Author Notes: I am so amazingly sorry I haven't updated sooner! I've been trying to stop ignoring my other story. Anyway, no more excuses, please read on!

Chapter 8: Waifs and Strays

"It's not that I have a problem with it, it's just that they aren't even quiet about it! It's sickening!"

Malcolm smirked, "I'm sure they think they're being subtle. You know, if you made your feelings known, they would likely tone it down a bit; Alex probably thinks she needs permission or something."

"She already has bloody permission from Katrina! It's just so…so…yuck!" Sara complained.

"Malcolm," Katrina commented absently as she entered the room for a glass of water, "Please stop swearing around the girl, you're a bad influence."

"Katrina!" Sara pleaded, "Please tell my sister to stop eating Jamie's face in the corridors."

"Sorry kid, they never do it on the job, so I have no grounds."

Sara scowled. In the past months, she and Alex had settled into the crew of abstract humans easily. Admittedly, all of the adults had kittens every time Sara was in the remotest danger, but after three months together they were a family. That was not to say that there were no…domestic incidents. Not long after Sara joined the crew, she had delivered Malcolm an ultimatum: either he dyed his hair an interesting colour, or she would dye it pink in his sleep. Needless to say, Malcolm's hair was now streaked with green among his natural dark colour. More recently, much to Sara's disgust, Alex and Jamie had made their feelings known to each other. When they finally made it official, Katrina and Malcolm had had a quiet celebration, as it would mean an end to the constant pining that they were forced to endure from their friends.

Sara hopped off the breakfast stool and stole a piece of Malcolm's toast, "Fine, but I'll only put up with it if both you and Mal promise you'll never get together."

Both Malcolm and Katrina grimaced at the thought, "That would be just plain wrong."

"Never going to happen." Agreed Malcolm.

Before Sara could continue, her older sister entered the room, "Erm, Cap'n? Did you check the cargo before we left off?"

"Yes, why?"

Alex placed her hands on her hips and smiled wryly, "Because we have a stowaway; Jamie found him when he went to get a coil, he's with him now."

Katrina's mood dropped instantly and she pulled her gun from the holster at her hip; Malcolm followed suit. Simultaneously, they instructed to Sara, "Stay."

The three adults left the room, leaving a pouting eleven year old in their wake.

"Please! I'm sorry! I just needed passage to Terr'nsie."

"We've been travelling for five days! All that time you've been stealing our food and I'm supposed to forgive you?" Katrina spat at the stowaway.

"No! I swear! I haven't left the hold, I wouldn't dare! Please don't kill me!"

Katrina glared at him in disgust, the turned to Malcolm, "Have Alex check him for any transferable diseases, and then lock him in the brig."

Malcolm looked blank, "We have a brig?"

"It's not something I like to use. It's the hatch next to the secondary airlock," she turned back to the stowaway, "Try anything and I will shoot you."

Katrina strode out with Jamie in tow. Malcolm sighed, grabbing the intruder under his arm, hauled him to his feet, and led him to the med bay.

"Congratulations Mal, he's a moderately healthy, seventeen year old human boy." Alex quipped sarcastically, returning her equipment to the cupboards.

"I can hardly contain myself," Malcolm replied dryly; the boy shrank away from them both.

Alex washed her hands, "His hygiene leaves a lot to be desired, and his immune system is shot, but then he's human."

"What's your name?" The boy didn't answer; only stared meekly at the floor. Malcolm sighed, "I do not like violence towards people of the same race as me, but you are trying my patience. Answer the question."

The boy fidgeted, "Ryan."

Malcolm nodded, "Why were you in our cargo hold?"

"I told you-"

"You were lying. If you needed to get to Terr'nsie, you could have chosen countless, less equipped ships, ones with a different race to whom you could play dumb to. Instead, you choose a ship with technology equal to a Covenant cargo ship and an armed human crew. Either you are very dumb, or telling me lies. I don't believe you are dumb."

Ryan didn't reply, so Malcolm gave up and followed Katrina's orders, locking him in the brig.

Malcolm and Jamie walked at a pace through Zu'fae Drift. The Eclipse was only making a quick supply run to keep them going for the next couple of days before they arrived at their destination. They were almost back at the docks when something caught Malcolm's attention. The Covenant's version of a newspaper was being sold, with the headline warning about a murderer; the picture plastered on the stand was Ryan. Malcolm strode over and asked for a copy, "Dunno why ya want one," the Gereanu seller commented, "Full of Covenant propaganda. Only reason the boss wants us to sell 'em is 'cause its part of his fee to the Pensari."

Malcolm ignored him and hurriedly read the story. Ryan suddenly made sense. The pair returned to the Eclipse and presented Katrina with the news. "Well this is just bloody wonderful."

"Language," Sara reprimanded.

"Sara I don't have time for this! Please, just, go…somewhere." The girl slumped out of the living area.

Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose, "We can't leave him on the drift."

"Why the hell not?"

"Look what it says at the bottom: Anyone found to be aiding and abetting this criminal will face the same charges as the offender. Katrina, that kid could turn us in."

"We're hardly aiding and abetting; he's locked in the brig!"

"Do you honestly think the Pensari will care? As far as they're concerned, the more people they can execute the better! Besides, we've already compiled enough crimes for a life long imprisonment."

"Fine, we'll drop him off on the nearest asteroid. I wonder who he murdered."

"I don't care." Malcolm said irritably, "Can we get going then?"

"Whose ship is this? Fine, we'll enter Jump immediately."

"Boo."

Ryan jumped out of his skin and whirled around to see a tiny human girl hanging upside down out of an air vent. He honestly didn't know how to react. The girl twisted herself around and sat down opposite him, "So you're the one that's got everyone so worked up. I'm Sara by the way. They chucked me out so they could decide your fate. Dunno what you've done, but Mal looked annoyed. So, who are you?"

"Ryan. I'm sorry, but what the hell are you doing in here?"

She shrugged, "I was bored, so came to see what all of the fuss was about. So, why'd ya run away?"

"I didn't run away." said Ryan defensively.

"Uh huh." Sara was unimpressed, "If that's meant to be convincing, you're screwed; Mal and Katrina are never gonna buy that."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm sweet, innocent and not allowed to shoot a gun until my fourteenth birthday."

"You wouldn't understand, you're only, what, eight?"

"Eight? I'm eleven. My birthday was last week."

"You're still a midget."

The ship lurched, throwing Ryan against the wall of his cell; Sara stayed put, "You haven't travelled Jump before, have you?"

"Space isn't natural."

"You're not natural. So, who'd you kill?"

"I told you- wait, you said you didn't know what I did!"

"I saw the headline."

"So all this crew think I'm a murderer?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Ryan groaned and leaned against the wall, "It's not my fault the old git carked it before I could finish the job."

"You've lost me."

Suddenly, the ship exited Jump and there was a scraping sound as the hatch swung open. Immediately, Malcolm dragged Sara out, "Sara! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Having a decent conversation for once. See you around Ry, if Mal doesn't kill you first." Sara then wriggled out of Malcolm's grip and shot down the corridor.

Malcolm turned back to Ryan, "Follow me. Now. Try anything and I'll shoot you."

Accepting his fate, Ryan slowly clambered out of the hatch and followed Malcolm down to the cockpit, where Katrina was waiting. She shoved the article into Ryan's hands, "You little bastard," she hissed, "You're little stunt has endangered my crew. Why couldn't you have chosen some nice friendly slave vessel to hide on? There's a death penalty on your head, so we're lucky you're a good stowaway, or bounty hunters would be swarming over this ship."

Ryan opened his mouth to protest, "It's not like it says! I didn't mean for you to find me!"

"That is a crap excuse. I hope you don't mind the cold, because I've found a nice frozen moon for you to make a home of."

"Please just let me explain! The Pensari wasn't meant to die! I was stealing from him and he had a heart attack! I swear!"

"Do you honestly think that I care?"

Their shouting match was interrupted by Alex yelling, "A ship's just exited Jumpwave! It's unmarked and hailing."

Katrina nodded, and instructed Malcolm, "Keep a hold of him." She then jumped into the pilot's seat and flicked on the view screen, "What?"

The creature on the other side was a Denjuuk, solitary creatures with no identifiable homeworld; particularly untrustworthy and violent, also incredibly dumb. "You humans are so blunt. You have something I want."

"Really? Enlighten me."

"A human boy; he committed a recent murder of a government official. There's a hefty price on his head, so how about you hand him over and I don't turn you into the Covenant."

However much Katrina would have dearly loved to offload the boy onto the bounty hunter, she knew they would just get blown up or taken along for the ride anyway. "Dunno what you're talking about, I think your tiny brain allowed you to take a wrong turn in Jump, mate."

"You will be destroyed for this insolence!"

"You are so cliché. Besides, if we do have the boy, you wouldn't want to blow up your paycheck."

"You said you didn't have him!"

"Didn't say I did. I was being hypothetical."

Katrina had to suppress a smirk as she saw the bounty hunter's face contort in confusion. While he was trying to work out whether 'hypothetical' was a threat, Katrina signalled to Malcolm to power up the weapons. He consequently targeted the Denjuuk's engines. For a bounty hunter, this one was quite pathetic; all ego and no brains. With the hunter's ship temporarily disabled, Katrina engaged Jump.

"I've decided to believe you."

Ryan's face was a picture of shock, "You're kidding."

"Don't contradict me. Bottom line is, you have to stay on this ship. Now the bounty hunters know about us, they'll be on our case twenty four seven, so even if we did get rid of you, they'd still come after us, not knowing you'd moved on. If we keep you, at least we can keep an eye on you. Don't make me regret this." Katrina strode off.

Alex wrinkled her nose, "Have a shower kid. Oh, and if you hit on me, my boyfriend will be the least of your worries."

"Welcome to the Eclipse." Jamie added, and the pair followed Katrina, leaving Ryan in the living area with Malcolm and Sara.

Malcolm tilted his head, "Should I trust you?"

"You're asking me?" When Malcolm nodded, Ryan frowned, "I'm no murderer, but I am a thief. I can also handle a knife, but then, most humans in the camp could. I dunno, I guess it's up to you."

The faith that the crew of the Eclipse put in Ryan paid off. He was a valuable asset and soon became just as integrated as everyone else. As Alex once commented, he was scarily like Malcolm, only more rash and trigger-happy.

Malcolm was leaning against the wall of the cockpit when Katrina found him; at three o'clock in the morning he hadn't anticipated being discovered. "What are you doing here?" Katrina slid down beside him.

"Looking for a star I recognise."

"Found Earth yet?" Katrina seemed to read his mind.

"No. I could always find it before. Now it's lost."

"You getting morbid on me?" she sighed, "How many days?"

"What do you mean?"

"How many days until the two year milestone? You've only acted like this twice before; once in the mines when you almost gave up on me, and once on the Hephaestus, almost a year ago. I honestly don't know how you keep track; I don't even know what day it is."

"It'll be two years next week, give or take. I was unconscious during processing so I can't be accurate."

"Do you still miss them?" Malcolm glanced sharply at his friend; they had never talked about his past life beyond him mentioning his rank.

"I don't honestly know. I guess I wonder what could have been, and how they are now, if they're even alive. I sometimes wonder what would've happened if we weren't in another galaxy – if there had been a chance of me finding them, or them me. But do I miss them? Do I regret what's happened in my life?" Malcolm leaned his head back against the wall, "I like this ship, I like the person I've become, and I like my new family. That answer your question?"

"Perfectly." Katrina cocked her head, "Are you bored?"

"Not much has happened recently, why?"

"I can see a drifter."

Malcolm jerked his head to the front window. Sure enough, a ship was drifting aimlessly to the port side of the Eclipse. Malcolm sighed resignedly and then smiled, "I'll go wake the others."

Ryan handed Katrina a log of the ship's history, "Not much really, as far as the scans could tell. Bit of weapons damage. I reckon it was attacked by slavers Cap'n."

"Ryan," Alex called from her consol, "You are crap at scanning ships."

Katrina frowned, "Why?"

"There's still a life sign."

Sara was with the new arrival, a young girl the same age as herself. Unfortunately, any hope of the girl divulging any information was scrapped upon the discovery that the child was mute. As such, Sara had named her Echo. No one really questioned the logic which would make most Vulcans faint; they just agreed.

While Sara was in her quarters with Echo, the rest of the crew were in the living area trying to decide her fate. Alex and Jamie were fine with the girl, and had already made their feelings known; Malcolm and Ryan were less so, "That kid is freaky. She just stares. She's not normal." Ryan protested.

"She's the same age as Sara!" Alex argued.

Katrina looked to Malcolm, "What do you think?"

"Ryan's right. There is something not right about her. I don't trust her. Besides," he said to Alex, "Looks can be deceiving."

Katrina nodded, "I'm not keeping the kid if two members of my crew protest. Does anyone have ideas with what to do with her?"

Jamie offered, "We could leave her to the Sanctum."

Katrina blinked, "The what?"

"It's a religious planet open to all beliefs. My sister Laura lives in a monastery there, and they're always glad to take in people with no where to go. It's a Covenant planet, but remains untouched by law due to the old defensive technology that remains there from some old civilisation."

Katrina nodded, "The Sanctum it is then."

To Be Continued…

Author Notes: I know! Too many new people, but don't worry, I have plans for all! However, I do think poor Trip is getting bored, don't you? Grins maliciously

Anywhooz, please review!