Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [119]
He tugged on his earring and finally said, “What is it you want from me, Ozla?”
She stood up. “Like I told you before, I’m running this story unless you give me a good reason not to. You’ve got one day to find that reason.”
With that, she turned on her heel and left Jorel’s office.
Jorel sat on his couch for quite some time after that. He wasn’t entirely sure how long it was, but two questions ran through his head the whole time. One was, What if she’s right? The other was, What do we do then?
Finally he got up and walked out the door. Zhres was sitting at his desk, reading something on his workstation. “Jorel, FNS is reporting that- “
“Never mind that.” Jorel meant to speak those words in anger, but they came out of his mouth weakly. “Call Zachary and give me the first microsecond that Esperanza has. Tell him it’s crucial.”
“What did Ozla- “
Now he did speak in anger. “When it becomes necessary for you to grow a brain, Zhres, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Before Zhres could reply, Jorel stomped back into his office.
It can’t possibly be true. I worked for Zife for two and a half years. He wasn’t capable of—
Then he remembered what Ozla said about Quafina being the one to have brokered the deal-and that Quafina had resigned with Zife. That had always struck him as odd-that Quafina would resign when Zife’s resignation would put him out of a job when the new election was held in a month’s time anyhow. More to the point, he wasn’t the only one who’d gone down with Zife.
Min Zife might not have been capable of what Ozla was accusing him of. But Koll Azernal? The Zakdorn chief of staff had once been jokingly referred to by an FNS reporter as “The Brains Behind the Bolian,” but after working in the Palais for over two years, Jorel knew that it wasn’t a joke. Azernal was a ruthless bastard who was more than capable of arming an independent planet on the Klingon border. It was eight years ago. The Klingons had pulled out of the Khitomer Accords. War with the Dominion was only a matter of time. Paranoia about Founder infiltration of the Alpha Quadrant was at an all-time high. Azernal, whose strategic mind was both amazing and frightening, was just the type to have hedged his bets by putting those cannons on Tezwa as a potential exit strategy.
And if Starfleet had found out about it, they would have been all over Zife. They wouldn’t have been able to go public with it, because revealing it would indeed have angered the Klingons, thanks to the deaths those cannons had caused. But is it out of the realm of possibility that they’d have forced Zife out of office? Jorel had met William Ross several times and knew just how arrogant and self-righteous he could be, given the right provocation.
Jorel shook his head. This is ridiculous. As he’d said to Ozla, this was simply contorting reality to fit some scatter-shot information. They had no proof.
But will that matter? If Seeker - which isn’t known for printing inaccurate information-runs this, and people start to look at all the things that don’t make sense…
“Jorel?”
He tapped his intercom at the sound of Zhres’s voice. “Yeah?”
“Esperanza’s in San Francisco for most of the day. She’s scheduled to be back at 1730, and Zachary says she can see you then-or, if it’s important, she can comm with you at noon.”
About to agree to that, Jorel then thought about it and realized that discussing this over an open channel-even as secure a one as that used within the Palais or in Starfleet Headquarters, where Jorel assumed Esperanza to be-would be unwise. “Tell Zachary I’ll see her at 1730.”
“All right.”
The Articles of the Federation stated that the president was required to preside over meetings of the entire council, barring special circumstances. The precise nature of the circumstances were vague and generally varied to fit the times. These days, it mostly meant that the president