Ok, I'm sorry for the long wait but all this testing has screwed me up! But finals are over! Anyway, here's Chapter 9 if anyone is still interested. Read and Enjoy. Thanks!

*Disclaimer* I don't own anything Outlaw Star, although I wish I did...

Gene looked up upon hearing somebody entering the prison ward. There were footsteps and suddenly Fred came into view. He was accompanied by Billy, of course, as well as Lieutenant Macabi and Princess Maralee. "Fred!" Gene exclaimed, happy to see him for the first time in a long time. He stood up.
"Yes, it's me to pay YOUR bail." Fred replied, very unenthused.
"Hey, thanks Fred!" Aisha exclaimed from the other side, as she finished the last of Melfina's meal. "You're not that bad after all!" Fred just rolled his eyes as Kyashi stepped forward, unlocking both cells.
"You will be given a proper trial in three days. Until then, you must remain in Skyla, where the UMF will be keeping careful watch on you. You may not leave Skyla under any circumstances until your sentence is given out. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, we understand," Gene replied, not too pleased but was happy to be out of his cell.
"You can stay at York Base if you have no where else to go," Maralee spoke up, "I have a quarters set up for you." Ace's eyes lit up.
"That would be quite nice, thank you." He said with a courteous smile. Kyashi eyed him curiously.
"You look…familiar…" She trailed off. Ace cleared his throat and straightened up.
"I get that a lot," he told her stiffly. "Now, let's move along here, shall we?" The young man immediately pushed his way forward allowing everybody to fall in step behind him.

Once in private quarters, Maralee turned to the group of outlaws and spoke with much concern in her voice. "I think you should all get out of here."
"You mean…escape?" Ace faked ignorance. "But wouldn't that be-"
"Wrong." Maralee completed for him. "I know, but my sister is not thinking straight, you see. She'll do anything to kill you, Mr. Starwind." Gene grimaced.
"Thanks for the information." He replied, dryly.
"But, Princess Maralee," Jim spoke up, but began to grow nervous when she turned her attention to him.
"Yes?" Jim blushed; Aisha snickered.
"I just want, um, wanted to know just um, how are we supposed to get out of here? This is an UMF base, right?"
"I know," she looked down at the floor.
"Don't be ridiculous! Of course we can get out of here." Ace exclaimed. "After all, with all this vast array of talent, how can we possible not? We just can't be taken off guard, that's all. We'll hold all the cards now."
"I need my sword," Suzuka suddenly said.
"That's in Colonel Drake's custody, along with the rest of your weapons. He's Lieutenant Macabi's superior officer." Maralee informed. She frowned. "I must be going, though. It'll be suspicious if I stay here any longer."
"Don't worry," Ace smile warmly, "We'll handle everything just fine. Thank you for your help."
"Alright," she replied reluctantly. "Good-bye."
"Bye!" Jim called to her, but she was already gone. He stared on after her. Aisha broke into hysterics.
"Jim has got a crush! Jim has got a crush!" Jim turned bright red as Ace snickered quietly to himself and Gene laughed.
"I do not!" he defended himself and changed the subject. "Don't we have other things to worry about."
"Jim's right." Suzuka agreed.
"Alright then," Gene took authority, "What's our plan of action?"
"Correction," Fred said, "What's YOUR plan of action. Billy and I are leaving."
"In what ship?" Ace questioned. Fred stood silent for a moment before speaking.
"We'll buy a ride."
"With what money? I'm pretty sure you used most of you had for our bail." Fred's face grew enraged and he muttered annoyed to himself.
"Fine! I'll come along just until we get off of Skyla. Then, I'm going home." He gave in and then added to Ace, "I don't see why you didn't pay the bail, being that you have SO much money."
"It would look suspicious if I came up with so much money, don't you think?" He smirked and then said, "Now then, we have two agendas. To find the second one and to get the hell out of here."
"We saw him!" Billy exclaimed but then stared down at the ground when everybody's eyes fell on him. "Me and um, Mr. Luo that is. We saw Private Wilter."
"We did not!" Fred exclaimed, annoyed and aggravated.
"But, sir, don't you remember? Lieutenant Macabi's fiancee? I tried to tell you and-"
"Oh him…" Fred interrupted, trailing off. "He's the second one? He seemed a bit odd if you asked me."
"He seems perfect!" Ace brightened, "Just the way he should be!"
"If you say so," Gene rolled his eyes.
"But…are we really going to…kidnap him?" Melfina spoke up quietly. "He seems so nice and so happy. He's getting married in two weeks and-"
"It doesn't matter!" Ace snapped, suddenly looking annerved. He cleared his throat, and repeated calmly, "It doesn't matter. You all just do as you're told. Now, what are we doing?"
"Ok," Gene said, gaining confidence, "Suzuka and Aisha, do you think you can retrieve our stuff?" Aisha brightened.
"Of course! Just leave it to me! After all, I am a Ctarl-Ctarl."
"Good. That means, Melfina, you'll go back to the Outlaw Star with Fred and Billy. Get it ready to sky rocket out of here when we get back there, ok?"
"Alright," She concurred, although she seemed a bit reluctant. Gene turned to Jim.
"And Jim. Go with Aisha and Suzuka," He ordered then muttered quietly to him, "Make sure Aisha doesn't get into too much trouble." Jim nodded in understanding.
"That leaves me and Ace to get Jeri," Gene concluded. Ricilla immediately waved her had to gain attention. "And Ricilla, too." The captured half demon stomped her foot and immediately pointed to her throat, signaling she wanted her voice back. Ace sighed.
"I'll give you the right to speak provided you don't say anything stupid, alright?" She mouthed the word "alright," although there was annoyance in her eyes and her gestures. "Fine," Ace waved his hand, "You can speak."
"Finally!" She said, relieved. "It's about damn time."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes," Ace acknowledged her with indifference and turned to Gene, "Are we ready, then?"
"I suppose so," Gene replied. "We're as ready as we'll ever be."

Gene quickly led the way down the hall, with Ace and Ricilla following behind. Although annoyed, Ricilla still appeared to be on alert, ready to fight if necessary. It was Ace who appeared the most nervous, his confidence fading as he constantly kept looking over his shoulder to see if anybody was following.
"Come on," Gene instructed, and the group turned a corner. Seeing two soldiers heading there way, the three ducked into a doorway. "Ok, I'll get the one of the left and you deal with the one on the right, alright?" Gene told Ricilla, "We'll see if either of them know where Jeri is." Ricilla nodded. "Let's just try to be inconspicuous."
Gene jumped out from hiding first, taking the soldier on the left off guard, and knocking him to the floor. The second one, startled, fumbled to retrieve his gun, but Ricilla kicked him hard in his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into the wall. His gun skidded on the floor and Ricilla brought a stop to it with her right foot. Gene, meanwhile, dragged the first soldier to his feet, placing him against the wall.
"Alright then," Gene said, slightly out of breath, "Where's Private Jeri Wilter?"
The soldier Gene had pinned grew angry, "What do you want with Jeri?"
"Nothing," Gene told him, "Just tell me where he is."
"The hell I will." Ricilla smirked, picking up the gun and holding it up to the second soldier, who slowly began to regain confidence.
"How about you?" she asked him. "Do you know where this Private Wilter is?"
"What?" The soldier asked, confused.
"Don't say anything, Phil!" The first one ordered.
"Hmm," Ricilla observed the gun, pointing it towards the second ones head, "Now I wonder how this works."
"Wait! I-" He stammered nervously. Ricilla raised an eyebrow. "Jeri's in his room. I just saw him there. B-22."
"You idiot!" The first one yelled, but Gene knocked him out cold.
"Mark!" The other exclaimed, struggling to get to his feet, but Ricilla hit him hard, and the young man fell into unconsciousness as well. She turned to face both Ace and Gene.
"I still think this is stupid," she stated bluntly and leaned against the wall.
"It doesn't matter what you think," Ace retorted and wiped the sweat off his forehead nervously. "Now, let's just get rid of them. Throw them in a closet or something."
"That's what I was planning to do," Gene said, annoyed. Searching the soldier, Gene retrieved a gun, a communicator, and a key card. He held up the key card. "This'll come in handy, don't you think?" He then began to drag the unconscious soldier to in front of a doorway. Opening it with the key card, he beckoned to Ricilla, "Bring him over her too. But get rid of his communicator and key card." Ricilla obeyed.
"Hurry up!" Ace whispered loudly in apprehension.
"It's not like you're doing everything," Ricilla muttered, as her and Gene got the two fallen soldiers into the dark room. Then, Gene closed the door and locked it.
"Hopefully," he said, "they won't wake up until we're good and out of here." Suddenly, red lights began to flash as a siren of some sort went off.
"Attention, all military personal. Attention, all military personal." A voice went off on the PA. "Report to Sector 5C immediately. An attack has been executed by two females. Be warned that one is a Ctarl-Ctarl and quite deadly." Gene sighed, and placed his head in his hand.
"What does Aisha think she's doing I thought Jim was supposed to be watching her!" He questioned, frustrated. Ace, however smiled.
"She's doing everything right," he reasoned, "You see, if everybody is heading towards Sector 5C, who's going to be paying attention when we intervene and take one of the privates? We've just got to cut him off on his way there."
"A distraction." Gene concluded. "Alright, let's go then." Gene continued to lead the way, Ricilla and Ace following behind.

"We missed him! I can't believe we missed him!" Gene exclaimed, frustrated.
"No," Ace shook his head, "We couldn't have!" He closed his eyes in concentration
"Aw, that's too bad for you," Ricilla said sarcastically, snickering to herself. Suddenly, Ace's eyes flung open.
"He's still in his room," he informed them.
"What?" Gene questioned, "How do you know?"
"I just know, alright? Now, let's go."

Jeri rolled over in his bed, which was the bottom half of a bunk bed, ignoring the alarms that were going off with ease. He slept merrily, his thoughts on his wedding and his bride-to-be. Yawning he rolled onto his back and fell into a deeper sleep.
Gene flung the door open to the room and pointed the soldier's gun towards the private. Realizing he was sound asleep, he frowned and lowered the gun. "He's asleep?"
"God, this guy is strange," Ricilla said under her breath as the sirens continued to wail.
"Well," Ace gestured to Gene, "Wake him up." Sighing, Gene walked over to the private and shook him, gun in hand.
He rolled over, "Not now Kyashi…" Gene shook him harder and the private was suddenly awake but only partially alert, "What? Who? Huh? What's going on?"
"You know your base is on full alert." Ricilla pointed out.
"Oh really? That's nice. Maybe Kyashi will get a promotion." He smiled and looked at the gun in Gene's hand. "That's Mark's gun. It's nice of you to return it." Gene gritted his teeth.
"Listen," he struggled with his words, suddenly feeling guilty as he raised the gun towards Jeri's head and backed away a couple feet. "You've got to come with us, ok?" Jeri stared at Gene, then Ricilla, then Ace, a confused expression on his face. Unexpectedly, his face grew warm and excited.
"A trip? Really?" He got out of bed and he headed towards a chest at the front of the bunk bed. Opening it, he began to pull out his belongings. "I've just got to pack. How long do you think we'll be? Well, it can't be longer than two weeks because I'm getting married you know so I think I'll just bring six shirts…" He continued babbling to himself as the Gene, Ace, and Ricilla stared at one another, baffled. Ace shrugged.
"If he's going to…cooperate…" he trailed off.
"You're not in a hurry, are you?" Jeri asked. "Because I've got a few-"
"Actually, we are." Ace spoke up.
"Oh," Jeri looked slightly disappointed. Ace continued
"So, if you don't mind, we'd like to leave now."
Jeri smiled, "Well, alright. Let's go then." He left his scattered belongings on his bed and the floor and headed towards the door.
"Well then," Gene scratched his head, but followed both Ace and Jeri. Ricilla rolled her eyes, following as well. "That guy definitely has a few screws loose."