The Fulcrum of Irony

[Ambassador TSalik 0]

Diplomacy has a way of hinging on unexpected developments.

 

In the aftermath of the Battle of Avalon, a series of wide-spread attacks had crippled the Dominion communications grid. Having lost contact with his superiors, the ranking Vorta at Camelot had pulled his Jem’Hadar task force back toward home.

 

With fear of an emerging new threat, the official representatives of the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire had ventured out aboard the RES Valtrex to restore contact with the Vorta Council and reaffirm their mutual alliance.

 

Instead, history might well record their humble mission had saved the Dominion itself.

 

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The cloaked warbird had passed easily across the border. Not a single Jem’Hadar sentry or patrol challenged them during the three day journey to the Vorta Central Command Complex. Only debris remained where known subspace relays had boosted signals across the Dominion communications grid.

 

Valtrex had arrived at the expected position of the Command Complex to discover a full scale assault by the oddly-configured Scorpiad vessels – a decapitation strike in progess.

 

Ambassador N’Kedre had acted quickly, ordering the warbird into the battle. Still cloaked, they slipped through a withering barrage and within transporter range of the complex. The Romulan ship had plucked the surviving members of the Vorta Council and executed a hasty retreat from the system, advising the Jem’Hadar flagship to follow. Although the complex was destroyed, the Scorpiad ships had curiously not pursued them.

 

Such an event was not without precedent. Well before his own traitorous coup, Gul Dukat had engineered the rescue of the entire Detapa Council, enlisting a Starfleet team to safeguard the civil authority from the Klingon invasion force. Of course, the direct result of that action had been Chancellor Gowron’s attack on Deep Space Nine and the dissolution of the Khitomer Accords.

 

The diplomatic duty of sherpherding the Vorta aboard the Romulan ship had fallen to T’Salik, Envoy-General of the United Federation of Planets to the Dominion at Starbase Avalon and Minister Plenipotentiary-at-Large for the Gamma Quadrant. The irony that she’d risen to such a position only as a result of the Dominion’s incursion into the Alpha Quadrant was not lost on her.

 

As the warbird retreated, she escorted the de facto Vorta leader Keevan to join the surviving members of the Council. “Keevan!” a female named Kilana had shouted in recognition. “We had feared you were lost.”

 

Keevan nodded deferentially. Looking around, T’Salik observed that she had never seen so many of their kind gathered in one place. With their genetically seeded mistrust, the Vorta usually presided over areas of responsibility that avoided overlap.

 

“We need to rally the Jem’Hadar,” another Vorta, whom she did not recognize, said.

 

T’Salik spoke up at once. “The premise is illogical,” she asserted. “Your entire communication network has been systematically compromised.”

 

The unknown Vorta had turned toward her with a visible sneer. “With all due respect, Madam Ambassador, you have no part in our deliberations.”

 

“Interesting,” she countered. “It would seem that without our part, there would be no further deliberations from this Council.”

 

Keevan raised an uneasy hand, still seemingly shaken from his perceived failure. “We owe a great debt to our allies,” he offered. “And she is right. With the complex gone, we have no way to send authenticated orders.”

 

“We’ve got to alert them,” the other insisted. "Direct their defenses."

 

“We will,” Keevan agreed, “but without our codes, the Jem’Hadar won’t be able to tell if the orders come from us or from those loyal to the Hundred.”

 

“By the Founders,” Kilana whispered.

 

T’Salik observed with curiosity. There was a new irony at work – the Vorta would have to depend on unguided Jem’Hadar to protect their empire. Dispassionately, she wondered if their genetic abilities would do any better without orders than without their precious white.

Edited April 15, 2006 by Ambassador TSalik