"Lieutenant O'Connor, you aren't being given a choice. You will contact the
Normandy, and you will do it now," J'Khal ordered, obviously getting annoyed.

"I..." the blaster that was pressed up against the back of her ribcage
stopped her. She couldn't just call and tell them everything was fine when
things were as far from it as they could possibly get!

"Sit!" J'Khal ordered, pointing to the chair in front of her.

Kristin reluctantly obeyed, wondering just how smart the pirates were.

One of the pirates hailed the Normandy and stepped out of the view of their
screen. Kristin bit her lip nervously, taking a deep breath when the comm
officer's face appeared on the screen. He was looking at her expectantly, so
she assumed he'd said something.

"Lieutenant Kristin O'Connor of Gamma Squad reporting from the EFS Talis. I
need to speak to Captain Hobbes."

"One moment," the young man said. He disappeared and seconds later Hobbes'
face appeared in his place.

"O'Connor, where the Hell heave you been? Do you have any idea of what went
through our minds when we didn't hear from you?"

"I'm sorry, Sir. We, uhm , had some technical difficulties with the comm
equipment in Vouriot's frame."

"Did you get them straightened out?"

"Yes, Elan's got it up and runnin' like new."

"Good," Hobbes replied. "Will you be heading back with survivors soon, then?"

"No, Sir. We're goin' to stay here and see what we can do with their
e-frames. We may be able to save a few of them."

Hobbes nodded, "Alright. I want you to let me know if anything out of the
ordinary happens. I'm sure the pirates are still around there somewhere."

"Yes, Sir, we'll watch for them. O'Connor out."

J'Khal was smiling when she stood up, "There, now...that wasn't so hard, was
it?"

Kristin didn't reply, just turned to leave the bridge. J'Khal stopped her
with a hand on her arm, "I don't think so, my dear. You're going to be
joining me in my quarters...for dinner."

Kristin stared, "I what?"

"You heard me." Then to one of his subordinates, "Take her to my quarters;
and make sure she stays there."



Nikki was pacing the short length of their cell, driving Elan half crazy. She
would have driven him completely mad by now if he hadn't been only half
conscious. He could have kissed Alain for the pain killer he'd brought.
Unfortunately they were wearing off.

"You could have just been happy sitting around doing nothing all day; but NO!
You had to decide that you were bored..."

"Do you...have conversations with yourself often?"

Nikki turned to look down at Elan, "No, only when I'm held captive by pirates
locked in a cell for days on end with nothing to do."

"And you thought you were bored back on the Normandy."

Nikki exhaled heavily, "Yeah, well, if I had known this was the alternative,
I would've kept my big mouth shut," she grumbled.

Elan smiled slightly.

"We have got to do something! We can't just sit here until they get tired of
us and decide to kill us. We have to find a way to get out of here!"

"Would you please stop pacing?"

Nikki dropped to the floor next to him, "Fine. But I still say we have to
think of a way out of here."

"Alright," Elan agreed. "Any suggestions?"

Nikki thought for a moment before shaking her head, "No, not really."

"Okay, then. Face it, we're probably the least likely candidates to initiate
an escape; we're stuck in here. We'll just have to hope that somebody from
the Normandy comes after us or one of the others figures out a plan."

Nikki sighed, "I guess you're right. I just hate sitting here, not knowing
what's going on or what's going to happen to us."

"I know, I'm not happy about it either, but we don't have much of a choice."

She nodded sullenly, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes.



Hobbes didn't even bother to wait for a reply before he entered Adrian
Henry's office, "We have to talk, Sir."

"Unless Admiral Winfield promoted you without my knowledge, I'd say we do."

Hobbes frowned, confused, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Never mind that, what did O'Connor have to say?"

"She said things were going fine."

Captain Henry raised an eyebrow, "And?"

"That there was a technical difficulty with Vouriot's frame that prevented
them from contacting us, but Tedronai fixed it."

"Really? Well, it doesn't sound like they're having any problems that would
require your assistance."

"With all due respect, Captain, you're wrong. I believe that the pirates may
have taken over the Talis."

"Why would you think that?"

"Vouriot's frame doesn't have any comm equipment more sophisticated than a
short range communicator. And Elan couldn't fix an e-frame in five days, even
with a step-by-step illustrated manual."

"Well, that would explain why she asked for Captain Hobbes. She didn't want
to alert anyone who might have been with her to the fact that she was letting
us know something was up."

Hobbes nodded, "Captain, we have to help them."

After a moment, Henry shook his head slowly, "I'm sorry, but the situation
hasn't changed. I still need you here...all of you."

"You can't be serious!" Amy cried from the doorway behind Hobbes, Karen
standing next to her.

"She's right, Sir, we can't just leave them to die," Karen spoke up.

Hobbes looked at each of them in turn, "Did you invite anyone else?" he asked
Hobbes.

"No, just Lt. Hiatt and Dr. Rhodes."

"I won't change my decision. I can't afford for any of you to be gone if we
go up against the pirates. It's that simple," he paused. "I would love to let
you go after them, but you have to understand that if any of you were absent,
it could mean the difference between victory or defeat for the Normandy in
battle."

"But..."

The Captain put up a hand, "It's my final decision, is that clear?"

"Crystal..." muttered Hobbes.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you three. You're not to leave the ship without my
permission, understood?"

"Yes, Sir," their replies came in unison.

"Good. Dismissed."

The three officers walked exasperated from his office.

Captain Henry hoped they'd gotten the idea.



"I thought if we could prove that there was trouble, maybe he'd be more
willing to let us go."

"So, we're just supposed to sit here while our friends and fellow crew
members are killed by the pirates?" Amy asked.

"We don't know if they're going to kill them," Karen said optimistically.

"What else would pirates do with members of the Exo Fleet?" Amy muttered.

"The captain said we couldn't go," Hobbes reflected.

"Yeah, so?"

"He never said someone else couldn't..."