Author's Notes: This is just half a chapter, but I've been running into some trouble with the second half, while this part is OK as it stands; so I thought I might as well upload it.

At this point I should add that I am rapidly approaching the end of the finished, or even half-finished, bits of the story. But I'll upload the rest of this chapter, and there may well be something after it; beyond that I make no promises.

PRIME DIRECTIVE

Chapter 12

Hirun Ta'Nemek Gontha did nothing to hide his surprise when Picard entered his office around mid-morning the following day. He rose slowly from behind his massive desk, studied his visitor for several moments and said at length: "I wasn't aware that we had an appointment, Captain."

"We didn't. Please forgive my intrusion, Speaker – I am afraid I bullied Secretary Zikané into showing me the way, and into getting me past your assistant as well. Do you have a few minutes?"

Gontha looked down on a number of writing pads and what looked like file cards scattered all over his desk. "It depends on what you want them for. I am rather busy."

"I was going to ask for some information on the current state of Tala-Hurso relations, on your work, and on Ras Hettith in particular," Picard replied matter-of-factly. "The moment seemed appropriate, seeing that both Ta'Arun Sathene and Arun Halé are attending a meeting of what I think must be some kind of crisis committee."

"Meaning, since both you and I are evidently not wanted there, you weren't going to miss the opportunity of getting me alone?" Gontha's tone was sharp.

"Meaning, I realized I had a fair chance of finding you here." The captain made very sure that his own voice stayed level. "Speaker, if this is inconvenient, I'll leave. All you have to do is say so."

A pause. "Actually," said Gontha, "I might as well tell you what you want to know. If you really want to know it. In case you're interested, I'm working on a speech. To be broadcast tomorrow, asking my fellow countrymen to refrain from rash action, for all the good it'll do. With regard to whatever it is Hettith may be up to, you understand. I can finish it this afternoon." He pushed his chair back. "Let's go for a walk."

Gontha's assistant, a younger man who had been quietly working away between stacks of files when Picard entered the outer office, was now hovering in the middle of the room as if he expected trouble of some sort. From an adjacent room the agitated murmur of several voices could be heard – the Speaker's staff, presumably. Gontha nodded towards the young man in passing.

"My private secretary, Kalon Heltagé. I'll be gone for a little while, Heltagé, and please don't tell anybody to try again this afternoon. I probably won't be available until tomorrow," he said, almost in the act of preceding Picard out of the room. "By the way, Captain – what are your officers doing?"

"My first officer is with Sub-Minister Té Rabanek, probably taking a crash course in your world's technology. And Arun Rassa very kindly offered to take Commander Troi and Lieutenant Worf on a tour of the city."

"They are the ones who will be providing the tour," Gontha commented somewhat cryptically, setting off down the wide hall outside his offices. Outwardly at least, Picard noted, the Hurso speaker was a minister in all but name. The hall, and what he had seen of the office itself, was magnificent, and a passing clerk gave them a respectful salute – as well as a long, interested look.

"Well," said Gontha after a few moments, slowing down somewhat. "I confess I'm a little puzzled. If my memory serves me right you gave a point-blank refusal about this time yesterday when Sathene asked for your help in dealing with Hettith. Now you come to me for information about him. Why?"

"I heard the ligor's point of view. I heard Ta'Arun Sathene's. I never heard yours. Incidentally, I don't want information about Hettith alone. And I am sure you know that I have been asked to sit in on the talks you will probably have to conduct if this uprising is to be prevented."

"True enough. Sathene told me yesterday, and as a matter of fact it's in all the broadcasts today. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the governer is hoping for. That directive of yours forbids you to do anything about it, doesn't it?"

"It does, and then it is hardly my place to do anything about the problems of your world, Speaker. But nothing forbids me to take an interest in them, or to collect what information I can."

"I see." Gontha was silent for a few moments, apparently gathering his thoughts. Finally he looked up. "First of all I must apologize. I have hardly been on my best manners so far. At the time Governer Ongar's probe program was regarded with suspicion by many Hurso, myself included, but we didn't really believe anything would come of it. And here you are, and you're not exactly what I would have expected. I suppose it caught me off guard."

"No apology is required for that, Speaker."

"You are very gracious, Captain. Very well. Where should I start?"

"With Thana Ta'Arun Ongar, perhaps." The captain found himself frowning a little. "In the material sent us he comes over as a courageous and enlightened man, although I am aware that the material was compiled by his own team of scholars and scientists. You seem rather less sanguine about his achievements."

"Ah. Yes. I imagine that must have been rather obvious. Don't get me wrong – I know Ongar is regarded as a sort of visionary by many people, and I suppose he was, in a way. But for all his goodwill we are pretty much where we were when he died. And I might just as well tell you how he died," Gontha added with a degree of bitterness, "because sooner or later someone will tell you. He was shot by a Hurso fanatic not two turns after that probe was launched. You can imagine it didn't make things any easier for my people."

"Yes. I can. But what was the point in assassinating the first head of state who ever showed an interest in integrating the Hurso at all?"

"I suppose," Gontha said carefully, "Ongar didn't move fast enough, or decidedly enough, to satisfy people who had been second-class citizens for generations. And I must admit I see their point, even if I don't like their methods. Yes, there had been efforts. But they always fell short of what was required. This used to be our continent, Captain. I have no sympathy for fanatics who claim that we should unite and drive the Tala into the sea, or some such nonsense. But the way things are going we may be expected to remain second-class citizens for another generation or so. People won't accept that. And I can't in good conscience ask them to."

Picard nodded without replying. "What were your reservations about the probe program?" he asked then.

"I wasn't on the cabinet at the time – I was nowhere near the cabinet. But the general opinion among my people was that if anything came of it it would benefit those already in power. As Ras Hettith now claims it does."

"Tell me about this Ras Hettith," said Picard.

"I'd have thought Ta'Arun Sathene must have done that already," Gontha retorted with some of his former touchiness. "Ah, yes, you want my side of it – is that it? Very well, but don't expect me to act the partisan." He stopped at a window to look out, briefly, before continuing. The window overlooked a sun-baked courtyard. Picard could see someone – a clerk probably – crossing it with a bundle of documents under his arm.

"He is from an old Hurso family. Countrypeople, proud and poor, that sort of thing." Gontha withdrew from the window, and resumed his walk. "First rose to visibility about twenty-four turns ago. There was another uprising – I won't bore you with the details. Something to do with a tax that favored certain parts of the population that just happened to be overwhelmingly Tala. The government reacted rather unwisely. Things developed into a full-blown civil war. Hettith was quite young, but he made a name for himself at the time – discovered himself to possess a lot of charisma and an uncanny talent for guerrilla warfare. The uprising was quashed, but the brutality of the government troops, and the fact that the rebels had a good cause to begin with, led to quite a lot of sympathy for the Hurso plight. Towards the end of the war Hettith was a popular hero. And a martyr, because the devastation inflicted on his home province was among the worst of the war. In the end he just disappeared – he would have been executed for treason had he been caught. But in the aftermath of the war the first pro-Hurso reforms worthy of the name were instituted."

Picard said nothing, merely nodding and waiting for him to go on.

"Hettith wasn't heard of for a number of turns. Some people thought him dead. Others insisted that he was merely hiding. He would have become a legend either way. The next civil war broke out when yet another cabinet decided to deny the Hurso certain civil rights. And Hettith was back – this time with a small armed force he'd gathered and trained in secret." Gontha smiled grimly. "He was very good at choosing his targets. He always made his point. A terrorist, Captain – but a brilliant terrorist, and one with an agenda many people can identify with. When that war was over the governer who had been provisionally elected in the course of it – Sathene – had to grant him an amnesty. That was about five turns ago. Since then… well, there have been activities, but they couldn't be traced back to him. He hasn't done anything that would justify his arrest, not openly. Until now."

I see, Picard found himself thinking. If Sathene had come to power in the midst of a major crisis that might explain a few things about the man. "Do you know Hettith personally?" he asked.

"Know him? No. But we have met." Gontha favored him with another sour smile. "I am the official Hurso speaker. That alone makes me look suspicious in the eyes of many of my own people, Captain. I walk with the mighty. I talk and talk, aiming for tiny improvements and achieving nothing. He, on the other hand –" A brief snort. "He may not have achieved much either, except a trail of corpses. But people like Hettith will always appear to be the ones who change things."

"Then you would say the Hurso population supports him?"

"No, Captain, I wouldn't say that." Gontha gave an audible sigh. "There are sympathizers, fervent and otherwise. Quite a lot of them. But most of my people don't want civil war and bloodshed. They simply want their rights. So far, neither Hettith nor I have succeeded in earning them these rights. In the long run, my chances are better. In the here and now…" He hesitated. "As I said, he is a popular hero. Most people have never seen him. There is a certain glamour to men like him, and there is a great deal of bitterness among my people. Do you understand that?" A little to Picard's surprise there was an almost pleading tone to the question.

"Yes," said the captain. "As a matter of fact I do."

"Not that it will change a thing." Gontha looked back over his shoulder at the long hallway. "Captain," he said rather abruptly, "if you don't mind, I would prefer to continue some other time. I really have to get back to my work. We'll meet at the cabinet dinner tonight anyway."

"Of course," Picard said, surprised – and he had barely spoken when Gontha turned away with a brief nod and headed back the way they had come, leaving him standing in the middle of the hallway. The captain looked after him for a moment with a slight frown; then he shook his head, turned away and decided to look for a way down into the small, lush and still-shady garden courtyard he could see from the windows.

- - - - - - - -

Dramatis personae for this chapter:

Ulaz Ta'Arun Sathene: Head of Turië's government, or "governer"

Senna Arun Halé: Turië's Minister for Interior Affairs

Hirun Ta'Nemek Gontha: the official Hurso representative, or "speaker", on the cabinet

Kalon Heltagé: Gontha's secretary

Kamarzin Arun Rassa: Turië's Minister forLaw and Justice

Astorga "Ras" Hettith: „the Major", a Hurso leader

Thana Ta'Arun Ongar: an earlier governer of Turië, and thus Belet-Irune