Author's Notes: Hello! Sorry it's taken so long to get this one out! A lot has happened to me in the past month, including moving out to Florida and starting the Disney College Program. I'll try to do better in updating more often now that I think I've started to settle into a regular schedule.

The Pod to Earth travelled several hours. The trio inside remained silent as time went by. Bo was the first to fall asleep. Jessie hadn't stopped crying since leaving, but she gave into sheer exhaustion and finally fell asleep herself. Woody stayed awake as they slept, consumed by his thoughts.

McNairy could have easily destroyed the pod as it left the station, but he didn't. Woody surmised it was because they didn't have Bo's blood and they still needed it. That, or the secretary was trying to mislead them…

The big question was if they were being pursued. They had some time to spare, since the emergency lockdown at Star Command would slow down the process of bigger ships leaving the station. Still, if they really were coming after them, if they really didn't have Bo's blood, they'd be on their tails shortly.

And they had Buzz.

Bo stirred. She adjusted her head, eyes fluttering open briefly. She saw Woody thinking intently. She reached her hand to his face. His left eye was swollen, and the corner of his mouth was stained by dry blood.

"You've got to rest too, you know," she said softly.

Woody raked his hand through his sweaty hair. He looked sadly at his sister on Bo's other side. The blonde crinkled her brow.

"I've got a really bad feeling that he's gonna come after us," the cowboy said.

Bo studied her wrists that had retained scratches and scabs from the incident at Porkchop's ship. Her blood. "What do we do?" she breathed out with an air of hopelessness.

Woody finally transferred his gaze to her. "I… I don't know…"

The pod finally broke Earth's atmosphere hours later. It had been running automatically through the entirety of the voyage, but the vessel seemed to be having a hard time recognizing the coordinates the girls had put in earlier. Jessie and Bo were jerked awake as the pod skimmed the ground still moving at a high speed.

"What's going on?" Jessie asked rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Where did you guys set this thing to go?" Woody pulled down a screen showing a sort of map which changed the terrain through glitchy static.

"I picked the first place we could find," Bo said looking over his shoulder. "It's a place called crater canyon, just outside of Barkings. It's where Jessie and I first met up after-"

The pod skimmed the surface again, shaking the trio more forcefully this time.

"What's going on?" Jessie repeated more frantically.

"The pod isn't recognizing the surface! A lot of Earth is still undocumented by Star Command…" Woody replied, slamming his fist on the screen. "At this rate we're going to tumble right into the canyon!"

The pod landed completely on the ground, skidding violently through the dusty surface. The cowboy was able to pound the screen once more to see that they were quickly approaching the edge of the cliff. He unbuckled his restraint and helped the girls do the same. He pushed a button to activate the door, and threw Bo and Jessie out before jumping out himself at the last second.

They were all shaken to find that they were closer to the canyon edge than they had expected. The pod fell in, meeting the bottom with a sick crunch of metal. The three caught their breath for a moment.

"There goes our emergency supplies…" Woody said in between breaths.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have picked this place. I'm such an idiot," Bo said brushing back her bangs.

Woody shook his head. "You said there's a town nearby, right? We better start heading there. We'll come up with a plan when we get there."

Jessie gazed into the sky for a moment, and then tore her eyes away sadly.

They walked through the hot, dry desert. It brought on flashbacks to Bo's memory, some parts more vivid than others. She remembered that day she had chased down members of the Black Cactus out of Barkings to crater canyon, finding they had lured her there to bait her with Jessie. Of course she hadn't known it was Jessie at the time…

Her mind started to piece together things she had said and done in that dark time of her life.

I don't need your help, if that's what you're here for. I work alone….. If you're afraid of dying darlin', then you are going to die….. You just had to fall, didn't you? This is exactly why I don't associate with people! You're all idiots!

Despite the immense heat, Bo felt a shiver run up her back. She remembered being much colder back then, internally and externally. The lines ran through her head over and over again, making her sick to the stomach.

Woody happened to look back at her as her face continued to grow pale.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked her gently.

"It's just the heat," Bo responded quickly.

"Strange, usually being overheated creates the opposite effect," Woody said gesturing to the lack of color in her cheeks.

"You said that Earth isn't well documented by Star Command?" she replied swiftly changing the topic.

The cowboy waited a moment to respond, but eventually he shrugged and answered. "Yeah, port towns are known well, but the landscape is something rangers haven't completely charted."

"That'll come in handy."

"It will, unless they have someone who knows Earth as well as we do," Woody said, throat tightening.

"How are we going to get him back?" Jessie asked.

Woody stopped, rubbing sweat off his face with his palms. "I don't know."

"What did they do to him?" the cowgirl demanded feeling anger seep into her shaking fingertips. "What happened after the trial? Why did Star Command turn on us?"

Her brother only shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "I really don't know. Yesterday after I lost it, I just needed to blow off some steam. I stumbled into McNairy, and he wasn't alone. He's been working with Porkchop. They want to use the Black Star themselves."

Bo seemed to grow even more pale.

"They were going to kill me. They were going to kill you too Jess," Woody continued. "One of the rangers that was supposed to send me out of an airlock was a friend of Buzz's. He helped me escape, but I couldn't leave without all of you. I snuck around the station all night. It didn't take them long to figure out I was still alive."

"And now all of Star Command is against us?" Jessie asked incredulously.

"They set up that scenario where it looked like I attacked Buzz first. Attacking a Galactic Ranger is enough for McNairy to paint us like criminals."

"Why did you shoot first? You didn't know if-"

"Jessie please!" Woody interrupted putting his hands on her shoulders. "He's my friend too. Don't you think I already feel bad enough for everything I said to him after the trial?"

The cowgirl stared at her brother intently. "How are we going to get him back?" she repeated even slower.

The sheriff wished he had an answer. He liked to think one of his special talents was reassuring people, always coming up with a plan or solution. But in this moment as he saw the hurt and pain in his sister's dim green eyes, he faltered.

Upon seeing that her brother couldn't offer what she was looking for, Jessie let her eyes drop to the dusty ground. "Let's get out of this heat."