Prompt 023. And sooner or later as he lurked and pried on the borders he would be caught, and taken – for examination.

"Commander Wolenczak."

Jovasti's voice was quiet, but Lucas had been sleeping fitfully anyway, and he woke immediately when he heard his name.

"Everything okay?" he rasped, and made a face at the sound of his own voice. He coughed to clear his throat, then regretted it when it sent a jolt of pain through his chest. He'd known that Tomlinson had hit him hard with the butt of his rifle, but while the adrenaline from the attempted takeover of the boat had been in his system, he hadn't really felt it. Judging from the pain he was in now, though, he had to have at least a couple of broken ribs.

"All of our people are fine," Jovasti replied, knowing that would be the foremost concern on the other man's mind.

"How long has it been?"

"You've been out for almost a full day," the chief told him. "I wouldn't have woken you up now, but we have a little bit of a problem."

"Where's Sophie?"

"She's asleep, which is part of the problem." Lucas frowned at that, and Jovasti gave him a reassuring smile. "It doesn't have anything to do with her, sir. It's an administrative issue. ISD was notified of the attempted boarding as it was happening."

"I know. I called Pearson," Lucas confirmed.

"Well, now he's upset that Dr. Smith won't allow him access to Commander Sutton. Captain Bridger took him to the wardroom to discuss what he's planning to do with the prisoners, but he's got Commander Colvard from IE with him, so I don't think that talk is going to go well. I thought you might like to know what was going on before Pearson managed to cause an incident. Sir."

"Wait. The wardroom?" Lucas repeated, feeling like he'd somehow missed the first hour of a movie and now had no idea what was happening. "Jack is here?"

Jovasti's expression told him that if he didn't pull himself together fast, he was going to become part of the problem. Lucas pushed himself up to a sitting position, wincing at the motion as he tried to make himself wake up and figure out what the hell the chief was talking about.

"Jack's here?" he repeated, sounding a little more like himself, and Jovasti nodded. "What did he do, jump on the first ship headed this way?"

"Rumor has it that he practically commandeered the Vigilant."

That was unfortunate. If Pearson had taken the Dauntless, Sarah Sanati could have kept him under control for as long as it took Sophie to get back on her feet. Lucas didn't know the senior intelligence officer on the Vigilant, but typically Section Seven stayed out of ISD business. Sanati was an exception, and it was too much to hope that the Vigilant's SIO would be as helpfully interfering as she was.

"And he brought the head of Information Extraction with him, so obviously he's planning to oversee the interrogations himself." Lucas sighed, finally seeing the problem. As the head of IE, Colvard trained ISD's operatives in interrogation techniques, and he happened to be a proponent of intense physical torture. "Captain Bridger won't be thrilled about that."

"Pearson demanded that the prisoners be transferred to the Vigilant. Colvard might've been all right with the prisoners staying here and Commander Sutton doing the interrogations, since the two of them get along all right, but Dr. Smith has Commander Sutton sedated and she's not planning to let her wake up any time soon."

"Because if she wakes up, Dr. Smith will never be able to keep her in Sickbay," Lucas concluded for him. "And Colvard isn't okay with me doing the interrogations because he knows I'm not about to cut off anyone's fingers to make them talk." Noticing Jovasti's uncomfortable expression, Lucas smiled wryly. "I don't mind that he doesn't trust me to do it, Chief. Sophie and I are both happier with me handing that part of the job off to her. But since she can't do it, Colvard wants them for himself."

"Captain Bridger refused to turn over the prisoners to Pearson and Colvard, sir. Commander Pearson says they're ISD's prisoners and the captain has no right to keep them from him."

"By our rules, he's right," Lucas pointed out, grabbing the clean uniform that was folded and sitting on the little table next to the bed. He vaguely remembered being moved into one of Sickbay's private rooms after Dr. Smith had declared herself satisfied that his condition was stable. "By the rest of the Navy's rules, though, it's technically up to the captain. Most officers would just cooperate with us, but -" He shrugged, feeling the movement pull at his shoulders. They were both sore, a consequence of having his arms pinned behind him during the beating he'd taken, and he rolled his left shoulder experimentally as he slid out of bed.

"- but Captain Bridger isn't most officers," Jovasti finished for him. "Do you need a hand, sir?"

"I'll be fine," Lucas assured him, fairly certain he could manage to get dressed without assistance. "Thanks for the warning, Chief. I'll take care of it. Would you mind going to sit with Commander Sutton for a while?"

"I'm sure Commander Hitchcock would appreciate the break," Jovasti agreed, and Lucas paused in mid-motion.

"Katie's sitting with her?"

Jovasti nodded. "She said that if you couldn't, she was going to," he confirmed. "The rest of the team has been in and out, too, but she's been a fixture. Wallace and I have kept everyone out of here because Dr. Smith asked us to let you sleep, but I thought you needed to know what was going on before it was too late to do anything about it."

The second he set foot in the wardroom, he knew that Jovasti had done the right thing by getting him involved. Pearson and Colvard were sitting across the table from Bridger, Pearson's arms folded across his chest and a mutinous expression on his face. Colvard's face was blank as usual, giving nothing away, but Lucas suspected from how angry Pearson looked that Colvard probably wasn't in a great mood either. Captain Bridger was leaning forward in his seat, with the righteous indignation that Lucas remembered seeing on several different occasions on the old seaQuest when some injustice had aroused the captain's ire.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked, noting that they all fell conspicuously silent when he entered the room.

"Of course not," Bridger said after a moment's hesitation, rising to his feet and coming over to rest a hand on Lucas's shoulder. His shoulder still hurt, but Bridger's hand was gentle, and he managed not to flinch at the touch. "I didn't think Dr. Smith would let you out of Sickbay so soon. How are you feeling?"

"I'll live," he said with a wry smile. "I just won't be happy about it for a couple of days. I came up as soon as I heard that Commander Pearson and Commander Colvard were here."

Pearson, who'd stood when Bridger had, came around the table to face Lucas, and they exchanged brief smiles as they shook hands.

"I would've come by to see you when we first got here, but the doctor running your Sickbay has that place locked down like a maximum security prison," Pearson told him, sounding exasperated. "She wouldn't let us see you or Sophie."

"Sophie isn't getting out any time soon," Lucas replied. "Lowry ordered her onto a week of medical leave even before all of this happened. You'll just have to make do with me."

"Unfortunately, Commander, that's not an acceptable option." That was Colvard, and he sounded a little apologetic as he said it. It was the first time Lucas had ever heard Colvard sound anything even approaching apologetic, and he wondered what he'd managed to do to inadvertently land himself in Colvard's good graces. "We have an acute need for the intelligence that those prisoners possess. I must insist that they be turned over to us immediately."

"Intelligence they might possess," Lucas corrected him. "They were working for Tomlinson, and he is - he was - one of the biggest fans of compartmentalization that Macronesian Intelligence had. It's entirely possible that none of his men have any idea what his master plan was."

"Tomlinson?" Pearson asked, momentarily sidetracked. "Nate Tomlinson?"

Lucas gestured to his face, where he currently sported a black eye, split lip, and assorted other scrapes and bruises. "Courtesy of Nate Tomlinson, yes," he confirmed, and Pearson whistled.

"Sophie really hated that guy. Did she finally get to put a couple of bullets into him?"

"Only if she did it post-mortem," Lucas replied, and something in his tone drew Colvard's attention.

"You killed him?" the interrogator demanded.

"I was closer."

"She's a sniper. Distance doesn't matter."

Lucas waved a hand as though to dismiss the argument. "Details."

"Anyway," Pearson interrupted them, leaning back in his chair. "Let's get back to the subject at hand, shall we? Captain Bridger has our prisoners and we would like them turned over to us. Now."

"This is my boat, and I'm not turning over any prisoners so that you can torture them. The Geneva Conventions -"

"- don't apply to any Macronesian prisoners of war." Colvard was in his element now, citing the loophole that had made his job so much easier since the conflict with Macronesia had begun. "Bourne told the UN to take a flying leap when they approached him to sign on behalf of Macronesia. The Geneva Conventions apply to a signatory nation if the opposing nation is not a signatory, but only if the opposing nation accepts and applies the provisions of the Conventions. Bourne and his people have been torturing our POWs since the beginning of the war, which invalidates any protection they might have had against us." Colvard paused, glancing at Lucas, and then looked back at Bridger. "You might ask Commander Wolenczak about how the Macronesians treat their POWs, if you don't believe me."

Bridger turned to Lucas, about to say something about what the intruders had done to him two days before, and then he saw the pained expression on the younger man's face and a flash of realization hit him. Colvard wasn't talking about Tomlinson's efforts to make Lucas talk. He was talking about the time that Lucas and Sophie had been taken prisoner together, when Sophie had been tortured and Lucas had been forced to watch her die in his arms. Lucas clearly hadn't been expecting Colvard to bring that up, and his visible anguish at the memory made Bridger want to lash out at Colvard. Hadn't Lucas suffered enough? Why would one of his own people make him relive any of that suffering just to prove a point?

"I don't care how anyone else treats their prisoners," Bridger shot back. "No one is torturing anyone aboard my boat, and I'm not turning anyone over to you to be tortured, either! We are the UEO, gentlemen, and we are better than that."

He slapped his hand down on the table for emphasis. Pearson and Colvard didn't look impressed by his impassioned speech, though, and Lucas just looked weary.

"Can't you drop it for now?" Lucas asked finally, addressing Pearson rather than Colvard. He didn't appreciate Colvard's attempt at emotional manipulation, and he wasn't sure he trusted himself to speak to the man right now without saying something he would regret later. "Call Admiral Lowry, and let him and McGath fight it out."

"And what happens to the prisoners while they're arguing over red tape?" Pearson demanded, and Lucas shrugged, then regretted it as his shoulders complained.

"Unless you thought they had information that was so time-sensitive you needed to get it out of them in the next 24 hours, you would have let most of them sit and sweat in their cells anyway, while you picked one of them as the sacrificial lamb. The others would all open up faster once they got to see what a mangled wreck you made of the first guy." Lucas paused, rethinking the rude comment that he nearly made when he saw Colvard's surprised look. Making Colvard angry might make him feel better now, but it wouldn't do him any favors in the long run. "Come on," he said instead, shaking his head a little. "Just because I don't play the game doesn't mean I don't know the rules. Trust me, you aren't going to convince Captain Bridger to cooperate with you, so you're better off calling Lowry and letting the decision get made above your paygrade."

Pearson was finally starting to look like he might listen to reason, and then the captain's PAL went off.

"Bridger," he replied, a little wary, and Lucas straightened when Dr. Smith's voice came through the speaker.

"Captain, is Commander Wolenczak with you?"

"He is," Bridger confirmed with a glance at Lucas.

"Would you send him down to Sickbay? I need to speak with him as soon as possible."

The link snapped off before Bridger could say anything further, and Pearson chuckled under his breath.

"I don't think I'd keep her waiting, Wolenczak," he told Lucas. "She doesn't seem nearly as understanding as Adler."

"First tell me you won't make any rash decisions about this without at least calling Lowry," Lucas pressed, and after a moment Pearson shrugged.

"Fine. If it matters that much to you, I'll let Lowry settle it."

Lucas hoped he didn't look quite as panicked as he felt when he entered Sickbay. He couldn't help worrying; Sophie was here, and she was injured, and Dr. Smith didn't make a habit of demanding that people come to Sickbay immediately unless there was a legitimate problem.

Seeing Laughlin over by the far door, chatting with one of the corpsmen and looking completely at ease, did wonders for his nerves. If there had been anything wrong with Sophie, Laughlin would've been as much of a wreck as he was. Sophie had suspected that actually working for her would cure Laughlin of her hero worship, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect, and Laughlin stubbornly refused to take Sophie off of the metaphorical pedestal she'd elevated her to years ago.

"Sir," called a voice from the other side of the room, and Lucas turned to see Shaw watching him with barely contained excitement. "Would you join us, please?"

Dr. Smith was with Shaw, he realized belatedly, standing next to the door to a small room he probably wouldn't have known the function of if he hadn't been part of the team that had searched the boat when it was first discovered in that cornfield. It was the door to the morgue. The seaQuest didn't exactly have an impressive facility for her dead, but there was an autopsy table and a set of steel drawers that were designed to hold bodies in subzero temperatures, keeping them from decomposing until they could be buried appropriately.

Once the door to the morgue closed behind the three of them, Shaw turned to him, his eyes bright with enthusiasm.

"I got permission from Dr. Smith to inspect the bodies of the dead intruders, sir."

Lucas nodded; that was standard protocol, for one of the team's medical personnel to inspect the bodies of any dead enemy agents to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises hidden there.

"I assume that you found something." He considered that statement, then added, "Something other than a concealed explosive, because I suspect you wouldn't be quite so excited about that."

"It's not an explosive." Grinning, Shaw produced a clear plastic container that held something small and white.

"It's…a tooth?" Lucas took the container, holding it up to the light and tilting it a little to take a better look. It didn't look like anything but a tooth at first, and then he tilted it a little further and saw the glint of metal. "It's got an embedded microchip."

"After I saw the chip, I extracted the entire tooth to make sure I wouldn't damage the chip trying to get it out."

Lucas examined the tooth with an expert eye, trying to decide on the best way to get the chip out without breaking it. The average intelligence agent knew that his job was high risk, and sooner or later as he lurked and pried on the borders he would be caught, and taken for examination. It wasn't uncommon for intelligence agents, particularly ones who suspected they were headed out on an unusually dangerous mission, to hide important intel on microchips embedded in a false tooth, or even concealed in porcelain and cemented to a real tooth.

"Which one of them did you take this out of?"

"The only woman on their team," Shaw replied, sounding thoughtful. "Which is strange. Why do you suppose there was only one woman on their entire team? The Mac teams usually have about the same gender ratios as ours."

"Juliana," Lucas breathed, nearly dropping the container in his sudden dismay and missing all of Shaw's speculation. He was holding Juliana's tooth. Shaw had pulled this out of Juliana's mouth - he'd searched Juliana's dead body with brisk efficiency, the same way he had all of the others -

Lucas set the container down sharply on the counter and turned away, tasting bile as his stomach churned.

The room was silent for a long moment. When Shaw finally spoke, he was subdued. "I'm sorry, sir," he said quietly. "I didn't know you knew her."

Lucas cleared his throat, trying desperately to stifle his overwhelming jumble of emotions.

"It's all right," he said, his tone hollow. "I haven't seen her in years. I didn't even know she'd defected until she showed up here with Tomlinson."

"Why don't we step out for a moment?" Dr. Smith, silent until now, put her hand on Shaw's elbow and guided him toward the door. "We'll be just outside, all right?"

"No, I - " He cleared his throat again, swallowing hard as he looked at the container. "I'm fine. I will need a hand getting that chip free, though. Shaw, send Jezek in here, will you?"

"Of course, sir."

"And Shaw?" Lucas waited until Shaw turned around to look at him, then gave the medic a brief nod. "Nice job."

Jezek had been surprised and pleased that he'd asked her to extract the chip from the tooth. It was delicate work, and although it wasn't particularly complex, he was afraid that he was too distracted to do a good job. It didn't help that he felt a surge of revulsion every time he even thought about touching the tooth. Jezek didn't ask why he didn't want to do the job himself and he didn't enlighten her, merely watching as she removed the chip with surgical precision.

She passed the chip to him once it was free, glancing up at him over the magnifying glasses she'd worn to do the extraction.

"Did you want me to run the chip, sir?" she offered, sounding delighted by the prospect. He hated to disappoint her, especially after she'd done such an impressive job getting the chip out, but he needed to be the one to access that chip. If there was sensitive information on it, he needed to be the first one to know, and if the chip was a trap, loaded with a virus to attack the seaQuest's computers, he would have the best chance of shutting it down.

"I appreciate the offer, Jezek, but I'll take care of it."

Her face fell a little, but she nodded, and he suspected that his reasons for accessing the chip himself had already occurred to her.

"I'll be in the main area of Sickbay if you need me, sir."

"This was very good work, Petty Officer," he informed her, and she brightened again.

"Thank you, sir."

He waited until she was gone to set the chip into the intake port on the side of his laptop, and waited a long moment for the interface to pop up. When it finally did, he went to work.

Lucas had expected the chip's security to be difficult to crack. After all, Juliana was the one who'd set it up, and she'd been a technological genius even if she hadn't been quite as skilled as he was. He hadn't expected it to be impossible, though, and that was how it was starting to look. After several hours' worth of work, he'd tried nearly everything, including the nth-order derivatives she'd once preferred, and nothing had worked. He was about to rethink Jezek's offer for assistance - maybe a fresh pair of eyes would see something he'd missed - when a glimmer of memory struck him. There had been another time that Juliana had told him to try an nth-order derivative, and when it hadn't worked, Nick had recommended a reduction algorithm…

The computer accepted the reduction algorithm with a happy chirp, and the drive whirred as the chip came online.

"Finally," he muttered, shaking his head. There was no question that she'd picked that code specifically for him. If he'd remembered their escapades on Node Three a little sooner, he could have saved himself a few hours of frustration. Now he just had to find out what was actually on the chip.

Sophie had been drifting in and out of sleep all day. She hadn't actually told anyone that she was awake, which had afforded her the opportunity to eavesdrop on a number of conversations that had taken place in her room in Sickbay. She hadn't been alone at any point - there were always at least two members of Zeta Team in her room - and, confident in the knowledge that she was fast asleep, they'd talked about several things they might not have brought up if they'd realized she was listening.

Jovasti, Lightman, and Kennedy had been there earlier, talking about a rumor they'd overheard that morning. Apparently, the two corpsmen who'd been assigned to Sickbay the morning of the attempted takeover had both been temporarily removed of duty pending an investigation into why they'd abandoned their posts. According to the rumor mill, they'd been absent because they'd been together in a little-used storage room just outside of Sickbay, and according to Kennedy, the boat's security cameras had caught them in flagrante delicto. That was why Dr. Smith had been so angry, and Sophie couldn't help but sympathize with her. As CO of her team, she didn't particularly care who slept with whom, so long as it was consensual and they kept it out of the workplace. If two of her people had deserted their posts to have sex on ISD's time, though, she would've come down on them so hard it would've made Dr. Smith's response look like a love tap.

She'd fallen asleep again as they'd been debating which other members of seaQuest's crew they thought were carrying on secret affairs. When she woke the next time, she was thirsty, and she thought about asking one of her current companions for a glass of water. If she did that, though, they'd probably tell Dr. Smith that she was awake and she'd end up drugged into unconsciousness again. After a few minutes of eavesdropping, she decided that she didn't want to risk missing the end of what was quickly becoming a very interesting conversation between Martinez, Graham, and Katie Hitchcock regarding the fate of the surviving Macronesian intruders.

"I heard that Bridger and Pearson were up there all morning playing quien es mas macho, fighting over who'd get to keep the prisoners," Martinez reported, her amusement audible.

"Pearson isn't the problem," Graham pointed out. "Colvard is the problem."

"Who's Colvard?" Hitchcock asked, and there was a momentary pause before Martinez spoke.

"He's the officer in charge of interrogations for our division," she said slowly. "Pearson is generally a reasonable guy, and if Wolenczak leans on him hard enough, he'll probably let it go. Colvard, though…maybe if Sutton could get involved, Colvard would back off, but without Sutton's influence I don't know that Wolenczak will get very far. Your captain may end up with a real problem on his hands."

Hitchcock, who'd been holding Sophie's uninjured hand throughout the conversation, gave it a gentle squeeze. Sophie stifled the urge to smile, which would've ruined her act. The others might or might not have guessed why Hitchcock was sitting with her, but Sophie was pretty sure it was because Lucas couldn't. She didn't know if Lucas had asked Hitchcock to keep Sophie company or if she'd volunteered, but she suspected that it had been Hitchcock's idea, which raised Sophie's opinion of her even further.

"Well, Commander Sutton definitely isn't getting involved," Hitchcock assured them. "Even if Dr. Smith would permit it, I think Lucas would knock her out himself before he'd let her do anything else to jeopardize her recovery. Besides, I suspect that Captain Bridger is capable of handling whatever Colvard throws at him."

"I don't mean any insult to Captain Bridger," Martinez told Hitchcock. "He seems like a solid officer. He's not used to the way that our division works, though. Colvard isn't used to hearing 'no' from anyone."

It surprised her that Martinez and Graham were speaking so freely in front of someone who wasn't part of their division. Apparently, Hitchcock had made a good impression on them. It wouldn't have escaped their notice that she and Lucas were friends, either, and if they hadn't trusted her at least to a certain extent, they never would have permitted her to go anywhere near their injured CO.

"I'm going to grab another cup of coffee," Hitchcock said, and Sophie felt the other woman slide her hand carefully out of hers, doing her best not to wake Sophie as she stood. "Can I get anything for either one of you?"

"No, thank you, ma'am," Martinez said, answering for both of them. "Laughlin and Demarin will be in to relieve us in about half an hour. I think we're good until then."

The door shut behind Hitchcock, and Sophie considered telling her teammates that she was awake. It was a risk, particularly if Lucas had already ordered them to notify Dr. Smith if she woke up, but if she could get them to sneak her out of here, she might be able to convince Colvard to back off and keep him from causing problems for Bridger.

"I don't like Colvard," Martinez declared, seemingly out of the blue, and Graham whistled under his breath.

"I wouldn't say that real loud," he told her. "It's not safe to dislike the head of the Inquisition."

"I'm not saying it to anyone but you," she snapped. "And it's not like Colvard gives a damn what I think of him anyway. I just -"

"Whoa, Jenny." Graham's voice had softened in response to his teammate's distressed tone. Sophie was biting the inside of her cheek now with the effort it took to keep from saying something, wanting to find out just what Colvard had said or done to upset Martinez but knowing that if she interrupted them, it would be like pulling teeth to get anything out of her. She was far more likely to tell Graham than she was to tell Sophie. "Did he do something to you? Because if he did -"

"What? No." Martinez sounded startled. "He's never even spoken to me, Charlie. I don't like him because of what he is."

"Ah." Graham's chair creaked a little as he leaned back. "Because of Sutton."

Now Sophie was definitely glad she hadn't told them she was awake. They never would have talked about her if they'd known she was listening.

"You saw it too, huh?"

"We all saw it. We were all worried about what was happening."

"She's a great CO," Martinez said, contemplative. "She always was, and I would've stuck with her until the end no matter what. But for a while there, it looked like she was turning into one of them."

"The cadre of soulless monsters who run this division?" he asked cheekily, and there was a soft thump as Martinez smacked his arm.

"Now there's something I wouldn't say real loud," she chided him. "And they aren't all like that. The admiral isn't, and Pearson never was."

"And Jenner's not a bad guy either," Graham agreed. "But we all know that most of them don't give a good goddamn about anything but following orders. They're just empty shells."

"That could have been Sutton. She's always been driven and intense, and it was a good thing at first, but over time she got closer and closer to crossing the line. The thought of having to watch her lose herself…" Martinez sighed. "ISD cares about her because she's such a skilled tactician, but there's more to her than that. She's incredibly brave, and she's got a wicked sense of humor, and she's so insanely protective of her people. Not just the team, either, but everyone she cares about. Sanati, Pearson, Wolenczak...it makes me wonder what Colvard used to be like. Was he funny? Did he have friends? Did he ever care about anyone before he became what he is now?"

"Wolenczak deserves the credit for averting that particular disaster. If it wasn't for him, Sutton would've become another Colvard by now."

Martinez let out a shaky laugh. "I have to admit, at first I wasn't sure what she was thinking, bringing him onto the team. He turned out to be the best choice she could have made, though. He saved her life."

"He's saved all of our lives at least once," Graham pointed out.

"You know what I mean," she rebutted. "She couldn't have found a better partner if she'd spent her whole career looking. None of us could have pulled her away from that ledge, but he did it without even realizing what he was doing. After he joined the team, she became herself again. I don't know if she would have -"

Martinez stopped in mid-sentence as the door to the room opened and one of the two people they were currently discussing walked in. Wolenczak's hair was disheveled, a clear indication that he'd been running his fingers through it in frustration, and the bruises on his face stood out in stark relief against his unusually pale skin.

"I need to talk to Commander Sutton."

"She's asleep, sir," Martinez said slowly, hating to point out the obvious, particularly when Wolenczak looked so rattled.

"Then I need you to find Dr. Smith so that I can wake her up," he said sharply, and Sophie immediately dropped all pretense of being asleep. Eavesdropping on Graham and Martinez had been educational, but Lucas wouldn't insist on waking her unless there was a serious problem.

"I'm awake," she said, opening her eyes in time to see twin looks of abject horror flash across Graham and Martinez's faces when they realized she'd been listening in on them.

"Commander," Martinez breathed, nearly choking on the word, and Sophie made a sharp gesture with her good hand. She wasn't angry with Martinez, but Lucas needed her full attention right now. Besides, it would do Martinez and Graham a little good to spend some time pondering the questionable wisdom of talking about their CO when there was any chance, however slim, that she might overhear them.

"You're both dismissed."

Sophie pushed herself up onto her elbows as Martinez and Graham fled the room, and she met her partner's gaze with a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something you need to see."

Lucas stacked enough pillows behind her back that she could sit up without much effort, and then he took the chair Hitchcock had been sitting in as she waited for the dizzy spell she'd provoked by changing positions to pass. He'd offered her the glass of water by the bed without comment, and she took a grateful sip and handed it back to him.

"What's going on, Lucas?"

"Shaw searched the bodies and found an embedded microchip in one of Juliana's teeth."

She exhaled sharply. "A trap?"

"I don't think so." He handed her his laptop and she set it down in her lap, frowning at the interface.

"I hope you aren't expecting me to break whatever code lock she put on this," Sophie told him. It was a weak attempt at humor, but it earned her a tired smile from him.

"I already broke it." He shook his head at the thought. "It took me forever, and I should have known the answer from the beginning. The code she used was part of a hacking job I did on Node Three with her, to break into the World Bank. I knew when I saw it that it had to be intended for me. She left me a message, Sophie."

"Play it for me?" Sophie asked softly, and he nodded, keying in the code and watching mutely as Juliana's face popped up on the screen.

"Hi, Lucas," she said, tilting her head to one side as she regarded the camera. She was wearing the red and black Macronesian military uniform, and she looked hopelessly out of place in it. "I'm betting you'll be the one to crack the code on this chip, since you're the only one who's ever cracked it before. I wanted to record this just in case…"

Lucas looked over at Sophie as Juliana trailed off and found that she was watching him, and he slid his hand into hers as Juliana resumed her monologue.

"You should know that none of this had anything to do with you. I know that you work for ISD, and it seems like a slap in the face that I'm working for your direct opposition, but you had nothing to do with the decision. I felt unappreciated working for Deon International, and Deon has ties to Macronesia. When they offered me this job, I thought it was finally my chance to get some recognition for my work. If I'd had any idea what it would really entail…" She shrugged. "I guess I can't do anything to change the past. Anyway, what matters is that I just got assigned to a strike team that's supposed to take over seaQuest and abduct your partner. Tomlinson says Stassi wants her, and I don't think it's for anything nice. I don't want to go up against you, mostly because I don't think I'm going to win. I told them that you were always a better programmer than me, but they won't listen. They're hoping that since I worked with you once, I'll figure out some way to unravel the lockouts on seaQuest's systems and help them steal the boat. It's a stupid idea, but I don't have any choice, and the more I learn about your partner and your team, the more I suspect that none of us are going to make it out of this alive."

Sophie squeezed her partner's hand, and he returned the gesture but didn't look away from the screen, where Juliana was smiling weakly.

"I got myself into this, Lucas, and I don't expect anyone else to get me out of it. But if I don't get out, I hope you find this. I'm encoding all of the data I've got onto this chip. Scheduled troop movements, planned attacks on UEO outposts, weapons and tactical data for the Macronesian fleet…and Bourne's personal calendar for the next three months. See if you can take all of that and end this senseless war." She raised her right hand, touching the screen for a moment before letting it fall back to her side. "I'm sorry that things were such a disaster between us, and that we never managed to make it right. If you're watching this, then I guess we'll never get the chance. Goodbye, Lucas."

Juliana disappeared, and the screen was suddenly filled with files. It was a wealth of intelligence, far more than Pearson or Colvard could ever have dreamed of torturing out of the surviving intruders.

Sophie looked up at Lucas, who was looking at the screen with an expression best described as wistful.

"If all of this information checks out, it really could end the war," he said softly, and Sophie nodded.

"I'll have her cleared," Sophie told him, knowing it was inadequate but not sure what else she could do. "We'll list her as a double agent through ISD. It isn't much, but at least she won't go down as a traitor to the UEO. People will know that in the end she did the right thing."

"I guess we need to tell Pearson. He's aboard seaQuest right now, and he's senior to both of us."

Sophie started to agree, then paused. "Maybe not."

"No?"

"Is Colvard still insisting that Captain Bridger turn over the prisoners to him?"

Lucas stared at her for a moment, then chuckled. "I don't know why I'm still surprised by the things you manage to find out, even when you're supposed to be unconscious," he said finally. "Yeah, he is."

"Can you get me a link to the admiral?"

Lowry, who'd been in the middle of negotiating with McGath for possession of the prisoners, had been delighted to hear about the unexpected intelligence windfall they'd just received, and he'd accepted Sophie's suggestion of what to do with the prisoners in return. Several hours later, Bridger had handed them off to Pearson and Colvard on the Vigilant with the stipulation that no one would lay a hand on any of them. Lucas felt a little guilty about not pointing out the obvious flaw in that promise to Bridger before the captain agreed to it, but Lowry hadn't been willing to relinquish control of the prisoners, and whether he liked it or not, his first duty was to Lowry, not to Bridger. There was always the chance that the intel Juliana had given them would turn out to be false and they'd need to find out exactly what the prisoners knew.

Lucas, Bridger, and Ford were currently sitting in Sophie's room in Sickbay. Sophie was in bed but not asleep, having managed to strike a bargain with Dr. Smith that if she stayed in her room and behaved herself, she wouldn't be sedated again.

"The official story is that Juliana Koskoff was a double agent," Sophie told them. "All of the intel she gave us will still need to be vetted, but I suspect it's good. Colvard will confirm what he can with the information he gets from the prisoners, and the rest we'll have to run through our other intelligence sources."

"Commander Colvard isn't going to be getting anything from the prisoners," Bridger interrupted, giving her a stern look. "Admiral Lowry personally assured the Secretary General that no harm would come to them."

Sophie glanced at Lucas, who shrugged. The Vigilant was long gone, and nothing Bridger said or did at this point was going to make any difference in the fates of those men.

"He promised no one would harm them physically," Sophie clarified for him. "That doesn't mean they're going to leave them alone. I suspect they're going to Escher the whole group."

"Escher?" Ford repeated, and Lucas nodded.

"It's what we call strictly psychological torture," he interpreted. "It's named for the artist, because so much of his work was designed to screw with people's heads." He looked over at Sophie. "What do you think? 'Last Man Standing'?"

She nodded. "That would probably be my first choice. They'll convince each of the prisoners that the rest of their team has been tortured and executed, and that if they don't cooperate, they'll be next. It's relatively fast, typically effective, and they won't have to touch a hair on the prisoners' heads to do it."

"That isn't what we agreed to -"

"Captain Bridger." Sophie's tone was tinged with exasperation. "No offense meant, sir, but as intelligent as you are, I have a hard time believing that you thought you could come to any sort of agreement with ISD that would keep our division from attaining our objectives. We always have a loophole in place to make sure that we get what we want."

Bridger shook his head. The truth was that he'd suspected there was a trick to Lowry's capitulation, but once McGath had agreed to the deal, there had been nothing further he could do about it.

"That isn't how things should be, Commander," he told her, and she shrugged.

"It might surprise you to hear it, sir, but I agree with you. Unfortunately, it is what it is. At least this particular set of prisoners will make it out of this with the same number of fingers and toes as they went in with."

"Okay," Lucas interrupted, nudging Ford's ankle with the toe of his boot. "I think it's time for us to let Commander Sutton get some sleep, before Dr. Smith comes in here and kicks us all out."

"Lucas is right," Ford agreed, not needing any further prompting. It was time to break up this little chat while Bridger and Sophie were still on speaking terms. They typically got along pretty well, but it didn't take a parapsychologist to see that this conversation wasn't going to end in a group hug. "Get some rest, Sophie. Feel better soon."

Ford and Bridger left, probably headed back to the bridge to check on the myriad of repairs still being done all over the boat to fix the damage the intruders had caused. Lucas paused in the doorway, catching Sophie's eye.

"I'm going to check in with Wallace and Jovasti. Do you need anything?"

"Actually, would you find Martinez and Graham and send them in here? I need to have a talk with them."

He gave her an inquisitive look, but she didn't offer any further explanation.

"I can't wait to find out what that's about."

"It's nothing too terrible," she assured him. "They just need to take a little correction on something."

"Got it. I'll send them in for their scolding."

Martinez and Graham looked like they were facing a firing squad. Sophie was having trouble keeping herself from laughing at the pair of them, which would have ruined the moment.

"Ma'am, I'm - I'm so sorry about what I said. We both are. We never should have -"

Sophie held up a hand to silence her, and she and Graham both flinched.

"You should be sorry. Years of training as covert operatives, and you were careless enough to gossip about your CO in front of her?" Sophie shook her head. "It doesn't matter that you thought I was asleep. It wouldn't matter if you thought I was dead. If you want to have a private conversation, have it in private. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," they chorused immediately.

"Good. You're dismissed."

Martinez and Graham hesitated, glancing at each other, and Sophie raised an eyebrow at them.

"Was I unclear?"

"No, ma'am," Martinez said slowly. "We just, uh…"

"Was there anything you wanted to say about the content of that conversation?" Graham interrupted, sounding defeated.

Sophie gave the pair of them a speaking look, and then shrugged.

"There's not much to say, except to congratulate you on your perspicacity." She paused, taking in their identical stunned expressions, and a reluctant smile tugged at her lips. "Everything you said was true, and I'd be an idiot to deny it. I'll admit that, at the time, I didn't realize the danger I was in. Looking back, though, I don't think any of you realized how close I really came to turning into someone else, or how much you would've disliked the new me. So do something nice for Wolenczak the next time you get the chance, all right?"

Their relief was nearly palpable. "Yes, ma'am," they chorused. As they left the room, Sophie's smile widened and she sank back against her pillow, thoroughly amused. It was clear that they'd expected her to crucify them. There had been a time when she would have done exactly that, she admitted to herself, and her smile faded. If Lucas hadn't come along and made her realize what she was doing to herself, how long would it have been before she completely alienated her own team? How much longer after that before she would have ended up just like Colvard, living only for her work and nothing else? She'd been so close…

Martinez and Graham had only been gone for a few moments when there was a knock at the door, and her smile resurfaced when her partner stuck his head around the corner.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course."

He shut the door behind himself, coming over to take the chair next to her bed.

"What did you say to Graham and Martinez?" he asked, giving her an interested look.

"Why?"

"Martinez hugged me."

Sophie choked on a laugh, as much because of his bemused tone of voice as because of the mental image that evoked.

"She and Graham came out of here looking like they'd both been hit with a board," he continued in that same tone. "When I walked past them to come in, Graham stopped me and thanked me - for what, I have no idea - and then Martinez ambushed me. She just grabbed me out of nowhere. By the time I realized she was hugging me and not trying to strangle me, she'd already let go of me and taken off. Stop laughing, Sophie; I'm being serious."

She was practically in tears at this point, laughing so hard that she had trouble catching her breath. Lucas waited patiently for Sophie to regain some semblance of control over herself. The bizarre interlude with Martinez had happened exactly the way he'd told her, and she'd enjoyed the story as much as he'd thought she would. He wished she'd been there to see it, and he really wanted to know what she'd said to provoke that kind of behavior from Martinez, who was usually pretty reserved around him.

Sophie finally managed to stop laughing, and when he caught her gaze, she gave him one of those tender smiles that made his heart skip a beat.

"Will you do me a favor, Lucas?"

"Of course. Anything."

"Hold me."

His eyes widened in surprise as he got automatically to his feet. Sophie didn't typically make requests like that. She was clearly expecting him to join her on the bed, and she let out a squeak of surprise as he slid his arms under her and picked her up instead. He sat back down in the chair and settled her in his lap, blankets and all.

"Better?" he murmured, and she beamed up at him.

"Better," she agreed, resting her head against his chest. They sat in silence for a few moments, simply enjoying being together, before she spoke again. "All of this must have been hard for you. Juliana showed up here, working for the other side, and then Tomlinson killed her right in front of you."

"And then after she was dead, Shaw yanked out one of her teeth." Lucas couldn't quite repress a shudder, and Sophie's embrace tightened in response. "I know it's weird, but I think that bothers me even more than seeing Tomlinson shoot her. The thought of it just makes me sick."

"I'm sorry," Sophie whispered. She wished there was something she could say that would make him feel better about the whole situation, but she knew from experience that some hurts couldn't be soothed with words.

"At least she didn't blame me for it," he sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "And the intel she gave us - Jesus, Sophie, if we manage to use that to get our hands on Bourne and Stassi and end the war -"

"It would be an impressive legacy for her," she agreed, and then jumped a little when Lucas poked her arm. "What was that for?"

"I'm still waiting for you to tell me what exactly you said to Martinez to inspire that hug attack."

"Mmm." She snuggled a little closer to him, and his hand moved up to caress her shoulder. "You saved my life, Lucas."

He frowned, trying to figure out what she was talking about. "I think the point goes to you this time, actually," he disputed, and she smiled against his chest.

"Martinez and Graham were in here earlier, talking about me while they thought I was asleep."

Lucas snorted. "Of course, you weren't asleep."

"You'd think they'd never met me," she agreed, rolling her eyes. "That's why I wanted to talk to them, to point out what a poor choice that was."

"What were they saying about you?" he asked, curious.

"That if you hadn't come along, I would've turned out just like Colvard. Don't argue," she added as he opened his mouth to protest. "They were right. You saved me, Lucas, and not just from frag grenades and crazy guys with knives. You saved me from myself."

"I love you, Sophie," he told her, quiet dedication in his voice. "I love you, and I will save you from every frag grenade and knife-wielding crazy guy who comes near you, and I will save you from yourself as many times as you need me to." He paused, smiling a little. "And you can save me from everything else."

"Deal," she agreed with a contented sigh. "I love you, Lucas."

"Love you," he repeated, kissing the crown of her head again. "You should go back to bed."

"I'm happier here."

"Yeah," he agreed softly. "Me too."