Between Two Worlds

[BLACK BART]

~for Caela & I~​

"Roger that"

Val replied as his orders came across the headset he wore.

"I'm moving to the quadrant coordinates...NOW"

With a flare of afterburners he turned his tiny warcraft, programming the co-ordinates that would send him deep into space, then triggered the hyper-drive engine.

"Raiders...Here...I...come!"

He had time to spit out before the raw power slammed him back into the seat, and the normal world of stars and nebula turned into a blurred streak of white and blue.

Hours later his tiny craft emerged, the Class III world he now circled blissfully unaware of his insignificant presence, and he guided the heavily armed cruiser into the asteroids that orbited the planet.

"Computer, encode this message and send a burst stream communication back to base. Message begins: Co-ordinates reached. Scanners now searching for Black Traders as per orders, upon detection of such I will eliminate and return to base. Message Over. Send Burst..."

And with the message transmitted First Class Ensign Val Grisham did just that, trying to stretch his lean frame inside the confines of the cockpit and failing, cursing the engineers that built the craft too small for his six foot body even as he resigned himself to the boring, tedious chore of endless scanning.

"Send me out to look for the Black Queen will they? I wonder if they know about my dalliance with the Captain's wife, after all? Naw, can't be..."

Scanners set on automatic he sighed, then set the alarms to trigger IF any craft enters this sector, and settled back for another long, uncomfortable rest in the silence of space.

 

[caela]

Rayne growled softly seeing the flare of a ship dropping out of hyper-space and quickly tucked her small scout ship behind and asteroid and cut all power but the life support system. It didn't take a genius to know that the odds were the new ship was likely and Earth-system vessel and not from the Strand. If it was one of her own people's ships it would know she was here and send out a communications beacon to her. Waiting in silence for ten minutes she knew it wasn't one of theirs and sighed.

"Great, just fucking great!" she growled as she got up and started pacing in her small ship. She hadn't gotten a good look at the ship as it came through but it hadn't looked like it was designed for long term space travel so it likely wouldn't stay long. Her own resources were becoming depleted however which was why she'd swung through this sector. The Strand's reports had made it clear that this planet was uninhabited by intelligent life and at last check the Earthlings hadn't known about it.

"So much for intelligence reports," she muttered and stomped her foot like a petulant child. "Oh well, might as well get some sleep while I wait for this jendach to leave."

Tapping a button on the floor a bed unfolded from the wall. With a sigh she grabbed an elastic band and pulled back a thick mass of dark red hair. It was a darker, richer red than any human could ever hope to have naturally and she'd read one human report that had described hair like her as looking "saturated with blood cast under moonlight". She had thought it rather poetic at the time.

She was female and just vain enough that she'd brought a mirror in her bag and she pulled it out now, smiling at the way her hair accented her skin. Smooth and flawless it shimmered most white but with undercurrents of other colors glimmering across it like a seashell and her eyes...she loved her eyes. Perfect black orbs stnading out starkly in all that shimmering white skin. They made a delicate counterpoint to the lips that were the palest of pinks.

Staring into the mirror she realized, not for the first time, just how much alike her own people and humans looked. Oh their coloring was different to be sure, humans came in such a boring array of browns and peaches and their eye and hair coloring options were so limited. Her own people were much more colorful but the basic features and bone structure were similar though those of The Strand looked much more fragile than most humans.

The internal structures were where the biggest differences were. Her people had two hearts, three small organs that served the function of one human liver, and a much more complex pulmonary system that seemed to lack anything a human would recognize as a lung but instead seemed to be composed of thousands of small sacks throughout their entire bodies making it easier for them to breathe in low oxygen atmospheres and more efficient at enduring long runs or hikes.

Humans had them beat for raw strength however. Their smaller bone structure made them smaller in build than most humans and while they had a wirey strength that always seemed to surprise humans they couldn't get the muscle mass that a human could...which was why they prefered to face them in ship and not in hand to hand combat.

Good tech was the great equalizer.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she put away her mirror and changed from her flight suit and into a nightgown made of a filmy material that wrapped around her body and was just barely dense enough to hide the trim curves it covered instead of revealing them. Setting the sensor alarms to wake her if the human ship moved toward her own well hidden scout ship she then slipped into her bunk and let herself drift into the sweetness of sleep and dreams.

 

[BLACK BART]

Val nearly missed it.

Waking from a dream he yawned and ground the sleep from his eyes, trying to focus on the control panel in front of him as he triggered the suits internal systems and relieved himself.

It was then that he saw it. A tiny red dot outside of the quadrant, so tiny he almost missed it, and then it seemed to vanish.

"Computer, expand the perameters of search two....no make it three kliks."

It was back again, and as Val jockied his ship to aim the sensors and guns directly at it the alarms began to scream.

"Computer, shut the God Damn Alarms OFF"

He barked and concentrated on transferring coordinates from the screen to the weapons system.

"Analyze unknown object in Quadrant 54I and Sector 6"

"Ship is of Strand manufacture, Class 1 warship"

"God Damn it!"

Val cursed, knowing he was on the far edge of range to expect to fire effectively, and to get closer would alert the alien warship.

"Computer, Fire both guns, maximum burst and maximum spread"

"Confirmed"

"Computer, FIRE."

"Unable to comply, your internal suit systems are still functioning"

Cursing Val quickly triggered the switches and waited for the suit to cycle.

"Computer....FIRE"

"Firing"

His ship rocked as the guns fired, depleting 70 percent of it's total load in a twin sustained burst, and then silence.....

Leaving Val to watch the monitors and hold his breath as he tracked thier paths, and hoped his luck ran good....

 

[caela]

Rayne growled as all the ships alarms started going off. Rolling out of the bed and instantly awake she didn't bother changing into her flight jumper but slid into the seat at her control panal to read the monitors.

"Jendrach Ree!" she cursed as she saw the fire power blasting toward her ship. There was no way to dodge it or outrun it. She was going to get hit! So she did what she could and put as much of hte asteroid she was hiding behind between her and the firepower racing toward her.

In less time than she had to think the asteroid exploded around her damaging her ship but at least she hadn't blown up. Her engines were damaged however and she was going to be forced to make a crash landing. Before she did however she decided to take that pendshart Earthling with her!

Turning her ship she smirked as she aimed, her ship had longer range weapon then his and she had no need to send as much firepower whirling toward him. She set the missles to disable his ship so he'd be forced to land as well. She wanted the pleasure of killing him herself and then she could scavange parts from his ship and limp back home.

Firing she didn't wait to watch what happened but turned her ship to make an emergency landing on the planet they were orbiting before it became a true crash landing.

 

[BLACK BART]

30...29...28...27...

"God Damn IT"

Val cursed as the alarms triggered in his own ship and the countdown began.

26...25...24...23...

Burning precious fuel he spun the fighter, then triggered the emergency systems and mumbled an ancient prayer.

9...8...7...6...

It was going to be close, as the twin engines fired and he slammed into the chair Val looked to the screen...

5....4....3....2....

"I made it?"

He breathed a sigh as the screen showed he was out of range, then cursed as the alarms began to scream a third time...

And his world went black.

 

[caela]

Gods but she hated actually landing on a planet! Atmosphere's were a bitch, especially in an already disabled ship. Jerking hard on the controls as the ship shuddered she prayed to every god she could think of to just make it down in one piece and breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally far enough into the atmosphere that it stopped trying to tear her ship to shreds.

Eyeing the ground she realized she was near a coastline and looking around she spotted a river that would likely be her best source of fresh water. Her landing wasn't smooth but it didn't tear the ship apart either.

Patting the control panel she grinned and changed into her jumpsuit, "Good baby. Once the damned Earthling comes down I'll scavange parts to fix you up and get us off this gods-forsaken planet."

Humming to herself she hopped out of cargo doors and onto the ground. Her body inhaled the hair deeply and she grinned when she felt the level of oxygen entering her bloodstream. This planets atmosphere was amazingly clear. If they could keep the humans away from it it would make a good resort planet.

And there'd be a HUGE finders fee in it for her if it was approved as such.

In a much better mood now she started exploring as she waited for the human's ship to crash and hoping it would crash nearby, she really didn't want to have to search too hard for it.

 

[BLACK BART]

Surprisingly Val woke up

To hear the sounds of water running and little else.

Water?

He woke a second time with a start, the sound louder in his ears now, and running across his feet.

It was in his ship, and with that discovery he cursed frantically and released the straps that held him into his chair.

Thankfully the power was still on, a quick glance told him everything else was destroyed, from the Com panel, to the Nav and Weapons, they were all burned or crushed.

"Thank God"

Climbing out of the cockpit Val found his ship was in the center of a flowing river, and though it was lodged firmly between two large rocks he knew that situation could easily change.

In minutes he moved back into the half flooded cabin and collected his crash gear, then pulled the small hand weapons from under the floorboards and disabled the power grids.

"Time to go fishing"

He laughed and waded through the chest high water, not missing the abundance of fish moving through the water.

"And after I've eaten, we'll go hunting..."

 

[caela]

Rayne smirked when she saw the humans ship crashing to the ground. It looked like it had come down near the river though farther up than her own ship. It shouldn't be hard to find. Grabbing a phase emitter she tucked it into the back pocket of her jumpsuit where she could grab it easily. If she were lucky the crash would have killed the human...but then if she were lucky he never would have seen her in the first place so she wasn't counting on her luck much today.

Sticking to the dense forest growth near the river she found the ship as he was climbing out of it and grumbled softly to herself.

"And after I've eaten, we'll go hunting..."

Food. It was a good thought and so she melted back further into the shadows deciding to let him do the work for her before she killed him and took the fish he caught. Deciding the day was looking up she smiled slightly and leaned back against a tree to simply wait.

 

[BLACK BART]

Water, trees, pure air, and even birds...

Much like earth before the final war, before the nuclear holocaust began and decimated nearly 90 percent of it's inhabitants.

Val made quick use of his knife and trimmed a sapling, forming a crude yet effective spear and waded back into the water to catch half a dozen fat fish in as many minutes.

Birds... Val realized they were silent now, and that silence meant only one thing...

Stowing the fish in a makeshift bag he slid it over his shoulder and sat down in the water, his head the only thing above water and his eyes studying the shoreline intently as he began to float down river...

"If you want to EAT"

He taunted the unseen enemy and drew his plasma gun from his belt.

"You have to CATCH it YOURSELF"

The water gripped him and pulled him under, and when he bobbed to the surface he found himself 50 foot away from where he had started....and a silent figure moving out of the trees.

Not even trying to aim he fired a farewell round over the figures head, and smiled as they dove to the ground, the water carrying him around a bend and out of sight...his voice echoing off the waters surface as he disappeared...

"See You Laterrrrrrr"

 

[caela]

Rayne growled at her own stupidity as the human let himself be carried down the river. At least until she realized he was leaving his ship. Perhaps simply leaving him here was just as good as killing him. "Idiot," she muttered under her breath before slipping out of the woods and toward his ship.

She had no worries about him finding her own ship. He'd have to be able to start it to get any information out of the computer and the start up codes were locked securely inside of her mind. The only things on her ship not locked up were her own personal items, even the small rations of food and her first aid kit were locked up.

Drawing closer to his ship she cried out as a weapons burst flared over her head making her drop to the ground and draw her own pulse emitter but her was already around a bend in the river and out of range of her weapon before she could even get a good aim.

Cursing softly under her breath she shook her head and rose from the ground. Brushing her jumpsuit off she changed her mind. Leaving him here wasn't good enough, she wanted to kill him.

Moving to the ship she kept her ears open for sounds of his return as she started seaching it. Most of it was useless and she was glad she didn't really need much off of it. She was planning to scavange off it anyway so actual parts (which would likely be incompatible with her ship anyway), she just needed to be able to use them to back up her own damaged ship. She'd need a few metal panals to patch up her hull and plenty of conductive wire to patch of her engine coils. All she needed was enough to be able to get off this planet and limp home where full repairs could be made.

The longer she looked the human's ship however the less attention she started paying for his return until she was utterly engrossed in her own thoughts and plans for getting out of this mess.

 

[BLACK BART]

Val came to shore quickly once he was around the rivers bend, then used the twin suns overhaed to make his way quickly back to the crash site and his ship.

To his surprise he found a cute pair of decidely female buttocks bent over the interior as the occasional hand tossed out part after part.

Stepping up quietly he drew his weapon and set it for stun, then spoke.

"Didn't you Ma-Ma ever tell you it was rude to come visiting when nobody is home?"

His words drew an immediate reaction, the sight of a woman on his craft stunning him for a second and almost letting her get the "drop" on him as she drew her own weapon and moved to aim it.

He fired and hit her dead center on her chest, the pulse knocking her to her knees before she collapsed and rolled to her back, spread out like a rag doll on top of his fighter...

"Kind of a pretty hood ornament, aren't you?"

Val quipped to the unmoving woman and rolled her to one side, then tied her arms with the very wire she had torn from his ship, before pulling her into the water and towing her to the shore.

"OK, Hunting is over..."

He quipped and searched the woman before tying her securely to a handy tree.

"Now I eat my fish"

In minutes he had a fire going, and in several more he had several fish cleaned and cooking over the fire on a makeshift spit, his eyes going to his captive as she woke and glared at him.

"Never met a real live Strandarian before, I usually kill them and cook them, but since I have all these nice fish to eat....why don't you tell me who you are and where your base is?"

 

[caela]

"Didn't you Ma-Ma ever tell you it was rude to come visiting when nobody is home?"

Rayne growled and turned, quickly drawing her pulse emitter and almost getting her shot off before him but she wasn't quite quick enough and he already had her sighted. She gasped as the pulse from his own gun hit her square in the chest, knocking her back against the ship she'd been raiding. His voice the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

"Kind of a pretty hood ornament, aren't you?"

How long it was before she woke she wasn't sure but long enough apparently. She struggled against the wire holding her wrists behind her back and glared over at the human while he sat cooking his fish. She must have been out for awhile for him to have cleaned and cooked so many and she hated the thought of being so utterly helpless before him.

"Never met a real live Strandarian before, I usually kill them and cook them, but since I have all these nice fish to eat....why don't you tell me who you are and where your base is?"

"Funny, I usually just kill humans and leave them to rot. They're not worth eating," she quipped despite her helpless position. She'd probably give him her name eventually but she'd be damned to the 12 circle of the punishment Hall of Shandrach before she'd tell him where her base was! He really was an idiot if he though it would be that easy.

 

[BLACK BART]

Val sighed and watched the woman as his meal cooked, then ate it slowly in front of her as she glared at him.

"Doesn't matter, I triggered my beacon before I crashed and the fleet will send a destroyer out to get me, in a few hours I'll turn you over to the Security Forces and let them beat it out of you. I understand you Strandarians actually enjoy being raped senseless"

Washing his hands and knife in the river he adds a small amount of wood to the fire and begins to examine the tools and weapons he took from his prisoner.

"Maybe I should strip search you so I can make sure you don't have any more hidden weapons?"

 

[caela]

"Doesn't matter, I triggered my beacon before I crashed and the fleet will send a destroyer out to get me, in a few hours I'll turn you over to the Security Forces and let them beat it out of you. I understand you Strandarians actually enjoy being raped senseless"

Rayne couldn't help it...she laughed. Not at the being raped senseless part but the idea that he'd gotten his beacon triggered before crashing. She was familiar with human crafts and had been digging through his long enough to find the beacon and see that it was as fried as the rest of his ship. Either he was really stupid or he thought she was.

Most likely he thought she was...human men always underestimated women, even their own so she wasn't surprised that he underestimated her as well.

"Maybe I should strip search you so I can amke sure you don't have any more hidden weapons?"

She could keep from shaking her head and suddenly realized she'd lost her hair elastic somewhere as a sheet of thick, red hair waved in front of her face.

"Are you really that obtuse or do you just expect me to start quivering in fear of the big bad human? If you'd intended to strip search me you'd have done it while I was unconcious and as for your beacon we both know it's as fried as the rest of your damned ship.

Unlike you I'm not a complete idiot so stop treating me like one."

Tossing her head more to get her hair out of her face than as an act of defiance she watched him intently. She remembered reading somewhere that humans tended to be unsettled by the pure, perfect, blackness of Strandian eyes. Something about so many of their fictions demons and monsters having perfectly red or black eyes that was sunk in their unconcious as automatically being a sign of evil. She doubted it would actually intimidate him but wouldn't be adverse to it making him slightly uncomfortable.

 

[BLACK BART]

Val lifted his head and met her eyes, letting the hate he felt for her "kind" burn brightly as she insulted him and glared defiantly at him.

"As you under estimate me as well, Rayne of Strand"

He replied in her own language, the words coming out in clicks and grunts, but clearly understood as she widened her eyes.

"You wear dog-tags just as we do"

He returned to his own language and lifted the chain from around his neck, to show her own tags dangling with his.

"And I'll strip search you tomorrow, among other things, right now I need to take care of a small cut"

Pulling his shirt off he turned so she wouldn't see him wince, then lifted an arm to inspect the cut that ran from the muscles of his shoulder down to his elbow.

"I would ignore it but it seems this world is populated with wild, meat eating animals and I don't want to wake up dead"

 

[caela]

"As you under estimate me as well, Rayne of Strand"

Rayne's eyes flared wide not because he knew her name but because he spoke it in her own tongue! Granted it sounded rough and boorish and many of the syllables that should have flowed smoothly together stumbled over his human tongue still he managed to be understood and that was remarkable! Her language was nearly impossible for humans, they must have started teaching it to him as a mere child for him to manage it so well.

She didn't want to be but she was impressed...not that she'd let him know that.

She wasn't surprised when she saw he had her id tags along with his own and she didn't really care. They would tell him anything except that her name was Rayne and the Strand was her homeworld. She was curious though as to why he'd felt the need to take them, perhaps he thought he could hold them over her in some way...if so he was dumber than she'd though despite his being able to speak her tongue.

"And I'll strip search you tomorrow, among other things, right now I need to take care of a small cut"..."I would ignore it but it seems this world is populated with wild, meat eating animals and I don't want to wake up dead"

Looking up and eyeing the cut on his arm she muttered softly under her breath, "Jendrach Ree." There was no direct translation into any human tongue but it was clear she was insulting him again. If that was a "small" cut then she was a human. It didn't look too deep and she doubted it'd need stitches but it was still not small.

And he was treating her like a fool again. If he'd been worried about wild animals he'd have cleaned and bandaged the cut before he'd fixed his dinner instead of bleeding through the whole meal and attracting them. He'd also have take better care of the remains since the scent of dead fish wuold like draw predators as surely as the unfamiliar scent of human blood.

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head she simply shut up and said nothing else. Talking to him was pointless.

 

[BLACK BART]

Val pulled a small tube from his pack, then opened it and began to pour it over the wound, it was awkward but in time he had the gel rubbed over the length to feel the healing process begin.

In minutes he knew the flesh would begin to heal, the accelerant in the healing salve speeding up the normal process tenfold...

Already he could use his hand to aim the pulse gun at his prisoner as he slid a longer strand of wire around her neck and pulled it snug, then moved to place himself between her and the fire.

"Move and I use this again, I need to get a good nights sleep, understood?"

Pulling the wire tight he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, wondering what he'd wake up to in the morning, or if he'd wake up.....dead?

 

[caela]

Rayne blinked as he looped a wire around her neck. The look on her face was one of utter confusion as she tried to figure out what he was doing until she remembered that Strandians and humans didn't breath the same way and that he was basically threatening to "choke" her if she didn't let him sleep.

"Move and I use this again, I need to get a good nights sleep, understood?"

She couldn't keep herself from laughing in derision. First he underestimated her intelligence and now he was overestimating her ability to kill him while he slept. She wasn't sure which was worse. To top it off he could speak her langues but obviously didn't know the beginning of the basic differences in their anatomy.

"Palfrog ror," she muttered under her breath calling him an idiot in the rudest terms her language allowed. She could speak perfect Earth english but for cursing there was simply nothing like ones own tongue.

"You can't strangle me the way you would another human. How the hell can you manage to learn my language and no learn even the most basic of anatomical differences between our species?"

 

[BLACK BART]

"Strangle you?"

Val opened a single eye and looked at the woman.

"Silly Bitch, it's to make sure you don't get away, the phaser is set on stun and I'll fire it in my sleep if you move"

All playfullness gone he stared at her for a long minute, then spoke again.

"I intend to take you back to the Security Forces, my old buddies will enjoy taking you apart and putting you back together again, but I can make them just as happy if you're dead...or alive"

Resetting the phaser he opened both eyes and studied her own darker ones.

"And I learned your language last year as a pastime, when I was assigned to the Bering Channel,so keep your friggin insults to yourself."

 

[caela]

"I intend to take you back to the Security Forces, my old buddies will enjoy taking you apart and putting you back together again, but I can make them just as happy if you're dead...or alive"

She rolled her eyes at his macho posturing. She had no use for it. The only way off this rock was in her boat and there was no way he was getting it off the ground without her...alive. She had the start codes in her head and their systems were designed to fry themselves if you put wrong code in twice. If he killed her he was never getting of this rock.

"And I learned your language last year as a pastime, when I was assigned to the Bering Channel,so keep your friggin insults to yourself."

That just made her snort in disbelief. Human and Strandian vocal chords where quite different and there were sounds in the Strandian dialect, hell sounds in her own name! that no human who hadn't been taut it from a very young age would be able to produce. Just as Strandian's had difficulties with some Earth languages, though english came easily enough.

"I'll say what I like and you won't kill me for it because we both know your ship isn't going anywhere which means you'll want to find mine and to even get it started you need the codes in my head.

You need to sleep, fine...so do I so how about you hold onto your end of the little leash if makes you feel safe, shut the hell up and let me sleep too. Just so I don't scare you I'm going to tell you that I'm going to lay down on my side," she said snidely as she did just that, curling up with her back to him and closing her eyes, deliberatly ignoring him now.

 

[BLACK BART]

Val slept quite well.

By the time the two suns had risen in the south he was awake and feeling rested, and had a small fire going to heat water inside the small can he had salvaged from his ship.

"You can stop faking you're sleeping"

He spoke to the back of his prisoner and dropped the pellet into the boiling liquid.

"I know your twin heart and higher metabollic rates mean you need less rest that a human, so sit up so we can talk."

Drinking straight from the can he watched the Strand pilot roll and sit up, and he grinned as she glared at him.

"You're right about my ship, the cockpit took the brunt of your lucky shot and it's ruined, even if I could get her off the ground she wouldn't hold up in zero space, the shielding is gone and I'd have no air."

Watching the satifaction build in her eyes Val finished his caffiene boost and rinsed the can for later use, then poured the water on the fire and killed it.

"But you're wrong about your own ship, or at least lying about how "good of shape" it's in... The last confirmed record on my screen showed I hulled your engines, and that you barely had enough impulse power left to glide in for a landing. You'll never take off from this deserted hunk of rock...again"

Not needing to hear her words he saw the truth flash across her eyes, and as Val broke camp he knew they were both in a tough predicament.

"Get up, we're going to anchor what's left of my bird, or should I say you are...and then we'll discuss just how far away your ship is."

Moving behind her as she stood Val removed the wire harness around her neck, then untied her hands and stood back, drawing his weapon and her own as well.

"Looking at your pea-shooter I'd say it's coded to your person, isn't it? And if I were to try using it it would either blow my hand off or give a jolt large enough to knock me out?"

Again he was able to read her face, and he nodded.

"There's a drag hook under the hull of my ship, since you don't breath like I do you won't need as much air to attach the line I found stowed in my access panels this morning and bring it back to me, the way the current is moving means IF you try to swim away you'll pop up right there...."

He pointed to the very bend he had floated past the day before.

"And it's well within range of my phaser. So lets get moving, shall we?"

 

[caela]

Rayne hadn't liked the human before but now she was learning to truly despise him. He could make whatever assessment he wanted of her ship but she would fix it and get it off this damned rock! She just needed to scavange parts from his ship to do it. She let him ramble on refusing to speak to him until he pulled out her own phase emitter and found herself hoping he'd try and use it on her.

"Looking at your pea-shooter I'd say it's coded to your person, isn't it? And if I were to try using it it would either blow my hand off or give a jolt large enough to knock me out?"

Growling softly in her head she knew her face was far to readable and simply nodded. Actually it wouldn't blow his hand off or knock him out, it would kill him. As he said it was coded to her person but beyond that it was also coded to her species. It was a newer model and designed to read the DNA differences between Human and Strand. If an uncoded Strandian picked it up it would knock them out, if any human tried to use it it would kill them but she didn't feel the need to tell him that.

"There's a drag hook under the hull of my ship, since you don't breath like I do you won't need as much air to attach the line I found stowed in my access panels this morning and bring it back to me, the way the current is moving means IF you try to swim away you'll pop up right there...."

Glaring at the idiot male before her she found herself aching to reach out and slap the smug expression off his face. Instead she settled for giving him a nasty look and and stapping back away from the river.

"You really are an idiot if you think I'm going into that water!" she hissed. "You're right, I don't need as much air as you but unlike you I can't just hold my breath either. If you want to kill me have the balls to shoot me but don't think I'm willingly climbing into a deathtrap like that river."

 

[BLACK BART]

"OK, Have it your way"

Val sighed and reached into his bag, pulling out an ancient black leather collar and a tiny metal cylinder.

"Put this on your neck"

Receiving another glare he shrugged, then set the hand phaser to stun and aimed it at the defiant alien.

"You're just slowing us both down, but if you insist?"

"What the voukrat is it?"

"It's something old tech called a dog collar with a range sensing implant, it was used on animals we wanted to control, and works by sending a jolt into the one that wears it, the farther they move away the stronger the jolt."

He supplied and watched hher carefully as she lifted it to her throat.

"Snap it on, the transmitter will beep when it's armed."

"Armed?"

"I've modified it so if I go more than 1 klik away it exlodes. A trick I learned from your own kind when I was in the Bering Channel, so if you run or I drown while trying to save my ship...."

He left the rest hanging and as the transmitter beeped slid it into his pocket and pulled off his shirt.

"Oh, try to take it off and it will...."

"I get the picture"

He grinned as she cut him off and pointed to a fallen tree by the waters edge.

"Then sit over there. It's the farthest range you can be from me while I'm working on my ship and not get jolted"

 

[caela]

"I've modified it so if I go more than 1 klik away it exlodes. A trick I learned from your own kind when I was in the Bering Channel, so if you run or I drown while trying to save my ship...."

Oh how she hated him! It was so degrading to have to put the damned collar on and she growled when it clicked into place and beeped once making it clear that it was armed and ready to kill her if he went to far away.

"Then sit over there. It's the farthest range you can be from me while I'm working on my ship and not get jolted"

Glaring at him from her liquid dark eyes she spun on her heel and went to sit where he'd pointed. She was going to find a way to kill him, then she was going to take that damned transmitter and get the hell out of here. Someone on her own planet would be able to figure out how to get it off.

She knew she was pouting as she watched him work but she wasn't at all used to being helpless and was quickly finding that she didn't like it in the least.

 

[BLACK BART]

The coolness of the water was refreshing as Val stepped into it, his mind on just how he would carry out the cable and attach it once he slid under the water.

He no longer thought about the alien glaring at him from her perch, he didn't dare, the water was swift enough he'd get pinned under the belly of the ship if he slipped and he needed every bit of concentration he could muster....

Gripping the looped end of the cable he played it out, forcing his longs to absorb as much oxygen as possible, and then slid smoothly under the water....

Minutes later he hung from the battered wings edge, gasping for breath, his body shivering from the cold and his face triumphant.

"Not so bad"

He spoke out loud as he dragged the cable to the waters surface and reached into his pants to pull out the alien handgunand toss it into the cockpit of his ship.

The twin sun warmed him, and yet he shivered as he returned to the shore with the cable and walked to the largest and closest tree he had spotted earlier.

"You'd better...."

He began to warn and then grinned as the collar buzzed and his prisoner yelped in response.

"Move?"

The cable secured he moved back to the campsite, looking over a shoulder as he hefted the bags packed earlier and found his unwilling partner 6 paces behind.

"Quick learner huh?"

He grinned and moved to the waters edge, then began to follow her tracks left from the previous day.

"I like that in my women...you are female, aren't you?"