Страница 42 из 81
“K’Tal.”
Kravokh whirled away from the spectacular view to give Ruuv a shocked look. “That child?”
“I suspect that is why Ditagh chose him. He is new enough not to have any prejudices.”
Laughing, Kravokh said, “Ditagh mustbe dying—it’s addled his brains. Since when has he preferred those with no prejudices?”
Ruuv joined in the laugh. “It isa wise move. K’Tal may be young, but his House is strong, and he will be the head of that House before long. Making him Arbiter gives him a position of respect, and will indebt the next chancellor to his House even more so.”
Kravokh fixed his aide with a look. “I know why it is good for K’Tal, I am merely surprised that Ditagh chose him. I would have thought he’d choose B’alikk to guarantee that the choices were palatable to Ditagh.”
“I don’t think any choices are palatable to Ditagh.” Ruuv walked over to Kravokh’s side, his boots clacking against the wooden floor. Kravokh, in the privacy of his home, had been wearing mok’barashirt and pants, and had left his feet bare. “I believe that he has left the Empire in a state of disarray and would prefer the choice go to someone else.”
“Of coursehe’s left the Empire in a state of disarray. The amazing thing is that he’srealized what the rest of us have been telling him for the past several years. The only concern now is who K’Tal will pick as the final two candidates.”
“There is little doubt of your being one of them.”
Kravokh shrugged. “Possibly.”
“Definitely. The only successful programs that the High Council has put forth in the last year have come from you.”
Ruuv was not one for u
“I would suggest,” Ruuv said, “that you program that new hologram of yours with everything you can find about Grivak’s fighting style.”
Again, Kravokh laughed. “You’re sure of this information?”
“Quite sure.”
“Good. And you can be sure that my seat on the Council will go to you, Ruuv.”
Ruuv smiled. “That has always been my goal, Kravokh. Out of curiosity, who will get the other one?”
“Assuming the other candidate is Grivak, or someone else on the Council, once I kill them, their seat will go to Captain K’mpec.”
At that, Ruuv’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure that is such a good idea. K’mpec disobeyed your orders at Donatu.”
“And it has all worked out for the best. I have seen the record of battle for the engagement with the Boklar.K’mpec had no choice but to destroy the invaders. Besides,” and here Kravokh smiled viciously, “the promotion of the man responsible for the destruction of the Boklarwill send a message to Cardassia.”
Ruuv didn’t sound convinced. “I would think expelling all Cardassian citizens from the Empire would be message enough.”
Kravokh waved him off. “That is a tiny gesture, and does nothing to get us Ch’gran back. We were a mighty Empire once. Now we are reduced to a third-rate power, letting the Federation broker competitions while Cardassians hold one of our sacred relics hostage. Meanwhile, our so-called ‘leader’ lets our shipyards remain closed because he refuses to bring our ties to the Federation closer! Look at this!” He activated the hologram. “We should be trading Raknal’s zenite for this technology, but instead we let it sit unused. We—”
“Kravokh.”
The councillor blinked.
“I am not the one you need to convince,” Ruuv said with a smile. “Save this oratory for after you defeat Grivak.”
This time, Kravokh’s laugh was a full-throated one that echoed off the high ceiling of the practice room. “Indeed! And when it is over, you and I— CouncillorRuuv—will share a drink to celebrate!”
“I look forward to it.”
Ditagh died the next morning.
The Sonchiceremony was held that afternoon in Council Chambers. The corpse of Ditagh sat on the large chair that was the chamber’s centerpiece. Five had petitioned to be considered for the chancellorship, and all five, as well as K’Tal—whose job was to reduce that list to two—stood around the chair, along with aides and other companions, as well as the remainder of the High Council. Ruuv stood by Kravokh’s side, holding his painstik.
First K’Tal walked up to the chair holding his painstik, and issued the traditional challenge. “Face me if you dare!” Then he jabbed the corpse with the painstik, its red glow spreading across the chancellor’s chest.
Ditagh did not move.
The purpose of the ceremony was to verify for all to see that the old leader was truly dead. Like many old traditions, it served little purpose beyond the symbolic in this day and age. Indeed, many of the old rites had fallen away over time like the leaves off a dying tree, but this one remained.
Next was Grivak. Like Ditagh, he was a large, muscular warrior, with enough ca
“Face me if you dare,” Grivak said, sounding bored. He barely touched Ditagh with the painstik.
A woman named Altrom then approached. She had no aide, and carried her own painstik. Kravokh knew her as an agitator who mainly wished to reverse Kaarg’s decree that women could not serve on the Council.
“Face me,” she cried, “if you dare!”She practically shoved the painstik through Ditagh’s belly.
The other two petitioners took their turn, then, finally, it was down to Kravokh. Ruuv handed him the painstik, and he approached the corpse, now smoking with the remnants of five painstik bursts.
The erstwhile chancellor looked much older in death than he had in life. Yet part of him seemed almost—relieved? As if the burden of the chancellorship was too much for him,Kravokh thought. Certainly I would not argue that point.Ditagh had succeeded Kaarg, a reactionary chancellor whose entire platform consisted of not being Azetbur, but with no plan beyond that. The Ditagh regime was more of the same. Kravokh vowed that he would be remembered as more than the idiotic footnote that was, he hoped, the only fate that awaited Kaarg and Ditagh in the future.
“Face me if you dare,” Kravokh said, and applied the painstik. And of course, Ditagh did not face him, nor anyone else. The Sonchiwas especially fitting for a chancellor whose regime would be known as an era of doing nothing.
K’Tal then once again approached the chair, this time without the painstik, and spoke the phrase for which the ceremony was named. “He is dead.”
Then the young man turned to face the five petitioners. “I will now choose the final candidates to succeed Ditagh, as laid down in the traditions of our people.” K’Tal paused, letting the moment stretch. If someone with more of a sense of humor than he credited K’Tal with having were Arbiter, Kravokh would have half expected him to choose Altrom as one of the candidates. But K’Tal was in no position to make so radical a choice without dire consequences to his burgeoning career.
Several seconds passed. The politician in Kravokh admired the delaying tactic, though the warrior in him cried out for blood. Kravokh had worked his whole life for this moment, and he did not want it delayed because some boy wanted the spotlight on him for a few extra seconds.
“Kravokh, Grivak, come forward!”
It took all of Kravokh’s willpower to keep from smiling.
The fight did not last very long. Kravokh had been up all the night, spending half of it researching Grivak’s fighting style and programming it into his holographic sparring partner and the other half engaging the hologram in combat. Grivak’s thrusts and parries were all from above—if Kravokh emphasized strokes that came from below, Grivak would have a harder time defending or moving to the offensive. Although the real Grivak proved more adaptable than the hologram—the latter was limited by the short timeframe and its programming—Kravokh still made relatively short work of his competitor.