Prologue
Yondu twirled his Yaka arrow between his fingers, trying to quell the rising dread in his stomach. He’d just gotten off a call with a possible employer: Ego. There was something unsettling about him that made Yondu feel like he was selling his soul just agreeing to look over the contract Ego had sent him. It was an outrageous sum just to “escort his progeny” to his planet. Yondu may not be the brightest star in the galaxy, but he knew a shady deal when he saw one. He just couldn’t put his finger on why.
He suddenly stopped his twirling, grasping the arrow in his hand. The realization had hit him: it was technically child trafficking, which was explicitly against the Ravager’s code. Since Ego knew Yondu was the leader of a Ravager clan, he definitely knew that was Yondu was breaking the code if he carried out this deal. And if Yondu broke the code, he’d be exiled from the Ravagers. That meant that Yondu would be a scapegoat for whatever plan Ego cooked up for his kids. His stomach plummeted. He had to talk to Stakar.
“Kraglin!” Yondu called out for his first mate.
“Yes, Cap’n?” Kraglin responded, popping his head into the doorway.
“Set a course to Contraxia. There’s a job I need to consult Stakar about.” Yondu gruffly ordered.
“Yes, Cap’n.” Kraglin disappeared down the hall.
Yondu started twirling his arrow again. This was going to be a hell of a conversation with his mentor.
~~~
Stakar let out a whistle. “That’s one hell of a business proposition.”
Yondu nodded miserably. “Yep.”
“And I don’t need to tell you that despite the payoff, it’s still child trafficking and against the Ravagers’ code.” Stakar said sternly, his piercing gaze boring a hole into Yondu’s soul.
“Yes.” Yondu shifted in his seat, swirling his drink. “But I want to check it out.”
“Why?” Stakar asked, incredulous.
“I wanna know what’s he’s gonna do with his kids. If it’s bad enough that I’d be a scapegoat, I wanna know exactly how bad.” Yondu downed his drink.
“Fair enough.” Stakar shrugged, downing his own drink. “But we need to come up with a plan to smoke him out.”
“Yep, I was already thinking about that. All I’ve got so far is paying a visit to his planet and investigatin’ the place.” Yondu said.
Stakar nodded absentmindedly. “That’s a start. You’re probably gonna need back-up, though.”
“Yeah, you gonna help me out with that?” Yondu asked.
Stakar shrugged. “I’ll ask around, see what I can do. Aleta and Martinex would probably be in, but they might object to the whole child trafficking aspect in the initial deal.”
Yondu winced. “Can I make up for that later? Like maybe I rescue kids some other time?”
Stakar chuckled. “Sure, sure, we’ll sort out what to do later. Just remember to be glad you didn’t take this deal.”
Yondu groaned. “Yeah, yeah, I know, can it.”
Stakar just laughed harder.