There it was. After all of those months of searching, the XGP was simply sitting there in front of Lan, alone and undefended in the early evening hours at this god-forsaken spaceport. He and the two ninjas that accompanied him made their way up the service elevator and onto the catwalk. Was this the vessel that had cost Lord Hazanko and so many of his subordinates their lives? It was bittersweet. The hatch was closed, but they had all night to break the code and alter the crew's roster and launch protocols.

"Can I help you people with something?" a towering figure in a long coat and stetson asked the three of them. Lan was so busy trying to figure out how to get into the XGP that he didn't notice Sherif Hasek and Deputy Huntsman approach them from behind. Lan saw a shiny silver badge on the tall man.

"Leave us be, law-dog, and I'll make it worth your while." Lan said.

"It's just like I told your friends, you can get the ship back when it's out of quarantine." Hasek said, ignoring the thinly veiled attempt at bribing him.

Friends? Quarantine? Lan asked himself. He must mistake us for somebody else. Does he think we're friends of the Outlaw? He turned to face the sherif.

"I said leave us be........" Lan started to say. His words were cut short by the very loud and abrupt sound of gunfire. On either side of him, the two ninjas jerked and convulsed as they were being riddled with bullets before finally crumpling to the ground. Hasek put his pistol back in its holster and Huntsman casually slung his rifle back over his shoulder.

"You were saying something....?" the deputy snickered

"Paguwasunba, paguwasunba, paguwasunba paguwasunba......" Lan started to chant. His eyes were closed and his hands moved rapidly around in small circles in front of him. A glowing purple aura had formed around him."Paguwasunba, paguwasunba, paguwa*ACK*---" Lan suddenly felt something crushing his windpipe and slam his head back into the hull of the XGP. The sherif's right arm was a telescoping prosthetic. From a distance of 10 feet, his right hand shot out and firmly wrapped around Lan's throat while still attatched to his arm.

"A pirate, huh?" Hasek said. "Well I'm not impressed. Are you, Huntsman?"

"Hell no! What should we do with him?"

Hasek pulled a knife from his sheath. His telescoping arm was slowly retracting as he walked closer to Lan. "I say we give this cocky little bastard a free traecheotomy to remember his stay in Anaconda! You're a long way from home Mr. Pirate, aren't you?"

Lan said nothing and glared defiantly at the sherriff.

"What brings you to our humble little planet? How many of your pirate buddies are here on the surface with you?" he slowly applied more pressure to Lan's throat.

Lan feebly struggled for breath, but no air was coming into his lungs. He couldn't form any words, so he just looked at the two lifeless ninjas lying on the floor of the catwalk.

"I see. You and those two. Kursk spaceport's been closed for awhile and this was the only vessel to come here from off-world all month" Hasek said, referring to the Outlaw Star. "Which means you must've come down in a drop ship. Isn't that right?"

Lan nodded.

Still clutching Lan's throat, he turned around and effortlessly threw the pirate to the floor. Lan immediately started rubbing his throat.

"A word of warning" Hasek said, towering over the pirate."Outlaw or Pirate, I don't give a shit. Neither is welcome here. Be sure to scamper off and tell your pirate pals that. Otherwise you might wind up like those guys." he pointed to Huntsman who had scooped up one of the lifeless ninjas and perched it on the railing. It looked as though it were just sitting there. Huntsman grabbed a lifeless arm and started waving it at Lan.

"Say 'bye-bye'!" the deputy said before he shoved it off the catwalk. A few seconds elapsed and a faint *thud* could be heard from below.

Hasek started to walk off, but stopped a few paces away from Lan. "One more thing. I'm sure it's tempting to cast some sort of spell behind my back, but ask yourself this: what happens if you miss? Do you really want to find out?"

***

"AAAAAAAAHHHH! HAHAHAHA! YOU DID IT! YOU REALLY DID IT!" Aisha giggled and let out a loud gleeful squeal. Jim and Gene showed them the dragonite they had fished out of the lake. Immediately she picked up Jim while giving him a big bear-hug, and spun him around yelling out "You're a genius, Jimmy! A genius!". Aisha was squeezing him so hard that he could hardly breathe and she was spinning around so fast that he was starting to get dizzy- like a carnival ride that he almost didn't want to get off of.

"Hey!" Gene yelled out indignantly "I'm the one who found the.....

"Excellent work, Jim" Suzuka interrupted as Aisha set a freshly squeezed Jim back down "It appears this journey out here was worthwhile indeed." None of them were paying attention to Gene.

"I knew you could do it!" Mel said cheerfully as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"But if it wasn't for me......" Gene started to say.

Aisha glared at Gene. The next thing he knew, one of her long talons was pointed right in front of his nose. "You're pathetic, Gene! Jim does the work around here and when it starts to pay off, you want to take all of the credit-"

"Take it easy, Aisha...." he said defensively. Tempting as it was, he wasn't going to tell her to shut up with her standing so close to him. He also saw that Suzuka and Melfina were silently nodded in agreement with her.

"Jim found the dragonite, you said so yourself, Gene. All you can take credit for is some dead fish." the demure assassin spoke up, handing him a knife "Speaking of which, they still need to be cleaned and gutted for tonight's dinner."

"Do you think there's any more where that came from?" Melfina asked Jim.

Jim was at his computer now, bringing up a topographical map of the area on the screen, trying to answer Mel's query. He zoomed in on the quadrant where the lake and cabin were located.

"Whoa....." he said quietly as the others were now closely grouped behind him and looking over his shoulders.

"What is it?" Gene queried, asking what everybody else was thinking.

"Look at the outline of the lake. Why didn't I notice this earlier?" Each of them were studying the map on the computer screen. "Except for some of the creeks that are feeding in and out along the edges of the lake-, it looks like....."

"A crater! Where a big meteor hit!" Aisha yelled out excitedly, finishing Jim's sentence for him.

"Right. Which means we've been looking in the wrong place for dragonite. If there's more, chances are that it won't be underground. It'll be underwater!"

***

"How could you let this happen? The XGP was right there, and some stupid constable sends you running back here with your tail between your legs?" Khali yelled angrily at the mortified pirate.

"But he took us by surprise...." Lan started to say

"Khali, dear. Calm yourself." the Tao mistress' brother spoke up "We knew that getting back the XGP wouldn't be easy. What about the bio-android, Lan?"

"She wasn't with the ship. I'm not sure where she is."

"Well then, we'll just have to see if we can flush her out." Khali said as her brother sheathed his sword. "If anybody- I mean anybody- gets in our way again, kill them". The piratess punctuated this last statement with a crackling loop of violet lightning that coiled it's way up her left arm.

"We'll need a bargaining chip..." Lan started.

"There's a crew of five. Find one of them and we'll exchange the XGP for the hostage." Daro suggested.

Lan looked appaled "You mean after all they put us through, you're willing to let them live? You're saying we should let them walk away?"

"Not at all." Daro grinned "Hopefully they won't realize that, either".

***

Although they didn't bring any scuba gear with them, it dawned on Jim that there were no less than 2 spacesuits on board the Outlaw Star. The one piece of equipment they really needed, but didn't bother packing up with the rest of their gear. Those could be used as scuba gear in a pinch. The only problem was that it seemed the sherriff still had the vessel in quarrantine. Suzuka, Aisha and Mel went to the mercantile to spend their grossly overvalued Anaconda currency on food and other essentials. Jim and Gene circled around the periphery of the spaceport, trying to figure out exactly how they could get in and out of the ship unnoticed. A lone deputy stood by the base of the supply elevator.