Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [3]
“There are other qualified candidates,” Nitram said. “Councillor Eleana has the necessary expertise.”
“I actually agree,” Sovan said, “but I don’t think Bacco will have the courage to make so controversial a choice. Eleana has taken any number of unpopular stands regarding criminal rehabilitation, facilities maintenance, and security protocols. She voted against blood screenings every time it came up prior to the Dominion War. She held minority opinions on most matters before the council, and I just don’t see Bacco putting her in so strong a position as one on judiciary-in fact, I don’t see the council approving her even if Bacco does put her up. Artrin’s record is more middle-of-the-road, and he has the public profile. The council won’t have any problem with him. Bacco can’t afford a difficult appointment. She’s going to have a hard enough time.”
Velisa stared at the Bolian. “Why do you say that?”
“Bacco was elected in a very swift campaign with very little time for the voters to get a chance to know her, unless they were already familiar with her record as governor of Cestus III-and even then, it’s not much. Zife’s second term saw one problem after another, from the collapse of the Trill government, to the gateways and Genesis disasters, to the brief war with the Selelvians and the Tholians, to the problems with the Ontailians, to Tezwa-culminating in the first presidential resignation in the Federation’s history.”
Shanthi spoke for the first time in a while. “While I agree that President Bacco has large shoes to fill, I also believe that she will adequately fill them. I am familiar with her record on Cestus III. She was faced with an immigration crisis when they took in refugees from the Cardassian Demilitarized Zone, and she also weathered a Gorn attack on the planet during the war.”
“I don’t disagree that she made a good planetary governor, under some unique circumstances, but my point is that she’s got to work with the council. Both Zife and Jaresh-Inyo were councillors who were elected president. Amitra was a cabinet member for three presidents before getting elected herself, and all the presidents she served under worked in the Palais in some form or other before being elected. Bacco’s the first outsider in a long time to actually win an election.”
Ra-Yalix laughed. “It doesn’t hurt that nobody from the Palais ran in this election. The only candidates were a Starfleet admiral, a special emissary, and a governor.”
“Which is,” Velisa added, “the first time that no member of the Federation Council participated in a presidential election in a hundred and fifty years. But then, this was a unique election.”
“I have another question,” Ele’er said. Again, Mother paused the playback. “Who did you vote for, Mother?”
Mother did not answer for several seconds. Then, finally, she said, “It does not matter.”
Ele’er hid a smile. That means she voted for Pagro. Ele’er hadn’t paid much attention to the election, since she was not old enough to vote, but she did know that the last president resigned. Ele’er wasn’t entirely sure why. She supposed she could ask, but she decided she wanted to see more of the conversation first.
Velisa continued when Mother restarted the playback. “One thing that is not unique is the current situation between the Deltans and the Carreon. Ra-Yalix, how do you think President Bacco should be handling the situation?”
“While I confess to admiring the president’s stated desire to see the parties work out their differences themselves, I’m afraid that any optimism in this regard is probably… shall we say… unwarranted.”
Nitram asked, “What is wrong with allowing Delta and Carrea to settle their differences internally?”
The Efrosian chuckled. “Because it’s unlikely that this time will be different from any other. The animosity between Delta and Carrea dates back to long before Delta joined the Federation-the two nations tried to colonize the same worlds when they first went out into space. The Carreon