Bounty

nine

As the Meson Martinet descends into Corellia's atmosphere, Sidon lets himself into the rear of the ship to see Calista off of the ship. The masked Delphidian pauses in his steps as he watches Kix wrap a piece of fabric around her exposed lower abdomen. He clears his throat and Calista looks away from the medic to meet the red plasteel mask, her smile immediately fading into an expressionless mask of her own.

"We'll be landing in the spaceport momentarily." He informs her. "I expect you and your belongings to be out of sight upon touchdown."

She stops herself from rolling her eyes as she turns back to Kix, who's carefully securing the makeshift compression bandage around her abdomen. The sound of heavy footsteps bounces off of the ship's metal frame as Sidon retreats back into the cockpit.

"Have you ever told anyone the truth about that shady pirate you turned in?" Kix asks quietly, sitting beside Calista atop a crate.

"There's no point." She sighs. "They never liked me much anyway."

Kix thinks back on the few times he's seen Sidon and Calista interact. "Not even the Captain?"

She remains quiet for a few moments, barely moving as she inhales deeply. "Sidon and I have a very complicated past." She says. "Perhaps there was a time when he and I meant more than the stars to one another, but that time is long gone." She twiddles her thumbs. "Besides, I never really liked that stupid helmet."

Kix curves his lips into a slightly amused smile. "Yeah, what's up with him and that thing?"

"He wears it to hide his mysterious heritage." Calista explains. "Which nobody truly knows either." She stifles a laugh. "Some long-running debate on whether Delphidians have a common ancestor or were bio genetically engineered to be slaves."

Kix feels a thud in his chest at the possible similarity he has to the Captain. After all, he and his brothers were practically bred to be slaves too. "Has anyone ever seen his actual face?" Kix asks, suddenly more curious about the masked pirate.

Calista looks down at her combat boots. "I have." She admits quietly.

Kix's eyes widen as he faces her.

"But again, it was such a long time ago." She restates.

"He must've really loved you." Kix assumes.

Cal lifts her head to meet his soft gaze. She knew that Sidon loved her, it's why she wasn't worried about showing her face on Ponemah after all these years—despite how awkward their reunion might have been. She knew that no matter how much time had passed, Sidon would still have a place for her in his heart. The problem was never with Sidon, though.

"Calista?" Kix asks, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as he looks into her eyes.

She snaps out of her thoughts, realizing she had been staring at Kix, and swallows her embarrassment.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks, recognizing the distant look in her eyes.

The sound of the landing gear reaches her ears and she pushes herself to her feet. "Maybe another time." She offers.

Kix gives her a small smile along with a nod. "It's a date."

Calista freezes at his words and her skin turns a deep shade of red as she blushes.

"Where d' you think you're goin'?" Reveth asks from the front of the ship. "Word has it, you owe us 10,000 credits for transport and fuel."

"10,000?!" Reeg gasps, earning a nudge from the fiesty Twi'lek.

"I'll get it to you, I just have to finish this job and then I-"

"You still owe us the 200 credits for using the barge too." Squeaky adds.

Kix glances over at the group of pirates. They know Calista is in a hole and they're taking advantage of it.

"Listen I just need some time, I'll get you your money." Calista states.

Reveth scoffs as she approaches the Zeltron. "I think we're all well aware of your little games by now."

"A few days." Cal continues. "Give me a few days and I'll personally deliver 100,000 credits to you."

Reveth stops in her tracks as her eyes widen. Squeaky's face falls in shock and Quiggold looks up to their Captain.

"100,000?!" Reeg's jaw drops as he gasps again.

Kix turns to face Calista with a curious expression.

"This must be some job." Sidon speaks up. "So quick and willing to hand over such a large amount of credits." He observes. "The bounty for whoever you're hunting must be quite a large one."

Calista clenches her jaw. "Do we have a deal?"

"I am tempted, I'll admit that much." Sidon faces his crew. "But perhaps if we find the target first, we could have the entire payout to ourselves."

Kix's eyes widen as he looks between the group of pirates and the lone bounty hunter. Reveth smirks as she unsheathes a dagger and turns to Calista.

Once the Twi'lek is close enough, Calista makes quick work of disarming her and pinning her face down with her arms pulled behind her back. Kix watches intently for any sign of pain from the Zeltron, but she hides it well—not wanting to seem vulnerable in front of the crew.

Calista looks up to find the others pointing their blasters directly at her and is completely taken off guard at this chain of events. She releases Reveth and looks up at Sidon as feelings of hurt and betrayal course through her veins. The Twi'lek glares at the Zeltron, rubbing her strained arms as she inches closer to her crewmates.

"Stings doesn't it, having those you hold closest turn on you just like that?" Sidon asks, his back still towards her.

"Bold of you to assume that I think so highly of you." Calista huffs. "So what, you're just going to kill me then?"

Reeg smiles at the thought from behind his blaster but Sidon signals them to lower their weapons.

"You're going to help us find the target." Sidon states. "And then you're going to return to whatever asteroid field you came from."

Squeaky nudges her with the eye of his axe as he motions for her to get moving. Calista glares in Sidon's direction once last time before turning on her heels and weaving through the spaceport with the pirates on her heels.

"Is this all really necessary?" Kix asks the Captain as they walk the cold alleys of Corellia.

"I have to do what's best for the crew." Sidon states. "That includes you now." He reminds the clone. "Calista is a selfish bounty hunter who's only ever out for herself."

Kix clenches his jaw to prevent himself from saying something he'd regret. He considers telling him the truth behind Calista turning Kragan in, but decides against it. Even if by some miracle the Crimson Corsair would believe him, there must be a reason Calista hadn't told him—or any of them, for that matter.

Whatever her reason, he was not going to cause any more trouble for her. No, in fact, he was going to help her—because that's what she would do for him, what she had done for him back on Ponemah.