The Sabaku are on their heels. They think that there's a huge squadron of incoming fighters on their way to their location to wipe them out. They frantically look around to try and find where the blast came from, but they don't see anything for miles and miles out from the desert that surrounds these caves, certainly nothing that could fire a blast that size. Goroh's men are now nervous that another blast could come and wipe them all out.

Antonio pounces on that split-second panic, and leads his men through Goroh's troops. They rush up a hill to the right of the cave's now-sealed exit, and climb up to the high ground that their attackers are occupying to get rid of their advantage. Before long, the Sabaku realize that Guster's men have snuck up to their level and try to fire on them, but Guster's slick driving keeps them from being hit pretty well. James and the rest of the men keep trying to shoot back at the Sabaku, but Antonio's wild driving makes their targets just as hard to hit as they are to get hit by Goroh's men.

The Sabaku switch their fire towards the one truck that was damaged earlier from landing on the blockade. They fire at the truck's engines until it breaks down, leaving all the men inside under fire and unable to escape. A few of the Sabaku try and sneak up on the ship to finish off the people in the truck, but by the time they start running up toward the broken truck, Guster's turned around and runs down those Sabaku men, sending some flying, with others becoming speed bumps under his wheels, the sound of which Jack will probably be hearing in his nightmares.

Jack keeps trying to aid Antonio as they plow through their enemies, and Jack's trying really hard not to think about how dangerous this whole situation is. They turn back the other way and come to a stop in front of the downed truck in order to let those men get out of danger. The truck is pointed slightly forward with the driver's side facing the attackers, so that Guster can get some shots in on the Sabaku, while the rest of the men fire from the back.

"Gettin' a little hot up here. Junior, get on that radio, let's see if we can get a few more men over here", he says as he points to a radio on the dashboard.

"That's been an option this whole time?!, Jack asks in an incredulous manner. "I thought that thing wasn't working or something. Why haven't we used it already?"

"You ever heard of putting all your eggs in one basket? Had to make sure there wasn't a trap waiting for us that we couldn't handle. Now quit your moanin', and call up channel 17."

Luckily the radio's already turned to that channel, so it's a snap to get in contact with the backups. "Attention, other people…", Jack says, totally unfamiliar with how radio communication works outside of, once again, the movies he's seen with them. "We need some backup to uhhhhhh, somewhere outside the caves, I don't know where we are. Guster, what do I tell them?"

"EVERYONE OUT, CHARGE COMING!", James shouts from the back.

Jack is confusingly about to repeat what James said into the radio, but before that can happen, Antonio shoves him against the passenger door, forcing him out. They both dive out of the cab of the truck just in time as the truck blows up, just like the one in the cave from earlier. Thankfully everyone makes it out, including all the men in the back, but they're now stuck behind the smoldering wreckage of the ship.

The men look around, and they seem stuck in a bad spot, but then Jack's training kicks in. He peeks out from behind the edge of the destroyed truck and blind fires off towards where the shots are coming from. Not at anyone in particular, but enough to slow down the rate of fire coming their way. The rest of Guster's men see this and head back away from the bus, towards better cover while also adding to the suppressive fire.

Once the last few men are heading to safety, Jack and James start heading that way too. However, the gunfire starts back up, and a plasma shot hits one of the men, dropping him to the sand. Both racers stop in their tracks, but James instinctively grabs the man by the collar and drags him back behind the truck. Jack tries to get James to go with him, but the gunfire intensifies, and they have to get away from it. Once Jack, Antonio and the rest of the men are safely behind a thick rock, they start trying to return fire and get James and the wounded man to safety, but it's a tough task, seeing as how James will be slowed down by having to drag this man to safety.

While the rest of Guster's men fire back on Goroh's, with a couple of them desperately calling for backup again, Jack keeps looking around for ways to help that don't require firing a gun, trying to find assailants for Guster or someone else to take out for him. But then, he finds someone. A sniper, hiding behind a rock a couple hundred feet away. He's already in position, and looks like he could fire at James at any second. He doesn't know how long that person's been there or if he's ready to fire or not. He'd normally get someone else to fire for him, but there might not be a second to spare. He knows he has to do it.

It all seems to slow down for Jack. He kneels down behind the rock so that he won't get shot at, while still being able to see his target. He pulls out his pistol, remembers to turn the safety off, gets into his stance. The wind isn't blowing, and his target is stationary, both of which will make this a lot easier. His hands are a little shaky, but they stop shaking as he draws in his deep breath. The noise around him disappears.

He fires.

The shot comes out just in the nick of time, as right when the plasma shot hits Goroh's man, he fires his shot at James. However, getting struck causes his shot to hit the wreckage of the truck instead of his intended target. James quickly turns to where the shot came from, but finds the man already taken care of, and goes back to looking for a way out of there. He has no idea where the shot came from or who was the one who fired it, and honestly, he has more pressing things to worry about.

Jack can only wish he had other things to worry about. Even though the gunfight is still going on all around him, he drops his pistol and drops to his knees, unable to process what he'd just done. In the process of just trying to rescue a girl he likes, he's taken another man's life. He isn't worried about going to jail or anything, since this whole mess is sanctioned by the space cops, but he's still unable to process what he's done properly.

Luckily for everyone, they don't have to process it much more. Another huge plasma blast shoots through the sky and takes out a large contingency of Goroh's men. Right after that, a long stream of gunfire peppers Goroh's side of the battlefield, taking out a good chunk of his men. Again though, the firing is seemingly coming from nowhere, so Goroh's troops don't even know where to fire back from.

That is until the backup finally arrives. Six more trucks come from around the side of the cave, firing plasma shots and metal bullets at Goroh's men. Suddenly, they're overwhelmed, and they start falling back. The backup trucks continue to push the men back into the sandy deserts until eventually the field is cleared of all of the Sabaku No Ei, leaving just Guster, his men, McCloud, and a severely traumatized Jack.

They all let out a long sigh, happy with the knowledge that most of them got out of this whole mess alive. Then Guster and his men celebrate, cheering loudly as they recognize that they've pushed those Samurai Goroh-following scumbags off this planet, or at least did their part as the backup finished the job. Guster knows he still needs to get his hands on Goroh to get his ultimate satisfaction, but he'll take his victories over him wherever he can get them.

As they're celebrating, James goes over to Jack, who's almost in the fetal position. "Talk to me, James. Did you get hit somewhere?"

Jack shakes his head and tries to take some deep breaths, but they come across more like hyperventilating. "James, I killed a guy", he says in a panicked tone, on the verge of tears. "I know that's what I was training for, and that this is where all this would be heading. But I thought I could get through all this without having to go there…", he says as his talking speeds up to the point of rambling.

James takes Jack and gives him a big hug to offer some support. Jack hadn't moved from the spot he fired the shot from, so when he looks over Jack's shoulder, he can see the man that he shot. He recognizes him instantly from when he turned back to see where the shot that nearly hit him came from. "Jack, is that him?", he asks him softly.

Jack doesn't turn to face him, he can't look at him. He'll already be seeing him again in his nightmares. He simply nods as he buries his face into James's chest. James comes to the realization that Jack just saved his life, and he doesn't know how to feel about that. He still views Jack as a childish, artificial pop culture star. But he stepped up, and saved his life, despite the fact that he knew it would mess him up badly.

James lets out a sigh, and pats him on the back of the head. "I'm gonna owe you so many smoothies when we get back, aren't I?", James says, which gets a much needed laugh out of the poor guy.