No one had told him that he would be dealing with ... children instead of diplomats.
Had he been human, Soval of Vulcan would have long since thrown his arms up in disgust and stormed from the conference room, pausing only long enough to nerve pinch the two primary "negotiators" into unconsciousness. For a brief moment - heartbeats only - he let himself bask in that fantasy, let himself envision the stunned expressions on the faces of Jonathan Archer and Paul Mayweather as he applied the necessary pressure at the appropriate nerve cluster, but just as quickly returned his attention to their ongoing argument, chastising himself for the momentary distraction.
"Gentlemen," he interrupted in a voice that was carefully and perfectly measured. "We have ranged far from the point of the discussions." And indeed they had. Captain Mayweather - representing the Earth Cargo Authority - had spent much of the morning in a diatribe regarding Starfleet's failure to provide adequate protection to the shipping lanes, while Commodore Archer - representing Starfleet - countered with arguments that revolved around the number of ships and a lack of loyalty on the part of the 'Boomers.' As was all too common with humans, when their logic failed, they raised their voices. The current disagreement had escalated into a shouting match; both sides had stopped listening to one another long ago. "Regarding the matter at hand," Soval continued with a composed look at both of them, "the ECA representative has yet to discuss the Starfleet proposal for integration."
"That's because it isn't a proposal!" Mayweather snapped, his eyes flashing. "It's a demand!"
"In case you didn't notice, there's a war going on!" Archer responded, his own words heating. "Some compromises have to be made!"
Soval nearly sighed.
As the two wasted even more time arguing over points identical to ones they had made 2.3 hours earlier, the ambassador allowed himself a discreet frown and wondered once again whether this was a complete waste of time. The administrator of the Vigrid Station - which the humans had renamed Thor's Cradle for reasons that completely defied explanation - had requested Vulcan mediation, and Minister T'Pau, recognizing the opportunity to regain some much-needed influence with the Humans, had promptly assigned the duty to him. Having the most experience with humans, he was, after all, the logical choice; but, not for the first time, he wished someone else had been available instead.
Anyone else.
Archer's irritability was entirely understandable; he was still recovering from the injuries he had sustained at the battle of Rigil Kentaurus and appeared to still be in some pain, although he masked it well. Despite that, the decision to have him represent Starfleet was a remarkably sound one; as one of the public faces attached to the Expanse mission that had saved Earth from destruction, Archer still had considerable gravitas with humans, even those not born on Terra. Having the man who had commanded the mission that saved Earth from the Xindi offer the integration proposal to the ECA was an excellent diplomatic move.
And yet, despite Archer's reputation, despite the surprisingly amenable proposal, despite the Earth Cargo Authority's clearly inferior bargaining position, the ECA representative was not budging. Very little was known about Paul Mayweather beyond the facts that he was the captain of a cargo ship named Horizon and that he had recently become active in ECA politics. A hardliner, Mayweather did not only appear to be anti-integration, but was openly hostile toward Archer. Mentally, the Vulcan reviewed the files that he had scanned involving the participants and his mind latched upon a single name, a name that suddenly explained the hostility.
Lieutenant Travis Mayweather.
"Gentlemen," he interrupted once more, his voice hard and demanding attention. As one, their eyes swiveled to him and he let a silent moment pass as he gave them both appraising looks, wishing that he could instill in them some sort of control. "The purpose of these negotiations is not to discuss the failings of the past, but to focus on the future."
"Starfleet has a record of not protecting ECA assets," Mayweather immediately pointed out, once more on his way to arguing that history would repeat itself.
"That's because we didn't have the ships!" Archer countered, once more on his way to arguing that things would be different now.
"And now that you do, you expect us to fall in line!" Once more, the argument flared up.
And once more, Soval nearly sighed.
Tuning out their voices for the fourth time in as many hours, he let his eyes wander around the conference room. He blinked in momentary surprise at the sudden presence of both Captain Tucker and Commander T'Pol; wondering when they had arrived, he could not help but notice that both appeared to be slightly amused at the proceedings, although it was quite subtle on the part of T'Pol. The two glanced at one another and, even from this distance, Soval could feel the telepathic bond that linked the two. For a moment, he let himself marvel at its strength.
His musing on the nature of their bond immediately brought to mind the mystery that was Charles Tucker. Questions yet surrounded the young man, questions involving the curious genetic aberrations that had been detected following Tucker's near-death experience with a silicate virus. A copy of Phlox's research had found its way into Soval's hands, and he had studied it with a great deal of fascination; he did not try to find out how the research came into his possession since the answer was so readily apparent.
The Ministry of Security.
Concerned at his apparent intimate relationship with a former member of the M.o.S., the Ministry had been keeping a close eye on Tucker since his visit to T'Pol's home following the Expanse mission. While he recognized the concern the Ministry had about Tucker, Soval found that he was unable to share it. In their brief interactions, he had grown to appreciate the young human, had enjoyed the man's blunt honesty and had grudgingly admitted - if only to himself - that he approved of T'Pol's chosen mate. As he had no biological relationship to T'Pol it wasn't really his place to approve of Tucker or not, but the affection Soval held for T'Pol was difficult to repress. She had been more than an effective aide; her background in intelligence had also made her an ideal bodyguard and an exceptional observer.
Even now, her eyes were studying the layout of the room and Soval found himself watching with a smile in his eyes. His amusement vanished however, when her eyes narrowed and she met his gaze. T'Pol's fingers twitched in an unmistakeable gesture, one that he had not seen in a long time, and one that he had not wished to see again for even longer.
Evacuate.
He didn't hesitate, rising to his feet in a smooth gesture that silenced the two arguing men and drew everyone's attention.
"I recommend a recess," he said, his tone allowing no disagreement. "Let us adjourn for one standard hour." He was already striding from the room, not waiting to see how Archer and Mayweather responded.
T'Pol would explain it later.