Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Cap’n! Got another lead on one’a Ego’s kids!” Yondu spun his chair to face the Ravager who called him. “Little squirt’s as blue as you,” the man added as he turned the monitor toward his captain.

“Little squirt,” Yondu snorted. “She's big enough t’spit in yer eye. That ain't little.” He stood up and walked over to the monitor, tilted it so he could look better. “Wonder where she's from.”

“The big man’s notes say...um…” the Ravager trailed off and tried to close down his screen before Yondu could see.

Yondu gave him a glare and opened the note file himself. “Centauri IV. Where is she now?” He felt his jaw tense and made an effort to purge the emotional reaction.

“Asteroid belt miners.” The Ravager shifted in his seat. “About four jumps from here.”

“Chart it, let’s go,” Yondu snapped and shoved away the monitor. Shoved away the gaunt little blue face. With her big red-brown eyes, full of distrust already. He stomped to his chair and threw himself into it, put his feet up and crossed his arms over his chest. “Move out!”

She looked like she was maybe ten or eleven. The all-elbows look of a girl pre-puberty, not quite grown into her body yet. Her narrow stripe of peach fuzz over her crest bone looked like it might come in red like his had. Or maybe dark orange. The picture had been taken from an angle that kept her proportions shrunken, but he could still tell she'd spent a good amount of her childhood hungry. Yondu tried to keep his face still, but there were too many memories hiding in her face.

“She got a name?” he finally called back to the Ravager behind him.

“It’s a mouthful.”

Yondu smiled to himself. “Tell me.”

“Oluwaseyi? She answers to a bunch of variations.”

With a slow nod, Yondu let himself stare into the middle distance. “Oluwaseyi.” The name rolled off his tongue in a way the Ravager hadn’t managed. He took in a long breath and let it out again, curling his tongue to follow the clicks and thrums of his birth language. “God made this.” He closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the headrest of his chair. “Yeah. I suppose he did.”

Luway crouched against the wall of the cell. She was tired of being shuttled around like cargo. She wanted out. She shifted uncomfortably and stared out at the guards pacing in the hallway outside her cell. Nobody ever thought the skinny little blue girl was something to worry about. It had worked in her favor more than once.

She ran a hand over the fuzz of her crest, a self-comforting motion, then sidled up to the grate as the guards paced down to the opposite ends of the corridor. She’d have just enough time… She worked her lock picks out of her pouch and started on the lock, chewing her lip as she focused on aligning the tumblers properly. None of the guards seemed to notice what she was doing and Luway sighed in relief when the lock relaxed in her hands, finally clicking into place.

The guards were looking away. It was perfect. Luway toed open the door carefully and poked her head out, tracking one set of guards, then the other. When both were solidly out of sight, she lightly sprinted across the hall and leaped for the ventilation shaft she had been studying. With a quick flick of her knife blade, she unscrewed the face plate and writhed into the cramped space, pulling the plate closed behind her. Moving silently, she waited for the guards to pace back towards her cell, watched them cross and pause to stare at the open door, the empty cage. She grinned gleefully. Let them suck on that for a while.

The alarms went off and she sighed. The only bad part about waiting to watch the guards freak out over her empty cell was that it would be harder to lift a pod. She wriggled down the narrow passages of the ventilation system, far too narrow for a fully-grown adult of any intelligent species she knew. Someday, she’d miss being this small and skinny. When she spotted the branch that serviced the hangar bay, she contorted herself around the curve and scrabbled, almost getting stuck there in a half U-bend. She pulled herself free with a gasp and threw herself down the passage, hitting the exhaust grate with her shoulder and rolling out behind a stack of crates.

More guards pounded across the hangar bay’s dock and she watched them leave before she made a mad dash for one of the small service pods that would be less noticeable when missing than an escape pod. She scrambled inside, ripped open the console and started matching wires until the engine roared to life. With glee, she locked down the outside of the pod and steered it for the open docking port, screaming her way past the confused and alarmed port authorities. “Later, bitches!” she howled into an open comm broadcast and cranked the little pod’s engine to full throttle.

“Looks like they’re having trouble.”

Yondu blinked and craned his neck to look at the screens as the ship made the final jump and they decelerated outside of the asteroid field. He looked just in time to see the miners deploying a spray of small maintenance pods in pursuit of one of their own, which seemed to be almost skipping across the edges of the field. “So they are,” he grinned.

The comm unit ripped to life and a female voice howled, “Later, bitches!” as the little service pod managed its only available jump. That kind of jump would only bring her as far as the nearest system, but it was enough to set the miners’ ships in disarray.

“Can we get a fix on that jump?” he called back.

“Yeah, boss,” came the instant response. “Pluggin’ it now.”

“Get the landing grapple ready,” Yondu added as he leaned forward in his chair, rubbing his hands together. “We’ve got us a godling to catch.” The ship jerked its way through the short jump and instantly, the landing grapple flicked out to catch hold of the service pod. The pod sideslipped and Yondu heard the controller behind him curse. The grapple flicked out again, this time securing the pod in space. Almost immediately, that same voice screamed out in inarticulate rage over an open comms channel. “Easy there, honey,” Yondu chuckled as he keyed into the same channel. “We’re not gonna hurt’cha.”

The barrage of half-garbled language that came back made him pause with an amused set to his lips. She was fluent in Centaurian. More than fluent, she spoke with the Mountain dialect he remembered from his childhood. He waited until she ran out of clicks and chuffs, then said calmly in the same language, “I didn’t think my mother was that flexible.”

The silence over the comm was profound and Yondu grinned quietly to himself. He’d surprised her. Good. “You speak the home language,” she finally said, her voice low and awestruck.

“I do,” Yondu agreed. “Mind if we bring you aboard? That pod can’t have much fuel left after the jump.” The girl didn’t answer and he smiled. She wasn’t stupid, either. “Girlie, we’re takin’ you aboard, don’ matter what you say,”  he said in Common. “Don’t give us no trouble.” He nodded to the Ravager controlling the landing grapple and the man started drawing the pod into the bay.

“Got her,” the man announced and Yondu nodded.

“Keep her under guard, but for fuck’s sake, don’t shoot her.” He stood up from his command chair and strode out to the catwalks. When he reached the docking bay, he found a ring of Ravagers with their weapons pointed at the little service pod, which was steaming in the warm, humid air inside the ship. “Come out, come out!” he hollered and hammered one fist against the side of the pod. From inside, the girl’s voice echoed back in a string of clicking, whistling vulgarity and Yondu laughed openly. “I hear you in there, girlie. Y’got spunk, but we still gotta pry you outta that tin can. We can do it hard or we can do it easy and I’m not much in the mood for hard right now.”

The pod went eerily silent and several of his men shuffled their feet nervously behind him. Yondu sighed and turned to Kraglin. “Get her out,” he said, waving a hand, then raised his voice again. “Girlie, we’re opening this thing like a can of freeze-packed fish. If you know what’s good for you--and I’m sure you do--you get back from that door and be ready to do what I tell you to.”

The lanky teenaged Xandarian stepped forward with the laser cutter and started working his way through the pod’s outer hull. Yondu stood back with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting. When Kraglin was about a third of the way finished, the door suddenly sprang open, colliding with his shoulder and knocking him aside. Someone behind Yondu howled and there was a smattering of gunfire before he shouted them down again, “Don’t you dare kill her! We need her alive!”

With the hatch open, they could see inside the cramped service pod; it appeared empty. Slowly, Yondu walked up to the entrance and peered inside. “C’mon, girlie. I know you’re in there.”

“Name’s not Girlie.” Her voice lashed out like a blade and Yondu staggered backward as the blue dart of a girl sprang out of a narrow hiding place. She had a narrow knife in either hand and swiped at his face, then collided with his chest and shinnied up him like a tree. Before he could even react, she had kicked off from his shoulders and vanished over the top of the pod while the more trigger-happy Ravagers blasted after her.

“I know.”

That simple phrase in her home language, her heart language made her freeze in the shelter of the pod, breathing hard. Luway turned her head slowly, chewing her lip hard. He was Centaurian, like her. He spoke her language, even her own dialect. He was from her tribe. “Oluwaseyi. God made this. Did a god make you, little girl?”

She pressed her forehead against the condensation-damp hull of the pod. He said her name. In their language. With her mother’s accent. Tears she didn’t want to deal with started to creep down her face. She had been alone for so long. Luway wiped angrily at her face and tried to track where her next move would need to be, where she needed to go to hide.

And then he whistled.

Luway looked up to see a yaka arrow hanging in the air above her head, glowing faintly red. He didn’t know where she was, couldn’t see her. But he knew she’d know the arrow. Nervously, she licked her lips and focused, slowly pressing the high-octave whistle through her mouth and over her lips. The arrow rotated like the dial on a compass, pointing back toward the men in the docking bay. She heard the other Centaurian chuckle, then whistle again, correcting the direction of the arrow. “We know each other,” he said. “You and I. Come out. I promise, nothing bad will happen.”

Carefully, she worked her way on her belly back across the top of the pod until she could peep over at him. The arrow returned to him, settling into his hand and he put it away inside his jacket, grinning confidently. “Come down like a good girl,” he called to her. “Show these creeps what manners look like.”

At his words, Luway felt something like pride in her chest. She lifted her chin and swung her legs around, glided down off the side of the pod and stood in front of him. She stared him down, this Centaurian with his precision yaka arrow and his implanted control crest. He looked her up and down, then met her eyes, just as stubborn. Just as alone, in spite of all his men behind him. “You can call me Luway,” she said.

“Yondu,” he replied. He held out his hand and flicked the fingers back towards himself, palm up. “The knives, girl. Hand ‘em over.” She reversed the blades and handed them to him. “And turn out the pockets.” He nodded at her coveralls. She let her lips twitch, then did so, handing him the rations bars she had stolen from the pod’s life kit and a stun-fist to deliver an electric shock with a punch. “All of ‘em.”

Luway raised her eyebrows and held her hands out to her sides, showing him the inverted coverall pockets. “I’m out.”

Yondu tilted his head with an amused scowl. “Don’ make me check myself.” With a huff, Luway unzipped the horizontal access on her chest and reached into her pouch, removed the lock picks and handed them over. Yondu turned the little roll of picks over in his hand with a grin. “You’ve been dealin’ with the singles too long, girlie. You thought I wouldn’t remember a mama-pouch?”

“I didn’t think you’d be gross enough to mention it in front of singles.” Luway put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “What do you want with me, anyway? You know my name, so it’s not just a retrieval on a stolen pod.”

“Yer daddy sent us to fetch you,” Yondu said as he pushed her lock picks into the pocket of his coat. “Said it’s time for his wayward hopper to come home.”

Luway scoffed. “Ain’t got no daddy. Whoever sent you’s been lying.”

“His money’s good anyway,” Yondu said with a shrug. “C’mon quiet, girl, and we’ll put you in a room instead of a cell.” When Luway quietly came to his side, there was a burble of nervous whispering from the crowd of Ravagers and Yondu glared them into silence. “I say she gets a room. Instead of a cell. For good behavior.” He tilted his head to glance down at Luway. “And you can keep it if you don’ give us no more trouble. Can you do that for me, girlie?”

“You think it’s fuckin’ likely?” she shot back without looking at him and Yondu threw his head back to laugh.

Chapter Text

“Hey.” A small, knuckly fist slammed into Yondu’s shoulder and he jerked before looking up from his dinner. Luway was glaring at him, her hands on her hips. “Why the fuck am I bleeding?”

The entire mess hall went utterly still as the Ravagers all looked nervously at each other. They really were not used to having women on board, even a proto-woman. “You’re bleeding?” Yondu asked her, feeling a little bit stupid. “You hurt?”

“I don’t know,” Luway snapped irritably. “I just woke up and there’s blood all over my bed. I don’t feel like I’m hurt, but it’s gross as fuck, Yondu. What the hell?”

Slowly, small pieces of information congealed in Yondu’s head and made the connections necessary to explain. “Oh. Cramps? Yer always a bitch, so that’s no gauge of nothin’.” When Luway nodded warily, he grinned at her. “Yer becomin’ a woman!”

“I’ve always been a woman,” she shot back with a snort.

“No, I mean the grown-up kind.” Yondu got up from the table and shooed her away from the mess hall while the other Ravagers looked at each other awkwardly and tried to pretend the whole thing hadn’t happened. With Luway ahead of him, he half-chased her down the hallway until they had enough space and privacy that he felt safe talking. “Don’ suppose nobody told you the whole facts of life thing, huh?”

Luway gave him a flat, unimpressed stare. “When a mommy and a daddy love each other VEWY MUCH…” Yondu glared at her and she grinned at him impishly. “I’ve picked up the basics.”

“Then why’re you yelling at me?”

“There’s blood all over my bed.” She waved a hand in the general direction of her quarters.

Yondu shook his head. “Moon times, girl. Ain’t nobody ever talked to you about that part?”

This time, Luway looked genuinely nervous and frustrated. “I don’t know,” she said quietly and hugged her arms over her belly. “I was only five when slavers found me, took me away. My mother didn’t get to tell me much.”

Yondu sighed and reached a hand to rest it on her shoulder. “Girl, I’m sorry. I know this ain’t easy. Weren’t for me, neither. C’mon, I think I got somethin’ that’ll help.” Luway squirmed a little, then let him pull her into a quick hug and followed him down the hallway. “There ain’t much communication outta Centauri IV. No culture or science or history or nothing. But there’re enough of us in the Kree gladiator pits that I learned what I could about sex stuff.” He opened the door to his cabin and let her inside. Before she had a chance to sit down, he paused and added, “What’d you do about the blood?”

“I stuffed my sheets in the recycler,” Luway said nervously.

“And…” Yondu glanced downward significantly, then raised his eyebrows. Baffled, Luway just shook her head and Yondu sighed. “Yer nethers, girl. Have you cleaned up?” Her face went brilliantly purple and he tried not to smile. “Sorry. Into the shower. I’ll look fer the stuff I’ve got and we’ll talk when yer clean.” She stomped off to his bathroom, grumbling the whole while and Yondu shook his head with a grin. While the sonic sprayer hummed and buzzed in the bathroom, he pulled up a file of graphics that he had saved in case of emergencies that might include going to a doctor unfamiliar in Centaurian anatomy. He liked all of his bits where they were and didn’t enjoy the thought of losing any of them to a quack.

Distantly, he heard Luway call from the shower, “Isn’t this kinda early? I thought Xandarians can’t have kids until they’re teenagers.”

“We don’ live as long as Xandarians,” Yondu said, almost to himself but still loud enough for her to hear. “Our ten is their fifteen.”

Luway’s call became a disgusted whine: “Does it ever stop!?”

“Takes a few days,” he called back.

“WHAT?!” With a crash and the sound of bare feet hitting decking, Luway stomped back into his cabin, waving her arms and, interestingly enough, utterly naked. “What the fuck do you MEAN it’ll take a few days!? I am bleeding, Yondu! Fucking spray some medseal on it! I’ll bleed out in a few days!”

Yondu gave her a slow, amused look, then stood up and wrapped a blanket around her. “Calm down, ya baby.” He was surprised to find that she was shaking like a leaf and he sighed. “You won’t bleed to death. I promise.” He punched the communicator and said, “Get me some food up here. Something with protein.”

“Yes sir, Captain.”

“Okay.” Yondu steered Luway to a seat and parked her in it, then pulled another chair up to face her. “You know your own bits, I assume.” When she nodded slowly, he said, “Okay, look,” and pulled up the first diagram. She squeaked and stared, her hands over her mouth in horror while he tried not to laugh.

“Why do you even have this?” she gasped in quiet terror.

“Curiosity.” Yondu shook his head and waved a hand. “Never mind.” Carefully, he started pointing out the important parts of the reproductive system, naming them and explaining calmly and doing his best to not grin when Luway’s coloration paled to almost sky blue. “You okay, girl?”

“Sure,” she squeaked. “Fine. Never better. The only other member of my race that I know has fetish porn pictures of the inside of a woman. I’m totally okay.”

Yondu rolled his eyes. “They aren’t porn, fer cryin’ out loud. And why would you know about porn anyway?”

“You hear things.”

“Especially around singles,” he snorted. “They’re wired differently from us, hon. Drives are different. Us Centaurians, we don’t crave it like they do. Fer us, it’s about makin’ babies. That’s all.”

Slowly, Luway relaxed until she was leaning forward to study the diagram more carefully. “I knew we were doubled. But everything’s doubled?” She reached out to trace the diagram’s tangle of fallopian tubes and the double bundle of uteri. “Everything?”

“Yup.” Yondu leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk, watching her with a small smile. “Means yer gonna be uncomfortable for a while.”

Horror dawned in Luway’s face and she stared at him. “I’m gonna bleed like this until both have emptied out?” When he nodded, she pulled the blanket up over her head and moaned. “I’m gonna die. I don’t know if I have that much blood in me, Yondu. How am I supposed to bleed like that and survive?”

“Been doin’ it for millennia,” he said with a shrug. A knock on the door drew his attention and Yondu stood up to retrieve the tray of crackers, Lumarian cheese, and strips of mostly cooked red meat that he thought might be star toad but wasn’t about to tell Luway that. “Eat,” he told her, setting it next to her on the table. “You’ll feel better.” It briefly occurred to him that the door had not clicked closed and Yondu looked up just in time to see the wide, round eyes of the kitchen boy staring at Luway in her blanket. “What you think yer starin’ at, boy!? Get outta here!” The boy squeaked and vanished and Yondu pushed the door shut until it clicked. When he turned back, Luway was nibbling on the edge of one of the strips of meat, her eyes still glued to the diagram.

“We don’t crave it like singles,” she said softly. “But all they seem to talk about is how good it feels. Does it… not?”

Yondu smiled and flopped back into his chair. “Course it does. It’s supposed to. It’s how nature tricks us into makin’ babies in the first place.” He studied the screen for a minute and smothered a smirk into his hand. “But I ‘spect it feels better when yer doin’ it with one of yer own.”

“You don’t know?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “Never had the opportunity. Not that many of us out here, really.” He tapped his booted toe against the side of the diagram’s screen. “From what I’ve heard, yer gonna feel real bad all the while this is goin’ on. Crampy, grumpy--more than usual--and sometimes even worse than that. So don’ be afraid to tell me to fuck off. Or anyone, really. Tell me and I’ll make sure y’get reduced duties.”

Luway blinked and peeked at him over the edge of her blanket, still chewing on the soggy meat. “Why are you being so nice about this?”

Yondu squirmed and looked out the porthole for a minute. “Sucks figurin’ this shit out on your own. ‘Specially when it hurts or don’t feel good. I didn’t have nobody to explain any of it to me, not really. They kinda threw stuff in my direction, but it more scared me than helped. Had to figure it out. And who knows what’s normal when yer figurin’ it all out first hand.” He smiled grimly. “Took me ‘til I was almost thirty to know that it’s normal to get stiff over nothing. No idea, but it happens and it don’ mean nothin’s broke.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, Yondu still staring out at the stars while Luway pondered the diagram in front of her. “So… can I… can I ask you stuff? And find out what’s normal?”

Yondu shrugged. “I don’ know everything, but I’ll help if I can.” He paused and grinned at her. “Just don’ punch me in the mess again, okay? The boys don’ like hearin’ about this kinda thing.”

“Singles,” she snorted and he nodded.

“So repressed.”

Down in the galley, Kraglin looked up from trying to sneak another helping of the thick, peppery, almost black stew that had been that night’s dinner. Maunti, the kitchen boy stumbled in with his eyes wide and his hands over his mouth. As soon as he’d established that it wasn’t the big Rajak cook coming in to take his head off, Kraglin resumed spooning stew into a bowl. “What’s up, Mau?”

“Captain’s got a nekkid girl in his cabin.”

Kraglin stopped and looked up at the younger boy, surprised. “What?”

“A girl,” Maunti repeated. “Totally nekkid. Wrapped up in a blanket. He was feeding her. That’s why he called.”

“There ain’t no girls on board,” Kraglin replied, trying to keep the amusement out of his tone. “The whole crew’s male or somethin’ else. Musta been looking at a holo or sompin’.” He stuffed a loaded spoon into his mouth.

“The skinny, mean, blue one.”

Kraglin choked. He hammered a fist against his chest until he could breathe normally again and stared at Maunti. “Y’mean the cargo? Ego’s kid? Why the hell would he have her in his cabin? It’s weird enough he gave her a room to herself.” He stuck the spoon back in his mouth, upside-down with the concave bowl pressed over his tongue. While he played with the spoon, Kraglin considered his own questions. He couldn’t for a minute think that Yondu was going soft over a little girl who looked like him. Yondu was the Captain and Kraglin’s personal hero.

Maunti cleared his throat and squirmed. “He was quick to throw me out.”

“He’s always quick to throw people out,” Kraglin snorted.

“She really wasn’t wearing anything. She wasn’t holdin’ the blanket very close. I could see her pouch.”

Kraglin glared at the younger boy and rolled his eyes. “You shouldn’t have been starin’ anyway. Sides, the pouch makes her decent, right? Her bitty baby tits are covered.”

Maunti covered his mouth again and giggled. “Yeah, I guess.” He resumed packing away the rest of the leftover stew while Kraglin leaned against the counter to finish his second helping. “She’s real pretty,” the younger boy whispered after a few minutes of silence. “Even with no hair.”

Kraglin worked his finger around the inside of the bowl to get the last of the stew. “She’s just cargo.” Maunti snorted in disbelief and Kraglin glared at him again. “She is. No point gettin’ attached. She’ll be gone, soon as Captain takes her to Ego. Sides. She’s a baby anyway.”

“She’s only ten,” Maunti mumbled. “But don’ some races age faster? Maybe she ain’t much younger’n you on the inside.”

“Yer bein’ gross,” snapped Kraglin. “Sides, Captain trusts me to fly solo now, so you shut yer face about my age.” He pointlessly ran his finger around the bowl again, still hoping there was more. “She is kinda pretty,” he told the inside of the bowl. “If you go fer blue and bald.”

“You don’ think Captain was gonna... Y’know…”

Kraglin looked at him in disbelief. “She’s a baby. Ew. Course he wouldn’t. Sides, I don’ think he does that kind of thing anyway. He doesn’t even stick around much with pleasure bots.”

“Huh?” Maunti sealed the lid over the last of the stew and stacked the containers in a vaccu-seal cabinet. “He heads straight fer the pleasure bots when we’re in port. Just like everyone else.”

“Sure,” Kraglin said with a shrug, “but he ain’t fuckin’ ‘em.”

“How do you know that?”

“Been around enough, y’hear things.” Kraglin leaned on the counter and stuck his nearly spotless spoon back into his mouth. “Think he mostly just gets ‘em to rub him down.”

Maunti stared at him blankly, then muttered, “Yer weird, Krag. I mean, I like you and all, but yer really weird sometimes.”

Kraglin smiled around the spoon and shrugged. “Thanks.” He dropped his bowl and spoon into the recycling slot and walked out of the kitchen with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his coveralls. He was still pretty new to this whole Ravager thing, but he knew he liked it. Feeling like the crew was a big family, even when they had little squabbles over stupid stuff like a blanket or the last of the day’s rations. Feeling like the Captain would always take care of his crew, no matter what. Sleeping in a tangle of bodies every night, just being close together for warmth and safety. He really didn’t think he knew how to sleep away from that big puppy pile anymore and he had only been on board a few months. It was so different from home. So much better.

He hadn’t meant to wander past the Captain’s cabin, but Kraglin found himself pausing outside the closed door and just thinking about what Maunti had seen--or thought he had seen. Even the idea of his hero hurting a child made him feel a little ill. Not that he didn’t think the little scrap of skinny blue meanness couldn’t take care of herself. That much had been obvious the moment she hit Kraglin with a door and used Yondu like an escape ladder. Kraglin felt a small, amused smile curling his lips. She took no shit, that was for sure.

And then a series of high-pitched whistles and clicks echoed through the door and he raised his eyebrows, listening. He could hear Yondu laughing inside as Luway continued whatever tirade she was pursuing in Centuarian. It was a true laugh, not like the sarcastic chuckle he used when he was he was trying to make a client or crew member uncomfortable. Not like the gleeful sound he made when he finished a score and was taking his cut. This was true laughter, open and content and happy. Kraglin chewed his lip thoughtfully. He’d never heard Yondu actually happy before. Maybe there was more to this particular cargo than he had thought.

Chapter Text

“I swear, I’ll tape dust rags to yer knees, you keep crawling around in the ducts.” Tullk’s voice echoed strangely down the air return and Luway grinned to herself. “Yer a damn nuisance!”

“It’s why you love me,” she replied and wriggled her way deeper until she found the little drone that had flown into the ducts earlier that week before breaking down. It was a tight squeeze, but she could reach it and tucked it into her pouch before carefully backing out of the passage again. Her legs drooped out through the access panel and she felt Tullk steady her, then help her down from the wall. She turned to him and revealed the drone, dropping it into his hands with a flourish. “You’re welcome.”

Surprised, the Ravager eyed the drone, leaned forward to briefly sniff it, then raised an eyebrow at her. “Where the ‘ell did you have this?”

“You really don’t pay attention at all, do you?” she snorted at him and trotted off down the hall without waiting for an answer.

She had been living on the ship for six months now, settling into a routine of dodging Ravagers in varying states of foul mood and stealing what interested her from their quarters while they were gone. And spying on them from the oversized duct work. This ship was a honeycomb of fantastic places to hide and she was loving every minute of it. She wasn’t sure who had designed the life support system, but they had clearly subscribed to the “full-sized adults crawling around in ductwork” school of design.

Luway waited until she was sure the hallway was clear again before she hopped up to the nearest access panel, twisted open the screws, and crawled back inside. She preferred to be up here anyway. She crawled silently through the passages until she was in the connection over the crew quarters. With a contented sigh, she stretched out on her belly and lay her head down on her arms, listening to the Ravagers below talk. They talked more freely when she wasn’t around, so she learned more, both about the world they lived in and about them personally.

Today, she could hear Taserface and one of his cronies laughing and apparently picking on someone. She opened her eyes long enough to glare, then wriggled a little closer to the vent so she could see. Their victim was standing on the other side of Taserface’s considerable bulk, so she had to wait for clues. “And what’s wrong with being what you are?” Taserface was laughing and his arm shot forward to push the other Ravager. “There ain’t nothin’ wrong with been Xandarian. They’re scrawny as fuck, but they know how to work a business-like arrangement.”

“They women pretty, too,” agreed Taserface’s buddy, whose name escaped Luway at the moment. Single syllable, something like Quam or Klin. “All sexy and pink.”

“Those are Krylorians, dimwit. And I’m jus’ fine bein’ what I am,” shot back the other Ravager from his place in front of Taserface. “It’s just hair.” Luway chewed her lip when she recognized Kraglin, one of the younger Ravagers who had been nice to her without being weird about it. He never teased her about being the same race as Yondu or being young and skinny.

“Hair that looks a lot like the boss’s fin,” Taserface chuckled. “Just dye it red and put little lights in it. You’ll be twinsies.” As she peeked out, the rough Ravager shot out his hand and ruffled Kraglin’s hair until its trademark center spike was gone. “Now, all ya gotta do is shag that li’l bluebelle.”

There was a tense silence in the room and Luway felt her skin grow cold with concentrated rage. Just when she thought she might spring out and give Taserface something to really base his name on, Kraglin’s voice growled out low and angry: “Don’t be disgusting. She’s a little kid.”

“Well,” Taserface continued as he wheeled away to pace the narrow bunk, “if you wait ‘til the boss is done with her, she’ll be all stretched out. ‘Cuz if you think he hasn’t tapped that, you’re more of a baby ‘n her.”

Nausea roiled through her and Luway pressed her face briefly against her forearms. As much as she wanted to push away his words, it made sense from their perspective. Why else would she still be here? Kraglin snapped and Luway looked up in surprise at the tone of his voice. He wasn’t a big Xandarian by any standards, but Taserface backed up a step from him when he snarled, “If you think Captain would EVER hurt a child, yer so fucked up, there ain’t even words for it. And don’ you forget, Oluwaseyi is a child. Specially to the captain.” He stepped forward again and stabbed a finger at Taserface’s chest. “Leave her alone. And leave me alone, too.”

Luway lay in the ductwork, utterly stunned. Outside, she could hear Taserface and his buddy laughing off Kraglin’s explosion, but they sounded shaken by it, too. After a moment, she realized that something else had come to mind. “I’m not a child,” she protested quietly. She scrambled along the passages until she located one just above where Kraglin was walking, ripped it open and dropped down on him from above. “I’m not a child!” she informed him angrily while he yelped and covered his head.

Kraglin blinked at her and picked himself up enough to sit on the floor. “What?”

“I’m not,” she repeated stubbornly. “I’m ten. That’s not a child. I should be flaring any day now.”

His smile was a little lopsided when he asked, “You heard all that?”

“You hear a lot in the ducts.”

He took a long breath and let it out again, rubbed his hands through his hair and flattened it toward the center again. “I wish you hadn’t. He was bein’ disgusting, no matter how old y’are.” He folded his hands behind his neck and studied her for a minute. “And I know enough yer still too young to be talkin’ about this shit.” Kraglin’s eyes flicked up briefly to her crest and Luway felt her face flush purple.

“I can move it,” she snapped without looking him in the eye. “Any day now.”

“Don’ be in such a rush,” he chuckled and rocked himself up to his feet, offering her a hand up. “Or you’ll have to deal with Shitface and Chucklenuts sooner’n you want to.” Reluctantly, Luway let him pull her to her feet. “How’d I do with yer name?” he asked with a sheepish little smile.

“Pretty close,” she said. “oh-lu-wah-SAY-ee. Not WAY-see.”

“Waysee,” grinned Kraglin. “How’d you end up with Luway? That’s not in there anywhere, either.”

“Same way,” Luway chuckled, stretching her arms to the sides and heel-toeing herself down the hallway. “Someone said it wrong and it kinda stuck.” Her balance wobbled and she recovered with a quick twitch of her shoulders.

Kraglin paused and considered her for a second and Luway spun around to look at him. “Does it bother you?” She pursed her lips and shook her head with a shrug. “Can I call you Waysi? Kinda has a ring to it.”

Luway laughed and shrugged again. “If you want to.”

A knock on his cabin door drew Yondu out of a nap and he sighed, rolled to his feet and opened the door. Tullk was standing in the hall, holding one of the small targeting drones and fiddling with the insides while he waited. “What.”

Tullk lifted the drone at him. “Squirt’s got uses.”

Yondu chuckled and shook his head. “S’that what you’re here to talk about?”

“Luway, not the drone.”

“I figured.” Yondu rolled his neck and nodded an invitation for Tullk to come inside. “What’d she do this time?”

Tullk came in and flopped himself down into one of the comfortable chairs Yondu had been hoarding in his cabin, settled the drone on his belly and continued to fiddle with it. “She was up the pipes again. Didn’t even know I was missin’ this one, but she found it.” When Yondu didn’t respond beyond a smothered yawn, Tullk sighed and squinted up at him. “When’re we gonna turn her in, boss? She’s been here fer months. Eatin’ our reserves, messin’ with our heads. She’s damagin’ morale.”

“The crew’s morale can stuff itself,” Yondu snorted. “We’ll get paid for her when we’re done with this job. I ain’t leaving a clean hunt just to skip all the way across the galaxy for a payoff.” He walked over to the pile of clothing he had left heaped beside the bed before his nap and pulled on a shirt.

“They’re sayin’ you’re not gonna get her payoff at all,” Tullk murmured. “That yer sweet on her and gonna keep her.”

“Sweet on…” Yondu turned around to stare at his first mate. “You can’t be sayin’ what I think yer sayin’.”

“Just reportin’ back, Captain,” Tullk said without meeting his eyes.

Slowly, Yondu came to stand over Tullk, leaned down and pressed his hands on the arms of the chair, leaning his weight forward with a tightly clenched jaw. “Who on this crew thinks I’m slimy enough t’ want a baby like that? Who’s lookin’ at her and seein’ sex, huh? She ain’t even old enough to crest!” Tullk didn’t answer and Yondu turned away angrily, pacing the floor of his cabin. “Where’s she now?”

“Not sure, Captain,” Tullk replied. “Saw her near the crew quarters, but that was a while back. She’d be anywhere now.”

“Find her,” he snapped. “I wanna make sure she’s okay.”

“Aye, sir.” Tullk stood up from the chair, then paused, studying the drone in his hands. “Crew grumblin’ aside, boss, she’s got uses. And not like that. I mean, she’s little. She gets in where we can’t. Skinny.”

Yondu watched his first mate in silence for a moment. “She won’t be little and skinny for long. Best get her gone ‘fore that changes.” Tullk nodded and slipped back out of the cabin, leaving Yondu with his thoughts.

And those thoughts were bothering him. Yondu continued to pace the floor, turning over in his mind his real reasons for being reluctant to cash in on Ego’s bounty for his daughter. He liked Luway, liked having her on the ship. Her sassy sense of humor made him laugh and there was a sense of family when he looked at another Centaurian face, even if she was only half. A family that he hadn’t had in a long time any more than she had. He kicked out at a discarded boot in frustration and sighed, glaring at the empty room.

“Something on your mind?”

Yondu jumped and immediately glared at the air vent. “Don’t sneak up on me, girl. It ain’t polite.”

He saw a flash of a white smile behind the vent cover and Luway said, “Because you’ve known me to be so polite the last few months.” Yondu watched with a quiet sense of baffled amusement as she slipped a knife around the edges of the cover, worked the screws loose, and opened the vent so she could see him better. “So why haven’t you sold me off yet?”

“Don’ say it like that,” Yondu sighed and dropped down into one of the chairs, his forehead in his hand. “I ain’t sellin’ you off.”

“Just collecting a bounty,” she replied quietly and Yondu closed his eyes.

“Y’want a straight answer?”

“Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t. Am I likely to get one?”

Yondu smiled and opened his eyes to glare at her again. “If you’d button yer yap for a second, maybe.” Luway made a buttoning motion over her lips and waited with her chin in her hands. He pursed his lips and said, “If you want the truth, it’s this. I haven’t seen another Centaurian since I was younger than you. There are plenty of blue-skinned aliens around, but it just isn’t the same. Seeing you here is like seeing family and I don’t sell family.” He paused with a sense of the old hurt radiating in his chest. “Ever.”

With barely a sound, Luway slipped down from the vent and crawled into his lap. Surprised, Yondu just held still for a second until she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. “Family is good,” she clicked quietly in his ear. Yondu sighed and hugged her against his chest, closed his eyes and surrendered.

“You want to stay?” he asked in a wavering whistle. “It’s rough out here and Ego’s still your dad. You could be his family. It would be a hell of a lot nicer than small fry bounties and half-rations when it’s tight.”

Luway shivered and he automatically hugged her tighter. “I don’t know him, though. You, at least we have this. Language. History.” She laughed quietly. “It’s not like a guy like that is going to know what to do about menstruation. Or even care.”

Yondu sighed and let his head rest back against the chair. “Hell, girl, I barely knew what to do. You give me too much credit. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know anything about kids.”

“I’m not a kid!” Luway whistled indignantly. “What is it today with everyone talking about me like I’m five?”

“Who else?” Yondu’s voice cracked a little and he winced at the grating sound. “Who else was talkin’ ‘bout your age?”

“Kraglin,” she replied softly. “He said it to Taserface. Said I was just a little kid. I’m not little and I’m not a kid. I’m ten. Just because I can’t get my damn Tahlei to fan--”

“Says the girl curled up in her daddy’s lap,” chuckled Yondu and she fell silent with a glare. “Naw, it’s okay,” he continued and rubbed her shoulder. “I know yer not a kid. Never really said you were. Not even when we found ya.” When Luway relaxed against his shoulder again, he hugged her. “If you wanna stay, I’ll figure it out. Tullk was right: yer good for a lot. Small spaces, yer fast and strong for yer size.” They sat in silence for a while before he added in a low grunt, “I won’t sell family. Not ever.”

Chapter Text

Luway chewed her lip in concentration as she carefully worked her lockpicks around the edge of the narrow passage’s robotic lock. She was curled into an almost fetal position in the passage with just barely enough room to manipulate the picks. After a moment, she chuffed a cuss in the back of her throat and said, “Three-quarters.” From the vent hatch near her hip, an additional metal tool popped up and she stuck one pick in her mouth to reach for it. She resumed working on the lock until she heard movement below her and she froze, clicking clearly twice in her throat.

Immediately, Kraglin repeated the pair of clicks but she could tell he was farther away than he had been a moment ago. Luway shifted to peer down through the vent hatch and saw him pressed into an alcove in the wall. He saw her looking and held a finger to his lips before nodding down the hallway. They had company. As Kraglin sucked in his belly to push himself deeper into the alcove, several armed heavies tromped down the hall, helmeted heads swinging. They didn’t see Kraglin or the open vent hatch, so when they had continued past his sight, Kraglin returned and leaned up to whisper, “Better hurry.”

“I’m trying,” Luway replied petulantly. “It’s cramped in here.”

“That’s why it’s you up there and not me,” he chuckled. “How’s it coming?”

“More slowly, the more questions you ask me.”

Kraglin grinned and returned to keeping watch. This was his first time leading a smash-and-grab and he still couldn’t believe Yondu had let him pick his own team for it. Luway had been the obvious choice for locks, especially considering the tight nature of the mechanisms and their access channels. They might have been able to use a drone like the ones Tullk used for targeting to scout down the passage, but the drones couldn’t do the fine manipulation work of picking a lock. He was piloting himself and they had Ckin, another younger Ravager messing with the station’s communications to misdirect away from their target. “Ckin,” he said quietly into his commlink. “How’s it look?”

“They know something’s up,” the little reptilian replied promptly. “I’m doin’ my best here, Krag, but we’ve gotta move.”

Kraglin winced and glanced up at the open vent hatch. From where he was standing, he could see the hip of Luway’s brown coveralls; she was still squished into that tiny space, trying to do what he’d asked of her. “Waysi,” he whispered.

“Almost,” she hissed back.

Movement down the hall made his head snap around and Kraglin grumbled under his breath. There were more heavies sweeping toward them, but they were coming from an angle he couldn’t hide from as easily. “Waysi,” he repeated more urgently. “I need that door.” The only answer he got was a series of irritable clicks and whistles, most of which he had heard the captain use under duress. She was probably swearing at him. Finally, the door to the storage room popped open with a pressurized hiss and Kraglin darted inside, closing it after him before the heavies got close enough to notice. “In,” he reported to Ckin, which would also repeat to the earpiece Luway was wearing. He turned quickly to check on the internal security, a pattern of lasers that was bright in the dim light and a carpet of dead insects and small flying pests under it. “Live lasers,” he grunted.

“On it,” Luway’s voice whispered in his ear and Kraglin tried not to shift nervously. He knew he could trust the people he’d picked for this run. He did trust them. It was just much scarier running this alone than it would have been if he’d been waiting in the ship to pilot Yondu and half a dozen other Ravagers out at the end of it.

“Ckin?” Kraglin murmured.

“Still looking in all the wrong directions, but there are more heavies sweeping,” Ckin replied. “It’s gonna be prickly getting out again.”

Luway made a sound like an angry cat and Kraglin looked over his shoulder in alarm as if he could see through the decking to where she was hiding in the ceiling. “No!” she added in a horrified voice and suddenly the lasers in the room started a slow, majestic dance directly for his location.

“Shit shit shit,” he chanted. “Waysi, what the--”

“I’m trying,” she babbled back. “Dodge.”

Kraglin rolled his eyes miserably. “Dodge?”

“Yes, fucker, dodge,” she snapped. “You’re cuter when you’re not sliced into little pieces.”

Kraglin felt his face flush brightly. “What?”

“Dodge!”

He dove to the side as the lasers located him and crossed where he had been standing a moment before. Kraglin rolled randomly through the storage room, trying to predict where the lasers would intersect before they got there in order to be somewhere else. One lashed out just above his head and he smelled burning hair before he managed to flatten himself to the floor. And then, the buzzing hum of lasers vanished. Kraglin paused, then slowly lifted his head to study the air around him. It was completely dark. He slumped against the floor again and groaned.

“Still breathing?” Luway asked in a small voice.

“Most of me,” he grunted. “At least I won’t need a haircut for a while.”

“I’m so sorry, Kraglin,” she gasped. “I don’t know what--”

“It’s okay,” Kraglin interrupted her. “I’m okay. I just need light.” He patted his way through his coverall pockets until he located a small hand-light and turned it on. Slowly, he panned the light across the room. The far wall was honeycombed with small vault-like doors, all with pushbutton locks. “Damn, they’re combo locked.”

“A sec.” Luway made a very small squeaking sound, then said, “There!” With a ratcheting sound, all the little boxes popped open. “Didn’t know which one we needed, so I did them all.”

“I’ll ask you how the hell you managed that when we’re home,” Kraglin said as he rushed to the needed vault and swept its contents into the zippered pocket of his coveralls.

“Probably not the only question he’ll be asking when we’re home,” Ckin hissed teasingly and Kraglin rolled his eyes. He could deny the thought all he wanted, but he also knew how hopeful some little part of him had been when Luway said she thought he was cute in one piece.

Ten years old, he reminded himself sternly as he picked his way back across the room. She is a baby. And just cargo at that. No getting attached. “Okay, let me out,” he said into his comm when he reached the door again. It immediately hissed open and Kraglin slipped back into the hallway. He looked up to the vent hatch and saw Luway’s red-brown eyes peering down. He gave her a grin and a thumbs-up, which she returned and then vanished from his sight, heading back through the access passage to the place he’d helped her crawl inside two hours before. As he backtracked down the hallway to meet her, Kraglin twitched his lips to keep from smiling. No getting attached. Who was he kidding? He’d been attached to her the second she beat his ass with a door. In the eight months she had been on the ship, she had easily moved out of the “just cargo” place in his mind. She was fast and funny and could hold her own in both verbal and physical fights. Her thought processes and logic were obviously older than a ten-year-old Xandarian, much closer to what he’d expect from a teenaged girl closer to his own age. He was going to miss her when Yondu finally got around to bringing her to her father.

A sharp inhale over the comm made him pause. “Waysi?”

“Stuck,” she whispered, more of a strained, disbelieving squeak. Kraglin could hear her hands scrabbling on the smooth metal of the passage. “Shit. Kraglin, I’m stuck.”

“What?” he asked even though he had heard her just fine. He took off down the hallway, hoping he could manage to wedge himself in far enough to pull her loose without getting himself stuck in there, too. “What the hell?”

“Getting fat on too many rations,” snorted Ckin.

“Fuck you,” wheezed Luway.

When he got to the panel access, Kraglin yanked it open and crawled as far as he could inside. It was frustratingly small and he couldn’t get more than a few arm-lengths before the passage narrowed too much to let his shoulders through. “Waysi,” he gasped. “I can’t get to you. Can you reach any further?” She made a small, frightened sound that made him wince. Kraglin exhaled as far as he could, drew his shoulders and arms together and squirmed.

Something clicked hard against the side of the vent.

The booty from the vault had stretched his pockets just enough that he couldn’t get any further. With teeth gritted, Kraglin retreated to the hallway again, stripped down to his shorts, stuffed the coveralls behind an emergency locker and dove back into the vent passage.

People were always more important than a payoff.

The metal was cold on his skin as he scrambled through the narrow passage. Ckin’s voice made his spine prickle when he said, “Dude, they found the disabled lasers. They’ve got us. We gotta go, Krag.”

“Not. Without. Waysi,” he grunted back as he dragged himself a few more feet down the tunnel. Finally, he saw her and recognized what had happened. Luway had tried to turn herself around so she could retreat face-first and had gotten trapped doubled over herself. No wonder she had sounded so scared: she could barely breathe. “I gotcha,”  he whispered to her, reached and stretched until he could wrap his fingertips around the soles of her boots. He tugged and she cried out softly.

“Ow,” she whimpered.

“What’s caught?” Kraglin asked her quickly.

“My shoulder,” she said. “My neck’s gonna break.”

“You’re not gonna break,” he promised and inched forward again, then pushed his hands against her boots. “Try to finish the turn.”

“I can’t,” she sobbed. “You should go, Kraglin. I’m the idiot who got stuck in here.”

“Not goin’ without you,” he snorted and pushed again. “C’mon, y’ gotta try.”

“Krag--”

“I am not leaving here without you,” he snapped. “Stop arguing and try.” He could hear her crying softly, then felt her legs shift and push back against his hands. “That’s it. You can do it.” Inch by inch, she wriggled until her shoulder and neck were pointing back towards him and she could finally relax onto her belly. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were puffy. “Knew you could,” he whispered. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

“Guys?” Ckin’s voice was shaking and Kraglin had to school his features to keep from showing his own burst of fear. “They… uh, they found me. Or my access anyway. I’m going back.”

“Wait for us,” Kraglin ordered.

“Just get back here.”

“Ckin, you scaley fucker, you wait for us!”

The reptilian snapped back, “I’m not dying for you, man!” Immediately afterward, his comm line went dead and Kraglin stared into Luway’s wide, terrified eyes.

“He’s gonna leave us,” she whispered.

“Fuck he is.” Kraglin struggled and began shoving his way back down the passage as fast as he could, trying not to feel the drag of the metal against his skin or the seams between panels that caught at his hair. He could see Luway belly-crawling after him, her face a mix of tears and determination. Kraglin gritted his teeth when one of the vent’s seams snagged on his skin and he could feel the blood starting to trickle. It seemed like an eternity passed before his feet were kicking freely into the hallway and he managed to drop himself down to the floor. He reached up for Luway’s hands and was embarrassed to see that her coveralls were smeared with the dark purple-blue blood he had left behind. He had bled more than he thought.

Luway dropped down and into Kraglin’s arms, then she paused to study him with an amused look on her face. “You’re… almost naked.”

“Pockets suck,” he replied and put her on her feet.

“Where’s the stuff?”

Kraglin reached for the coveralls and pulled them free with a metallic clink. “Let’s go.”

Luway held out her hand. “Gimme.” He raised his eyebrows at her, questioning her motives and her timing in one brief glance. She sighed and reached to open the pouch on her chest. “Nobody’s gonna look here,” she informed him. “If we do get caught and they feel like letting us go, we still have the score.”

“Fine.” Kraglin emptied his pockets into her pouch, doing his best not to stare at her while he was doing it. Had her breasts gotten bigger? Or was he just actually noticing them now? When his pockets were empty and hers was full, she zipped the access on her coveralls closed and Kraglin hopped quickly back into his own.

“You’re bleeding pretty bad,” she observed as they started to run down the hallway. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine ‘til we get back. We’re almost to the dock.”

They careened around the corner and Luway let out a trilling whistle of relief: the four-man jumper was still there. Some of the station heavies were starting to come out into the hallway at the sounds of their passage, but they had enough time to get to the ship and scramble aboard before anyone could get close enough to shoot them. “Ckin, we’re on!” Kraglin yelled as he dragged Luway after him inside.

There was silence inside the ship.

“Shit.” Kraglin rushed to the pilot’s chair and stared down at the reptilian, apparently dead from a laser shot to the chest. He had bled out all over the chair. “At least he didn’t leave without us,” he mumbled and scooped the body to the floor. He vaulted into the seat and started frantically starting up the engines and plotting their course. “Waysi, the external guns up?”

“They are,” she replied immediately and Kraglin grinned, recognizing the way her voice echoed as she climbed into one of the turrets. She was smart; she didn’t need his orders. “Buying you time,” she called down and the gun over the pilot’s window came to life with a chatter of laser bullets.

Kraglin’s fingers flew through the familiar sequences and he tried to keep his focus on the calculations, rather than watching the station’s heavies getting mowed down by Luway’s sweeping gunfire. She may not be precise, but filling the air with that much lead and laser was enough to kill anybody. He managed to get the shields up, which limited the damage the heavies could do to them while he finished and then, with relief and joy in his voice, Kraglin shouted, “We’re GONE, baby!” and punched the ignition.

The ship roared and rotated on its central axis. Like a stone from a slingshot, it sailed out into space and Luway took a moment to key into an open channel and shout, “Later, bitches!”

Chapter Text

Yondu ground his teeth together. His crew ranged around him in a variety of aggressive, irritated stances as Halfnut ranted, “Captain, it’s beyond time. We all think so.” There were several nodding heads behind him and Yondu glowered at them, rolling his tongue slowly around the inside of his mouth as he considered which note to whistle first. “She’s been good for business before now but she IS business. Cargo! And we want our share!”

“It’s skree like this that proves she’s past useful,” growled one of the Achernonians. “She’s gettin’ too big, Captain, and they come back with one crewmate dead and another bleedin’ all over.”

“But they got the booty,” Yondu replied and folded his arms over his chest, keeping a level stare trained on the horned and blue-skinned alien. The other man squirmed under his intense gaze and looked away first. “Safe ‘n sound ‘n tucked away in that pouch of hers. She picked off the station heavies, kept ‘em off Kraglin so he could take off.”

“And there ain’t no way any of you coulda managed that trick with the vaults.” Yondu looked over his shoulder to see Kraglin limping up behind him. The young Xandarian was wearing a fresh coverall and a pained expression, but he was up and walking. He was paler than Yondu would have preferred, but he had lost more blood than either he or Luway had realized. “She’s the best boxman I’ve ever seen. She’s fuckin’ built for this.”

“She’s eating everything in storage,” complained Halfnut. “She’s puttin’ on a growth spurt and when she’s done, she won’t fit on board let alone in a vent.” More ripples of agreement answered this and Yondu glared. “She’s already almost as tall as you, boss. When she pops that crest--”

“Fine!” Yondu snarled. “You want yer damn cash so much, we’ll go.” He waved a hand angrily. “Chart a course for Ego.” As he turned away from the cheering crew, he saw the look on Kraglin’s face. “Don’t look at me like that, boy,” he grumbled. “They’re right. She’s been here too long already.”

“It ain’t her fault and you know it,” Kraglin replied, limping after his captain. “We couldn’ta done any of what we did without her and Ckin got his own scaly ass killed. He was gonna leave us behind, Captain!”

Yondu spun in the hallway to glare and Kraglin came up short, his hands in fists. They stared at each other for a heartbeat and Yondu tried not to notice that there were tears on Kraglin’s eyelashes. “I know that,” he hissed. “I’m old, not stupid. But they got one thing right: she is gettin’ big an’ when she’s too big for the vents, ain’t no way I can tell them we’re keepin’ her for vent work.”

Kraglin shifted his feet uncomfortably and glared, wiping angrily at the tears blurring his vision. “She ain’t cargo, Captain. She ain’t just a payoff.”

“I know.” Yondu let out a frustrated whistle. “But we need the score. We’re short liquid credit.” He turned on his heel and started stomping back down the hall, Kraglin close behind him. “She cost us money this time ‘round and the boys need somethin’ to tide ‘em over. Tell Tullk to call Ego, let ‘im know we’re bringin’ her in.”

“She’s family, Cap!” cried Kraglin, anguish in his voice and Yondu stopped again with his eyes closed. “She’s not liquid credit or a box of engine parts or a snot-faced idiot who got himself a bounty on him. She’s family.” Kraglin’s voice broke and he winced. “You don’... sell family.” They stood in the corridor, not looking at each other. “There’s gotta be another way.”

“There ain’t,” rasped Yondu. “I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout it since we picked her up. There ain’t no way to make it right with the crew if she stays. They won’t understand.”

“I understand,” Kraglin said in a low voice. “Tullk understands. There are a bunch of us who like her, like havin’ her around and not just for vent work and her box skills. We’d support you, Captain. She belongs with family. Lor’ knows she ain’t had much of that.”

Yondu shook his head without looking back and started walking again. “Stop followin’ me, boy. I’ll do what I can.”

“Yes, sir.” Kraglin stood and watched his captain walk away.

Tullk stared at the comm screen for a few seconds before he plugged in the combination that would contact Ego. He could practically feel Kraglin staring at the back of his head and he huffed, pausing with his fingers over the connection. “Shake yer head, eyes’re stuck.”

“Jus’ can’t believe we’re doin’ this,” the younger Ravager grumbled and Tullk rotated his chair to study Kraglin’s face. “She’s part of the reason we even got out of that heap of junk with the score an’ not one’a those assfaces give a damn about how hurt I got. They’re just usin’ it to bitch about her.”

Tullk sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, pressing on his temples to ward off a tension headache he could feel building. “I’m just doing as I’m told,” he said into his palms before dropping his hands back to his lap to glare at Kraglin. “Expect you ta do the same.”

“But it’s not fair!” Kraglin protested and waved a hand at the screen.

“Life ain’t fair!” Tullk snapped back. “You think any’a this is fair? It sucks but we make due. Her dad hired us to bring her back. The captain squeezed as much use outta her he could and now that the crew’s pissed, he’s makin’ good on the deal. Don’ matter how much he likes her or you like her or I like her.” He leaned back and looked away from Kraglin, swallowing hard. “We got a job to do and we’ll do it. Cuz we’re Ravagers. When we say it’s happenin’, it happens.”

“She’s family,” Kraglin whispered through a rough hoarseness in his throat.

“She ain’t family,” replied Tullk. “She’s cargo. Best if you remember that. Ain’t nice and don’t feel good, but it’ll hurt less in the end.” He turned his chair back to the comm screen so he couldn’t see the pain in Kraglin’s face. “Git gone, boy. I’ve got work to do.” He waited until he heard the door click shut, then sighed and finished the connection with Ego. Tullk listened to the system processing and ringing the alert on the other end, then the screen went live and he sat up straighter. “Mornin’, sir.”

“Ah, Yondu’s mate.” Ego smiled at Tullk, all dimples and warmth. “I was beginning to get worried about you. Have you found my daughter?”

“Aye, we have,” Tullk said and nodded. “We’re chartin’ the course for you directly.”

“Excellent,” Ego crowed. “She must be what, 9 or 10 now? I have missed so much of her life.”

“Ten,” Tullk replied automatically. “She ain’t sure about her birthdate, but she counts back far enough to guess her at ten or eleven. She’s a handful or we woulda had her back sooner.”

Ego cupped his chin in his hand, the other arm crossed under his elbow and across his chest. “Her mother was spirited, too. It’s what drew me to her in the first place. Has she fanned her crest yet?”

“Not yet,” Tullk said. “Not that I’ve seen, anyway.”

“Shame.” Ego shook his head in disappointment. “Maybe soon. Well, thank you for the wonderful news, Mr. Tullk. You may report to your captain that his money--your money--will be ready for him when you arrive.”

“Aye, sir. Thank you, sir.” Tullk paused, then asked warily, “May I ask y’ something, sir?”

“Of course,” Ego chuckled.

Tullk found himself pushing a stick of flavored protein around his comm station awkwardly before he said, “Some of the boys’ve gotten… a little attached to her, sir. There any chance we might visit her? Jus’, y’know, once in a while?” He tried to keep his face neutral when he looked up again but could feel the hopefulness in his eyes.

Ego’s expression was very still for a moment, then he smiled stiffly and answered, “Of course, of course. Provided she performs well in her duties.”

Something about that tone made Tullk’s stomach drop out and he swallowed. “An’ if she don’ perform well?”

“That’s hardly your concern, Mr. Tullk.” Ego’s tone was harsher now and he didn’t quite glare through the communication screen. “Your job is to bring me my daughter and my job is to pay you for it. I’ll expect you by the end of the week.” Sharply, the connection closed and left Tullk staring in concern at the blank screen.

“Well,” he sighed to himself, “that ain’t exactly encouragin’.”

A smothered sniffle caught Kraglin’s attention and he paused in the hallway to the galley, tilting his head toward the nearest vent. “Waysi?” The metal rattled as she shifted positions and Kraglin sighed. “Come down, Waysi. I know you’re there.” He reached up to the vent, standing on his toes to work the screws loose until he could take the vent cover off and look up into Luway’s face streaked with tears. She sniffled again, then kicked her feet out of the vent, caught his chest with her shins and slithered down his body like a blue snake until she was standing in front of him on the deck. “You okay?”

“The only other member of my species I know wants to sell me to someone I’ve never met who calls himself my father.” She gave him a thin, bitter smile and wiped at her face. “Sure, I’m just peachy.” Kraglin sighed and nodded without saying anything as Luway turned and started walking down the hallway. He fell into step beside her as she continued: “I feel like I was just getting to know this place. I mean, I never get used to a location. Not ever. I’m always going somewhere else.”

“Alone?” Kraglin asked softly.

Luway flinched. “Yeah. Alone. And that’s the other thing. I was getting used to… to HIM. To the crew. To--” She broke off and closed her eyes and Kraglin stopped when she did, watching her with a gentle, curious smile. “It’s just hard to hear everyone cheering for selling me off, Kraglin. I thought more of them liked me.”

“You know the Captain don’ wanna sell you off,” he said and leaned a little closer. It took a major effort for him to keep his hands to himself, especially when she was so upset. He wanted so badly to hug her. “Tullk would be happy to see you stay. And… and so would I.” When she looked up at him in surprise, he cleared his throat into his fist and stood up straighter. “I mean, ‘course I would. You saved my tail back there. I’d be in little bitty smoking bits.” Luway ducked her head and smiled, then turned to start walking again, letting Kraglin fall back in beside her. They walked in silence until Kraglin worked up his courage: “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

He squirmed and gave her a shy smile. “What you said back there, on the ship. ‘Bout thinking I was cuter in one piece.”

Luway tilted her head to grin at him and chewed the inside of her lip. After a few seconds, she cleared her throat sharply and looked away again, but not before Kraglin noticed that her crest had lifted about an inch off her scalp. “Yeah,” she admitted in a small voice. “I did.”

“Thanks,” he grinned and she peeked back at him before running her hand over her crest quickly, pressing it flat to her head again. “Means a lot, comin’ from you.”

“Oh, bullshit,” Luway gasped and bolted inside her cabin. She couldn’t close the door fast enough to keep from seeing the pleased, embarrassed smile on his face. Luway groaned softly and leaned her forehead against the metal of the cabin door. “Smooth, Luway,” she muttered to herself. But when she closed her eyes, the memory of his smile still lingering and she felt her crest rise again. “Dammit,” she growled and pushed it flat again. “You’ve got the shittiest timing.” She paced back and forth in her cabin, then stopped to look at herself in the small mirror over her sink. She let her hands fall to her sides and watched nervously as her Tahlei wobbled and finally stood tall, the red-orange skin stretched into a long sail behind her all the way to the small of her back. All because Kraglin cared what she thought about him.

“I’m such an idiot,” Luway sighed and buried her face in her hands.

“Ego said he’s happy ta hear you found her,” Tullk said to Yondu. “He’s gettin’ the payoff lined up.” He leaned on the railing over the rear cargo bay beside his captain, a bottle of something vaguely alcoholic and not quite spoiled hanging from his fingers. “Decided what yer gonna do yet?”

“I think I’ve got a plan,” Yondu murmured.

“A plan?” he asked warily and Yondu nodded.

“A way t’get everyone settled.”

“Everyone?”

He looked over at his first mate and bared his jagged teeth in what seemed like a smile, but Tullk wasn’t entirely sure. “Everyone.”

Chapter Text

Luway lay on her side in her bunk, staring at the assortment of junk on her bedside table: lock picks, electronic wires and widgets, a crisply folded paper M-ship, and a half-dismantled targeting drone she had been working on for Tullk. The voyage to Ego had crawled by punctuated only by sneaking down to the mess hall to steal something to eat or down to Tullk’s workshop to borrow some tools. They would be arriving soon. A knock on her door made her close her eyes and let a soft whistling hiss out of her throat. The answering series of whistles and clicks made her smile: “That really is a rude thing to say, young lady.” She made a few more rude noises, most of them inarticulate or vulgar and enjoyed the sound of Yondu’s laughter on the other side of the door. “Let me in, girlie,” he called and knocked again. “Wanna talk to ya.”

“Go fly a shoe,” Luway mumbled back and rolled onto her stomach to bury her face in a pillow.

The latch rattled a little and Yondu’s answer was a sharp, upward sliding whistle, followed by the loud tapping of the Yaka arrow against her door. “Y’can’t stay in there forever.”

“Watch me,” she replied, muffled into the pillow.

Silence radiated from the door until Yondu’s soft clicking reached her again. “Oluwaseyi. Let me in. Please. I need to talk to you. Daddy to my girl.” Tears pricked at her eyelashes and she pushed her face deeper into the pillow. “Because you are my girl. Not that… that…”  He blatted his tongue between his lips and she giggled. “He doesn’t love you. I do. You’re my family, Oluwaseyi. A god may have made you, but he couldn’t hold you. You’re too Mountain Tribe for that. Please.”

Trying to smother tears, Luway opened the door and threw herself into Yondu’s arms. He hugged her tightly to his chest, rocking her and minding the expanse of her crest down her back. “I don’t want to go, Yondu. Don’t sell me. Don’t make me go. I was just feeling like I belonged here.” She was crying harder in spite of her attempts to stop it and buried her face in his shoulder. “I like it here,” she whispered. “I like being up in the vents. I like getting to mess with electronics and locks. I like getting hugs.”

Yondu chuckled and hugged her tighter. “I like givin’ ‘em,” he murmured. He smiled when Luway sniffled, then he whispered, “Y’know, I think Kraglin would, too.”

Luway sputtered and swatted the back of his head. “Shut up, Captain.” He grinned and leaned back to watch the purplish blush creeping across her cheeks. “Not that I’d mind...” she admitted in a small voice.

“Do I need ta yell at him fer ya?”

The blush spread further across her face and Luway immediately reached up to press her crest flush to her head again. “No.”

“HAH!” Yondu crowed and stood back to hold her at arm’s length. “Lemme see, girl. Lemme see!”

“Shut up!” Luway cried and clamped both hands over her crest. But he kept grinning at her and she finally peeked at him, chewing her lip. “Don’t laugh,” she whispered.

“I’ll be good.” He stood up straight and folded his hands seriously over his chest, though the edges of his lips were still twitching.

“One laugh and I’ll throw myself out the airlock,” she warned him sternly and he snorted, waiting. Luway took a long, deep breath, closed her eyes and let her hands drop to her sides. The skin of her scalp prickled as she focused and then her Tahlei fanned up in a flash of brilliant orange-red.

Yondu cheered and grabbed her in another hug. “That’s my girl!” They stood there, clinging to each other as Luway let her crest relax again. “Yer gettin’ big fast,” he whispered. “I wanna be there for all of it. Swear to yer daddy’s stupid face.”

“He was just a sperm donor,” Luway whispered back. “I know who my real daddy is.”

Yondu hugged her and rocked slowly before he whistled, “Good.”

“You really sure this is gonna work, Captain?” Kraglin checked his coordinates on the HUD and tapped the M-ship until the target bulls-eyed on his location. “I mean, a lot could go wrong.”

“An’ everything could go right,” Yondu replied in his ear. “Believe me, I’ve been over an’ over this. I think it’ll work.”

It has to work, thought Kraglin as he stared at the gem-like planet hanging below them. I can’t leave here without her.

On the ship, Yondu looked at Luway and she raised her chin to meet his gaze steadily. She had changed so much in the time she had been on board, all of nine months, but that steely glare was the same one she’d given him over the top of her maintenance pod. “It’ll work,” he whistled to her.

“I know,” she answered. Her humming clicks were even and unhurried, precise. “I trust you.” Her lips curled into a mischievous grin as she added, “Dad.”

Yondu grinned back and swatted her gently upside the head before turning back to look at Tullk. His first mate nodded once and Yondu said, “You’ve got the ship, Tullk. I’ll be back with some cash.” He whistled sharply and two of the younger Ravagers jumped and came forward. When he looked again, he realized that one of them was Maunti, the kitchen boy. “What’re you doin’ here, runt?”

“Wanna help,” the boy whispered, twisting his fingers together. His eyes darted to where Luway was standing, then back to his captain’s face. “I mean, it’s gonna be a lot of cash, right?”

“On the ship, then,” grunted Yondu and he waved a hand at the M-ship that was waiting for them. “Just keep yer yap shut.”

“Aye, sir!”

As the crew shuffled and babbled their way around the small ship, Yondu paused to rest his hand on Luway’s back just behind her shoulder. “Do me proud, girlie.”

“Always,” she smiled as she peeked at him over her shoulder. Her Tahlei twitched in a little flash of red, adrenaline rushing through her. “Ready?”

“Hell no,” he chuckled in her ear. “Never am, really. Let’s go.”

Yondu guided the ship down to the surface of Ego’s planet on a landing pad surrounded by a riot of colorful foliage and landscape. He pointed to Maunti severely. “Keep the engines hot, boy. I want off this sparkly rock as soon as we’re secure.”

“Aye, captain.”

He strode out and down the gangway with Luway politely following at his elbow and the other Ravager trailing nervously behind. At the entrance to the central plaza, Ego waited for them with a beaming smile on his handsome face. He started toward them when they were within a few yards of him and held his hands out to cup Luway’s face. “So like your mother,” he whispered and traced the line of her jaw. “Please. Tell me, is Dikeledi doing well? She was so beautiful, so bright and eager to learn.”

Luway’s jaw clenched and she forced herself to smile at him. “Was that her name? I barely knew her. Kree slavers took me when I was four.”

Ego gave her a long, confused look, then sobered and sighed, shaking his head. “That was not my plan, nor my hopes for your childhood. No wonder it was so hard to locate you.” He looked at Yondu. “You deserve credit, Captain, for both perseverance and skill in the hunt.”

“I deserve my damn payoff,” Yondu snarled in reply. “Nine months, bitch has been on my boat, eatin’ my food, messin’ with my crew. Glad to finally offload her.” The Ravager behind him gave a grunt of agreement and Luway shot him a glare over her shoulder. “Where’s my money, old man?”

Ego pursed his lips sourly at Yondu’s tone, then looked at Luway’s face. She stared over his shoulder, refusing to look him in the face and also refusing to show the hurt that blossomed from Yondu’s words, even if he didn’t mean them. When he got tired of staring at her, Ego sighed sharply. “Your money is there, Captain.” He pointed toward several bundled containers. “One hundred and fifty thousand, as we agreed.”

Without looking at Luway, Yondu waved the younger Ravager forward and then nodded once. “Pleasure doin’ business with ya.”

“Likewise,” drawled Ego, unimpressed.

When the cash was loaded up, Yondu walked back past Luway, his eyes only briefly darting to her face. They locked eyes and he gave her the barest wink. She struggled not to react, though there was a warm bubble rising in her chest. Her Tahlei twitched happily. Yondu strode off to the M-ship with his bounty and Luway turned to watch the small ship rise up from the landing pad and sweep over the compound, gaining altitude until it broke through the small planet’s atmosphere and sped into the black beyond. A sharp pain radiated in her chest and Luway swallowed hard to clear it. It was harder than she’d expected to watch Yondu leave her behind.

“Come with me,” Ego almost purred and Luway felt her shoulders twitch at that honeyed tone. “I have so much to show you.”

As soon as they were back on board, Yondu instructed Maunti to take one bundle to his cabin and to distribute the rest among the crew. The men knew their own cuts and they might get rowdy about it, but it was easier than trying to make them stand in line and would keep them busy until Kraglin could retrieve Luway. He turned quickly away from the lounge bay and found Tullk standing nearby. “He ready?”

“Course he’s ready,” snorted Tullk. “Give the squirt some credit.” Yondu nodded and started to stride up to the command deck. “Considering the stars in his eyes over her, ain’t no way he’d even think ‘bout leavin’ without her.”

Yondu chuckled and nodded. “Figured he’d be a good pick fer waitin’ for her.” When they got to the bridge, he tapped his earpiece. “Kraglin, you good?”

“Aye,” came the immediate response. “T-minus 30 minutes, boss.”

“Good. Keep yer eyes open.” He looked at Tullk. “I hate waiting.”

“Me, too,” his first mate agreed.

Ego waved Luway through a garden of picturesque flowers and enormous, egg-shaped displays. He waxed poetic about his great mission and Luway did her best to look interested and polite, though her eyes were darting for every exit, every indication that there would be a covered escape route. In the back of her mind, ten of her thirty minutes had already elapsed and she still hadn’t figured out where Ego kept his pod ships.

“What did she call you?”

Luway blinked and refocused on the man who called himself her father. “Huh?”

“Your mother,” Ego said with a smile. “I know Oluwaseyi is a lot of syllables, so there must have been something smaller she called you, some pet name or sweet thing.”

Bitterness stole over her and Luway had to tighten her jaw again to keep from snapping at him. Just like everyone else in the galaxy, he pronounced her name wrong, the emphasis in the wrong places and the last syllables mashed together. “She called me Oluwaseyi,” she finally managed to force out. She let her own name flow through her mouth, between her lips, with a soft click in the final |ee| sound. All the nuance of her birth language showed in her pronunciation and she felt a warm spot as she remembered in a flash every single time Yondu had said her name. He always said it right, click and all. “In our language, it’s not too long. Nicknames aren’t a thing we do.” The bitterness broke suddenly and she let it spill out of her. “But how would you know that. You approached my mother to pouch your baby and then vanished. You never bothered to learn anything about us, not even our language.” In her anger, she dropped in and out of Space common, falling back on her birth language and loving the music of it. It took a monumental effort for her to stop yelling at him and exhale slowly. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired.”

“Then let me show you where you can rest.” Ego walked silently ahead of her, guiding her through another series of gardens until they came to a sheltered pagoda with chairs and pallets arranged in a starburst around a central fire pit. “You may rest here as long as you like, Oluwaseyi,” he said. To his credit, he did try to say it correctly, but the music was gone, the syllables of her name leaden and flat. “Can I get you anything?”

Luway dropped down onto a pallet and grumbled, “My family back.” Ego nodded once and turned away, leaving her in the pagoda alone.

As soon as she was sure he was out of sight, she rushed to the nearest window and scanned her surroundings. From here, she could see that several of the major gardens had landing pads like the one Yondu had landed on. On one of them sat a neat row of egg-shaped pods. Paydirt. She glanced over her shoulder again, then shimmied down the outside of the pagoda and started hopping her way across the garden platforms until she reached the hangar pagoda. The first pod automatically opened for her when she came near and Luway stared at it warily before climbing inside and inverting herself on the pilot’s seat to look for the ignition panel.

There was no panel.

Luway stared blankly at the smooth, seamless, almost organic surface of the control column, then moved her fingers carefully along everything that seemed irregular. A cold sweat ran down her spine. “C’mon,” she growled at the ship. “There’s got to be a way to hotwire one of these damn pillboxes.”

“It’s hard to hotwire a vehicle without wires.” Ego’s voice drifted lazily into the ship and Luway jerked hard, thumping her forehead against the underside of the control column. “You look much recovered after your… rest.” Luway glared at him mutinously. “You do bring up an interesting puzzle, though.” Ego leaned into the cabin of the ship and propped one foot on the edge of the door, resting his forearms on his thigh in a comfortable cross. “I will make a wager with you, Oluwaseyi.”

Wary and nervous, Luway tilted her head. “I’m listening.”

“Power up the pod successfully and stay with me. I will show you all of what my technology can do. Try to power up the pod and fail, then I will power it for you and bid you farewell. The pod will have enough power to take you safely to any of several systems near here where you can either settle into obscurity or contact the Ravagers to take you somewhere else.”

Luway slowly turned her head so she was looking at him more through her right eye than her left. Her suspicion showed on her face and at this point, she didn’t even care. “Why would you let me go? After paying a fortune to get me here?”

Ego shrugged. “You are only useful if you can power the pod yourself. I have little care for you if you cannot. Go somewhere. Do something. I don’t care as long as you are not cluttering up my planet.” He leaned his elbow on his knee and rested his chin in his hand. “Deal?”

“I want to leave. What’s my incentive to try at all?”

His lips curled in an almost feline smile. “You mother was one of the most gifted mechanics I have ever known, even untrained and in squalor. You seem to have inherited her gift, an almost intuitive understanding of the workings of machines. This pod is a challenge, something beyond what you’ve ever seen or dreamed of.” He leaned forward to smirk at her. “I don’t think you’d back down from that kind of challenge. Not Dikeledi’s girl.”

Luway stared up at him, then looked back at the smooth surface of the ship’s console. “You’ll teach me about this if I can power it? How am I supposed to power it?”

“That’s part of the challenge.”

Chapter Text

Twenty-five minutes. Kraglin stared at his countdown clock on the HUD. Only five more minutes. Not long to wait. But would it be enough? Would she be able to find a ship she could hotwire to get out? Would he be able to get to her before Ego realized she was missing? The tangled thoughts and questions gave him a headache and Kraglin leaned forward in his seat to rub his forehead.

If it wasn’t enough, did he have the balls to confront Yondu, to disobey orders? To stay and wait for her until his ship ran out of fuel and he froze to death? Or would he run with his tail between his legs, fly back to the ship that was also his home and turn his back on the one cargo he’d never be able to forget? Could he seriously try to live life without her?

“Stupid,” he snapped at himself and thumped his forehead into his hands again. “Stupid asshole. She’s not that special. She’s not worth dyin’ over. She’s not. Just… stay the last couple minutes an’ go home. She’s just cargo.” When he looked up at the HUD again to see a shining countdown of 3 minutes and 20 seconds, the image was blurred and Kraglin shook his head slowly before letting himself cry.

Luway ran her hands over the surface of the console, her brow furrowed as she followed the contours and found places where the smooth surface dipped strangely or offered up an unusual curve. She found places that moved under her hands when she touched them, discovered how to move those places from one area to another. It was an entrancing puzzle and unlike anything she had ever tried to master before. It was more organic than mechanical but still responded fundamentally as a wired ship might. She had already managed to light up several areas on the steering console, but several of them would go out suddenly if she tried to pull up the navigation screens.

Fascination warred with frustration. As she learned her way around the system, she felt a deeper connection to it that threatened to burn her, scorching her from the inside out and leaving her a shell. A few times, power would wash over her and she saw the console light up in a brilliant array of lights and screens, but it always faltered before she could stabilize the system and when the power receded, she felt raw and tender inside. She had long since stopped noticing Ego where he stood watching her progress.

Each cascade of lights and panels she mastered both elated her, filling her with a wild, uncontrollable excitement and a flash of white-hot power, and clawed at her, her mind and soul flayed by that power and laid bare, scorched.

When she pushed herself one more time into that searing power, she thought she saw what she needed. She reached for it, clinging to her consciousness as the power flowed through her again. Something faltered in her and Luway cried out at the pain. It would break her, kill her. Fear gripped her and she tried to back away.

“You’re so close,” whispered Ego. “Don’t give up now. So close. Closer than any of the others.”

“Others?” Luway demanded in spite of the pain. “There have been others?” She thrashed, trying to free herself from the tangled fibers of a power she couldn’t control or even comprehend. “Okay, I tried your impossible trial. I failed. Let me go.”

Ego chuckled and Luway felt something in the center of her back, a hand pushing her forward and spearing her through with another spike of power. This time, she screamed. “Just a little closer, child.”

A whistle ripped out of her, shooting through the octaves to the very top of her range. The sound cut sharply across the blinding power and she distantly heard Ego stumbling backward. Clinging to the console, Luway looked up to where her father stood, breathing hard and clearly enraged. “You are my offspring,” he growled at her, “and you will do as I say.”

“Fuck you.” Luway offered him an extended middle finger, then caught the very edge of his power, jammed it into the console and triggered the door. The little pod shot into the air and knifed through the atmosphere until she felt pressed into her seat and every inch of her body ached with g-forces and the heat of the power still trickling through her. Her comm console came alive with Ego’s angry face, demanding that she return immediately. She grinned, keyed open the comm to a clear frequency and shouted back, “Later, bitches!”

The timer flashing was the only light in Kraglin’s cockpit. He ignored it. He had almost finished letting himself fall apart. The timer had started to count upwards. It was somewhere around 9 minutes, 12 seconds. Yondu had already called him, urging him to come back, that time was up. He had turned the comm off without responding.

Suddenly, the comms panel flashed to life with an open channel signal and Kraglin’s head shot up when he heard Luway’s voice crowing, “Later, bitches!” He slammed the engine into life and tracked for her ship, pivoting the M-ship around until he spotted her in the glowing ovoid pod. He flashed his lights at her and the pod slowed, then stopped dead in space, the lights immediately vanishing and the glow rapidly fading.

“Waysi,” he called into her open channel. “Waysi, can you hear me?” There was no answer and Kraglin chewed his lip as he brought the M-ship alongside her pod. He couldn’t see a hatch or a docking access, but there had to be a way in. He put the ship in sync with the pod so neither would float far from each other and dashed down to the airlock and its suit masks. Behind him, he could hear Yondu hollering on the comm, asking for an update, but it just didn’t matter. With his mask on and powered up, Kraglin shot out of his ship’s airlock and flattened himself against the side of the egg. “Waysi? Please, answer me.”

With a sharp twitch, the pod opened a hatch just below where Kraglin was clinging to its smooth skin and he stared in horror as Luway floated out of the door, unconscious. “NO!” He propelled himself down at her, wrapped himself around her and aimed for his momentum to take them back into his airlock. The air cycled back in and Kraglin pulled off his mask, holding Luway to him and trying to tell if the cold on her skin was terminal. “Waysi? Don’ go. Please?”

Her body shuddered and she started to cough, a dry, brittle sound. She looked around, her eyes unfocused and confused until she saw Kraglin’s face. Relief washed over her and he smiled, not even ashamed of the tears running down his face. “Where would I go?” she rasped at him. “My family’s here.” She half-collapsed against him and Kraglin hugged her close, rocking her and crying into the shoulder of her coverall.

Yondu and Tullk stood on the command deck, staring at the comms station and both willing it to light up. “It was her,” Yondu murmured. “Right? I’m not hearin’ things?”

“It was her,” Tullk confirmed. “Open channel. She likes to taunt, don’ she?”

Yondu smiled and nodded. “That she do.”

Finally, the light flashed with an incoming call and Yondu dove for it. Kraglin’s face seemed stretched and exhausted, his eyes puffy and cheeks flushed. But the girl standing behind him, leaning on the back of his chair to grin at Yondu made everything right again. “Hey, Dad. Mind if we catch a lift?”

Epilogue - One Year Later

Yondu was leaning back at the comms console with his feet up on the desk and his eyes closed, listening to Luway bicker with Mauri over something subtle about their lunch that had upset her. A smile drifted lazily on his face. After a moment of silence, he felt Luway’s hand on his shoulder and he opened his eyes to look up at her. Her eyes were forward and he blinked, following her gaze. “Dad?” she murmured. “I think we’re getting a call.”

Curious, Yondu sat up in his chair and tracked the signal. “Ego,” he grunted and glanced back up at her warily. “Should we?”

Luway’s lips twitched in displeasure. “If he’s got work, he’s got work. He did pay you last time and didn’t even throw that much of a shit fit about my sneaking out.”

Yondu nodded, then reached up to touch the back of her hand. “Outta the way, then.” When she was out of range of the camera, he settled in and accepted the call. “Whaddya want?”

Ego’s handsome face was unchanged from the previous year. He held Yondu’s gaze steadily, then said, “I’ve got a job for you.”

“An’ why should I take it?”

His lips curled in a cynical smile. “Because you still owe me a child. I’m sending you coordinates for his location. Do not mess with me, Ravager. She wasn’t enough for me to bother with, but if you pull a stunt like that again, I will not be pleased. I want my son, Udonta. Cross me this time and I will hunt you down like the vermin you are.”

Yondu snorted at him, then checked the coordinates. “Huh. Kinda backwater, even fer your tastes. How’re we supposed to snatch him?”

“That’s your business,” Ego growled. “Get there, get him, bring him to me.”

“Yer the boss,” Yondu shrugged and cut the comm line.

“Where are we going?” Luway asked him softly, returning to lean on his shoulder, her arms around his neck. Yondu could smell the familiar leather of her Ravager coat and he smiled. She looked good in brown and red.

“Some little shithole called Terra.”