Bounty Hunter Anon III

by Sunny Solaire

Free as a Bird

After about an hour, the two of you had found ten ysalamiri in total. They were all much easier to find this time around, without any droids.

Ray never left your side. He had actually crawled onto your shoulders behind your head and rested there the whole time. You couldn't help but smile each time you looked up at him. He's the cutest little thing you've ever seen.

You had pulled out an empty container from inside the cargo hold and took it into the armory for them to rest in. Both you and Fluttershy had carried the olbio logs inside the ship and set them in the container in there, since the cargo hold was a bit occupied right now.

As crippled as he is now, you don't trust Soarin' at all with these ysalamiri. They're important to you, and he hates you. He's terrified of you, but he still hates you. Needless to say, he was not happy to see you when you entered the cargo hold again. The ysalamiri would have to live in the container for a bit until Soarin' was able to be removed.

Except for Ray. He stays with you.

You and Fluttershy set the remaining ysalamiri inside the container and strap it down. They should be fine in there for a while.

Fluttershy bends down to look at them all. "Okay, everyone. I need you all to stay here for a bit. My friends need your help to stop some bad people, okay? You'll be safe and sound here, I promise."

They don't reply to her, obviously, but she seems satisfied.

She stands up straight again. "Okay, Sunset. I think we're set on the ysalamiri."

You shrug. "You're the animal expert. If you say we're good, then we're good."

The two of you leave the armory together and enter the main hold.

"Well, we still need to pick up those additional nutrients from my friend." She says.

"We'll figure that out later, Fluttershy. Don't worry." You smile at her and look at the holotable. "First thing we have to worry about is getting out of here."

Spike appears on the holotable. "Funny you should say that, Sunset. We should be good to go now!"

Your eyebrows shoot up. "Really?"

He nods. "Yep! Big Mac just finished with the essential systems and Twilight is having me run some final diagnostics. I think we're good though."

You slump your shoulders and sigh loudly in relief. That's the best news you've heard in such a long time. It's like a massive weight has been lifted off of you.

"Thank goodness..." You chuckle again and smile. "Okay... I'll check everything out then."

Spike nods and you head into the cockpit. Big Mac is sitting at the pilot's seat and looking over a few settings on the console.

"How are we looking in here?" You ask.

He turns back to you for a second. "Hey Sunset. We're doin' pretty good, I reckon. She still needs work to get back to what she was, but she'll get back into hyperspace again."

That's all you need.

You let out a breath again and smile. "Thank you so much, Big Macintosh. I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am."

He grins and stands up again. "Don't worry about it, Sunset. I was happy to help."

The two of you head into the main hold and meet up with the girls. Twilight is going over the diagnostics data on the holotable and Fluttershy is standing behind her.

"Everything check out, Twilight?" You ask.

She nods, not looking at you. "It looks like it. I've got a list of everything that needs further repairs, but the ship will be able to take off and get to hyperspace once again."

You take another deep breath. Between Spike, Big Mac, and Twilight all telling you the same thing, you feel pretty good.

"Let's get ready to go then." You say.

Twilight finally looks over at you and smiles when she sees Ray. "Looks like we got everything we were after."

You smile and look at Ray as well, giving his neck another scratch. "We sure did."

She nods. "Great. Well, we just need to tidy up a bit, and then we'll be good to go."

You take another breath and smile. "You know what? I don't know about you guys, but I want to get the hell out of here as fast as possible, so how about we clean up after we get into hyperspace?"

Fluttershy giggles and Twilight smiles before nodding. "If you insist."

You smile back at her and head into the cockpit, talking to Ray as you walk.

Once you sit back down in your seat, you smile again and wait a moment. Ray grumbles again and adjusts himself on your shoulder before staying still.

You look at him and rub his neck again before pressing all the necessary buttons to start up the engines. They click and whir for a moment before revving up like normal. The ship's systems come back online. Life support, weapons, shields, fuel, everything is on your console's display like it should be.

A few anomalies make themselves known to you here and there, but they're all for nonessential systems that still need maintenance. Your friends told you about this, so it doesn't come as a surprise to you.

Once everything looks green enough, you set your hand on the control stick and take a deep breath. "Here goes..."

You press a button and the ship lifts off the jungle floor. Outside, the trees move down as the ship rises into the air.

"Yes..." You say under your breath with a smile.

The ship teeters back and forth a little as it rises, but it works just fine. After a few seconds, you clear the treetops and hit the throttle to head toward the atmosphere. The cracked viewport shows a lot less green, and a lot more blue as you push past the clouds and ascend higher and higher, until the sky turns black and stars appear all around you.

Space. Finally.

You switch on the navicomputer and set a course to Concord Dawn. It shouldn't take too long to get back. Once your ship is on course, you hit the throttle and blast off to hyperspace.

You practically collapse in your chair and stare into the cyclone of blue lights outside. You love hyperspace. It's so relaxing to just listen to the steady thrum of the hyperdrive as you move faster than light from one part of the galaxy to the other.

You might just take a nap.

No. First thing's first. You've got to help clean up the ship.

With a groan, you stand up again and stretch. "Come on, Ray. Let's go."

He slithers his tongue again as you walk out to the main hold.

Author's Note: