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“And I’m sure you and the rest of her staff are hoping that having her image on FNS alongside these hardy survivors will erase the memory of twenty-nine dead Remans and three dead Starfleet officers.”

More boos. Tim couldn’t believe this guy was actually trying to blame Bacco for what happened to those Remans. They’d committed suicide after Bacco had offered them asylum-how was that her fault? She’d done the right thing; it was the Remans who had spit in her eye.

Regia Maldonado, the woman from FNS, spoke up then. “Oh come on, Gorus, that’s laying it on a little thick, don’t you think? Those Remans killed themselves. President Bacco’s not to blame for it.”

“She refused to help them when they needed it.”

Fred rolled his eyes. “She hadn’t refused anything yet.”

“Oh, and you were in those meetings, were you?” Gelemingar asked. “I was, since I’m actually on the security council, and I can assure you that the president had no intention of granting those Remans asylum, despite being implored to do so by myself, by Starfleet, and by her closest advisors.”

Velisa pursed her lips. “That’s a very strong accusation, Councillor.”

The Gnalish folded his scaled hands on the desk. “I but speak the truth.”

More boos at that, as well as cries of, “Get him outta there!” and the like.

Maldonado smiled and held up a padd that Tim hadn’t noticed before. “It’s interesting that you say that-yesterday parts of the security council session were unsealed.”

Fred grinned. “You weren’t at yesterday’s council session, were you, Councillor?”

“I was in transit from Gnala.” The tone in Gelemingar’s voice sounded to Tim like someone had just told him his mother was sick.

Now reading the padd’s display, Maldonado said, “Well, according to the transcript, President Bacco listened to all the options, it was a Starfleet officer who actually first proposed the notion that the Remans had ulterior motives, and you’re completely silent. Councillors T’Latrek, Mazibuko, Gleer, Tomorok, and Krim all contributed to the discussion, but no record of any imploring by you. Were they made during the parts that have remained sealed for security reasons, perhaps?”

Now the Pub was filled with cheers. “If that woman’s ever on Cestus,” Gordon said, “she gets a Homebrew no matter who won that day.”

Tim smiled. The only people who ever got Homebrew when it wasn’t right after a Pioneers win were Nan Bacco and any Pioneers players or staffers who came by, so that promise indicated the depths of Gordon’s happiness with the reporter’s skewering of the Gnalish councillor.

“The president,” Gelemingar said in that same mother’s-sick voice, “is aware of my feelings on the matter.”

“We’ve gotten a bit off the subject,” Velisa said, prompting some jeers from the crowd, who wanted to see Gelemingar get some more of what was coming to him. “Captain Rixx, what can you tell us about the Trinni/ek, and do you think that an ongoing relationship with the Federation is in our future-possibly even membership?”

The old Bolian smiled. “We are getting very far ahead of ourselves, Velisa. First contacts come in many different shapes and sizes. The Trinni/ek are, based on the reports from the Io, a very friendly people-and they also have the capability of traveling faster than light. They had never encountered any other sentient species, but the galaxy is a big place.”

“Do you feel optimistic about the future of relations between the Federation and the Trinni/ek?”

Rixx smiled, bunching up the ridge that ran down the center of his face. “Well, the Io’s captain is a Vulcan, and they are not known for exaggeration. If she says they’re friendly, they probably are.”

Maldonado, Cestus III’s new hero, said, “It doesn’t hurt that Trinni/ek has a lot of medicinal plants and minerals that are of use-hovrat grows there, as does semtek, and they’ve got uridium, some dilithium, topaline, and, best of all, kellinite.”

Velisa smiled. “Are you saying that President Bacco’s motive for trading with the Trinni/ek is to