Empire's Legacy

Chapter 19: Lies, Spies, and Shades of the Past

"Well, you don't look a thing like yourself," Grey said. "What's with the face?"

"Copious amounts of paints," Amy replied.

Grey eyed her suspiciously. "Something you learned overnight?"

She smiled disarmingly. "One picks up useful skills over the years, Grey. I don't ask you how you've become so very talented, do I?"

He muttered something unintelligible and then said, "Are you ready, then?"

"Yes."

"You don't have to do this, you know," Taz said. He was lounging against the bulkhead, a concerned expression on his face. "You don't owe any of us anything. You hired us to a do a job."

She fixed him with an intent look. "I have a great deal of empathy for that little girl. Quite aside from that, however, I have my own life, about which you know nothing. This has as much to do with me as it does any of you."

Taz shrugged, but his eyes didn't leave Amy's face. "You're always welcome back to the Sophia."

"You say that," Amy said, "but I imagine Grey wishes he'd never taken this job."

"Not entirely true," Grey said, brushing past her. "I may change my mind, however, once I work out who you are."

"For your sake, I hope you don't." She hesitated, and then caught his arm. "May I speak with you for a moment?" She glanced over her shoulder at Taz. "Alone?"

Taz pushed himself upright. "I'll step out and see how your welcoming party's doing." He smiled, but he looked troubled.

As the hatch closed behind him, Grey turned to Amy. "What's this about, then?"

"You know you have a spy on this ship, right?"

Grey's jaw worked. "Yes," he said at last. "How do you know that?"

"As I said. One tends to pick up useful skills over the years." She lifted a hand to run it through her hair and stopped just in time to avoid disturbing her wig. "I'm concerned, however, because if someone's reporting the movements of this ship back to the Commission, then this entire mission could be compromised."

Shaking his head, Grey said, "When we returned from Idylla I had a look at the logs. Someone was sending messages somewhere, but I've shut down all external communications aside from logging our flight path with Peleteth. If someone's been sending messages to the Commission, then it's been through some other method—and we should have picked up the signal."

"Your crew knew about the plan to rescue Molly before we left for Idylla," Amy pointed out.

"But we didn't have a solid plan then. All anyone could have transmitted was an intention, and you can't extrapolate an entire plan from an intention. There may be added security at the quarantine line, but we'll figure out a way to adapt."

She frowned. "Do you know who it is?"

Sighing, Grey said, "If I knew who it was, I'd boot them out now."

She glanced at the hatch. "Taz—"

"I've been friends with Taz for fifteen years," he said sharply.

"But Taz doesn't hold the same animosity towards the Commission that you do," she pointed out gently. "The Commission rescued him from an unhappy childhood and what would undoubtedly would have been a very short life on Meridani. The Commission was his home and his family." The corner of her mouth twisted. "I'm sure he had reservations about things they did, but until you were forced to kill your wife, I'm not sure that there was ever anything about the Commission that would have driven him away from it. Why might he not have left the Commission, then, with the purpose of following you at their behest?"