A/N: For Maevemauvaise. I hope you have a lovely, lovely birthday and I want to thank you so very much for all of the support and inspiration you give me.
I wanted to write you a collection of fairy tales, but then I remembered how many lovely and talented people there are in our fandom, so I recruited them to create lovely things for you as well. So this is just one of many.
A/N 2: I have… problems with Sleeping Beauty, but I wanted to see if I could make it into something I liked, and I hope it's something that you love.
A/N 3: So… a futuristic sci-fi retelling, with a verse similar to Firefly/Serenity/Star Wars. Obviously AU. Translations at the end.
A/N 4: A HUGE thanks to Ro for beta reading this for me. And to Jeff, who saved me from killing off the same character twice.
Pairings: 3x5, background: 3x4, 1x3, 3x6, 1x6
Warnings: angst, language, dub-con, sexy times
Sleeping Beauty- Part 4
Rashid had wanted to just bring the stasis capsule back to the Scythe and let Quatre see for himself that the only treasure aboard the Nataku was a beautiful naked man, but Duo had pointed out that shipping humans in stasis required a special permit and there was no way they would be able to get back through the IF checkpoint.
Even though, eventually, Trowa, Duo and Rashid agreed to wake up the man from stasis, none of them moved to do it.
Rashid's earlier words, about the man who had gone insane, rang through Trowa's head.
But then Hamza, taking a leaf out of Rashid's book, shoved Trowa into the stasis capsule.
"Just do it so we can get out of here," he muttered, clearly shaken by the deaths of his comrades.
Trowa glared at him, but he too wanted to leave this ship.
Stepping close to the capsule, Trowa looked over the revive sequence. There were two options - an emergency revive that would take only a matter of minutes, and the standard sequence, designed to gradually bring the person out of stasis over the course of sixteen hours.
Still thinking of the man who had gone insane, Trowa hesitated. They didn't have sixteen hours to spare, but -
"Get on with it," Rashid hissed.
He took a deep breath and ran a hand over the keypad on the side.
As he typed in the sequence for an emergency revival, he felt a sudden, sharp prick.
He pulled his hand away and saw a drop of blood welling to the top of his index finger. He resisted the urge to suck on it, and he wondered - had he just been poisoned? Was this yet another booby trap? Was he about to die?
Trowa tried to keep himself from freaking out, tried to keep himself from envisioning a horrible virus coursing through his veins and working to kill him even as he stood there.
For a moment, absolutely nothing happened and Trowa was convinced that the beautiful man was dead - and that Trowa would soon be just as dead.
There was a sudden flare of light in the already bright medbay, the ship shuddered beneath their feet and for a heartbeat, it seemed to be humming with power.
And then the lights dimmed, the hum vanished, and they were left standing still and silent in the med bay once again.
The stasis capsule beeped several times, a rhythmic series that meant absolutely nothing to Trowa, and then the glass front retracted.
Duo, Rashid and Hamza were looking on with wide eyes.
Trowa couldn't help but think back to something Duo had said to him, years ago, when they had just barely survived a job that had gone bad.
A pretty boy is going to be the death of you, Barton.
He cradled his hand and wondered if now was going to be the time when Duo's prophecy was fulfilled.
Several minutes passed, and Trowa was aware that he wasn't the only one having trouble drawing in a decent breath.
The body in front of them, despite being exposed to the ship's oxygen, despite the repeated beeping, wasn't moving. Wasn't breathing at all.
"Do you think… is he dead?" Duo asked, moving forward to gingerly poke the man's arm.
There was no reaction.
"We can't come back with a corpse and tell Master Quatre that is all we could find!" Rashid was more on edge, more anxious, than Trowa had ever seen him before.
"We could just take a vid," Duo suggested. "That way we don't have to haul a dead guy aboard my ship."
They started to bicker, but Trowa tuned them out.
This wasn't right. It wasn't -
Acting on instinct, Trowa stepped forward and scooped up the man.
"Tro, what the hell are you -"
"Move," Trowa elbowed Duo out of the way and laid the man down on one of the exam tables.
Trowa tilted the man's head back, opened his lips and gently pinched his nose closed.
He lowered his lips to the cold, smooth lips of the man and slowly breathed in.
"For fuck's sake, Tro - you have to do chest compressions first," Duo muttered, and stepped up. Trowa watched as Duo fitted his palm over the man's chest, and then curled his other hand around it to form a fist before starting to press downwards. Duo counted under his breath, lips barely moving, but then he nodded to Trowa.
"Try again. Two breaths."
Trowa followed his instructions, but nothing happened.
Duo continued the compressions, signalled Trowa again.
Trowa pushed air into the man's lungs, willing him to wake up, willing him to move, willing him to -
The lips under his moved and Trowa instantly drew back.
Wide, dark eyes stared at him and the man drew in a gasping breath.
The man was still for another moment, looking around the room, his pulse jumping in his throat and his body shuddering. And then he saw Rashid and Hamza.
He exploded into motion, shoving past both Duo and Trowa and lunging for Hamza.
The man grabbed Hamza by the collar of his enviro suit and slammed him into the nearest exam table.
Trowa winced at the sound of Hamza's skull impacting with the table, but he made no move to intervene.
Neither did Duo.
Neither, curiously, did Rashid. The Maganac leader seemed momentarily frozen and by the time he recovered himself, Hamza was dead and the naked man's hands and chest were bloody.
He advanced on Rashid.
But Rashid, bigger and stronger and not coming off a two hundred year stasis, fought back, fending off the man's first and second attacks and then wrapping his beefy hands around the man's throat in a stranglehold.
"Rashid!" Trowa shouted. "You can't kill him!"
"Just watch me," the Mag growled, face red and teeth gritted.
"Quatre will want him alive."
It took a moment, Rashid continuing to try to choke the life out of the man while he swung wildly with fists and legs, but then Rashid threw him away, like a doll.
The man landed against a wall of cabinets, and he seemed momentarily dazed. But then he was pulling himself back up, looking at Rashid with hatred in his eyes.
"This is my kind of guy," Duo muttered, and he was grinning broadly.
Trowa had to sit on the man to restrain him, to keep him from going after Rashid.
The man fought him, shoving at Trowa but Trowa outweighed him by several kilos. He grabbed his arms and held him down.
"Lěngjìng," he whispered, trying to sound as soothing as he could. "Nǐ yǐjīng shuìzhele èrbǎi nián."
The man's eyes widened and then narrowed as Trowa explained what was happening.
"Nà rén huì shāle nǐ. Tā wèi nǐ de dírén."
The man sneered.
"English!" Rashid demanded. "Don't go trying to plot something with that bastard. What did you tell him?"
The man's gaze sharpened as he looked between Rashid, Trowa and Duo.
"I told him to calm down, and I explained that he had been in stasis for two hundred years." Trowa left out the part where he had warned the man that Rashid would kill him, that he worked for his enemy - and Duo didn't seem inclined to fill that part in either.
Rashid moved over and shoved Trowa away from the man before hauling him up by his shoulder.
"We came here to collect the Chang clan's treasure for Quatre Winner," Rashid snarled. "And I've lost good men just to discover this ship is empty. Except for you."
The man glared up at Rashid, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the name Winner.
"I hardly think they were good men if they were in your company," he said, his voice calm, the words precise.
Duo choked on a laugh, and even Trowa had to fight back a smirk.
"You little yellow bastard, I am going to enjoy watching Master Quatre take you apart."
It would be a shame, Trowa couldn't help but think, for the man's perfect body to be destroyed by Quatre's ire.
"You got a name?" Rashid demanded.
The man sniffed. "Of course I do."
Rashid looked apoplectic, and Trowa wondered if, between this man and Duo, Rashid would get an aneurysm. He hoped so.
"What is it?" Rashid demanded.
The man looked like he would rather cut out his own tongue before answering.
"It's obviously Chang," Duo sighed. "So let's just leave it at that and save swapping life stories for when we aren't hanging out in an ancient death trap?" he suggested.
-o-
Back aboard the Scythe, Trowa had the completely irreverent thought that there was much more room now that they were leaving behind six dead Mags.
It still left them vastly outnumbered - and while it was clear that Chang recognized the Mags as enemies, Trowa wasn't entirely certain that he viewed Duo and Trowa as allies.
It mattered very little. As soon as they returned to the Scythe, Rashid had his men throw Chang into one of their dead comrade's bunks and lock him in.
Duo made the return trip to the IF checkpoint in near record time - now that they weren't looking for an ancient warship in the Belt, all he had to do was avoid Scythe getting pulverized.
They were an hour out when Trowa realized they still had a problem.
Chang had been woken up from stasis because they didn't have a permit to transport that kind of cargo.
But now, Chang was awake - and he had no ID papers.
"Not a problem," Duo said when Trowa spoke up. He turned to a side console and started to pull up the IF archives, clearly intending to slice into them.
"No," Rashid stopped him.
Trowa and Duo both turned questioning looks on him.
"Myron will do it," Rashid gestured to the other Mag in the cockpit.
"Uh, it's not a problem. It'll take me just -"
"I'm sure it isn't a problem. Just like I'm sure you will take the opportunity to leave all sorts of inaccuracies and red flags so that the IF guards take him into custody."
Duo released an offended gasp.
"I would never!"
Rashid merely glared, and he gestured to Myron again. The young Mag sat down in front of the console and started to pull up files.
"Hey, you're not bad at that," Duo said, one eye on the Mag, the other on the viewport.
"Going to offer me a job?" Myron asked sarcastically.
Duo snorted. "Hell no. I'll be happy to offer you a gun to shoot yourself with, though."
Myron ignored him, typing away, and then turned to Rashid.
"Name?"
Rashid frowned.
"We can't call him Chang… There hasn't been one in two hundred years… Long."
"First name?"
Rashid's thin lips curled upwards. "Treasure."
Trowa rolled his eyes, but it wasn't as if he could pick a fight over a name.
A few minutes more, and Myron stood up.
"Done. He's in the system, registered as having travelled to M44M a few months ago."
"Good." Rashid turned towards Trowa and Duo. "If either of you does anything to jeopardize our return to L4, Quatre will have your women butchered. So do not attempt anything coy with your IF buddy," he added with a sneer in Trowa's direction.
"What if he tries something brazen?" Duo asked.
Rashid cuffed him sharply. Clearly, he was done with Duo's snark and, the end of the Belt so near, felt no need to restrain himself.
They were five kilometers from the IF checkpoint when they were hailed.
"Freighter 007181, hold at your current position and identify yourself."
Trowa idly wondered if it was the same soldier who had queried them the first time through.
"This is Freighter 007181, registered as Death's Scythe." Duo sounded tired, impatient, and Trowa wondered what was going through his partner's head.
Unlike Trowa, who had managed a few hours of sleep on their way to the Nataku, Duo had been awake ever since they neared the Belt.
A tired Duo was an even more belligerent than normal Duo, and Trowa had very serious doubts that they would make it through the checkpoint without incident.
"Hold position there and prepare to be boarded," the same voice instructed a moment later.
They made their way down to the hold and waited for the IF boarding party to come through the airlock.
A squad of six soldiers appeared, but there was no Heero.
Duo sighed. "Guess Captain Sexy Beast doesn't want to see you again, Tro?"
Trowa found himself both relieved and weirdly hurt by that knowledge.
One of the soldiers stepped forward and signalled to the rest.
"Inspect the ship. If there is anything suspicious, report back."
"Where's Captain Yuy?" Duo asked the soldier once the rest of his squad had left to inspect Scythe. "Having his nails done or something?"
The soldier merely glared at Duo but refused to answer.
A moment later, the comm on the soldier's shoulder crackled.
"Sir, we have a situation."
The soldier in front of them sighed and thumbed on the comm.
"What kind of a situation?" He sounded irritated, as though convinced the only situation possible was one created by the incompetence of his own subordinates.
"Uh, well… there's a, uh… there's a naked man."
The soldier closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"And?"
"He doesn't have any ID on him."
"Bring him to me."
The soldier turned off the comm unit and gave Trowa and Duo a sharp look.
"Why is there a naked man without ID papers on your ship?"
"Well, if he's naked, he doesn't have any pockets or anywhere to put them, does he?" Duo responded without hesitation.
Predictably, the soldier's hands tightened into fists.
There was the clatter of boot heels and then, a moment later, the IF soldiers returned, Chang between them and the rest of the Mags on their heels.
Chang pulled free of the IF guards and stood on his own, spine painfully straight, dark eyes ablaze.
"Who are you?" the soldier in charge demanded.
Chang remained silent.
The soldier sighed and turned his comm unit back on.
"Sir, we have a situation."
Silence, and then -
"What kind of a situation?" Trowa recognized the voice as Heero's, and he felt a faint thread of amusement at Heero's clear irritation.
The soldier sighed and closed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he had to say next.
"There is a naked man without any ID papers."
There was a long pause, during which the soldier seemed to be holding his breath as he contemplated the end of his career.
"I'm on my way."
It was a tense few minutes, the Mags glaring daggers at Chang, the IF, Duo and Trowa; the IF soldiers anxiously fiddling with their guns as they sensed that something was very clearly not right; Chang glaring ahead; Duo whistling a filthy spacer drinking song; Rashid glaring daggers at Duo; Trowa wondering why the hell no one had bothered to give Chang something to wear.
Finally, the airlock opened again and two figures stepped through.
Heero and -
"Governor Meat Packer!" Duo sounded delighted to set eyes on the tall man with long blond hair at Heero's side.
The man in question, Zechs Merquise, the Governor of Mars, narrowed his eyes at Duo. He did not share Duo's delight in being reacquainted.
Zech's eyes flicked over to Trowa and his mouth tightened but he managed a curt nod.
Trowa arched an eyebrow but he nodded as well. He wondered what the hell Zechs was doing here.
Heero surveyed the situation with a scowl.
He turned to Trowa and arched an eyebrow.
"It's good to see you again so soon," Trowa said.
Heero frowned and then he nodded.
"Of course. Excuse me if I'm not happier to see you. I've been having trouble getting in touch with… my sisters."
Heero held his gaze, and Trowa was certain he meant Cathy and Hilde. Certain he meant that they weren't safe.
He nodded, grateful for the warning.
"What happened to that large disaster of a ship you intended to bring through?" Heero asked.
Rashid's glare was nuclear.
"Well, you see," Duo stepped in, "there was a card game and uh, you know how well I gamble…"
Speaking of gambles, Duo was doing it with that very statement. Trowa, who had first met Duo when he stumbled upon the then scrawny boy sharking a few drunk spacers out of their credits during a back alley card game before getting his ass kicked by the much larger men, knew that Duo gambled very, very well.
Heero had lost more than a few games of cards with Duo.
Duo might as well have waved his arms over his head and shouted 'danger!'
Except… Zechs, Rashid and the rest of the Mags didn't seem at all alarmed by Duo's blatant lie.
Which meant that they had never played cards with Duo. Trowa frowned and thought about that. It was possible - hell, the more he considered, he realized it was likely. Duo hated the Mags more than Trowa, always had, and he had avoided them at all costs when they worked for Quatre. And Zechs would likely have had Duo beaten for sport before playing a game of cards with him.
"You lost a ship in a card game?" Zechs asked with a sneer.
Duo shrugged helplessly but nodded.
"Win some, lose some."
Heero's lips pursed, but he turned away and gestured to Chang.
"Where are this man's papers? And where are his clothes?" Heero demanded.
"He lost his papers," Rashid said smoothly.
"Another card game?" Heero asked sarcastically.
"Ah -" Duo started to respond.
"No," Rashid cut in. "There was a miscommunication back on X44M. But his ID is in the system. Please feel free to look him up."
Heero scowled but he gestured to the soldier in charge of the original boarding party. He obligingly pulled out a datapad.
"Name?" Heero asked.
Chang remained silent.
"His name is Treasure Long," Rashid said helpfully.
Heero's lips quirked as he looked over Chang's naked body.
"Is it?"
Chang, his eyes so full of anger that Trowa wouldn't be surprised if they caught fire, nodded.
"Not very talkative, is he?" Zechs mused.
"Just wait til you get him drunk," Duo suggested. "Then he won't shut up."
"Are you sure you aren't thinking about yourself?" Zechs countered.
Duo merely grinned. "Gov, you know I don't need to be drunk to run my mouth off."
Zechs made a sound of agreement.
The soldier passed the datapad to Heero, who took it and scanned through the information and then looked over at Trowa with a glare.
"You went to X44M to pick up a ji bu?" His voice was hot with accusation.
Trowa looked past him, to Rashid, who offered him a sneer.
Bastard.
"We went to pick up a ship. Duo lost it, I thought we might as well not come back empty-handed and… Mr. Long wanted to get out." Trowa could not bring himself to call Chang Treasure.
"Is he for your entire crew?"
Rashid started to open his mouth, but Trowa spoke first.
"Of course he's not for my entire crew."
Heero's eyes turned glacial, but Zechs arched an eyebrow.
"I never thought you were the type to have a ji bu, Barton," Zechs mused. "In fact, I seem to recall that you have feelings about sex slaves."
"A ji bu isn't a sex slave," Duo pointed out. "He - he signed a contract of his own free will." Duo's voice faltered on the lie. Chang had not entered into this willingly. None of them had.
"You didn't used to make such distinctions," Zechs' eyes gleamed, and it was clear he knew that something was not right.
"Yeah, well, he used to think fucking you was fun. Things change," Duo muttered.
Zechs flushed angrily, and Heero… Heero was now glaring at a bulkhead behind Trowa with such concentration that a vein throbbed in his temple.
"I can't help but notice that you haven't actually answered my question," Zechs said smoothly, his voice barely betraying his anger. "Is he your ji bu, Barton? Perhaps I should ask him?"
Zechs turned to Chang and arched an eyebrow. "Well?"
There was an agonizing moment of silence, and Trowa couldn't decide if he wanted Chang to confirm or deny it. If he denied it, they would all be taken into custody and Quatre would kill Cathy and Hilde. If he confirmed it, they would probably be allowed to continue on their way back to Quatre, where there was still every chance that Cathy and Hilde - as well Duo, Trowa and Chang - would be killed.
"I am," Chang said in his precise English.
"Prove it."
"What?" Trowa demanded.
Zechs looked between him and Chang.
"Something is not quite right here - and I think everyone present knows how easily you can lie. I find it impossible to believe that this man this - Treasure - is your ji bu."
Chang looked over at Trowa, and his expression made it clear that there was absolutely no way he would stoop to proving he was Trowa's ji bu.
Rashid gave Trowa his most threatening look.
Trowa sighed, and he held out a hand to Chang.
"Come here."
Chang's eyes widened, and Duo, standing to Trowa's left, made a movement as if he planned to intercede.
So Trowa stepped forward and then knelt down in front of Chang.
He drew in a deep breath, said a silent apology to the man in front of him, and then reached out to touch his hips.
Chang startled under his touch, jumping as Trowa's fingers edged over his perfectly smooth skin. Trowa kept his touch light but firm, apologizing with each caress of his fingers.
Chang rocked on his feet, then leaned into Trowa's touch as Trowa smoothed his hands down, over his firm thighs. Chang's muscles quivered and the man's entire body trembled.
Trowa leaned forward and he pressed a kiss to Chang's thigh, his skin like warm silk against Trowa's lips.
Trowa parted his lips and dragged his tongue over the same spot. He shifted his hands to hold Chang steady, moving his hands back to his hips and bracing him as Chang made a low sound in the back of this throat, and it was so unexpected, so primal and raw, that Trowa felt his heart skitter to a momentary halt.
He bit into Chang's thigh, gently, and laved at the spot before he trailed his tongue and teeth upwards, towards the dark thatch of curls, the pale, heavy scrotum nestled there and the flaccid cock resting atop.
Chang smelled clean - too clean, practically sterile, and his skin also had the aftertaste of antibiotics. Trowa had never really considered what kind of preparation went into putting someone into stasis, had never really considered what someone would taste like coming out of it.
As Trowa neared the other man's cock, he chanced a look upwards and found Chang's eyes were closed, his lips pinched, and he looked completely miserable.
Trowa could sympathize.
Chang was two hundred years old, had just been awakened from stasis by people intent on bringing him to the man whose family had engineered the destruction of seven billion people, and was now being molested in front of strangers that he had no cause to feel anything towards but hate.
Trowa turned his head and nuzzled against Chang's thigh, pressing another light kiss there before he discreetly pinched Chang's hip.
The other man's eyes snapped open, and he glared down at Trowa.
Trowa met his gaze and held it. He didn't dare risk speaking, didn't dare ask aloud for Chang's permission to continue this farce - but he looked at the other man and silently begged him.
Chang swallowed hard, but he put one hand on Trowa's head, ran his fingers through his hair, and guided Trowa's head towards his cock.
Gratefully, Trowa squeezed his hips.
In other circumstances, Trowa would have taken his time - would have savored the chance to have this perfect man under his hands and mouth - in other circumstances, Trowa would not have an audience of enemies, or his best friend, or his former lovers.
Trowa parted his lips and took Chang's flaccid cock into his mouth. Chang's fingers dug into his scalp, and Trowa closed his lips over the smooth, soft flesh.
He moved one hand down to Chang's scrotum, gently fondling while he sucked on his cock, swirling his tongue around the flesh and feeling it grow hard.
Once he had Chang erect, Trowa had to lean back, had to draw in a deep breath, and then he set about getting Chang off as quickly as possible, begging for forgiveness with each forward bob of his head, each flick of his tongue, each drag of his teeth.
Unexpectedly, Chang's hips flexed and he thrust forward into Trowa's mouth, almost choking him. Trowa recovered and held him tighter, pushing on Chang's hip, letting him know that he could move again.
Chang did, the thrust shallower, more controlled, and Trowa had no trouble taking his cock deeper.
Between Chang's thrusts and Trowa's own ministrations, it wasn't long before the man was trembling, his ragged breathing audible even over the pounding of Trowa's own heart, and his fingers were pulling at Trowa's hair so tightly that it hurt.
"Ó, shàngdì, gǎnjué -" Chang groaned, and it was the only warning Trowa had before he felt the hot, salty release spill down his throat. He swallowed as much as he could, gentling his touch when Chang shuddered. After a moment, Chang pushed at his head, and Trowa released his cock and sat back on his heels.
Chang's face was red, his eyes still closed, his lips parted to draw in harsh breaths.
Slowly, in no hurry to see the looks on the faces around him, Trowa rose to his feet.
Duo, just in Trowa's peripheral vision, made a gesture towards his mouth.
Trowa wiped his lips with the back of his hand, saw the smear of semen, and sighed. He brought his hand to his mouth and licked it clean.
And then he turned to face Zechs and Heero.
"Satisfied?" he demanded.
"Not as much as he is," Zechs murmured, his eyes a little glazed and his cheeks slightly flushed. He shook his head and then frowned. "But do you really expect me to believe that you are paying him to do that when you have an entire crew of -" Zechs gestured.
Trowa sneered. "None of them are my type."
Zechs very pointedly looked at Duo.
"Hey, you know I only like girls, Gov. We had a long discussion about this last time, didn't we?"
Zechs made an irritated sound, but then he turned to Heero.
"Captain?"
Heero looked ready to beat Trowa to within an inch of his life.
"Everything appears to be in order," he bit out. "We'll… leave you to it."
"Hey, wait a sec," Duo called out as the IF soldiers started to move towards the airlock, "why aren't you on Mars?"
Zechs gave him a tight smile. "A family emergency. Nothing to trouble yourself over."
And with that, they left.
A moment later, Scythe shuddered as the boarding shuttle disengaged and Rashid gestured to the Mags. Two stepped forward to grab Chang, one grabbed Duo, and two more grabbed Trowa.
"What the hell?" Duo demanded, struggling against Myron's hold on him.
"You've all fulfilled your usefulness to us - we are clear of the Asteroid Belt, clear of the IF checkpoint - and my men have a wager to see just how quickly your bodies will freeze when we jettison them."
Trowa should have seen it coming.
Duo, instead of looking furious, instead of struggling even more, merely grinned.
"That's too bad," he said, his tone a clear taunt.
Rashid frowned.
"What is?"
Duo nodded and managed to shrug despite Myron's grip on his shoulders.
"The fact that you're planning to space the only two people on this ship who know how to cancel the self-destruct sequence."
Rashid shook his head.
"But why would I initiate it in the first place?"
"I dunno. But I know why I did before we left the cockpit. By my count… you've got about seven minutes before the Scythe blows." He looked over at Chang. "Sorry, buddy. I'd make a joke about how much this sucks but, uh…" Duo flushed and trailed off.
Chang glared at him.
"What do you want?" Rashid growled.
"For starters, I want this hulk to let me go," Duo shoved an elbow into Myron's gut and the Mag released him with a grunt.
"We made a deal with Q - and that deal involved us returning and getting to walk away. It's not our fault there was no treasure, not our fault the ship couldn't be salvaged."
It suddenly occurred to Trowa that they only had Duo's word for that last part - both of his guards had died and in any case, none of the Mags was a mechanic worth a damn. Only Trowa and Duo knew their way around a ship's innards.
"Very well. We won't kill you. But you, Maxwell, will keep your bony ass in that cockpit and Myron will see to it that nothing unexpected happens. You, Barton, can keep Treasure company in one of the empty bunks. And if anything happens - anything that results in the death or injury of more of my men - I'll take my chances with the damn self-destruct and space you."
-o-
Translations:
Lěngjìng: Calm down.
Nǐ yǐjīng shuìzhele èrbǎi nián: You have been asleep for two hundred years.
Nà rén huì shāle nǐ: That man will kill you.
Tā wèi nǐ de dírén: He works for your enemy.
Ó, shàngdì, gǎnjué: Oh God, that feels -