CW:  Sexual harrassment

"Tali!" Ethan's frantic voice came from below. "Are you okay?"

Tali grunted. "'Okay' is relative, but yeah, I'm okay." She struggled to right herself, doing little more than making the net swing back and forth.

"You just hang tight, okay?" Ethan shouted. "I'm going to try to get you down."

"That shouldn't be a problem, considering I can't do much else right now." Tali finally wrested her arms a little above her, grabbed onto the rope, and pulled. She got into a semi-sitting position, her knees up in her face. The ropes rubbed against her back even more, leaving painful burns on her skin. She yanked her shirt back down to try and cover her bra, but the back of it was tangled in the net and wouldn't come loose.

A bright light from the ground flooded her vision, making her wince. "Wow," Ethan said. "This is going to be interesting."

"You had a flashlight all along?"

"I'm using my phone," he replied, his body invisible behind the light.

"And you couldn't be bothered to use that earlier?" Tali couldn't help the irritated tone of her voice. She was caught in a net, after all.

"Then we wouldn't have been able to see the fireflies." Ethan shone the light on the ground, sweeping it back and forth. 

Tali sighed. "Fair enough."

Ethan pointed his phone light up toward the tree she was hanging from. "Dang it, it's set up so you have to climb the tree. This may take a bit."

"Oh, no hurry. I'm not going anywhere."

Ethan chuckled. "Glad to see your sense of humor is intact."

"How about less talk, more climb?" Tali said. "My back is getting stiff."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there." Ethan slipped the phone into his pants pocket with the flashlight poking out. He backed up, took a running start, then jumped and grabbed the lowest branch. The light bounced and swung wildly like an erratic searchlight. Ethan grunted, adjusted his grip, then swung himself toward the trunk, gripping the bark with the soles of his boots. He carefully inched his way up the trunk, shuffling his hands and feet.

The phone slid out of his pocket and tumbled to the jungle floor, plunging them back into darkness. "Shit." Ethan dropped back to the ground, stumbling a bit. He hissed in pain.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just twisted my ankle. I'll be fine," he said. "Let me just find my phone."

"My hero," Tali said dryly.

"I could just leave you hanging there, you know."

"Yeah, right. It already kills you to leave without dragging Ben back by his ear." Tali wriggled a bit to readjust.

"Touche," Ethan said. "Aha! Here it is." He brushed the dirt off his phone, then tucked it into his belt. "Hopefully this stays in place." He stood up and brushed himself off. "Okay, let's try this again."

"Don't hurt yourself," Tali said.

"Thanks," he said. "Very encouraging." Once again he jumped and grabbed the branch. This time he had less difficulty swinging himself up. In the same way as before he worked his way up until he was hanging from the branch like a sloth. Grunting with effort, he hugged the branch and slipped himself around until he was sitting on top of the branch.

Tali clapped. "Impressive," she said.

"Is that sarcasm or genuine praise?" Ethan asked.

"Eh, a bit of both."

He gave a half-winded chuckle. "All right, give me a second while I figure out how to get you down without dropping you."

"Yeah, that would be highly appreciated." Tali was bruised and burned enough already and wasn't interested in adding broken bones to the mix.

Just then Tali heard something moving through the jungle. "Ethan?"

"What?" he asked. "Kind of busy here."

"Do you hear that?"

He paused. "Probably just an animal."

"It's getting closer."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Ethan set his phone on the branch screen-down so he could pull out his pocket knife. "Here we go. I'm going to hold the rope while I cut so you don't fall. You might swing around a bit, but it's better than the alternative."

"If you kill me I'm coming back to haunt you."

"What are you going to do, possess a Gnat?" Ethan sounded very smug about his little joke.

"Ha, ha, very funny."

"Okay, here goes." Ethan leaned over to grab the rope. He braced his foot against the tree trunk. "On the count of three. One..."

A group of five men crashed through the undergrowth, stopping just below the tree. A tall, dark-skinned man wearing leather boots, turban pants, and an open vest peered up at Tali and Ethan, holding up a burning torch. He grinned. "Well now! Looks like we caught ourselves a pretty little kitty cat!" The other men laughed.

"Are you poachers?" Ethan asked, his voice sharp and demanding.

"Hey, we caught a dog, too!" another man piped up, his large half-hoop earrings swinging as he laughed.

"You shouldn't be here," Ethan said. "This area is sacred ground."

The men busted up laughing. "Here? Nobody ever comes here," the leader said between guffaws. "That's why we like it so much."

Tali sighed. "If you boys are going to laugh all night like a pack of hyenas, could you get me out of your trap first?"

The leader grinned. "Apologies, my Lady! I'll have you down quick-like." He leaned back and whispered to the man next to him, who nodded and moved underneath the net. Quick as a shark, the leader whipped out a knife and threw it, slicing the rope. Tali's heart leaped into her throat as she dropped, net and all, right into the waiting arms of the poacher beneath her.

"There now," he said. "No harm done, eh?"

"You could have warned me!" Tali snapped, shaken up from the sudden drop.

"You okay, Tali?" Ethan asked from up in the tree.

"I'm fine." She tried not to let him hear the shakiness in her voice.

"That's good." Ethan jumped down, grabbing the branch to catch himself before dropping to the ground.

"Okay, you can let me down now," Tali said to the guy holding her. She couldn't wait to get untangled from the net.

"Not just yet," the leader said authoritarily. "Not until your friend here hands over his knife and whatever is giving off that light."

Chills ran down Tali's spine and her mouth went dry. "What?"

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "And what gives you the right?"

The gang leader held up a hand and flicked his fingers. The remaining three men surrounded Ethan, moving quickly and skillfully through the undergrowth. The leader swaggered over to Tali, giving her a once-over and grinning. "It's my trap, ain't it? And I get to keep what I catch."

Tali's stomach dropped. "Why you..." She struggled and kicked but she was still tangled in the net and the man held her tight. "Let me go, you big gorilla!" she screeched, panic setting in.

"I won't let you take her!" Ethan held his pocket knife up in a defensive position. It looked small and flimsy up against the poachers' knives and machetes.

The leader reached over and grabbed Tali's chin. "Oh, don't worry," he said. "I wasn't going to take her from you. You're coming too. You were trying to steal my catch, after all."

"That's bullshit." Ethan grit his teeth and gripped his pocket knife so hard his knuckles turned white.

The leader smiled and shook his head. "You don't have a choice."

"I always have a choice." Ethan flipped his phone light up and shone it directly in the eyes of the nearest thug. As the man screamed about being blinded, Ethan charged him, shoving him aside. He made it halfway to Tali before the other two men tackled him. Ethan, weakened by dehydration and exhaustion, was soon immobilized. The thugs forced him face-down in the weeds and wrenched his arms behind his back, with one of the men's knees in his back.

"Tie him up," the leader commanded. The men trussed Ethan's arms up behind his back with ease.

"Why are you doing this?" Tali begged, struggling to get loose.

The leader grinned. "I can get a pretty penny off you two. Especially since you don't look like Karagan citizens."

"But... you..." Tali sputtered. "You can't just take people and sell them!"

He shrugged. "I think I can." He addressed the man holding Tali. "Might as well get that net off her. Just keep a good grip on her."

Tali was set down on her feet and disentangled from the net. Her shirt got pulled up more than once and the man seemed fascinated with her bra.

"What is this?" he asked, reaching up her shirt.

Tali tried to slap him but he caught her hand. He laughed.

"Stop it!" Tali used her free hand to pull her shirt down.

Ethan turned his head enough to speak. "Let her go. I'll go with you, just let her go."

"No," the leader said. He looked up at the stars, then spoke to the rest of the men. "We better get back. Gayalo, go check the other traps, or we won't have enough meat to last us to Jambaban."

Ethan gasped and struggled. "No, wait! You're making a mistake!"

The leader sighed. "Toran, will you gag him? I've had enough of his whining."

The man with the half-hoop earrings gagged Ethan with a long piece of cloth from his pocket. Tali was then tied up as well. With that, they were taken away and forced to march further away from the bridge and their only way home.