Bounty

eighteen

Once the ship lands at the Salis D'aar spaceport on the green and blue planet of Bakura, Carina grabs her pistols and secures them within the holsters on her thighs.

"Wait." Kix speaks up, causing Carina to face him. "Why don't we all get something to eat before we go our own ways." He suggests, not wanting Carina to leave.

"I really don't think we should be out in the open." Calista admits.

Kix meets Carina's eyes and quickly comes up with a solution. "Then I'll bring the food here. Don't go anywhere." He says as he jogs off of the ship in search of a cantina.

Calista faces Carina to find her looking at the ground and sighs. "If it means anything to you, I'm sorry for being so harsh before."

Carina just nods slightly, having nothing more to say on the matter at hand.

"He cares about you, you know." Calista continues. "You're his only family left, he doesn't want you out on your own." Still Carina remains silent.

"Be quiet." Carina's head shoots up a bit as her eyes dart around the ship.

Calista's raises her eyebrows. "Carina, if he and I show up on that destroyer by ourselves, we won't stand a chance." She admits.

"Please! Just.. Shh!" Carina snaps, pressing her ear to the cold metal of the ship. The faint hissing sound gets louder as she walks along the wall, towards its source. Once she finds the loudest point, Carina knocks on the metal panel. "Do you have a knife?"

Calista furrows her eyebrows. "For what?"

Carina rolls her eyes. "Do you have one or not?"

Calista hesitantly pulls her knife out of her pocket and hands it over. Carina quickly flips it so that the blade is out and uses it to pry at the rusty panel on the wall. Seeing as it's no use, she drops the knife and takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes. Extending a hand towards the thin metal sheet, she's able to bend the edges away from the rest of the ship. As the panel falls to the ground, it exposes the ship's compressor–which seems to be leaking somehow.

"I.. I need a.." Carina's eyes begin to flutter closed as she speaks to Calista.

"Carina!" Calista jumps out of her seat to catch the girl as she falls to the ground. She looks at the exposed compressor and feels her chest getting heavy as well.

The sound of footsteps coming up the ramp gives her a small spurt of energy. "Kix!" Laughter reaches her ears in response and her eyes widen as Bazine steps into view. "No." She mutters breathlessly just before she passes out beside Carina.

Bazine smiles to herself. "Too easy." She chuckles before carrying their unconscious bodies to her ship one by one, leaving their weapons behind. She was disappointed to see that the clone wasn't with them, but two hostages is better than none.

Kix returns to the ship with various food options stacked up in his hands only to find that the ship is empty. He spots their blasters and Calista's knife on the ground and drops the food. The smell of the gas quickly invades his nose and he runs off of the ship, frantically looking around for the two girls.

He quickly comes to the conclusion that, if their weapons were left behind, they must've been taken. Even if he did know how to fly a ship, the one they had is no good now that the compressor is empty.

Figuring he'll need to contact someone, he covers his face with part of his clothing and runs onto the ship to access the ship's transmitter. Once he gets it working, he pauses. Who will he call? He doesn't know anybody in this time period. The gas begins seeping through the pores in the cloth and he quickly sends out a distress signal on a few coded frequencies before running off of the ship.

All he can do now is wait, and hope that someone gets that message. After all, they are on the edge of the Unknown Regions.