The mark of a fool. That’s what it must have been. That or simple arrogance on his part. As if any of it mattered. Xan tried to move, but nothing responded. He could only stare up at the brown sky above, his body growing colder by the minute. Liosha's purple moon shined bright in the skies above.

“I did warn you, panda.”

Through the haze of pain, he registered the woman standing in front of him, her black dress torn and slashed as the woman leaned against the web wall she'd created. One of her six hands had to tend to her side so she didn't bleed out. Xan didn't have that luxury, the many holes punched through him doing little to preserve his life. The spider looked down at him with a blank expression.

“At this rate, killing you would be a mercy,” Dyré said. “But it’s not one that I’ll give you.”

She came off her web, stumbling as she stared down at him, red eyes shining with intensity. Her swollen wrists told him she couldn't shoot another web if she wanted. But she wouldn't have needed to. Not when he was already lying at death's door.

“Your life has no meaning to me, panda,” she said. “You may die here. You may live. But your fate means nothing to me. The desert may have you.”

Xan gave a whisper of a growl. Her words were like salt to his wounds. They shouldn’t have affected him. Not after he’d gone through all the trouble of standing up to her. Of abandoning the Black Web. Of fighting her one-on-one. But when the spider turned her back to him, the chill he felt seemed to magnify.

Dyré dragged herself against the desert, not a second glance spared for the dying panda. Nor a second word.

***

Xan flexed his hands, what little signals he could muster coursing through them. Without Sledge, he’d have no control of the winds, but he could still channel the energy for a bit of extra strength. Enough to break the chains of his shackles. Enough to do more than that if he played his cards right.

How many times have I thought of this moment? Hundreds? Thousands?

He looked outside, a shimmering blue field across the cell bars preventing an easy escape. Saturn stood by across from him, one eye staring at Xan while the other moved steadily from side to side. The rookie on guard hadn't noticed her watching yet. Nor had any of them seen the panda break his chains. Xan cleared his throat.

“Hey! Human!"

Saturn's eye stopped moving. Xan quickly thought up an excuse.

"What’s a guy gotta do to get a bucket over here?" he asked. "A man's got needs, y'know.”

Saturn followed the rookie's movements until he came to stand directly in front of the bars, at which point she feigned sleep. Though not the best option, it was about the only thing a hexigian could do to avoid drawing suspicion. The rookie pirate gave Xan the stink eye, sneering at him from the other side of the field.

“I could care less about your needs, panda," he said. "Quiet in there, or I'll shoot you."

“Don't be so mean, guy." He edged towards the bars. "Plus, you wouldn't shoot an unarmed man, would you? The field would get in the way.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The human didn’t respond. Xan smiled a toothy grin. The pirate was fairly average physicality-wise, but the blaster at his hip screamed danger. Or maybe it would have if its owner didn't proceed to depower the blue shield, Xan reacting with exaggerated shock. The rookie beamed, whipping the gun out.

"Nothing stopping me now-"

Xan's arm flew through the bars, grabbing and snatching the man up, gun and all. He pulled forward, the rookie slamming face-first against the metal. Xan did it twice for good measure, the second knocking the pirate out cold. Stupid rookie. Xan angled himself a bit, managing to snag the keycard from the guard's hip. With an awkward swipe, the gates of the cells slid open, Xan coming face to face with freedom.

He swiped the blaster, nodding at his new weapon. All he needed was to hide the body and-

“Hey!”

Xan flinched. He whirled at the appearance of another pirate. Three, in fact

“It's Xan! Warn the M-!”

He shot the screamer in the face, but he wasn't quick enough for the other two. One whipped out a commpad before Xan could take them out, the sounds of blaster shots no doubt an easy tip-off for whoever was on the other side of the line. Crap. Xan went over to Saturn's cell, lowering the barrier and freeing her with a swipe.

The hexigian instantly turned bright green, hopping to her feet, albeit in her usual stumbling manner. Xan handed her his gun, moving to retrieve spares from the two pirates he'd shot.

"You're getting rusty, Xan," Saturn said.

“Shut up and go free the others."

"No can do, fluff butt. We're in enemy territory now, so Operation: Save The Cat is back in action."

"You're still on that?"

Saturn turned dark red. "And I will be until that spider lies groveling at my feet."

Xan just looked at the hexigian. For once, he agreed with what she was saying. He would have preferred if she was lying headless at his feet more, but there was no reason he couldn't have both outcomes. Saturn swiped the rookie's commpad before dragging them into her empty cell. Xan tossed the other pirates into his cell, re-engaging the barriers on both ends.

"I'll leave the rescue efforts to you," Saturn said. "I'm gotta go find a good place to plant a bomb. We're blowing this ship up in style!"

Saying this, Saturn was racing in the opposite direction the pirates had come out. Towards engineering if Xan's memory was correct.

Though it had been years since he'd seen the ship, Dyré hadn't made many changes to the layout. He'd seen as much both from Saturn's debriefing and the walk to his cell. Through the shimmering bronze hallways of Dyré's ship, there were multiple intersections and entryways to get around. A web of systems that made every rookie's life a living nightmare but that the vets eventually learned to navigate. Xan included.

Try not to get lost, clutz.

He turned to the other cells.

Alright weasel, where the heck are you?

Making his way down the concession of prisoners, Xan freed every soldier with one hand, the other staying close to his blaster. His ears twitched for every little sound. Any pirates that got the jump on him would be a problem. Especially if they knew how to use signals. Without Sledge, he'd have to rely on instinct and experience to take out everything as quick as possible.

“Not so fast, pan-”

Xan took out a pirate that dropped from the sky. He hadn't been easy to spot, but his sudden shouting made the guy an easy enough target. It wasn't until after he had shot the man in the face that Xan realized he knew who it was. One of his old buddies in the Black Web.

"Bettle? Is that you?"

The man twitched.

"Ah. Guess you're still an idiot, huh?"

No response. He was lucky Xan had his blaster set to stun. Moving to the next cell in line, Xan found the weasel he actually wanted to see. He smirked, swiping the barrier down.

“Xan?" Erin asked as the gates slid open. "So that was you, huh?"

"Who else would it be, twig?"

Xan tossed him a blaster, the weasel catching it with one hand. His eyes narrowed.

"Does this mean..."

"Yep," Xan said, dragging Bettle by the collar and hoisting him into the air. "We're going spider hunting. You in or out?"

He tossed his former ally into Erin's cell, the weasel regarding his lookalike with a smile.

"Not like you'll get far without me, mush head."