Section 31_ Rogue - Andy Mangels [17]
He felt a surge of embarrassment. “I’m afraid I have a confession to make, Marta. I don’t think I can encapsulate your career quite so readily.”
Setting her cup down on the desk, she said, “Don’t blame yourself for that, Johnny. When you work for Starfleet Intelligence, you try to keep a low profile.”
Picard tried to hide his surprise, evidently without complete success. He could see that she noticed his reaction.
“Johnny?”
After a considered pause, he said, “Forgive me for saying so, Marta, but I’m not terribly enthusiastic about Starfleet Intelligence.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Three years ago, I became aware that your department had covered up an illegal cloaking device test. That incident nearly cost me the best first officer I ever had.”
She nodded contritely. “The Pegasus affair. It came to light shortly before I made admiral. ‘Ranar’s folly,’ we called it. It was a blot on the bureau’s reputation, and won’t be repeated. At least not as long as I’m wearing all these pips.”
Though he knew he was unlikely ever to forget or forgive the Pegasus incident, Picard allowed his anger to subside. But he still had unanswered questions about the bureau and its agenda.
“Marta, I’d wager that your presence is proof that Starfleet Intelligence is more than a little interested in the Chiarosan situation. I have to wonder what they know that I don’t. Perhaps the Geminus Gulf isn’t so strategically worthless as the official reports seem to indicate?”
“That would make this whole business a lot simpler, wouldn’t it?” she said, smiling ruefully. “But as far as Intelligence knows, you can take the Geminus Gulf at face value. It consists of one barely habitable inhabited planet, dozens of lifeless star systems, some fluky subspace readings that are probably just instrumentation errors, and about sixty-six thousand cubic parsecs of otherwise extraordinarily uninteresting space.”
Picard wasn’t quite satisfied with that. “Space in which the Romulans have nevertheless shown a distinct interest.”
“For reasons which probably have more to do with Romulan misdirection than the Gulf’s intrinsic value,” she said with a shrug.
Picard mulled her words over for a moment. If she valued their mutual Academy days as much as he did-and as much as she appeared to-then he could assume that she was telling him the unvarnished truth. He decided to proceed from that assumption.
“Fair enough, Marta. You’ve eliminated the simple-but-incorrect answer. But what’s the complicated-but-correct one?”
She cast a backward glance over her shoulder, as though concerned that someone might overhear, then looked him straight in the eye. “We have reason to believe that the Chiarosan rebels are using Starfleet weapons. Weapons they may have obtained from the missing starship, the Slayton. And that may mean the ship met with foul play.”
That took Picard aback for a moment. If the rebels really were using Starfleet matériel to carry out their guerrilla campaign, then the Federation could be inadvertently responsible for starting a planetary civil war. Such a development would surely warrant the attention of the highest echelons of Starfleet Intelligence.
But why would the bureau risk such an important officer by sending her into such a volatile situation?
“Forgive me for saying so, Marta,” Picard said carefully. “But I still don’t think you’ve told me everything.”
She smiled a poker player’s smile. “You’re right. And I’m not at liberty to do that, as I’m sure you’re well aware. But I can tell you this: Corey Zweller was the Slayton’s science officer.”
Picard felt as though he’d been kicked in the stomach. He set his cup on the desk with an audible clink and struggled for calm. After collecting his thoughts for a moment, he said, “Marta, are you entirely certain that your interest in this matter isn’t… personal?”
She stood slowly, her movements calm, her face impassive. But her eyes blazed with an inner fire. “You’re damned right it’s personal, Johnny. But fortunately, rank hath its privileges. That’s why Aubin and I are on your ship and not someone else’s.”