Precipice

“Our objective is to observe, gather verifiable and actionable intelligence, and relay it to Starfleet as soon as possible.”

Waving his hands, he replied, “Wait, wait, wait. Are we talking about a peek from orbitkind of observation, or is this going to be more of a run through the Jinoteur shooting gallerytype of observation?”

The second blip disappeared from the sensor display. “The Zin’zahas gone to warp,” T’Pry

“Aye, skipper,” Pe

Casting a sidelong glance at T’Pry

She looked almost serene as she entered data into the navigation system. “Ideally, we would remain as distant as possible from our observational targets. We should not attempt to take direct action unless it is absolutely necessary.”

He harrumphed with bitter humor. “Who do you think you’re kidding? It’s alwaysbloody necessary.”

35

August 19, 2267

Until the deal was done, it was Zett Nilric’s job to be the eyes in the darkness, the fair witness to the transaction.

He was alone aboard his argosy, Icarion. The modern cargo ship was equipped with the latest state-of-the-art automations, which enabled him to work solo most of the time. It also afforded him the opportunity to travel in a modicum of comfort, which made his current long-term surveillance effort bearable.

Zett had been there for days. He had dropped out of warp a few million kilometers away, then coasted into position on inertia. Thrusters had sufficed to bring his ship to a halt without doing anything to a

There was only one seat in Icarion’s spacious cockpit. It was located at the forward end of the compartment and centered under the wraparound transparent canopy. Zett cast a tired look at the sensor screen to his left. It showed the Klingon battle cruiser Zin’zaand Joshua Kane’s vessel, the Ali Baba,holding station a few thousand kilometers from each other. So far the Klingons appeared to be unaware that Zett was lurking nearby as an observer to the exchange, and there was no sign of any other ship in the area, and no hint of a betrayal.

Good,Zett thought. It’s nice to see the Klingons exhibit a sense of honor once in a while.

Reclining, he caught his ghost of a reflection on the canopy overhead. Thanks to the darkness of the cockpit, his glossy black skin was all but invisible when mirrored against the backdrop of space. His charcoal-colored suit was nearly as hard to see. Only the pale violet twists of his braided beard bounced back enough light to be visible on the transparent metal overhead, though at first he mistook the spectral image for a smudge on the canopy’s exterior.

By now I’m sure Ganz’s court is in chaos,he thought, baring a grin of gleaming black teeth. As the Orion crime boss’s chief enforcer, it was Zett’s job to keep order aboard the OmariEkonand deal with any delicate problems that might arise during the regular course of business. He didn’t like to be away from his employer for too long, though not because he liked Ganz or acted out of any sense of loyalty to him. It had been Zett’s experience that Ganz, like many people in positions of power, often placed the blame for serious mishaps on the shoulders of people who were absent and therefore unable to acquit themselves. Zett had seen too many people learn the hard way that out of sightdidn’t always mean out of mind—sometimes it meant out of luck.

An alert beeped softly on the sensor readout. The Klingons were beaming someone over to the Ali Baba.

So far, so good,mused Zett.

He imagined one of the Klingon officers paying Kane his exorbitant fee for executing an all but impossible heist from a secure Starfleet lab on Vanguard. No doubt it would gall the Klingons to pay a thief when their blood burned for combat and conquest. There was a risk they might take out their frustrations on poor Joshua Kane. If the deal went sour, it was Zett’s job to cover Kane’s escape if possible; if it wasn’t, then his orders were to note which ship had been responsible for the betrayal, and leave the rest to Ganz’s network of underworld operatives.

Another soft beep turned Zett’s head. The Zin’zawas beaming its courier and prize back from Kane’s ship. Moments later the Klingon cruiser powered up its impulse engines and maneuvered away on a rimward heading deeper into the Taurus Reach.

At the same time, the Ali Babaengaged its engines and set a course in the opposite direction, back toward the explored region of this hotly contested sector.

Kane’s ship was the first to make the jump to warp speed. The Klingons followed suit, and Zett’s sensor showed nothing but empty, quiet space.

Another day, another paycheck,Zett thought as he sat forward. He would wait thirty minutes for the Klingons to move out of sensor range before bringing Icarion’s warp drive online, then he would set a course similar to that of the Ali Baba. If all went well, he would be back on the Omari-Ekonin a few weeks.

He was about to restart his impulse drive when a buzzing alert on his console made him stop, watch, and listen.

Turning toward the sensor readout, Zett saw an energy reading from another impulse engine core. It was fewer than ten thousand kilometers away. At first he thought it must be for a very small craft, such as a shuttle, but then he realized certain elements of its power signature were inconsistent with that conclusion. Must be well masked,he reasoned. Which means someone is trying very hard not to be seen.

The discovery that he was not the only one spying on Kane’s meeting with the Klingons made Zett smile. He wondered who else might have a motive for being there, and how they had known where the rendezvous had been scheduled to take place.

He sat back and continued his observation. The other ship took its time restarting its warp drive; whoever was ru

Normally, once goods and payment had been exchanged, there was no more need to safeguard the deal. In this case, however, Zett worried that if the mysterious interloper somehow sabotaged the transaction after the fact, the Klingons might decide to seek revenge on the last known parties involved. Zett couldn’t take that chance, especially not with a contract this valuable.

More important, he needed to know how the coordinates for Kane’s secret meeting with the Klingons had fallen into the wrong hands. Whoever had been out there hadn’t followed the Ali Babaor the Zin’zato the rendezvous; they had to have been waiting for as long as Zett had been, if not longer.

Either someone aboard the Omari-Ekonhad talked, or the internal security on Ganz’s ship had been compromised.