Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Outlaw Star or Get Backers or anything affiliated with said shows.

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

Jim's eye twitched as he sat staring at his soon-to-be dead captain across from him. "You what?" He bit out through clenched teeth.

Rubbing the back of his head nervously, Gene dropped his eyes to the table. "I lost the Outlaw Star while I was gambling." He repeated cautiously. When his pint-sized engineer didn't attack, he looked up slowly.

Jim sat there with the flames pouring off of him in waves. "You lost the XGP?!" He screamed. "What did you do, bet it?" Seeing Gene's guilty look, he almost tore his hair out. "What the hell is wrong with you?! We're in so much debt as it is, and you decide to go gambling! What did I do to deserve this?!" Jim cried as his head flopped down on the table. After several moments, he took a deep breath and sat up. "I guess I have no choice." He said in annoyance. "Tell me who you lost it to and I'll see if I can make a deal with them."

"Now you're really going to be mad." Gene said. "I kinda lost it to the MacDougall brothers."

"Oh god." Jim whined. "Kill me now."

Aisha, who had been watching them like they were some sort of TV drama, piped up. "Since it's just the MacDougall brothers, why don't you steal it back?" She said between bites of popcorn.

Looking at the Ctarl-Ctarl, Jim pursed his lips in thought. "That's actually a pretty good idea." He said thoughtfully. "It's not like they'd be able to do anything about it, no cop would ever help a mercenary, and we'd already be long gone. I like it." When Aisha smirked, he continued. "Unfortunately, the MacDougall brothers will be expecting us and we'd likely be caught or killed before we got anywhere near the Outlaw Star."

Frowning, Aisha went back to her popcorn. "I don't hear anyone else coming up with ideas." She muttered under her breath.

"Why don't you just hire someone else to steal it for you?" Suzuka said suddenly. "Find someone the MacDougall brothers don't know and have them deal with it." When Jim's eyes lit up, she frowned. "Of course that means you'd have to have the money to pay them first."

"Great, now what are we going to do?" Jim whined.

Just then Melfina walked into the kitchen. Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, she sighed. "What did Gene do this time?" She asked.

Gene huffed and crossed his arms, but before he could say anything Jim spoke up. "Captain idiot over there lost the XGP to the MacDougall brothers." Jim said with a groan. "So now we're trying to figure out how to get back. Suzuka recommended hiring someone to steal it for us, but we're broke right now."

"So just ask Fred Luo for money." Melfina said.

"He doesn't just give it away." Gene said with a frown. "And he doesn't do favors."

Jim's eyes suddenly lit up and he smiled maliciously. "I know, we'll give him you as an incentive." He said.

Gene paled as his eyes widened in fright. "Y-you wouldn't." He said in slight fear.

"It seems only fair." Suzuka said calmly. "You are the reason we're in this mess to begin with."

Aisha smirked as Jim clasped his hands together. "It's settled then." Jim said as he stood up. "I'll go call Fred right now."

As Jim walked off, Gene contemplated running for it, but three pairs of glaring eyes promptly squashed that idea. "Save me." He prayed quietly.

15 minutes later, Jim walked back into the kitchen with an evil grin on his face. "Fred has agreed to loan us $5,000." He said happily. "And all we have to do is give him Gene for 24 hours."

"That's great." Melfina said with a small smile. "We'll have the Outlaw Star back in no time."

"Doesn't anyone care what happens to me?" Gene asked angrily. "Who knows what that crazy man will do." When everyone turned narrowed eyes on him, he gulped and closed his mouth.

Turning to face the rest of the crew, Jim tapped his finger in thought. "Now the only question is, who could we possibly get to do the job for so little."

No one said a word for several minutes, and the only sound you could hear was Aisha as she munched on her popcorn.

ooooo

"We're never going to find someone who will work for so little." Jim groaned as he let his head drop to the table. "I've been searching for an hour and still I've found nothing. It's hopeless."

"It will be okay Jim." Melfina said softly as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find someone eventually."

Just then Aisha, who had been mindlessly flipping through TV channels, spoke up. "You know I saw an ad for a…I think they called themselves a recovery service, when I went out to buy snacks. You could try them; they look like they are short on cash since the ad was written on a napkin."

"Why didn't you tell me about them sooner?" Jim asked as his eyebrow began to twitch. "You got back 45 minutes ago."

Aisha shrugged as she grabbed another handful of chips. "I forgot." She said between bites.

Growling in anger, Jim's hand reflexively reached for a frying pan. When his hand grabbed nothing but air, he sighed. "Dammit, it's in the dishwasher." He muttered. "Maybe next time." Shaking his head and taking several deep breaths, he started over. "Okay, so where did you see this ad exactly." He asked.

"At the corner store." Aisha she replied as she crumpled up her bag. "But it's not there anymore."

"And why not?" Jim asked, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Well, I took the ad to give it to you, but on the way home my nose started running so I had to use the napkin to blow it." Aisha said as she reached into her pocket. "I've still got it, but it's a little dirty." She finished as she held up the filthy object and tossed it to the young genius.

"That's disgusting!" Jim cried as he dodged the projectile.

Sadly, Suzuka wasn't paying attention and the little white ball landed inches from her face; right in her teacup.

Aisha paled and flew off the couch before anyone realized what happened. Setting her now ruined tea down, Suzuka calmly stood up and grabbed her bokken. With a snarl of rage, she flew after the cat girl. "This time you won't escape!" She screamed as she disappeared out the door.

"I hope they have a website." Jim said, completely ignoring the pair of troublemakers as he went back to his computer to do more searches. Clicking a few buttons, he was surprised to find only two results. One was for a pair called that 'Get Backers', and the other one said 'A recovery service to get back what snake-for-brains failed to get'. The last one had a string of comments saying things like: "lousy monkey boy.", "No one would hire you cause you reek of 'kept man'." and "The Get Backers are the best." Clicking on the 'Get Backers', they had the best success rate and it said they worked cheap, Jim wrote down their contact info. Picking up the phone, he dialed the number and waited for someone to answer. "Hi, is this the Get Backers?" He asked when his call was answered. "I've got a job for you."