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VORDIGAR

The jail on Risda III is an insult

It’s not a real jail, just like this isn’t a legit civilized planet There’s no climate control, because the local peace officers like the open air All they do is open indows!—and let in a breeze It means it’s hotter than a sun flare in my cell, and my tunic is ith sweat There’s four of us prisoners in one cell, and the next cell over houses some very smelly, horned meat-stock that chew on hay and shit everywhere Peppy cantina music plays in the next roo about a high-stakes sticks game

Keffing backwater farm planet on the outskirts of nowhere

I flick a piece of hay off s with distaste as one of the ainst the bars and lets out a streaetin a barn I don’t evenit Just…not with meat-stock Or any other farm animal

I hate this planet

Or rather, I hate it now I didn’t ht I’d be able to blend in with the locals, hide out and just live my life I didn’t mind that it was quiet and pastoral…but I’ve learned that the authorities here are much the same as the authorities on any other planet They’re easily swayed and corrupt The lords that oversee this place don’t pay theh, so they do odd jobs on the side

Things like…bounties

That’s what got ets a man in the end You escape one prison hellhole on the sly and for soet a bounty put on your head It’s perfectly unreasonable They should be thankingthe our return Unfortunately, I’ returned Tassen h a e law I had the opportunity, but when I heard she was human, I withdrew my name

There are certain things in the universe that are too much trouble—an asteroid belt in a shortcut, an easy bounty, and a huive yourselfI should have been s I could have agreed to it and kept out of this jail Marriage doesn’t ithrecaptured as an escaped convict and being dropped back to Haven II This time, there won’t be an escape I’ll be kept in lockdown Probably won’t ever breathe fresh air again

One of the runts and lets out a torrent of fresh stink and I wave a hand in front of ht not be so bad after all Right now I’d welco away from these damned meat-stock

“They’re shitting again,” the prisoner next to et them out of here?”

“Pipe down,” one of the peace officers calls back froet up “Farmer az Itiria will be by to pick the to have to share space”

The roans anda cell, but unlike hbor over a property dispute, so we’re heading to the same placepraxiian, his massive frame entirely covered in fur He absently licks his paw and watches us with slitted eyes, and I suspect he’s not one of the local drunks, himself They wouldn’t put him in with us if he was There’s a lizard type in the corner whose race escapes my mind at thefor a ride off this planet Everyone’s here because they’re genuinely far to hide out It erous one

Which, again, I was fine with until it backfired in my face

So to speak

The door opens in the other room and I hear the peace officers ju if the prison shuttle is here already

“Hello again,” says a breathless female voice “My name is Piper I…I spoke with someone earlier about my situation? You said you’d help me”