A Time for War, a Time for Peace - Keith R. A. DeCandido [75]
Abrik put his head in his hands. Pagro sounded petulant and annoyed, and he was giving his stock answer, not responding directly to what Bacco said.
He got up and left the VIP lounge, unable to stand watching this anymore. I should be able to catch the next moon shuttle. I need to be there for Fel when this is over and see what we can do to fix this. Even as he walked down the corridor, he started formulating possible plans of action—including, much as he hated to do it, taking the low road and starting character attacks. Bacco didn’t have very many skeletons in her closet, but she did have a now-deceased ex-husband who was a career criminal. In fact, their marriage was part of one of his cons, from what Abrik had been able to piece together. It wasn’t something that would matter much if Bacco were an ordinary citizen, but the leader of the Federation could not afford to be someone whose judgment was so poor as to fall prey to a grifter.
That, at least, is the spin we’ll put on it, if we go that route. He had hoped to avoid such a measure, but the latest FNS polls showed Bacco gaining ground, and Abrik suspected that this debate was only going to close the gap further.
Chapter 9
U.S.S. Enterprise
WHEN DATA RECEIVED the summons from the computer to the observation lounge, he had assumed that he would be speaking to Sabin Genestra, as he had been conducting ninety-two-point-seven-eight percent of his interviews in that space, with the lone exceptional case being when he interviewed Lieutenant T’Eama in the security office on deck four.
He was therefore surprised to see that Captain Go was waiting for him in the lounge rather than Genestra. Unlike Genestra, Go had established no pattern for her interviews, having conducted them on the bridge, in the captain’s ready room, in engineering, in Ten-Forward, in the gymnasium, and in the quarters of some of the interviewees. This was her first time conducting an interview in this location, and he amended his analysis of the captain’s pattern appropriately.
In another deviation from the norm, Go had arranged her hair in a bun at the back of her head. During the six days and four hours she’d spent on the Enterprise, Go had kept her hair—which was seven centimeters longer than it was in the most recent image of her in her service record—tied in a simple ponytail. Data wondered what the occasion was for the change in styling. He had observed that some humans were mercurial in their follicle arranging—Troi’s mother came to mind as an obvious example, as did Dr. Crusher—but Go had seemed consistent with the ponytail. However, as such a query did not fall within the purview of the inspection tour, and Go was not numbered among Data’s friends, he did not feel it was appropriate to ask the question.
Data also noted that Go was sitting at the head of the table, in the seat that was generally occupied by Captain Picard. For his interviews, Genestra had sat on the side facing the viewport. From his extensive studies of human psychology, commenced after his dream program activated, Data deduced that, where Genestra wished to put his interview subjects at ease by speaking to them as equals, Go preferred to make it clear from her seat that she was the person in authority.
On Data’s entrance, Go looked up from the padd she was perusing. “Ah, Mr. Data. Come in, sit down.”
Data pulled out the chair that was perpendicular to Go’s and sat in it. “How may I be of service, Captain?”
“I have a few questions for you, Commander.” Go’s face indicated confusion. “But I’m not sure how to phrase the first one.”
“What is the source of your difficulty?”
Go shook her head. “Well, normally, if an officer underwent a medical procedure equivalent to the removal of your emotion chip last year, I’d ask them how they were feeling—but that doesn’t really apply, does it?”
“Not as such, no.”
Now Go frowned. “What do you mean, ‘as such’?”
“Although