Snippet #2815965

"Remember that Yosho Takayama may yet refuse coronation," Drulović cautioned Gouda. "He retreated to a shrine for a reason, you know." She'd long wondered what that luxury might be like, but never had time to wonder long. Terra demanded all of her attention. Terra asked for her life - and now her freedom.

The old woman watched Kendra with little expression when the younger woman spoke, first in Taiyou then Terran common. "I've suspected, certainly, but I don't suppose it matters much now," she replied. "Legality be damned - morality too, along with it. Terra has never recognized following orders as a defense to crimes against humanity or crimes against sentience." She pressed her thumb against a smudge on the table's surface, rubbing at it until it began to fade. The most serious charges laid against her had been dismissed, not because of any defense she'd raised, but because the judge had decided that acts taken before the TNG's formation could not be prosecuted on Terra. It had been almost comical, except to the families of the dead, and the survivors still living. "Make no mistake, Ms. Shaw, I know well what I have done in my life and why - and I've paid a terrible price for it. I can't remember when last I slept well at night. They haunt me, as well they should." Drulović ceased moving her thumb, sighing heavily, and blinked up at Kendra's image on the screen. "But tell me, if you'd like, of what happened to you - of what you did."