Part 18 (1/2)
”I'll get right on it.”
Zhres sat down at his desk and started a search through Starfleet records. He soon learned that Wroar had been in Starfleet security for fifty years, that Moody's enlistment period was going to be up in a month, and that Jaron was the first Evoran in Starfleet. And now they're all dead.
And thanks to his work, everyone in the Federation who read the news would know these things about them-know who they were, not just that they'd died. It might not have been grand work on the scale of what the president and Piniero and Krim and the rest of the council and the cabinet and the president's staff did every day, but it was still, to Zhres's way of thinking, work worth doing.
May 2380 ”There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present.... If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.”
- Liu Shaoqi
Chapter Thirteen.
TIM LINCOLN WINCED as he watched the screen that took up the entire north wall of the Pioneer Pub. ”They're bringing in Martinez.”
Sitting on the bar stool next to Tim, Natalia Hatcher muttered, ”Well, this game's over.”
Tim held up a cautioning hand. ”Now now, don't be so sure.”
Natalia looked at her fiance like he had grown a third limb. ”Do you know when the last time Martinez gave up a run is?”
After thinking about it for a second, Tim said, ”No.”
”Me either. That's how long it's been since she's given up a run.”
”It's not like we've followed the Seagulls all that closely. Maybe she gave up three runs her last time out and we don't know about it.”
”You know, it's usually Prairieview fans who deny reality this much. Martinez coming in to pitch means the game's over.”
Shrugging, Tim said, ”We've got the two, three, and four guys up.”
Natalia rolled her eyes. ”Right-Farouk, who hasn't gotten on base all year, Addison, who hits against Martinez even worse than the rest of the world, and as for Yates-Yates is past it. Yates is so far past it he's on another planet. In fact, he's about three star systems over, that's how far past it Yates is. I don't know why Diaz keeps batting him cleanup. He should retire and let Hayakawa get more playing time.”
The Pioneer Pub had come into existence about five years earlier, and during baseball season, it was always one of Pike City's hot spots. The walls were covered in memorabilia from the Pike City Pioneers' decade-long history: The first home-run ball hit after the CBL was incorporated, slugged by the Pioneers' Aloysius McSweeney in the bottom of the ninth to win their first game against the Palombo Sehlats; the dirt-covered uniform worn by Illyana Petrova when she stole home to win the first Cestus Series for the Pioneers over the Prairieville Green Sox, the first of many disappointments for Green Sox fans; the shards of the bat broken when Hugues Baptiste blooped a single to center to win the Northern Division champions.h.i.+p against the Port Shangri-La Seagulls; a chunk of Ruth Field that was blown off by Gorn weaponry when they attacked Pike City during the war; and the glove that Blaithin Lipinski wore when she threw her fifth career perfect game, this one against the Cestus Comets.
There were also three items from the various baseball leagues on Earth in the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries: the glove used by Josh Gibson when he played for the Homestead Grays in 1930, Babe Ruth's jersey from when he played for the minor-league Baltimore Orioles in 1914, and the ball hit into the center-field seats of Yankee Stadium by Buck Bokai to win the last World Series on Earth for the London Kings in 2042.
Tim and Natalia had entertained the notion of attending today's game, but that had been a forlorn hope. Games between the Pioneers and their toughest division rival, the Seagulls, were always hot-ticket items, and so there had been no available seats at Ruth Field. So they'd come to the Pub to watch it with fellow fans.
Sadly, today's game wasn't much fun to watch. The Gulls had shut the Pioneers out, negating strong pitching performances by the Pioneers. As a result, it was 2-0 Gulls going into the bottom of the ninth, and the Gulls' best reliever, Faith Martinez, was in.
However, n.o.body told Yusuf Farouk that she was their best reliever-he drew a walk on six pitches. Then Nancy Addison fisted a single to left field, putting two on for Kornelius Yates. He'd been the Pioneers' cleanup hitter since the league had been incorporated ten years earlier, and Tim had to admit that Natalia was right when she said that his skills had deteriorated to the point where he probably wasn't a viable cleanup hitter anymore. Still, he wasn't ready to be put out to pasture yet- - a point Yates himself made rather spectacularly by clubbing Martinez's first pitch over the center-field wall for a three-run home run to win the game.
The pub, which had been as silent as a tomb since the sixth inning, when the Gulls had scored their two runs, suddenly burst into life. People were shouting, hugging each other, yelling, banging their drinks gla.s.ses together, and generally acting the idiotic way people do when they celebrate.
From behind the bar, Gordon the bartender said the words everyone liked to hear: ”Homebrews all around!” The Homebrew was the Pub's specialite de la maison, and Gordon only served it when the Pioneers won.
Moments later, Tim was slugging down his Homebrew and asking Gordon if they could put FNS on.
”What for?” the bartender asked.
”They're gonna be talking about Governor Bacco on ICL.”
Natalia almost sputtered her Homebrew. ”They always talk about her on ICL, and it's President Bacco now, remember?”
”I'm trying not to. I can't believe she'd abandon us like that. Best governor this planet ever had, and she dumps us to go gallivant around the Federation.”
”Hey, c'mon,” Natalia said, punching him gently on the shoulder. ”At least she came back to throw out the first pitch.”
Gordon added, ”Yeah, I heard she had to completely screw around her itinerary to make sure she was here on the right day.” Moving over to the control for the big screen, he said, ”Anyhow, I'll put it on if you want, but if we get complaints, down it comes.” He entered some commands, which would provide the FNS feed from the beginning of tonight's Illuminating the City of Light installment.
”Fair enough.” Tim raised his Homebrew gla.s.s in acknowledgment of Gordon's kindness.
Natalia stared at Tim. ”You didn't use to care about Federation politics all that much.”
”I don't-I care about Governor Bacco. Sorry, President Bacco. I want to know what she's doing that's so great that she had to abandon us.”
”Oh, for crying out loud, Tim, she didn't 'abandon' anything.”
The screen switched from the postgame highlights to an image of five people sitting around a desk. The host was the usual Kriosian woman, Velisa, and sitting on the far left was Fred MacDougan, who'd been part of Bacco's staff forever. Tim didn't recognize the other three-a human woman, a Gnalish man, and a Bolian man. Several people in the Pub muttered complaints, but nothing too loud, mostly relating to interrupting the highlight reel. One person pointed out that the game only had one highlight worth watching, and they just saw it two minutes ago.
”Good evening. This is Illuminating the City of Light. I'm your host, Velisa. Tomorrow is the state dinner at the Palais de la Concorde as President Bacco and the Federation Council welcome the delegation from Trinni/ek, on the heels of the president's highly successful goodwill tour of several Federation planets, incuding her homeworld of Cestus III.”
That mention prompted a ragged cheer from the patrons of the Pioneer Pub.
”With me tonight to discuss these issues are Fred MacDougan, chief speechwriter for President Bacco; FNS's own Regia Maldonado; Councillor Gorus Gelemingar of Gnala; and author of The Ripple Effect: Trials and Tribulations of First Contacts, retired Starfleet Captain Rixx. Welcome, all of you. Fred, as one of the president's chief policy advisors, what is your take on the Trinni/ek state dinner?”
Fred, a bald-headed man with a hawk nose, laughed at that. ”I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a chief policy advisor. At best, I occasionally have her ear, but she usually just yells at me and tells me to stop being an idiot.”
Several of the panelists laughed at that. So did many of the Pub patrons-they knew of Bacco's occasionally scathing style.
”As for the state dinner, my take is that it's a great opportunity. Although it was a policy inst.i.tuted under a previous administration, President Bacco has been a huge proponent of the Luna-cla.s.s program, going back to when it was first floated almost ten years ago. Seeking out new life and new civilizations has always been the Federation's mantra.”
”Yes,” Gelemingar said, ”and we all know that a planetary governor's support makes all the difference in a program initiated by Starfleet Command.”
Fred frowned. ”That wasn't my point, Councillor, I- ”
”Of course it was your point. You were making a feeble attempt to attach the president to the tail of a program that she had absolutely nothing to do with. It was Captain T'Vrea and her crew who made the first contact, and the Diplomatic Corps who had the subsequent meetings that are leading to this state dinner. The president's contribution to this endeavor consists of making a toast that you will be writing for her.”
The Gnalish's words led to booing from the Pub.
”None of which was the point of what I said, Councillor,” Fred said with a sweet smile. ”I was asked for my take on it, and what I said was that it was a great opportunity. Which it is. The Trinni/ek are a hardy civilization that survived the destruction of their homeworld's sun and forged a new life on a new world. They suffered the greatest catastrophe imaginable for a single-planet society, and they won.”
”And I'm sure you and the rest of her staff are hoping that having her image on FNS alongside these hardy survivors will erase the memory of twenty-nine dead Remans and three dead Starfleet officers.”
More boos. Tim couldn't believe this guy was actually trying to blame Bacco for what happened to those Remans. They'd committed suicide after Bacco had offered them asylum-how was that her fault? She'd done the right thing; it was the Remans who had spit in her eye.
Regia Maldonado, the woman from FNS, spoke up then. ”Oh come on, Gorus, that's laying it on a little thick, don't you think? Those Remans killed themselves. President Bacco's not to blame for it.”