing with our old adversaries.”
    Vrax nodded toward his old friend. “Agreed, and now seems the perfect time to test the goodwill fostered by your efforts at Nimbus III.” To Toqel, he said, “Very well, Proconsul. Let’s see where this curious notion of yours takes us.”
    As the other senators nodded and spoke to one another in subdued tones, Toqel was able to sense their general agreement. Some of that consensus naturally was offered with no small measure of hesitation or doubt, but Toqel would not concern herself with such negativity. She had all the approval she required.
    Once more standing before Vrax, Toqel bowed as she took her leave. “Understood. Good day, my Praetor.” Nodding to Ditrius for him to accompany her, the two of them departed the Senate chamber. As she exited the room, she was unable to suppress the rush ofanticipation she felt as her mind began reviewing and refining the next steps she already had plotted days earlier. Unusual though it might be, her proposal stood poised to solidify the security of the Romulan people.
    “You are not worried about dealing with the Klingons?” Ditrius asked once they had emerged into the hallway and allowed the doors to close behind them. Not for the first time since she had shared her ideas with him, the vice proconsul sounded skeptical.
    Toqel replied, “To a point. However, they’ve repeatedly shown themselves incapable of employing anything resembling an adequate grasp of subterfuge, which lies at the heart of all successful negotiations. It is this weakness that we will exploit, Ditrius. Once the Klingons no longer are a viable concern, I will be ready to show the Senate how best to deal with the Federation, once and for all.”
    And if, along the way, she was able to do something that might at least reduce the chances of another’s child suffering the same fate as her beloved Sarith, that also would be satisfactory.

3
    Toqel inhaled crisp, cold air as the transporter beam released her. A low, steady wind rocked the barren branches of the trees towering overhead as she squinted against sunlight reflecting from the snow-covered ground. She shoved her bare hands into the deep pockets of her protective thermal coat, blinking as minuscule pellets of ice carried by the wind prickled her cheeks. Turning to Ditrius, she asked in a low voice, “Readings?”
    The vice proconsul removed a handheld scanner from the pocket of his own heavy coat. His boots crunching in the ice-coated snow pack, he stepped toward her as he studied the portable device’s display readout. “Two Klingon life-forms, located inside that structure.” He gestured with his free hand toward a small, one-story building nestled among the trees. White smoke curled from a chimney on one side of the weathered, stone-walled cabin, and Toqel was able to make out two sets of footprints through the snow, both of which terminated at the cabin’s only visible door.
    She nodded in approval. “Just as we agreed. Anything else?”
    “Nothing,” Ditrius replied. “With the exception of indigenous animal life, we are alone here, Proconsul.”
    Excellent,
Toqel mused. Given the evening’s agenda, privacy would most certainly be preferred. “Then let’s proceed,” she said as she started toward the cabin.
    The soles of their boots punched through the slick crust of the snow, white powder coating the leggings of their thermal trousers as they approached the building. Toqel could not recall the last time she had found herself in such weather conditions, as she rarely left her home planet and her travels into the subarctic regions of Romulus were infrequent at best. She would have preferred this first clandestine meeting be held elsewhere, but