Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [66]
That seemed to surprise Krim. “For what reason?”
“Well, Councillor- ” Zhres hesitated. How to put this delicately? Then he thought, What am I doing? Jorel wouldn’t be delicate, why should I? “Jorel’s afraid of you, Councillor. Or, more to the point, he’s afraid of your ex-wife.”
“Many people are afraid of First Minister Asarem, Zhres, but former employees aren’t usually among them.”
“He thinks that she thinks he betrayed her by taking this job.”
“Wadeen only has kind words to say about him.”
Which makes her unique, Zhres thought. “Either way, I think it’s best if you didn’t disabuse him of that notion, Councillor. Anything that limits your contact with him is best for your mental health.”
“Yes, I had gotten that impression both on Bajor and here in the Palais. In fact, you seem to have lasted considerably longer as his assistant than anyone else. Why is that?”
Again, Zhres’s antennae wiggled. “I already knew before I took the job that he was an ass. But I also knew that he was good at his job, and that I’d be good at this.”
Krim nodded. “Interesting. Very well, I shall do this show.”
“Good. I’ll have Farak set it up with Elos.”
After Krim said his good-byes and continued toward the transporter bay, Zhres turned around and headed to Jorel’s office. That’s one less thing to think about.
He arrived as Jorel was finishing up a conversation with a Tellarite whom Zhres placed after a moment as being the political editor of the Tellarite News Service. “I’ll do what I can, Phant, but you know how the Tzenkethi are. They’ll probably deny that Brek was even on Kliradon.”
“I have proof,” Phant said testily.
“And they’ll say you manufactured it.” Before Phant could object, Jorel said, “Look, I’ll talk to Esperanza Piniero, and we’ll see what we can do, all right?”
“That’s all I request, Jorel. Thank you.”
As soon as Phant’s face faded from the viewer, Zhres asked, “Did Brek get taken by the Tzenkethi?”
“I have no idea, but the evidence is pointing that way.”
“He was warned not to go to Kliradon.”
Jorel let out a long breath. “Everyone is warned not to go to Kliradon. But Brek doesn’t view warnings as warnings, he views them as challenges. If he wasn’t such a good reporter…” He trailed off.
Zhres said quietly, “If he wasn’t such a good reporter, he’d probably be dead by now.”
“How melodramatic. Why are you late?”
“I ran into Krim. He’ll do the FNS piece. He also says you shouldn’t be scared of First Minister Asarem.”
“The man who divorced her thinks I shouldn’t be afraid of her?” Jorel stood up from his desk. “That’s advice I’m guaranteed to ignore.”
Zhres smiled. “That should put it in good company with every other piece of advice you’ve ever received.”
“At least I know not to go to Kliradon. All right, let’s go over- “
“Excuse me.”
Zhres turned around to see Esperanza Piniero standing in the doorway. Zhres hadn’t even noticed her approach.
“Esperanza, I’m glad you’re here. We lost a reporter.”
The chief of staff winced. “Where?”
“Kliradon.”
“They’re given warnings not to go to- “
“It was Brek.”
“Ah.” Piniero scratched her ear. “I’ll talk with Safranski, see what we can do. That’s got to wait, though.”
“It can’t wait too long, Phant’s breathing down my neck.”
Zhres, however, felt the change in the air as soon as Esperanza walked in. Something bad has happened.
“We’ve got a situation on the Romulan border.”
“The refugees?”
Piniero gave a smirk that was frighteningly similar to Krim’s. “Well, the Remans at Outpost 22 anyhow. About half an hour ago, shortly after their leader, Jianuk, had lengthy conversations with both Captain Emick of the Intrepid and Commander Bowles of the outpost- ” Piniero took a breath. “- the Vkruk made a suicide run at the outpost.”
“In Thori’s name,” Zhres muttered.
Jorel’s eyes went wider than Zhres had ever seen them. “How many people- ?”
“Believe it or not, only three of our people died. Bowles was suspicious of the Remans from the start, so she beefed up the shields,