Nikki watched her companions from her perch on the very front of her
exofighter. They'd been stuck on the landing deck for nearly two hours and
everyone was getting tired of waiting for the commanding officer of the
freighter to okay them to actually come aboard the ship. Elan was still in
his frame, fiddling with his sensors. Kristin was checking over a malfunction
of Vouriot's frame. Vouriot was sitting off to the side, surveying the
contents of his med kit and looking very annoyed at the fact that the two
medical officers were looking over his shoulder. The two engineers were
leaning against the wall off to her left, deep in conversation.

Nikki heaved a frustrated sigh and slid off of the front of the exofighter,
her booted feet hitting the floor with a metallic thud. She'd walked around
the fighter three times before Kristin looked up, "Yer gonna make yerself
dizzy walkin' in circles like that, ye know."

Nikki walked over to where she was on her knees next to the rapid fire
e-frame. She sat down on the floor and crossed her legs in front of her,
watching Kristin continue her repairs intently.

Both women looked up, startled, when they heard yelling, "Would it be too
much to ask that you not hover over me like vultures!? Don't you have
anything better to do?"

Vouriot had startled the med techs as well, they stood staring at him blankly
for a few moments before one of them spoke, "No, not really."

Alain rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, standing and walking across the
hangar. Kristin and Nikki looked at each other and shrugged; Kristin
returning to her adjustments on the frame and Nikki stifling a yawn before
laying down on the deck.

"You are the members of the Normandy crew?"

Everyone stood quickly - Nikki almost hitting her head on the arm of Alain's
frame as she bolted up - and turned to see who had spoken.

They simply stared at the pirates before them. No one was sure what to do or
say. The one who had spoken, and appeared to be their leader, was a muscular
man of six feet and a few inches tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
While they were all shocked, Nikki stared open-mouthed.

Kristin was the first to gain her composure, "Who are you?"

"I am J'Khal, captain of the pirate ship, Hayden. And who are you?"

"Second Lieutenant Kristin O'Connor of Gamma Squad."

"You are the rescue crew from the EFS Normandy, are you not?"

Kristin nodded silently. Who was she to tell him that they weren't really a
rescue crew, but sent to help rebuild and assess damages? Perhaps she could
use his misconception to their advantage.

"You'll find very few to rescue, my dear. Pirates take no prisoners; unless,
of course, they can be of use to us," the corners of his mouth turned up,
more of a menacing leer than a smile. "And I'd say you can definitely be
useful."

J'Khal was now standing directly in front of her. He reached up to brush a
stray lock of hair from her face, his hand lingering as he pushed it back.
Kristin stood completely still, unsure of whether it was fear or anger that
stayed her hand as the urge to slap him surfaced. She definitely hadn't
missed the innuendo. She doubted even an idiot could have.

Unfortunately, Nikki didn't have the same reservations. He jerked back,
stumbling, as her booted foot connected with the right side of his rib cage,
"You bastard!"

Two of J'Khal's crew members rushed forward to grab her arms and hold her
back as he regained his balance. "A fiery wench, eh? You'd best learn to hold
your tongue, girl. And never start a fight you can't win."

The back of his hand connected painfully with the left side of her face,
splitting her lip and leaving a large print across her cheek. Nikki let out a
sharp cry of pain, but her icy gaze didn't waver.

"Do you understand me, girl?" She could feel the blood dripping from her
mouth and, without thinking, spit in his face.

Furious, J'Khal raised his hand to strike her again, "No!"

Elan lunged toward him, but was caught by the shoulders by one of his men and
another punched him hard in the stomach before he could get near the pirate
captain. He fell to his knees, groaning softly and wishing he hadn't eaten
before they'd left. He heard the crack of J'Khal's hand once more.

Nikki's head throbbed painfully and blood stained the front of her uniform as
it trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"You're stubborn. Not a very becoming trait in a young lady. It's a good
thing it's not your personality that interests me," he grinned wickedly. "Get
him on his feet!"

Two men pulled Elan up by his arms. "You're a brave man. I admire bravery;
unfortunately, I loathe stupidity." He pulled back his hand, landing his fist
against Elan's ribs. "As I told your friend, don't start a fight you can't
win."

Kristin closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. She couldn't believe this
was happening...especially on her first mission as the commanding officer.

"Lock them up, all except for her," J'Khal nodded toward Kristin. She looked
at him, confusion and fear evident in her eyes. "Take her to my quarters."

Kristin wanted to struggle when they took ahold of her and shoved her toward
the door. She wanted to kick and scream and tear them to shreds with her bare
hands. But she walked quietly and submissively down the corridors ahead of
them, hoping that they got out of their current predicament alive.



Nikki knelt next to Elan, "Elan, can you hear me?". He hadn't made a sound in
over an hour and she was beginning to wonder if maybe they'd done more damage
than Elan had let on. "C'mon, talk to me."

Elan's eyes opened slowly, the bright light of the brig cell sending a
lancing pain through his skull.

"You look like Hell," Nikki muttered, more to herself than to him.

"Have you looked at yourself lately?" he asked jokingly.

Her fingers gingerly touched the side of her face. "How do you feel?" she
asked lamely.

"Worse than I look, I think," Elan said quietly, trying not to make any more
noise than he had to. He pulled himself into a sitting position and
immediately regretted doing so as the contents of his stomach rebelled. He
moved to lean against the cool metal of the wall behind him, closing his eyes
against the assailing brightness of the cell once more.

"Are you okay?" Nikki asked, concern filling her voice.

"I'll be fine. Are <i>you</i> okay? He got you pretty good."

"I'll live." She looked at him critically for a moment; he was in a lot of
pain. "Damn it."

"What?"

"Of all of the people you could've gotten injured for and stuck in a cell
with, it had to be me. I can honestly say I've probably got the least amount
of medical experience in the entire group."

"Even if you did, you wouldn't exactly have a lot to work with." Nikki nodded
in agreement. "Besides, I think those engineers would probably mistake my
insides for the inside of a command console and try to re-wire me."

Nikki smiled, "Hey, watch it, my best friend happens to be an engineer."

Elan offered a weak smile in return.

"Thank you..." Nikki said quietly, "for what you did for me."

"Not enough, obviously," Elan tentatively reached out to turn her head to the
side and examine her face. He shook his head; the entire left side of her
face was swollen black and blue, her eye swollen nearly shut and her split
lip looked horrible, not to mention painful.

"Are you kidding, you could've been killed. That was one of the most heroic
acts I've ever seen! My very own knight in shining armor..."

"I fear thou wouldst have fared better without my help, milady."

Nikki laughed, "You belittle yourself, Sir Knight. I am truly grateful for
thine help."

Elan smiled back at her, "You don't strike me as a damsel in distress."

"Yeah, well, the pirates aren't exactly swashbuckling either. No one said the
fantasy was perfect."

"I'm glad you two are having such a great time."

Elan and Nikki turned to see Alain standing in the doorway, "Hey, did you try
to beat up their captain, too?" Nikki quipped.

"No, they let me come down to make sure you two were both going to live,"
Vouriot replied tersely.

"Thanks for coming. We'll have to thank J'Khal for being so concerned with
our welfare."

"It's my job," he stated succinctly, kneeling next to Elan. "And I wouldn't
thank the captain, either. O'Connor asked J'Khal to allow someone to see to
your wounds. He would've preferred to let you both die."

"Well, at least he didn't tell her no," Nikki pointed out.

"From what I heard, it was a long discussion and the Lieutenant didn't win it
easily."

"Are you always so...cynical?"

After raising an eyebrow at Nikki's question, Vouriot nodded, "Pretty much,
yeah." He turned back to Elan. "You have at least three broken ribs, maybe
more, I can't tell without any of my equipment. The good news is none of them
are broken more than once. I don't think you're bleeding internally, but I'll
come back tomorrow and check it out to make sure...if they'll let me." He
looked at Nikki, "Now, do you want me to look at that or not?" he nodded
toward her face.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and turned the injured side of her face
toward him. Alain whistled softly, "He did a number on you, didn't he." It
wasn't really a question, but she nodded slightly anyway.

Nikki flinched as Vouriot touched the tender, bruised flesh beneath her eye.
He probed lightly with his fingers from the corner of her left eye down her
cheekbone to her nose. "I'm going to assume, since you're obviously not
having any trouble speaking, that your jaw isn't broken. It'll hurt like Hell
for a few weeks and probably look even worse for a month or so, but it will
heal with time." He stood, "You're lucky he didn't break anything as hard as
he hit you."

"Hey, Exo, it's time to go," one of the pirate guards called.

"Take care, I'll try to get back tomorrow to check on Elan," he addressed
Nikki since Elan had drifted to sleep.

She nodded, "Thanks."

"No problem," Alain smiled slightly as the pirate led him out and slammed the
door.