“Or warning us not to,” Deanna said.

“We’re not built for that, Captain,” said Vale, looking slightly worried.

Riker nodded. Like most starships, Titanhad not been designed for flight within a planetary atmosphere, let alone for atmospheric combat.

“And there’s no way we can engage the Remans without inflicting a lot of harm on the innocent civilians down below,” Deanna added.

Vale sighed. “We just have to hope that there are enough cloaked Romulan ships nearby to encourage Xiomek’s fleet to back off quickly.”

Riker looked toward Jaza, who was shaking his head. “I’m afraid there’s no way to know for sure, Captain. Our enhanced sensor nets notwithstanding.”

Riker gave another hand signal to Keru, who reactivated the viewer’s audio pickup. “What are your terms?” he asked the Reman. He hated feeling so helpless, but he knew he had little choice.

“If we encounter resistance, we shall bombard the cities of Romulus. And I promise that Ki Baratan, the praetor’s pride, will be one of our prime targets in that event.”

Spock stepped forward. “But you willencounter resistance, Xiomek. Surely you must realize that. This is Romulus. And the people you seek to intimidate are Romulans.”

As if cued by the ambassador, Jaza spoke up, an edge of real fear audible in his usually serene voice. “Captain, four D’deridex-class warbirds and three more Mogai-class vessels are decloaking over the northern continent. They’re charging weapons and closing with the Reman-crewed vessels located nearest to Ki Baratan.”

Lovely,Riker thought, struggling to keep his shoulders from sagging under the oppressive weight of near-despair. We haven’t even had our first full peace conference yet, and we’re already spiraling down into all-out war.

But he saw that Xiomek had lapsed into what Riker thought—or at least fervently hoped—was a thoughtful silence. The colonel had obviously heard Jaza’s report, and the Reman’s own bridge crew had no doubt informed him, perhaps telepathically, of the new tactical situation.

“Wewill engage the Romulans, Ambassador, if our former masters force our hand,”Xiomek said, his dark, hooded eyes now fixed squarely upon Spock. “But we will agree to delay our bombardment of their cities for fourveraku —provided no one attacksus . The praetor and the Romulan military have that long to cede Ehrie’fvil to us completely, or else Romulan blood will flow like the waters of the Apnex Sea.”

Along with how much of your own people’s blood, Xiomek?Riker thought ruefully before fixing Spock with a questioning glance.

“Four verakuis approximately four point one eight of your hours, Captain,” Spock said in response to Riker’s unspoken question.

“You must excuse me, Captain,”Xiomek said, his fangs actually seeming to lengthen as he spoke. “It appears that I am about to become rather busy.”And with that, his chalk-white image disappeared from the central portion of the screen, which switched to a broad view of the graceful curve of Romulus’s night side, whose surface was illuminated by the lights of scores of cities and towns. Riker had no doubt that lightninglike traceries of disruptor beams and torpedo detonations would soon overwhelm those distant hearth fires, abruptly turning much of the planet’s night side into day.

“A single Mogai-class warbird has just moved to intercept Xiomek’s attack wing in the upper atmosphere,” Keru reported, studying his tactical console. He looked up at Riker. “It’s the Valdore,Captain.”

“Donatra’s ship,” Riker said, noting on the tactical display that this particular impending battle was the one that lay closest to Titan’s current flight path. Why haven’t the Romulans scrambled more defenses?he wondered, noting that the planet’s orbiting defense platforms remained oddly silent. Had the Remans somehow sabotaged them, or had the rapid descent of their warships into the upper atmosphere rendered them useless?

“The Valdoreis already effectively surrounded by six Amarcan-class warships,” Keru said, nodding. “They’re smaller and not as well armed as the Valdore,but…” He trailed off.

But they outnumber her,Riker thought, completing Keru’s analysis.

“At least the Klingons are behaving themselves,” Ensign Lavena said as she fed some minor course adjustments into the conn station.

For the time being,Riker thought, hoping Khegh would be content to enjoy the shedding of Romulan blood vicariously. But if things begin to go seriously against the Reman attack force, can we count on the Klingons to stay on the sidelines?

“True enough, Ensign,” Deanna said. “And we can also be thankful that Xiomek hasn’t obliterated any Romulan cities yet.”

Standing anxiously near her seat, Vale raised both hands, displaying crossed fingers. “Let’s hope whatever defenses the Romulans can scramble keep his fleet too busy to try. In the meantime, we have to make a decision: Do we help the Romulans?”

Seated beside Riker, Deanna was silently asking him the very same question. Riker could feel Akaar’s gaze boring into his back. He studiously ignored it.

“No,” he said, squaring his shoulders and addressing everyone on the bridge. “We came here to broker a peace arrangement. Not to take sides in a civil war.” No one argued with him. Turning his head, Riker saw that Akaar and Tuvok were standing by quietly, evidently no better able to see a way out of this developing catastrophe than he was. Spock, however, was quietly scowling at him, as though convinced he could have averted this confrontation if not for Titan’s interference.

If not formy interference,Riker thought, beginning to wonder if the ambassador might not be right. But he took heart from the fact that Spock was no longer insisting that he be sent back to Xiomek now that the battle had been joined. Even the ambassador seemed to acknowledge that the solution to the current mess now had to come from one man: Captain William T. Riker.

Riker saw then that Vale was once again staring at the blank spot on the aft bulkhead. This time she was pointing toward it as well.

“I told you it was bad luck to leave Utopia Planitia without a dedication plaque,” she said, speaking quietly enough so that he doubted anyone else had heard her.

His brow furrowed involuntarily. “No, you didn’t.”

“Okay,” she whispered after a beat. “Then I should have.”

Except for the red-alert klaxons, silence reigned on the bridge. Every eye was on the viewscreen, where hell had begun to erupt in the skies over Ki Baratan. Riker was thankful, at least, that the convoy’s three aid ships had managed to get themselves out of harm’s way, at least for the moment.

“Incoming!” shouted Keru.

The bridge lights flickered as Titanshuddered from a sharp, forceful impact.

Commander Donatra’s bridge shook violently. Sparks and flame flashed across the oval-shaped chamber as yet another salvo of disruptor fire pummeled the Valdore.Ozone and smoke stung her nostrils as electrical fires tested the battered warbird’s fire-suppression system to its limits. Her right side ached as old wounds flared back to livid, angry life.

“Forward shields are failing, Commander,” cried Centurion T’Relek from the primary tactical station. Two decurions and an antecenturion were sprawled nearby on the deck, dead or dying.

Despite that, Donatra remained encouraged. They’re still merely trying to coerce us into backing off,she thought. They haven’t strafed the cities yet.

“Return fire, all tubes!” The bridge rumbled again from yet another direct hit. With shaking hands, the centurion launched another fusillade.