Chapter 4: Old New Faces

Notes: Vala again, this time in the flesh! Of all the gin joints in all the world...

The Ginger Beer factoid comes from the Fifth-audio The Kingmaker, an excellent audio to listen to.

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The Cantiana was packed to the brim with travelers, traders, and folks just looking to gripe and boast about what follies they had come across on the way to the local pub. The low level din of clanking glasses and murmured conversations was just enough to drown out lucrative deals, and that was how Glitz liked it. He scanned the room slowly, before turning his attention back to the woman across from him, missing the unusually dressed couple of blokes who had walked into the pub a few seconds later. He smiled a smooth grin at his tablemate.

"Yes, we did have a might bit of bother getting to Denabi. Horrible sorts of trouble. You know, we had to sidetrack three days off course to avoid a fleet of Cyber-warships just to get your order through, but we managed, and in follow of that, I think we deserve a bit more compensation then just 36 tesri a pop." He remarked, jabbing his finger on the tabletop. The woman across from him eyed him with a smug sort of aloofness, a small smile of knowing gracing her lips as she traced the rim of her glass. Her outfit was one Glitz could certainly appreciate: black leather leaving nothing to imagination and a hairdo that was done up in a way both haphazard and stylish. She was a dangerous one.

"It seems to me, Sabalom Glitz, that you're not telling me the truth. After all this is a rather small spaceport, and rumor does fly rather fast when you're bored and stuck three days longer then you expected to be." She purred, her voice like melted butter, but her eyes sparking darkly. "My boys have been down to the docks, y'know. My shipment seemed in rather poor condition, from what I hear tell."

Glitz sat up sharply, insult darkening his expression as he vehemently protested, though he tried to keep his smile pleasant. "Now, now, any damage your lackeys might've reported to you could not have been acquired on board my ship. I made personally sure that the property was undamaged and perfectly fine before I came to meet you."

"That's not what my boys told me."

"They could be lying. Or even damaged it themselves. Anyways, there's no way I can be held responsible for any problems you might have once the cargo has reached port."

"I think there is."

"I told you before and I'm telling you now, there ain't no way I can be held responsible for the value of yer cargo once it has left my hanger!" The force with which he brought his fist down upon the table rattled the glasses.

He really had to learn to keep his temper in check.

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The Doctor looked around the bustling pub uneasily. He hadn't seen glimpse or glance of Martha since they had parted company earlier in the day, and by his knowledge, she should've made it to the Cantiana long before them. Worry was prickling at the back of his mind. He stamped it down with his mental foot as Jack returned from the bar. She wasn't in trouble, she was just late.

Clanking a tankard mug down in front of the Time Lord, Jack grinned as he took his seat and half-toasting the man before he took a swig of his own beverage and sighed thankfully.

"Ah, hits the spot. Drink up Doctor, it's not spiked. Lemonade, just like you asked." He had noticed the man tentatively sniffing the murky yellow liquid inside.

"Doesn't smell like lemonade." He muttered, taking a testing sip, before determining that it was palatable and continuing with a bolder gulp. "I suppose its better then ginger beer. Do they even have ginger beer? Suppose not; ginger was a lost cause when you humans moved outwards. Course it wouldn't do to get myself tipsy in a place like this."

"You get tipsy on ginger beer?" Jack raised an eyebrow, but seeing the look on the Time Lord's face he decided it was better not to ask. He smirked, filed the information away for later exploitation, and glanced around the bar.

"Place doesn't seem to have changed all that much. I remember the last time I was here; it was before I met you." The Time Agent grinned fondly. "Was trying to get parts for my old ship - you remember her, of course. Beautiful piece of craftsmanship that was. Anyways, I naturally ran into a spot of trouble. Woke up the next morning tied to a rock naked on the edge of town with a Uleri -that's this planet's version of a llama – sniffing my-"

"Thank you Jack, I really needed to know that." The Doctor cut him off hurriedly, mildly adding another notch to the number of times Jack had ended his stories with the same scenario. The Captain grinned impishly, and picked up his drink.

"I told you before and I'm telling you now, there ain't no way I can be held responsible for the value of yer cargo once it has left my hanger!"

Jack, his glass of Saurian brandy half-way to his lips, froze. He knew that voice all too well. It was unforgettable; the owner had been an old acquaintance, given him a hand with repairs to his old Chula ship, then had sold him faulty equipment that tended to blow up at the most inopportune times. He set his drink down and glanced at the Doctor – who was looking disbelievingly pale.

"It can't be." The Time Lord muttered, and before Jack could ask what he was shocked about (because it couldn't possibly be the same thing he was shocked about), the Doctor had twisted around in his chair, and was staring open-mouthed in awe.

"Glitz!"

The smuggler turned sharply at the exclamation. Sitting at one of the cleaner tables in the pub were two men. Travelers by the look of them – their clothes sure weren't bought from the markets.

Both of the men looked disbelieving, but while one glared at him with the equivalent destructive force of a solar implosion, the other seemed delighted. It was the latter who had spoken up.

For all intensive purposes, they seemed to know him. Never a good thing in his line of work.

Trouble was, only one of those faces was familiar, and naturally it couldn't have been the younger bloke with messy hair and a brilliant grin on his face. His heart sank into his stomach. He knew that Time Agent, he knew that murderous glare, and he also knew what was bound to have happened to a certain warship about 10,000 light-years out. That nav system had been a piece of junk.

To quote an old friend, Cruk.

However, faulty ship parts sold to ex-Time Agents that led to trouble abound seemed to be suddenly second on the list of what had the attention of these two. The older man had cast the younger a baffled stare, and his demand was disbelieving.

"You know this guy?"

The younger bloke turned to match his companion's gaze, his eyebrows levitating in surprise. "What? Better question: how do you know him?"

The woman sitting across from the very confused Glitz raised an eyebrow with a silky grin, eying Jack up and down hungrily. "Friends of yours, mister Glitz?"