Jenny ran to the bridge to see if the ship had any self-defense mechanisms working. Her own cargo ship couldn't do much against an attack, mostly because it was an older model, and it had been all she could afford. But this ship was no old transport ship. Surely since it was carrying such precious cargo, it would have some sort of self defense.

The bridge was eerily silent, even for her. In the past she had often controlled her bridge by herself, without the incessant chatter of others. But even then, when a ship was alive, when it was flying through space, there were a million little humming sounds it made that kind of faded into the background.

So the silence on this abandoned ship was unnerving. She sat in the captain's chair and brought up the loading screen to see what tools were available to her. Not much; though there was a list of options for defense and safety and did she want to run a diagnosis?

"Yes, thank you, I do." She said to the silent computer. As the computer started booting up its various systems, she noticed a blinking light next to the pilot's console. Hesitantly she walked over to it and realized it was an incoming transmission.

"What the hell?" She asked herself, hitting the button.

"I've got you now you son-of-a-bitch!" Commander Jackson's voice flooded the bridge. "Think you can kidnap a pilot and a cargo shuttle and not get caught? I'm going to make my career off you!" she looked down at the message and realized it was a broadcasted message. He didn't know where they were, but he was incoming.

Chewing on her lip, she ran out of the bridge and down to Xatah to see if she could help him. On her way, she found a weapons closet. "Fuck yeah." She muttered to herself and wrenched it open. Inside was a cage that housed a dozen energy pistols and disc weapons with packs sitting right below them. She grabbed an energy pistol and slapped a battery pack into it and placed it in her back pocket before grabbing a disc weapon and loading it with twelve energy discs. They didn't hurt as much for single targets, but they did more damage over a larger area.

Running now, she ducked her head down to kneel on top of the stairs, trying to see where Xatah had gone. There. She raised her weapon and eyed where he was crouched through her viewfinder. He'd managed to make a crude barricade out of several storage boxes stacked along the side and the thoratts were prowling around him, trying to find a weak spot before they attacked.

The Kosst she realized she was completely in love with was about to be slaughtered in front of her if she didn't do something.

"I don't think so." She muttered and aimed the disc weapon at the cats closest to him and fired. The backlash threw her backward, so she landed on her ass. "Fuck!" she yelled before quickly scrambling back to her feet to get off another shot as the catlike creatures realized there was another threat behind them. She landed another shot right in the middle of the herd, catching one squarely in the chest. It howled in agony as the rest turned and roared in fury at her.

So she fired off another round.

And another.

Until the thoratts decided they'd rather retreat than go up against her gun again. But they didn't leave, they just prowled in the distance.

Xatah ran over to her. She handed him the disc weapon and brought out the energy weapon from her back pocket. "Where did you find these?" he asked in amazement. "I thought we were going to die." He leaned over and gave her a hard kiss, this tongue dancing with hers. She leaned into him and grabbed at his hair, holding him against her as her anxiety over his safety began to lower.

"Don't frighten me like that again." She said, as she wrenched her mouth away from his, keenly aware that this was hardly the time to be making out with her lover.

He grinned. "Can't promise that."

Outside the ship, the light disappeared. They stepped down, keeping one eye on the thoratts, and saw what must be a shuttle from the military vessel hovering outside the opening to their landing cave.

Xatah cursed quietly, and she turned to look at him with wide eyes. "I thought you disabled their ship!" she yelled, about ready to pull out her hair. Yeah, she had wanted some adventure, but this was getting ridiculous.

"I did, that damn engineer must have fixed the shuttle before worrying about the main ship. Jackson's whole crew isn't incompetent, it's mostly just him." He ran his hand over his short hair. "Fuck!" he yelled.

"I really don't want to go to the pits of Zeta R." He looked at her incredulously. "I'm just saying. They really stink. It's terrible."

He slowly grinned at her. "Hey. Pirate remember? You're not going to any pits."

"Oh good, because that would really ruin this day."

A cat growled behind them and they began to back up to the ship, were at least they could hold up for a moment to think about their options, when the military shuttle opened up its speaker.

"Stay where you are. Raise your hands. We are coming out to arrest you. If either of you make a move to escape, we will shoot to kill." Jenny and Xatah looked at each other and Jenny could see he was thinking about shoving her inside the ship anyway.

"Don't." She said, slowly lowering the weapon and raising her hand while keeping an eye on the thoratts. "I'd rather you didn't get shot in front of me, okay?"

He sighed as if she was ruining all his fun and lowered his weapon to the ground as well and raised his hands in the air. As soon as he did, the shuttle lowered it's stairs to the landing cave, though it did not land itself. This was obviously supposed to be a quick pick up.

Two privates that Jenny recognized as Xatah's guards on the ship and Commander Jackson stepped off the shuttle. And she realized they hadn't seen the cats that were mewling and growling behind them. If they had, the Commander never would have taken a step off the safety of his own ship.

"I'm surprised at you, Captain De Rue, I really am." Commander Jackson said, still with that haughty voice that she already hated so much. "Running away with a notorious pirate? Your career will be ruined. I'm sure I'll get a commendation from today's work. Bringing in two criminals. Perhaps arresting your entire crew for smuggling, eh?" he leered at her and she wanted to punch his face in.

"You bastard you know there is no smuggling on board that ship."

He sighed in mock sadness. "Never can trust the word of a criminal, can you?" he turned to his men. "Private Duluth, Draeger, arrest these two criminals."

Xatah looked at them for a moment as they began to walk towards them. "Don't you even care about this ship we're standing in front of?"

Commander Jackson sniffed as if he was completely bored by the whole ordeal. "Obviously stolen. We'll have it stripped and sold for parts in no time. My family is in the business, you know."

Xatah's face began to darken, and he gritted his teeth. The two guards gave each other nervous looks as they approached. Private Duluth opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, one of the thoratts decided they had waited long enough and charged. It reached Private Duluth and knocked him to the ground.