A Ceremony of Losses by David Mack

Author:David Mack [Mack, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Media Tie-In, Action & Adventure, Space Opera
ISBN: 9781476722245
Google: sdWbAQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2013-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

Outside the climate-controlled conference center, the midday air was sultry and rich with scents of the forest and the sea. It was a short walk from the main entrance to the waiting Rio Grande, but Bashir felt beads of perspiration forming on his forehead by the time he and Douglas had descended the steps and crossed the walkway to traverse the lawn. The grass and soil were pleasantly elastic under his feet, a welcome change from walking on hard surfaces.

Douglas kept a firm grip on Bashir’s left elbow as she led him toward the runabout. Her lips barely moved as she spoke, and her voice was almost a whisper. “Last chance to back out.”

“We didn’t come this far to give up,” he mumbled back, casting surreptitious glances around the area to see if they were being observed with more than casual attention.

“Defying executive orders isn’t run-of-the-mill insubordination, Julian. The plan was for you to go AWOL, not become public enemy number one.”

“The facts on the ground have changed. We have to roll with it.”

“You could have injected me. I—”

“There wasn’t time.” He paused as a pair of security officers passed them, walking in the opposite direction. As soon as they moved out of earshot, he continued. “I dosed myself as soon as I was sure the genome was stable. If I’d waited for you, I’d have missed my chance.”

They walked in troubled silence for a few moments, and the runabout loomed larger in Bashir’s field of view. Douglas’s voice trembled with anxiety. “Are you sure you want to do this? Once it’s done, there’s nothing more I can do to help you.”

“I don’t see that I have a choice, do you? If I surrender, either the Andorians die as a species for no good reason, or, worse, Ishan steals the cure and uses it to blackmail them.”

“Let’s not start embracing insane conspiracy theories,” Douglas warned.

“Why not? Ishan’s willing to risk letting them die so he can win an election. If he’ll do that, what’s to stop him from leveraging the cure after he’s elected? From using it to force concessions from them? Or bully them back into the Federation? What then?”

“Don’t obsess over what-ifs. There’s no point getting worked up over crimes nobody’s committed yet. Stick to what we know: the Andorians are dying.”

As usual, Douglas’s advice was sound. Bashir focused himself on the here and now. “Fine. That’s still more than enough reason, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Me, too.” A worried look. “You know they’ll crucify you for this. They’ll take your rank, your medical license. And they’ll smear your name. They’ll have to, to save face.”

He weighed those sacrifices against his sins on Salavat. “A small price to pay.”

They were only a dozen meters from the Rio Grande. Its side hatch stood open, and its engines hummed in preflight mode. Douglas took a deep breath. “I wish I was going with you.”

“So do I. But I need your cover intact so you can bring me inside Thirty-one.”

She chuckled softly.

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