"Yeah, I guess. All right, let me know when you set things up with Kalavak."

"Of course. Thank you, Madam President."

Chapter Twenty.

YOU KNOW, Ozla Graniv thought, if I hadn't bothered interviewing Tawna, I'd be back in Paris by now, listening to Kant be snide, filing stories, and generally being happy.

Instead, she was sitting naked on a crate, in a dank underground room on Deneva that smelled like avro dung, with two very large Balduks standing in front of her, aiming disruptor pistols at her head.

They'd been sitting there for about half an hour, ever since the two Balduks had shown up unannounced at her hotel room while she'd been showering. Showing no consideration for-or interest in-her nudity, they'd grabbed her and hauled her to a building on the outskirts of Down-river. Tellingly, no one had batted an eyelash at them.

But then, Ozla had done an expose on the Orion Syndicate, so she knew that Ihazs, Deneva's local Syndicate boss, controlled dozens of interests on Deneva, and that everyone knew not to mess with his two Balduk bodyguards, even if-especially if-they were carrying a naked Trill reporter through a hotel lobby.

I guess I should be grateful that these two are just threatening me. They were content to stand facing her, brandishing their weapons, but never speaking. They didn't sit, either, though there were plenty of crates in the room besides the one she occupied. The room's illumination was dim, provided only by a weak overhead light, so her exact count of the number of crates was approximate at best, though she did try to count all of them by way of distracting herself.

Ozla's estimate of the pa.s.sage of time was also approximate, but she was pretty sure they had gotten close to forty-five minutes by the time a door opened to reveal a slim Takaran. "Well, well, well," Ihazs said. "If it isn't the infamous Ozla Graniv. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh."

The Balduks laughed at the bad pun.

"And very nice flesh it is-for a Trill, my dear, you are very attractive. If not for those spots and your unfortunate skin tone, you'd make a delectable Takaran. I take it my guards have treated you well?"

"Depends on whether you define grabbing me from the shower as 'well.' "

"Yes, I do apologize for that," Ihazs said with an expansive gesture. "You needn't worry, though. These two have been genetically modified to have no s.e.x drive. It's handy when they're asked to guard Orion women."

Ozla smiled. "I'd point out that it's illegal to perform genetic modifications on Federation citizens-but then, it's also illegal to kidnap people."

"Very true." Ihazs took a seat on another crate. "You've been quite busy since you arrived on Deneva five weeks ago. Asking all sorts of questions. The last time you were asking questions about the Syndicate, of course, the end result was that lovely series of articles of yours. By the way, I wanted to thank you for those."

That took Ozla aback. "Thank me?"

"Yes. It provided a road map to several hull breaches on our ship, as it were." Ihazs waved his arms back and forth across his chest. "We were able to tighten up the organization and get rid of some people who were no longer of use to us-all the while providing the forces of law and order with some handy scapegoats whom we didn't want around anymore anyhow. There was a short-term falloff, of course, but that's to be expected. The price of doing business, and all that." He indicated her with his hand. "And besides all that, it was a most excellent piece of reporting."

Ozla said nothing, though she did contemplate whether or not Ihazs would be able to talk if someone tied his hands.

"And now you're looking into some merchandise that we moved to Tezwa."

"What makes you think that?" Ozla asked with a smile.

Ihazs's polite smile fell. "Do not play stupid with me, Ms. Graniv. It makes me angry, and when I get angry, my guards shoot things. You spoke with Yntral, you spoke with Fiske, you spoke with Tanaa-and brava for being able to hold your breath while being in the same room with him, by the way-you spoke with T'l'u'r'w'w'q'a, and you spoke with Argenziano."

Ozla had expected that one or two of her conversations would get back to Ihazs. She was distressed at the fact that all but one of them had.

Spreading his arms, Ihazs said, "I don't know what they told you, and frankly, I don't care, because I'm about to give you something."

Blinking, Ozla said, "I beg your pardon?"

"Your presence on Deneva, Ms. Graniv, can only result in one of three things. One is that you continue your questioning, giving you the opportunity to expose more about the Syndicate. We've been dealt several severe blows of late, and I do not wish to add to them."

Ozla had heard rumors that the death of a boss named Malic four years earlier had resulted in some problems for the Syndicate, but nothing that she had been able to verify. She wondered if that was what Ihazs was referring to.

Gesticulating as much as ever, Ihazs continued. "The second is that I have you killed. That causes more problems for me, however, as you are a prominent reporter who has already written one expose of the Syndicate, and who went on from there to being a reporter at the Palais de la Concorde on Earth. You're high-profile, and high-profile deaths tend to bring out law enforcement. Whatever we gain by your death we lose by the subsequent legal scrutiny." Pointing at her again, he said, "Which brings us to option number three. I will tell you what you want to know-or, perhaps, verify what you've already discovered-and then you go on your merry way. Yes, the Syndicate provided the nadion-pulse cannons to Tezwa."

"That much has been public record."

"Yes," Ihazs said with a smile, "but not where we got those cannons. You see, Ms. Graniv, the person who commissioned me to have those cannons delivered some eight years ago was a gentleman named Nelino Quafina, who, at the time the deal was consummated, had just been appointed the secretary of military intelligence by newly elected President Min Zife."

Ozla said nothing, refused to betray any emotion. Shortly after talking to Tawna, she had gone to Olorun Meboras's widow, Yalno. She had already known about her husband's infidelity but had said nothing, in part because she'd wanted to get on with her life, in part because of the good work Tawna was doing with the orphans of Alkam-Zar, who had enough problems without scandal falling down on their benefactor's head. However, Yalno had been more than happy to let Ozla read her husband's diaries, which verified his "pillow talk" with Tawna: As far as the major knew, the Federation had provided weaponry that would allow Tezwa to defend itself against exterior aggression, whether it be the Dominion or the Klingons.

From there, the trail had led her back to Deneva, mostly thanks to the information in Meboras's diaries, which Yalno had let her keep, combined with Ozla's own knowledge of the Orion Syndicate. Most of the sources of her expose hadn't been mentioned in her articles, and Ihazs's earlier words confirmed that they hadn't found all her sources, since the people who'd been arrested had not been the ones who had given up information to Ozla.

"Now then, here is what I want in exchange for providing you with this information." Ihazs started counting off items on his thin fingers. "One, I will let you go free on the condition that you are off Deneva as fast as you can get dressed, pack, and secure a flight off-planet. Two, you do not reveal this particular piece of information unless you can confirm it from another source." Now his tone changed from one of false politeness to very real menace. "If you do so, I will have you killed, and d.a.m.n the consequences."

Ozla swallowed, then cursed herself for betraying that kind of weakness. "Anything else?"

"Remember those setbacks I mentioned? One of them was the resignation of President Zife. While I never dealt with the esteemed leader himself, of course, I did quite a bit of business with Secretary Quafina. He was one of my best clients, in fact. With Zife out of power-and, I might add, before I was able to receive the final payment for our last shipment to Tezwa-I no longer have that client. When that happened, I took steps to discover who, precisely, was responsible for the removal of President Zife from power."

"n.o.body removed him, he resigned." Ozla was starting to see why Zife had taken so radical a step, if he had been involved with this....

Now Ihazs laughed, which prompted the two bodyguards to do likewise. "No no no, my dear Ms. Graniv, it's not that simple. You see, there was no reason for the truth of our little arrangement to become public. If anyone in Zife's office talked, it would mean war between the Federation and the Klingons, plus a scandal on Zife's head, since he knew about the cannons and didn't tell Starfleet or the Klingon Defense Force. If anyone in my organization talked-well, I believe I already outlined the consequences of free talk inside the Syndicate."

Ozla tried not to shiver, which was hard while sitting naked in a dank room while two thugs aimed energy weapons at her. "So who did find out?"

"The only other party involved who had no hidden agenda: Starfleet. One of their admirals, a human named William Ross, forced Zife to resign at phaserpoint."

Now Ozla's head was spinning. "That's ridiculous."

Ihazs laughed. "Of course it's ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as the president of the Federation secretly arming an independent world with powerful weapons and sending his own troops, as well as troops from an allied nation, to that world without telling them that those weapons were in place and covering it up afterward." Opening his arms wide, he repeated, "Ridiculous."

The room was silent for a moment. Ozla's rear end was starting to ache from sitting exposed on the crate. She was sure she was going to catch something from being in this room.

Ihazs then stood up. "That is all. My guards will escort you back to your hotel. You have been given the terms. If you follow those terms, you will be able to write quite a story. If you don't follow those terms, you'll be dead less than twenty-four hours after you violate them." He walked toward the door, stopped, and turned around. "You really are quite lovely. A pity about all those spots."

Then he left.

If I didn't need a shower before, I do now, Ozla thought as the Balduks grabbed her by each arm and started to carry her forcibly up the stairs. This time she didn't resist, figuring it would just be easier this way.

I shouldn't have bothered interviewing Tawna....

"Aleph, what's happening here?"

Smiling at Ashante from across the table in the dining hall on the second floor of the Palais, the chief aide to Councillor Nea of Bolarus said, "I don't know what you're talking about, Ashante."

Ashante resisted the urge to throw her salami sandwich in Aleph's face. "Don't play games, I'm not in the mood."

The smile dropped. "Neither am I." Aleph took a bit of her grakizh salad. "How long are we supposed to keep pouring water into a sinking boat? Carda.s.sia's a lost cause."

"So what, we should just let the Carda.s.sian government fall apart?"

"One could make the argument that it already has."

Biting down on her sandwich, Ashante paused to chew, swallow, and collect her thoughts. "Yeah, okay, you can make that argument. But you know how I'd argue back? With facts. Fact number one: The last time the Carda.s.sian government fell apart, they had a big revolution, followed two seconds later by a Klingon invasion and over a year's worth of war against them. Fact number two: They were so demoralized by this that they jumped into the waiting arms of the Dominion. Fact number three: The only reason the war happened was because the Dominion had that foothold in the Alpha Quadrant. Do we really want to tempt the odds on history repeating itself?"

Aleph gnawed on one of the yellow leaves of her salad. After a moment, she said, "Look, Nea's never been hot on aid to Carda.s.sia in the first place. It's a security risk. Pirates have been raiding the aid ships-if anything, that's gotten worse."

"What about the security risk of not helping them? I can guarantee that as soon as we stop helping, they'll close their borders. Then we won't know what's happening on Carda.s.sia Prime until it's too late. Remember what happened the last time- "

Waving her arms back and forth, Aleph said, "Yes, I heard you the first time." She let out a breath.

Ashante had saved the biggest for last. "The president's prepared to throw her support behind Nea's infrastructure bill."

Aleph shot Ashante a suspicious look. "The president's come out against it."

"No, she hasn't."

"She hinted at it very strongly in the speech she gave to the Gatilili Society."

"Hints aren't commitments. What I'm giving you now is one. If Nea votes for aid, President Bacco will endorse infrastructure at next week's session."

"Why next week's?"

"Because this week is pretty crowded, don't you think?"

Aleph smiled again. "And you want to make sure she keeps her end-and to make sure that little promise can also bring in Sanaht, Corvix, Beltane, and Nerramibus."

"If that's possible, I think we'd all be very happy." Ashante covered a large grin with a sip of her Altair water.

"What is it you want?"

Dogayn had sat in Je'er's office dozens of times as a fellow councillor aide. This was hir first time doing so when s/he was a deputy COS. S/he attributed hir new position to Je'er's reduced enthusiasm for having hir in the office today.

"Doh, I have a lot of work to do, and I- "

"Come on, Je'er, Nitram's never given a targ's a.s.s about aid to Carda.s.sia. Why's he got the urge to kill it now?"

"He doesn't."

That surprised Dogayn. "He doesn't?"

"No. But he does have the urge to grant the Falric- "

"Oh no," Dogayn said with a wince.

"To grant the Falric- "

"It's not gonna happen," Dogayn said, not letting Je'er finish her sentence.

Je'er was, however, determined. "To grant the Falric Inst.i.tute's study on demiurgical phenomena."

"It's a crackpot study."

Frowning, Je'er said, "I don't know what that means."

"It's a human word, it means the notion's insane."

The folds of Je'er's skin tightened. "Why, Doh, I'm shocked that you would say such a thing about a Federation councillor."

Dogayn rolled hir eyes. "Don't even try that, Je'er, you and I have said worse in our day."

"In the old days, when we were equals. Now we're not, and you're not getting anything unless the president supports the Falric Inst.i.tute grant."

"She's never gonna do that. She's come out against it."

Je'er looked down at her workstation and started studying whatever was on its screen with great interest. "Then I guess you don't want Carda.s.sian aid that badly, do you?"

Dogayn sighed and got up from Je'er's guest chair. "You're no fun anymore, you know that?"

"You switched sides, Doh," Je'er said without looking up from her workstation.

Throwing up hir hands, Dogayn cried, "No, dammit, I didn't 'switch' anything. We're on the same side, I'm just on a different part of it. This isn't about 'sides,' anyhow-it's not a game, it's government. We're supposed to serve the people, not- "

Now Je'er looked up. "The people of Bre'el IV would be best served by allowing the Falric Inst.i.tute to study demiurgical phenomena."

"I gotta tell you, Je'er-I don't even know what that means."

"Then you've got no business calling it insane. Now get out of my office, please, I have real work to do."

Dogayn stared at a woman s/he would have counted as a friend not a day earlier. h.e.l.l, not an hour earlier.

Shaking hir head, s/he departed the office without a word.

"It's not gonna work."

At Dogayn's words, Esperanza looked up in annoyance at hir and Ashante. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We couldn't turn enough people," Ashante said. "We've committed to Nea's infrastructure bill, but it wasn't enough."

Appalled, Esperanza said, "Tell me that wasn't all you offered?"

"That's all anyone took," Ashante said. "A couple people bought a general plea of sanity without concessions."

"Nice to know common sense occasionally prevails." Esperanza got up and walked over to her replicator to get an iced tea. "You guys want anything?"