"What else were they supposed to say?" Sephara asked verbally. "All they did was say 'I don't know' fifteen different ways. Honestly, if they were telepaths, the conversation would've been over five minutes sooner and wasted a lot less of everyone's time and energy."

Velisa was still talking. "Six weeks ago, President Bacco railed into the rest of the Federation Council over the Federation's trade agreement with Aligar for kellinite. She urged the council to vote to discontinue the agreement, which is up for renewal. Here's an excerpt from the speech, made in an open session of the full council."

The image switched to that of the Federation Council Chambers, which Sephara knew was in a city called Paris, though she couldn't remember what the name of the building was. I hope that isn't on a quiz.

"It probably will be," Gira said snidely.

Sephara stuck her tongue out at her roommate.

At the center of the image was a white-haired human woman, who was standing at a podium emblazoned with the symbol of the Federation. Some of the councillors were visible on either side-Sephara picked out a Bajoran, an Andorian, a Tellarite, and a Zakdorn-though most of the council seats were not visible.

"Over ninety percent of Aligar's population work for no compensation of any kind, are given no freedoms of any kind, have no liberties of any kind. They have no choice in their lives, no say in their government, no voice to be heard. And the work they do is backbreaking and humiliating. They don't have any proper medical care-workers who are injured are discarded and left to die, with new people sent in to take their place. All of Aligar's wealth is concentrated in the ten percent of their population that does the least to earn it. Now that's how they run their world, and if they won't change their ways, there's not a lot we can do about it. But we can-we must - cease our support of it. During the Dominion War, we had trade agreements with several nations that we found distasteful, that we found repugnant: the Son'a, Aligar, Mordaliia. But the war's long over, and it is far past time that we allowed ourselves to support this sort of vicious oppression of almost an entire species. We cannot continue to call ourselves a society that values freedom for all sentient life, and then happily take kellinite from a world that doesn't consider its sentient life to even be sentient."

Velisa resumed, "Although her argument was enough to sway several swing votes on the council toward non-renewal, the effects of her speech to the council have been tremendous. The council has ground to a proverbial halt, as several orders of business proposed by the president's office have been slowed down. Councillor Quintor, is it true that President Bacco's-there's no other word for it-chiding of the council has resulted in this slowdown?"

"First of all," Quintor said in her annoying voice, "I would like to say that I voted against the initial trade agreement with Aligar and have voted against it every time the agreement came up for renewal. Antede has never had any kind of ownership of people in its history-in fact, our world was first introduced to the concept when we made contact with other worlds, and we always found it to be repugnant. Lack of any kind of slavery is a basic requirement for any world to be even considered for Federation membership, so the notion that we should trade with a nation that has a population that is ninety percent slaves is abhorrent."

"And yet, we continue to be allied with the Klingons," Atkinson said snidely, though Sephara had to concede that the reporter had a point.

"Yes, we do," Quintor said, "and I find that equally abhorrent. When the Klingons withdrew from the Khitomer Accords six years ago, there was a resolution for the Federation to remain signatories to the agreement, so that if the empire wanted to re-ally themselves with us, they could simply re-sign the treaty-as, in fact, they did a year and a half later. I voted against that, as well. I have always been against the Federation-Klingon alliance."

Before Atkinson could say anything else, Velisa said, "We're getting off-track, Councillor."

"Yes, of course, my apologies, Velisa. In any case, I disagree with your a.s.sertion that there's been any kind of 'slowdown.' We are carefully considering any legislation or appointments made by the president's office, as we always do. Such decisions do have far-reaching consequences."

Atkinson laughed. "Oh, come off it. Councillor Artrin was nominated for the judiciary council two months ago, as were Councillor Beltane for commerce and yourself for government oversight-with no movement in sight for the council to ratify any of them."

Quintor wiggled again. "I was honored to even be nominated for government oversight-but it is a position that requires careful consideration. As does judiciary."

"I would disagree with the councillor on the second point," the Vulcan woman said. "Councillor Artrin has an impeccable record, and has long been qualified for the judiciary council."

"So you do think the council is stonewalling President Bacco as a punishment?" Velisa asked.

"I would never presume to ascribe such motives to esteemed members of the Federation Council."

Sephara laughed at that. If this conversation had been telepathic, Sorlak would never have been able to get away with such a bald-faced lie. That reminded Sephara that Vulcans weren't supposed to lie-she wondered if that held true for Vulcan lawyers.

"Turn it off," Gira said.

"What?" Sephara asked, though she, of course, heard both Gira's words and the thoughts of disgust that prompted them.

"They're not saying anything interesting. I can't believe that we're required to watch this idiotic program."

Not wanting to get into an argument, Sephara turned it off, just as Atkinson started raving about something. It was easier to do that than to argue with Gira when she was being unreasonable-which was pretty much any time she was awake.

So what do you want to do now? Sephara asked.

To her shock, Gira also responded telepathically. Anything else, as long as it doesn't have to do with school.

Why don't we do that food shopping you never did?

Gira liked that idea, and the roommates got up to get food, the world of Federation politics forgotten until they would need it for cla.s.s.

Chapter Eight.

ESPERANZA PINIERO got off the turbolift on the fifteenth floor to see Sivak seated at his desk and none of the security guards present-which meant that Bacco wasn't in the office.

"Oh h.e.l.l, are they still in session?"

Sivak didn't look up from his workstation. "Were I to answer that in the negative, it would be a lie."

Sighing, Esperanza looked at the chronometer. The session had gone on for eight hours, four hours longer than expected. She knew that the new business had taken up three and three-quarters of those hours-most of that being the Reman situation, now that it had gone public-to be followed by voting. If it was taking this long, there was obviously some contentious discussion going on before the votes could actually be taken. They had hopes that the council would finally vote on Artrin, Quintor, and Beltane, but Esperanza was starting to think that that was a forlorn hope.

"Call me the instant she walks out of that turbolift, all right?"

"That is unlikely."

Esperanza frowned. "Why the h.e.l.l is that?"

Sivak looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. "There is no need to yell, Ms. Piniero. I merely consider it to be highly unlikely that you will be in your office to receive a call when the president comes off the turbolift."

Her mood already c.r.a.ppy, Esperanza found that Sivak's usual nonsense was fraying her last existing nerve ending. "And why is that?" she asked in a tight voice.

"Because seventeen-point-nine seconds ago, the session did end. President Bacco is on her way up now."

Esperanza counted to ten in English, Spanish, and Bajoran, then said, "Why didn't you just say that?"

As the turbolift doors opened to reveal four of the six bodyguards, who then went through the side doors to take up their positions at the other two entrances to the president's office, Sivak said, "I believe I just did."

"You do know that I can order the security guards to kill you and then just make up a reason, right?"

The eyebrow shot up again. "That is also unlikely."

A second turbolift door opened to reveal the other two guards and Nan Bacco. Esperanza could almost see the cloud over the president's head, which she did not take as a good sign.

"Sivak, find out what the score in the game was."

"Madam President, it was an exhibition game, I don't see the relevance- "

"Right now, Sivak, I couldn't give a tinker's d.a.m.n whether or not you see the nose in front of your face, much less the relevance of my request. I just spent eight hours with the council, which is about seven hours and fifty-nine minutes more than I was interested in spending, during which we accomplished about as much as a one-legged person at an a.s.s-kicking contest. I swear, there was more governing on Chalna today than there was here, and the Chalnoth are anarchists." She looked at Esperanza. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to know how the session went, but you pretty well answered that one, ma'am, thanks."

President Bacco snorted. "How the h.e.l.l did FNS find out about the Reman ship?"

"They're a news-gathering organization, ma'am. Honestly, the surprise is that n.o.body picked it up before now. And this is better, really-it'll be at 22 in a few days, so there'll only be a few days of speculating about what we'll do in response, instead of two months of it if it'd gone public right off the bat. Besides, the Remans' comm lines are still down, so we can honestly say we don't know what to expect."

"The hallmark of my presidency," Bacco muttered.

Sivak spoke up. "The Pike City Pioneers A-squad defeated their B-squad by a final result of eleven runs to ten."

The president looked disappointed. "It was an intrasquad game today?"

"Yes, ma'am. They will encounter the Palombo Sehlats tomorrow, and the Prairieview Green Sox the day following." Sivak looked up from his screen. "I was unaware that there was any legislation on Cestus III that required all munic.i.p.alities to begin with the letter P."

"Keep reading the schedule, you'll find Lakeside, Johnson City, New Chicago, Os-Oh, h.e.l.l, why am I arguing with you?"

"A question that torments us all, Madam President."

Esperanza smiled. The sport of baseball had been revived on Cestus III after falling out of favor on Earth in the twenty-first century. A league had been incorporated during Nan Bacco's first term as planetary governor, and she had been an avid follower of the Cestus Baseball League ever since. When the presidential campaign started, Bacco joked that she was considering dropping out when she realized that she'd be away from Cestus for the entire baseball season for at least four years. Exhibition season had just begun-games that actually mattered would commence in a month's time, when the president would be traveling home to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Opening Day. It was one stop on a goodwill tour to various Federation worlds, which had been deliberately timed to allow her to throw out the first pitch, something she'd done every year since the CBL started.

The president ignored Sivak's rebuke and asked, "You postponed the afternoon's meetings?"

"Yes, ma'am. The secretary of agriculture will return at 1800, the secretary of defense at 1815, the secretary of housing at 1830, and Mr. MacDougan at 1845."

Frowning, the president asked, "Why'm I meeting with Fred again?"

Sivak tapped a command onto his screen. "To discuss the address to the t.i.tan Shipbuilder's Guild tomorrow."

"Aligar's gonna be an issue there," Esperanza put in quickly before the president could object.

She objected anyhow. "We locked that speech two days ago."

"And then this morning, the guild officially denounced your suspension of trade with Aligar. I told Fred to rework the speech, and then I put him on your calendar-for 1400, originally."

"Dammit, is Aligar gonna bite me on my a.s.s for the rest of my term?" Before Esperanza could answer, the president waved toward the entrance to her office. "C'mon inside, I've been standing for eight hours and my feet are about ready to sue for separate maintenance. I need to sit and I need to abuse someone, and you've always been my favorite target for that."

"Ma'am, you know I serve at your pleasure, but I think sitting on me is taking that a bit too far. Or did you mean the abuse?"

They moved toward the door. "That abuse is gonna get physical if you don't watch it." She sighed. "Right now my pleasure is to yell at someone, and if I do it to the staff, it'll be on FNS by midnight. Every other d.a.m.n thing we do winds up there. Did you see ICL yesterday?"

"I thought Sorlak did well. And Quintor- "

"Quintor made an a.s.s of herself." President Bacco went around to the other side of her desk but didn't sit down. "And where the h.e.l.l does Admiral Wrongway, or whatever the h.e.l.l her name is, get off pontificating like that?"

"It's Janeway, ma'am," Esperanza said as she took up a position on the opposite side of the desk, "and everything she said was completely right. But all of it is conditional on what the Remans actually want, and we still don't know what that is."

"Speaking of that, has Spock made it out alive yet?"

Esperanza nodded. "He'll be here tomorrow."

"About d.a.m.n time-what took so long?"

"Flying around in Romulan s.p.a.ce is dangerous these days; the relief ships were late arriving because they had to take more circuitous routes. Since that dustup two months ago, we've had, what, six different firefights erupt?"

"Seven. I started reading over Abrik's reports again to keep myself from falling asleep during the council session."

That got Esperanza nervous. "Ma'am- "

"It was during Gleer's diatribe."

Esperanza's concerns abated. Bera chim Gleer, the councillor from Tellar, had a capacity for long-windedness that had to be heard to be believed. The shortest he'd ever held the floor during a council session was forty-five minutes, and that particular one was only abbreviated because the councillor had an illness. Usually he went on for an hour and a half at least. "What was he on about this time?"

"Well, it started out about the need for the council to carefully consider all appointments, then it went on to how the council has to carefully consider refugee requests, and then he went on and on and on about Artrin's fine accomplishments on Triex-which I thought was hilarious given that he's doing as much as anyone to hold up the man's appointment-and then I stopped paying attention, to be honest, though he ended with something about Vulcans."

"Well, Tellar, Kharzh'ulla, and Brantik have been making the most use of the trade agreement with Aligar, so his const.i.tuents are getting hit the hardest."

"Yeah? What's his excuse for being an a.s.s the rest of the time?" The president sat down. "There was one bit of good news: Beltane got in, eighty-seven to sixty-seven."

A wave of relief washed over Esperanza. "About time."

"Yeah, well, she was only the most qualified person available, so I can see why the council wanted to drag their heels on ratifying her." The president slammed a hand into the salish desk. "Dammit, Esperanza, what the h.e.l.l are these jacka.s.ses playing at? Are they that p.i.s.sed about Aligar?"

"About Aligar? No. About the way you phrased your displeasure about Aligar? Absolutely."

The president frowned. "What the h.e.l.l's that mean? All I did was argue as to why trading with Aligar wasn't tenable anymore."

"No, ma'am, due respect, you didn't." Esperanza hesitated. "If you had phrased your speech as a request to not renew the agreement-which, I might add, is how you told me you were going to play it when you insisted that we didn't need Fred to draft some notes for you to use-it would have been okay, but you phrased it as a rebuke. You chastised them, ma'am. You told one hundred and fifty-four councillors that they were immoral, that they were wrong, that they stood against what made the Federation great. You questioned their patriotism right there in the chamber. Honestly, I'm amazed they reacted as calmly as they did."

The president snorted. "Your definition of calm differs from mine."

Esperanza sat down in the nearest guest chair. "Ma'am-this isn't the governor's office on Cestus III."

"Really?" The president rolled her eyes. "What was your first clue, the view out the window? For crying out loud, Esperanza, I'm not that feeble, I- "

"My point is, Madam President, that you're not the leader of the Federation the way you were leader of Cestus. Intellectually, of course you know that, but instinctively? On Cestus, you were the final authority. Here, you aren't-you're just the most important cog in a very big wheel. You work with the council, they don't work for you."

President Bacco was silent for several seconds, staring off at a corner of the office with her hand at her chin.

Esperanza finally felt the need to prompt her. "Ma'am?"

The president shook her head. "Sorry, I was thinking about creative ways of killing Gleer."

"Ma'am- "

"Fine, fine, you're right, Esperanza. You're almost always right-it's probably your most annoying quality."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Don't hold me to that, though-you have plenty of other annoying qualities, too."

Esperanza nodded. "Of course, ma'am."