Sadly I don't own Star Trek.
I was interested to see what I could make out of Spock's views of using cowboy diplomacy during his attempts to help the Vulcans and the Romulans reunite, so please let me know what you think with this little piece.
Cowboy Diplomacy.
Spock was reading a well worn Vulcan book that had been taken on the ark ships during the Time of the Sundering; many of the Romulans might not have liked Surak's teachings, but that did not mean any of them had enjoyed the thought of leaving behind their ancient classical literature. The Romulans had documented their history diligently over the centuries, although over the decades they had twisted and distorted so much of the Ancient Vulcan's language to the degree they'd changed some of their alphabet out of some kind of spite towards their Vulcan heritage.
He needed something to do with his time after the surprise meeting with Captain Picard and his android officer. Spock had heard of Commander Data thanks to his contacts in Starfleet, and he had been ashamed of the time when the Federation had claimed the android was Starfleet property simply because they had rescued him.
If he had been there, he would have let them know that just because Starfleet had found the android, they had not created the incredible technology Dr Soong had pioneered.
It was his own human half, but Spock liked to think age and the time he'd spent with Jim and the others of the original Enterprise had made him wise and able to look beyond logic. But he had never imagined he would meet the android, although he would have been fascinated to learn about the differences and the similarities between Data and the androids he had seen during his time in Jim Kirk's original five-year mission, he suspected Data was far superior to the androids found on the planet Harry Mudd had found himself on, to say nothing of the androids Roger Kirby had discovered.
But he had needed something to do so he could think to himself following the confrontation with Picard.
Spock had known the Federation would be taken by surprise when they learnt he was on Romulus, so he wasn't particularly surprised by Picard's arrival on Romulus. Nor was he shocked by the potential implication many in the Federation viewed him as a traitor now, although his old friends who were still alive would be arguing that was not the case.
They knew him well.
They knew he was an advocate for peace, and they knew if he believed there was something on Romulus worth looking into then he would gladly look into it.
And there was something that gave Spock the hope he wanted for peace.
He had come to Romulus to create peace between the Romulans and the Vulcans, bring about a new age where both races were the same people, and yet the Federation believed he was passing on secrets. Spock supposed he could understand their fears, but he wished Starfleet Intelligence had bothered to properly investigate his activities; he knew there were agents on Romulus, deeply embedded in the Romulan culture. It might have taken the Federation time but eventually, they would have learnt of the Reunificationist movement. When they did they would have realised what was happening.
They hadn't needed to do anything like this.
Spock was disappointed with Starfleet's lack of real investigation. They had clearly discovered the link with Pardek, but they had not recognised the Romulan senator's support for reforms over the last 80 years was one of the reasons why Spock had formed the friendship with him in the first place. He had met Pardek during the Khitomer conference following the conspiracy formed by Admiral Cartwright and General Chang to destroy the peace treaty he and Sarek had come up with when they had seen the possibilities following the Praxis disaster, and Spock had struck the friendship with the Romulan senator when he had learnt just how much Pardek supported the spirit of what the conference represented.
But while he was disappointed and even annoyed with the Enterprise-D's lack of investigation into Pardek's past, which would have made them wonder if he was negotiating some kind of treaty with the Romulans, Spock was even more dismayed that despite their knowledge of Pardek's association with peace, Picard and Data had still come here firmly believing that despite everything he had done for the Federation during the last century, there were some who believed he would betray them.
Spock had always had a warring human side and a warring Vulcan side, both of them at odds with each other, only Spock kept them under control thanks to decades and decades of Vulcan discipline, but the two sides were known to agree on occasion. This was one of those moments where Spock had only just been capable of holding back his rage when the captain had claimed what he was doing was 'cowboy diplomacy.'
In a way, Spock suspected the Starfleet captain was right. Spock had sometimes taken risks over the course of his life - if there was one thing he had learnt from his old friends in Starfleet, Jim and Dr McCoy among them, sometimes taking risks got results regardless of what some thought, and in his diplomatic career, he had sometimes taken gambles to make people see peace as a better option.
After all, hadn't he taken a gamble in pushing Jim onto Gorkon? Spock regretted the consequences of that decision, especially since Jim and Leonard had both paid for it on Rura Penthe.
But ever since that mess, Spock had taken steps to ensure nobody else paid for his arrogance. In some ways Spock's way of diplomacy was similar to Curzon Dax; while he wasn't as…exuberant as the Trill diplomat, Spock did take gambles and he and Curzon had a deep friendship and respect which didn't go into their relationship with Sarek.
But right now, Spock wanted Captain Picard and Commander Data to leave; he had nothing against them personally or professionally. In actual fact, he admired Picard. He had heard glowing reports about the new captain of the newest Enterprise for the last few years. The captain was intelligent and a well-known diplomat. If anyone would understand, then he would. And he did.
After the initial accusation of being involved in espionage, Spock had explained to Picard what he was really doing. Spock didn't really need to explain too much before Picard realised and recognised the implications of why he was here on Romulus. Picard had been hopeful but sceptical. It was a diluted sort of scepticism that reminded Spock of the way Lieutenant Styles had treated him in that bigoted manner when the Enterprise hacked into the Romulan Bird-Of-Prey's computer and discovered a link between the Romulans and the Vulcans, but Spock knew Picard's attitude was more practical.
Spock had been hoping for the unification between Romulan and Vulcan for 80 years following his meeting with Pardek, and while events like the Tomed Incident had made him have a few doubts, he had not let it get in the way of his long-term hopes.
Cowboy diplomacy…
Spock didn't really know why he was still obsessing over that little comment, but he wasn't sure whether or not Jim's influence on him had resulted in his approach to diplomacy at times, his desire to taker risks in order to achieve common ground between different peoples assimilating into the Federation, but while it did offend Spock and shocked him because he hadn't expected that, he was actually pleased because he had always done things on what he believed to be the logical approach.