Chapter Twenty-Four.

KANT JOREL HAD MEETINGS with both Myk Bunkrep and Z4 Blue during the day, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything about what Ozla Graniv had told him that morning. This is something that needs to go right to Esperanza.

After his meeting with Z4-the details of which he now honestly could not recall-he went back to his office. Zhres said, "Esperanza called-she said she'll be back in half an hour, right after your briefing. And, ah- " Zhres hesitated.

Not even a little bit in the mood for the Andorian's nonsense, Jorel asked, "What?"

Zhres simply handed Jorel a padd. s.n.a.t.c.hing it angrily, he read the display. It informed him that Brek chim Glamok, reporter for the Tellarite News Service, had been declared missing and was presumed dead. This was a change from his status over the seven months since he'd disappeared after going to Kliradon, when he'd simply been missing. "Wonderful."

"The rest of the briefing's loaded on there, too."

"Fine."

Zhres's antennae wriggled in an appalling manner. "Are you all right, Jorel?"

"Never ask that question in my presence again, Zhres." Jorel turned on his heel and walked toward the holocom to start his late-afternoon briefing.

He began with various bits of information, the president's itinerary, what some members of the cabinet and council were doing, and then, finally, the news about Brek.

The room was fairly silent after that.

"That's it," Jorel said, not in the mood to take questions.

Predictably, he got one anyhow from T'Nira before he could deactivate the holocom. "Will the judiciary council's decision on the B-4 matter be made today or will there be more discussion?"

For that, Jorel had to check his padd. "All the testimony's been taken, all the witnesses-the witness, actually-has been questioned, and now they're deliberating."

"Is an estimate available for when the deliberations will be complete?"

"Probably some time before the twenty-fifth century starts."

Sovan then asked, "Is there any truth to the rumor that the president wants a summit with Chancellor Martok?"

"I don't respond to rumors, Sovan, you know that, so kindly stop asking me to comment on them. That's it."

This time, he did deactivate the holocom before any more questions could come. He couldn't stand any more reporters probing just now.

What if she's right?

He had tried to convince himself that Ozla's source, whoever or whatever it was, was wrong. That the Tezwan soldier whose diary she'd read had been mistaken. But the more he thought about it, the less he liked it.

"Esperanza's ready for you," Zhres said as he got back to his office. "You were a trifle terse in there."

"I'm getting reviews from you now? Zhres, in the last year, have I ever shown even the slightest indication that I find your opinion in any way relevant or interesting?"

"No."

"Learn something from that, would you please?" He handed Zhres the briefing padd, then went to the turbolift.

Esperanza Piniero was waiting for him in her office. She was studying something on her workstation intently. When he came in, she looked up and said, "Jorel, before I forget, next briefing, I need you to announce that we've come to an agreement with the Strata to act as intermediaries with the Trinni/ek. And if anyone asks about a summit again, don't deny it."

"I didn't deny it. I never comment on rumors, Esperanza, you know that."

Nodding, she said, "Yeah, I know, but the president's been trying to get the Klingons to agree to this ever since that Klorgat mess. Giving it a little bit of a higher profile might help things along a bit."

Jorel fixed her with an incredulous look. "You really think the Klingons are gonna give a d.a.m.n about more attention in the Federation press?"

"I'm not talking about the Klingons, I'm talking about our people. Some of the Diplomatic Corps are dragging their feet-I'd like to stomp on those feet a little."

"I love your imagery sometimes."

"Thanks."

"I was being sarcastic."

Esperanza smiled. "I could tell-mainly because you were awake. Zhres said you needed to talk to me about something?"

Jorel nodded and took a seat in Esperanza's guest chair. "Ozla Graniv came to see me this morning."

"She's back?"

"No, Esperanza, it was a convincing hologram. Yes, she's back, and she has a story that she will run unless we give her a good reason not to."

"What possible reason would we have not to run it?"

Esperanza's face never changed expression the entire time that Jorel was telling her what Ozla had told him. He hoped, he wished, he fervently prayed to the Prophets that she would laugh at him, that she would tell him the whole idea was ridiculous, that she would rea.s.sure him that there was nothing to worry about, that Ozla's source was just out-and-out wrong.

She did none of those things.

Instead, she let Jorel tell the entire story. Then she leaned back in her chair.

"h.e.l.l."

"Esperanza, you can't tell me- "

"That she can't run the story? I wish I could. Dammit, this will- " She slammed a hand on the desk. "Dammit!"

"Esperanza- "

"I was hoping-I was so so so much hoping-that it wouldn't come to this. That that Zakdorn b.a.s.t.a.r.d actually covered his tracks well enough that this wouldn't come up." She laughed bitterly. "And that the Syndicate thing was a cover story. Guess not. G.o.d, I can't believe they actually used the Syndicate to funnel those weapons. I mean, how stupid- "

Jorel's stomach twisted in his gut. Bile started to rise, leaving a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. "Esperanza, you can't tell me that she's right?"

"I have to, Jorel. She is. Zife and Azernal and Quafina armed Tezwa behind the backs of the Federation Council and the Klingon Empire. When Kinchawn went nuts, Zife sent the Enterprise in to escort the Klingon fleet and didn't tell them about the cannons. And when Starfleet found out where the cannons came from, they forced the three of them to resign."

"They- " Jorel stood up. He tugged on his earring, the pain shooting through his lobe a reminder that he wasn't dreaming. "How could they do that?"

"I don't pretend to know what the previous- "

Jorel waved his hand back and forth. "No, not the president and Koll and that twerpy little Antedean, I'm talking about Starfleet. I'm talking about Ross. How could he-I mean, Starfleet's supposed to fight for what the Federation stands for, and they do this?"

"He didn't have a choice."

"Oh, come off it! Don't give me that military garbage, Esperanza, you're not in Starfleet anymore, you don't have to defend them."

"What else were they supposed to do?" she asked with a calm that just infuriated Jorel more. "Give me some alternatives."

"They didn't have to do anything!"

"So they should let a president who was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Starfleet officers, thousands more Klingon warriors, and millions of Tezwans just go right on with what he was doing?"

That brought Jorel up short. He knew that going public with the knowledge wouldn't have worked. The Klingons would have demanded retribution. At best, they would have had to turn Zife over to face trial in a Klingon court, which would have resulted in his execution. That was not something the Federation could have allowed to happen to one of their leaders, and it would have damaged Klingon-Federation relations at a time when the alliance had already been pretty frayed. "So Starfleet engages in a coup d'etat, and they get away with it?"

"First of all, it wasn't a coup d'etat-in order for that to be the case, they'd have had to take over the government. They stopped a war, got a criminal off the fifteenth floor, and allowed the const.i.tutional process to play out as spelled out in the Articles of the Federation. President Bacco was elected, not appointed."

Jorel sat back down. "What am I supposed to tell Ozla?"

Esperanza sighed. "Remind her of the consequences of her going public with this."

"She already knows that. She's going to run it anyway. And honestly, I don't blame her. h.e.l.l, right now, I'm tempted to encourage her to run it."

Speaking as if Jorel hadn't said anything, Esperanza said, "If that doesn't work, see what you can offer her in exchange. Reporters often have information they won't print because of its volatile nature. If she does understand the consequences like you said-maybe she'll trade it for something else."

"Like what?"

"Ask her."

Jorel knew Esperanza was right. Not all reporters were idiots, though it certainly seemed that way to Jorel half the time, and Ozla in particular wasn't. She wouldn't send the Federation into a war with the Klingons and tarnish the office of the president so readily, especially if she could use it to get something else.

However, there was one other concern. "What if there isn't anything she wants-or if it's something we can't give her?"

"Then she runs the story and we face the consequences. Freedom of the press means just that-they're free to do what they want. We can give them incentives not to say something in particular, but it's their choice to accept or decline them. We cannot get into the business of exerting undue influence, or we stop being the Federation and become-I don't know, something else, but not this." She looked Jorel right in the eye. "Not what so many people died for."

Jorel suddenly shivered.

Frowning, Esperanza asked, "What?"

"Nothing, I was just- " He shook his head. "About twenty years ago on Bajor, I helped run an underground newsfeed. We used to piggyback on the official Carda.s.sian channels and send out bits of news about the resistance and messages of hope and prayer and citations of specific instances of gross oppression."

Esperanza chuckled mirthlessly. "Wasn't the entire occupation gross oppression?"

Rolling his eyes, Jorel said, "The more extreme examples. Can I tell my story please?"

"Sure." Esperanza made a "go-ahead" gesture.

"One time, we heard that the resistance was targeting a food storage unit, because the Carda.s.sians were using it as a weapons depot as well. They probably figured that terrorists wouldn't target food. We ran one of our feeds and talked about how stupid the Carda.s.sians were for thinking the resistance was so easy to manipulate and how those weapons weren't long for the world." Jorel closed his eyes. He hadn't thought about this in years, and he had no great desire to think about it now, but Ozla's demand, as well as Esperanza's confirmation of his worst fears, brought it slamming back to the front of his brain. "We thought we were just so d.a.m.n brilliant, exposing the Carda.s.sians' feeble attempt at subterfuge. Unfortunately, all we succeeded in doing was letting the Carda.s.sians know that the depot would be attacked by the resistance."

Esperanza gave him a sympathetic look. "They were defeated?"

Snorting, Jorel said, " 'Defeated' doesn't begin to cover it. They were ma.s.sacred. And they wouldn't have been if we..." He trailed off.

"You should tell Ozla that story," Esperanza said in a softer voice than Jorel had ever heard her use.

Jorel nodded twice and got up. "All right. I'll talk to her and get back to you."

"Good. Oh, one other thing-I just got word when I got back, judiciary found in favor of B-4."

Smirking, Jorel said, "So the android gets the right to choose not to get taken apart. Lucky him."

"Yup. Let me know what Ozla says."

Jorel nodded again and left.

"You know, the colors in this room are just soooooooooooo pretty."

"Ozla, what's the matter with you?"

Looking over at the viewer that hung on the wall of her apartment on Earth, Ozla Graniv saw the blurry face of her editor. "Sorry, Farik, wuzzat?"

"I said, what's the matter with you?"

"Oh." Somehow she had managed to sit up on her couch, but the effort was proving to be too much, and she fell back down into a supine position. "I'm drunk."

"Why are you drunk?"

"'Cause I've imbibed a substantial 'mount of alcohol."

"No, I mean, why've you been- "

"'Cause I lied, Farik! Lied like a lyin' stinkin' liar. 'M a reporter, 'm not s'posed t'lie, but there I was! Lyin' like a lyin' liar lyin' at Kant Jorel."

"Ozla- "

She rolled onto her side and picked up the Saurian brandy bottle, only to discover that it was empty. Next to it, so was the Orion whiskey-a going-away present from Ihazs, amazingly enough, that had been waiting for her when the Balduks had hauled her back to her hotel-and the Terran scotch. "See, it's this story I've got."

"The one you won't tell me about."

"Right, 'at's the one. See, I tol' Kant I had a source. Which was a big ol' lie, 'cause I ain't got a source. I mean, I got a source, but's a deep-background source." She had decided on her way from Deneva to Earth that she would not tell Farik that Ihazs had threatened to kill her if she revealed his info without a corroborating source. Editors tended to get overprotective and annoying when they thought their reporters' lives were in danger, so she decided that, as far as Farik was concerned, her source on the Zife/Tezwa story was deep background: could be used for background information, but not be quoted on the record. "So'f they don' confirm it, I ain't gotnee story. So I lied."

"To somebody who's lied to you dozens of times in the last two years alone."

"S'not the point!"

"Ozla, why did you call me, exactly?"

To her surprise-well, not total surprise, given how drunk she was-Ozla had no idea what the answer to that question was. "Don't 'member."