This morning's prompt was 'The Final Reflection', also by John M. Ford. BTW, I've always had a sneaking suspicion that Bujold's 'Shards of Honor' started life out as a Star Trek novella, and of course today I've been thinking about 'Barrayar'. Prigo ended his Pu-pu coup, apparently...

Stuff and nonsense, you can't see the board!