Day of Honor 01_ Ancient Blood - Diane Carey [66]
“Mmm.” Riker stroked the cat’s ball-shaped head. “Worf says he’s never seen a person whose private personality is so diametrically opposed to the public one. Ordinarily, there’s some flicker of resemblance. She’s like an old Earth union boss—self-insulating.”
“Worf’s never been a hypocrite,” Picard told him evenly. “That’s why he’s sometimes been confused in his personal searches. It’s why the Day of Honor bothers him. He doesn’t always define honor the way other Klingons do. He tries very hard to fit into the Klingon mold, but every time he’s come to a fork in the road, he’s chosen the Federation path.”
“I don’t like this kind of enemy,” Picard went on, his mind still on Odette Khanty. “I imagine it’s even worse for Worf. He’s used to someone he can challenge openly, honestly. With a bat’leth.”
Riker nodded as he led the way into the nearest turbolift. “This is a lot more Mr. Toledano’s kind of thing, all this espionage, subterfuge, spying, assassinations, all this local business—”
“It’s just politics, Mr. Riker. So there’s some politics going on. So what? Bringing down a criminal of this sort, with tentacles out to the Romulans and Cardassians … it’s a good thing to do. What difference does it make how we’re doing it? Certainly, being convinced to stay in the Federation isn’t the worst thing that can happen to those people.”
“No, sir,” Riker agreed, “but it’s tricky, this independence business. Do we or don’t we? Should they or shouldn’t they? Federation membership has its obligations, one being a long secession process.”
“But Sindikash isn’t a member that came in from out side,” Picard pointed out. “There’s a whole different set of procedures for colonial independence. Much harder ones.”
“I don’t know much about that,” Riker admitted. “A planet we invested in and built decides, ‘Well, we don’t like this or that, so we’re checking out.’ Doesn’t make sense.”
“Like the Colonial United States,” Picard said. “That didn’t seem to make sense either, yet its successful independence helped sculpt the model for the galaxy as we now know it, and build the thriving civilization we now enjoy. I’m finding it difficult not to afford Sindikash the same chance.”
As the lift opened and deposited them on Deck 10, Riker tilted his head. “That doesn’t sound like you, sir.”
“Doesn’t it? What Sindikash wants to do is just what the Colonies did. Seize someone else’s investment.”
“But, sir, the Colonies weren’t being represented. Britain was a caste system. What level you were born to was everything. And what about the people on Sindikash who want to remain in the Federation? They’re our citizens, and their rights can’t be abrogated simply by a planet’s threat to secede.”
“They can always leave the planet. That’s what Mrs. Khanty would say. That’s what the patriots of the Colonies said. Now, what’s the problem with it?”
Riker smiled. “Quizzing me, sir?”
“Why not?”
“Well, given Mrs. Khanty’s type of action, I’d say she would pass a one-hundred-percent departure tax.”
The doors to Ten Forward opened. Picard scanned the empty room.
“And where is Mr. Toledano, anyway?” he asked, irritated.
“He’s taking a shuttle ride, sir,” Riker said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“He wanted to see the ship from the outside. So as soon as the Ferengi freighter passed along Worf’s message, I sent Mr. Toledano on a nice, long tour.”
“Oh, he’s all right,” Picard acceded, leading the way back to the holodeck. “He’s quite correct when it comes to the planet’s effects on the sector if Mrs. Khanty entrenches herself.” Riker frowned. “I can’t help thinking that the people on that planet deserve the right to make a free and uninfluenced choice.”
“They can’t have one,” Picard pointed out sternly. “They either get influenced by Mrs. Khanty or by us. Unless she leaves them alone, we don’t dare.”
The captain booted up Alexander’s program, which materialized in its semifrozen state, with Grenadier Leonfeld,