Aisha's eyes lit up after catching a glimpse of the pinball machine. She was less ecstatic after she inserted some coins and it did absolutely nothing.

"Damn thing took my money!" Aisha yelled. She slapped the top of the pinball machine. It was pretty much a gentle love-tap from the Ctarl Ctarl.

"Whoa there...." a voice spoke up. Sheriff Hasek appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Look at what you just did." he said, pointing to a small crack in the glass on top of the machine.

"That was already there." she snapped back at the lawman. Suzuka knew that Hasek was trying to provoke Aisha into a confrontation and approached the two of them. Some people should be careful what they wish for, the assassin said under her breath. Everything she hated about the frontier worlds could be represented by Hasek. He may have been a relatively handsome man at one time, but not to the point where he could use his looks to any great advantage and time wasn't getting any kinder. Sending others to do his dirty work- he was no better than some of her former employers. When all was said and done, he was just a big fish in a small pond who liked to threaten and intimidate people. Now he was about to pick a fight with somebody that wouldn't hesitate to push back.

"Melfina- go and stay with Gene. I think that things are going to get very ugly here momentarily." she said quietly to the bio-android.

"Right."

"I'm sure that Aisha would gladly pay restitution for any damage that's been done." Suzuka said, approaching the belligerent sheriff and Aisha. She decided to step in on Aisha's behalf not because she needed somebody to defend her, but she thought it would look bad if Aisha killed the local sheriff so soon after discovering Dragonite. The two of them really wanted to take this guy down a peg or two. Aisha shot her a look as if to say "Like hell I will", but quickly realized what Suzuka was doing. The assassin could take care of the lawman without neccecarily killing him. Besides, giving him a sorely needed lesson in humility wouldn't do much good if he was dead.

"Suzuka, is it? This goes beyond money- it's a matter of principle. Parts for these things are very hard to come by around here. Nearly everything has to be imported, including recreational items and groceries." he said, picking up a heavy bag of flour in front of him.

With his prosthetic arm, the sheriff threw the 10kg bag of flour at the assassin. Predictably, she sliced it in half with her bokken, but was now temporary blinded from the cloud of white powder that resulted. Before she could even react, Hasek pitched another heavy bag- this time rice- which hit Suzuka squarely in the face. The base of her skull hit a shelf immediately behind her very hard and she was out like a light.

"You'll regret that, Terran." Aisha growled.

"Oh really?" His artificial arm shot out, missing Aisha's face by a fraction of an inch and knocking a hole in the brick wall behind her. Aisha smiled and grabbed his extended arm and began pulling on it before Hasek could retract it. He could feel it starting to short circuit and come out of its socket.

"Shit!" he said softly. The petite cat-girl was much stronger than she looked.

With his free hand, he drew his pistol and shot Aisha twice as she stubbornly continued pulling on his disintegrating arm. His arm retracted as Aisha let go. The 2 of them stumbled backwards and fell, Hasek clutching his now-detached prosthetic arm.

Aisha was fine. As long as they didn't shoot for her eyes or ears, getting hit with small-arms fire like that didn't hurt much more than falling on her ass. The two of them exchanged icy glances as Aisha started to get to her feet. Then Hasek noticed Aisha's gaze was now fixed on something to his right. Before he could get back up, he looked beside him just in time to see Khali kick him in the face, knocking him unconscious. Next to her was the Tao-mistress' brother.

"That takes care of Lan's big, bad lawman" Khali said to her brother.

"Where's the bio-android?" Daro threateningly asked the Ctarl Ctarl.

"What makes you think I'll tell you....?" Aisha asked, now on her feet and challenging him.

"Have it your way." he said before drawing his sword and chanting. Even though Aisha had been up against pirates before, she had never seen the Tao and Senjutsu-masters in action for herself. Iraga and Jukai were strong, but they didn't cast any spells in her presence, and she was bewildered by the chanting. She had no time to react when a glowing blue-green ball of light flew off of the tip of his sword and hit her just below the chest. There was the crackle of static electricity and a painful screeching in the air as Aisha bore the brunt of the attack and collapsed on the floor.

***

Jim's hacking worked beautifully, as usual. The gaggle of firemen who had just arrived and the deputy assigned to guard the Outlaw Star were distracted by the false alarm Jim had managed to set off at the opposite end of the spaceport. The two of them headed towards the cargo elevator leading up to the Outlaw Star when a figure stepped out of the shadows. Before even getting a good look, they both had a bad feeling about this person. Instinct told Gene and Jim that this was somebody more sinister than the local lawman.

"You must be the outlaw Gene Starwind." Lan said.

"That's right. And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"My name isn't important. All you need to know is that I'm here for the bio-android and the XGP." the pirate said as he levitated forward a few feet. His manner of dress and the fact that he was floating off of the ground screamed out pirate guild. And where there was one pirate, there were usually others not far behind.

***

"So this is an immortal Ctarl Ctarl? I've never seen one of them up close, before." Daro said, standing over Aisha. She was on her back, eyes closed, tendrils of smoke coming from a hole in her dress just above her belly. The pirate raised his sword. "I'll have to add her to my specimen collection."

"You and your collection, big brother." Khali said "she's too big to take back to the ship."

"I know. All I need is her head and a jar of formaldehyde."

"Fine" the female pirate sighed "but we should take the other one as a hostage if Lan can't find the bioandroid." she pointed at Suzuka who was still unconscious.

Daro hoovered over Aisha with his sword. He heard that their skin was quite tough and was trying to figure out where he should start chopping and hacking. Even though it wasn't designed for it, his sword was strong and sharp enough to slice through titanium, so he figured getting the Ctarl Ctarl's head would just be a matter of time. But before he could put his sword to work, Aisha's hand shot out, pinning the blade of it to the wall. Her eyes were wide open and without saying a word, she let him know how much trouble he was in. Before he could pull away, cast a spell or do anything else, she was on her feet and ready to make him regret he ever learned Tao magic.

"Specimen collection? You really need another hobby." Aisha said.

Daro barely had time to inhale before Aisha's fist connected squarely with his jaw, breaking it in 3 different places. A sweeping kick to his stomach sent him flailing backwards into his sister, who was standing over Suzuka. His sword clattered to the ground as the two of them landed in a heap.

Khali almost immediately got back up.

"You're still alive...? I gotta say, dear, I love that dress of yours." she said mockingly to Aisha as she got back on her feet.

"You like it? I made it myself- It's genuine patent pirate-skin." Aisha replied. Before they could continue their banter, Aisha ran to close the distance between her and Khali. The piratess was softly chanting "Paguwasunba Paguwasunba......" as Aisha did this. Before the Ctarl Ctarl could reach her, Khali disappeared in a flash of white light and envelope of mist. Aisha's fist connected only with thin air as the piratess reappeared a few feet behind her.

"You don't honestly think those cheap parlor tricks are gonna save you, do you?" Aisha asked.

"I'll be fine" Khali said arrogantly. "I'd be more concerned about your own safety if I were you."

Aisha turned around and lunged at the piratess once again, and she disappeared in another flash. As she turned around, Khali was standing right in front of Aisha with her palm held out level in front of her face. There was a crystalline emerald-green powder in her palm. Khali blew it right into Aisha's eyes. The Ctarl Ctarl immediately covered up her eyes, but it was too late. Even though it was only temporary, the powder burned and blinded her eyes. Khali gave Aisha a sweeping kick to her ribs, and Aisha staggered backwards but remained on her feet and preoccupied with her eyes. Khali was free to do just about anything she wanted to with Aisha.

***

"You pirates." Gene mused as he leveled the Caster at Lan. "Always so willing to die for the Outlaw Star."

"I have no intention of dying today" the pirate chuckled. "In fact, I'm not going anywhere without the XGP."

"They all say that."

Lan began chanting. A glowing purple aura briefly silhouetted him, and then two spheres of mist appeared a few feet in front of the pirate and started radiating a dark, violet color. They were slowly expanding and taking the shape of hands. Gene had seen enough. He pulled the Caster's trigger and a #17 round flew out of the barrel and streaked towards Lan. The pirate clapped his hands together, and the glowing, disembodied hands in front of him flew together, smothering the #17 round as it exploded just shy of it's target. The projectile and hands disappeared.

"My my. Old magic seems to be showing up in the most interesting places these days."

"Neat trick..." Gene said

"Glad you liked it. I learned from the best." Lan smirked.

"Really? And who might that be?"

"None other than Lord Hazanko of the 108 Suns"

"Well tell me something, Mr. Pirate" Gene said defiantly. "If he's so good, how come he's dead?"

Lan had the angry look of a loyal parishioner who just found out his church was desecrated and began chanting again. A gut feeling was telling Gene to gather up the others and get the hell off of this planet while they still had the chance. The breech of his caster flew open and he slid in another shell.

***

It was the bitter-smelling pool of vinegar that brought him back, almost like smelling salts. A bottle of it fell off the shelf and shattered next to the unconscious sheriff. Before he opened his eyes, Hasek was aware of a loud commotion. He realized that he was still on his side in the general store. He went to put his right arm to his head, but nothing happened. His arm was slightly twitching on it's own 2 feet away from him on the floor. Of course, the Ctarl Ctarl that was traveling with the outlaws ripped it out, he realized. But she wasn't the one who knocked him out. He groggily got to his feet to see where the noise was coming from. It sounded like the Ctarl Ctarl outlaw was still there and fighting with somebody else, but who? With his one hand, he wiped some blood that was trickling down from his forehead and into his eye. As his eyes were finally coming into focus, he saw that the Ctarl Ctarl and Tao mistress were fighting each other. He didn't know who the piratess was, but he could only guess she was an associate of the one they found at the spaceport the other night.

The piratess actually had the upper hand. She was behind Aisha, firmly gripping her braid, trying to choke her with the green scarf and kicking and kneeing her very soundly in the back. Aisha was doing her best to break free, but she couldn't even turn around and attack Khali. It was tempting for Hasek to let the two of them kill each other, but he figured he should do something before the situation got entirely out of control- if that was possible. He drew his pistol and leveled it at Aisha and Khali.

Who to shoot first? Hasek asked himself. The bitch who ripped out my arm or the bitch who kicked me in the face while I was down? Eeny meeny miney moe. He remembered that shooting the Ctarl Ctarl didn't have the desired effect. His aching jaw told him to line up Khali in his sights.

The Tao-mistress noticed the sheriff. "I hope you don't think that's going to work on me." she calmly warned. Hasek paid her no mind and pulled the trigger. The bullet from his gun slowed down as it approached Khali's face, then turned into a glowing white-hot ball and dissolved completely. She smiled triumphantly.

Oddly, Hasek wasn't the least bit discouraged by this. He saw that Khali was standing next to a pipe that ran down from the ceiling along the wall. The piratess wasn't sure what he was up to, just that he was no longer aiming directly for her. Hasek pulled the trigger three times. One bullet ricocheted off of the wall behind her, but the other two hit the pipe and sent a hot, scalding spray of steam right into Khali's face. She screamed and loosened her grip on Aisha's braid as the steam burned her face.

Aisha's sight wasn't fully restored, but she could make out the vague outline of her assailant and recognized her scent. She felt the spray of steam coming from the pipe- it didn't hurt her as badly as it did Khali. Before the Tao-mistress could dodge her or cast a spell, Aisha roughly grabbed Khali's hair

"Let's see how you like it!" Aisha hissed as she held Khali's face in front of the scalding jet of steam for a few seconds. The piratess wailed in agony before blindly thrusting her palm forward and yelling "Haggan Raggo!". A stream of violet light shot from her palm, and the wall and pipes exploded, knocking both her and Aisha to the ground.

***

There she was. Lan saw her from a distance. The bio-android Melfina was running towards the spaceport entrance, but had stopped after seeing Gene and Jim facing off against him. Gene sensed something was amiss when he saw Lan's facial expression change. Before he could see what the pirate was looking at, Lan cast another spell. It was a quick rudimentary spell, but it would suit him just fine in this situation. A small, dim white ball of light soared from his hand, and before Jim and Gene could shield their eyes, it exploded in a brilliant white flash, temporary blinding the two of them. Gene felt somebody run up to him, knock the Caster out of his hand, kick him in the stomach and the roughly shove him onto Jim. However, instead of finishing the 2 of them off, Lan started running towards Melfina, who was still shielding her eyes from the explosion of light.

"What's your hurry, Melfina?" Lan asked as Melfina backed away from the spaceport entrance. The bio-android turned around and looked at the pirate standing next to her. "Leiline Project Command: It was you who broke my mason plate."

"No..don't-" she started to say before her personality functions were cut off by the command. Her eyes closed and she fell to the ground.

***

Hasek picked up his severed arm and turned around. Daro was standing behind him and immediately knocked the gun out of his hand and then dropped him with one punch. The sheriff tried kicking upwards from the ground towards the pirate's groin, but Daro grabbed his ankle and flung him like a rag-doll down the store's aisle. Hasek landed painfully on his back after crashing into a shelf.

"Hey now, you wouldn't hit an unarmed cripple, would you?" Hasek asked Daro as he waved the stump of his right arm. Of course he would, I just need to buy a few seconds...he told himself. Daro picked up his sword that Aisha had bent slightly and Hasek swiftly drew a large caliber derringer from his ankle-holster and pulled both triggers. Both rounds were deflected by the pirate's sword, although one grazed Daro's shoulder. Hasek cursed himself, since he was aiming for the pirate's forehead. He thought as long as he had one good hand to pull the trigger, he could stay in any fight. But now his sidearm was on the other side of the store, and he realized that he was in no shape to fight. He hated the idea of running away, after all he was the sheriff. However, between the Outlaws and the pirates, he realized he was hopelessly outmatched. Daro's eyes rolled in their sockets and the gunshot wound on his shoulder started to smolder and close. That was a silent spell that required no incantation or chant. His jaw was still broken, and there was nothing that could be done about that for now.

Hasek realized he did have one last trump card to play as he looked at the severed arm he was clutching. A small compartment opened up on the prosthetic and he pulled out two small grenades- little more than noisemakers. He pulled the pins and tossed each of them at Daro. They exploded at his feet and the hulking pirate took a few steps back. Neither Hasek of Daro was prepared for what happened next. Before the pirate could move in and finish off the sheriff, a tall, fully stocked shelf along the wall began to topple and then fell on top of a surprised Daro, pinning him underneath.

Suzuka was now wide awake and standing at the other end of the fallen shelf. She had regained consciousness and used her bokken to knock the shelf down onto the unsuspecting pirate.

"Not bad..." Hasek said with a reluctant admiration as he got to his feet.

"When it comes to pirates, I don't hold back." She eyed the sheriff. "I also have a good memory regarding cheap shots opponents use against me."

"Yeah....well, about that......." Hasek nervously chuckled as he made his way past her and over to his service pistol. Suzuka made no attempt to stop him. Hasek wouldn't be the first one to try and go up against her with a gun, and he now had the considerable handicap of only one arm.

He leveled the pistol at Suzuka and then aimed low. Defensively she raised her bokken.

"Never point your weapon at something you don't intend to kill, sheriff. You're not planning on killing me are you?" she asked with the utmost confidence.

"Thanks for the firearm safety lesson. You might want to stand aside." he said to her.

The kimono-clad assassin obliged, looking back at the fallen shelf. She noticed a steady glowing red dot on the side of the fallen shelf and realized it was the laser sight from Hasek's pistol. He pulled the hammer back on his pistol and fired 5 rounds into the fallen shelf before the clip was empty. The sheriff ejected the empty clip and tucked the gun into his waistband before pulling out a fresh clip and reloading- a lengthy process now that he only had one good arm. He walked past Suzuka and jumped on top of the shelf, pulling back the hammer and firing 7 more rounds into it. The gunshots were as loud as a cannon inside the confines of the old store, each one punctuated by the faint *clink* of the brass casings falling to the floor.

Suzuka was about to ask Hasek if he thought he was overdoing things when the shelf started to tremble slightly. The blade of Daro's sharpened sword shot straight up from underneath the shelf, barely missing the Sheriff's left leg. He stumbled backwards and off of the shelf, thinking about how close he came to needing another artificial limb.

The shelf exploded into small splinters of wood. The two of them stared in disbelief as Daro slowly brought himself to his feet. Thanks to another non-verbal Tao incantation, Hasek's bullets had grazed him, but hadn't killed him. Suzuka and the sheriff were ready to square off against him. Suzuka was still a little bit woozy from the blow to her head while Hasek still had only one arm and was down to his last 3 bullets. It didn't look good.

The two of them exchanged hateful gazes with the pirate, but before any of them could make a move, a voice spoke up. It was Lan over the pirate's radio-earring, yelling loud enough for all three of them to hear.

"Daro! Khali! Stop whatever you're doing and head back to the drop ship! I've got what we came for!". Daro gave them a look that seem to say "This is your lucky day" before cautiously heading out the front door of the mercantile.

***

She couldn't keep this up forever she realized as tried casting another Tao spell. Khali was wearing herself out dodging Aisha, recognizing that she was no match for her brute strength and her advantage in speed was diminishing. The Ctarl Ctarl had the piratess cornered in the alley immediately outside the Mercantile when she heard Lan's orders over the radio. Khali blinked and opened her eyes just in time to see Aisha's fist. She ducked her head just in time, and the Ctarl Ctarl's fist buried itself in the alley's brick wall behind her, a fraction of an inch away from Khali's left temple. The Tao-mistress was in agony and her face felt like it was on fire. Aisha was more than willing to put her out of her misery, if only Khali would just hold still. Instead, Khali started running past her. Aisha lunged after her, falling to the ground and grabbing her ankle. The piratess hit the ground hard and immediately fished out the pouch of emerald powder that she earlier used to blind Aisha. Recognizing that tactic, Aisha held her forearm in front of her eyes as Khali blew the powder.

"This isn't over, you bitch!" the piratess screeched angrily. "PAGU-WA-SUN-BA....!" there was a spray of white steam and then nothing.

Aisha lowered her arm and looked around. Khali had vanished before she could finish the wounded Tao-mistress off.

***

Jim heard the loud crack of rifle fire as he slowly got to his feet. He saw a deputy standing a few feet away, aiming a rifle at something. It was the pirate they had just saw, running off. He was carrying something over his shoulder. To his horror, Jim realized that it was Melfina. As the deputy lined the pirate up in his sights, he felt something tug at the barrel of the rifle. He looked down and saw Jim was grabbing onto the barrel with both hands, almost as if he were trying to do a pull-up on it.

"Stop it!" Jim angrily yelled. "You'll hit Melfina!"

"Don't interfere, kid!" Huntsman yelled back at him, trying to shake his grip on the barrel "and don't underestimate me..."

Gene slowly got up to his feet. "What happened?" he groggily asked.

"Aniki! They've got Melfina!" Jim relaxed his grip on the barrel.

"WHAT?!" Gene's eyes were now wide open. He stooped over and picked up his Caster Gun "Come on Jim- we've got...." his words were cut off as he was looking down the barrel of a rifle.

"Nobody's going anywhere- now put the gun down!" Huntsman retorted angrily. Gene looked up and saw that he was surrounded by Huntsman and the 5 deputized O'Riley brothers, all armed and looking for some sort of payback.