“We long ago accepted that New Anglesey and the Federation have grown apart,” Ying said. “Maybe you should do the same, Captain.”
Desai noticed Sgouros watching her, and she decided to try a different tack. “I couldn’t help but notice as we traveled through town that everyone in New Anglesey walks around armed. Is that one of the freedoms you believe you have too little of?”
“Newly colonized planets are dangerous, Captain,” Sgouros answered. “Surely that’ssomething Starfleet needs no help understanding? Especially given the events of this week.”
“Because Commander Miller left the safety of the settlement by himself?”
“Yes, but let’s be clear about this,” Sgouros said. “We don’t carry weapons to make a political statement. We have no shortage of dangerous predators on Kadru, and we’ve had to adjust our everyday behavior to fit that reality. We can’t even use communicators safely outside the town perimeter, because for some reason the sound of electronically filtered voices attracts the predators.”
“The bottom line,” Ying said, “is that we’re playing the hand we’ve been dealt. We’re big believers in self-reliance.”
“I actually have no trouble believing that, Doctor,” Desai said, “given New Anglesey’s abrupt shift toward isolationism.”
“As I mentioned earlier,” Ying said, reaching for her lemonade, “there’s a great deal we wanted to get away from.”
“It didn’t start out that way, though, did it? Back when the Bombayassisted you and your people in establishing this settlement, you weren’t motivated by the desire to get away, but by a passion to explore a new and biologically diverse world. Then, for no reason you were willing to explain, you started keeping Starfleet at a distance. Captain Gannon was quite distraught about it. She thought you were her friend.” Ying seemed taken by surprise at the mention of Gannon, and suddenly seemed uncomfortable. “So what changed?”
“Maybe you should ask the colonists on Gamma Tauri Four,” said Sgouros.
Desai nodded. “I did consider that the destruction of the New Boulder colony might be the reason for your sudden withdrawal, but the chronology doesn’t line up. New Anglesey went independent six months before the incident at Gamma Tauri.”
Ying set down her glass and leaned forward. “Then call it validation of our decision—the most recent in a long history of so-called ‘incidents’ where Starfleet failed the colonies it was supposed to be protecting—Tarsus Four, Azha-R7a, Ingraham B, Deneva, Omicron Ceti Three, Cestus Three, Janus Six, New Paris—do I really need to go on, Captain? Oh, yes, I know: some of those settlements were actually savedby Starfleet intervention, but you couldn’t actually protectany of them, could you?”
Desai said nothing. Everything she feared Ying might say had been heaped at her feet.
And still Ying wasn’t done. “Twenty years ago on Tarsus Four, the system failed spectacularly. When famine threatened the colony, Starfleet sent ships to help, but they didn’t get there before the colony’s warped leadership exterminated half the population in order to save the other half. Our entire colonial system has been paying for that crime ever since. Each new crisis has led to stricter laws, tougher regulations, tighter controls, forced relocations, and less freedom to live as the colonists choose—which is the reason many of them became colonists in the first place!
“So let me say it as plainly as I can, Captain. If Starfleet abandons this sector, New Anglesey is prepared to stand on its own. My people won’t be pressured into leaving Kadru by anyone.”
“Is that why Aole Miller died?” Desai asked.
Sgouros frowned. “Exactly what are you implying, Captain?”
Desai looked at her. “I’m on Kadru to investigate the death of a Starfleet officer. By the governor’s own statements, her feelings toward Starfleet represent those of her constituents. I need to know if some of them would resent Miller’s presence here—and his purpose—enough to do something about it.”
Ying rose slowly to her feet. “You want to know if one of my people was capable of murdering Aole?”
“That’s exactly what I want to know.”
“Then this is my answer: you and your doctor have twenty-four hours to complete your investigation and get the hell off this planet.”
6
2259
“. . . Unfortunately, Captain Reyes, this matter is beyond your authority,”Admiral Telles Vindeilin said from the briefing room monitor, the Denobulan’s usually genial manner taking a back seat to her grim news. “You’re to take no action while the Federation Council tries to resolve the situation diplomatically.Dauntless is ordered to withdraw to the edge of the Azha system, escorted by theChech’Iw. I know that adds insult to injury, Diego, but it was the only way the Klingon ambassador would even consider meeting with the Federation Council about this. Starfleet Command wants you to remain in the vicinity and to continue monitoring the situation as best you can. Keep me updated, and I’ll advise you of any changes on this end. Vindeilin out.”
Reyes, Fisher knew, had already sat through the recording once. He spent the replay watching the faces of his gathered senior officers, as well as that of their guest, Philippe Latour, for their reactions. No one looked happy.
As silence settled over the circular room, Reyes tapped the comm on the tabletop’s computer interface. “Reyes to bridge.”
“Jordan here, sir.”“Mister Jordan, I believe the Chech’Iwis waiting to hear from us. Please inform them we’ll be ready to get under way at one-quarter impulse in ten minutes. You may then proceed at your discretion to a position thirty astronomical units from Azha.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Reyes out.”
“That’s it, then,” Brzezinski said.
“The hell it is,” said the captain.
“Sir, Starfleet Command—”
“We may not be able to engage the Klingons directly,” Reyes said, “but I’m not about to simply do nothing. Think, people! Let’s break it down: an explosion of indeterminate origin on Azha-R7a forces the Arkenites to send out an SOS, just when the Chech’Iwwas close enough to be the first responder. Does that strike anyone else here as even remotely suspicious?”
“It can’t be a coincidence,” Sadler agreed. “And since when do the Klingons come to the aid of Federation citizens in distress?”
“It’s unlike them,” Gannon admitted, “but not unprecedented, as long as it suited their purposes. The real question is, what have they achieved by answering the Arkenites’ call for help?”
“It’s a diplomatic knife between the ribs,” Shey said. “Think about it, the Klingons have acquired new territory and absorbed its population without firing a shot, essentially beating us at our own game. When word of this gets out, and it will, the Federation will be humiliated. Its ability to protect its members and holdings will be cast into doubt. If Gorkon did engineer all this, he knew exactly how to hit us.”
“Commander Gannon,” Reyes said, “what’s your read on Gorkon?”
“Current leader of the House of Makok and a thirty-year veteran of the Klingon Defense Force,” Gannon recited. “Thought to be a favorite of Chancellor Sturka, who is rumored to be grooming him for the High Council. Widely regarded as a brilliant strategist and one of the foremost military minds in the Empire. As commander of his current ship, the Chech’Iw,he’s been directly involved in sixteen skirmishes with Federation forces. Five of those involved the Dauntless.His wife and three of his sons are deceased. He has two surviving children, a twenty-one-year-old son in the KDF, and a daughter, six. As a grand master of klin zha—”