The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [15]
Valdore nodded in the direction of the broken former senator. “And what is to become of him?”
“Your restoration to the admiralty cannot come without a price, Valdore,” T’Leikha said, as though lecturing an obtuse servant who lacked a grasp of the intuitively obvious. “Someone still must take the blame for the calamity that befell your prototype drone ships. The Senate will back my recommendation that he be executed for betraying the Praetor’s military secrets.”
Despite her unconcealed contempt for the miserable wreck of a man who slouched before her with downcast eyes, Valdore could feel only pity for his old colleague. Whatever Vrax’s failures- whatever disagreements they’d had in the past- Valdore knew that Vrax deserved better than this.
Valdore turned away from Vrax so that he could meet the First Consul’s sharp gaze directly. “His dishonor can be no worse than my own. I was responsible for losing the prototype drone warships to the Earthers and their allies. Vrax merely supported my own misguided efforts.”
The First Consul leaned forward and regarded Valdore again in silence. Then she smiled. “You are no less noble for your lengthy ordeal in our dungeons, Valdore. And no less brave.”
Valdore returned her smile coolly. “I have very little left to lose, First Consul. And therefore very little left to fear.”
He paused to look back toward the broken man, pausing for a dark instant to rejoice that confinement had not treated him nearly so brutally as it had Vrax. The sight of his old friend brought unbidden wistful memories that spanned many decades. “Vrax and I served together in the Senate long ago, First Consul. Until I was expelled… for posing an imprudent question.”
T’Leikha nodded. “I am aware of your record, Valdore. You and Vrax were friends- at least until you questioned the wisdom of the Romulan Star Empire’s doctrine of unlimited expansion.”
“And I doubtless would have been executed for it, had Vrax not intervened directly on my behalf. He persuaded First Consul Aratenik to help him convince the Praetor to spare my life.”
“So?” T’Leikha asked. Her eyes narrowed, as though they functioned as a gauge showing precisely how much patience remained behind them.
“So the Senate would no doubt listen to your recommendation for clemency as well,” Valdore said, looking T’Leikha squarely in the eye. “As would the Praetor himself.”
Her brow had begun to furrow in incompletely restrained fury. “You forget your place, Valdore. Your family is not so powerful as you seem to think.”
Valdore met the continued onslaught of her gaze without flinching. “If members of my family were influential enough to free me from imprisonment, they certainly would have done so long before now. Therefore I must assume that you have brought me here, First Consul- and that you did so because you need me. Otherwise you would not have seen fit to change my ‘place.”’ He gestured toward Vrax without breaking eye contact with T’Leikha. “So, given my evident importance to you, I respectfully request that you spare this man’s life. The Romulan Star Empire may one day have need of him again, just as has proved to be the case with me.”
T’Leikha paused to digest this, then nodded toward Vrax’s guards, who swiftly began conducting the slope-shouldered prisoner away. For a fleeting moment before the former senator exited the chamber, Vrax’s gaze locked with Valdore’s.
Valdore glimpsed both anger and despair in his old friend’s once roc-sharp eyes. He realized then that if his request for clemency was to succeed, he had very likely done his old friend no favors. Sometimes you either end up in charge, Valdore thought, or else you end up executed. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.
But he couldn’t concern