Precipice

“No, sir,” the Andorian said. “All outgoing vessels have been thoroughly inspected, and we are continuing to carry out hard-target searches of all compartments on the station.”

“Have we dredged the waste processors?”

“Yes, Admiral,” ch’Nayla said. “We found no sign of the artifact or any evidence linked to the crime. However …” He nodded to the executive officer. “I have reviewed Commander Cooper and Lieutenant Jackson’s report speculating on the crime’s particulars, and I was forced to draw one inescapable conclusion. Whoever pla

Nogura said, “You’re suggesting it might have been an inside job.”

Ch’Nayla replied, “I think it’s very likely, sir.”

“Draw up a list of all perso

Jackson replied, “None taken, sir.”

Though she had been summoned to brief Nogura on the state of her failed criminal prosecution of Joshua Kane, Desai now realized she had another, more pressing duty: to prevent an u

She felt as if she had shrank slightly in her seat as the full weight of the admiral’s stare fell upon her. “Explain,” he said.

“Early this morning, I filed a report with security about an unauthorized communication I’d received last night from the fugitive T’Pry

The room was quiet with anticipation as she confessed.

“She told me Diego Reyes is alive and in Klingon custody. He knew everything Kane would have needed to break into the Vault and escape with the artifact. Which means if T’Pry

32

August 2, 2267

Pe

The sounds became more distinct as he groggily walked forward in the main corridor. The deck plates felt like ice under his bare feet. A shiver traveled up his legs to his spine.

Not a night goes by I don’t regret not packing slippers,he lamented.

Like the rest of the Skylla’s interior, the cockpit was mostly dark. A handful of computer readouts bathed the cramped space in weak ambient light.

T’Pry

As Pe

Finally, she returned the console to its standby mode and removed the transceiver from her ear. “I am sorry if I woke you,” she said.

“No worries. Anything good?”

She nodded once. “We intercepted an interesting signal from Vanguard to Starfleet Command. I was able to break the encryption sequence, but most of the message is written in a code with which I am not familiar.” She called up a transcript of the intercept. “However, this sequence—‘Echo Sierra Bravo, nine, seven, red’—appears to be a legacy code from my tenure as the SI liaison.”

Leaning forward, Pe

“It indicates that an extreme security breach has occurred in relation to the principal mission objective.”

Pe

“Or perhaps both,” T’Pry

That made Pe

“Precisely,” T’Pry

He shrugged. “Well, you know us reporters: sometimes we put two and two together.”

33

August 3, 2267

The Vault was a shambles. Dust and debris littered the floor at Ming Xiong’s feet.

“Most of the damage was localized here, in the experiment chamber,” he said to Admiral Nogura, Dr. Marcus, and Commander ch’Nayla. “The intruder used an ultritium charge to knock out the transparent aluminum barrier.” Xiong stood in front of a bank of shattered consoles facing the breach in the safety barrier. “Blowback from that detonation destroyed these master terminals. Until we replace them, the lab’s internal network will be offline.”

Nogura’s countenance was grim as he surveyed the damage. “You said you had good news to report, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir,” Xiong replied. He looked at Marcus. “With your permission, Doctor?”

“By all means,” Marcus said. “Proceed.”

Xiong nodded and continued. “Although our burglar got away with the artifact, we’ve confirmed he had no access to the Vault’s memory banks. When the evacuation alert was triggered, the computer system secured itself automatically. So at least we still have all our experimental data.”

“Small comfort,” said ch’Nayla. The Andorian flicked a shard of cracked polymer off a charred console. It bounced across the deck and disappeared through the open floor panel into the sub-level.

“It’s more important than you might think,” Xiong said. “I saw what little progress the Klingons made with the artifact, both before and after they put me to work on it. We’ve learned far more about it than they ever did, or ever could.” He looked back at Nogura. “I’d like to show you what my team was working on up until we lost the artifact.”

The senior officers and Dr. Marcus pressed in close as Xiong found an intact console and coaxed it back to life. “Even though our scans failed to penetrate its outer surface, we were able to measure other phenomena to develop a virtual model of the artifact’s subatomic structure.” He activated a display screen, which showed an animated wire frame image of the twelve-sided alien object. “Our simulation was able to predict the artifact’s response to new stimuli with near-perfect accuracy. I believe we can continue our research even without the original artifact. At least, on a theoretical level.”