A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating-life got just a little bit too hectic for a while there. I hope to be back to publishing once a week from now on.

Chapter 15, part 2.

Alice thought she'd be the first through the door, but entering the briefing room she found Gabriel Rodriguez already sitting at the table, slumped over in his chair, eyes closed. She headed straight for the coffee maker; the sound of it coming alive made the young officer flinch and look at her, his expression dazed. It took him a moment to recognize her and jump to his feet before she waved him back down.

"Feeling okay there, Lieutenant?" She asked sympathetically, pouring two coffees and handing him a cup.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'm fine, just a little tired. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night…" He admitted sheepishly. "It was my girlfriend's twenty-first birthday yesterday."

Alice raised her eyebrows, sitting down with her own cup of coffee. "Girlfriend, huh? That's new."

"Yeah, we've only been dating for a couple weeks," he explained nervously.

"I hope it was a good party." She smirked. Twenty-first usually meant loads of alcohol—no wonder Rodriguez was tired. Probably hungover, too. Not an ideal disposition with which to approach their scheduled offworld outing, but it would've been extremely hypocritical on her part to judge. She was basically functioning on three to five hours of sleep every day, and that only because of the trusted combo of whiskey and Benadryl. Not to mention that one week three months before when she had experienced the comedown from ecstasy—and still gone offworld as if nothing was wrong.

"Yes, ma'am," he muttered, abashed.

"So, tell me about her. What's she like?" Alice prompted after a couple seconds of silence. Rodriguez seemed a little flustered with the question.

"Um… her name is Andrea, she's a senior at the UCCS, majoring in Anthropology," he replied cautiously. "Um… she's pretty cool."

Alice snickered. "I bet." And then she sighed and shook her head. Twenty-one! And him barely two years older than that—they were both still essentially kids… she felt a pinprick of guilt. She was dragging him along on this crazy mission of hers, putting him in danger on the daily. Not that they had any problems so far, aside from the incident on their very first outing as Nova and Levi—no one harassed them in the meantime, but this could change anytime. But, then again, he was part of an SG team, and that came with a certain degree of danger no matter the mission.

"Good morning, ma'am, sir," a new voice joined them and Alice nodded to Watson as he entered and stepped over to the coffee machine. "Anyone needs a refill?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine, Sergeant," she replied, swirling the dark brown liquid in her cup. "How did it go yesterday?"

He laughed, sitting down. "Well, nobody needed a trip to the ER, let's leave it at that and call it a win."

Alice smiled. Peter, Watson's eight-years-old son, was supposed to take part in his first-ever karate tournament the day before. Apparently he didn't do too well, or otherwise Watson would already be bragging of his success. "Good for Peter." She looked up just in time to see Morgan and Carter walking into the room together; the senior airman was looking very self-conscious and fled to the other side of the table as soon as he could.

Alice made a move to stand up, but Carter waved her and the rest of the team down. She went to pour herself a cup of coffee from the fresh pot Alice had brewed, and only then came to take a seat at the table.

"Good morning, how are you all doing today?"

"Good, thank you, ma'am, and you?" Alice replied on behalf of her team, side-eyeing Rodriguez, who looked a little guilty.

"Good, good. So, what do you have planned for today?" The general prompted, nodding towards the Gate visible through the window.

"We'll be following up on a tip we've received from one of our merchant contacts on P2X-22F." Alice grabbed the remote sitting in the middle of the table and clicked it, hoping that Rodriguez, in his hungover and tired state, hadn't forgotten to upload the presentation; but, as the big screen on one of the walls came alive, the image of the Milky Way with one planet highlighted in red came on and she breathed a sigh of relief. "According to the intel, a merc named Krone is looking for a contractor to help fix up his ship—it's not of Goa'uld design and he's not had any luck so far. We don't know what kind of technology we will have to deal with, or what will be the scope of work he wants, but we've put out word that we'd be interested in the job and we hope he'll come find us today." She clicked the remote again, showing a sketched plan of a village. "This is the first time we will actually be approached by someone, instead of the other way around; that is, if he shows. We'll do our usual turn of the merchant booths and then we'll head to the tavern here." She turned on the laser pointer and circled a building on the map. "That's where we'll be waiting for Krone to make contact. Watson and Morgan will back us up from here." She pointed to another place and then made a wider circle around the village. "While we talk to Krone, Watson will head out to see if he can find the ship and give us any insight on what we can expect—depending on how the talks with Krone go, eventually we will have to leave the relative safety of the village and go see the ship. I don't like going in blind, so any intel on what kind of ship it is, how many people are around, and if there are any points of concern will be useful."

Carter nodded, but her expression was troubled. "And how's he going to give you that intel without tipping off Krone?"

"Using these." Alice plunged her hand into her pocket and pulled out two small objects. She put them on the table for everyone to see.

Carter picked one up to have a closer look. It was a dull silver chain with an intricate oval locket dangling from it. She clicked it open to reveal two tiny photos in each half on the inside. Her eyebrows went up and she threw an intrigued look at Alice.

"Looks like a simple piece of jewelry, doesn't it?" The major asked with a lopsided smile. "But when you do this—" She grabbed the second locket—this one was suspended on a black elastic cord, and made of faded bronze—clicked it open, twisted and pulled the halves away, revealing a tiny double antenna inside "—it becomes a radio."

"No way!" Watson exclaimed, and both Rodriguez and Morgan let out a murmured wow.

Carter arched her eyebrows even higher and repeated the sequence of moves Alice had done to the piece in her hand. "That's ingenious, Major!" She praised, impressed. "What's the range?"

"Not great," Alice admitted. "Three to five klicks, depending on possible obstacles to the signal and other conditions on the ground. It definitely won't reach the orbit, so we won't be able to use them to radio for help if we have a ship out there, but it should be more than enough to communicate with the B Team when needed."

"How does it work?"

"When the antenna is open, just push on the right-side photo to speak." Alice demonstrated how to do it and they all heard the familiar sound of static. "The right-side is the mic, the left is the speaker. When finished, just push the halves together, twist, and voilà." She put the locket back together to show them. "Now, it can't receive audio when closed, but it can receive a signal that will inform us of an incoming message. Because of the nature of the mission, we can't have it make any sounds just whenever, so, instead, when it detects a signal from a paired radio—Watson and Morgan will have those—it will emit a low-level electrical current. We'll be wearing these lockets under our clothes, so we'll feel the tingle on our skin and thus we'll know we should try to find a private place to receive the message. That way, if we have company, there's nothing to give us away; and even if we're captured and they take them, there's no way for anyone to figure out what they really are unless they decide to play around with them, which is unlikely." She paused for a moment. "I had initially thought to make them vibrate at the reception of the signal, but if they're taken away, that could indicate that they're not just sentimental trinkets. An electrical impulse will feel like a spark of static."

"Brilliant," Carter complimented again. "Whose photos are those?"

Alice shrugged. "Our parents. I didn't think we needed an elaborate sham here, since both Nova's and Levi's families are supposed to be dead."

The general nodded, taking one more look at the pictures, and then she clicked the locket closed and put it back on the table. "Excellent idea and execution, Major. Well done."

Alice beamed; after a string of disappointments to her mentor, it was good to hear some praise.

"So, you see, I only have to pretend to need a restroom after talking to Krone for a bit, get Watson's report, and then we'll be ready to move on—or, if the situation seems too dicey, we'll abort the mission," she summed up.

Carter mulled this over for a moment. "Alright, Major, seems like a sound plan. You have a go."

"Great, thank you, ma'am."

"Alright, SG-7, you're dismissed, but you hold on for a moment, Major," Carter ordered, so Alice stayed in her seat while Rodriguez, Watson and Morgan filed out of the room. "Just wanted to touch base with you about your yesterday's visit to Indiana. How did Mr. Childes take it all?"

The younger officer sighed. "Not too well. I had to ask Sun Tzu to beam us up for a demonstration."

The general nodded. "It happens. Especially people who think they know better than everyone else need that something extra to be convinced."

Alice smirked sardonically. "Yeah, like politicians and diplomats." She paused for a moment, and then continued in a more serious tone: "Anyway, his biggest problem seemed to lie around the Ancients and the fact that they were responsible for seeding life in our galaxy. I can't exactly blame him for his religious beliefs, but…" She shrugged. "Eventually he seemed to accept the truth—I mean, it's hard not to when one's confronted with it right before their eyes—but he didn't seem too happy about it all. I left him with his homework, we'll see what questions he comes back with."

Carter frowned slightly. "And what's your read on him? Will he make it in the job?"

Alice contemplated the question for a moment and then decided on honesty. "No, I don't think so. I can't really tell you why—I can't put my finger on it… but there's something off about the man. He was in shock and disbelief and that's normal, and he seemed to be bright and confident… until we got out of his comfort zone. Which, again, is normal. But, I don't know… there was just something about him that made me think he was all bark and no bite, if you know what I mean?"

"Well, he is an ex-diplomat and a law professor, he certainly has never been in a field operation before," Carter noted.

Alice shook her head. "That's not what I mean, ma'am. I just—the job requires an ability to make decisions on the fly that may affect not just the Atlantis expedition, but, from time to time, even the entire galaxy. I just can't picture Trevor Childes making these decisions in the moment." She sighed. "But that is just my opinion, and it's not substantiated by any sort of data or proof, just my own vague feelings." She paused for a moment, and then added speculatively: "Though Shen seemed to indicate some lack of conviction in him, as well."

Carter's eyes grew a little wider. "Shen was there?"

"Oh, yeah. I hadn't met her before, but I knew immediately who she was. She's an interesting figure. She says things in this completely pleasant voice with the brightest of smiles, and yet deep down you just know that she means the exact opposite."

"Yeah, she's a great politician, that's for sure. And she's been with the IOA since its conception—her position there is very strong." Carter looked up to the ceiling for a moment. "She really wanted the job, you know. She's wanted it for years."

"Yeah, I know. And that might be a part of why she seemed so, hmmm, unimpressed with Childes, but the way she said I'm certain you're the right man for the job, it sounded like she was telling me that he really wasn't." Alice shook her head again. "Or maybe I'm reading too much into it…"

"No, you're probably right. If he flames out as Atlantis's leader, it'll give Shen the opportunity to try again. She has a vital interest in a quick changing of the guards."

Alice nodded and then sighed. "There's another thing, ma'am—she knows."

"Knows what?"

"About my trip to the future." She noted Carter's raised eyebrows, so she elaborated: "She didn't say it, but she indicated it pretty clearly."

"Damn."

"Yeah. I've been thinking about how she could've learned of it, and I can only think of one person who would've told the Chinese."

"Paul Emerson," Carter guessed. "He sells to the highest bidder."

"I do not believe anyone else would tell—I mean, the Brits have no love for the Chinese, either, so while it's certainly possible, I don't think it probable that they'd share this particular tidbit, especially after our talk a couple months ago. Martinez is in jail, and there's just no way any of our own people would spill." The list of those who knew about it in the US was very short: the President, O'Neill, Landry, Cox, Martinez—and Carter and Alice, of course. There was also Perrault and Cooper who knew a few highlights, but they were both on Atlantis and have not been Earth-side for months—the last time at Alice's promotion ceremony; and, after the leak, the expedition's correspondence was monitored even more tightly than before.

"I agree." Carter thrummed her fingers on the table. "We really need to find him, but it's like he's a ghost. The Groom Lake guys were able to salvage some data from his hard drive, and we still got bubkis."

"There was nothing useful on there?" Alice's voice betrayed her disbelief.

"We got access to some of his virtual assets, including bank accounts, but he's cleaned them up thoroughly before we managed to recover any data from the drive to even begin looking at them. All we know is that he's using stolen identities, but there doesn't seem to be any patterns or leads in there as to what's his next move or where he might be hiding."

Alice shook her head, dismayed. "I'd still like to have a look at that drive when possible, General."

"I know, it'll be shipped over here in a couple weeks most probably, they're still digging there." Carter sighed. "Alright, Major, you need to go get ready. Good luck with your mission."

The tavern was shabby, poorly lit and crowded, but the beer turned out to be surprisingly good. Alice knew that beer had been around for thousands of years, and so it wasn't weird that the descendants of humans taken from Ancient Egypt were still producing and drinking it, but, nevertheless, she found it odd to be enjoying a pint—or something close to it, anyway—thousands of light years away from home.

"You think he'll show?" Rodriguez asked, looking around. They were sitting at one end of a long table, observed cautiously by a group of surly men on the other side of it.

Alice shrugged. "His loss if he doesn't. I don't like this place—I'd rather get home and take a look at that generator we've found today, but if Nico was right about the kind of pay this job might get us…"

Rodriguez nodded, playing along. "At least the brew is decent," he noted, lifting his glass a little. "Let's give this Krone guy a little more time." They sat in silence for a few minutes, and then he asked: "You think you'll be able to fix whatever he wants done?"

She shrugged again. "Probably. Can't say without having a look first, really. But there isn't much I can't fix." She winked at him and he snickered.

"I like your confidence," a new, gruff voice joined their conversation, and a second later a mountain of a man sat down right next to Alice. He must have been at least six-five, with wide shoulders, jacked-up body, and a bald head, tattooed with a mess of symbols that went all the way down to his neck and disappeared under his leather jacket. "I'm Krone. Word is, you're good at reviving small pieces of tech that you can then sell at a profit. That true, little flower?" He asked, leaning towards her a little, his smile turning lecherous.

Alice threw him a warning look. "No, it's not true. I'm not good at it; I'm the best there is."

He laughed coarsely. "We shall see, little flower."

Alice pursed her lips at the repeated endearment.

"So what's the job?" Rodriguez interjected, possibly to stop Alice from snapping at Krone. "Our contact wasn't very specific on what it's supposed to be—or how much will it pay."

"Ah, well, I don't really like to broadcast such details. Don't want certain people to know just what I've got." He smirked. "I like to get to know people I'm gonna be working with first. Hey, you!" He called to the barkeep. "Another round here!" And then he turned back to them. "This one's on me."

Alice rolled her eyes, draining the last drops from her first glass. She didn't really feel at ease drinking so much on the job—they had to drink a bit to blend in, but two pints—more or less—were a lot for her. "Are you trying to ply me with alcohol so I don't negotiate as hard?"

He laughed again. "Maybe. Or maybe I'm trying to get you drunk so you'd come with me upstairs here, little flower…" He leaned over to her again, getting uncomfortably close.

With one smooth move, Alice pulled the knife hidden beneath the jacket sleeve on her left forearm; it stopped a fraction of an inch away from Krone's throat. "Call me little flower once again, and I swear the next time I won't be able to restrain myself!" She snarled, her eyes wild. Part of her knew she was overreacting; but his words and demeanor in that moment made her flash back to how Cho had acted right before he had assaulted her—and that memory pulled the darker ones to the surface, those of Jareth and his cold hands on her skin, making her nauseous and instantly burning with rage.

He jerked a little bit at the force of her fury, but then smirked again and pushed the blade away from his neck with one finger. "Hoo, you're a feisty one!" He remarked lightly. "I like feisty." But he leaned away, giving her back her space.

She took a deep breath, throwing a quick glance at Rodriguez; he was still sitting there, but she noted that his hand was on his Zat, and his face was tense. She pulled the knife away and quickly put it back in its sheath. "I'm not interested," she warned, the angry edge still audible in her voice. She cleared her throat, and added more levelly: "Can we get back to business, please?"

"Don't get me angry, girl," he warned, his voice menacing, but he didn't call her little flower again, she noted. "You won't like me angry."

Alice narrowed her eyes and threw him an insidious look. "The way I see it, Krone, you need us more than we need you. We can walk away and get back to our thing, and you're left with no-one to help you with your little—endeavor."

He huffed, visibly displeased. "You think you're the only one who can do this?"

"How many people have already tried and failed, huh?" She shot him an arrogant little smirk.

The barkeep interrupted them by approaching with the beers Krone'd ordered. They kept quiet until he retreated.

"You think much of yourself," the mercenary remarked, taking a huge gulp of the drink. "What makes you so sure you can do what others couldn't?"

"I know my worth, Krone." She sipped at the beer; she was already starting to feel a bit tipsy. "But you still haven't told me what is it that you want done."

"I told you, I like to know a little bit about people I'm gonna be doing business with."

"And yet you haven't asked me a single thing except to doubt my abilities," she retorted, cocking her head to the side. "What is it that you want to know?"

"I'm interested to know how does a little girl like you come to know so much about alien tech?" He arched his eyebrows, his face expectant.

Alice rolled her eyes. "If you had done your due diligence, you'd know. My mother was blended with a Tok'ra scientist. I spent ten years helping them in their research, before Revanna."

"How come you're not dead there, then?" He inquired.

Alice thought about Karim and the circumstances surrounding his death, and let it color her voice. "I wasn't there that day."

He nodded, apparently convinced. "Lucky you."

"Yeah." Her tone was clipped. "So, you're satisfied?"

"Quite," he confirmed, sending her a cocky smirk. "You know I have done my due diligence. I know a guy who knows a guy who's tight with a certain Tok'ra, one of those that miraculously managed to survive all the troubles in the past twenty years. I asked my buddy to talk to him, get some info on you."

Alice raised an eyebrow at him, keeping her face impassive. She didn't have to look at Rodriguez to know he was ready to go at a moment's notice.

"He said your mother was one of the best scientists they had," Krone continued after a brief pause. Alice didn't let herself show any of the relief she felt. "Are you as good as her?"

She looked at him with a crooked smile and didn't say anything.

He barked a short laugh. "I suppose that's answer enough. Alright, girl, let's do business."

"My name is Nova Ray. Just use that," she hissed, tired of his nicknames for her.

He snickered. "Alright, Nova Ray, as you wish."

"So what's the job?" Rodriguez interjected, as if trying to let Krone know he was part of the team, too.

The merc's eyes flickered to the young man, but he addressed Alice again. "Some time ago I came into possession of a very unique ship. It's not Goa'uld, and, as far as I can tell, not Ancient, either—it's something else. It ran like a charm for a year, but then I started having problems—little things, at first, but now it won't even start. I need someone to find the fault and fix it, so that it's back to its original condition."

Alice nodded gravely. "What else can you tell me about the ship?"

"It's a ship, what else can I say?" He shook his head, aggravated.

Alice rolled her eyes at him. "How big is it? What's the prevailing technology—crystals? Wires? Anything?"

"You'll know when you see it," he puffed.

Alice sighed. "Fine. Is it far from here?"

He shot her a cautious look. "Why?"

"Because you made me drink a second glass of beer and I have a tiny bladder," she replied heatedly, and then waved her hand at him dismissively. "You know what, nevermind, I'll go anyway." She stood up and almost swayed. Fuck. This stuff is strong. The alcoholic content in the beverage must have been higher than in a typical beer on Earth.

He got to his feet, too, as if he wanted to follow her, but she put her hand on his shoulder and pushed him down onto his seat. "You stay. I have no desire for your little games. Levi, watch him, don't let him go after me."

"Hurry up, will ya?" Was all that Rodriguez replied, staying in character.

"Fine, I'll stay here with the kid. It's your loss, Nova Ray—I would've done you good," Krone added with a lascivious look, his eyes sweeping her form from head to toe.

As she walked away, she heard him whistle after her, and then Rodriguez piped up.

"Shut your face, man, she told you she's not interested…"

She didn't catch any reply as she exited the tavern by the back door, where, a little ways away, stood an outhouse. As she got closer, she got a whiff of the foul stench coming from it, so she veered off-course and hid behind some bushes out of the way. First, she did exactly what she'd told Krone she came here to do, and then she took out the locket from under her shirt, pulled, twisted and pushed the right-hand side photo.

"Sierra Golf Seven Niner to Sierra Golf Seven Tree, come in," she whispered into it.

There was a moment of silence, only disturbed by the sound of static, and then the familiar voice responded.

"This is Sierra Golf Seven Tree, over."

"What's the situation, Sergeant?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I could not locate any ships anywhere around the village."

She cursed under her breath. "Then it's probably on another planet."

"I'm not comfortable letting you walk out into the unknown without backup, ma'am," he said; it almost sounded like a challenge.

"Yeah, well, I'm not too happy about it either, but we knew this could happen. Return to post and we'll met at the rendezvous planet. SG-7-niner, out."

She put the locket back together and hid it underneath her shirt again before going back into the tavern.

She stopped at the table and made a get up gesture. "Alright, let's go, gentlemen."

"The kid will stay here," Krone answered immediately, standing up. "We don't need a third wheel."

Before Alice could say anything, Rodriguez was up and next to her in a flash.

"She ain't going nowhere without me."

The mercenary laughed. "Is he supposed to be your muscle, Nova?"

"This is a package deal," Rodriguez insisted, his face grave. "It's both of us or none of us."

Krone threw Alice an amused look. "What's the deal with the kid?"

Alice shrugged. "Like he said. He looks after me, I look after him, and we make it work. You don't like it that way, that's fine—we can simply walk away."

He huffed and then waved his hand. "Fine, he can come." And then he led the way out the tavern and across the village, towards the Stargate, confirming Alice's supposition.

She exchanged a look with Rodriguez and he nodded infinitesimally. This was going to be interesting.

It wasn't a big ship—maybe the size of an Al'kesh, but not pyramid-shaped, and rather longer than wide, with the exception of wings spreading out amidships; they were pointed upwards at the tips, ending with circular plates that must have been used as stabilizers. The whole thing looked vaguely familiar to Alice, though just from the outside, she was unable to tell where from.

"This is my ship, Lucille," Krone said, halting a little ways away and waving at it. They were all a little out of breath—it's been quite a hike from the Gate. "When she started to buckle, I managed to put her down here, but she won't start up again."

"She looks fine from the outside," Rodriguez noted.

"Let's see inside, then," Alice agreed and followed Krone downhill to the side door in the ship's hull. He led them in and through a little maze of corridors to the left, ending up on the bridge. It boasted two separate viewports, with matching sets of consoles and seats.

Alice walked up to the right-hand side seat and dropped onto it unceremoniously, flicking switches and pushing buttons.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Krone asked from behind her, sounding a little nervous, she thought; here, they were in her territory.

"Sure I do," she replied, frowning, as the ship didn't respond to any of her manipulations. "Looks like there's no power coming in," she opined after another moment. "Where's the engine room?"

"In the back." He waved at her to follow him.

They made their way across the corridors again and entered a large room full of wires and tubes, all dark and empty now; there was a square construction in the middle, holding a number of large crystal sheets with a multitude of seemingly random circular holes. Suddenly, Alice knew what the ship reminded her of—of the more immediate concern at the moment, however, were two men waiting for them inside, dressed in leather like mercenaries (or, in fact, much like Alice and Rodriguez themselves) and with their hands casually resting on Zats in thigh holsters.

Alice stopped dead, feeling Rodriguez halt right behind her.

"Who's that?" She asked, her tone clipped.

"Those are my crewmates, Yrgen and Doost." Krone waved at them and the men relaxed their stances. "These are Nova Ray and Levi Kern—they're here to help us with our mechanical problem."

"They any good?" Yrgen asked, measuring Alice from head to toe with his eyes and smirking lewdly.

"So they claim—we shall see."

Alice rolled her eyes again and stepped further inside, halting by the crystals in the middle of the room. "It looks Hebridian," she noted, nodding her head appreciatively. What she didn't say was that it looked exactly like the schematics she studied a long time ago from one of Carter's missions—in fact, the ship could be Sebrus's twin. Because it couldn't be the Sebrus, could it?

"Yeah, well, I took it off the hands of a Serrakian refugee." Krone shrugged with a ruthless smile. "I'm impressed, though—you're the first of a long procession of experts who's come through here who actually recognized the tech."

Alice threw him an annoyed look and went back to examining the crystals. "Levi, I need some light here."

"Oh, right." He stepped up to her, pulling something out of his vast pockets. It looked like a metal stick with a small crystal on top; he flicked a switch and it shone a bright light, like a lamp.

She took it from him and focused on the engine controls for a moment. It looked intact—the crystals were clear and transparent, as they should be. She moved on to examining the side panels and tubes that supplied power from the engine to all the systems on board.

"So?" Krone prompted after about five minutes of silence.

"So what?" She replied, turning around to face him. In her wandering around she halted on the other side of the room, so now all three mercs were standing between her and Rodriguez—just a little to the side, enough for them both to be clear of each other's line of shot, if worst came to pass.

"So, do you know what's wrong with it?" He asked, irritated.

She snorted. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He was frowning and opened his mouth to argue, but she interrupted him: "I'll need hours if not days of diligent work to see what's wrong and fix it. What, did you think it was gonna be easy?" She shook her head. "All I can say right now it that it's nothing obvious—probably a problem with the engine itself, and that means going into the engine chamber to find the fault in the hardware. That requires careful preparation and specialized equipment, or otherwise we might flood the entire ship with harmful ionizing radiation."

"You didn't say that when we spoke at the tavern," he hissed angrily. His men put their hands on the Zats again, and so did Rodriguez.

Alice cocked one eyebrow. "Yeah, like you didn't say it was Hebridian tech. Or, in fact, how much are you willing to pay for this." She paused for a beat, and then continued, not letting him actually respond: "We're here to evaluate the scope of work and agree on a price. Then we gotta go back home, gather all the necessary equipment, and then we can come back and start to actually look for the problem—and the fix. If you thought anything different, then you're not the professional I thought you were."

He looked a little sullen, but he nodded. "Fine, then. Let's agree on the price."

"Good. I say, twenty pounds per hour."

He barked a short laugh. "Only fools pay for hours of work!" He huffed. "No way, girlie. I pay for results."

She narrowed her eyes at the girlie, but decided to let it slide this time. "Fine. Then it's two hundred when we find the fault, and another four hundred when we fix it."

"Six hundred pounds of Naquadah!?" His eyes actually popped a little. "I could buy a new ship with that!"

"Then go and buy one, because that's our offer—take it or leave it. And good luck finding another expert who'll even recognize this technology. May I remind you, Hebridan doesn't exist anymore."

He bristled. "There's still Serrakian and Hebridian refugees out there!"

"And how many of them know the first thing about technology, huh?" Alice pushed, wondering if she wasn't going a little too far—but then again, it was what Nova would do, and Krone might get suspicious if she was too malleable.

He didn't reply for a moment, breathing hard, visibly trying to calm himself down. "I'll pay four hundred for all," he finally spewed.

"Five."

"Four!"

"Five, or we walk." Alice nodded at Rodriguez, putting her own hand on her Zat.

"Four and a half—that's my final offer."

She pretended to mull over it for a moment, and then nodded. "Fine—but it's just to get it flying again. If I find anything else that could be fixed or tuned up, we'll renegotiate."

"Fine."

She shot him a sunny smile, so different to her contentious expression from just a moment ago that it had him raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Pleasure doing business with you."

He laughed shortly, relaxing a little. "You're crazy, woman."

She smirked. "Not crazy—just badass," she amended. "A girl gotta make a splash. Now, we're gonna go back home, gather some equipment. It may take a little while—I don't think I've got everything we'll need handy, gotta go hunting for it."

"Fine, but don't take too long, or I'm gonna miss you," he said with a salacious grin.

Alice sighed and shook her head. "You gonna tell me the symbols for this planet?"

He puffed. "No way."

"Fine, then let's meet in three days in that tavern over on Thull."

He didn't look too pleased with this timeline, but he nodded agreement. "Alright. Three days, I'll find you there. And maybe this time when I buy you a drink, you'll actually be nice to me."

She rolled her eyes. "Dream on." She crossed the room to stand next to Rodriguez. "We can find our way back to the Ring."

"If you say so." He smirked again and watched them walk away—Alice thought she could almost feel his eyes plastered to her backside as she disappeared into the corridor.