To Storm Heaven - Esther Friesner [22]
Ambassador Lelys was less easily cowed. “If we are wrong about Udar Kishrit, we will make amends. But if the cracked vessel will not hold water, why should we assume it will hold wine? If he has lied to us about one thing, why not another? How can we trust that he will fulfill his promise to find us n’vashal?” Valdor laughed contemptuously. “Why would he want to lie about helping us?” “Why would he want to lie about Ashkaar?” Troi countered.
The elder Orakisan’s face darkened. “What makes you think he is lying about that?” “May I, sir?” Mr. Data turned to Captain Picard and received permission to speak. “As repeated here, Udar Kishrit’s explanations for the lifeform readings on Ashkaar are not logical. Ne’elat is not overpopulated, therefore if the authorities wished to keep dangerous criminals in custody far from law-abiding citizens, they could construct prisons in any of a number of remote sites on the planet itselfi To transport them to another world is neither convenient, economical, nor necessary. Moreover, from your descriptions of Ne’elat, it does not seem to suffer from poverty, ignorance, or intolerance, therefore I would not expect it to be a particularly lawless society. It is my theory that were we to inspect the judicial records, we would find that what prisons the Ne’elatians do maintain on their world are not filled to capacity.” “Next I suppose you’ll tell us that the Ne’elatians have no military training outposts on Ashkaar either,” aldor sneered.
His sarcasm had no effect on the android. “It would surprise me if they did. The Ne’elatians enjoy a united planetary government of apparent political stability. They may have a domestic security system in place, but with no threat of war, they do not need to tram an army.” “And what of the possibility of an offworld invasion?” The Orakisan legate acted as smug as if he had just made the winning move in a game of chess.
Geordi suppressed a smile. Wrong game to play with Data if you want to win, Legate Valdor.
Mr. Data promptly proved the engineer right: “They also inhabit a remote world of little strategic or material value, except to themselves. Even supposing that some alien power wished to invade and conquer their system, such a power would have to possess warp drive to reach Ne’elat in the first place. Any troops trained on Ashkaar would be outmaneuvered and probably outgunned in short order.” “In other words, it would make about as much sense for the Ne’elatians to train troops offworld as it would for us to maintain a Roman legion,” Riker commented so softly that Geordi wondered whether he’d been the only one to hear it.
Having his every argument so casually demolished sank Valdor even deeper into his usual state of coldeyed, smoldering resentment. He said nothing more for the rest of the debriefing.
On the other hand, young Hara’el seemed to gain courage from his father’s silence. “We are indebted to Starfleet for your help in this mission. We will be guided by your suggestions concerning the reliability of the Ne’elatians. They are our brethren, but blood is no guarantee of truth. It will do no harm to investigate any misgivings you might have, especially if you suspect they might affect the ultimate success of our quest. I recommend that we give Orakisa’s official approval to whatever plan our allies suggest.” He made an elegant gesture of deference to Captain Picard.
“Well said, Hara’el.” Ambassador Lelys was the tender-petalled flower once more. Her approving smile sent the younger male into a new attack of agitation, which she ignored. “I concur. Legate Valdor, will you join with us?” “I will not add my voice until I have heard what their plan might be,” aldor snarled.
“We have been given an open invitation to visit Ne’elat,” Captain