The Art of the Compromise: Hold Your Nose and Close Your Eyes

Posted on Mon Nov 17th, 2025 @ 9:26pm by Captain T’Kal & Lieutenant Megosho Gehente & Lieutenant JG Annika Johnson & Alaric Fenner

1,341 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X04: All the Friends We Can Get
Location: Grand Assembly Hall, Kannok
Timeline: SD 8965.4 (27 August 2290, 13:00)

The opening formalities had gone longer than expected.

The agenda prepared by the Drenkul advisor and Alaric Fenner included time stamps to ensure they kept on track. A full hour had been set aside for opening remarks. T'Kal had speculated that she could accelerate their timelines by keeping her own first statement concise and to the point. Unfortunately, her five minute speech simply permitted the Drenkul chief negotiator to speak for fifty-five minutes, filling her time slot almost to the second.

The initial round of negotiations was fairly fruitful. There was common ground, that much was clear. The Drenkul were also concerned by Klingon aggression in the region and wanted additional security assurances. And they were willing to trade for it.

But it was clear that this was going to take a while.

The first health break permitted everyone to refresh, and allowed T'Kal to speak with the ship. Crewmembers were exploring the planet, learning what they could about Kannok and the Drenkul. So far there had been no negative incidents reported, though Ark Royal Command was nervous that something might happen, given the strictness of Drenkul laws.

Once they were back to negotiating, the Drenkul verboseness took hold once again.

"The Klingons are at our very doorstep, Captain!" Utani Wulam-Drenkulo decried dramatically after a lengthy intervention. "Their ships approach our border every week! Cloaked birds of prey surely prowl our spacelanes, awaiting the order to strike us!"

"Do you have specific evidence of this?" T'Kal asked.

"That they have the capability is enough! What will the Federation do to ensure our security?"

“The Federation will do whatever they feel is appropriate.” Annika offered politely not wanting to give a commitment of any sort, or any ideas for that matter.

The break had come at the right time for Meg. Being able to stretch her legs and wander around (carefully of course, so as not to contravene any Drenkul laws) had been a wonderful way to scrub the funk that had settled on her brain as the morning's opening formalities had gone on. 'May I ask,' Meg chimed in, addressing Utani Wulam-Drenkulo, 'does the Republic have sensor and communications data that indicate the Klingon Force's disposition? It would assist us in tailoring support to the Republic's needs ...'

"We know what they want us to know," Utani answered, exasperated. We have probes and stations along the border and they keep an eye on the bigger ships, the ones they have trouble cloaking."

"It doesn't help that they go dark sometimes," Aruan Tedja-Drenkulo added. "Some in our intelligence community suspect sabotage, but realistically these are highly advanced systems for us, and quite temperamental."

"Perhaps this can be an element of a mutual security treaty," T'Kal offered. "Technical assistance on your border monitoring equipment, in exchange for access to the monitoring data."

She looked to Alaric for any additional advice.

Fenner inclined his head, his expression composed but not distant. He had learned that with the Drenkul, courtesy was not performance but principle, and he met it in kind. His gaze shifted briefly to T’Kal, a small gesture of respect not just for her, but for her rank and position. “Captain T’Kal’s proposal holds considerable merit,” he said, his voice even and deliberate. “Collaborative technical assistance would reinforce your border systems and allow the Federation to offer support grounded in verified data. If your engineers are willing, ours would value the opportunity to work alongside them. There is always more to learn when knowledge is exchanged in trust.” And it would mean they would be dealing with real data, not just...assumptions and rumours.

Leaning back and stifling a sigh, Meg felt that the Drenkul were being evasive. She turned and looked at Fenner as he joined in, making more reasonable and reasoned points. It just seemed to her that the Drenkul were not prepared to do much giving, but were very much interested in taking.

“I’ll need to send this back to Drenkulo to confirm,” Utani said. “But I think I can accept an exchange of our sensor data for your help in keeping our satellites up and running, with a possibility of helping us make more and better ones.”

T’Kal raised an eyebrow but kept quiet. She recognized the tactics at play. She knew for a fact that the Chief Negotiator, as her title implied, had all the necessary authorizations to take a decision on behalf of her government, within the confines of policies and redlines that had been previously agreed in capital. Needing to speak with her headquarters was nothing more than a delaying tactic. Further, that possibility she mentioned would surely be written in far stronger terms in the final treaty text.

Thankfully her own instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, helpfully reviewed with Alaric during the break, included a similar breakdown of their own goals and redlines. Starfleet wanted spy satellites along the Klingon border and helping the Drenkul make more of them, even if it meant giving over sensitive technology, was in line with that goal.

“Of course, Chief Negotiator,” she said, emphasizing the title, subtly conveying that she understood the ruse but was permitting them to save face. “I will ask Chief Gehente to look into starship schedules and see when we can get an appropriately equipped vessel to rendezvous with one of yours. Presuming adoption of this treaty of course. Now, I wish to raise interoperability of Drenkul and Starfleet ships during a war-time scenario. Any treaty we sign should include terms of mutual defense if one or the other is attacked. If the Klingons bypass the Organian Treaty Zone by invading through Drenkul space, you will want us there, and if they skirt your territory to attack Federation space, we will want you there.” Another tactic, this time on her part. A sudden change of topic. And making very clear that the Federation will have expectations of the Drenkul.

“I…I can have our people send a starship combat tactics expert,” Utani replied.

“No need,” T’Kal assured her. “We will not be negotiating that. That’s something for Starfleet and the Drenkul navy to discuss separately. We just need it to make sure our treaty includes appropriate terms that reference such a subsequent agreement.”

Glad to have something concrete proposed relating to herself, Meg noted down her possible duty to coordinate with the Drenkul if the negotiations were to be successful. She was feeling stuffy in her uniform, a warmth that was refusing to dissipate. Still, she was pleased at T'Kal's abrupt wrong-footing of the Drenkul negotiator, and wondered how they would try to get out of concrete expectations of them.

Fenner inclined his head. “It may be useful to consult with Drenkulo and forward the latest technical specifications for your orbital systems. A shared understanding will help our engineers prepare for effective cooperation.” His tone was measured, almost mild, as he looked at the Chief Negotiator. “We can provide a secure channel whenever you are ready.” Truth was, he had seen some of the specs and noticed discrepancies in the version numbering. It could have been a clerical error, so he wanted to give them the chance to send them what was most up to date.

“We have our own means of secure communication,” the Drenkul advisor said. “But it may be useful to establish a secure channel between your ship and Drenkulo for those technical transmissions.”

T’Kal nodded. She spoke to the other delegation but looked at Meg. “My Chief Communications Officer will set this up upon our return to our ship.”

Negotiations were progressing. Concrete steps were being made. The Captain was hopeful for a resolution in the next day or so. And perhaps even bring about a positive change in the security of Sector 262.

END


Captain T’Kal
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Megosho Gehente
Chief Communications Officer

Lieutenant JG Annika Johnson
Counselor

Alaric Fenner
Diplomatic Advisor

Utani Wulam-Drenkulo
Chief Negotiator, Drenkul Republic

Aruan Tedja-Drenkulo
Senior Advisor, Drenkul Republic

 

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