Kaz and Asya weren't going to make it. Benny knew that. He watched as his crewmate disappeared around the corner, and it wasn't long before Asya took off after him. Benny didn't try to stop her, not that he would have been able to. As much as he didn't like it, she could give them a crucial, extra couple of seconds.

Benny heard gunfire, but then was blinded by a bright light. A moment later, the light dimmed down and the group was suddenly surrounded by a lot of very confused looking people staring from their computer desks. They had reached Island 99.

"Where is Agent Daimon?" A cold, commanding voice rung out in the room. Benny turned toward the sound and saw a tall, severe looking woman staring at them.

Benny swallowed and stepped forward. "My name is First Mate Benedict Caseo," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I am the officer in charge after our Captain was killed. Agent Daimon stayed behind to give us a chance to get off the ship."

"Who is 'us'?" the woman demanded.

Benny didn't see much of a choice. "Me, my crew, and the refugees we were taking back with us that we had rescued from a slave ship."

Shocked whispers ran through the room, growing louder until the commanding woman, who Benny had guessed was in charge, called for silence.

"Mr. Caseo," the woman said. "My name is Agent Carea Jamitch, head supervisor of R.A.S activities at Island 99. I did not realize that we had dispatched a rescue to a refugee ship."

Benny knew that Carea Jamitch knew exactly what they were. She wanted him to be the one to say it. "We're not a refugee ship," he said resignedly. "We're a cargo ship."

The room had remained deadly quiet, and as Carea Jamitch moved toward Benny, his crew, and the refugees, everyone's eyes followed her movements.

"Mr. Caseo," Carea Jamitch continued, "are you aware that any movement of persons that is not registered with R.A.S. authorities is considered illegal human trafficking?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And those who are part of such operations are liable to be arrested and tried as smugglers, human traffickers, and/or pirates?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You admit to taking part in these activities?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You admit to being a smuggler, human trafficker, and pirate?"

"No, ma'am."

Carea Jamitch raised an eyebrow. "No?"

"We are smuggling these people, yes," Benny said, forcing himself to look her in the eye. "But we are not smugglers, human traffickers, or pirates. We're a rescue party."

"So your intention is to bring these people to safety?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Why, then, do you not follow the proper channels when it comes to assisting those who are victims of human trafficking and getting them asylum status?"

"I think you already know the answer to that question, ma'am."

The answer was a sharp one, but Benny could not stop himself from saying it. The 'official channels,' as Carea Jamitch had put it, were basically useless to anyone who didn't have money, and even those who did have money had to wait a long time to get themselves the protection of the R.A.S. and a city. For the people standing behind Benny, the official channels might as well not exist.

Carea Jamitch did not look amused at Benny's retort, but she didn't look angry either. If you're not traffickers," she continued, "what was your plan for these people?"

"Get them to a city," Benny said, simply. "That way, they can claim asylum."

Carea Jamitch examined Benny closely. She had a face that was unreadable, and Benny could not decide if she was about to give them a new ship and send them off to a city or launch them all into the vacuum of space.

"Mr. Peray," Carea Jamitch called. A young man jumped up and hurried to her side, giving a salute when he stopped. "Please take this group of refugees to our guest facilities and ensure they are properly fed."

"Guest facilities?" Benny asked before Mr. Peray could move. He was skeptical.

"Mr. Caseo, I have no intention of making any decisions about you, your crew, or your passengers just yet," Carea Jamitch said. "At them moment, your passengers have not done anything to break the law; to me, they appear to be the victims of it. They will be given places to sleep, under supervision, of course, until I can confer with my supervisors"

"And my crew?"
"Unfortunately, Mr. Caseo, you and your crew have broken the law," Carea Jamitch said. "You will be held in a holding cell until arrangements can be made to transfer you to a city to be charged and tried. If you will follow me, I will take you there now. Please have your passengers follow Mr. Peray." Ready to be done with the conversation, Carea Jamitch turned on her heel, ready to walk away.

"Agent Jamitch," Benny said sharply. She stopped and turned toward him.

Benny knew that the people standing behind him, especially his crew, were restless. He knew they questioned his decision to be so honest with the R.A.S. Agent. But, he was banking on what he could get by being so open. "This isn't my entire crew." Benny continued when Carea Jamitch said nothing and simply looked at him, expectantly. "And, as far as I'm aware, you're missing one of your agents."

"Yes."

"One of our own, and one of your own, are still stuck on that ship with close to two dozen pirates. They risked their lives to get me, my crew, and the refugees off of the ship and kept us all from being killed. I feel as if it is our duty to try and provide them another way off of the ship. I understand that it is not R.A.S. protocol, but I have done everything you've asked of me, and told you everything about our operation. All I ask is that you don't take that transparency for granted, and help me save two more lives." Benny waited with baited breath.

"No."

Benny's heart sank, and he could hear the disapproving hisses and mutterings of his crew behind him. He couldn't give up, though, not just yet. "And why not?"

Benny almost thought he saw a look of pity in Carea Jamitch's eye. "I am sorry for your crew member," she said, "and Asya Daimon was shaping up to be one of our finest recruits. But all we can do it see where life signs are on your ship. If there are as many pirates on your ship as you claim, the risk of accidently bringing them onto the Island is too great; we cannot afford that type of security breach."

Benny opened his mouth to argue.

"My final answer," Carea Jamitch cut him off before he could get a word out, "is no. I highly suggest you don't argue."

Benny shut his mouth; his jaw clenched. He was not happy, but the last thing he wanted to do was potentially make things worse for the refugees.

"Now, Mr. Caseo, if you and your crew will now follow me," Carea Jamitch said.

"Benny," Owen hissed in Benny's ear.

Benny ignored him. "Yes, ma'am," he said stonily.

Benny and the three other men followed Carea Jamitch out of the control room as the group of refugees followed Mr. Peray. He saw Kit's face look sadly back at him just before he rounded the corner and lost sight of them. He desperately hoped that it would not be the last time he ever saw the group.

The holding cell that Carea Jamitch deposited them in was small and bare, but Benny figured they would not be staying long. As the group of men were locked in and Carea Jamitch left to return to the control room, Owen rounded on Benny.

"Well, that's just great, Benny," Owen said sarcastically. "Just tell the R.A.S. about our entire operation and don't even get our crew member back. You gave them everything and we got nothing."

"Lay off, Owen," Cyrus said quietly. "He had no other choice, you know that. This way, the refugees might have an actual chance of getting to freedom, even if it takes longer than if they could have finished the journey with us. Not to mention, we might get off on lighter charges since we likely won't be facing any piracy or trafficking charges, just smuggling."

"Oh, good, just smuggling," Owen said, moodily. "And you're kidding yourself if you think that the R.A.S. isn't going to send the refugees right back to where we picked them up. They can't claim asylum status yet, you know that as well as I do, and since they can't claim asylum, the R.A.S. has no obligation to give it to them, and a city has no obligation to take them in."

None of the other men could argue with Owen's logic. They all knew it to be true.

"There's got to be some sort of loophole, right?" Sted spoke for the first time since they had been transported to the Island. "There's always a loophole."

"Maybe." Benny sighed and sat down on the bench attached to the wall of the cell. "But no one here is going to try and find it. Asya might know of one, but..."
"But Asya's probably dead," Owen said roughly.

Benny glared at him. "Thanks Owen, that helps," he said sarcastically.

"She seemed rather resourceful," Cyrus said thoughtfully. "And Kaz wouldn't go down without a hell of a fight. I wouldn't write them off just yet."

"Well, it hardly matters," Owen said, although his tone softer. "Because we can't transport them off the ship anyway, and the longer they're there, the less of a chance is that they're still alive."

It was a sobering thought that no one could argue with. With Carea Jamitch's refusal to open another transport, it was looking unlikely that they would ever see Kaz or Asya again.

"Hey, Benny," Sted said. He was crouched over the small box of food that Carea Jamitch had placed in their cell with them. "You know how you said that no one would help us with those loopholes?"

"Yeah?"

Sted turned around. In his hand he held a keycard. "So, then why would Carea Jamitch slip us this?"

Trying to be quick but casual, Benny leapt up off the bench and quickly crossed over to where Sted was kneeling. He dropped in front of him. "Careful," Benny said softly. "There are camera's in here."

Sted closed his hand over the key card and put his hand down by his side. He and Benny stood up, bringing the box with them, and casually went back over to the others, who were sitting very alert, under the pretense that they were simply distributing the food.

"Okay, why would she slip us a keycard?" Owen questioned. "What can we do?"

Benny thought for a moment. "Maybe," he said, "maybe she's more on our side than we think."

"Why would she be?" Owen asked.

"Alright, let's think about this," Benny said. "She could have just put the refugees on some random ship and sent them to a habitation outside of the Island Network. It would have been less work for her, and her superiors wouldn't have to get involved, and I'm sure that once they find out why she's bringing them into this they won't be thrilled."

"Okay, but maybe she just has a soft spot for refugees, it's not unprecedented," Owen said. "But what about us?"

"Maybe its not so much about us, then it is about Asya," Cyrus guessed. "I mean, did anyone else see any other women in the control room?"

None of them had.

"Okay, but attributing it up to girl power is a bit of a stretch," Owen said.

"Girl power is ridiculous, sure," Benny said, "especially since she could go to prison for this too." Benny thought back to the conversation that he had with Asya on the ship. It seemed like a lifetime ago. "Asya told me that she's not the typical R.A.S. Agent, which is obvious. Maybe Carea Jamitch isn't either. It's possible that there's some sort of bond between them. We don't know either of them very well; it's not outside of the realm of possibility."

"But if they have a relationship, why wouldn't she have just opened up another transport herself and be done with it?" Benny continued to question.

"Oh, come on, Owen," Cyrus said. "Even you know the answer to that. In cargo business it's the same, women have to work twice as hard to get into positions of authority; how many female captains do you know? If Carea Jamitch was seen breaking protocol due to a personal relationship she has with one of the agents working under her, there'd be hell to pay."

Owen didn't look happy, but he didn't argue.

"Okay, look," Benny said, "we don't know a lot for sure. But what we do know is we have a keycard to get us out of here. We also have a much greater working knowledge of the ship than anyone else on the Island, and we know Kaz, and we know enough about Asya to know that she's smart enough to follow his lead in terms of where to hide and how to avoid being caught and killed."

"You want to transport them out of there." Owen's statement was firm, it was not a question.

"The guard changes at 06:00," Sted said. The other three men looked at him, surprised. "It's the same on every Island, I've spent some time on them," he explained. "If one of us leaves at exactly 06:00, there's a chance that the guards watching us on the security cameras will be distracted by the shift change, assuming that there are guards, I don't think there always are. And, the control room staff won't be the same people who were there when we came in, so they won't automatically recognize us. If we work fast, we might have just enough time to get a transport out. It's not like they take that long."

Benny was shocked at the boldness of Sted's plan, but pleased with the young man.

Owen was shaking his head. "That's a lot of 'ifs,'" he said.

"But it's the only plan we have," Benny said. "And if it works, it'll save two people's lives and potentially get the refugees their asylum status. If not, we're basically back to square one. I'll just tell them that I stole the keycard and was trying to rescue Kaz and Asya. It fits, given that I tried to get Carea Jamitch to save them earlier."

"Yeah, or they'll think you're a pirate in disguise and that you're trying to get your pirate buddies onto the Island."

"Come on, Owen," Cyrus exclaimed. "Can you please not be negative for once in your life?" He turned his gaze on Benny. "I think we should do it."

Benny looked around at the three men. Sted was nodding in agreement, and even Owen gave a small nod of approval.

"Alright," Benny said. "So now, we wait."

The wait was excruciating, especially since they had to pretend to be nothing but defeated prisoners waiting for judgement day, instead of impatient men on a rescue mission. As he pretended to sleep, Benny clenched the key card tightly in his hand.

Benny felt someone prod his side. "It's time," Owen whispered.

Benny gave a sideways glace at the clock. It was two minutes until 06:00. Benny sat up a bit straighter, keeping the clock in his peripheral vision, but other than that, didn't move.

05:59.

Benny watched the seconds ticked down as he stood up and went to lean against the side of the cell, as close to the door as he could.

Five seconds. Four seconds. Three. Two. One.

Benny scanned the key card, opened the door quickly, and shut it behind him in a matter of seconds without a word to his crewmates. He didn't know how much time he had, but he knew it wasn't much.

Making his way back to the control room, Benny was able to grab an R.A.S. jacket from a hook on the wall that someone had left. His pants still stood out from the uniformity of the Island, but it was better than nothing.

As Sted had predicted, when Benny got to the control room, he didn't recognize anyone from the day before. He walked as calmly as he could to a computer and sat down in front of it. The man to his left didn't give him a second glance.

Benny quickly pulled up the live readings of his ship and scanned for life signs. He was trying his best not to be constantly looking over his shoulder, but that was proving to be difficult. Fortunately, it was not long before the scan was complete, and he saw only two life signs on the entire ship.

Unfortunately, they signs were moving too fast for Benny to be able to program an accurate transport, and he was only going to have one shot at it before he gave himself away. Also, he was unnerved by the lack of other life signs on the ship. Either the pirates had given up or they had figured out the shielding system in place on the vents and were hiding out. Benny desperately hoped that it was the former.

Benny glanced at the clock. 06:09. He had been out of the cell for almost 10 minutes. He prayed desperately that Kaz and Asya, the two fast moving dots he was sure, would stop soon.

He got his wish, but just as he was about to launch the transport, he froze in horror. His thought was correct. Twenty new life signs had appeared on his screen, surrounding the original two.

On the plus side, Benny was now even more sure than ever that the two people he had been about to transport onto the Island were Kaz and Asya. However, he would have to fine tune his transport so that only Kaz and Asya would be brought back. Somehow, Benny didn't think that transporting almost two dozen pirates onto the Island would help their case much.

Working as fast as he could, Benny's finger was just about to hit the confirm button when a loud, jarring voice stopped him.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Benny turned his hand to see a tall man coming toward him. Two other men, both holding Light guns, flanked him. Benny took a deep breath and before any of the three men coming toward him could do anything, he pressed his finger on the confirmation button.

A bright light filled the room.