Chapter 29 - 2400
Liam Shaw sat alone at the head of the table in front of a desk-sized view screen. He had a tablet beside it, loaded with his talking points, but he didn't need it; it was mostly a prop.
Some of the meeting members had been dismissed. The others sat to the sides, watching the communication on the larger viewscreen.
Shaw took a deep breath, held it, counted to five, exhaled. He nodded to Esmar, and the screen filled with the image of a middle-aged man in an elaborate jacket, seated as Shaw was. Behind him stood an older woman in a plain dress. Her hands were loosely clasped in front of her. There was something about her face, the look in her eyes …
He focused on the man. "President Puk, I assume. I'm Captain Liam Shaw of the Federation Starship Titan. We are preparing to transport down the next shipment of vaccines and medical supplies."
President Puk seemed surprised. "Oh. I see. How … thank you. I … regret that we seem to have had such a … misunderstanding."
Shaw glanced aside at the tablet for a long moment. Becca wanted him to seem bored and annoyed, which wasn't much of a stretch. She didn't want him to seem angry, which was more challenging. "I don't think there's been any misunderstanding." He waved a dismissive hand. "We will continue to prepare vaccines until your settlement has been fully supplied." He paused and glanced down again. "We'll be sending the supplies directly to each infirmary location."
"Oh." Oddly, the man glanced over his shoulder at the woman. "Oh, that … that won't be necessary. Ours is a small settlement. You can send the supplies to our main hospital and we will see to the distribution."
"Our medical team has expressed concerns that your distribution system is not quite … equitable. We will transport to the infirmaries."
"I really must insist, Captain."
Shaw let a bit of his anger show, though he kept it on a short leash. "You invited a Federation ambassador to visit you, then allowed her to be held captive in inhumane conditions."
"As I said, a misunderstanding—"
"You stole the medical shuttle that was sent to help your people survive this epidemic, and you stripped it for parts."
"A group of rebel malcontents—"
"You fired at my ship."
"I assure you, Captain –" The woman nudged his shoulder, and Puk sat up straighter. "We have uncovered a band of traitorous rebels who performed all those illegal and very regrettable acts. Their aim was to … to destabilize our government and to … and to prevent us from forming a relationship with your Federation."
"Huh. And you didn't think to let us know when they kidnapped our ambassador?"
"We … we …" He glanced back again.
"We were embarrassed by our citizens' actions," the woman said gravely. "We were ashamed of their inhospitality. This is not how Trielle welcomes our honored guests."
"But you didn't do anything about getting the hostages out of your basement."
"They were guarded," Puk protested. "We could do nothing."
The woman looked down at him. For one moment her face betrayed anger. Then she looked back toward Shaw, her eyes docile and apologetic. "The criminals have been captured. They will be punished, we assure you."
"Good." Shaw took a deep breath. "We'll look forward to seeing the results of your investigation." He looked at the tablet for a long moment, as if he were reading something much more pressing than his meeting with Puk. "We're still sending the meds to the infirmaries."
"Send them to the capital. I insist, Captain!"
"Your insistence is noted. Request denied."
"It was not a request!" the president snapped.
"Whatever it was, the answer is still no."
The woman nudged him again, hard. "You cannot tell me no. You have no authority."
Shaw gazed at him. Suddenly strafing the capital didn't seem like such a bad idea after all. "Well," he said evenly, "what with your inhospitable traitorous rebels running the place, it seems like neither do you."
"How dare you! I am the president of this sovereign colony! You will not speak to me that way!"
"You're welcome to file a complaint with the Federation. As soon as your representative recovers from her stint in your basement."
"We will certainly file a complaint! With the ambassador's … with her higher-ups!"
Shaw nodded. "Good luck with that."
The woman looked angry for a split second again. Then she disguised it. But the president positively sputtered. "You are impertinent!"
"I've been called worse."
Puk glanced back at the woman. She nodded. He faced Shaw and declared, "We will not tolerate this disrespect. You and your ship will leave our system immediately!"
Shaw glanced past his screen to where Becca stood against the wall. She shrugged, made a show of studying her manicure.
"You cannot produce enough vaccine for your people fast enough to stop the spread of this epidemic. If we leave, many of your people will die."
"Our people are our business! They are none of your concern! You will do as you are told and leave at once! That is – that is an order!"
"I don't take orders from you," Shaw snapped. "When we've provided all the vaccines that your settlement needs, and when we've completed our investigation, if we're satisfied with the results then maybe we'll leave your system. But until then, we're sending the medicines to the infirmaries."
He reached to cut off the conversation, then paused. "Oh, and if you're thinking about firing your guns at us again, don't. You don't like me when I'm impertinent. You really won't like me when I'm pissed off." He stabbed the button and ended the call.
Shaw leaned back in his chair and looked to Becca. "Well?"
"Perfect," she answered. "Absolutely perfect."
He looked to his first officer. "Let's get those drugs transported, then."
"Aye, sir."
While she was giving the order, Radford said, "Who the hell was that woman?"
"She's the president's mother," the medical away team replied in unison.
"I'm just relieved to know there are actually women on this colony," Zarzour said. "She's the first one we've seen."
"We met her at the reception, when we first arrived," Vogt countered.
"We most certainly did not," Becca answered.
"Well I did. She introduced herself. She said that her son was unmarried, so she acted as his hostess. She asked if it would be proper for her to introduce herself to the ambassador or if I needed to do it. And then … but she was looking at Nico, not at you. So I corrected her, and then she got all embarrassed and just kind of … left. I was going to say something, but then they grabbed us."
Becca folded her arms over her chest, perplexed. "Huh."
"She was very active at the main hospital," Solhein said. "She wanted to know everything that was going on, trying to help with everything. But it was a little weird."
"How so?"
"Well, she'd suggest something that was a good idea, like sealed bins for laundry from infected patients, but then she'd … defer, I guess is the word. She'd claim it was her son's idea. And sometimes maybe it was, but other times she clearly came up with it on the fly, but she wouldn't take any credit. It was always him." He frowned. "But she was very nice to us."
Becca turned to Telbaranto. "Was she nice to you?"
"She didn't speak to me. She wouldn't even look at me. If she had an idea or something to say, it was always to Solhein. I kinda thought she had a crush on him."
Hansen brought the replay of the call back up on the big screen and started scrolling quickly through it. "Let me ask you, Lieutenant, when you said she was embarrassed, what did that look like?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what was her expression like?" She paused the replay, went back a few frames. "Did she look like this?"
"Yeah, just like that. Like, annoyed with herself and embarrassed."
"Oh, nice catch," Becca said.
Shaw gazed at the screen. Hansen had stopped on the frame when the woman had looked truly angry for the first time. "Oh, son," he said.
"I don't get it."
"That woman," Zarzour told him, "is not embarrassed. That woman is pissed."
"No, but she's just … she's just …"
"You are young." Becca strolled around the table. "Life has been kind to you." She put her hand on his shoulder fondly. "You will learn."
That was a quote from something, Shaw knew. He half-remembered it, but he couldn't place it.
She turned to Zarzour. "She saw me, she got pissed, she left the event … we were detained almost immediately. I'm starting to think we got Cochraned."
"Oh shit."
"What does that mean?" Hansen asked.
Becca shook her head. "There are no women in any positions of authority anywhere in this settlement." She gestured to the photos of the senators. "None in the government. Apparently none in the medical profession."
"Nurses, caregivers," Mottin said, "not doctors."
"And very deferential nurses at that," Telbaranto added.
"But they said in their application that all genders were treated equally," Darovich protested.
"We already knew they were terrorists," Shaw said. "Are you really surprised to learn that they also lied?"
"But … but they had to know we'd find out they were lying."
"I'm not so sure they did," Zarzour said. "They seemed to think joining the Federation was just a matter of filing some forms that no one would bother to verify."
"Intelligent, but badly educated," Becca said.
"Did you tell them it was more complicated than that?" Shaw asked.
"It was all in the preliminary package. Doesn't mean they reviewed it." She rubbed her forehead. "I wonder … damn. I have half a vision, but it won't flesh out."
"Is your headache back?" Ohk asked.
"Actually, yes."
"I recommend that we take a break, and that our former hostages take a rest. You're still recovering."
Shaw nodded. "We've covered a lot of ground. But we still have a lot of vaccines to cook, so let's adjourn for now."
People started to stand and stretch and shuffle out. Becca turned to Ross. "While you were researching, did you talk to anyone on Vespola about the colony? Is that why you think they're a cult?"
"Oh, no." Ross's cheeks got red. "Oh, I didn't even think of that, I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine. We have to find just the right dusty old historian who will talk straight with us anyhow." She hesitated, turned to Shaw. "I'm sorry, can I continue to borrow your historian?"
"My transporter chief," he corrected. "And yes, you can, if it's okay with her."
"I'd be … honored, ma'am."
Shaw caught Ohk's look. "But, I do need her to cover the meal breaks right now. We'll rearrange the duty schedule after that and consider her reassigned."
"Oh." Ross looked confused. "Alright, of course, sir. I'll … I'll head down now."
He caught Hansen's eye, sent her after the lieutenant. "You," he said to Becca as they left the room, "can take a nap while you're waiting."
"Or I can start on some research."
"Or you can take a nap," Ohk stressed.
Seven caught up with Ross at the lift. "You don't need to cover any shifts," she told her. "Go put your feet up for a while."
"But the captain said …"
"The ambassador is exhausted, and the captain knows it. He also knows that if Radford has you to work with, she won't rest. So go take a break."
"Thank you, Commander." She hesitated. "Are they … her and the captain, are they, you know …?"
"I don't know," Seven answered, "and you nothing you could do would persuade me to ask."
Liam Shaw returned to the bridge and settled into his center chair. He did a quick survey of all systems; nothing particularly required his attention. The ship was safely in high orbit. Shields up as a precaution. Scans of the surrounding sector showed no other ships; they were repeated on a regular basis. His crew was well-trained and well-disciplined. There was nothing that he needed to do.
He stayed in the chair anyhow, because he had nothing better to do.
His mission, Titan's mission, was largely completed. They still need to prepare and deliver the remaining vaccines and anti-virals – a process well in hand – and deliver the ambassador and her team safely to whatever destination they settled on. But for the moment, the team was safely aboard and there was nothing he needed to do.
He was tired as hell. He tried to remember the last time he's really slept. The night before he knew Becca was missing? It had been a while. He could use a nap.
He had a couch in his Ready Room. It was reasonably comfortable.
Shaw sighed and shook off the notion. It felt unprofessional, even if none of his crew knew.
As the afternoon wore on, he was made aware that Becca had re-convened her meeting with her team and Ross. That she and probably some of the others had several subspace conversations with parties on the planet Vespola, and that she had one brief one with some part of the Diplomatic Corps on Earth.
Alpha shift gave way to Beta. The oncoming Comms officer relayed the message that the ambassador would like to speak to the captain at his convenience. Shaw stayed for a while more, until they were all settled, and then he went down to the guest quarters.
Ross was still there, and Zarzour. "Making progress?" he asked.
"Mostly confirming what we thought we knew."
"'Cult' turns out to be a pretty apt description," Zarzour added.
"And the cult is breaking down?"
"It seems so."
Shaw sat down opposite Becca. She still looked tired to him, though much better than the previous night. "You wanted to see me?"
"We're reasonably sure that President Puk is the treasonous rebel behind all out troubles. So I'd like to meet with the leaders of the senate," she said. "The majority and minority leader. They're our best bet of standing up an interim government."
"Seems reasonable."
"I wondered how you'd feel about bringing them aboard Titan."
Shaw considered. "Just the two of them?"
"Hopefully."
"With appropriate security, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Thank you. We'll see if we can arrange it."
"A suggestion?" Zarzour said.
"Go."
"Let's set the meeting for right after we send down the next med shipment."
"Make it clear that the medication isn't contingent on their cooperation."
"Exactly."
"Good, yes."
They batted around some details. Then Shaw, reading the room, excused himself. He had a light dinner in his quarters, and though it was early, he went to bed.
Becca safe and well and aboard his ship was apparently enough to keep his nightmares at bay. He slept like the dead.
