Part 50

Dejected and feeling very, very alone, Daniel wrapped his arms around his knees and silently watched Minnesota get smaller and smaller. Soon, the forests and lakes were hidden behind cloud cover, and all he had left to do was sit and contemplate his grim future.

Stitch's actions and that of the two aliens at the cabin now made more sense, unfortunately. The blue alien Daniel had come to think of as a friend was apparently a wanted criminal, and the three aliens were bounty hunters of some sort, there to collect the runaway and return him for execution. Many of the more enlightened races in the galaxy didn't believe in the death penalty, which had Daniel more than a little concerned about what might happen to him once the ship in which he was trapped reached its destination and it was discovered that Stitch had escaped capture.

Closing his eyes, Daniel attempted to comfort himself with images of his friends, calling up memories of their past rescues of captured comrades. Even though he had, on occasion, been left behind by his teammates despite their motto, he felt an unexplainable confidence that Jack would leave no stone unturned until he found him. The only question which remained was, would he get there in time?

Sniffling loudly, he drew his forearm across his nose and loudly cleared his throat. He would meet his fate bravely, if that was the case. He'd do his best to try to convince his captor this was all a big misunderstanding and that his having harbored a fugitive had only been because he hadn't known better. If diplomacy and logic failed him, then Daniel figured he could just fall back on pleading, begging, and childish charm to try to get himself out of his predicament.

Jack always did say he was good at groveling...

Course of action determined, Daniel opened his eyes to see how far away from Earth the ship had already traveled, and was surprised to see fluffy white clouds outside his prison. Had they not even reached orbit yet?

Suddenly, a thin red line pierced the layer of clouds, rising dramatically like the dorsal fin of huge flying shark. It continued to rise a second longer, then began to tip from vertical to horizontal. As it lowered, the rest of the "shark" came into view: a huge red aircraft, vaguely reminiscent of a commercial jet, but with a "nose" which vaguely resembled Darth Vader's helmet.

And there, waving at him from the cockpit window was a tiny shape which looked like Stitch. He was joined soon after by two larger figures who could only be Jack and Teal'c. Smiling hopefully, Daniel gave a shy wave back.

A loud beep and squawk filled the confines of the small capsule, followed by a rumbled curse. "Stupid small buttons," grumbled the voice of his captor, obviously having difficulty with the controls of his ship.

"Clearance is granted on vector C-12," announced a pleasant-but-bland female voice, reminding Daniel of the voice mail greeter at his bank in Colorado.

"Connect me to the Grand Councilwoman," the kidnapper/bounty hunter boomed.

If the situation wasn't so serious, Daniel might've snickered. All this time, his abductor had been waiting to leave the plan until all the bureaucratic red tape was cleared? He waggled his fingers at the red ship again as it pulled away from behind his captor and to the side.

"Gantu, what's going on?" asked a matronly-sounding voice.

"I thought you'd like to know that the little abomination is--"

Daniel blamed it on Jack... who else would have had the impudence to make an alien spaceship broadcast a signal to the tune of "La Cucaracha". Of course, Stitch had impudence in spades, too: the little alien currently was currently standing on his head, waggling his butt in the air at the pilot of Daniel's ship.

Gantu made a noise of surprise. "Yes, Captain?" dragged out the voice of the aforementioned Grand Councilwoman. Daniel knew the tone she took very well, having heard it from a number of school teachers when he was a child. It practically dripped with disbelief and impatience.

Adding insult to injury, the wing of the red vessel nudged Gantu's ship, sending Daniel tumbling onto his back and no doubt rattling the alien pilot. Quickly plastering himself to the glass again, Daniel imagined he could see Jack gesturing wildly as he undoubtedly berated his own ship's pilot for the dangerous maneuver.

"I'll call you back..." growled Gantu, and the vessel jerked into a tight turn.


Author's Notes:
Oh, the evils of RL, but thanks to a snow day, I'm nearly finished with another part, too! Unfortunately, I have to work an extra day this week: at a nice Italian restaurant, EVERYONE works Valentine's Day...