Free Star Trek: Brinkmanship by Una McCormack Page B

democracy now? Speak freely. But”—she lifted a warning finger—“I’m going to ask you not to question me. Not yet.”
    Dygan pondered that for a moment. “Not question you?” he said. “That’s not something you should ask me, ma’am. To ask for my obedience, without any explanation as to why?” He shook his head. “No, that’s not right. You shouldn’t ask me to do that.”
    “No, no,” she said quickly, “not your obedience, Dygan. Your trust. Is that unreasonable of me to ask of you?”
    “Ma’am, we have hardly met—”
    “You trust Picard, don’t you?”
    “Well, yes, but—”
    “Why? Why do you trust him?”
    Dygan thought about that. There were many reasons. Picard was wise, and just, and experienced, and he looked for peaceful solutions. He would not push his Federation into war for the sake of patriotism or pride . . .
    The companel on Detrek’s desk chimed. She looked down and frowned.
    “I’m sorry, Glinn Dygan, I have to take this in private. I know you’re worried,” she said, as he stood up, “and I do understand the reasons why. But you can trust me. And for exactly the same reasons that you trust Jean-Luc Picard.”
    Dygan left her office and went in search of a quiet corner, where he sat for a while and thought. Trust her? Why should he trust her? Not so long ago, Cardassia had almost been destroyed by the blind faith its people had put in their superiors. Where had that trust brought them? It had brought the Jem’Hadar down on them; it had led them to the Great Burning. His duty to Cardassia was always to question and to keep questioning until the answers he received were satisfactory. That was another reason why he trusted Picard—because the captain was always prepared to explain. And when there was no time for explanations, Dygan would still readily do what Picard ordered, because eventually the explanation would be forthcoming, and he knew it would be good. That was what Dygan wanted from Detrek. But he was disappointed. To ask him to trust her blindly? A Cardassian should know better these days than to ask.
    A bell chimed. The meeting was about to resume. Dygan hurried back to the meeting room and took his seat. The room seemed even fuller now, and the doors had been left open. People were crowding outside in the corridors, trying to get a glimpse of what was goingon inside. Clearly word of the extraordinary alien and her anger had got around.
    Detrek, entering last, smiled as she passed Dygan. “Trust me, Glinn Dygan,” she whispered as she sat down.
    But then he watched her put aside the face of the wise elder that she had presented to him in private and become the rigid combatant she’d been since arriving on Venette. He watched the Venetans’ contempt toward the representative of his people, and the silent scrutiny of the Tzenkethi Alizome. He watched Ilka fret, and Jeyn twitch, and Picard struggle to keep everyone calm. And as the afternoon went steadily downhill, Dygan felt afraid, terribly afraid, to see matters slipping beyond even Picard’s control, sure that when they did, something bad, something irrevocable, was going to happen—like the fire that had once taken Cardassia.

5
    FROM:
Civilian Freighter Inzitran, flagship, Merchant Fleet 9
    TO:
Ementar Vik Tov-A, senior designated speaker, Active Affairs, Department of the Outside
    STATUS:
Estimated time to border: 29 skyturns
Estimated time to destination: 34 skyturns
    No message.
    T o anyone serving on the Aventine, the composition of the away team to Outpost V-4 must have looked distinctly odd. Leaving Sam Bowers in command, Ezri Dax took, along with Peter Alden, her chief of security, Lonnoc Kedair, and the ship’s counselor, Susan Hyatt. Dax could only hope that her intention in including Hyatt was not too obvious. While she, Alden, and Kedair were observing the Venetans andthe Tzenkethi, Dax wanted someone on the spot to observe Alden.
    The Venetans operating the base had chosen from among