Chapter 5: Taris Part 5

Before leaving the area that the Wookiee had been imprisoned in, they searched for his bowcaster as he told them it had been taken away from them. The group was headed down a tunnel when a massive roar filled the hallway. They all froze, thrown by the savage sound. "What the hell…?" Dawn asked.

Mission swallowed. "Oh, boy. I was hoping it was just a story…"

"What?" Sarryn whirled, his eyes peered. "What is just a story?"

Mission rubbed her face. "Um, well, it seems that as an extra security precaution, the Vulkars got something to guard the back entrance."

"What?"

"A rancor."

"What is a rancor?" asked Dawn.

"A rancor is large carnivorous repto-mammal native to the planet of Dathomir. It's approximately two stories tall," Sarryn explained. "Together we might make a meal. One of us to a rancor would be nothing more than a snack." He looked at Mission as a deep scowl settled on his face. "So, how did a rancor get in the sewers? How's that even possible?"

"I have no idea," Mission answered. "It used to be able to navigate the pipes, but the idiot has grown so much that it is trapped in one of the bigger halls."

"That won't make it any less deadly," Sarryn added grimly. "They are massive, muscled jaws on feet, with thickly armored skin. We must avoid it at all costs."

Mission shifted uncomfortably on her feet and eyed Zaalbar for help. "That would be a problem," Zaalbar said. "The maintenance entrance to the Vulkar base is located in the hall where it lives. We have to get past it if we want to enter the base from down here."

"Oh, that's just dandy," Sarryn sneered, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. "Don't go through the main entrance, you'll be killed right away," he mimicked in Gadon's voice, then continued in his own snarl, "The alternative is having your head bitten off in a dreary sewer. What else didn't Thek tell us?"

"Hey, don't talk crap about Gadon!" Mission said hotly. "Be glad he's giving you this chance, because without it you'd have zero chance of rescuing your friend. The front door is indeed suicide."

"And getting past a rancor isn't?" Sarryn countered.

"It's just a wild beast, not a dark Jedi or something." Mission pointed out.

Dawn had a sudden feeling of wanting to protect the Twi'lek girl. She wondered if this was how Buffy felt with her. "You're right, Mission," she said. She looked at Sarryn. "How can we defeat it?"

"I don't know," Sarryn answered.

"Sarryn, could we sneak past it?" Dawn wondered.

"We could," said Sarryn. "But there's one problem. One or two of us sure, that might be possible. Four of us, someone is bound to make noise. An inadvertent sneeze, accidentally stepping on something and tripping. Any kind of noise at all, and it would turn on us in a heartbeat."

"Sounds like we're going to have to check out the situation to make a sound plan," said Dawn.

"Agreed," said Sarryn.

After the group had recovered Zaalbar's bowcaster, they set off into the massive network of sewers. Their pace was incredibly high, thanks to Mission's knowledge of the area. She knew the location of the larger pockets of enemies and smartly avoided them. This way they only had to deal with strays, which gave them easy pickings. Especially Zaalbar was a huge asset here, as his massive bowcaster packed an even more massive punch.

After about half an hour they found their way blocked by a blue shimmering force field. "Why the hell is there a thing like this down here?" Sarryn asked as he approached the nearby console that he hoped would control the field.

"Don't know," Mission answered. She leaned against the wall and studied Dawn. She wondered why she felt that with Dawn she had found what she had been missing since Griff had disappeared. Sarryn grabbed her attention when he let out a frustrated growl. "You're not going to get through like this, Sarryn. It runs on an ancient OS that you won't find anywhere else in the galaxy."

"And I take it you know how to hack it?" Sarryn asked.

"Nope," Mission answered with a knowing smile.

"Mission?" said Dawn. "Why are we here if we can't get through?"

"Because I've got the access codes," Mission grinned smartly. She entered the access code. The force field shimmered for a moment and vanished. "There ya go."

Dawn patted the girl's shoulder as a sign of thank you. "So, who taught you your skills?" she wondered. "Reprogramming that droid, sneaking around these sewers, stealing those codes… You're pretty handy. Kind of reminds me of well me."

"It was my brother Griff," Mission answered proudly. "Back in the day it was just me and him together. Everyone considered us trash, so we had to take care of our own." She chuckled fondly. "Well, it was him taking care of me, most of the time. Came up with some pretty ingenious ways of making money. He taught me everything he knew."

"Why isn't he with you right now?" Dawn inquired curiously.

Mission got defensive. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Dawn instantly regretted asking. "Sorry," she said.

"Anyways, Zaerdra was the one who taught me how to fight. After my brother… left… she took me in. She's awesome, but don't you dare piss her off." Mission hung her head in shame.

Zaalbar saw the sadness of his friend and placed his massive claw on her shoulder. "Stop blaming yourself for that all the time," he growled. "It's her fault for shunning you and not giving you a second chance. She misses out on the kindest Twi'lek of whole Taris."

That put a small smile back on Mission's face. "Thanks, Big Z."

"Zaalbar is right," agreed Dawn.

"You seem like an impossible couple," Sarryn said as he looked at Mission and Zaalbar. "How did this come to be?"

"I rescued her from a group of gangsters," the Wookie growled immediately.

"No way, it was the other way around," Mission exclaimed. "You were getting your ass whipped by those Prowlin' Panthers remember?"

"You are mistaken, Mission. I can remember it clear as day, I was the hero that day." There seemed to be a bit of amusement in his voice.

The Twi'lek sighed. "Big Z thinks it's the task of the man to protect the woman, while most of the time it's me keeping him out of trouble."

The group was headed toward a large blast door and had almost reached it when they heard another massive roar. Dawn bit her lip as she moved to the door. Her foot hit something and she looked down to see a severed arm clutching a datapad and a small vial. "Oh, great. It's a messy eater." She reached down to take the pad and skim through it. "Interesting…" she muttered.

Sarryn moved to the door and hit the lock to open it. The four of them carefully peered in to see a large open chamber. In one corner was a larder filled with the remains of various creatures from rakghouls to Gammoreans to humans. Most of the bones had been picked clean of all flesh. At the other end of the chamber, shuffling near a doorway was the rancor. It was a huge beast, hunched over with skin as hard as steel. Its hands were bigger than two Wookiees and the claws on it were sharp enough to slice through a starfighter. It was turned away but they were all aware of its giant maw with razor-sharp teeth.

"Oh, damn," Dawn whispered.

Sarryn turned around and eyed each of his three teammates with a grim look. "That's one ugly…" he said dryly.

Dawn swallowed. "Any ideas?"

"If killing it is our goal, we're going to need a big enough explosion." It was Zaalbar who had taken the word. "It's skin is thickly armored, but it's the thinnest on its belly. That's where you need to aim."

"Maybe I can sneak up from behind and lay a minefield underneath?" Mission suggested, eager to put her two cents in as well. "Toss in a grenade and watch it burn!"

"I'm not letting you do that," said Dawn protectively.

"So, luring it away… How are we going to do that?" Sarryn asked.

"Didn't you say it has the smell of a bloodhound?" Mission asked. "Why don't we find a big, juicy corpse and drop it in the opposite corner? It'll keep him distracted long enough for us to reach the other side."

Dawn gave Mission a thoughtful nod. "That might just work. We killed a few Gamorreans not too far back. We can cut a few chunks of meat and feed it." She looked at Mission with a genuine smile. "Excellent idea, Mission," she complimented. Mission could feel her cheeks burn from the compliment. "Let's go get some beef."

After Sarryn gave the word they quickly backtracked to the dead aliens. Zaalbar was the one with the strongest stomach, so they elected him to slice a few bleeding pieces of meat from the corpses. There was a bit of discussion who would be the one to deliver the meat to the other side of the large hall. Mission wanted to do it, not just to prove her skills to Dawn, but also because she was the fastest of the group.

Dawn would have nothing of it, though. "Definitely not," she said with folded arms. "I'm not going to let you risk your life."

"But, Dawn!" Mission nearly whined.

Dawn raised a finger to shut her up. "Sarryn is going in there with the meat, end of story. As your senior your safety is my responsibility."

"Fine," the girl huffed.

They returned to the rancor's hall. The hall itself was massive and rectangular with a tapered section at the end, like a giant funnel. They were standing in a corner on the far end, the rancor was standing in the smallest section of the funnel. It hadn't noticed them yet, instead it was standing around doing nothing, staring at the door they had to go through.

Sarryn went over the plan. "I'm going to slip on my stealth field and deliver this meat to that corner. I'll run straight back here once it's dropped. Once the beast starts devouring it, we all make a run for the door. Hug the wall and pray to whatever entity that cares to keep us safe. Do not under any circumstances deviate from the plan or do anything stupid. Any questions?"

"Be careful," Dawn said.

Sarryn gave Dawn a reassuring smile. "Promise." He had hardly left the safety of the corridor before the massive beast began to stir. Attracted by the smell of fresh blood it heaved its massive head in the air, no doubt to locate the source of the delicious odor. Way too fast for a predator of its size it turned around, growling deeply as it was searching for his meal. It took a leap that sent vibrations through the floor and started running.

"Dawn," said Mission, she realized the rancor was too close to Sarryn. "He's not going to make it back in time."

"I know," said Dawn. "But if we went in there, we could wind up a snack. We have to hope Sarryn succeeds."

"To the exit!" Sarryn bellowed. He didn't understand why they were wasting their time there.

From the corner of his eye he saw the rancor. His heart skipped a few beats when he noticed it wasn't going for the meat, but for the lively prey instead. A quick look down told him the stealth field had worn off and that his clothes were drenched in blood. That explained why the rancor was so interested in him. He silently cursed his own stupidity.

It was then that Dawn did something no one had ever expected. She disappeared in a flash of green leaving behind her clothes, weapons and equipment. She reappeared next to Sarryn quite naked.

Sarryn didn't have enough time to ponder how Dawn moved from one place to another in a flash of green as the rancor was already on them. Thanks to his swift reflexes he rolled to the side with Dawn to avoid the first bite of its giant maw.

"Where are my clothes?" Dawn said realizing she was naked.

"We don't have time to worry about that," said Sarryn.

A barrage of blasterfire hitting its head added to its confusion, Mission was firing her blasters, in an attempt to distract it. In the meantime, Zaalbar was running towards the center of the room.

"What is Big Z doing?" Dawn asked.

"What do you think?" answered Sarryn. "He swore a life debt to you, remember? If it means your living, he would gladly sacrifice his life for yours. Besides look what he is drenched in."

Dawn looked and she saw that Zaalbar's long fur was drenched in the Gamorrean's blood from when he had been cutting the corpses.

The rancor now had three strong traces to follow, of which two were moving. Sarryn grabbed Dawn and swung her over his shoulder in a fireman carry. He ran with her back toward Mission. He wildly motioned the Twi'lek to make a run for the exit and had to make a quick duck to avoid a grenade that the girl had thrown at the monster. Mission then grabbed Dawn's clothes, equipment and weapons before heading for the other side of the room.

The beast surprised the group by making a leap at Zaalbar, skipping out of the grenade's explosive range in a single step. The Wookiee looked back with an expression of pure horror and Mission let out a terrified scream. The rancor was at biting distance and going in for the kill, until the harmless but loud explosion of the grenade distracted him. It goofily turned its massive head to see what had made the noise.

This gave Mission and Sarryn, still carrying Dawn, the opportunity to gain a few yards across the massive hall. Dawn screamed at the Wookiee, urging him to make a run for it as well. As soon as he started running Sarryn realized he and Dawn were never going to make it. The rancor was hot on their tail again and determined to get his prey this time.

Zaalbar came to the same conclusion and howled at the others, "You go on without me, I'll distract him."

"No!" shouted Dawn. "Sarryn, we have to do something! We can't just let him die!"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Mission felt the ground fading beneath her. Her best friend, her only friend, her Big Z… he was planning on sacrificing himself to protect them all… but mostly to protect herself and Dawn. She saw the scene playing out in slow-motion. Zaalbar dropping his bowcaster and pointing his vibrosword at the massive creature, a hopeless last stance. The rancor, coiling up like a snake, ready to make the final assault. Sarryn set Dawn down and then was running toward the rancor, saber in hand, but hopelessly far away, too far to make a difference. Bile entered her mouth as the horrible truth dawned on her. Her best friend was going to die. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Just as tears started streaming and her heart felt like it was being torn apart. Something just as impossible as when Dawn managed to teleport instantaneously happened. Sarryn took a leap so massive that Mission doubted it was even humanly possible. In one hand he had his vibrosaber, in the other a dagger. In a single, fluid motion he rammed the dagger in the rancor's flank, using it to propel himself onto the creature's neck.

Graciously he crouched in a stable position from which he could raise the saber behind his head. With two hands he drove the sharp blade through its spine, tearing through the marrow and nerves running through it. In sheer agony the beast threw back its head and let out a horrible cry, exposing its vulnerable throat to Zaalbar, who took his chance. With a single stroke he gashed open the windpipe and artery.

With its head effectively separated from the body, there was nothing keeping the mighty beast up anymore. It fell to the floor, its head crashing down with a sickening crunch. Zaalbar stepped out of its path, while Sarryn jumped off its back just before it hit the ground, breaking his fall with a gracious roll. The rancor let out one last whimper, before life finally left its massive body.

Deafening silence filled the hall, as everyone tried to comprehend what had happened from start to finish.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After Dawn had gotten dressed, Mission led them to the large doorway at the rear of the chamber. "Be sharp. This place is probably going to be teeming with Vulkars."

"Maybe you should stay out here then," Dawn said with concern.

Mission glowered. "Hey! No way are you sticking me on the sidelines here! I got you this far, I'm going all the way!"

Sarryn smiled. "An extra pair of blasters can help," he pointed out to Dawn.

Dawn sighed as she looked at Mission. "Okay," she said. "Just stay close to me, okay?"

"Okay," Mission agreed.

Dawn marched to the doors and the hallway leading to an elevator. A quick ride up and the group were inside the Vulkar base.

As she suspected, Dawn could tell the place was, in essence, an intergalactic chop shop. Against her wishes they split up to find the accelerator that much fast. Sarryn took Mission while Zaalbar remained with Dawn. Dawn and the Wookiee made their way down hallways and past a few doors, trying to keep quiet. They came to one door and Buffy opened it. Inside was a green skinned Twi'lek and a human woman in clothes barely better than the Outcasts. Both reacted in shock to the intruders, the Twi'lek moving to an alarm. Dawn threw out her arm to stop him in place. "Quiet," she hissed.

"Please," the woman whimpered. "I'm not a Vulkar! I…my father owed a debt and couldn't pay so they…they killed him and used me as a servant."

Zaalbar snarled as he moved to the Twi'lek. "I despise slavers!"

"So, do I, Zaalbar, so do I," Dawn agreed.

The man shook his head, his tentacles bouncing. "No! No! I'm not one of them! I'm a true Vulkar!"

"What does that mean?" Dawn demanded.

"I…I was a member back when being a Vulkar meant something," the man continued. "Three years ago, Brejik defected to us and we thought we had gained a significant advantage against our rivals. Within a year, he assassinated our leader, Karo, and consolidated power. His cronies and sycophants moved up and now I am here, a lowly guard."

"I take it you're not a fan of Brejik?" Dawn asked.

The Twi'lek sniffed. "A gang war? Consolidating power? Attacking civilians? We were never meant to be a gang of thugs doing Davik's dirty work. If you're here to cause trouble for Brejik…well, go on and do it."

"You know where we can find the stolen swoop accelerator?" Dawn demanded.

"That? Yes, Kandon has that with him. His office is on the upper garage level but he'll have some guards around him."

"We'll get around that," Dawn said. "Now, how about the prisoner you seized from the Republic escape pods?"

"Her?" the Twi'lek seemed surprised Dawn was interested. "Yes, we had her but she's not here. Brejik doesn't trust the men with such an important prize and he's got her at a secret location. Only he knows where that is. He won't show her off until the time of the big race."

Dawn made a decision. "The rancor's been dealt with by the side entrance. You two can get out through there to the Undercity."

"You…you're letting us go free?" the woman said, hope in her voice.

"See Gandon when you get to the Lower City," Buffy continued. "I think he'll be able to help you out."

"Thank you…thank you, human," the Twi'lek said as he rummaged through his coat. "Here. Consider this payment for your good nature." He handed Dawn a small datacard. "The passcodes to get past the security doors and turn off the turrets by the main garage."

"Thanks," Dawn said. "Good luck."

The woman paused only to give her a quick hug and then one for Zaalbar. Then she and the Twi'lek raced out toward the elevator.

"I am surprised," Zaalbar stated. "I have not seen many humans with such a streak of kindness within them. Most would have asked for money or simply killed them to keep an alarm down."

"You can't judge us all by a few bad apples," Dawn said as she pulled out the commlink that Sarryn had given her. "Sarryn."

"Go ahead, Dawn," came Sarryn's voice from the commlink.

"We had a stroke of good luck," Dawn told him. "We have a datacard with the passcodes and found out the accelerator is on the upper level of the garage. Now we just need to find the elevator."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sarryn and Mission watched as two guards strolled by, who thankfully hadn't heard Dawn's announcement.

"Understood," Sarryn replied looking around the corner into the main hall looking straight at a console a small distance away. The console was supposed to control the entire compound, or so the Hidden Beks had told them. "We believe we found the security console. It should identify where the elevator is at."

"Okay, be careful," came Dawn's voice from the commlink.

Sarryn snapped the commlink back to his belt as he looked at Mission. "I will take care of the guards and you will hack in and find the elevator."

"Okay. But if anyone spots us killing gangsters, the entire building will be alarmed," Mission pointed out.

"Exactly," Sarryn said. "Which is why I intend to take them out first." He handed Mission one of his spare daggers. "Know how to kill silently with one of these?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Sarryn, please. That's second nature to me."

"Good," he said. "Then here's what we'll do. We'll do a quick sweep of the main hall to rid of everything that moves. I only saw three or four guys in there, so it should be easy. When they're dead, you hack into the terminal, while I drag the corpses out of sight and keep an eye out for possible hostiles. Got it?"

Mission nodded once and theyimmediately set off into the main hall, taking care the grunts with efficiency. The Vulkars were too occupied with themselves to notice the danger coming from behind.

After the last body dropped to the floor Mission immediately started working her magic on the terminal, while Sarryn began moving the corpses out of sight. They were heavier than he had anticipated, so he settled for dragging them in a dark corner behind a stack of boxes. Sarryn also made sure to grab as much valuables from their corpses as possible; they could come in handy in the future.

"I've uploaded the blueprints of the entire building to yours and Dawn's datapads, Sarryn," Mission said smugly. "And here comes the best part…" With a few more flicks on the console a door behind them opened, leading them to a small room in the center of the main hall. "Full access to the armory," she announced proudly. "Knock yourself out with those goodies."

"Great job, Mission," Sarryn complimented with a happy grin. He pulled out the commlink. "Dawn you should have the blueprints for the entire building. Meet us here. Mission just gave us access to the Vulkars armory."

"We're on our way," came Dawn's reply. When she and Zaalbar arrived, Dawn rewarded Mission with a pat on the shoulder, before following Sarryn into the small vault.

"We could use all of this," said Sarryn. "I think you should take the vibration cell, Dawn, it would improve your vibrosword. I think Mission should take the finely weaved mesh to wear under her clothes for added protection. The rest we'll split up later."

They then hurried to the elevators. A quick ride up and they found themselves in a huge garage, swoop bikes spread out all around, some hanging from the large ceiling. They were immediately noticed by a large number of gangsters who wasted no time in going for their blasters. "Duck!" Sarryn bellowed, as he dropped for cover himself. A massive blaster fight ensued. The gangsters had the upper hand in numbers, but they were just grunts with barely any weapons training. The gangsters went down rather quickly, even those that had been streaming in from the various corridors.

Sarryn disarmed one of the last guys and grabbed him from behind, placing his dagger against his throat in the process. "You have three seconds to tell us where the prototype accelerator is," he whispered darkly in his ear.

For a moment he tried to struggle, but then felt the blade cutting dangerously in his skin. "K…Kandon Ark has it in his office."

"Kandon Ark's office, hmm? And just where might we find his office?" Dawn asked as Sarryn pushed the dagger a bit deeper into his flesh.

"Aah, don't kill me, please! It's through that door over there." The gangster pointed to a door on the long wall of the garage. "Go left twice at the end of the corridor and you're there."

"Good boy, you've been very helpful," Sarryn sneered. "But I hope you realize keeping you alive will endanger us, so…" With a single stroke he cut the gangster's throat. "…sweet dreams."

Dawn knew that killing the man had to be done, they couldn't risk having the alarm raised after all. Still she, like her sister, hated killing humans.

"That's cruel," Dawn commented. Every threat in the garage had been eliminated.

"It's just a gangster," Mission countered. "Nobody is going to mourn his loss."

"We will later," said Dawn looking at Mission. "We don't know if he had a family who will be missing their father or husband now. I'm not against taking a life, not anymore, especially when he could have alerted others to where we were. Which could have posed a problem for us. But if we don't regret killing, then we're no better than the Sith."

The group carefully made their way down the hallway before coming to a large door by an office. With a quick look at each other, Dawn and Sarryn moved in to slide the doors open.

Sarryn activated his stealth field before entering the room, just in case, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The room was empty, except for the engine lying on a desk at the back of the office. They had been given a thorough description of the prototype by the Hidden Beks' mechanics, so he was absolutely sure this was the correct one. Just as he was about to pick it up, he heard footsteps behind him.

When the entire team spun on their heels, they saw a group of eight gangsters entering. They were led by a green Twi'lek, with a yellow female bodyguard, who casually clapped his hands. "Well, well," the Twi'lek, who Dawn guessed was Kandon, said. "I don't recall sending out an invitation."

"Shall I kill them, Kandon?" the woman eagerly asked.

"Not yet," Kandon stated as he calmly studied the arrivals. "I surmised that the small war just outside our door was merely a distraction by the Hidden Beks."

"Ah, so that's why your base was nearly abandoned," Dawn mused.

"I nearly thought we were dealing with some hobby club, not an organized band of gangsters," added Sarryn.

"Hmm, you're not wearing Bek colors," Kandon stated looking at the four of them. "Let me guess, your just lackeys conned by Gandon to steal back his precious accelerator? Well, I didn't go to the trouble of taking that prototype just to let that old fool get it back! Wait, I recognize you," he suddenly said looking at Sarryn. "You're that new arena champion. What the hell are you doing working for those filthy Beks?"

"Frankly that's none of your business," answered Sarryn.

"Hey, calm down. I just thought we might be able to work out a deal," Kando said with his palms raised. "I hate seeing useful individuals die a pointless death. What about it, want to do some work in exchange for your lives?"

Dawn drew her vibrosword.

The female looked a bit surprised. "It's six against four, you're not seriously thinking about fighting us, are you?"

"You're facing a Wookiee, a war veteran, a thief from birth and me," answered Dawn. "We've also just had a nice warming up round with that rancor that used to live on your doorstep." She pointed her sword at the gangster. "If you're still so confident, bring it on."

Kandon chuckled. "Now, now, let's not get hasty here. You know, I think we Vulkars could use someone like you. Gandon is old news! He's blind, in more ways than one. Brejik is a visionary. Don't shackle yourself to a losing team."

Dawn snorted. "Please. You're talking to an Indians fan." Seeing the blank looks on the faces of everyone, she moved on. "Forget it, Kandon. I gave my word to Gandon and I intend to keep it."

Kandon sighed. "Very well, then." He nodded to the woman and the other men nearby. "Kill them."

Dawn dodged the first set of blaster bolts fired at her. Sarryn was already moving in to slice down one of the Vulkars. Zaalbar pushed Mission down as the other men fired and brought the bowcaster up. The ancient Wookiee weapon fired off its blasts in quick succession to nail another Vulkar.

Dawn sidestepped the dagger thrust the female Twi'lek attempted on her. She backed up as she made another wide arc and slashed Dawn's arm. Dawn hissed and on instinct swung her vibrosword out, slicing through the woman's chest.

Dawn turned in time to see Kandon kick Sarryn back hard. The man rolled around and looked up as Kandon moved in, his blade raised up. Sarryn held a hand out as if to ward it off. Dawn hefted her vibrosword to leap forward but before she could, there was a shower of sparks and a large light fixture separated from above. Kandon had just enough time to look up as the fixture smashed right into his head, sending him down.

"Wow, that was lucky," Mission stated.

"Yeah," Dawn said, peering with slight suspicion as she looked to Sarryn. "Real lucky."

Sarryn was pulling himself up as he looked around the office. His eyes fell on a small round-shaped object on a desk and he lifted it up. "I think this is it," he said giving the accelerator to Zaalbar to carry.

"Smaller than I expected," Mission noted.

Dawn jerked her head to the door. "Come on, let's go before more show up." The rest were eager to follow. As they exited, she kept her eyes on Sarryn, unable to shake the feeling that there was more to that rescue than met the eye.

Sarryn scavenged the bodies of the dead gangsters, who had been carrying a lot of gadgets with them.

Mission stifled a yawn. "So, can we go home now? I feel like I could sleep for a year."

Dawn laughed as she wrapped an arm around Mission. "Yes, let's return to the Beks base. It's been a long day."