Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [67]
“May they walk with the Prophets,” Jorel muttered. “I assume you want me to brief.”
Piniero nodded.
“You sure that’s a good idea? If they don’t have the story, we can- “
“One of them’s gonna have the story,” Piniero said. “You know that as well as I do. Besides, how’s it going to look if Regia Maldonado or Edmund Atkinson or Sovan or somebody reveals it in the press room first? And what good reason do we have to keep it secret anyhow?” Piniero chuckled mirthlessly. “In a lot of ways, this solves most of our problems, as ghoulish as that is.” She shook her head. “Zachary’s downloading the info to you now-the details, the names of the three dead people- “
Zhres asked, “Their families have been notified?”
Piniero turned to Zhres. “The president’s handling that right now.” She turned back to Jorel. “One other thing-Jianuk sent a message out on all Federation frequencies right before the suicide run. It’s why we’re pretty sure somebody’s gonna pick this up even if we do keep it quiet, which is all the more reason to let it out sooner rather than later.”
“What’d they say?” Jorel asked.
” ‘Victory and freedom.’ “
Jorel rolled his eyes. “How idiotic.”
“Not entirely. That was Shinzon’s battle cry.” She sighed. “I’ll talk to Safranski about Kliradon. Get this out ASAP, all right?” With that, Piniero turned and left.
Zhres watched her walk down the hall toward the turbolifts. “Why does this make things easier?”
“Hm?” Jorel looked up.
“She said that the Remans’ committing suicide- “
“I honestly have no idea, Zhres-and even if I did have an idea, I wouldn’t waste precious moments of my life explaining them to you.” He checked his workstation. “Get me everything there is to know about Outpost 22, the U.S.S. Intrepid, and- ” He peered at the screen. “- Chief Avro Wraor, Technician Rulan Moody, and Ensign Jaron, all assigned to the outpost.”
“They’re the casualties?”
Jorel glared at him. “No, they’re the dancing troupe I’m sending over to the London Dinner. Yes, they’re the casualties, Zachary just sent ‘em.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
Zhres sat down at his desk and started a search through Starfleet records. He soon learned that Wroar had been in Starfleet security for fifty years, that Moody’s enlistment period was going to be up in a month, and that Jaron was the first Evoran in Starfleet. And now they’re all dead.
And thanks to his work, everyone in the Federation who read the news would know these things about them-know who they were, not just that they’d died. It might not have been grand work on the scale of what the president and Piniero and Krim and the rest of the council and the cabinet and the president’s staff did every day, but it was still, to Zhres’s way of thinking, work worth doing.
May 2380
“There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present…. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.”
- Liu Shaoqi
Chapter Thirteen
TIM LINCOLN WINCED as he watched the screen that took up the entire north wall of the Pioneer Pub. “They’re bringing in Martinez.”
Sitting on the bar stool next to Tim, Natalia Hatcher muttered, “Well, this game’s over.”
Tim held up a cautioning hand. “Now now, don’t be so sure.”
Natalia looked at her fiance like he had grown a third limb. “Do you know when the last time Martinez gave up a run is?”
After thinking about it for a second, Tim said, “No.”
“Me either. That’s how long it’s been since she’s given up a run.”
“It’s not like we’ve followed the Seagulls all that closely. Maybe she gave up three runs her last time out and we don’t know about it.”
“You know, it’s usually Prairieview fans