The pirate crew and bounty hunter travel through the treacherous Sea of Sand; over giant waves of sand, around geysers of magma, and through perilous lightning storms. Thanks to the good Captain and his faithful crew, they arrive at the wreckage of an old Separatist cruiser in one piece after only a few hours.
"Swing 'er around, port side." Sidon calls and Quiggold grabs hold of the helm to do just that.
Calista looks over the edge of the barge at the dusty shipwreck, almost completely submerged in the sand. A strong gust of wind blows her hair forward and a glint from the ship's exposed exterior meets her eye.
Sidon takes his attention off of his crew for a split second to catch Calista jumping overboard. "Weigh 'nough!" He shouts, leading to the barge coming to a halt.
The crew watches in confusion as their Captain looks over the edge of the ship. Relief washes over him when he spots the girl's long blue hair blowing behind her as she scales the wreckage.
"Drop the anchors. We continue on foot." He states.
"Squeaky, Pendewqell. Stay with the barge." Quiggold instructs the others, who nod before taking their posts.
As the four pirates trudge through the deep sand, Sidon keeps his eyes on the Zeltron ahead of them. They catch up to her as she tries to pry the cracked blast door open.
"Sidon." She reaches a hand out as she catches her breath. "Your vibro-sword."
"You shall address him as Captain." Reeg seethes. Calista just rolls her eyes.
Sidon hands his vibro-sword over without a second thought and she quickly cuts through the old metal, creating an access point into the large cruiser.
"This thing is huge." Reveth gasps.
"Split up, we'll cover more ground that way." Quiggold says, turning to realize that Sidon has already taken off with Calista.
Reveth, Reeg, and Quiggold each take off in their own direction in search of anything that may be of value.
"Cal." Sidon ducks under a fallen panel as he follows her. "Callie." He grabs her arm. "What are you searching for? We don't even know what's down here."
She avoids his line of eyesight as she looks around them. Why was she here? She has a great job lined up and decided to pursue some side quest, putting her original job at risk.
"The distress signal." Sidon continues. "Did you think-?"
"I didn't think at all, clearly." She cuts him off.
Sidon looks down at her, assuming that she must've thought he was in some sort of trouble once she saw the coordinates for Ponemah attached to the distress signal. Either that or she thought she could make a quick credit by helping someone out of whatever trouble they may be in.
"Truth be told, I was angry about my new job." She admits. "Hiring me to fly across the galaxy with only the name of a planet and a description of an object." A sigh escapes her lips. "I shouldn't be here, I should be in the New Territories by now."
A blinking light behind her catches Sidon's eye.
"Let's just get out of here, I don't think-"
Sidon shushes her mid-sentence and she furrows her eyebrows.
"I know you pirates enjoy scavenging but in case you've forgotten, the barge is mine until sundown. Which means that-"
He interrupts her again by spinning her around. "Look." He points to the blue light.
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... 😅