Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [4]
Shanthi added, “I was stationed near Delta IV when the Dominion attacked it. It was that attack that resulted in the poisoning of Delta’s water table, which in turn led to the breakdown of their water reclamation system, which was not designed to deal with the impurities that the Jem’Hadar introduced with their attacks. Although they were able to purify the water for a while, those measures broke down when the Dominion poison adapted. Other worlds have supplied water as a stopgap, but sooner or later, Delta must have use of its own water.”
“The point is,” Ra-Yalix said, “that the president is going to have to step in soon, because these two planets aren’t going to talk to each other except to make threats.”
Ele’er hated to admit it to herself, but she found the discussion fascinating. In fact, the only thing she didn’t like was Councillor Nitram’s near-total silence. She felt that the representative of her world to the Federation Council should be more willing to speak. Maybe he shouldn’t be obnoxious the way that reporter is, but still…
Velisa looked around at the panel. “So, to conclude, how do you think President Bacco is doing in her first two months?”
Ra-Yalix said, “I think she’s proceeding with caution for the time being, which is prudent. Once she gets the lay of the land, as it were, she’ll be fine.”
Sovan shook his head. “Caution is the worst approach she can take. The people need a leader who can fill the vacuum left by Zife, and move the Federation past the Dominion War and its aftermath. She won’t do that by treading lightly.”
Nitram simply said, “I look forward to continuing to cooperate with President Bacco on an agenda that will do as Mr. Sovan says-move the Federation forward.”
Shanthi leaned back in her chair. “I think she has done a fine job and will continue to do so.”
“Well, thank you Sovan, Ra-Yalix, Councillor Nitram, and Admiral Shanthi. Good night, everyone.”
Mother turned the viewer off and looked at her daughter. “Do you have any questions?”
Ele’er smiled. “Yes-can we watch this again the next time it is on?”
Chapter Two
NANIETTA BACCO, newly elected president of the United Federation of Planets, wondered what quirk of fate had led to her being at once a person who despised meetings with a fiery passion, yet who also wanted more than anything else to go into the world of politics-a profession that was approximately ninety percent meetings.
She sat behind the large desk in the presidential office in the Palais de la Concorde in Paris on Earth. The desk was made out of a hard, lightly patterned material known as salish, native to Atrea, which had been brought to the Palais by President Amitra and left behind when she’d declined to run for a second term. Her successors, Jaresh-Inyo and Min Zife, had both used different desks, but Nan had always been fond of the feel of salish-it had the sturdiness of metal and the romance of wood-and so she had had that desk put in when she’d taken office. The desk had a rotating holographic image of her daughter, Annabella, as a girl, of Annabella as an adult with her husband and children, of just the children, and of Nan’s own parents on their wedding day on Cestus III a hundred years ago.
Behind her-in fact, all around her-was a panoramic view of Paris. The office was a half-circle, with the entire curved part of the wall taken up with a window that showed the River Seine, the Tour Eiffel, the Batiment Vingt-Troisieme Siecle, and of course, the Champs Elysees, which ran under the cylindrical fifteen-story structure that housed the nexus of the Federation government.
“The Deltan ambassador keeps insisting that they can handle it, and Eleana’s backing her play. They don’t want interference.”
Seated on either the large sofa parallel to her desk or the several chairs that formed lines perpendicular to both ends of that sofa were several of Nan’s policy advisors, as well as Esperanza Piniero, her chief of staff. The