Precipice

Ch’Nayla’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, and his ante

“I know. But look how much Starfleet has increased its presence in this sector in the past few months. I think we might be in a position to flex our muscles a bit.” He stepped closer to the star map and permitted himself a small but devilish smile of anticipation. “The Klingons seem to get a kick out of ru

22

June 4, 2267

After more than two months cooped up inside the Skylla,adrift in deep space, Pe

He had tried filling the hours, days, and weeks with his own writing, but his thoughts felt unfocused. The harder he tried to shape his recent experiences into a narrative, the greater his mental paralysis became. Words refused to come.

Sitting alone in the cockpit, gazing out at the stars, he let himself drift into an almost hypnotic trance. Enveloped in blissful silence, he let his mind go quiet. What had started out weeks earlier as excruciating boredom had evolved into something new and unexpected: serenity.

The noise and chaos of his old life fell away. He let go of the need to fill every moment with ordered thoughts, pointless conversation, or entertaining distraction. Finally graced with a surfeit of time, he discovered the simple pleasure of merely letting himself be…

An alert flashed on the cockpit’s main console, and its repetitive buzzing sound dragged him back into the bleak reality of the moment.

He turned and shouted down the main corridor, “T’Pry

A door slid open, and he heard T’Pry

She silenced the alert and activated the sensor console. After studying the readout for a few seconds, she removed a small transceiver from the console and placed it in her left ear. Listening intently, she turned to Pe

“Ganz’s ship?” His pulse quickened. “Is it close?”

“Very,” T’Pry

T’Pry

Pe

“We will maintain a moderate distance from his vessel,” T’Pry

“Do you think that’s likely? That they might not see us?”

“No, I do not. Orion vessels often are better equipped than Federation civilian starships. We must expect their sensors are at least as accurate as our own and act accordingly.” She entered more commands into the helm. “I have programmed the autopilot to maintain a constant bearing and range from Ganz’s ship. After I adjust our warp signature to match that of the OmariEkon,we should appear to its sensors as a subspace echo.”

“Will that really work?”

“As I lack powers of precognition, I ca

Pe

“I could have, but I did not.” Though her face betrayed no hint of emotion, Pe

“Intercepting external communications ought to be a snap,” Pe

Engrossed in her work, she answered without turning around. “I will attempt to remotely activate and enable a number of taps that were covertly installed aboard the Omari-Ekonduring my tenure as Vanguard’s liaison to Starfleet Intelligence.”

Leaning forward to make sure he’d heard her correctly, he asked, “Did you say taps? As in electronic eavesdropping?”

“Correct,” T’Pry

Pe

“Yes, they are.” The screen in front of her filled with a cascade of raw information. Schematics, strings of alien text, static images, and vid-clips flashed by. “The taps are still in place and fully functional. All checksums are valid, indicating they have not been tampered with.”

After a moment of grappling with his conflicting emotions, Pe

“It is highly unlikely my act of private espionage would constitute an act of war,” T’Pry

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure that’s the benchmark by which we should—”

“In any event, it is irrelevant unless the commander of the Omari-Ekonwishes to publicly admit its security was breached. Based on my previous observations of Neera, I would speculate she is far too pragmatic to risk diminishing her public image by admitting to such a failure on her ship.”

Now thoroughly confused, Pe

“She pretends to be Ganz’s harem madam and personal mistress. In fact, like many Orion women who wield influence through powerful men, she lets Ganz serve as the public face of her criminal organization while she rules from the shadows.”

Pe

“Yes,” T’Pry

“Did any of the information you obtained ever lead to an arrest or a conviction of any of Ganz’s men?”

She partially turned her head in his direction. “No.”

“Why not?”

“As you have duly noted, our placement of the taps was a violation of sovereign Orion territory. Because they were illegally installed, none of the intelligence they provided could ever be legally admissible in a Federation court of law or Starfleet court-martial.”

He waved a hand at the screen full of data and snapped, “If you knew none of this could be used for prosecutions, then what the hell was it for?”