Come with me if you want to live

*"What about me, Lieutenant?" Jacy asked as she watched Vas and his heiny walk away. She took her hat off and fanned her bosom. "If you're expecting Alliance troops I'm sure I can smooth talk one or two of them."*

"This ain't a ruttin' porn movie where *maybe me and my boobies can persuade you not to arrest people?*" Riley mocked coyly.

"Now, let's not be hasty--" the Captain added, suddenly more interested. "It's not a bad plan. And I think I seen that one. Never underestimate the persuasive power of tits." Riley rolled her eyes.

"La-Loyd put on some coveralls. Half way, tie them at your waist. You just became our back up engineer. If they ask you any questions about fixing engines -- just be yourself. After, help Lyen make the galley look like we been there for hours. Here." She took all the paper money from her pocket and shoved it at Jacy. "For antes. It'll get confiscated, but I'd rather that than credits. Don't deal in Jat or the doc til they're back. I don't want it to look like anyone left the game in a haste."

"You're with me, Son." The Captain told Dmitri, leading him to the engine room. He pulled out a pair of coveralls, looked at Dmitri, pulled out a bigger pair of coveralls, looked at Dmitri, then pulled out the largest size they had and gave them to the large Slav. "Anyone asks, you're our engineer. You don't speak much English, don't actually break anything. We just want them to think against you becoming *their* engineer, you understand?" As he spoke, he knocked over a tool bench purposefully, then stood it back up. Once neat, organized tools were muddled, and various parts were scattered on the floor. The Captain made sure to take the duffel from him, leaving him with just a side arm. "Don't shoot anyone." He clapped Dmitri on the shoulder. "Dang, son, what do you bench? No, wait, not important right now." He stashed the guns in the same compartment as Devron and his crate. "Just checkin' in." He said, hoping the man was smart enough to account for air holes. "You'd have more room in here if you wanted out of that box, son, but -- wait, may not have time for that." He quickly closed the panel back up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Go tsao de raids* Riley grumbled on her way to the room assigned the kids. Pounding three times on the door "Gill! On deck. Now." She commanded. When it didn't happen fast enough for her liking, she pounded three more times. "Now!" *None of these people would survive the ruttin' Academy.* There was rustling inside which meant they hadn't scampered off again, which she took as a good sign. The ship wasn't the greatest option -- but right now it was the greatest option they had. As she was about to yank the door open herself, Gill slid open the pocket door and warily eyed Riley. "We need to talk. Now." She ordered. She brought her hand up to clap him on the back of the neck to lead him away from Haddie, but stopped herself and instead, pulled on his arm down the hallway and lowered her voice.

"Listen." She whispered harshly. *Why is this kid making direct eye contact? None of these people would survive the ruttin' Academy!* "Stay calm and listen. The port here is on lock down. It's crawling with Alliance, and one of my *friends* gave me the head's up about ship's being boarded. I don't know what the two of you did to make their grab-and-go list and right now I don't really care. We've got to get you hid, and hid good. Keller has the ship modified for when we have to transport less than legal cargo, so I'm going to stash the two of you there. You'll be safe, as long as you don't do anything stupid. Historically speaking this isn't your strong suit. I've also seen how your sister gets stabby around the alliance." She took the 'aspirin' vial from her pocket. "This is tetrahalcyon, I want you to give her 1/2 tablet, you take the other half if you need it. I don't have time to explain the specifics, but the short version is nothing will rattle your cage. You won't be hungry, you won't be thirsty, you wont be tired, you won't be angry, you won't be scared. You could take a bullet and not know it til it kills you. Don't let that happen. More important - Haddie won't be any the above. If want to suddenly get indignant about me wanting to tranq your sister, it's not a tranq -you'll be awake for days,- but yes, I want you to drug the little shanker because this?" She held up the small white pill. "Is a lot less worse than whatever the Alliance has in store for you. " She pressed one tablet into the palm of his hand. "I don't know how much time we have, so get your sister and follow me. "

She made sure the two were secure in their own 'cubbie' hide-away, making sure first that there hadn't been anything stashed and forgotten, which was always a pleasant surprise, kind of like finding paper money in the pocket of a jacket you hadn't worn all season, but the space was vacant. "It is imperative." She warned Gill. "That you both stay calm and quiet. We'll have ourselves a good discussion about why they want y'all after we're safely in the clear."