Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [2]
Sovan made a snorting noise. “Romulans and Klingons being angry at each other has always been a recipe for disaster, not peace.”
“I have a question,” Ele’er said. Mother stopped the playback. “Who are the Remans?”
Mother made a note on her padd. “Where is the seat of the Romulan Empire?”
“Romulus.”
“What is Romulus’s sister planet?”
Ele’er’s skin folds tightened. “I did not know it had one.”
“It does. It’s called Remus, and on that planet live a mutated offshoot of the Romulans, who serve as slave labor. Or, rather, they did until a Reman named Shinzon engineered the elimination of the praetor and the ruling senate. Then he was killed, and that left a power vacuum in the empire.”
“I understand.” Now what everyone was saying made more sense to Ele’er. If the government fell-if, in fact, two governments fell in succession-that would leave the Romulan Star Empire in chaos.
Mother resumed the playback.
“We’re getting off the subject a bit,” Velisa said.
“Not really,” Sovan said, “because my problem isn’t with the solution that Starfleet came up with, it’s that Bacco agreed to it without any hesitation or consultation.”
Shanthi shook her head. “That is incorrect. Ambassador Spock spoke before the council in order to- “
Sovan laughed. “Ambassador Spock? First of all, Spock hasn’t been a proper ambassador for ten years. He’s been living on Romulus on an unsanctioned mission- “
“Actually, the mission was sanctioned,” Ra-Yalix said. “The council endorsed Spock’s endeavor to achieve unification between the Romulans and Vulcans.”
“And never mind the fact that Vulcan is part of the Federation.” Sovan shook his head. “That doesn’t make him the right person to consult on this solution, if you ask me. Plus, what about the fiasco with Tamok?”
Councillor Nitram said, “Ambassador T’Kala was responsible for deceiving the president and the council into believing that Archpriest Tamok was coming to the Federation for an audience with us.”
“Yes,” Sovan said, “and a consultation with an actual Romulan spiritual leader might’ve been a bit more useful than one with a rogue ambassador with an agenda.”
“Sovan- ” Ra-Yalix began, but the Bolian would not stop talking. Ele’er found him to be very rude.
“Instead of listening to other viewpoints, she just trusted Spock and some captain. Bacco is letting Starfleet do all her work for her.”
Before anyone could respond to that, Velisa said, “One element of government that Starfleet has no jurisdiction over is that of appointments to the various sub-councils. Councillor Melnis of Benzar will be retiring at the end of the month, which opens up his seat on the judiciary council. Councillor Nitram, whom do you think President Bacco will appoint to that seat?”
Nitram paused before speaking. “I would not presume to speak for the president.”
Ele’er thought that was a stupid thing to say. Mother, however, was nodding in approval. He’s being asked his opinion, Ele’er thought. Why will he not give it?
Velisa tried asking a different question. “Do you believe that Councillor Melnis’s replacement will simply take the seat?”
Shaking his head, Nitram said, “No. Councillor-Elect Linzner does not have sufficient experience in jurisprudence to hold that seat. If he is selected by President Bacco, he will not be ratified by the council. However, I do not believe that President Bacco will do so. But I cannot say whom she will choose.”
Sovan smiled. “It’ll be Artrin. He’s been making his feelings known on that subject for years. Every time the judiciary council hands down a decision, Artrin goes out of his way to comment on it. He had a distinguished career as a magistrate on Triex for ninety years before he was elected councillor.”
“I agree with Sovan.” Ele’er was surprised to hear those words from Ra-Yalix’s mouth after their argument over the Romulan discussion. “The only reason why Artrin wasn’t put on judiciary in the first place was because a seat