Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [141]
“Ma’am, I’m aware of what the Tzelnira are capable of. In fact, I think I know better than anyone in the Federation, to say nothing of anyone in this room.”
“True. I know what you went through was horrible, but- “
“Horrible? Ma’am, it would have to improve by several thousand orders of magnitude before it got as good as horrible!” Realizing that she was yelling at the president, Rebecca took a breath and said in a softer voice, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you have to understand what they did. It wasn’t just that they held me prisoner, and it wasn’t just that they forced me to treat their sick and injured. They only let me treat certain people-certain important people, who were worthy of it. I had to let two women, one man, and three children die because they weren’t of the right social caste while I wasted my time operating on the cousin of one of the Tzelnira who had no hope of recovery, no matter what I did, which I told them over and over, but they forced me to do it anyhow, and he still died. And then, when the armistice happened, they told the Federation I was dead and kept me there. My husband remarried, my children grieved for me-and then when I came back, it destroyed my husband’s new marriage, and my children blamed me for lying to them. So ma’am, please, don’t presume to tell me that you know anything about what I went through.”
Somehow, Rebecca managed to keep her composure. It helped that she had been rehearsing this very confrontation for the past two weeks. She felt like her chest was about to explode, but outwardly she remained calm.
The president sat and listened to everything she said. Then she picked up a padd from the table in front of her. “For the last five days, we’ve been getting more reports from Tzenketh-things about the son of one of the Tzelnira being kidnapped by the Federation and being experimented on.”
Unable to contain a snort of derisive laughter, Rebecca said, “Ma’am, if you’re trying to convince me to perform the operation- “
“I’m not finished.”
In a small voice, Rebecca said, “I’m sorry, ma’am.” She suspected she had tested the president’s patience as much as she was going to get away with.
“There’ve been statements from almost every member of the Tzelnira. The one exception is Zaarok. His son’s the one who’s supposedly been kidnapped, yet there’s nothing from him.” She set that down and picked up another padd. “Technically you’re not cleared to know this next part, but I’m invoking executive privilege. This is a Starfleet Intelligence report that indicates that Zaarok has been secretly put in prison for sending Zormonk to the enemy.” She put that padd down. “You yourself just said you know better than anyone else in this room what a Tzenkethi prison is like. This is a member of the most privileged class in Tzenkethi society, and he’s cooperated with his people’s greatest enemy and allowed himself to be imprisoned because he wants his son to live.”
The president stood up. So much for being on equal footing, Rebecca thought.
President Bacco started pacing back and forth. “I can very easily order you to do this, Doctor. So could Chirurgeon P’Trell, and you’d be obligated to follow it or face severe consequences. But I’m not going to do that, because that would defeat the whole point. If you performed this operation under duress, or went to prison because of it, then it would be just like what the Tzenkethi did to you. And there’s no way I’m going to allow something like that. Instead, I’m asking you-I’m begging you-to look at what Zaarok did. He made a choice. He put aside his own people’s prejudices, went against every principle that the government he represents lives by in order to save a two-year-old boy who never did anything to anyone.”
Stopping at her desk, the president leaned against it. Rebecca noticed that she was leaning right next to a rotating holo of a young girl who resembled the president but definitely wasn’t her. There were other pictures too: an adult with the same face