Hunk dashed through the Jaqoian market crowds with Shay and Alex. Alex had spotted a galra officer snapping a photo of them, so basically everyone in the new galra empire new where they were. There was no doubt it would be used in a 'Last seen at' document for galra generals everywhere.
So they were headed to the forum, where there was enough space to, say, call a yellow lion from. When they got to the forum, Hunk hid behind a statue to focus on the red lion. He mentally searched through the universe, and found it in a containment unit on a taujeerian asteroid. He called the lion.
Alex was stressed more than usual, and considering the usual was being public enemy number five, travelling with public enemies one and ten, this kind of stress was definitely not good for his mind.
His dad was still calling the lion, which, Alex guessed, was probably fifty million light years away on a galra occupied ice planet in the middle of nowhere.
The soldiers were getting closer, pushing crowds out of the way and eyeing anyone whose face was hidden. Alex crossed his fingers and hoped for the best.
The yellow lion burst through the atmosphere in a fireball, roaring at the sight of its master. Hunk, Shay and Alex fell into the cockpit, and Hunk sped out of the orbit of Jaqo. Then he noticed something.
An old olkari pod was floating through space just at the edge of the solar system. It looked very out of place in the purple haze of the mass of galra occupied planets.
Suddenly, Hunk's transponder rang. To everyone's great surprise, Acxa was apparently in the pod, looking for them.
Hunk flew the red lion in their direction, leaving Shay and Alex boarded the ship. Alex went down to the hold and opened the door to the olkari pod. Mira climbed out. She looked taller than when Alex last saw her, and had a scar on her left cheek. She was wearing dirty rags (clearly scavenged) and a satchel with a pistol in it. She ran over to Alex and kissed him, so a pile of tangled black hair covered his face.
Mira started crying, "Alex, you're alive!" She didn't let go of him for at least thirty ticks, at which point Alex was struggling to breathe. He didn't mind.
To Alex's great surprise, another girl came out of the pod. She wore a bounty hunters garb, most likely stolen. Her eyes were a bright yellow, and she looked at Alex with the biggest grin she'd put on in years. It was his sister, Joanna.
The moment Joanna saw Alex, she ran over to him. "All those years, I never gave up on you..." She hugged him tightly. "Have you see our other passengers?" She pointed to the door of the pod. Two people were standing at the bottom of the stepladder, Acxa and Keith. They looked about as dirty and hardy as Alex was, but Keith's knife looked shinier, for some reason. He probably didn't use it were much nowadays.
Keith smiled, "Long time, no see." He said. Then he asked, "Is Hunk up there? I haven't seen him in years." He turned to Acxa, "Maybe we could find some bandages?"
Acxa nodded. "As you can imagine, we had a couple of bruises from imprisonment, most are from the cattle prods. You'd think the galra would be able to afford actual weapons..." She shrugged, "So, who's with you?" She asked Alex.
Alex cocked his head in the direction of the stairs. "Come see."
When Hunk saw Jo come into the cockpit everything was right. His daughter was in his arms for the last time in twenty years.
Karr was throwing knives at the bounty hunters.
She had just been told that there was a mass prison breakout, and four of the most important prisoners had escaped.
As you could imagine she was not in the best mood.
"I TOLD YOU TO GET ME JOANNA GARRET FROM THE CITY OF SHEIN AND YOU BRING ME NOTHING!" She yelled at them, "AND NOW YOU TELL ME THREE OF THE PALADINS ARE NOW AT LARGE?!" One of the hunters had to dodge five throwing knifes that came out of Karr's hands as fast as bullets. "YOU WILL BE EXECUTED!" She spat, "PAINFULLY!"