Day of Honor 01_ Ancient Blood - Diane Carey [7]
In the background, the gathered crowd launched into applause and cheers, and some chanted, “O-DETTE! ODETTE!”
“Mind-boggling.”
The captain’s unhappy comment settled over the disturbing images of politics at work.
Nearby, William Riker leaned forward and manually clicked off the viewscreen. “It’s as if she’s speaking to six-year-olds.”
From a chair set off to one side, as if in its own universe, Lieutenant Worf watched the captain, but said nothing. The idea that Klingons had done the torture on that transport still burned deep in him. He had not been able to eat or rest since Commissioner Toledano had first made that claim. If he could jump out of the starship and descend to that planet on the power of his outrage, he would do it.
He knew his own thoughts, but wanted to know Picard’s. The captain would be Worf’s barometer of action, for he could no longer trust himself.
The captain leaned back in the chair behind his desk. Picard’s quiet presence always dominated any room.
As Worf watched Jean-Luc Picard now, he saw the captain as he often did—more scholar than warrior. Yet Worf knew Picard as a strong man who would fight fiercely when he felt the time was right. It was clear that Odette Khanty’s pseudo-philosophy troubled Picard. He seemed disturbed that the intellect of deceit was gaining an upper hand, and a Federation planet was slipping away in the grease of artful deception.
“You’ll notice the media didn’t challenge Mrs. Khanty at all,” Commissioner Toledano pointed out, sitting on the other side of Riker. “She controls most of them, but there are still some who speak up against her. They just get shouted down. How can the people of Sindikash make an educated choice if they only see one side of anything?”
Riker, sitting near Worf in front of the captain’s desk, added, “After the governor got shot, Odette Khanty’s approval rating was higher than the lieutenant governor’s, but now that’s starting to wear off. They’re about fifty-fifty.”
Toledano nodded. “She’s risen to popularity not on her own ability, but on sympathy for her husband. Any criticism is met with portrayals of her as a devoted wife being harassed by her husband’s enemies. The people know Sindikash is degenerating into the local center of criminal action, but Mrs. Khanty has been claiming the Federation refuses to do anything about it. What gall! It’s her criminal action!”
Despite the challenges of the mission, Worf’s attitude was flagging. He could not muster much concern for a planet full of people who would swallow such tripe. His hands clenched and unclenched so hard that his fingernails cut into his palms with every grip. Anchoring himself on the pain, he burned to get going on this mission, to sweep up the filthy rumors of Klingons indulging in frivolous torture.
There had to be some other explanation, some key fact that had gone undiscovered.
He wanted to go there, turn Sindikash inside out until the molten core of the planet froze solid in the cold of space, and uncover those cursed facts.
Then he wanted to cram them in Commissioner Toledano’s nostrils until his eardrums popped.
“This is a bizarre situation,” Riker admitted, “but I’ve got to tell you, I’m uneasy about intruding into a free election, even on a Federation colony.”
Toledano shrugged impolitely. “What’s your solution, then? Walk away from Federation citizens and let them be terrorized by criminals because you’re ‘uncomfortable’ about interfering? Do we sit by and allow a group of thugs to spread to other planets? You’re a pretty cold man if you can forget the blood we walked through just a little while ago.”
The captain gazed in new admiration at the commissioner, and noted the annoyed glares of Worf and Riker. Toledano had