Take your best shot, Ganz,he mused before tossing back his head and downing the drink in a single swallow. He relished the burn of the brandy as it made its way down his throat, grunting in momentary satisfaction as the liquid hit his stomach. If he was going to die, there certainly were worse ways to go.
“ Mister Reyes,” T’Prynn called, for the eighth or ninth time.
“Listen,” he said as he placed the now empty glass on the table, “given the likelihood that I’ll be dead by this time tomorrow, why don’t you just call me Diego?”
There was a brief pause before the intelligence officer replied, “ Diego, my scans indicate that our efforts escaped detection.”
“Lucky us,” Reyes said. “Now what?” He figured that whatever T’Prynn was planning as a countermeasure to the security they had detected in the system would require time to implement before they could attempt another covert access of the Omari-Ekon’s computer. This assumed, of course, that such a scheme could be devised at all.
It may have been his imagination, but Reyes swore he heard the indecision in the Vulcan’s voice when she offered her answer.
“ Stand by. I will contact you shortly.”
14
Standing before the large viewscreen that dominated his office’s port-side bulkhead, Admiral Nogura studied the image of open space presented to him. Doing so had always served to relax him, as he was able to lose himself—if only for a moment—amid the immense, absolute wonder that was the universe. How many stars were visible just in his field of vision at this exact moment, and how many of them had already died out, millions of years before their light reached him? Beholding such a vista never failed to remind Nogura just how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of all that surrounded him, and yet it also never ceased to energize him as he considered its vast, untapped potential. In the centuries to come, the boundaries of knowledge would push outward to encompass those stars, and still others beyond them, and what would be found? The very question filled Nogura with yearning, and even a small bit of envy for those who would be making such journeys long after he was gone.
That said, I plan to be here for at least a while longer.
Turning to face his visitors, Nogura indicated the viewscreen with a gesture. “Do you know what this place needs? A window. Viewscreens are nice, but I like looking out the real thing.”
Seated in the two chairs positioned before the admiral’s desk, Commander ch’Nayla said nothing, whereas Lieutenant T’Prynn regarded Nogura with a cocked eyebrow.
“A viewscreen affords you many options that a window cannot provide.”
Despite the serious nature of the meeting for which the trio had assembled, Nogura regarded the Vulcan with mild amusement. “It’s just not the same, T’Prynn.” While it was true that the screen could be configured to display an image at any angle as supplied by the station’s external sensor array, Nogura had grown accustomed to the large window at the rear of his offices on Earth. One of his habits—time and circumstances permitting, of course—had been to sit before that window, sipping from a cup of his favorite herbal tea, and look across San Francisco Bay and out toward the Pacific Ocean, watching as the sun, framed by the Golden Gate Bridge, slipped below the horizon. It was the perfect complement to the other half of his daily ritual, when he greeted sunrise from the porch of his mountaintop home in the Colorado Rockies and observed a small interval of tranquillity before transporting to Starfleet Headquarters to face whatever duties, tasks, and demands awaited him. Since arriving at Starbase 47, he had made do with the simulated dawn and dusk as presented within the terrestrial enclosure that occupied a significant portion of the station’s primary hull and offered Vanguard’s residents an illusion of being on a planet. It was a serviceable substitute, but it did not diminish his desire to return home one day.
One day,Nogura mused, but not today.
Making his way to the rear of his office, the admiral moved to the food slot set into the wall behind his desk. He retrieved one of the half-dozen data cards held in a small alcove next to the slot and inserted it into the reader below the device’s door before pressing three of the unit’s selection keys in a predetermined sequence. While he waited for the computer to process his order, he turned to ch’Nayla and T’Prynn. “I take it from your lack of a status report from Mister Reyes that you’ve encountered some difficulty accessing the Omari-Ekon’s navigation logs?”
“That’s correct, Admiral,” T’Prynn replied. Nogura retrieved and held his tea, waiting for it to cool a bit, as the Vulcan recounted the first attempt to infiltrate the Orion vessel’s computer system, along with the current obstacles preventing her and Diego Reyes from extracting the required data.
“Using an outmoded variation of one of the older Orion languages is a simple yet effective security measure. While our computer’s translation protocols are sufficient to render the proper conversions, doing so via a remote connection between the Omari-Ekonand the station would increase the likelihood of our infiltration being detected.”
Nodding in understanding, Nogura moved to the chair behind his desk and sat. “But you’re sure that neither your nor Mister Reyes’s activities were discovered?”
Commander ch’Nayla replied, “Not so far as we can tell, Admiral. A scan of the computer system while the link was established picked up no traces of monitoring. No alerts were issued, and civilian spotters aboard the Omari-Ekonreport that Mister Reyes has not been approached or subjected to any unusual scrutiny.”
“Well,” Nogura said as he held his cup to his nose and savored the tea’s faint, soothing aroma, “no more than was already in place, at any rate.” He paused to sip from the tea before asking, “All right, so a direct connection from here is out of the question. What other options are available to us?”
T’Prynn looked to ch’Nayla as though seeking approval before answering, “The option with the least amount of variables from a security standpoint is to provide Mister Reyes with a translation device which can be interfaced with the Omari-Ekon’s central computer. Once engaged, he will have the freedom to navigate the system and retrieve the information we seek.”
Clearing his throat, Nogura said, “And do so without tripping any of those alerts and alarms you’ve so far managed to avoid. I’m going to hazard a guess that such an item can’t be obtained from the station quartermaster.”
“No, sir,” ch’Nayla replied. “We would have to program the device for this specific task, using the information we’ve gathered about the Omari-Ekon’s computer system.”
“Even with such preparation,” T’Prynn added, “there remains a risk of detection, as we might still trigger a security protocol of which we are not yet aware.”
Nogura could not help offering a small chuckle. “Those are the best kind, Lieutenant.” Not for the first time, the admiral was beginning to question the wisdom of undertaking this risky bit of espionage. While the importance of the data locked in the Orion vessel’s navigation system could not be ignored, was there no other way to obtain it without resorting to these sorts of clandestine schemes? Although he understood the necessity for conducting such operations, Nogura had always preferred a more direct approach to solving problems of this type. Given time, he was certain he could find something—some price—that Ganz or even his superior, Neera, would be willing to accept in exchange for the information he sought. The problem with such an aboveboard tactic was that it required Nogura to trust the Orions, which was something he had no intention of doing. “Okay, so you’re going to prepare something for Reyes to use. What then?”
“As before,” T’Prynn replied, “I will guide Mister Reyes through another infiltration of the system. With the translation device in place, doing so should facilitate our efforts and allow us to retrieve the data in short order.”