The Romulan War_ Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Book 1) - Michael A. Martin [29]
And she also understood how hard it could be to cleanse Vulcan of V’Las’s lingering influence, given the furtive habits of his loyalists, some of whom still had to be embedded deeply in the intelligence trade.
“I will presume that you wish to involve yourself in the intrigues you mention in order to assure Administrator T’Pau’s success,” T’Vran said.
“A corrupted intelligence network is a liability to any government,” Ych’a said.
“I see,” T’Vran said. It had not escaped her notice that Ych’a had not really answered her question. “Do you have direct evidence of corruption within the V’Shar?”
Ych’a regarded her in a calculating manner, as though assessing how much she might safely reveal. “I do.”
T’Vran found the intelligence officer’s answer surprising, both for its content and for its uncharacteristic probity. However, while affronts to logic such as the maladministration of the V’Las regime weren’t unheard-of on Vulcan, it was exceedingly rare for a Vulcan to succumb to simple greed. Ych’a had to be referring to something else entirely.
“What manner of corruption?” T’Vran asked.
“Infiltration,” the V’Shar agent said at length.
“By whom?”
Ych’a answered in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “The Romulans. Their covert influence may even extend beyond a few agents in the V’Shar, perhaps even reaching the highest echelons of the current government.”
Although T’Vran had heard rumors that V’Las may have dealt in secret with representatives from the Romulan government, she had never given those stories much credence. The notion that Administrator T’Pau’s hierarchy might have similar flaws was all but unthinkable.
“You cannot know this with certainty,” she said after a protracted moment.
“Intelligence is not a science of certainties,” Ych’a said. “Only probabilities. However, I believe I know quite enough to justify being suspicious of anyone who presently works inside the Vulcan power structure.”
“I assume this has some bearing on the reason you do not wish to return Commander Tucker to his home planet,” T’Vran said, already fairly certain she understood Ych’a’s objective.
“Indeed,” Ych’a said with a brisk nod. “Commander Tucker could prove invaluable to my ongoing investigations on Vulcan.”
T’Vran frowned. “How? How much could he possibly know of our world and our culture?”
“Accumulated knowledge is not always as important as the capacity to learn and adapt quickly. In fact, it is what Commander Tucker lacks that may make him effective. He has no ambitions within Vulcan’s power structure, and he has already managed to survive for several months while working under deep cover in Romulan territory. Therefore he could prove to be uniquely qualified to root out whatever corruption—or Romulan influence—may presently be at work on Vulcan.”
Although the idea had first struck T’Vran as absurd, she had to admit that it had some merit. In addition, she could easily see an energetic human like Tucker proving valuable to the cause of persuading a reticent Vulcan government to continue carrying out its current covert efforts to defend the Coalition from the Romulans—initiatives, like the Tezel-Oroko listening post that the late Kobayashi Maru would have helped to equip had the freighter not been destroyed recently, to which T’Vran was privy thanks to her working relationship with Ych’a.
Despite the increasing appeal of Ych’a’s logic, however, she found that one fundamental matter still bothered her profoundly.
“Could you not simply have asked me to alter the logs and reports, rather than doing it yourself?” T’Vran asked the agent.
Ych’a appeared puzzled by the question. “There was no need to waste time consulting you in advance. I knew you would agree with me.”
Though she couldn’t fault Ych’a’s answer