“It’s been a good run,” Elio panted, keeping his blaster pointed firmly at the outlaw he’d been chasing for the better part of a year now, “But it’s time to give up now. C’mon. Hands up where I can see ‘em.”

Sweat beaded at his brow. Days of chasing had turned to weeks, to months, to nearly an entire year. For what? He couldn’t tell you. At first, it had been for the bounty. For the money, but as the weeks stretched into months, it was clear that there was more at play.

It wasn’t about the money anymore. Elio would never admit it out loud, but he would miss the chase. The surge of adrenaline every time he would find them, and the rush he got when his target managed to narrowly slip through his grasp. That was over now, and it needed to end now before his feelings got even more complicated.

Here was his target; unarmed and exhausted at his feet before him, with a blaster pointed right in their face. The sun was beginning to set over the desert dunes of Aurora Prime, a small planet colonized by humanity nearly three hundred years ago.

“You gonna come quietly? We can end this right here,” Elio whispered, cocking his blaster, pressing it against his target’s throat. “Or, well,” he chuckled, his eyes darkening, “The bounty poster did say dead or alive.”

It would be up to his target — did they want to go in warm, or cold?

“Choice’s yours, darlin’.”