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systems from her quarters. I know I would want that if I was in charge of this tub."
    "I can gain access to the Defiant's network from that terminal and then extract the codes from there," Kage said confidently.
    "That's all well and good, but how are you going to get in there?" Jason asked. "She locks her quarters when she leaves and it would be a bit odd for me to show up with you in tow later this evening."
    "There's another possibility," Doc said, looking uncomfortable. "I could give you something to dose her drink with. It'd knock her out for a few hours, Kage gets in and gets the codes, and she wakes up none the wiser."
    Jason almost bristled with indignation at the thought of drugging Kellea, but as he considered it he had to admit the plan had a certain elegance to it.
    "Could you develop a counter agent I would be able to administer once numbnuts—"
    "Hey!"
    "—has the codes and is out?"
    "I don't see why not," Doc said. "I have her bio scans on file so it's just a matter of synthesizing the compounds. Why not just let her sleep it off?"
    "For one it would arouse suspicion," Jason said. "She doesn't drink, so passing out for the night with no memory of what happened would cause her to get a full workup in her med bay. That would likely expose the traces of whatever you want me to give her still in her system. For another it's too dangerous to leave the captain of the Defiant incapacitated. I need to be able to bring her out of it quickly." As he spoke, Jason couldn't believe he was even considering the plan, but he needed something to work with and he needed it fast. Crusher's life was likely hanging by a thread, if he was even still alive, and he owed it to his friend to exploit any advantage he had. He knew in the back of his head that this was going to have profound ramifications down the road, but he shoved the thought aside and concentrated on the present.
    "I'll get to work on it now," Doc said, hopping up from the galley table and rushing towards the infirmary.
    "And I'll get my stuff ready," Kage said.
    "I can't believe we have to resort to this," Twingo said once they'd left. "Why won't Crisstof help on this? I'd say he owes us at least that much."
    "I don't know what's going on with this project he's involved in, but he seemed distracted at the debrief," Jason said. "Once he'd learned the package we'd been hired to get out of De'Moltia was killed he became completely disinterested in anything else I had to say, including the fact Crusher is now MIA."
    "Always nice to know where you stand with people, I guess," Twingo said. "I'll start getting the ship prepped for launch. I have a feeling we'll be leaving in a hurry."
    "I will assist you," Lucky said and followed Twingo out of the galley. Once they'd gone, Jason began rubbing his temples with the palms of his hands, trying to alleviate the stress headache he could feel coming on. Crisstof had been distant, almost cold towards him and his crew for some time now, but Jason was still mildly shocked at the man's seeming indifference to the fact that Crusher hadn't come back from an extremely dangerous mission that had been at his request.
    With a snort of disgust he pushed away from the table and headed towards his quarters to get cleaned up. He wasn't at all looking forward to the deception he was about to play a part in. His feelings for Kellea were complicated, to say the least. They rarely saw each other in person, they weren't even from the same species, and there were times he felt she was embarrassed about being seen with a hired gun no matter how laudable his missions might be. Be that as it may, he still felt grubby at the thought of drugging her so he could steal confidential information that she wasn't willing to give to him freely. But he knew Crusher would do no less for him if the roles were reversed, so he squared his shoulders (figuratively) and pushed all doubts out of his mind. Whatever happened would happen, but he would always know he did