Chapter One
Mal leaned back against the wall, it was difficult to get comfortable with his hands bound behind his back. "This is not how I expected today to go."
Lee smirked at him. "Really? This is exactly what I expect from this job by now."
"You have a very dark outlook, Captain."
She managed a shrug. "Do remind me, Colonel, how many times have we been held captive?"
"This makes it one too many," he muttered.
"I for one am not a happy camper," Oliver told them.
"Are you ever?" Lee lifted her brows.
"I'm quite happy when I'm working on a project."
"Oh, right, like the ZPM build? We know how that went," she replied dryly.
"Hey, that was one time."
"One time that I was present for."
"All of you shut up or I'll shoot you and the bounty be damned! It's no wonder the Alliance wants you so badly, you're goddamn annoying!"
Lee smiled sweetly at their guard. "Well, if you let us go then we won't annoy you anymore, will we?"
"You aren't going anywhere, except to the Alliance so we can collect our money. Once we turn you over we can retire and live quite comfortably for several lifetimes," the man told them.
"That would depend on how you live. I mean if you're choosing to live in a hovel in the woods, you can certainly live several lifetimes on very little. If, however, you buy a mansion and every expensive thing you come across, then logically you'd need quite a bit more money. Am I right?" Van asked.
The man looked at Lee. "Is he touched in the head?"
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? But no, he isn't and it is a logical argument."
The man snorted. "Trust me, with what the Alliance is offering for the three of you we'll live quite comfortably no matter how we spend the money."
"Three?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah, I have no idea who you are, but I suppose the Alliance will throw us a little extra for another warrior from Earth." The man shrugged.
"I never thought I'd be depressed about not being a wanted man," Oliver grumbled. "You'd think by now I'd be included but apparently I'm beneath notice."
"Really, Ollie, you're still whining about not being a wanted man?"
"It's simply nice to be included, that's all," he replied.
Lee chuckled. "Hey, you," she called to the man guarding them.
"I thought I told you to shut up."
"Look ... sorry I don't know your name ..." she trailed off and looked at him expectantly. He remained silent and she sighed. "All right, fine, Paul it is then. Now, Paul, you don't want to turn us over to the Alliance, they're awful people and if you think Nesrin is going to hand you a pile of money then you haven't met the woman. She's quite handy with a knife and she seems to enjoy using it. I doubt you'll get out of this alive. So why don't you let us go. We'll walk straight back to the Stargate and we won't return to your nice little planet."
He scowled at her. "You are a fool if you believe I'd let you go. The reward was promised and the Alliance will comply. If word gets out that they didn't fulfill their obligation it would go very badly for them. They may have increased their numbers, but they still rely on bounty hunters to do a lot of their dirty work and we could make things very difficult for them."
Mal sat up straighter. "Is that so? Well, then why don't we form an alliance of our own?" He smirked. "Get all the bounty hunters together and we take out the Alliance. What do you say there, Paul?"
"I think you should stop trying to talk my brother into letting you go before I show you how I use a knife."
Mal sighed and looked at the other two members of the trio as they came into the little one room hut where they were being held. The woman appeared to be in charge, at least the men seemed to defer to her in most things. "Look, ma'am, we don't want any trouble, we wold like to go home. Can't you understand that much?"
Her lip curled. "Our father was never home, he was out gambling away what little money he managed to earn while our mother locked herself in her room with whichever lover she was entertaining that week. We fended for ourselves. The idea of home is overrated. Now, I suggest you shut up until it's time to leave and meet our Alliance contact."
Lee looked at Mal when the three moved away to sit at the table on the far side of the little room. "Well, that went swimmingly. Now what?"
"I'll let you know when plan B comes to me."
"I think at this point we're on plan D, maybe E," Oliver said with a small sigh.
Mal eyed the three at the table. "Think she'd respond to some flirting?"
"You're kidding, right?" Lee asked.
"Hey, we tried reasoning. It was an idea."
She shook her head. "I've never seen you flirt, sir, and no offense intended, but I think Oliver has more game than you."
"Hey, that isn't nice!" Oliver protested.
"Wow, well I'll keep my ideas to myself then." Mal fell silent and stared across the room.
Van nudged Lee. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"We'll figure something out. It's what we do." She watched the three bounty hunters. Paul was the lowest on the totem pole, it was why he'd been left to guard them. His sister might trust him but that trust seemed to go only so far. She and the other man appeared quite cozy and she had the feeling Paul wasn't thrilled with that situation. He kept shooting them looks and sighing. The two didn't seem to notice his upset over their relationship. "Yo, Betty."
The woman turned a scowl on her. "What are you yelling about?"
"Well, I don't know your name and none of you seem to be in a sharing kind of mood, so I've decided to call you Betty, your brother is Paul by the way. As for your friend there I think I'll call him ... Rob. Okay, now that we're all caught up on names, where was I?" She paused as if deep in thought. "Right, Betty, look I get you want some fast cash and we seem like easy targets but we aren't. We're a pain in the ass."
"This is your plan?" Van hissed.
"Shush, I'm talking here." She looked back at Betty. "I mean why else would the Alliance offer such a big reward? They did it so greedy folks like you won't think twice about coming after us. We're more trouble than what Nesrin is offering for our capture." She tipped her head toward Van. "He's whiny as hell about damn near everything. No, wait, that's my brother. Nope wrong again, it's both of them."
"Hey!" Van and Oliver said in unison.
"I mean Oliver can't stand it if anything is dirty. Give him a day and he'll be asking to scrub this place from roof to floor."
"She has a point, this place could use a good dusting. And scrubbing." Oliver nodded as he looked around the room as if he was making mental notes of what needed to be done.
"The Colonel here, well he won't stop trying to get free. He'll injure you if he has to or kill you, maybe even get injured himself. He doesn't take well to being held captive. Then there's me, I like to talk. A lot. Nonstop really. It's a habit I formed in grade school when Marian Gillion used to tease me. I discovered if I started talking to her she would get distracted and whatever mayhem she planned was forgotten. Since then when I'm in a situation I can't control I start talking and I can't seem to stop. I mean, I think to myself Leonore, you should stop talking, you've been at it for a while and now you're just babbling incoherently at this point. Yet, I can't seem to stop. The words keep coming even if they don't make any sense. You know what I mean? It's simply—"
"Shut up!" Betty screamed.
"See, annoying and not worth the trouble." Lee grinned.
"She has a point." Mal brought his hands around in front of him and tossed the rope in the direction of the three bounty hunters. "I'm not going to stop attempting to get free."
Betty stared a moment before she looked at Paul and Rob. "Stop him!"
The two scrambled from their chairs and rushed at Mal, by the time they made it across the room he was on his feet, when Rob rushed in close he swung. His fist connected with Rob's jaw and sent the other man sprawling to the ground. Paul stopped short of getting too close to Mal and his swinging fists.
"Come on, afraid of me?" Paul eyed him warily and Mal grinned. They guy was a couple inches taller than he was but Mal had muscle where Paul had allowed himself to go soft.
"Dammit, you are so useless!" Betty yelled. "This is why I never let you get involved!" She pulled a weapon and fired.
Mal made a small sound before he crumpled to the ground.
Van emitted a small squeak of fear.
"Relax, he'll be fine in a few minutes. Tie him up and make certain he can't get free this time," Betty ordered her brother
Lee watched as Paul tied Mal up and left him on the floor. She knew how the Colonel managed to get free. He kept a small dagger in his left boot. It tended to get missed. Once the larger knife he carried was found people seemed to believe no one would carry a second knife. Which was plain stupid. Mal would get out again, only next time he'd make certain he could control the situation so they could get away. If she knew anything it was that his escape had most likely been a ruse. He knew they'd never get out of here but he wanted to throw them off balance and probably see exactly what kinds of weapons they carried. It would appear they replied heavily on those stunners that Betty had built. She hoped they wouldn't end up watching them more closely to prevent another escape attempt.
Van leaned closer to her. "That accomplished nothing, we won't get another chance to escape."
She smiled. "They think they've won. They managed to keep him from escaping and I think they're confident they can do it again."
"Getting cocky will do you in every time. That tends to be your problem and how you end up in trouble," Oliver told her.
"Yes, so trust me when I say I know what I'm doing."
"You mean what Mal is doing," Van told her with a grin.
"Fine, yes." She watched Betty place a cloth she had soaked with cool water to Rob's jaw as she murmured platitudes to him. "I think it's safe to say we can drive a wedge between Betty and Paul rather easily. He doesn't like her relationship with Robbie boy."
"I noticed that." Van was watching them.
"I think we can use that to our advantage, don't you?"
Van grinned broadly and nodded. "I think Mal was right, he should flirt with her."
Lee rolled her eyes. "You really think she's going to fall for that sort of tactic?"
He shrugged. "Maybe."
"Why do men think flattery is the answer to every problem?"
"Because it usually is." Van grinned at her.
"Idiot," she muttered.
Mal let out a small groan and rolled slightly.
Lee nudged his foot. "You okay, Colonel?"
"Yeah, good, I think. Well, that went well," he said with a groan.
"Better or worse than a Zat?" Van asked him.
"Worse, I have a headache now."
"Interesting."
"That I have a headache? Wow, thanks, Van."
"Well, you'd think all energy based weapons would work in a similar fashion. That obviously isn't the case."
"Of course it's not. It depends on how it's built, what intensity it might be set at, and what the power source is, any idiot knows that!" Oliver's words came out as more of a lecture than a statement.
Mal managed to push himself up into a sitting position and scooted back over against the wall beside Lee. "So, what did we accomplish, if anything."
"I think it will be easy to drive a wedge between Paul and Betty. He doesn't like the fact she's soft on Rob."
He nodded. "Good. We need to get out of here, we're way overdue and General Carter isn't going to like that."
"Elias will love it. It will give him another chance to try and get the General to lock us out of the system."
"Wow, thanks, Captain, I needed that reminder."
"You were thinking it, don't lie."
He sighed. "Yes, I was."
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