Chapter 16 – Circle Back

Present Time:

Jack kicked at the dirt. Gus was long gone and no one at the space port seemed to have seen or heard from him in months. He'd disappeared into the wind. So Jack had done the only logical thing he could think of. He went back to where the gate was supposed to be.

What he wouldn't do for Thor to show up but Thor was hundreds of years dead by now he figured unless they had solved their genetic degradation issues. "Where are you, you stupid piece of crap." He demanded of the absent gate.

Jack plopped down on the ground and hung his head between his knees. Had he not been so frustrated with his situation and worried about Sam he probably would have escaped in time. It was only random chance the men who had followed him from the space port were the crew of the Serenity. Anyone else might have just carted him back to the lab and collected the easy money.

He'd heard them coming up on him but it was too late and there was no cover to speak of so he waited for them to jump him. He'd been trying to get away rather than kill them which tactically possibly wasn't his best idea but Jack just didn't have time to figure out what to do with the bodies right now so instead he found himself slung over a dirty unwashed shoulder.

"Jayne, put him in the hold." The dark haired man who had tripped him before the larger dirty looking man in an orange and yellow hat had punched him in the head, ringing his bell hard enough to make Jack see stars.

"All right." The deep, gruff voice of his captor replied, grunting under Jack's considerable weight.

"They have my wife." Jack slurred, not quite coherent yet.

Jayne stopped walking "What?" he asked the deceptively heavy man.

"The people who hired you." Jack croaked and coughed a little. "They need me… to… to control her." He coughed again.

Jayne dropped him unceremoniously on the ground. "Mal, we got a problem."

"What now?"

"Our bounty has a wife."

"So?" Mal asked in disinterest.

"Our client has her. The bounty is to get her cooperation."

"Go tsao de liars. They told me he was wanted for murder." The man didn't correct Mal that being wanted for murder probably wasn't unlikely as he had probably killed a few people to escape the first time.

"Yah, well, do you suppose his wife is worth some money to him?"

Jack looked up and scrubbed his hands through his hair. "I can get you money if you can get us home. She's a national treasure." He said with a pained look.

"How much money?" Mal drawled.

"We've been missing for almost two years by her calculations. They would pay a lot to get her back. She's one of our top scientists."

"Mal, why are you standing out here chatting with the prisoner?" Kaylee demanded from the rear bay door.

"Looks like we got a better offer." He told her.

"Well you better get inside before the Alliance shows up or we'll have a lot more to deal with than flipped bounty."

"Girl's got a point." Jayne pointed out.

"Fine, grab him. Let's go." Mal said with a sweep of his shoulder.

"I can walk" Jack groused at Jayne who grabbed Jack's arm.

"Suit yourself." The scrubby man said and stood over him to make sure he didn't try to take off.

Ten minutes later, Mal stood against the wall of the small eating area, Sheppard Book behind him, Jayne sat across from the unknown older man, arms crossed against his chest, his brows lowered. Kaylee sat in the corner and River and Simon sat in the other.

Jack sat, his hands on the table where everyone could see them and appraised the motley collection of characters before him. There had been a pilot and navigator too but they had chosen to remain in the cockpit.

"So," The man named Mal said casually. "Why don't you tell me what happened to you and your wife."

"Sam and I were on a routine diplomatic trip, you know, kiss some hands, shake some babies…" Jack sighed. "Something happened to our equipment. We didn't end up on the Tepi home world."

"Who are the Tepi?" the man who had introduced himself as Simon asked.

"Humans, like us, The Goa'uld had abandoned them a while back so they were pretty technologically advanced compared to some of the other societies we'd encountered. Carter could tell you more details. I was just there to sign off on the diplomatic stuff, they were sticklers for protocol and I didn't have C3P0 around." Jack quipped.

He was greeted by a round of blank stares. "Ok then." Jack sighed. "Anyway, Carter tried to find out what happened to the Gate while I set up camp…"

AN: And here ends Part 1. Part 2 IS under construction but so are some other stories and a huge shout out to predator1701 for so many ideas part 2 is kind of getting a massive re-write before I have even had time to write it. Spectacular ideas and many points regarding Sam's knowledge base well considered and now being added for depth to the situation. As she wasn't well fleshed out in the 2nd part, you have nothing but my utmost thianks!