“T’Prynn,” he said, making a show of scanning the selection of games offered by the tabletop console, “I’m glad you’re okay. I’ve heard bits and pieces about what you went through, and I know how much that had to be affecting you while you were working for me. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to help.” Tim Pennington had offered him some of the details regarding his journey with Doctor Jabilo M’Benga and the comatose Vulcan to her home planet, where she had been treated for her neurological issues. M’Benga had later received orders assigning him to star-ship duty as the assistant chief medical officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise,whereas Pennington had accompanied T’Prynn on what could only be described as a circuitous voyage back to Vanguard. It was during that journey that the former intelligence officer, operating on her own, had determined Reyes’s status as a “guest” of the Klingons aboard the I.K.S. Zin’za,and had relayed that information to Starbase 47, perhaps even setting into motion the events that had brought him here, working with her.
“ No apologies are necessary, Mister Reyes,” T’Prynn said. “ Your detention and subsequent confinement while awaiting court-martial made you unable to render any assistance, not that there was anything you could have done. Ultimately, the course of action taken by Doctor M’Benga was the only means of treating my condition.”
Clearing his throat as he made a surreptitious visual scan of the bar to ensure no one at least appeared to be paying him undue attention, Reyes said, “Well, I guess I meant before all of that happened. I understand you felt you had to keep your condition a secret, and I can’t imagine what it must have been like to carry the burden you endured all those years.”
“ I understand and appreciate the emotional sentiment you are attempting to convey,” T’Prynn replied, “ but rest assured that there is nothing for which you need to apologize. The mental trauma I suffered is no longer an issue, and I have been held to account for concealing my condition as well as the illegal actions I took while acting as your intelligence officer. Those events are in the past, and my only desire is to carry out my duties which now include completing a mission that could prove very dangerous. I would prefer to concentrate on that for the moment.”
Seeing her point and agreeing with it, Reyes started to reply, but checked himself when one of the bar’s exotic and rather scantily clad servers chose that moment to approach his table. Though she was Orion and quite beautiful, Reyes did not for one moment believe that she was a lowly employee—not when she eyed him with an openly solicitous expression, and certainly not when she bent forward and allowed him an unfettered view of her ample cleavage.
“Something to drink?” she asked, her tone soft and alluring.
Nodding, Reyes said, “I’ll have a brandy, whatever brand you recommend.” In actuality, he had no real desire for the drink, but had decided that acting as much like a regular bar patron as possible would only help to mask his deception.
The server smiled at that. “Are you sure? Some of the labels are rather expensive.”
“I’ve been lucky at the tables,” Reyes replied, forcing a grin. “So, I figure why not celebrate a little?”
His answer seemed to please the Orion even further, as she leaned closer and lowered her voice almost to a whisper. “Well, if you’re looking to spoil yourself, I think I can help with that. Of course, I’m rather expensive, too.”
T’Prynn’s voice rang in his head. “ The server is undoubtedly a spy working for Ganz.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Reyes said, smiling again for the Orion’s benefit. “Let’s just start with the drink, and see where things go from there.”
Affecting a mock pout, the Orion pursed her lips. “Well, if that’s the way you want to play it. I can be patient, but not for toolong.” When she turned to leave, presumably to fetch his drink, she made a show of swinging her hips as she headed toward the bar, and punctuated the less than subtle invitation with a seductive glance over her shoulder.
“ Though I cannot hear what anyone is saying to you,” T’Prynn said, “ I can infer meanings based on your half of a given conversation. Beware that the myriad ways in which Ganz and Neera will seek to extract information from you know no bounds, Mister Reyes.”
Reyes grunted in agreement. “You have no idea.” During his stay aboard the Omari-Ekon,he had been confronted with all manner of attempts by various persons looking to befriend him or even to engage him in simple conversation. Someone might get chatty while sitting in an adjacent seat at one of the gaming tables, or while waiting at the bar for a drink or browsing in one of the shops on the merchant vessel’s small yet well-appointed esplanade. Then there were the women, of course, no doubt aimed at him by Neera, Ganz’s employer. Seeing through most of these attempts was easy enough, but there was the occasional sly effort that almost succeeded in catching him off guard. Though he kept almost everyone at the proverbial arm’s length just as a matter of general principle, Reyes had decided the best approach was simply to treat anyone he encountered aboard Ganz’s ship as a spy or other threat. In that regard, he had been most grateful when familiar faces like Tim Pennington and Zeke Fisher had found reasons to come aboard, just as he now appreciated the welcome voice of T’Prynn.
“Listen,” he said after a moment, “can we get on with this? I feel naked out here.” He began tapping selections on the gaming console, calling up an Orion variant of poker he had come to enjoy during his stay aboard ship. “I don’t know how long I can sit here before someone starts getting suspicious.”
“ Understood,” T’Prynn replied. “ Insert your credit chip into the console’s payment slot, and stand by.” Reyes occupied his time by playing a poker hand dealt to him by the gaming program’s computer-directed dealer, which he lost. As he watched his credit account reduced by the amount of his wager, he noted the screen’s graphics shift for the slightest of moments before returning to normal.
“Was that you?”
“ Affirmative. I have forged a connection with theOmari- Ekon ’s subnet. From here, I will be able to remotely monitor your actions and guide you accordingly.”
Frowning at the explanation, Reyes said, “I don’t understand. If you can see what I’m doing, why can’t you access the logs directly?”
“ Such activity likely would trigger security alerts,” T’Prynn said. “ So far, my actions have not been detected, but there may well be protective measures in place of which I am unaware.”
“Well, that’s encouraging,” Reyes said, looking once more about the bar. If T’Prynn was right and there were other, more covert monitoring schemes in place to detect any unauthorized access to the Omari-Ekon’s central computer system, he figured his life expectancy after being discovered would be measured in minutes. The only real question was whether Ganz would have his people exercise any modicum of discretion and have Reyes removed from public view before his execution, or simply shoot him on sight.
Suddenly, that drink he had ordered was sounding pretty good.
“ I am ready to proceed,” T’Prynn said a moment later. “ Press the controls that allow you to place a wager.”
Without answering, Reyes did as instructed and entered a bet for the next poker hand. In the screen’s lower left corner, a new window appeared. Unlike the rest of the screen, it contained only a prompt and a blinking cursor. He was able to hide that portion of the screen from casual view by resting his left arm on the table. “Okay, now what?”