Star Trek DS9 - Terok Nor 1, Day of the Vipers by James Swallow

Author:James Swallow [James Swallow]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781416550938
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2014-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

There were no problems as the crowd dispersed. Darrah watched with one eye, afraid that someone, some bereaved person angry at the world for their loss, would lash out; there was none. Instead, a somber stream of mourners threaded out of the gardens in clusters, supporting each other through their grief.

As they joined the departing groups, he spotted a gathering of figures and heard the snap of a raised voice. Karys shot him a sideways look, a warning, but he chose to ignore it and drifted closer. Mace saw the drifting shape of a camera drone and a news crew, and abruptly he knew who they were crowding around.

“But can we stand here and do nothing?” said Kubus Oak to the correspondent, his jaw set. “Are we to be a reactive people? Will our only reply to this atrocity be to weep and bury our dead?” Some of the people gathered around the minister made angry noises and shook their heads. “We cannot let this go unanswered! It was our failure that allowed these good people to perish. When the Prophets talk of judgment for the honest and the willing, we must hear that and ask ourselves, how would we be judged if we did nothing to bring justice to the ones who ended these innocent lives?”

Darrah grimaced. “The man has no shame,” he said quietly. “This is a funerary ceremony, not a podium in the Chamber of Ministers.”

“He’s a politician,” Karys replied. “It’s what they do.”

Mace was disgusted at Kubus’s opportunism, turning the day to his own ends, using the service as a platform for his agenda. Grim-faced, he led his family past.

“There must be a reprisal,” Kubus was saying, “and with the people’s support I have convinced the First Minister and the government for exactly that—” He caught sight of Darrah and changed tack. “It is because of men like Inspector Darrah Mace that many more lives were saved…”

The camera pod turned in midair and trained a lens on Mace and his family. The controlled anger on his face flashed across newsfeeds planetwide, and for one long second he wavered on the cusp of decrying the politician for his callous grandstanding; but then he turned away. “I’m taking my family home,” he said simply, and left Kubus and his circus behind. He heard the politician take his brush-off and say something about “grief” and “stress.” Nell’s hand touched his, and he glanced down at his daughter.

“I don’t like that man,” she told her father. “I don’t think you should talk to him.”

“You’re right,” he replied. “Come on. Let’s get out of this place.”

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