Interlude
"Well, I guess that maybe we are getting somewhere." Will Riker looked at his wife across the table staring at him. It was still rather hard to fathom that they were really married. It had taken over seventeen years to get to this point but now he completely understood everything that he had missed in his life up until now. He could truly say that his life had really come to mean something. He had his own ship, a wife and now he was the key figure in what looked like it very might well be the end of over a hundred years of hostilities between the Federation and Romulus. That was if he could manage to finish getting the beaurocrats to listen to enough reason to begin to allow the paperwork to start. He had managed to get the senate to at least admit that they were ready to begin an earnest dialog, with a binding peace treaty in the works.
"How do you mean? The last I saw you were trying to convince the newest Preator to at least admit that they should begin to give Remus some form of autonomy."
"That is a hell of a lot more than I could manage to get from them last week. They are listening to me for the most part. The actual law makers are more than willing to listen to the idea that not only should Remus become an independent protectorate, but should be set on the path of complete autonomy. What I am having trouble with are the stupid idiots who write the treaties. I swear it is the one true constant in the universe. Even death can be overcome easier than trying to get the lawyers to agree on the language of a paper."
"You do have a point. However it is not just the lawyers that can't agree on how to phrase things. Every writer has that problem. It is just in this case you are trying to figure out how to get two completely different cultures to commit to something fairly concrete. But think about it Imzadi it has taken over a hundred years to manage to get to a point to truly sit down to the peace table. You are not going to fix it in a week, or even a year. Once we leave here they are still going to be putting the fine points on this thing for quite a while. Now to completely change the subject. Peace talks are wonderful to talk about but I would prefer not to discuss work at the dinner table. I got a letter from Alana on the Enterprise this morning. It seems that I lost a bet with her. I believe we a probably going to be invited to a wedding in the near future."
"Whose?"
"Beverly and Captain Picard, if you can believe that it is finally going to happen. Beverly actually wrote our dear ex-captain a letter. He was quite happy yesterday morning." Deanna smiled
"Well I'll be. The two of them finally gave in. He once said that if I didn't marry you he was going to hold a shotgun wedding. Personally I was beginning to think the same thing. So, what else has come from our old family?"
"I haven't heard from Beverly yet. My guess is that she is still too nervous to do anything but sit by her terminal and wait on him to call her."
He raised his glass in a mock toast. "Here's to love. May we all fall to her prey." Deanna managed to still be able to drink, despite the lustful look in his eyes.