“Captain
Veal, may I present you with an appeal by the Talkhan government, signed by
three ministers currently holding office with the Council of Ministers.”
Tretyak handed over a padd which Tarin took with a gracious nod.
“This
petition asks for any assistance you can lend us in opposing the unlawful
seizure of power by Bertram Novak, formerly Talkha’s minister of defense. The
government of Talkha will welcome any assistance you, Starfleet, and the
Federation can lend us in restoring the government of Talkha to its rightful
place and putting down this uprising.”
Tarin
Veal briefly scanned the document, then turned to her crew. “Hail Minister
Novak.”
“No
use,” Moira O’Shea replied after a few moments. “Our com system is
powerful enough to cut through the Talkhans’ jamming, but they are just
ignoring our hails.”
“There
must be a way to get Novak’s attention. Any suggestions?”
“There
could be,” Rishana Hagen replied. “Just give me a few seconds.” She
accessed the Hawk’s logs and called up the recording taken by the
surveillance camera in Kendall’s office. Half a minute later she had found
what she had been looking for.
“Look
at this, Captain.” Rishana pointed at her panel and Tarin stepped forward to
look over her helmsman’s shoulder. What she saw was an image from a
transmission Novak had made to Kendall. Before she could inquire how that was
relevant Lieutenant Hagen magnified the lower right corner of the image where a
small text was displayed in the original image. “This is the frequency Novak
and Kendall used in their communications. Novak may not listen to us, but he
might listen if he thinks Kendall is calling him.”
*****
“Captain
Veal, what a surprise.” Bertram Novak sounded anything but surprised, but his
astonished expression had lasted just long enough that Tarin knew he spoke the
truth for once.
Tarin
Veal leaned back in her seat, her arms akimbo. “Mister Novak, I’ll be brief.
I have received a request signed by three of your colleagues of the Council of
Ministers. You will receive a copy with this transmission. What this request
asks of me is to lend my help to an effort to restore the elected government of
Talkha to its rightful place and end your coup.”
She
unfolded her arms and rested her right hand near her armrest panel, fingers
hovering only a centimeter above the controls. “I have decided to honor this
request. It would be for the best if you just ordered your troops to withdraw to
their bases and stepped down from office.”
Tarin’s
eyes narrowed and her fingers neared the control panel almost imperceptibly.
“I would hate to issue an ultimatum to you. It’s so melodramatic, wouldn’t
you agree?”
“Yes,
it would indeed be.” Bertram Novak’s eyes turned cold and his features
solidified into a mask of cold determination. “An ultimatum won’t be
necessary. I will not step down from the office I have been elected to and the
Talkhan army will not withdraw, especially not under an ill-veiled threat of an
invasion, be it by Starfleet or any other outside force.”
As
Novak killed the transmission Minister Tretyak could no longer hide his shock.
“But why? Does he really think he can stand against Starfleet?”
“No,
he doesn’t.” The calm of Tarin’s voice stopped the tirade Tretyak was
about to embark on.
“I
beg your pardon?”
Tarin
Veal turned her seat towards the Talkhan Foreign Minister. “There are only two
possibilities. Either Novak thinks we are bluffing or he is ready to accept the
outcome of our interference. Personally I suspect the latter. He wants to avoid
the collapse of Talkha’s society at all costs and he knows that our
interference will advance that goal as much as anything he can do.”
Before
Minister Tretyak had time to think about the implications of asking the
Federation to aid in ending Novak’s coup Tarin rose from her seat and took a
step forward.
“Tactical,
target both landing zones for planetary stun fire on my mark. Ops, stand by to
launch lifeboats on preprogrammed flight paths. Transporter rooms, get ready for
simultaneous beam-down of all away teams.”
Captain
Veal raised the padd still in her hand.
“Launch
escape pods.”
She
watched the tiny craft shoot towards the Talkhan capital city, gave the Talkhans
time to react - twenty, forty, fifty seconds. Her hand came down in a sharp
motion.
“Tactical,
fire phasers.”
Five
seconds later.
“Transporter
rooms, start beamdown.”
*****
Two
dozen lifeboats shot from the Valkyrie and hurtled through the atmosphere
of Talkha.
The
Talkhan ships wanted to fire on them, but they had no orders to do so. Two of
their captains decided to use tractor beams to catch as many of the pods as
possible, but with surprise working against them they only caught five of the
lifeboats before the rest was out of their grasp, well on their way down to the
Talkhan capital.
The
privateers in Talkhan employ had better things to worry about than a few
lifeboats. The momentary confusion was just what they needed. Seven privateer
crews swiftly overpowered their military observers, beamed them to the Talkhan
ships in orbit and skedaddled from the Talkha system.
Hastily
Talkhan soldiers were ordered to withdraw from their positions to cover the
projected landing sites of the Valkyrie’s pods in the parkland
surrounding the city center.
No
sooner had they moved from their positions that phaser bursts stabbed from the
Starfleet ship and stunned everyone in and around the real landing zones.
Talkhan
starship captains and ground commanders alike tried franticly to get new orders,
cluttering their com frequencies with dozens of confused messages, but they had
been told to wait for further orders – orders that had to come from minister
Novak or his most trusted lieutenants. But in one way or another all of them
were too stunned to give meaningful orders.
One
Talkhan captain ordered his ship in a position between the Valkyrie and Altassa.
He didn’t dare open fire on the huge Starfleet ship, but he could at least try
to block any further attacks. None came. Security forces had already beamed
down.
*****
Caleb
Foster leaned out the shuttle’s aft cargo door and shouted: “All set!”
As
the security officer at the Council building’s main entrance waved and gave
him a thumbs-up Caleb ducked back into the shuttle. He took his place in the
pilot seat and tried to tune the com system to the frequency used by the Talkhan
army. Now all he could do was wait.
How
difficult could it be to get to Novak and bring him to the shuttle? With
everyone in sight stunned there was no one left to oppose the Valkyrie’s
away teams. ‘What if our EMP knocked out
the elevators? That would be a real bummer.’
“...closing
on the plaza, repeat...” Lieutenant Foster tried to switch the com system back
to the transmission he had just picked up. ‘What
plaza? Who’s closing in?’ It was no use, in his haste he couldn’t find
the frequency again, but a look out of the shuttle’s windows told him
everything he needed to know.
Three
huge hovertrucks with Talkhan army markings hurtled down one of the wide
boulevards, closing on the shuttle - fast.
Without
a conscious thought Foster brought the engines to full power and hovered his
ship two meters above the plaza. ‘Shit!’
Where were the disruptor controls? How did he set them to stun? No time!
Caleb
Foster targeted a group of large planters at the edge of the plaza and brought
the targeting system on-line. He had little time to work both helm and weapon
controls, but the shuttle had been designed for ground assaults.
A
targeting reticule came up on the forward window and Cal’s hand slammed down
on the firing control.
Two
air to surface missiles erupted from the shuttle’s wings and exploded among
the planters.
The
fireball of two tremendous explosions threw a shower of concrete, wood, and
earth in the path of the approaching hovertrucks who madly swerved aside, one
coming to an abrupt halt as it crashed into a storefront.
Foster
swung the shuttle left and right, but the other trucks only bothered about
getting around the plaza as fast as they could. They were probably trying to get
behind the Council building, out of his field of fire, but that suited Foster
just fine.
As
dazed soldiers clambered from the crashed hovertruck Lieutenant Foster backed
the shuttle against the main entrance of the Talkhan government building, hoping
that the away team would return before half the Talkhan army had time to close
in on his position.
*****
“That’s
one big crater,” Commander Enikal remarked, as he took the co-pilots seat.
“You sure no one got hurt?”
“No,”
Caleb admitted. “I didn’t have much time to think, but with no civilians
around and all the soldiers in the vicinity behind their forcefields no one
should have been hurt.”
As
he activated the ventral thrusters and the shuttle blasted off into the sky a
few soldiers opened up with small arms fire, but they had no chance to penetrate
the shuttle’s shields.
“I
just hope I didn’t kill anyone,” Caleb muttered as he laid in a course
towards the Valkyrie and Altassa’s central plaza fell behind them.
“Good,”
Commander Enikal replied. He wanted to come down hard on Foster, hammer it into
his head that no Starfleet officer fired a weapon unless absolutely necessary,
but he sensed that Foster was becoming acutely aware of that himself, now that
he had time to think. Nothing Dar could say would add anything to what Foster
started to realize through a haze of fear and guilt.
‘Yeah,
one hell of an officer I will make,’
Caleb Foster thought, but he was drawn from his emotions when Commander Enikal
contacted the Valkyrie.
“Enikal
to Valkyrie. Mission accomplished. We are on board a Talkhan shuttle and
heading for your position.”
“Acknowledged,”
Captain Veal’s reply sounded from the shuttle’s speakers. “We have been
monitoring your situation, but one of the Talkhan ships got in the way of our
phasers.”
“Any
word from Lieutenant Alvarez and his team?”
“No,
but so far no one seems to care about them. All forces the Talkhans can get
organized are converging on the central plaza.”
“Much
good it will do them.” For the first time in days an honest smile took hold of
Dar Enikal’s features. Apprehending Novak wasn’t everything, but it was a
good start.
*****
“What’s
going on?” Major Kendall’s head was a world of pain and his body felt like
he had just come back from the dead, but at least he was awake again. ‘That bastard Lafayette! He will have to pay for this!’
“Sir,”
the ship’s captain respectfully addressed the major, “it seems the Valkyrie
has sent down a party that took minister Novak in custody. Right now they are
heading for the Valkyrie in a shuttle they stole in Altassa.”
“It
seems!?!” Despite his splitting headache Kendall managed an angry shout
that was loud enough to echo from every wall of the spacious bridge.
“Reports
are still sketchy, Sir.” The army captain clearly outranked Kendall, but he
knew all too well about Kendall’s family history and how highly Novak favored
him. There were times when rank was not important.
“Show
me!” The captain reached for his controls and the viewer switched from a
forward view to a tactical display. “Those damn privateer traitors,” Kendall
grumbled through gritted teeth. “A bunch of cowards, all of them!”
Or
maybe not all. Grelkov and two others had stayed behind. Eight militia ships and
three privateers were much less than he had hoped for, but it left him with a
fighting chance. And there the shuttle was, less than five minutes away from the
Valkyrie. If minister Novak was on board that ship Kendall could not
allow him to fall into the Federation’s hands.
Talkhans
had to decide Talkha’s destiny. Starfleet had no place in this and he
couldn’t allow them to take control of the situation, unless he wanted his
home to become just another Federation colony. Even if he could free Novak, Veal
wouldn’t stop interfering with Kendall’s homeworld. The Valkyrie had
to be his primary target.
“Hail
all our forces, maximum encryption. Veal will not take over our government –
not if we can help it!”
*****
“All
Talkhan ships converging on our position!”
“Red
alert. Raise shields. Target phasers on any ship that targets us.”
“Raising
shields.” Commander Westmore was still a bit surprised by how Captain Veal
sounded always most calm when everything hit the fan. He knew she wasn’t
stupid enough to misjudge the situation. Was she just too stubborn to give in
under pressure or was there something more to her? Once he had that worked out
he would know how far to trust her.
He
had no time to pay that thought any more attention. “Eight hostiles targeting
us, now nine. Make that eleven!”
“Ops,
all auxiliary energy to the shields. Helm, evasive maneuvers, pattern Sierra.
Tactical, target privateers first. Aim for weapons and engines only. Hold your
fire until further orders.”
The
Valkyrie shook under a barrage of energy weapons that lit up her shields
like a christmas tree, but so far failed to do any real damage. Tarin Veal knew
that could change any second, even with Rishana Hagen’s skillful evasive
maneuvers. The attackers already began to close off any possible escape routes.
Soon the Valkyrie would be caught in a withering crossfire.
Tarin
opened all hailing frequencies. “This is Captain Veal to all attacking ships.
Hold your fire and withdraw or we will be forced to return fire.”
Another
salvo hit the Valkyrie. “Shields down to eighty-five percent,” Commander
Westmore reported without inflexion.
“Rishana,
evasive pattern Omega. Get us out of here.”
The
Valkyrie rolled along her longitudinal axis, slicing through another
salvo of disruptor blasts, but now the net was drawing tighter and tighter
around the Starfleet ship.
“They
are still attacking,” Commander Westmore stated the obvious, as another
shudder went though the Valkyrie. “Shields holding at eighty
percent.”
‘Bless
the great river for regenerative shields.’
Tarin sighed and shook her head to herself. “On my mark return fire. Disable
the closest privateer.” She watched the main viewer from narrowed eyes.
“Helm, keep this heading, steady as she goes.”
“Tactical,
Mark!”
*****
From
a safe distance André Lafayette watched Grelkov’s ship become a wreck
trailing debris and crystals of frozen air as she swerved out off formation. If
anyone had survived on that ship it would be a miracle.
“That
idiot. Going into a fight with his shields so weakened.” He slumped back into
his chair and watched the battle unfold.
Grelkov’s
demise made the last privateers rethink their allegiance to the Talkhans and
they withdrew as fast as they could. ‘Glory-hounds,
but not too stupid. How easily that could have been me,’ Lafayette mused.
Before
he had time to congratulate himself on his good judgment Shadira spoke up:
“Where to now?”
André
didn’t even realize how rare an occasion it was for Shadira to speak in a
public place like the Tiger’s bridge. He was still too focused on the Valkyrie
and the Talkhans.
Now
that Grelkov was out of the fight and the other two privateer crews were
withdrawing the Talkhans tried to regroup, doing their best to close off the Valkyrie’s
escape routes.
“Now
it looks like a fair fight,” Lafayette muttered under his breath. He stared at
the bridge viewer for several seconds before he turned his attention to Shadira.
“Hold this position and get me in touch with Hartmann. If the Valkyrie
wins we may still be able to find work in this sector after all.”
*****
“Status?”
“Shields
at fifty percent,” Lieutenant O’Shea reported from the Ops station. “Minor
damage only, no casualties.”
“The
Talkhans are withdrawing,” Commander Westmore added. The satisfaction in his
voice was hard to miss.
On
the Valkyrie’s main viewer the cloud of dust and debris was still
spreading. To Tarin Veal it hardly mattered that those privateers had been
stupid enough to enter battle with an already damaged ship that couldn’t take
one more direct hit.
Tarin
Veal looked down on the deck of her bridge and blinked rapidly. It helped a
little and the tears just didn’t start to flow across her face. Again people
might have died because she had ordered one of her officers to activate a single
control, because she had thought she knew what was best.
Only
this time it was different. Had she just stood off no one would have been
killed. This wasn’t the Cardassians attacking a helpless convoy, not some
Romulan invasion.
Or
had it been Novak’s decisions that had destroyed that ship? How easy would it
be to believe that, to think that she had just reacted to actions someone else
had taken. Was there any justification for killing a few dozens to give millions
a chance to decide their own future?
No,
but she had given the privateer ship any chance, any warning she could afford.
As much as she had been an instrument of their death, as much had they missed
any chance to escape their fate.
It
was only a small consolation, but it was enough to allow Tarin to focus on what
she still had to do.
“Helm,
set us on an intercept course to the shuttle carrying our away team. Tactical,
stand down to yellow alert. Prepare to drop shields once the shuttle is ready to
dock.”
*****
“Mister
Novak, welcome on board the USS Valkyrie,” Tarin greeted her
involuntary guest as Bertram Novak was escorted into the conference room. She
gestured towards an empty chair and Novak sat down without a word.
Minister
Tretyak on the other hand wasn’t wanting for words. “Bertram! How could you
do this? We have our problems ahead of us, but taking control of the government,
that can’t be the solution! Did you really want to become some sort of
military dictator? Do you think that’s the answer to our problems?”
Bertram
Novak drew a deep breath and his eyes met Tretyak’s. As the Foreign Minister
averted his former colleague’s gaze, Novak spoke up. “Do you really think
you and the other fools in the Council could have done anything? And you call
yourself Foreign Minister! In all your dealings with aliens has it never dawned
on you how rigid our society is by comparison to almost everyone else?”
Novak
shook his head in sadness and contempt. “No, probably not. You are just like
the others – too set in your ways to recognize the ugly truth when it bites
you in the ass and too afraid to do what’s necessary even if you do.”
“And
the truth in this case would be your studies that predict the complete collapse
of your society within the next hundred years?” Tarin Veal asked.
Novak
tersely nodded. “Yes, that’s what I was referring to. In a few generations
our society will start to break down. Family structures will fall apart,
unemployment will become rampant, anarchy will reign, and once it starts it will
be much too late for us to do anything about it. We can not avoid this
development unless we are willing to implement some fundamental changes to the
society we have become used to.”
“I
see,” Tarin slowly replied. “So you and minister Winocki came up with this
plan to deceive your own government, to trick them into funding the coup you
thought was necessary to stave off an even worse disaster in the future.”
Again
Novak nodded and Tarin added: “What I don’t understand is why you bought all
these weapons from the Ferengi. The Council of Ministers expected you to do just
that, but you could have just lied about what you did with the money. Why not
stash it away and use it in the reform of Talkha you had apparently planned?”
“Well,
there is no reason why I should tell you. Besides, it makes no difference
now.”
“No,
it does not,” Captain Veal answered, trying hard to keep her eyes focused on
Novak’s face. Lieutenant Alvarez had just entered the conference room and
leaned against the bulkhead by the door. “In a few hours, days at most I will
release you to the proper Talkhan authorities and let your people sort out this
mess. It just strikes me as... odd, that someone who thought out his plan
so well would invest a lot of his resources into something that would never be
of any use.”
Bertram
Novak almost laughed. “What a nice effort to appeal to my ego to solicit the
answers you want from me.” Tarin showed him a small smile but no other
reaction, and for a moment only silence filled the room.
*****
“I
did buy all the weapons for a very good reason.” Bertram Novak leaned back in
his chair and tore his eyes from Captain Veal’s face, looking at Minister
Tretyak. His former colleague looked back at him, his shock and disgust for the
moment overruled by his curiosity.
“You
see,” Novak continued, “if Starfleet hadn’t become involved I would have
secured my position and bid my time. In four weeks I would have withdrawn all
the privateer’s letters of marque. A little while later some of them,
disgruntled by the sudden withdrawal of our support, would have started to
attack Talkhan interests, perhaps even going as far as staging a direct attack
on our world.”
Captain
Veal took a sharp breath. “They would never have done that.” Her eyes
narrowed to small slits and she took a moment to think it through. “No, of
course they wouldn’t have done it, but someone would have. Perhaps mercenaries
you hired, or even Talkhan ships disguised as privateers. And you could escalate
that conflict at your leisure if everything went to plan.”
“Yes.
The weapons we bought would have been sufficient to keep the conflict going long
enough to convince my people that a strong military was necessary to protect our
world. Starting from that I could have created new careers, a whole new industry
to keep our people occupied for generations. Perhaps that would have been enough
to give our society a new focus, something to work towards, but even if not,
there were other possibilities.”
Novak
fell silent and Tarin was under the impression that he wanted her to work it out
for herself before he revealed anything. What could it be? Novak’s plan had
already been so complicated that he wouldn’t have introduced yet another
variable into it. All the time he had fulfilled the Council’s expectations and
yet always twisted the results to serve his own designs. What was it he had
done?
“Let’s
see,” Tarin started to think out loud. “You have already antagonized the
Alekians with the privateer raids and you have gone to great lengths to convince
everyone that there is a treasure-trove of T’kon technology on Paxatia.” Her
head snapped up and she stared at Bertram Novak.
“You
would have hinted to the Alekians what prizes were to be had on Paxatia and once
they made their move to secure the ruins you would have told your people about
it. Already under the threat of continuing privateer raids they would have been
frightened out off their minds by the prospect of a possibly hostile neighbor
gaining access to a technology at least a thousand years ahead of what you
have.”
A
smile contorted Bertram Novak’s features, but Minister Tretyak didn’t feel
like smiling. “This is madness! You would have plunged us into a war we could
never have won! Is this how you wanted to avert the downfall of our world, by
destroying it?”
*****
“No!”
Bertram Novak shook his head almost unnoticeably. “It was a contingency plan,
a last resort to be used if everything else failed and then only to keep things
going. I would never have started a real war with the Alekians. But now none of
it will happen. Now Talkha will either become the Federation colony we never
wanted our world to be, or fools like you will continue guiding us into a
catastrophe.”
“Is
that why none of you ever considered asking the Federation for help,” Tarin
asked, “because you were afraid you would loose your cultural identity, that
Talkha would be absorbed by the Federation?”
“That’s
what may have motivated most of my colleagues,” Novak admitted, “but it
wasn’t what I thought.” He drew a sharp breath and leaned forward, his dark
steely gaze meeting a curious look from Tarin’s blue eyes.
“Most
Talkhans are just incapable of change if it is not forced upon them. The
Federation would have never done that. Your people will not force anyone, they
would have helped the best they could, but that would never have been enough.
The people of Talkha are sheep, Captain. They need a strong hand to guide them,
a stronger hand than the Federation or our own government would ever have been
willing to use.”
Minister
Tretyak’s face turned an alarming shade of red, but before he could reply
Captain Veal calmly stated: “Why don’t we leave it to the people of Talkha
to decide how strong a government they need?”
She
deactivated a control on the conference table and rose. “Congratulations,
Mister Novak. In
a way you have just won.” She looked from Novak to Tretyak and back again.
“While our away team took you into custody, another team seized control of
Altassa’s central broadcasting station.”
“Right
now every word we said is being broadcast to every receiver on Talkha. The cat
is out off the bag and no one will be able to stuff it back in there. Soon
everyone on Talkha will know what is going on and, more important, why it
happened.”
“You
wanted your world to change. Well, congratulations gentlemen, you have just
become part of that change, but perhaps not in the way you expected it.”
It
was three days later that Tarin Veal stepped into the Council of Ministers
chamber for the first time. Like Commander Enikal and Counselor Lee she wore
dress uniform and all three marveled at the spaciousness and luxury of the huge
room.
Located
on top of the Council building the room formed a perfect hemisphere and the
transparent aluminum windows surrounding the auditorium-like arrangement of
chairs let in the bright orange rays of the morning sun. The light basked the
real-wood paneling behind the speaker’s stand in vibrant colors that shone on
the faces of the assembled Talkhans.
As
she made her way down the central aisle Tarin nodded at several Talkhans she had
met during the last three days. Before she took her seat in a row of chairs
behind the speaker’s stand she shook hands with Commodore Keltak who had
already taken his chair next to Tarin’s.
When
Minister Tretyak stepped to the stand everyone fell silent and the Talkhan news
crews focused their cameras on him.
As
the Minister spoke Tarin took some mental notes. After Tretyak had finished she
would be given the opportunity to address the people of Talkha, but she had
refused to coordinate her address with Tretyak. To Tarin it was still a Talkhan
matter and what Minister Tretyak said would determine what she said.
So
far Tretyak was doing what Captain Veal considered a very good job. He
apologized to his people for the way their own government had kept them in the
dark for almost a year. He offered to bear full responsibility for his actions,
but pleaded for his people to hear him out, to give him a chance to explain
himself.
Tretyak
went on to explain the results of the study the Ministry of Sciences had carried
out and Tarin couldn’t help but admire the way he did it. The Talkhan just
presented the basic facts, illustrated with easy to understand tables and
diagrams.
Next
Tretyak started to explain why the Council had taken the measures it did. He
made no secret of the way he and his colleagues had allowed themselves to be
deceived by Bertram Novak and his allies, shifting much of the blame on himself.
Yet
he was quick to add that most of the Talkhan army had only followed orders, that
they had been deceived just like everyone else. Novak, Kendall, and a handful of
others were under arrest, but - Tretyak emphasized as strongly as possible -
their wrongdoing should not be viewed as a failure of the whole military.
After
almost an hour he closed with the solemn promise that he and all the other
ministers were prepared to face every consequence of their failures and that new
elections would be held as soon as possible, to give the people of Talkha the
chance to decide who would rule them from here on.
After
a moment of complete and utter silence Tretyak cleared his throat. “I would
now like to invite one of our guests to address the Council, Starfleet captain
Tarin Veal.”
*****
Tarin
rose and straightened her uniform before she stepped to the speaker’s stand.
“When
I first came to your world I knew
little about Talkha’s culture and history. To be frank I thought of Talkha as
a throwback to a political and economic system that has long vanished from Earth
and other Federation worlds and I must admit I thought this strange, at times
even wrong. But now I have to admit that it was I who was wrong. Talkha has
skilled workers and technicians, skilled scientists and skilled military
officers, all the result of a long and successful tradition that has ensured
your world's prosperity for two hundred years.”
“Talkha
has skilled leaders as well, who have done a great deal to ensure the prosperity
of this world. Perhaps they have stumbled during the last few months, but not
because of any fault of their own. All your government ever wanted was make
certain Talkha remained as prosperous and industrious as it is today. Perhaps a
wrong course has been chosen to achieve this goal, but let’s not look to the
past. Hindsight is always perfect and there will always be someone telling you
he knew better from the start, but that deals with the past.”
“We
all know the past, but the future none of us can know. I certainly don’t know
what the future will hold in store for us, but there is one thing I know: Our
future is not predestined, we can change it if that’s what we all want.”
“We
all want the same: Freedom, prosperity, and peace. By joining hands in
friendship we can achieve all that and more. It is the principle the Federation
is founded on, but why should it not work for worlds as strongly independent as
Talkha or Alek?”
“By
becoming partners – and friends – we lose nothing, but stand to gain much
more than we have now. What we will gain is not only prosperity, but peace.”
“We
all want to be who we are, a strong and independent people and none of that has
to change. But what do we have to lose by becoming partners, allies, even
friends?”
“I
will tell you what you have to lose: Nothing.”
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5
Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12