You sat down at the table and felt your heart begin to warm as Spock's eyes fell down upon you.
"So you are staying another week, Princess?" The Queen opened with as she began to eat.
"As long as my father agrees, yes." You responded.
"Have you sent the letter yet, Princess?" Spock questioned.
"I had just sent it with Ms. Rand before I made my way here, your highness." You replied.
"Good, so you will be prepared for the meeting tonight." The king interjected.
"Correct, your majesty." You nodded. The king gave a nod of approval and you couldn't help to feel a pulse of pride in yourself in your heart, but that lump of doubt and the sense that something will go wrong still sat heavily in your heart.
"Is there something wrong, princess?" Spock questioned.
"No, your highness, just fretting over silly little details." You smiled, easing his mind.
"Then let's get to more important matters, while we're here, let us discuss the future meeting." Sarek announced, he began to explain how the meeting would work, the discussions on the table, how the Andorians work, and other such things that proved to be a challenge to your focus and attention span. Eventually, dinner ended and you excused yourself to the library.
The library was huge with three floors, huge windows, and was made of white marble. Your jaw dropped in amazement as you looked upon the art on the wall, the carved pillars, and the neat organization of all of the books.
"May I help you, princess?" A servant asked. She had long, dark hair paired with grey eyes, was slightly shorter than your fiancé, and had a slim yet young elf-like face. Even her body structure was of an elf.
"Yes, I was wondering if you had any books about the Andorians and possibly the trades between Vulcans and Andorians."
"We do have that, follow me, your highness." She waved for you to follow as she led you up the stairs to the third floor and to the back of the library. She pulled out two, large books and placed them on a nearby table. "The first one is a trade record, and the second is an assessment of the culture, beliefs, and an overall summary on the Andorian Kingdom. Will these suffice?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, thank you." You smile. She took her leave, and you first open up the trade book to look at the latest trades, it seems to be food and luxury technology from the Vulcan side, and military technology and knowledge from the Andorian side. Once you finished looking into that, you skimmed through the second book to get a surface-level understanding of how they'll act and what to be expected from them. Soon enough, it was time for you to make your way to the front foyer. Once you asked directions from a servant, you soon enough met King Sarek in the front foyer, earlier than planned.
"You are early." He greeted.
"I always find it better to be early than it is to be late." You responded.
"A wise way to act, the Andorians should be arriving soon. But may I ask what you were doing in the library?"
"I was doing some research on the Andorians, the recent trade between you two, and what to expect from the Andorians."
"That is unexpected from you, I thought that you would be the type to float freely without preparation. I guess that my expectations were wrong." He confessed. Your heart jumped in your throat, did he really think you were so lazy? You found yourself fidgeting with your dress once more.
"Thank you, your majesty."
"What did you learn of the trade between us?"
"You supply food and luxury technology, while they supply military technology and knowledge." You answered. He gave a small nod of approval.
"As I stated over dinner, the meeting will be over trade, specifically the fact that they have been withholding some knowledge that was agreed to be given in our treaty. We have discovered that they have recently learned how to build nuclear-thermal explosive devices, we have discovered how to build them ourselves but we dare not make one. That sort of power should be left to the Klingons."
"Yes, humans used to use such devices also. But we abandoned it long ago when we first went to space, and we haven't even thought of building one when we began to help colonize this planet."
"A planet that was meant to bring different races together, yet it now stands divided. How ironic, isn't it?" He noted. The door opened, and in came a slim, blue man with silver hair and long antennae and deep grey robes that were long and touched the floor. Next to him was a shorter blue woman with that same icy silver hair with long antennae and a slim build, dressed in long green robes instead of grey. They both bowed deeply, and King Sarek gave the Vulcan salute.
"Welcome King Ch'shasrin and Queen Zh'etyleq."
"Good evening to you King Sarek. May I ask who the human is?"
"This is Princess (F/N) (L/N) of the human kingdom, she is to be the future queen of my kingdom if she proves herself. As such, I have asked her to sit in on our meeting, to learn of diplomacy and of our alliance."
"Why haven't we seen her at our meetings with the humans?"
"My father has kept me hidden away to protect me, this week has been the first time I have been allowed outside of the castle." You interjected. The queen gasped and sadness filled her eyes.
"Oh, you poor child! No one should be kept like that!" She sympathized. She whispered something to her husband and he nodded in return.
"In a case such as this, we will allow her to witness the meeting. We would like a further notice on these sorts of things though."
"I will remember that. Thank you, your majesty. Shall we go to the meeting hall?"
"A good idea." The King responded, paired with a nod. The four of you, led by Sarek, made your way to the meeting hall. Once everyone was sat down, the icy Andorian king spoke up once more. "You never addressed the purpose of this meeting in your original announcement, but knowing you, you would never call a meeting without an important purpose."
"Your assumptions are correct, this meeting is important and I didn't want to say the purpose in my letter as to avoid stirring anger."
"Anger? Your majesty, I believe you are as the Humans say, 'beating around the bush'. Please get to the point."
"As you wish, we are well aware of your new technological advancements that you have avoided telling us. You have been producing thermonuclear explosive devices, correct?" King Sarek asked with an accusatory look. Ch'shasrin tensed up and looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"H-How did you-"
"Know? It's simple really, within our contracts we have allowed each other to send over ambassadors, well mine caught wind of your project and reported it to me. Knowing I needed further proof, I allowed him to press further as long as he didn't betray our treaties guidelines and laws. Once he fully confirmed it, I called this meeting."
"Y-You must understand, your highness, that the bombs are not meant to go against your kingdom but against the Klingon Kingdom! We didn't tell you because-"
"You knew I would disapprove, correct?" He raised an eyebrow. The visitor looked down from Sarek's piercing eyes, looking like a scolded child.
"Y-yes..." He mumbled.
"Then once again, you are correct, I do not approve of this. Our original goal when we came to this planet was to prove that all of our species- however contradicting our personalities- could live in peace together. Yet we have split into four kingdoms- Andorian, Klingon, Human, and Vulcan. I understand protection, but nuclear warfare? That is not protecting yourself, but wishing destruction on others. I am not going to discontinue this alliance, but I will be withdrawing some of our exports- specifically silk and parchment- and I am asking you to discontinue this project. If you continue the project, I will withdraw the alliance completely. If you do as I ask, then in six months' time you will have silk and parchment from us once more. Is this understood?" He boldly explained. The couple looked extremely guilty with their heads hung low.
"Y-Yes, your majesty. We apologize for this, we will correct our mistakes right away." The queen spoke up.
"Good, then that is all that needs to be addressed unless there is anything else you wish to say."
"No, that is all."
"Then you may take your leave, and please remember that my people are very good at hearing and seeing, so if you were to keep more secrets, then you should do so more carefully." He advised. The Andorians nodded and left swiftly. "What did you learn, Princess?" He asked once they left.
"W-well, you clearly need a strong hand when dealing with any breaking of treaties and that the Andorians are more passionate yet careless in their endeavors. You've clearly been planning that punishment since you first heard and have been carefully considering your choices." You analyzed as he nodded along.
"Good, you were listening. You may head to your room, I will see you in the morning Princess."
"I will see you then, your majesty, and thank you once again for letting me sit in."
"It was a necessary step in your diplomatic education, there is no gratitude necessary." He waved it away. You nodded and took your leave, going over the events of the meeting and what future events may hold.