The sun begins to set on Bakura and Kix starts to lose hope in ever finding Calista and Carina. As he slumps down against the side of the building, his foot kicks a rock across the paved ground. The rocks stops at another person's foot and Kix looks up to find that familiar red helmet.

"Sidon?" Kix pushes himself to his feet. "What... What are you doing here?"

"Quiggold picked up a distress signal and from the message, I had a feeling it was you." The pirate explains. "Friends taken. Stranded on Bakura. In need of transport." He recites the message.

Kix's cheeks redden in embarrassment. The last time he saw any of the pirates was when he betrayed them on Corellia. "Well it got you here, didn't it?" He points.

Sidon stifles a laugh under his helmet as he turns away. Kix watches as the pirate heads back towards the spaceport and Sidon glances back. "Aren't you coming?"

Kix grins and follows his former Captain back to the Meson Martinet, where he finds Quiggold and Reveth–now with a mechanical right arm where the appendage used to be. She nods at Kix, showing that she holds no contempt towards him, and he returns the curt gesture.

"Now, where exactly do you need transport to?" Sidon asks as the ramp closes.

"Oh, um.. I'm not really sure." Kix admits.

The three pirates turn from where they are, spread throughout the ship, to face Kix.

"You don't know?" Reveth asks.

Kix shifts awkwardly under their gazes. "Well, I.. I think the First Order has them but I don't know where they took them."

"The First Order?!" Quiggold exclaims.

"I knew Calista was bad news." Reveth scoffs.

Kix faces Sidon, whose expression is unreadable as always thanks to his helmet. "They were after me." Kix admits. "They know there's a living clone trooper. They took Calista and Carina but they wanted me." He explains. "It's my fault. I have to help them."

"Carina?" Reveth whispers to Quiggold, who shrugs in response.

Sidon sighs as he looks down at the man. "I can't promise that we'll find them." He says, causing Kix's heart to sink. "But perhaps we can let them find us."

The two members of the crew widen their eyes in shock and Kix's spirit lifts once again.

"Captain, are you sure you want to-"

"This is not our fight." Sidon cuts Quiggold off. "We'll stage a blackout. Once the First Order shows up they'll pull us in for inspection and likely let us go." He explains.

Kix eyes Sidon curiously. "Sounds like you've done this before."

"Once or twice... Just not with the First Order." The captain reveals.

They set out for the middle of the Unknown Regions before getting to work on disabling all power. A short time after the distress signal is broadcasted, a First Order Star Destroyer pulls out of hyperspace in front of the Meson Martinet.

Sidon hands Kix a blaster and nods as their plan rolls into motion. Kix quickly hides himself inside one of the large crates as Reveth handles the comms.

"Initiating tractor beam." The First Order officer speaks through the comms after confirming the passengers and cargo. "Prepare for hangar entry."

As the large pirate ship lands in the hangar bay, the pirates tuck their weapons away. "Showtime." Sidon speaks quietly just before the ramp lowers.

"Ah, gentlemen. Thank you for the assistance." Sidon greets the stormtroopers as they allow themselves onto the ship. "We were just on our way back to Ponemah from Batuu when everything imploded."

"We'll send a technician in to see what the problem is." One of the stormtroopers says.

"Everything looks clear, only three passengers." Another trooper says into his comms.

Reveth glances at Quiggold and the two slightly nod at one another.

"I could show you were the circuit panel is." Reveth grabs the attention of one trooper as the other two head down the ramp to stand guard.

Once they're out of view from anyone down the ramp, Kix slips out of the crate and sneaks up behind the stormtrooper to silently knock him out. Kix catches the man's body as he falls and drags him to the side to keep him out of view.

"Nicely done." Reveth smirks.

"Thanks." Kix smiles, quickly pulling the stormtrooper's armor off to then put it on himself.

Sidon checks on their progress, turning his attention to the unconscious trooper on the ground. "Get him in that crate and keep him out." Sidon says to Reveth, who nods and gets to it. "Kix." Sidon stops the medic before he puts the helmet on to complete the disguise. "This was for helping Reveth on Corellia." He states. "We're square."

Kix looks up at the Captain and nods in understanding. He takes a deep breath before sliding on the helmet. The familiarity of the plastiod armor encasing his body brings him a sense of confidence he'd been lacking.

"One more thing." Sidon speaks up again, causing Kix to face him. "Good luck, trooper."

As Kix walks down the ramp in the borrowed armor, the other two troopers turn their heads. "Stand guard. I'll fetch the technician to fix their circuits and get these pirates out of here." He orders boldly. Thankfully, the two troopers nod and remain at their post.

After easily navigating the Destroyer, thanks to its similar design to the Republic cruisers from back in his day, Kix arrives in the detention block. He slightly panics when he sees a pair of guards at the beginning of the long corridor, but doesn't need to come up with a plan because they speak first.

"You, what are you doing here?" One of them asks. "You're not authorized to be down here."

"Oh, uh, the Supreme Leader sent me." Kix lies.

"The Supreme Leader isn't here yet." The other guard states. "What's your operating number?"

"My number?" He turns to face them. "CT-6116."

"CT? We don't use those codes anymore, do we?" One guard turns to the other.

With the slight distraction, Kix pulls out his blaster and shoots each stormtrooper in the chest.

Calista's head shoots up at the sound of the blasts and she runs to the sealed door to bang on it. With another blast, the door slides open to reveal a Kix in stormtrooper armor–without the helmet. He forgot how much he hated that bucket.

Calista's eyes widen as she throws her arms around Kix. "What are you doing here? How did you manage to get this far?" She asks, holding his face in her hands.

"I had some help." He says. "Where's Carina?"

A few cells down they hear soft banging on the door. Kix shoots the control panel to open the door and an extremely distraught Carina steps out into the corridor–her eyes red and puffy. Kix wraps his arms around her as he sighs in relief.

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Kix releases both women as he heads back towards the main hallway.

Calista follows closely, picking up a blaster from one of the dead guards, as Carina stands still. Calista glances back and furrows her eyebrows.

"Carina!" She beckons her.

"We're not going to make it." Carina says, her focus on somewhere other than the present.

Kix glances back at his niece with worry in his eyes. "Carina." He speaks softly as he lifts her chin to look into her eyes, making sure her nerve responses are normal. "Hey, look at me." He says, causing her eyes to shift in his direction. "The only way we're going to make it out of here, is together. Okay?" He notices the tears welling up in her eyes and gives her a sympathetic look.

"We need you." Calista speaks up from behind Kix. "You can sense things, people." She points. "You can find us a way out of here."

Carina then looks at the Zeltron and nods. Kix sighs in relief and takes point once again as they venture back into enemy territory.

*

"Ah must've just been a lose wire." Quiggold says as the annoyed technician leaves their now-operational ship.

"No good pirates." The technician mutters.

As the ramp of the Meson Martinet closes, an alarm begins to blare through the hangar. Sidon quickly makes his way to the cockpit, where Reveth is already firing up the thrusters.

"Get us out of here." Sidon orders and the Twi'lek nods.

The ship taking off only adds to the chaos on the Destroyer. "Stop that freighter!" One of the officers shout over the turmoil but it's too late. Instead, the First Order deploys a squadron of TIE fighters in an effort to either shoot them down or bring them back.

Kix smirks from a hidden corner of the hangar at the pirates' unplanned diversion. On their way to the hangar, they altered a few stabilizers–which will cause the entire ship to blow up in a few minutes. If that wasn't enough of a distraction on its own, they certainly have enough now.

"We need to go." Carina speaks up. "Now."

Calista looks out at the hangar and shakes her head. "There's too many of them, we'd be shot down the first step we take."

"Can't you just... Persuade them to let us go with your magic?" Kix asks, making Calista laugh.

"It's not magic." Calista nudges him. "What about you?" She asks Carina.

Carina looks down at her hands. "I could try to-"

"No." Kix stops her. "If they find out what you're capable of, they'll come after you next."

"But I can help." Carina argues.

"Please, Carina." Kix looks down at her. "Promise me you won't do anything to jeopardize your safety." He pleads. "My brothers gave their lives to protect you and the rest of the galaxy. I have no right to do anything less."

Carina looks up at him with anger and defeat in her eyes. "Okay."

Kix gives her a small smile before turning to Calista. "We'll need to take one of their ships to blend in, can you handle that?" He asks, she nods.

As soon as they have an opening, the three of them run across the hangar and to a free TIE fighter. Calista climbs into the ship and quickly familiarizes herself with the controls as she tries to figure out how to detach the ship.

"Go, get in there." Kix yells over his shoulder as he and Carina blast the troopers surrounding them.

Carina meets his eyes for a brief moment.

"I'm right behind you." Kix says.

Carina nods and climbs into the TIE fighter. As promised, Kix climbs in right behind her.

"We're gonna need a quick exit." Kix says as the troopers move in on the TIE.

"I'm trying!" Calista flips switches but nothing works. "If I can just figure out how to detach from this cable..." She mutters to herself.

Glancing out of the small window, Carina spots the troublesome cable and closes her eyes as she lifts her hands in its direction. Kix pushes her hands down, causing her eyes to shoot open as she looks at him.

"I'll go detach it." Kix says, grabbing his blaster.

"No, Kix, you'll-"

"I'll be fine." He cuts Calista off, caressing her face with his free hand.

Calista shakes her head. "I'll go."

"You need to fly the ship." Kix points. "And you need to man the guns." He says to Carina. "You're a much better shot than any of your uncles were."

Carina's bottom lip quivers as she looks up at Kix. She wraps her arms around him in a tight hug as tears roll down her cheeks.

Once they pull out of the hug, Kix turns to Calista–who is doing her best to keep her composure. Kix takes a deep breath and nods in her direction before turning to open the hatch.

"Kix!" Calista calls, her eyes filled to the brim with tears.

Kix clenches his jaw to fight his own tears as he pulls her into a hug. "I know, cyar'ika." He holds the back of her head close to his chest. "Me too."

Blasts from the outside rock the fighter back and forth, pulling Calista and Kix off of one another. Kix presses his lips to hers without thinking and Calista immediately kisses back.

After the highly-anticipated kiss, Kix quickly climbs out of the ship. He blasts any nearby stormtroopers as he slips around to the side that the cable is on. Needing both hands to pry the cable off of the fighter, he drops his blaster and puts all of his strength into pulling. Just as the cable starts to budge, a blast hits him in the shoulder.

A rumbling throughout the ship causes the stormtroopers to lose their footing, allowing Kix to pull the cable out with one last tug. Once the TIE fighter is free, Calista hovers close to the ground for Kix to climb back in, but he remains on the ground, applying pressure to the blast wound in his shoulder. The stormtroopers surround him, some of them still firing at the stolen TIE.

Bright orange and red flames roll into the hangar and Calista clenches her jaw as she pulls the TIE out into the stars. They watch from a short distance as the entire Star Destroyer goes up in flames. Carina covers her mouth to muffle her sobs, feeling as if she'd lost her father all over again for the third time. Calista closes her eyes as she inhales shakily, trying to stay strong as she pushes her emotions away.

Another Star Destroyer appears and Calista quickly makes the jump to a nearby system, where they then just float in space for quite some time.

"Carina." Calista speaks barely above a whisper, not trusting her own voice. "What does cyar'ika mean?"

Carina looks over at the Zeltron, both of their eyes puffy beyond belief. "Sweetheart."

Calista's bottom lip begins to quiver and she turns away from Carina as her tears return. She knew he loved her, somehow she always knew. Kix knew it too. Though they never verbally expressed it, they expressed their love for one another in many ways.

"What do we do now?" Carina asks, void of all emotion.

They both knew that Kix sacrificed himself for them. They all knew that the First Order wouldn't leave them alone as long as Kix was alive. Had Carina used her powers, Kylo surely would've sensed it with them being in his territory and hunted her down as well.

Kix gave his life, so that the two people he loved could live theirs.

Calista looks back at the girl as tears stream down her face. "Now we go home."

Carina furrows her eyebrows. "Go home? How can we just go home after what happened?" She asks. "The First Order took everything from me."

Calista glances over at the girl, not surprised by the change of heart. Without responding, Calista inputs the coordinates of their next destination—provided to her a few years ago by Maz Kanata. Shortly after, they emerge from lightspeed in front of a dense, green planet.

They land the TIE fighter on the surface, outside of what looks like some sort of bunker, and Carina sits forward curiously. The people on the ground raise their weapons in the TIE's direction, waiting for the pilot to emerge, but a woman steps forward and they lower their weapons.

As Calista and Carina climb down from the fighter, the woman meets them on the ground.

Her eyes land on Carina, and she smiles. "You must be the one I sensed."

Carina's eyes widen a bit as she looks over at Calista. The Zeltron just smiles in response.

"My name's Leia." She introduces herself. "Welcome to the resistance."