Twenty minutes after escaping...

After unbuckling from your seat, you move towards to the cockpit entrance while Hugo remained standing by the rear hatch.

"No signs of any pursuers. I’m taking us down and doubling back over the great desert basin," Jane reports from the pilot’s seat. "Thank god the planet has poor radar coverage."

"Yeah, corporations don’t like to spend money where there is no financial gain," you reply with a grim smile. "Though the Xena Corporation may want to reconsider their position on that after this. Jane, how serious is the damage?"

"Not looking good," she says, clearly concerned. "We have two small hull breaches, so planetary orbit or even high altitude flight is off the table. You may have noticed that we are losing cabin pressure by the second."

"Yeah, I thought it felt a bit drafty in here. We are lucky that the breaches are at the aft section," you admit.

"Lucky or not," Jane says, swinging around in her seat to face you, "as long as we are exposed to the atmosphere, a space jump will rupture the hull. Not that we would even get past the Jumpgate Customs with a shot up ship anyway."

"OK," you say with a sigh. "So we need to get a repairs taken care of off the record. I suspect that Xena will be watching all the registered shipyards for any reports."

"That’s not your only problem," Hugo interrupts. "There is a warrant for a female matching Jane’s description on the planetary web. She should’ve worn a fucking helmet. They got your mug shot from the Skybot’s video feed and will be searching for you."

"Jane," Celeste interjected. "It’ll be alright. Just keep a low profile for a while and I will figure out a way past this."

"There are lots of checkpoints around Evindium," Hugo explains bluntly. "She will be restricted to the hangar and the few surrounding complexes. It also won’t be possible for her to use the metro system without getting flagged."

"I’m well aware of this," you reply with a hint of irritation in your voice. "I’ll contact Sid when we land and tell him we’ve got the data core. We are going to need help getting off this planet."

Hugo raised the barrel of his rifle and points it squarely at your chest.

"I’m afraid you’ll need more help than that," he says with a smirk. "You see, I’m not actually working for Sid. I'm not really much of what you’d call a team player, either. That data core; give it to me. ''Now''!" he demands as he drops his smirk.

You hold his gaze, completely unfazed by his threats.

"It doesn't have to end this way," you stated calmly. "Just forget the mission and we’ll drop you off at the city limits. Quit while you’re still ahead, Hugo."

Jane, fully aware of the situation, concentrates on flying the ship.

"Not a fucking chance!" Hugo’s voice booms throughout the ship as his finger tightens on the trigger. "Give me the data core or I’ll shoot you limb by limb. The only reason you’re still breathing is that the data core doesn’t react well to bullets, especially not high-velocity, armor-piercing ones like the ones I’m packing."

You slowly raise your hands while you signal Jane. Suddenly, the ship goes into a vertical ascent, throwing both you and Hugo to the back of the ship. You wedge yourself into an alcove in preparation and hang on for dear life. Jane mashes the cargo door controls in the cockpit and Hugo, pinned down by the weight of his armor and the **** of the acceleration, realizes that he’ll soon be dumped into the desert below.

"You psychotic cunt. You will kill us both!" Hugo shouts at you with a hint of panic in his voice.