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Still, he was a good man. He deserves the accolades-and to have a thousand people at his funeral.

The Starfleet honor guard-four security officers in their dress whites-walked in formation up to the podium, where the former president’s body was shrouded with the Federation flag. They removed the flag, revealing the body, dressed in the traditional black hooded outfit that Grazerites considered formal wear.

The four officers neatly folded the flag into a triangle, then presented it to Jaresh-Inyo’s widow. Esperanza knew that had its basis in some old Earth tradition; she personally found it a bit ostentatious, but she could see why it was still done. It had a certain dignity, a certain respect. He lived his life in service to what that flag represents.

Then a Grazerite kelmek-the word translated into “death-helper”- nodded to someone Esperanza couldn’t see from her seat in the top row, and, moments later, Jaresh-Inyo’s body dematerialized in a transporter beam. She smiled sadly. Well, if it calls for destruction of the body, that’s a pretty clean way of doing it.

Jaresh-Inyo’s brother, Jaresh-Uryad- about half the height of his brother-then moved to the center of the stage from the first row of the amphitheater. If this follows the usual protocols, a couple of other family members will speak, then President Amitra, then President Bacco.

Even as Jaresh-Uryad began to speak in a voice that was eerily similar to that of his late brother despite their differences in height and build, Esperanza’s comm started to beep.

She sighed. One of the reasons why she had taken a seat in the top row was because it was near an exit. Zachary was fielding all her comms, and only he had the code to get through to her, and he was only to contact her if it was urgent. I suppose going one hour without something urgent was asking too much.

As soon as she was in the hallway outside the amphitheater-a thin ribbon of space that went around the top, but was dotted with support beams that Esperanza could stand behind so she would have at least a modicum of privacy-she said, “What is it, Zachary?”

“Abrik. He says there’s a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“Klingons, Remans, and Romulans.”

Esperanza sighed. “Oh my.”

“Yeah.”

“Dammit.” Things had finally started to quiet down once the Klingons had started moving the Remans to Klorgat IV. So what’s gone wrong now? “Put him through.”

“Madam President?”

It took all of Esperanza’s willpower to keep from rolling her eyes. Then, remembering she was more or less alone, she did it anyhow. I can’t believe we’re doing this again. “It’s Esperanza, Jas, what’s the problem?”

“I need to talk to the presi- “

“The president is sitting in Squyres waiting for her turn to eulogize one of her predecessors. Unless the Dominion’s reinvading-and I know that’s not why you’re calling-then I’m not disturbing her until the service is over.”

“It’s urgent, Esperanza, I- “

“Does this have to do with Klorgat?”

“Yes.”

“Which is hundreds of light-years from here?”

A pause. “Yes.”

“So will the president not finding out about this for another hour or so really matter in the grand scheme of things, especially since I’m here to deal with it in the interim?”

“You’re not here, you’re there.”

Esperanza couldn’t help it. “That’s neither here nor there, Jas. What happened?”

Abrik let out a long breath before answering the question. “One of Klorgat IV’s moons blew up.”

“How?”

“We’re not sure. Initial indications are that it was natural-but none of the surveys done of the Klorgat system indicated any kind of instability in the moon.”

“How thorough were the Klingons’ scans?”

“Of the fourth planet, very. Of the moons-we’re not sure. Unfortunately, the ship that scanned it initially four years ago was the I.K.S. Azetbur. They had only transmitted basic sensor specs back to Qo’noS before they were called to Elabrej, where they were destroyed.”

“So this could’ve been a natural disaster.”

“Yeah, it could’ve.”

Esperanza smiled. “You don’t sound