Bounty

three

Calista raises an eyebrow as she walks closer to it. Sidon quickly pulls her back.

"Relax, Si. It's a light. It's not going to kill me." She stifles a laugh, pulling out of his grip.

"It could be one of those droids, Cal." He states.

She crouches to get a better look at the source of light and gently presses her fingertips to the touchpad beside it. The entire wall panel pops open, releasing cold air, and the blue light fades.

"What did you do?" Sidon asks.

Calista curiously pulls the panel further out, revealing a body lying on the thin mattress. Her eyes widen as she looks down at the person. She presses two fingers to the man's neck to feel a faint pulse.

"He's alive." She states. "This must be some sort of stasis pod."

The man groans as he begins to stir and Sidon quickly pulls Calista back. He sits up in the pod, looking around frantically as he gasps for air, and Calista pulls away from Sidon.

"It's okay, you're alright." She comforts the stranger.

"No. No, no, we.. We have to get back to Coruscant. I.. I have.." The man rambles. "The generals! They'll know.. I.. I figured it out! He was right.. Fives.. He.. All along..."

Calista furrows her eyebrows. "You need to rest. We'll get you out of here."

"No!" The man raises his voice, causing Calista to move away. He looks at her apologetically, but she can see the fear behind his eyes. "I.. I'm sorry. I just.."

"What are you doing aboard an old Separatist ship? Are you some sort of agent for the Empire?" Sidon asks, hovering over the man intimidatingly.

The man's eyes widen. "The.. What? No, no I'm.. I'm a soldier in the Grand Army of the Republic. I was taken prisoner after learning about the inhibitor chips placed in all of the clones' heads—chips that have the ability to make us turn on anyone. They're planning to use us against the Jedi. We have to warn them!" He speaks quickly.

"A clone?" Calista asks.

"The Clone Wars came to a tragic end with the genocide of the Jedi 50 years ago." Sidon states.

The man furrows his eyebrows. "50 years? I.. That's.."

Calista sighs as she looks down at the man. She closes her eyes to project fatigue over the man in order to help him relax. Before he can finish rambling, he falls unconscious. Calista looks up at Sidon, whose expression is unreadable under his mask.

"Captain! We've got company!" Pendewqell says through Sidon's comlink. A loud crash is heard outside of the ship and Sidon takes off.

"Si!" Calista calls. "We can't just leave him here!"

The Captain ignores her pleas as he returns to the barge. "The Grey Gundarks." He snarls at the gang.

"We're sustaining heavy damage!" Reveth shouts from one of the deck blasters.

"There's no treasure in that junk pile. Let's get out of here!" Reeg adds, fighting off one of the biker gang pirates.

Squeaky and Pendewqell raise the anchors but the barge remains where it is.

"Captain!" Pendewqell shouts for him to go.

Sidon clenches his jaw as he looks down at the wreckage. He spots Calista doing her best to carry the unconscious man through the sand, though his feet are dragging behind them.

"Cast a line! Get them aboard!" Sidon orders.

The crew members bite their tongues, wishing he'd just left the witch of a girl here, but do as told. Calista wraps the rope around the man for them to pull him up first.
She holds her ground as she waits for the rope to be sent back down, blasting pirates off of their speeders with ease.

As she climbs the rope up to the deck, one of the biker pirates swings around the barge and blasts Pendewqell straight through his chest. Reveth cries out in sorrow as she blasts the rival gang to dust.

Once Calista's aboard the barge, Sidon quickly turns back to the Sea of Sand en route to the cantina. She watches from a distance as the rest of the crew gathers around Pendewqell's limp body and looks down.

A creak reaches Calista's ears and she looks up to meet Reveth's furious gaze.

"This is your fault." The red Twi'lek seethes. "Every time you show up, someone dies."

Calista furrows her eyebrows. "I didn't ask for any of you to come with me."

Reveth rolls her eyes. "Please, you know how the Captain feels about you. You had to have known he wouldn't let you go on your own." She shakes her head and walks away from the Zeltron.

Calista takes a deep breath as she looks down. She's grown so used to death in her like of work, she seems to have forgotten the toll it has on people. She doesn't have time to mourn lost lives, especially not when she has a 20 million credit bounty on the line.

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Author's Note:

I should probably start writing more chapters instead of rewatching the Clone Wars... 😅