No

By: X

x0832001@yahoo.com

Rated: PG (Grammar so bad it should not be viewed by the easily impressionable)

Summary:  Harper and the new gold Trance get kidnapped.  She has a problem with that.

Disclaimer:  I own nothing and am getting no money

            It really had started out as a nice little shore leave.  Trance and Harper had gone to this cute little market place to buy some more supplies. The sun was warm and the breeze smelled of spring according to Harper.   Harper had been haggling with an old man under one of the brightly colored tarps when Trance felt someone take hold of her wrist.  She instinctually whirled, fist ready.  "Ain't you a pretty one?"  Remarked the slimy man who held her.  She sent her punch but it was stopped halfway by the slimy man's skuzzy friend.

            "Little temperamental though"

            "Let go of me!"  Trance warned.  By now Harper was aware of what was going on and had stepped in. 

            "Just let her go guys"

            "Aw look, the runt is trying to save his sister."

            "He ain't gold Jimmy, she ain't his sister.  He's just a boring old human."

            "No way a boring old human could get a chick this hot."

            "ANYWAY" Harper broke in  "Let her go".  Now his words were slow and deliberate.  This situation wouldn't be resolved without a fight.   Luckily, Trance was a lot stronger than she looked.  She jerked her arm away, sending Jimmy crashing into the crowd of shoppers who no longer wasted an ounce of energy worrying about who was being mugged or kidnapped today.  Harper pushed her away from the attackers and through the crowd as fast as he could.

            "Onward Golden Glittering Babe, we need to loose them."  They pushed through the uncaring crowd.  Trance could feel Harper's hands on her back, pressing her forward.  Then they were gone.  Trance heard, "I got him Frankie!"  She turned; Jimmy did indeed have Harper.  The engineer was on the verge of twisting free, having had a lot of experience squirming away from captors.  But Frankie was quickly approaching and Trance caught sight of the needle passing between the criminals.  She moved to intercept but the crowd was pushing in around her, getting in her way.  Harper fell limp and at the same time Trance felt Frankie's sweaty palms around her wrists.  "Are you going to come along quietly now?" came his hot breath in her ear.  Trance momentarily relented and followed Jimmy who was dragging Harper. 

            They tied up the unconscious human and the mysterious gold alien when they arrived back at the first floor apartment shared by Frankie and Jimmy.  Frankie was smiling widely.  He figured Trance was worth a lot.  He had never seen someone that looked like her.  Being a slaver was a hit or miss thing a lot of the time.  He and Jimmy were still small time, catching one or two people out of a crowd and selling them at the local slave auction.  Sometimes the product looked like they'd pull in the credits, but no one was in the mood for who'd they'd grabbed and their whole kidnapping wasn't even worth it.  But Jimmy and Frankie were both sure from the time their eyes set upon her that the gold alien would sell very well. 

            "What do we do with the dude?" Frankie asked.  He was just a plain boring human, probably wouldn't be worth too much. 

            "Put him up for sale too I suppose." Jimmy rooted through the box on the table for tags.  If Harper had been awake he would have begun his freak out process, he knew slave tags all too well.  Using a gun-like tool, they clipped the tiny silver ring through the top of his ear.  Harper was tagged for sale.  Someone would buy him, add his or her Galactic Trade Organization approved brand to the blank ring and he would officially belong to someone else.  Jimmy picked up another tag and moved on to Trance.

"No" she said it simply, no room for an argument.

            "Little lady, I think you are mistaken.  This is not a yes or no situation.  You are both tied up and our prisoners.  You don't get to make the decisions.  I'm going to sell you to the highest bidder and if you don't cooperate, I'll kill the guy." 

            "No" she said more forcefully.  "You most certainly will not."  Jimmy and Frankie both laughed. 

            But Jimmy grew more serious, "I told you we are in control here.  If we want to open a vein on your sleeping little friend, we will.  If we want to put this tag on you, we will."

            "No, you won't." Trance repeated. 

            "You don't seem to understand.  Frankie, show her who is in control here."  Frankie picked up a gun and moved towards Harper.  He was halfway to the engineer's prone form when the weight of Trance's gaze stopped him.

            "No" Trance ordered.  "I just got him back.  There is no way you'll take him away from me again." Her voice was gaining in volume  "This time things are going to go right!  Harper lives, happy, on the Andromeda.  The Commonwealth is restored, we defeat the Maggog and all is perfect in the universe." 

            Frankie and Jimmy had no idea what she was talking about of course.  But as she spoke Trance had extracted herself from her ropes and was moving in a most menacing manner towards her captors.  Harper groaned from the corner as he came back to the world of consciousness.   Trance was still progressing forward.  She was worth a lot but not enough to die for. Frankie leveled the gun at her.  Trance didn't even pause.  The look in her eyes was clear about her message.  She was the one in control here.  Frankie and Jimmy turned and ran for their lives. 

So Jimmy and Frankie weren't completely stupid.

            Trance untied her friend and ate a cookie she found in the cupboard while she waited for him to come all the way around.  When he did she handed him a cookie.  "I don't know what you said babe, but I'm glad you're my friend."

            "I just said 'no'" she smiled and munched her cookie.

The End