Part 17 (2/2)
Krim nodded. ”Interesting. Very well, I shall do this show.”
”Good. I'll have Farak set it up with Elos.”
After Krim said his good-byes and continued toward the transporter bay, Zhres turned around and headed to Jorel's office. That's one less thing to think about.
He arrived as Jorel was finis.h.i.+ng up a conversation with a Tellarite whom Zhres placed after a moment as being the political editor of the Tellarite News Service. ”I'll do what I can, Phant, but you know how the Tzenkethi are. They'll probably deny that Brek was even on Kliradon.”
”I have proof,” Phant said testily.
”And they'll say you manufactured it.” Before Phant could object, Jorel said, ”Look, I'll talk to Esperanza Piniero, and we'll see what we can do, all right?”
”That's all I request, Jorel. Thank you.”
As soon as Phant's face faded from the viewer, Zhres asked, ”Did Brek get taken by the Tzenkethi?”
”I have no idea, but the evidence is pointing that way.”
”He was warned not to go to Kliradon.”
Jorel let out a long breath. ”Everyone is warned not to go to Kliradon. But Brek doesn't view warnings as warnings, he views them as challenges. If he wasn't such a good reporter...” He trailed off.
Zhres said quietly, ”If he wasn't such a good reporter, he'd probably be dead by now.”
”How melodramatic. Why are you late?”
”I ran into Krim. He'll do the FNS piece. He also says you shouldn't be scared of First Minister Asarem.”
”The man who divorced her thinks I shouldn't be afraid of her?” Jorel stood up from his desk. ”That's advice I'm guaranteed to ignore.”
Zhres smiled. ”That should put it in good company with every other piece of advice you've ever received.”
”At least I know not to go to Kliradon. All right, let's go over- ”
”Excuse me.”
Zhres turned around to see Esperanza Piniero standing in the doorway. Zhres hadn't even noticed her approach.
”Esperanza, I'm glad you're here. We lost a reporter.”
The chief of staff winced. ”Where?”
”Kliradon.”
”They're given warnings not to go to- ”
”It was Brek.”
”Ah.” Piniero scratched her ear. ”I'll talk with Safranski, see what we can do. That's got to wait, though.”
”It can't wait too long, Phant's breathing down my neck.”
Zhres, however, felt the change in the air as soon as Esperanza walked in. Something bad has happened.
”We've got a situation on the Romulan border.”
”The refugees?”
Piniero gave a smirk that was frighteningly similar to Krim's. ”Well, the Remans at Outpost 22 anyhow. About half an hour ago, shortly after their leader, Jianuk, had lengthy conversations with both Captain Emick of the Intrepid and Commander Bowles of the outpost- ” Piniero took a breath. ”- the Vkruk made a suicide run at the outpost.”
”In Thori's name,” Zhres muttered.
Jorel's eyes went wider than Zhres had ever seen them. ”How many people- ?”
”Believe it or not, only three of our people died. Bowles was suspicious of the Remans from the start, so she beefed up the s.h.i.+elds, stayed on yellow alert and at battle stations, and evacuated all the outer portions of the outpost for the duration of the Vkruk's stay. As soon as they detected a warp buildup in the Vkruk, the Intrepid fired on them, which also reduced the damage to the outpost. The Remans are all dead, as are two engineers and one security guard who were part of the outpost's damage-control team.”
”May they walk with the Prophets,” Jorel muttered. ”I a.s.sume you want me to brief.”
Piniero nodded.
”You sure that's a good idea? If they don't have the story, we can- ”
”One of them's gonna have the story,” Piniero said. ”You know that as well as I do. Besides, how's it going to look if Regia Maldonado or Edmund Atkinson or Sovan or somebody reveals it in the press room first? And what good reason do we have to keep it secret anyhow?” Piniero chuckled mirthlessly. ”In a lot of ways, this solves most of our problems, as ghoulish as that is.” She shook her head. ”Zachary's downloading the info to you now-the details, the names of the three dead people- ”
Zhres asked, ”Their families have been notified?”
Piniero turned to Zhres. ”The president's handling that right now.” She turned back to Jorel. ”One other thing-Jianuk sent a message out on all Federation frequencies right before the suicide run. It's why we're pretty sure somebody's gonna pick this up even if we do keep it quiet, which is all the more reason to let it out sooner rather than later.”
”What'd they say?” Jorel asked.
” 'Victory and freedom.' ”
Jorel rolled his eyes. ”How idiotic.”
”Not entirely. That was s.h.i.+nzon's battle cry.” She sighed. ”I'll talk to Safranski about Kliradon. Get this out ASAP, all right?” With that, Piniero turned and left.
Zhres watched her walk down the hall toward the turbolifts. ”Why does this make things easier?”
”Hm?” Jorel looked up.
”She said that the Remans' committing suicide- ”
”I honestly have no idea, Zhres-and even if I did have an idea, I wouldn't waste precious moments of my life explaining them to you.” He checked his workstation. ”Get me everything there is to know about Outpost 22, the U.S.S. Intrepid, and- ” He peered at the screen. ”- Chief Avro Wraor, Technician Rulan Moody, and Ensign Jaron, all a.s.signed to the outpost.”
”They're the casualties?”
Jorel glared at him. ”No, they're the dancing troupe I'm sending over to the London Dinner. Yes, they're the casualties, Zachary just sent 'em.”
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