What Judgments Come

“That plan sounds so stupid, it just might work,” Reyes observed.

Rather than take offense, Hetzlein smiled. “My father always liked the K.I.S.S. principle: Keep It Simple, Starfleet. It’s not the flashiest plan, but it doesn’t have a lot of moving parts. Fewer things to screw up.”

“Uh-huh,” Reyes replied, already considering different possibilities for gaining an advantage at some point before they could beam him off the ship. “And what happens if Ganz or one of his goons makes you, or us? What’s the plan then?”

Hetzlein and Gianetti exchanged glances before Gianetti lifted his left leg so that he could reach for the sole of the boots he wore. Unlike Starfleet-issue boots, their footwear lacked defined heels, and Gianetti simply flipped the entire sole of his boot down, revealing a hidden compartment within. Resting in the padded niche was what Reyes recognized as a compact phaser not unlike the standard-issue Starfleet type-1 model. Gianetti’s concealed phaser was a civilian counterpart to that weapon, no doubt a deliberate choice so as to further hinder his and Hetzlein’s identification as Starfleet perso

“Then we revise the plan,” Hetzlein said.

Reyes did not have to wait long for opportunity to present itself.

Following Hetzlein down a stretch of corridor and with Gianetti behind him and holding on to his right arm, Reyes watched as the lieutenant came to a T-intersection in the passageway. The doorway at the head of the junction was one he recognized as being the entrance to the maintenance area.

“Sure you want to be caught doing that?” he asked, adopting a slight mocking tone as Hetzlein began to press keys on the pad set into the wall next to the hatch. His question earned him a squeeze on his arm from Gianetti.

Hetzlein ignored him, instead focusing her attention on the keypad. She began pressing keys in what looked to be a random pattern, and Reyes heard her curse just under her breath as whatever she tried failed to open the door. “Something’s wrong,” she said after a moment. “The code’s not working.”

“Are you sure you entered it right?” Gianetti asked, moving to get a closer look at the pad. His movements brought him abreast of Reyes, who took prompt advantage of the other man’s momentary lapse and punched him in the side of the head. Gianetti grunted from the force of the strike, staggering forward and falling into Hetzlein.

“Son of a bitch!”

Ignoring Hetzlein’s cry of surprise, Reyes was already sprinting down the corridor, scrambling to put distance between him and his would-be captors. He turned a corner, but already he could hear the sound of boots ru

“Do that again,” Gianetti growled through gritted teeth as he closed the distance, pointing the phaser at Reyes’s face to emphasize his threat.

Reyes eyed the other man. “If you don’t do it, Ganz or his people will if they find us.”

“Move,” Hetzlein said, pulling Reyes by his arm and indicating for him to follow along. “We’re heading to the secondary extraction point.”

Before Reyes could say anything in reply, a new voice entered the conversation: T’Pry

“ Mister Reyes,” the Vulcan said, her voice sounding small and distant due to a faint crackle of background static, “ I am attempting to monitor the situation from my position, but I am still working to acquire information. Do not acknowledge this transmission, as these agents are unaware of our communications link.”

Reyes was about to say something regardless of the Vulcan’s instructions, but the words died in his throat as two Orion males emerged from around a corner at the far end of the passageway. They were less than twenty meters away, which made it easy for him to identify the squat, short-barreled disruptor pistol each of them carried. He flinched at the howl of energy in the narrow corridor and the almost electrical sensation playing across his exposed skin an instant before realizing that the source was the weapon in Gianetti’s hand. The security officer had fired his own phaser over Reyes’s shoulder while standing directly behind him, with the blue-white beam striking the lead Orion in the chest. No sooner was he falling than Hetzlein followed with her own phaser, dispatching the other Orion with ease. Within seconds, the two security officers had released their hold on Reyes and were kneeling next to the fallen guards, retrieving their weapons and, to Reyes at least, looking for anything else of possible value. From one point, Hetzlein pulled what he recognized as a magnetic key.

“Our cover’s blown,” Hetzlein said, dividing her attention between her immediate task and the corridor behind and ahead of them.

Gianetti said, “They know we’re here, and they know why we’re here, but they don’t know that you know anything about it. Just play dumb.”

Shrugging, Reyes replied, “Not much point to that. You know this ship has internal sensors, right? It’s not going to be hard for them to find us, even if they didn’t keep tabs on me every second of every day.” There was no turning back now, he realized; if this extraction failed and he ended up remaining on the Omari-Ekon,his death at Ganz’s hands was all but certain.

“It’s been factored in,” Hetzlein said. “Right now, the station’s chief engineer is testing the main deflector array after it experienced an unexplained malfunction last night. The effects of these tests are that there’s all sorts of feedback and interference being thrown off by the thing.”

“A malfunctioning deflector array,” Reyes repeated, for T’Pry

In his head, Reyes heard T’Pry

“Why are we standing around, then?” Gianetti asked, a hint of anxiety in his voice. “Let’s get the hell out of here before they send everybody with a weapon after us.”

Reyes felt the larger man grab his arm again as the trio once more set off through the winding corridors, and he could not help shaking the anxiety he was feeling at the thought of moving away from the ship’s more populated areas. Recalling what he knew of the vessel’s internal configuration, he knew that this section comprised living quarters, storage, and maintenance access points. The omnipresent hum of the Omari-Ekon’s engines was even more noticeable here, reverberating off the bare metal deck plates and bulkheads. The doors on either side of the passageway were unadorned save for a single small plaque set into the metal at eye level and providing its compartment designation. Reyes had taken the time to learn how the designators were assigned, so he was able to discern that they were on a lower level and nearing the aft third of the ship.

Dark and isolated. Perfect for a nice, quiet execution.

Turning one more bend in the hallway, Hetzlein stopped before a reinforced hatch set into the bulkhead at the end of a short corridor spur. A hexagonal keypad with a magnetic reader was set into the wall next to the door, with three rows of four keys highlighted in blue and featuring characters in Orion text. Without hesitation, Hetzlein swiped the card she had taken from the Orion, and this time was rewarded with the sound of the oversized door’s lock disengaging.