It's scorched from its trip through the atmosphere—but some of these scorch marks look more like damage from weapons.

There's no door visible from the front, but when they circle around to the back there's a set of doors that look like they slide open. Keith starts poking likely-looking bits of ship with the tip of his dagger, looking for a 'door open' button or something.

Magini traces the door outline with her fingertips, then spots a small indent off to the side that looks like it could be a button?

She pushes it.

The doors slide open! 

Inside is more black-and-grey metal, more red and purple blinky lights, and...a remarkably human-looking figure lying in a crumpled heap on the floor? Their face isn't visible from the doorway, just a brown-skinned hand and short black hair streaked with white. 

Wait - is that - 

What the hell?

(—it's not Shiro, there's no way it's him, people don't just come back—)

He's through the doors and crouching by the person's side in seconds. Do they wake up when he prods them? No. Can he turn them onto their side to check their breathing—

It's him. 

He's unconscious, a lump on his forehead speaking of a concussion. 

There's a new scar on his face since Keith last saw him just over a year ago, a broad line straight across the bridge of his nose. Part of his hair has turned white. His cheeks are gaunt, his skin is pale from lack of sun, but he's put on muscle. 

His right arm, to a few inches above the elbow, is made of metal. There are horrible jagged scars where it meets flesh. 

Ami rushes up the ramp moments after Keith, and - 

how 

- but it is, it's Shiro, and he doesn't look like he's okay at all, but he's here and he's alive, and if he's alive maybe -

Magini saw that there was someone in there, but she can't see past the other two and doesn't want to crowd them. She looks around, awkwardly, and -

 - sees the approaching headlamps of the Garrison vehicles -

"Guys? We're going to have company soon!"

Ami's face hardens as her feelings go back in the box. Not the time.

She taps Keith on the shoulder.

"Hey. We need to get him out of here, now. If the Garrison takes him..."

She starts reaching for Shiro's shoulder. "Help me carry him to the bike?"

—right, yes, they need to get moving. He gets his shoulder under one of Shiro's arms and hauls, although not without a glare in Ami's direction for just assuming they're doing this together. 

(She notices Keith glaring, and files it away for later. Neither of their feelings matter right now, as long as they're both doing what they need to.)

Picking Shiro upright and starting down the ramp, she calls out to Magini: "We're getting out of here and taking him with us! Can you get ready to help us get him onto Keith's bike?"

As they're halfway down the ramp, Shiro starts to stir awake, almost making them drop him. 

"...huh? Keith? Where..." 

"You're gonna be okay, Shiro. I've got you." 

Ami - doesn't add anything. The man is in no condition to talk, and she barely knows him, really.

She does quicken her pace a bit, though. She can see the headlights approaching fast, and if Shiro's awake, they can be a bit less careful. 

Magini is really stressed out about this, actually! That man might have a concussion! He looks like he needs medical attention, not to be taken away on a hoverbike??

She could - refuse to help? Interfere? And - get the 3 of them arrested, probably, and her and Ami expelled, certainly, but the rules they've been breaking exist for a reason!

She opens her mouth to object, argue, say something, anything, but - 

...the look on Keith's face stops her in her tracks.

Keith, who'd been so clearly broken when he thought Shiro  was dead. Who'd thrown away his own future at the Garrison because he was convinced they were lying about his friend. And he was right, because the man is here now. 

And Keith is only here now because she invited him. Magini  can't bring herself to betray him (and Ami, who's been so kind and helpful to her, even if they're not really friends the way Magini had fooled herself into thinking they were) now, not when there's no time to even talk about it. She can talk to them about it later.

Her objections die in her throat, and she drags herself over to the hoverbike, ready to help commit further crimes.

Between the four of them, they get Shiro on the passenger seat. He's just about aware enough to wrap his arms around Keith's waist and hold on, but he's still pretty dazed and seems liable to fall off if nobody holds onto him. 

When it becomes clear that the problem isn't immediately obvious to Ami, Magini slips back into Safety Mode and instructs the taller girl to sit right behind Shiro and lean forward, gripping the front edges of his seat to keep them both secured. 

Then she climbs onto the hoverbike's tail (facing backwards for stability), and clings to it like it's her only friend in the world. "Ready!" 

Vrooom. 

Some of the Garrison vehicles follow the hoverbike, but not all: most of them have stopped to actually secure the crashed ship. Keith drives fast and recklessly, taking advantage of the terrain and his bike's manoeuvrability. The cars following them are sturdy all-terrain armoured buggies with wheels, not hovercars, so if he...

There's a cliff up ahead. He heads directly for the edge. He doesn't slow down. 

By the time Ami processes what's about to happen, it's far too late to do anything besides cling tight and hope Keith knows what he's doing. (He wouldn't risk Shiro, he wouldn't, he wouldn't...)

She avoids screaming, but it's a close thing.

Their pursuers screech to a halt at the top of the cliff. Keith doesn't. 

They freefall down, down, down...

...and with perfect timing, Keith kicks the thrusters back on just a few feeet from the ground, redirecting their momentum into forwards movement. 

Magini, facing backwards, doesn't see the cliff until they're already over the edge.

Huh, a detached part of her thinks as the rest of her screams in terror, I think I've literally had this as an applied physics question? How did it go... "Reckless Justina has driven her hovercraft off a cliff of height Y! If the hovercraft has thruster force F⃗, a hoverfield strength H, weight W, and had initial vertical velocity V_y0, solve for Y_max such that Justina and her craft can survive the landing unscathed. Assume negligible drag and standard gravity, and that Justina is a skilled pilot and keeps the craft level the entire descent." 

For most reasonable values of F⃗ and H, she remembers that Y_max was surprisingly large! Hovercraft are much safer than they look, when they're piloted well. 

Weirdly, she doesn't find this very reassuring.

Shiro whoops in delight. He seems more alert than he did a few minutes ago.