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Esperanza turned to stare at Dogayn. “What do you think happened?”

S/he rubbed hir chin. “Last year, during the Tezwa mess, Enaren wanted to introduce a bill that was cosponsored by Gleer and zh’Faila. It was to cut off aid to Tezwa and increase reconstruction on Betazed, Tellar, Andor, and a bunch of other worlds.”

“What?” Esperanza didn’t remember anything about this.

“The bill was pulled after Zife threatened to veto it,” Dogayn added. “So it was never discussed on the first floor.”

And therefore, Esperanza realized, never in any official record.

Dogayn continued. “But everyone was talking about it in here. It’s possible that Enaren’s looking to get back to that notion now, and Cardassia’s aid renewal is the perfect time. If he’s got Gleer and zh’Faila on his side again, then they can probably deliver all the votes they need. Gleer’s been steaming ever since Krim’s appointment, and he knows the aid’s important to Bacco, so this will stick it to her. He’s also got favors to call in because of the complete lack of support he got when he tried to block Krim-and even if he didn’t, you know what Gleer’s like when he gets on the warpath.”

Esperanza snorted and walked over to the replicator. “Yeah. You want anything?”

S/he shook hir head.

“Tea, raspberry, iced.”

The drink materialized in front of Esperanza with a quiet hum. “All right, get together with Ashante and fix this.”

That seemed to confuse Dogayn. “Huh?”

“Fix this,” Esperanza repeated as she went back to her desk and grabbed the padd Ross had given her.

“I thought the president- “

“This never gets on the president’s sensors.” As she spoke, she entered some commands that downloaded the padd’s data to her workstation. “Right now I’ve got to go upstairs and tell her we’re gonna have to tap-dance on a supernova in order to keep the Klingons from invading Romulus, and that on top of risking a repeat of the biggest diplomatic disaster of her presidency tomorrow with the Trinni/ek. The last thing I want is her being distracted by this.”

“Distracted? Esperanza, it’s- “

“Very important to her, yes. That’s why I want you and Ashante to fix it before it even becomes a problem. Talk to whoever you need to talk to, but find out where the problem is and do what you can to fix it. If we can give some concessions, go for it-it took months to get the president and the council friendly, I don’t want to reverse it over this.”

Dogayn nodded and got up. “All right.”

The two of them exited her office together. Dogayn moved toward the center of the floor, while Esperanza headed to the turbolift, saying, “I’m heading up there, Zachary.”

“Right.”

When Esperanza arrived on the fifteenth floor moments later, her thoughts turning to entertaining and painful ways of torturing Bera chim Gleer, Sivak gave her an odd look. “The president is busy.”

And Sivak is just what I need this morning. “Zachary told me she was free at noon.”

“It will not be 1200 for three more minutes. And even then, she only has ten minutes before- “

The door then slid open to reveal the secretaries of technology and transportation, as well as their assistants. The former, a short Androsian woman named Forzrat, was saying, “… and that’s not even taking power consumption into account. We just don’t know if it’s feasible.”

Following them out the door, the president asked, “Isn’t that kinda the point of a study, to give us the opportunity to stop living in ignorance about this sort of thing?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, there you go. Take a look at it, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Thank you, Madam President.”

Esperanza nodded to the four of them as they passed her and headed toward the turbolifts. The transportation secretary, a tall Berellian named Iliop, said to her, “We need to talk about Rigel later.”

“Set it up with Zachary.”

Looking inquisitively at Esperanza, President Bacco asked, “You need me?”

“I just finished with Ross about Klorgat.”

Her face fell. “Great. C’mon in.”

As the pair