A Time for War, a Time for Peace - Keith R. A. DeCandido [44]
Some idiot then said, “Isn’t that the kind of thing that starts from the top?”
To Alexander’s shock, he himself was that idiot. What am I doing?
Then he shot a quick glance at Wu, who gave him an encouraging nod.
All right, if I’m going to piss him off, I may as well do it right. “What did you think you were going to accomplish, anyhow?”
Rov again pointed his disruptor at Alexander’s head. “Be silent!”
“Why? You can’t kill me because I’m a valuable hostage, remember?”
“Not that valuable,” Rov said through clenched teeth.
“Then shoot me or answer my question.” He’s gonna shoot me, take it easy, don’t let him rile you, you’re a soldier, dammit. “How do you think taking the Federation embassy is going to affect empire policy?”
At that, Rov laughed and spread his arms as if to take in the entire room, which had the fortuitous side effect of moving the disruptor muzzle’s path of fire away from Alexander’s head. “Because this is where empire policy is made! It is where policy has been made since Praxis was destroyed! Since that dark day, we have become an empire of weaklings, dependent on others to keep us strong—well, no more! Today, our dependence on the Federation is ended as if it never was! As it never should have been!”
He really is nuts. “You realize that if the empire hadn’t allied with the Federation after Praxis, there wouldn’t be a Klingon Empire now.”
Rov snorted. “If you believe propaganda.”
“I don’t believe propaganda, but I do believe facts. I’ve read the accounts of the time, and I’ve seen the scientific surveys done by Klingons of the Homeworld after Praxis was destroyed. I also know how reliant the empire was on that moon for most of our industrial production.” Alexander was only stretching the truth a bit; the surveys he saw were Federation ones, and all of what he saw was in a history class taken on the Enterprise as a boy. Let’s hear it for a human education. “And if we weren’t allied with the Federation, do you really think we would’ve won the Dominion War? Why do you think the Founders went to so much trouble to break the alliance?”
Rov once again aimed the disruptor at Alexander. “We needed no one’s help to win the war!”
“Oh yeah we did. Trust me, I was there, I know what it was like to go up against the Jem’Hadar and the Cardassians and the Breen.” Then a thought occurred to Alexander. “But then, you should know that. You all fought in the war, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Vark said.
“I did, proudly,” the woman added.
Rov said nothing.
Alexander gazed at the Klahb leader. “You didn’t fight, did you?”
Through clenched teeth, Rov said, “I was not permitted to join the Defense Force.”
“What do you mean?” the woman asked, no longer pointing her disruptor at the hostages, but staring at Rov with a seriously angry expression.
“That’s crazy,” Alexander said. “The Defense Force will let anybody in.” He smiled. “I mean, they took me, so they’ll obviously allow anyone.” Then the light dawned. “You mean they wouldn’t take you as an officer.”
“I was not going to go into battle as a bekk like some kind of commoner animal or weak-willed bloodworm. I am a warrior! I should have been—”
“You didn’t fight in the war?” Vark asked.
“I was a bekk, Rov,” the woman said.
Vark grabbed Rov by the arm. “You ask us to follow you into battle, into death, yet you refused the call of battle when the empire needed you?”
Rov backhanded Vark, causing the older Klingon to fall to the floor in front of Alexander and Wu. “The empire needs me now, you senile old imbecile! And I am providing—”
“What?” Alexander asked. “Entertainment? Because that’s all you are. Kahless as a hologram? Do you really think anyone will take you seriously? I’m sure the main reason why the High Council hasn’t gotten back to you is because they’re laughing so hard—especially if they looked up your service record.” Alexander grinned. “Well, your lack of service record, anyhow.