She watched him go, and as he did, it occurred to Desai that Zeke’s life was all about looking after people. And not just his patients; she had long suspected he had delayed his overdue and well-deserved retirement just so he could be there for Diego, and when that was no longer possible, he had honored the obligation he’d felt he owed his oldest friend by staying on to look after the woman Diego loved.
But who looked after Fisher?
“To absent friends,” said Atish Khatami as she raised her water glass. The other five officers at the table, their own small glasses filled with a ruby port, mirrored the captain’s gesture as they echoed her toast. The sweet after-dinner wine proved to be a delightful follow-up to the baked pears Endeavour’s master chef served up for dessert, the hot caramelized fruit steaming from crystal bowls. Desai found it easier to lose herself in the dish than to take part in the current topic of conversation.
The captain’s mess was impressive. Desai had expected to dine in a repurposed briefing room or something similar. This was nothing so austere, with soft recessed lighting, warm colors, real wooden furniture, and art on the walls. Apparently every Constitution-class starship had a small percentage of discretionary space, subject to the preferences of the commanding officer. Khatami’s immediate predecessor, the late Captain Zhao Sheng—whose portrait hung on the wall behind Khatami next to that of Endeavour’s first commander, Captain Mary-Anne Rice—had ripped out the tennis court that had been here when he first took command and replaced it with one for racquetball. In the process, Zhao had converted the leftover space into a formal dining room. Bersh glov Mog, Khatami’s Tellarite chief engineer, claimed to have it on good authority that at least one of Endeavour’s sister ships had a bowling alley, but CMO Anthony Leone refused to believe it.
From there, the evening went downhill as far as Desai was concerned. It was impossible for the group not to talk about the recently resurfaced Reyes, and Desai patiently endured speculations from First Officer Stano about the likelihood of Reyes’s eventual return to Federation custody.
The conversation eventually moved on to the sad subject of Aole Miller, and then more generally to the challenge of safeguarding planetary colonies, which everyone agreed was difficult even in the best of circumstances.
At length, Khatami said, “May I ask how your research into New Anglesey is progressing, Captain Desai?”
Desai took a sip of her port while she considered how to answer. “It’s all a little strange,” she finally admitted. “I’ve been wading through more background material than I know what to do with, yet nowhere is there any explanation for why things went south between New Anglesey and the Federation. Nobody seems to understand why they became so inflexibly isolationist.”
“Aole never figured that out?” Fisher asked.
“If he did, it isn’t in the files. Maybe he hoped to find out by going there in person, effect a reconciliation even while he tried to persuade them of the need to evacuate.”
Fisher chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Nor would I. I’ve seen the man work. He wasn’t always successful at solving every problem, but he never encountered one he didn’t feel he could talk his way through.”
“What is it about this planet that these people are clinging to?” Doctor Leone asked.
“My understanding,” Khatami said, “is that the scientists who founded New Anglesey were granted their colonial charter primarily in order to conduct research on the planet’s ecosystem.”
“That’s it?” Leone scoffed and consumed the last of his port.
“Then why are they being so obstinate?” Stano asked.
“That’s hard to say,” Desai replied. “But in my experience, there are essentially two kinds of colonists: those who believe they can find greater prosperity in the service of Federation expansion, and those who believe they can find prosperity living independently, free from what they consider the too restrictive core worlds of the UFP, so they can build a world better than the ones they left behind. The former expects Federation support and Starfleet protection. The latter expects the same thing—they just want it on their terms.
“New Anglesey falls into the latter camp. It’s almost a case study in a growing trend among the outer colonies, more and more of which believe that the Federation has too much control over their lives.”
Leone shook his head. “Yeah, until the Klingons decide they want the planet. Then suddenly the Federation can’t do enough.”
“That’s a rather ungenerous position, don’t you think?” Mog said.
“It may have escaped your notice, Mog, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for ingrates who think they can have it both ways.”
“Imagine my shock,” Mog said.
Leone pressed on. “It’s all well and good to think you have better answers than the prevailing authority. But that’s what elections are for. Chucking reason out the airlock and then taking pride in the act is just a stupid way to make a point.”
“To some colonists,” Desai said, “what you call ‘chucking reason’ is actually a narrowing of focus on fundamental issues that they feel aren’t getting enough attention.”
“In other words, provincial thinking,” Leone countered. “They’re so caught up in their own interests, they don’t see the big picture.”
“And they would probably argue that they are too frequently overlooked in the big picture,” Desai said.
“Respectfully, Captain,” Leone said, “if that were true, you and Doctor Fisher wouldn’t be on your way to New Anglesey, and Commander Miller would still be safely back on Vanguard. Instead, he gave his life trying to help those people. And still they don’t trust us!”
“Why is that, Captain?” Stano asked Desai. “Clearly the New Anglesey settlers once trusted Starfleet enough to help get their colony up and running. What went wrong?”
Desai sighed. “That’s a puzzle I’ve been trying to solve for the last thirty-six hours, Commander.”
“Are you at liberty to share your suspicions?”
And there it is: the opening.“To be honest . . . with so little time until Zeke and I make planetfall, it might be helpful if I could discuss them,” Desai admitted. “I’m just not sure it would be prudent.”
“Why would it be imprudent?” Khatami asked, her brow furrowing.
“Because you all were there when everything changed,” Desai said. “This isn’t something isolated to New Anglesey. What’s happening on Kadru is symptomatic of something bigger: a chasm of suspicion and mistrust that’s grown only deeper in the last couple of years, because of events right here in the Taurus Reach.”
Her listeners stared at her, their startled faces hardening into masks of anger and disbelief. Desai wasn’t surprised; this was a sensitive subject to broach with this group. Two years after the fact, the disaster at Gamma Tauri IV had left livid scars on every Starfleet officer assigned to the Taurus Reach. But for the captain and crew of Endeavour,the incident remained an open wound. This was, after all, the ship charged with implementing, at Diego Reyes’s command, General Order 24: the legally sanctioned destruction of that colony world in an attempt to contain the threat of the Shedai, who were in the process of slaughtering every sentient being on the planet.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Stano whispered into the shocked silence. “Do you have any idea what we—”
“As you were, Kate,” Khatami said. “Captain Desai has an unenviable task to accomplish in a very short time, the nature of which makes it hardly surprising she would need to consider uncomfortable questions.”
“Thank you for understanding, Captain,” Desai began.
“However,” Khatami continued, her voice sharpening, “while I have no doubt the New Anglese may have concerns about the impossible choices Starfleet officers must sometimes face, and act upon, the service has done a great deal to protect and assist the Federation’s colonies over the last hundred years, and that good work continues.”
Khatami wasn’t speaking in the abstract, Desai knew. She’d nearly lost her civilian husband and daughter last year, when the planet Deneva was overrun by neural parasites. Fortunately, a Starfleet crew had been able to end the threat and save the majority of the colonists. And that was hardly the only example of Khatami’s point: Desai was fully cognizant of Starfleet’s extensive record of assisting colony worlds in crisis.