Chapter 18
Everyone was waiting for my response and I rub my face again, trying to think of one. "I'm worrying over the Captain because he's the Captain. He needs to be OK and the crew should look out for him. Maybe not by breaking into his Quarters... But, still. Now, I'm going to put my headphones on, turn my music on, grab my weapons, and go back to my Quarters and back to sleep." I start to do that and put my hand at my hip where my Walkman's supposed to be. "Where the Hell's my Walkman?" I put my headphones around my neck again and look around a bit to see it on the floor where I was before I rolled to get away from Yondu's arrow, going over to pick it up.
There's a hole in it. From the arrow. I clench it slightly and look at Yondu. "Wha'?"
"You put your arrow through my Walkman and cassette tape."
"M'bad, Girl." I take a deep breath to stay calm and look at him.
"Yeah, it is. Cuz not I've got to figure out how to fucking fix it. Thank you very much, Captain. Because I didn't want to go back to sleep. Seriously appreciate it." I start to leave his Quarters and think of a way to fix my Walkman.
"'Ey, relax. If ya can fix tha' by 0500, Ah'll give ya whateva ya want. A'ight?" I look at Yondu and he looks sincere. "Ya gotta do it in 'ere so Ah can be sure ya ain't askin' nobody else ta fix it."
"Whatever I want?"
"Yeah."
"Deal. You got tools in here?" He slides me a cart of them and I stop it with my boot, sitting on the floor to start working on it. The arrow had singed a bit of a circle when it went through and I take off the covers, including the back. "You got one battery. Gods." I take it out and look at it for a moment. That looks cool... I pocket it and continue to work on it, thinking as I murmur under my breath to myself. "Save the cassette for last because it'll be the most difficult if he hit the tape on the inside... Fix the outside of it..."
I pop the cassette out and hold it between my teeth while I melt plastic where the arrow went through, humming very softly to myself. I root around on the cart for another battery and pop it in where it goes before taking apart the cassette. "Please don't be broken..." I look at the tape and see that the singe just barely missed it. "Oh thank fuck," I murmur under my breath and put the cassette back together, popping it back into the Walkman.
I try to play my music and hold one headphone over my ear, smiling a bit when it worked. "Done. And it works." Yondu comes over and takes the headphones to make sure I was telling the truth, handing them back to me after a moment.
"A'ight. Wha'cha wan'?"
"Rocket's been talking about taking me out in a ship he has to show me the ropes with the blasters attached to it since Dad won't let me anywhere near the ones on his ship after the Kree and Milano incident. Two annual cycles ago. It alright if I go with him? You'd get a while without having to deal with me." He looks me over and nods.
"A'ight. Keep yer weapons on ya."
"You got it, Cap. Good... Whatever this is classified as at this point." I wave slightly and start to leave. Yondu stops me and I look at him.
"'Ave a sit. Ain't worth it ta git back ta sleep." He shoves me onto the couch and I don't bother arguing, not seeing a point.
"Yeah, OK. An hour of sleep will work, I guess."
"Ya slept a lot 'fore tha' job," Kraglin points out and I shrug one shoulder, thinking.
"Eh, not really. I just didn't leave my Quarters. Oh, that reminds me. I got this holopad of languages done." I pull it out of my pants pocket and hand it to Yondu. "Proficient in reading and writing them. I would've beaten my record with the last one, but I had jobs all over the ship to do in the span of two solar cycles so that holopad got pushed back a bit. I still got it done, though." He nods and looks through it.
"Hang on. You gave her two solar cycles to get done the shit we told you to get done by the next annual meeting?" Aleta asks and Yondu grins charmingly.
"I got two solar cycles to get done shit that could've been done in an annual cycle? What the fuck, dude?" He cackles and pulls out a new holopad.
"'Ere's yer next one, Girl. Beat yer record, yeah?"
"Yeah, OK. Ignore me. That's fine. Don't have anything better to do right now." I take the holopad and look through it. "What's this one for, exactly?" He shrugs and I give him a blank look. "Very helpful and enlightening. Thank you." He scoffs and I look through the program. "So... Anatomy."
"Wha'?"
"How bodies work and how they're set up. Oh, yay. The first one is Centaurians. So I could stab you and not hit vital organs. Yay," I say sarcastically and start going through the program.
"Wha'?"
"Sarcasm. I was using sarcasm. It's not worth my time nor my effort to stab you without hitting vital organs. Nor am I interested in doing so." I go through the program easily and retain the information just as easily. "Doc wants me to do these?"
"Yeah. Doc is... Doc," Kraglin scoffs and I shrug one shoulder.
"If I were to get stabbed or shot on a job and you're the only one there, I'd damned well hope you know how my body works, where things are, and how to not kill me with pain killers. So... Doc being Doc makes sense," I say simply as I glance at them and they don't respond so I go back to my lessons. "Besides, this is easy."
"Not fer yer Daddy."
"Well, I got my brains from my Mom, then." I shrug and continue to work on the lessons, doing the quizzes as they pop up. "Are you going to be sticking me in Med at some point this annual cycle?"
"If Doc wants ya, yeah."
"Alright, cool."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hear the door open and look up from the holopad to see Rocket had gotten in. "Hey, ya blue idiot."
"Rat. How ya git in 'ere?" Rocket just smirks and I decide to change the subject away from that.
"Hey, Rocket. We heading out soon?"
"Yeah. What're we doing again? Quill and 'Mora took off so I got left with everything."
"I am Groot!" Groot hollers from the open door from Mantis' shoulder, Drax behind her, and I smile a bit.
"Hey, Bonsai." Groot smiles and hops off of Mantis's shoulder, coming over to climb into my lap. I move him onto my shoulder and he looks at my holopad.
"I am Groot?"
"You're having her work on how bodies operate? Is she even smart enough for that?"
"Seeing as how they all work more or less the same way and all of the data has transferred to my visor in case I need to look back on it at any point, which I probably won't because I retain information easily, I'm done. So, I must be smart enough. Also, what time is it?"
"0600."
"Well then. Here's this back. I'm going to go get something to eat. Meet you in the hangar?" Rocket nods and I give Yondu back the holopad before I leave, going to Mess.
"Here's your food. Choke."
"I want to at this point. 'Preciate it."
"You've got issues."
"Yup." I eat quickly at a table in the corner and notice Yondu and Kraglin coming in as I finish, both looking pissed about something as their eyes roam the crowded mess. I dump my tray and skirt through the crew, noticing Yondu's arrow flitting around the ceiling as they walk through Mess, looking for someone or something. I go through the doorway and head to the hangar.
"Blue's pissed at you cuz you left a mess of tools," Rocket says simply as we get on an M-ship I haven't seen before and I get strapped in.
"That why they came into Mess looking ready to kill?"
"Probably. They're idiots, kid."
"Most of this family is. Let's do this, dude."
"I knew I liked you for some reason."
"You tried to kill me the first time we met."
"I tried to kill everyone the first time we met."
"Right. You and Drax almost blew up the ship when Gramps caught Dad and Gamora." He chuckles and nods. "This family is insane."
"Yeah. I'd say it's cuz you joined it but we've been like this for a while."
"Yeah." He pilots us out of the hangar and away from the Eclector. "Ugh. I'm exhausted."
"Get some sleep on that bunk then. It's gonna be a long flight." I nod and do that, collapsing on the bunk before I fall asleep nearly instantly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sit up suddenly and my heart was racing as I look around. "You good, kid?" I rub my face and let out a slow breath.
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm good... Must've had a nightmare or something..." I get up and go over to the co-pilot's seat, sitting in it. "How close are we?"
"Nearly there. Wanna pilot the rest of the way?"
"Really?" He nods and I strap in.
"Alright. Switching control to you, kid. Don't fuck up." I take control of the ship and pilot it carefully. "When we get this shit, we're gonna need to get away quick. So, you're going to have to do evasive maneuvers or be on the blasters. You do realize that, right?" I nod and he watches me. "Then go faster, kid."
"Alright..." I speed up and he watches me closer as I relax slowly, feeling more comfortable in piloting the ship.
"Alright, preparing a jump. Take us through it." He prepares it and I take us through it, seeing a row of planets.
"Isn't that the planet Sovereign?"
"Yup."
"The one that has people on it that hate people from other planets and genetically engineer their people?"
"Uh-huh."
"These guys want to kill you?"
"You got it."
"OK... Well... Let's do this, then." He directs me on how to land the ship and I carefully do that, unstrapping once we've landed.
"You know how to blend into your surroundings?" I adjust the scarf-like thing around my neck to cover my face and to pin my hair into it, doing up my duster. "Alright. Nice job with the duster." I nod a bit and make sure I could still get to my weapons. "Ready?" I nod again and we disembark the ship, moving quietly through buildings to get to what we're stealing.
I come across a golden machine that looks ominous and look at Rocket, who was staring at it. "I'm gonna destroy that cuz I got a bad feeling about it." He nods and hands me a bomb then a detonator. I go over and put the bomb inside it before we both quickly leave that area.
"Hey. We're here," He hisses to me and I go over to him, pulling a pouch from my pocket then another to give to him. "Can those fit a lot?" I nod and we start to take vials of yellow liquid. "These batteries will work for anything and we can get a lot of units for them." We put the batteries in the pouches and I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
"Let's go." He finishes filling the pouch he had and I do the same quickly. I take the pouch from him and put them in a hidden pocket before we quickly leave.
Alarms start going off and I see a metal door starting to slide shut in front of us that will lead us out of the building. "Fuck! We ain't gonna make it!" Rocket starts to slow down and I think for a moment.
"Sorry ahead of time for this."
"Huh?" I grab him by the scruff of his neck and activate my blaster boots to fly toward the door. "Watch it!" He hisses and I turn as I hit the floor so we're sliding under the door with me on my back, the door slamming once my feet are through. I adjust how I am and quickly fly back toward the ship, activating the detonator.
"That varmint was here! Find him! Bring him to me! So I can kill him!" Rocket looks nervous and I land outside of the ship, setting him down.
"They'll have to go through me to get to you, Rocket. I've got your six." He nods a bit and I look him over, closing the door so we can take off. "Pilot or blow shit up?"
"I'll pilot... You blow shit up..." I nod and go to the blaster area while he goes to the controls. I strap in and we're taking off, moving quickly.
A bunch of golden orbs with glass rectangles curving around them surrounds us and I start to take them down. One of them slams into the wing and I shoot it down quickly. "Don't let them hit us, kid!"
"I'm trying here!" I shoot more down and the wings get slammed into more before I'm able to take them down. I take down as many as I can and can tell something's off before we even start to plummet planetside. "Damnit!"
"Brace yourself!" I do just that and we hit the ground hard, warnings flashing despite the shields taking some of the damage, grunting.
I unstrap once we've slid to a stop and meet Rocket near Controls. "You alright?"
"Yeah. Are you?"
"I'm fine, kid. How the Hell are we going to get out of this?" I shrug and think a bit, chewing on my lip lightly. "Any ideas here? Cuz I got nothing."
"We could call someone."
"Who?"
"Sparkles?"
"You want to call Martinex T'Naga, First Mate of Stakar Ogord? Are you fucking insane?"
"Yes...?"
"Alright. Call him, kid." I nod and contact him quickly with a transmission.
"Rogue? What's wrong?"
"Hey, Sparkles. So... I need your help..."
"What is it?"
"Rocket and I crashed and we need some help getting off of the planet."
"Send me your coordinates." I nod and do that, able to tell when he gets it because he reads them off softly. "M49 5I0L339P21+H9LNI31... You're on Sovereign?" He bellows and I kind of flinch, chuckling nervously. "What the Hell are you doing on Sovereign?"
"It's not like we chose where we wanted to crash, Sparkles! We would've chosen somewhere we didn't just steal shit from!" Rocket facepalms and I realize what I said, paling a bit.
"What?" He growls and I gulp a bit, smiling nervously at him.
"Nothing?" I try and he glares at me through the transmission. "OK... We stole two pouches of batteries... And blew something up..." I admit and Rocket sits on the floor.
"What the Hell were you thinking, Rogue? They kill people who steal from them! No trial! Just death!"
"I didn't know that..."
"You don't know anything! You're a kid and you're still new to this! When Udonta finds out-"
"No! Don't tell him!" He looks at me and I run a hand through my hair, finally putting my scarf-like thing back where it goes. "Please, Sparkles... I swear that I'll tell him eventually... But, please... Don't tell him..." I was practically begging and I know I sounded pathetic.
"Fine... I'm coming to get you, two idiots, now. Don't get caught by the Sovereign. I won't be able to help you if you do." I nod and he ends the transmission before I start pacing the ship, worried about what's going to happen.