What's Past_ The Future Begins (Book 2) - Michael Schuster [32]
“I’m not in a mood to listen, Admiral. I don’t think there’s anything you can tell me now that would make me change my mind about you.”
“Then it won’t hurt you if you listen to me, right? Last year, I was given a similar task to the one that Nechayev gave you, except that in my case it wasn’t an order, it was more of a friendly request.”
“That ‘autonomous agency’ you were tellin’ me about before, I suppose.”
“Indeed, yes. They needed somebody higher up in the Starfleet hierarchy to help place a mole in the Continuing Committee on Romulus. Because of my previous association with them, they thought of me. Just as I did that other time, I asked them to present me with all the documentation I needed to make up my mind. Scotty, I’m not one of those mindless fools with their finger constantly on the trigger who blindly follow orders, no matter how wrong those orders may be. However, if I can do something to save the Federation I love, then I’ll do it, and damn the bad conscience.”
Despite himself, Scotty was actually interested once more. Ross had…well, charisma, and besides, he’d heard rumors about that bilateral conference on Romulus last year that coincided with the ascension of Tal Shiar chairman Koval to the Committee.
“I have a relationship with Alynna that enables me to get her to tell me things she wouldn’t tell any other admiral, mostly because of the similarities of our professional lives. We met for lunch a few days ago, and she told me that you were a, and I quote, ‘real pain in my back end.’ Apparently, we both made use of the same tactic—pretending to have fallen ill quite suddenly.”
“An old trick, that was, and I really should have known better,” Scotty admitted, his logical self insisting that having a mole in the Continuing Committee was a tactical advantage, while his emotional self was jumping up and down, shouting that the ends did not justify the means, no matter how good one’s intentions were.
“Ah well, don’t chastise yourself because of it. The person I was forced to play that trick on also fell for it,” Ross said, “and he was not happy about it, not at all.
“If this was an ideal world, I would never have agreed to work with these people. You should know me well enough by now to believe me when I say this. I was idealistic once, when I was a raw cadet, but I soon realized that I had no reason to be that ‘daft,’ as you put it. The world was a bad—and a mad—place, and it still is. Yet the Dominion War is over now, the threats to the Federation reduced to a minimum, which is their only goal, you know. Keep the Federation safe, regardless of the cost.”
“And that is exactly the problem I’m havin’ with their actions. And Nechayev’s, for that matter.” As he spoke the words, something in Scotty’s mind clicked. “Wait a minute…is she working for them?”
“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you. There’s a reason why keeping the organization a secret is of the utmost importance. If they knew about me telling you this, they’d be rather angry, to put it mildly.”
Scotty had a wee bit of trouble digesting all the information Ross had heaped on him, and while the image of the war veteran was changing into something of a somewhat unpredictable top-level operative sometimes working on the wrong side of the law, he also had to admit that it made Ross somewhat more…well, truth be told, more of a person. Before, Ross had been flat, unremarkable, the perfect soldier, with an altogether incomprehensible affection toward Scotty. Now, however, he had faults, he had dubious motives, just like every other human in the galaxy.
Come to think of it, that affection toward him was still as incomprehensible as ever. What better time to ask Ross about it than now?
“I can’t say you’ve won me over, Admiral, but at the very least, you’ve given me somethin’ to think about.”
“I should hope so. Now, let me ask the obvious question: is there really a chance of you returning to active duty?”
Okay, that had not come all that unexpectedly. “I really can’t say. Give me time to think about it, about everythin’.