The Case

Zugzwang

Author's Note: Ahhh! Thank you so much for your support.

The Case has been one of the most difficult pieces I've ever written. It's so emotionally charged that there are times I have to step away.

The title of this is meant to signfy the difficult position that our team finds itself in. All of the "legal" moves they can make put them in peril in a physical and emotional sense.

This situation is going to test relationships and friendships. It won't be easy. But I promise you that there is a giant ball of fluff waiting to hit over that last hill.

So thank you for your patience! <3 Charlie

-X-

"I'm sorry," Tasha said softly.

Tasha closed her eyes. She shook her hands and rolled her shoulders to find her composure.

Tick tock. Tasha reminded herself.

Rushing to her bedroom, Tasha quickly changed into her uniform and stuffed her Parrises Squares bag with supplies.

She grabbed the medical supply kit from the wall and set it down next to Data.

Tasha clipped on her Andorian ice miner blades, the solid gold bracelet she'd purchased on holiday years earlier, and a pouch of tobacco Data kept for his pipe.

They were all items of value. Most importantly, they weren't anything that was Starfleet property or technology.

Next, Tasha used the replicator to snag as many additional basic medical supplies and ration bars that she could carry.

Antiseptics, pain relief gel, and water purification tablets would all be valuable items for trade.

And they would need them where they were going.

Tasha knew her Federation credits would be frozen as soon as they were discovered. More than that, the use of such currency would be traceable.

Tasha checked the time and threw on the various bags she had packed for the journey.

As much as she longed to leave a goodbye message for Captain Picard, Tasha knew that she couldn't.

No goodbyes. She told herself.

Tasha detached her pips and set them down on the table.

Tasha stepped over to Data and tapped the site-to-site transporter she had programmed into her combadge.

-X-

Data and Tasha emerged a moment later on a shuttle down in the shuttlebay three.

She quickly detached her combadge. Next, she removed Data's combadge and threw them out the door onto the floor of the shuttlebay.

Tasha closed the hatch and took up a seat at the helm. She turned on the radio, tuned it to the same frequency as the Security office channel, and waited.

Right on time, there was a message.

"Danvers, this is the Security office. We're detecting an open seal in the reserve storage locker on deck thirteen," Lieutenant Olivet said.

"We'll check it out," Danvers responded.

From her quarters, Tasha had used her Security access code to set a timed release on the locker door. There was nothing dangerous in that itself. The door to the room was simply sitting open.

But the locker contained restricted medication and Tasha knew that such a door sitting open would warrant an inspection – an inspection that would delay the Security team from checking the shuttlebay long enough for Tasha to enact her plan.