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“They’re my crew,” he said “My responsibility”

Kurt understood that He figured lack of sleep and guilt eighing on the captain’s mind too

“Most of your crewht this,” Kurt said “So did nine members of the ASIO, and at least four civilians who’ve tried to escape Thero’s grasp The only way to give those deathsWe have a chance to do that if we side with Gregorovich It’s a long shot But it’s the only shot we have”

Winslow seemed unsure

Kurt put his hand on the captain’s shoulder and looked hih None of us would even be in this situation if I’d kept my nose out of it Those crew them back We can only do our best to make sure their deaths are not in vain”

Winslow looked back at Kurt He seemed to understand “So what do we do now?”

“We have to reduce the number of commandos at their disposal,” Kurt said “Even the odds a little”

“How? They have us under guard”

Kurt had been thinking about this while losing in chess to Gregorovich “They eat buffet style around here,” he said, having noted the setup on his single pass through thewith bacteria Scrape up any kind of grunge you can find I don’t care where you get it from, and, frankly, I don’t want to know Collect it up and find a way to drop it in the food right around chow tiotten our fill of course”

“Germ warfare,” Joe noted

“If the coorovich will have no choice but to take us along”

“I like it,” Joe said “What if he leaves us behind anyway?”

“Then we take over the ship and radio NUMA if we can”

Joe nodded, and Hayley offered a sad s on the offensive for a change Winslow agreed “Okay,” he said “I’m with you”

THIRTY