1969
Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith was not a happy man as he strode into the office of the brig's commanding officer.
"Hannibal," the CO greeted mildly, seeming unsurprised by the blatant intrusion.
"Colonel Owens," Hannibal replied in kind, keeping his voice calm despite the anger clearly written in his expression.
He cast a glance toward his sergeant and the two MPs guarding him, but had to do a double take at his sergeant's appearance. Fighting to keep his curiosity at bay, Hannibal turned back to Colonel Owens.
"I assume you'll handle this situation?" Owens said simply, as if he was merely asking the man to pass him the salt at the dinner table.
"You have my word," Hannibal agreed, shooting a stern look at his sergeant.
Owens nodded. "Very well." Looking over at the MPs, he ordered, "Release Sergeant Baracus."
The MPs uncuffed the big sergeant, who snapped a salute to Colonel Owens before following Hannibal out.
Down the hallway, Hannibal abruptly stopped and turned on his sergeant. "You wanna explain what the hell happened BA?" It wasn't really a question, and they both knew it.
BA's head was down slightly as he answered. "Know Sergeant McKinney?"
"Over in motor pool?" BA nodded. "Yeah, I know him. What about him?" Hannibal asked.
"He's got a wife and two kids he sends most of his paycheck to. But this lieutenant lied to him and cheated him out of all his money! Now he got nothin' to send home." BA growled and smacked a fist into the other hand as he finished.
Hannibal sighed. "And you decided to get his money back for him."
"Somebody gotta stand up to that little punk." BA's eyes narrowed as he glared past Hannibal.
Turning, the colonel saw a couple of MPs manhandling a kid toward the cellblock.
Despite the cuffs, the blond managed to squirm out of their grip to turn and face them, smiling broadly despite a split lip. "Hey, take it easy fellas."
Hannibal's eyebrows shot up when he saw the kid's uniform, and noted that he was a lieutenant. He also noted the makings of a decent shiner beginning to form on the kid's face.
One of the MPs just shoved the kid back around. "Keep moving Peck."
After they turned the corner, Hannibal looked back at his scowling sergeant with a bemused expression. "That's the lieutenant that did all this?" he chuckled, gesturing to his sergeant's broken nose and split lip. BA growled. "Ha! And here I was thinking you musta finally found someone your own size."
"Sucker's fast," BA muttered under his breath begrudgingly.
Still laughing, Hannibal threw an arm around his sergeant as they resumed their walk out of the place. "Cheer up BA, at least Murdock hasn't heard about this yet."
The sergeant growled again.
0
That night Hannibal sat at his desk, smoking his cigar, and thinking about the lieutenant BA had gotten into the fight with. He had to admit, anyone who could go a round or two with BA automatically had his interest piqued. But he also had to consider the fact that even though the lieutenant had thrown the first punch, BA, by his own admittance, had started the whole incident, yet the MPs were still holding the kid.
Hannibal sighed. There was only one way he was going to get the answers to any of his questions.