Tal’Aura blinked several times before replying, as though confused. “Captain, perhaps we do not yet completely understand each other. Before we involve the Reman leadership in any power-sharing talks, I wish you to mediate a…prefatory conference between us and the other Romulanefvir-efveh who now contend for influence within the Empire.”

“Efvir-efveh,”Riker repeated soundlessly, taking only half a beat to recognize the Romulan term that translated, at least approximately, to “power groups” or “factions.”

Tal’Aura continued: “Any Reman presence at our first meeting would make this necessary preliminary meeting far more…tense than it needs to be. I’m sure you can understand that.”

Riker nodded slowly. Certainly. You don’t want to have to worry about your former slaves quietly drawing their knives under the negotiating table. Especially when you and the rest of the former slaveholders are still busy trying to outmaneuver each other.

Still, he had to admit that the praetor did have a legitimate point. The Reman faction’s absence from the first session might arguably ease some of the intra-Romulan tensions, though actually holding a meeting without the Remans posed some very real problems.

As would flatly refusing to go along with the praetor’s plan. A rock and a hard place,he thought grimly.

Riker slowly paced toward the starboard side of the bridge as he addressed both Tal’Aura and Tomalak. “Can I assume that you’ll take every precaution to keep this…preliminary meeting entirelysecret? If the Remans were to find out about it—”

“The Remans will learn only what we wish them to learn,”said Tomalak, interrupting in unctuous tones. “Their demands will be considered in due course, to be sure. At the start of the general negotiations betweenall the competingefvir-efveh .”

As his motions carried him back toward the center of the bridge, Riker noticed that both Deanna and Vale were still looking up at him. But now they were regarding him with unconcealed trepidation. Both were clearly asking him, without words, whether he understood the implications of what he was about to do.

He knew there was another important consideration as well: If the Klingons were indeed listening in, then they, too, already knew of the Romulans’ intention to exclude the Remans from the first meeting. The Klingons had come at the request of the Remans; might they not be inclined to spill Tal’Aura’s secret immediately?

But wouldn’t Tal’Aura and Tomalak have anticipated that, too?he thought. They must be gambling that the Klingons don’t want a Romulan-Reman war any more than they do.

Riker met the praetor’s hard gaze without wavering. “Who else is going to attend this…preliminary meeting?”

“The proconsul and I will receive Commanders Donatra and Suran, the most prominent leaders of our military. And Senator Pardek.”

“Receive” them,Riker thought, silently weighing the significance of this verb. Because she can’t justcommand them to attend. It must be killing Tal’Aura to have to appear so weak in front of old adversaries.

But he also knew that Romulans were nothing if not pragmatic. And a Romulan praetor who did not face reality forthrightly surely could not hang onto her power and position for very long.

“Pardek, for one, will be most disappointed if we cannot arrange the initial meeting we are proposing,”Tomalak said.

Pardek,Riker thought. He would probably be attacking the Federation right now if he had access to enough personnel and firepower.He was glad that Commander Donatra would also be present; if she were still as honorable as she had proved herself to be during the battle against Shinzon, then she would certainly do everything possible to prevent Pardek from waging war against anyone.

Riker knew that he had a decision to make, and that it had to be done quickly. He spared a quick glance at Deanna, whose dark, fathomless eyes offered no hint of a solution. Vale, still seated at his other side, was completely poker-faced. Nor was there time to adjourn to confer about what was to be done—not without risking giving insult to the praetor.

Am I about to grantde facto Federation recognition to a single Romulan faction?Riker thought, carefully keeping his rising anxiety from reaching his face. However legitimate Tal’Aura’s claim to power might be, there would be hell to pay with the other factions were they to perceive that the Federation was in any way predisposed in Tal’Aura’s favor. The Federation had to be perceived by all sides as an “honest broker,” or else the entire mission was doomed to failure.

Hell,he thought. Sometimes playing fair means asking annoying questions.Aloud, he said, “I can certainly understand why you might want to start the talks without having the Remans in the room. But I wonder why you’re also excluding some of the other important Romulan constituencies.”

Tal’Aura studied him quietly for an elastic moment before replying. “If you’re concerned about snubbing the Tal Shiar, Captain, you probably needn’t worry.”

“With respect, Praetor, the Tal Shiar always seem to learn things that would be better kept quiet. I believe it would be a serious mistake to count them out. I very much doubt that the Empire’s current…difficulties have slowed them down much.”

“You are probably correct, Captain,”Tal’Aura said.

Riker couldn’t restrain himself from frowning slightly. “Praetor Tal’Aura, you seem to be saying that you don’t expect our secret meeting to stay that way. Doesn’t that concern you?”

Tal’Aura chuckled, then settled back in her chair. “Not terribly, no. If there’s one thing the Tal Shiar excels at, it is the ancient art of keeping secrets. Provided, of course, that they are secrets the Tal Shiar wants kept. But I sense that the Romulan Star Empire’s much-feared shadow army isn’t really what concerns you, Captain.”

Riker nodded. Deciding that a little flattery couldn’t hurt, he said, “You are very perceptive, Praetor.”

She didn’t seem overly impressed. “Then please speak plainly, Captain.”

“Very well. Nearly three years ago, Ambassador Spock’s Unification movement—and the many Romulan citizens who have quietly supported it over the years—received the approval of one of your predecessors. Why weren’t any Unificationists invited to this initial meeting?”

Tal’Aura inclined her head toward Tomalak, who stepped forward. “Captain Riker, much has changed during the past three years, as I’m sure you’re aware. Praetor Neral was replaced by Praetor Hiren fairly quickly. And I can’t overemphasize the damage the subsequent…praetorship of Shinzon has wrought.”Tomalak’s expression looked especially sour as he fairly spat Shinzon’s name. “In light of the current troubles within our borders, our new praetor has wisely assigned a much lower priority to Romulan-Vulcan relations.”

“I see,” Riker said. He had to admit to himself, however grudgingly, that Tomalak’s rationale actually made a great deal of sense under the present circumstances.

“I hope we have answered your questions satisfactorily, Captain,”Tal’Aura said in a clipped tone that brooked no further delay. “Now will you agree to mediate the initial meeting, as we have described it?”

Riker felt as though his boots were poised at the crumbling verge of a bottomless abyss. And he knew that the time had come for him to take a deadly, yet necessary, step over the edge. He briefly thought of his late father, who’d been killed during the recent civil unrest on Delta Sigma IV. Though Kyle Riker had possessed more than a few less-than-admirable traits, indecision wasn’t among them.

Squaring his shoulders, Captain William Thomas Riker made up his mind.