Gamora was glaring at Yondu like she was trying to set him on fire with her mind. If she needed to make him the villain, that was fine. He could be the scary pirate who ripped her away from her home. That role suited him better. Anyway, it didn't matter what the brat thought of him. Yondu could protect Gamora while she was on his ship. All the other kids would go to Ego like lambs to the slaughter, but this one, this one Ego couldn't have. Yondu knew it wouldn't make Stakar forgive him. He would be lucky if Stakar ever talked to him again. But if Stakar could just see that this wasn't Yondu fault, not really. Ego never said what he was doing to the kids, all the information Yondu got was a name and a destination.

"You speak standard, girly?" Kraglin interrupted Yondu's train of thought, bringing him back to the present. The little girl shifted her gaze to Kraglin. They had to handcuff Gamora to the bed, to keep her from trying to escape. The kid was a scrawny little thing, couldn't have been more than seven, maybe eight standard year cycles. Her maroon hair was pulled into twin buns and loosely braided. Her matching red outfit had been patched up by skilled hands, several times. "What about Xandarian?" Kraglin switched between languages with an ease that only came from years of practice. She didn't give him a response. "That's all I got. I could hold her down and stick the translator chip in, sir."

"Nah" Yondu pulls up a chair and sits down across from her. "She understands Standard fine, don't'cha girly?"

The kid looks back at Yondu. "Are you in charge?"

"I am." Yondu continued in a mocking, whining tone, "Let me guess, you wanna go home."

"My mama can't pay ransom," Gamora stated trying to keep her voice steady. "And I can read and write."

"What?" Kraglin muttered.

"Nobody wants an educated slave." Gamora clarified a look of horror flashed across over Kraglins face.

Yondu had been through this song and dance a few times now. He was better at concealing his emotions. "I ain't negotiating with a useless, brat." Gamora hand slipped out of the handcuffs, in the same instant Yondu whistled. Her hand reached out for where a blaster would have been holstered, instead, the arrow was hovering dangerously close to her eyes. Gamora tried to move back and Yondu grabbed her wrist. "Damn kid!" The arrow returned to the holster.

She struggled in his grasp, hitting him with her free hand. "Let me go!"

Yondu snarled, "Anybody else would've spaced your ass, for being this much trouble!"

Gamora slowly stopped struggling, "Spaced?"

"It's when they like, throw you out an airlock and you die." Kraglins casual tone made Yondu relax. "It's station rat slang."

The kid looked back at Yondu, "You're a rat man?"

"No! A station rat is someone who was born on a space station. But that ain't the point! The point is I should've killed you!" Yondu said clearly exasperated.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Gamora frowned, "Standard is my second language."

Kraglin picked up the cuffs, "How'd you get out of these?"

Gamora glanced down at her hands, Yondu forced her fist open, he chuckled, "You missing some keys Krags?"

Kraglins eyes widened, he tapped his pockets, "Aw shit," Yondu tossed the keys to Kraglin.

"Maybe you ain't completely useless after all." Yondu mused, she must have learned how to pickpockets on the street. "Yeah, you've got potential, girly." She could be a decent ravager someday, with the right mentor.

"No." Gamora shook her head. "No, I want to go home."

"Of course you do." Yondu rolled his eyes and stood up. They all said the same thing. "Throw her in the box, if she gives ya crap. Assign her a bed and get'er chipped. I'll get Hazira to make her some clothes."

"Aye, Cap'n" Kraglin nodded.

Yondu shoved Gamora back onto the bed. "I'm doing you a favor here girly. Consider yourself lucky, " and with that Yondu left. Gamora rubbed her sore wrist and stuck her tongue out at him.

With his back to Gamora, Kraglin shoved the cuffs haphazardly into a drawer. He loaded the translator chip into the injector and prepared the morphine. He wasn't sure how someone of her species would react to morphine, but injecting a translator chip was too painful to do without some kind of painkiller. He'd hoped he wouldn't kill her. Kraglin saw movement in his peripheral vision and locked the door to the med bay. Gamora slammed her fist against the door, making dents in the metal. Kraglin sighed, "Give this up, already. We're thousands of light years from your home planet."

"That doesn't matter, I'll steal a ship," She didn't turn to look at him.

Kraglin snorted, that idea was laughable, a pipe dream. "Even if you could, you're not a pilot."

"I'll find someone who is!" The kid picked up a chair with surprising ease and lifted it over her head. Kraglin activated the contamination procedure from his tablet. The doors were reinforced with steel. The chair came down with a crack, breaking into pieces against the door. "Let me out!" She screamed.

"Not gonna happen," The kid was starting to get on his nerves. "Even if you did grab a hostage, steal a ship, where could you possibly go that we won't find you?"

Gamora's lower lip trembled. The kid pounded on the door again. Her fist left a dark blood stain. "Shut up!"

He stepped between her and the door, trying to keep her from injuring herself further. "Do you really think you can outrun us?"

"Just shut up!" Gamora's fist slammed into Kraglin's stomach. He took a step back, that was going to leave a mark. She kept hitting him, again and again. Until she wore herself out. One hand clinging to Kraglin's shirt, she leaned against his chest. She was getting blood and snot all over his shirt, and the crying was giving him a headache. Kraglin didn't know how to deal with a crying child! He wanted to hit her so she'd shut up, but then the girl would cry more. Uncertain as to what else to do, he gently pried her hands off him. Her knuckles were cut open and bruises formed where Yondu had grabbed her. Kraglin's confronted by how vulnerable she was. Even with all that strength, she was still terribly fragile.

Gef laughed, "Ain't that precious?" he pulled back the curtains that gave the beds the illusion of privacy. The commotion must have woken him from his medically induced coma.

Kraglin resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Shut up Gef." She was a child, she was allowed to be sad. Kraglin let go Gamoras wrists, she took a few shaking breaths. She rubbed at her eyes, desperately trying to pull herself together. She smeared blood on her face.

"You got stuck babysitting again?" Gef gestured towards the kid, it wasn't really a question.

"My whole job is babysitting you a-holes," Kraglin muttered steering Gamora back towards the bed.

Gef took it lightly, maybe it was all the painkillers putting him in a good mood. "We ain't children."

"I know that she actually listens to me." Gef looked confused but Kraglin didn't feel like explaining it to him. "Feel better, kid?" The statement sounded more sarcastic than Kraglin had intended, he was genuinely concerned.

"No. I need to go," Gamora exhaled sharply, and blinked back tears. She couldn't bring herself to say the next word. "I don't belong here."

"Nobody belongs anywhere." Kraglin shrugged, "stop crying, your fine."

"I'm not crying!" Gamora whined, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Oh, that's convincing," Gef muttered.

"Remind me to teach you how to lie sometime, donut head." Kraglin chuckled.

Gamora tugged at her twin buns, self consciously. "They're not donuts."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," She narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you teasing me?"

"I would never do that." Kraglin cleaned the blood off the best he could and then bandaged up Gamora's hands.

"Who's that?" She looked over her shoulder at Gef.

"That's Gef he's an engineer," and village idiot, Kraglin didn't say. "Gef this is Gamora. She's our new cabin girl."

"Can you fly a ship?" Gamora put up an innocent front.

"Don't answer that," Kraglin said dryly. He emphasized the statement, with a smack to the back of Gamoras head.

The kid yelped more out of surprise than pain, "don't hit me!" She squeaked blinking back fresh tears. Kraglin moved to inject the chip, but Gamora panicked. She scrambled out of his arms reach, watching the injector with suspicion.

"Come on, if we were going to hurt you we would have done it already." Kraglin took a deep breath. This was getting irritating. Gamora stayed where she was. "You know what this is?" He tossed her the injector.

"Translator chip, a fancy one." She turns it slowly in her hand, "How much did this cost?"

Kraglin shrugged, "Eh, two maybe, three hundred units."

"Two, two hundred units?!" Gamoras eyes went wide, she dropped the injector onto the bed. She started counting on her fingers, "I could buy eighty cakes with that, no, no wait, eighty-five cakes. That's food for two months, maybe three if we rationed," She muttered to herself. Kraglin didn't have the heart to tell her that wasn't a lot of units.

"It needs to go in your neck," Kraglin explained. "Wasn't doin' nothin' bad."

"Hurts like a motherfucker, though," Gef grunted.

"Not helping," Kraglin snapped at him. "I'll do it fast. You ain't leavin' this room until you're chipped." Gamora looked at the door, but her mind was elsewhere. She sighed and moved closer to Kraglin. True to his word, Kraglin injected the chip quickly.

To say that lodging a piece of metal into your spinal cord was an unpleasant experience would be a dramatic understatement. Gamora clapped a hand over the back of her neck. There was a screaming pain in the base of her skull, that burned down her spine. It felt like she had been shot. Her nails dug into the palm of hands until they drew blood. She felt a pinch as Kraglin injected something into her neck. A moment later, the pain started to fade. Her muscles relaxed, she felt numb. Gamora focused on her breathing, she blinked her eyes back into focus. Gef laughed as Gamora lashed out at Kraglin. "Gimme some warning first!" She glared at him, but her tears and young face ruined the gesture.

"You're fine," Kraglin almost called her a baby, before he remembered she was one. He let the kid rest while he cleaned up a bit. Kraglin had considered leaving the mess but decided the earful he'd get from Bruhl wasn't worth it. Kraglin wanted to stay on Bruhl's good side if he could help it. He was the only one on the ship with any real medical training. Kraglin deactivated the contamination procedures and unlocked the door. He touched Gamora's shoulder to get her attention. "Kid lets go."

She slid off the bed, "Where are we going?"

Kraglin opened a map of the ship on his tablet and handed it to her, "Here." He pointed towards the cafeteria, "And all the way," he started to move the hologram quickly, "over here," He stopped over the living quadrant and zoomed in. "Is where you're sleeping. Remember the number, all them cabins look the same." Kraglin was using the term cabin, loosely. They had two bunks and a storage unit, there was barely enough room for two people to stand.

"I have my own room!?" Gamora nearly gasped.

Kraglin bit back a smile, "You're sharing it. Living space is tight, this used to be a transport ship."

"Do I get my own bed?" Her excitement was written all over her face.

"Yeah, kid." Kraglin nodded leading them out of the med bay and down the hall. "Memorize the map the best ya can. You're on your own tomorrow." He made Gamora walk in front of him so she couldn't try to escape. Gamora looked over the map, occasionally asking questions. She hadn't realized how massive the ship was, it could house a small town. The ship was broken into several different quadrants, the living quadrant was the smallest and the hangar (Kraglin called it the garage) was the largest. The catwalk wasn't technically a quadrant but it was bigger than all of them. It was a maze that stretched through the center of the ship. If Gamora leaned over the railing she could see all the way down to the bottom of the ship, pipes and machinery stretched as far as she could see. The armory was relatively close to her cabin, but it would be a bit of a walk to the hangar. Kraglin watched Gamora trace the route with her finger, she was plotting her next escape attempt. "You think I'm stupid or something?"

Gamora couldn't be bothered to look up at him, "If I'm never going to escape, what does it matter?"

Kraglin snatched the tablet from her hands and hit her over the head with it. "I can't ignore it when you make plans right in front of me! At least be subtle 'bout it."

"Fine!" Gamora jumped up to take the tablet back.

When they reached the mess deck, Gamora sat down at the table closest to the door. They were early for dinner so the mess was mostly empty. The crew working the graveyard shift lingered around the coffee machine. He spotted Brahl in the group and waved him down. "Hey doc, you know what a Zen-Whoberisian can eat?"

"I can make an educated guess based on their biology," Brahl stated.

"So, yes?" Kraglin clarified, and Brahl shrugged.

He glanced over at Gamora, "That the new cargo?"

"She ain't cargo. Captain had me design her a jacket." Haziras laughter was melodic. Kraglin reached for the bag of clothes but the tailor held it out of his reach. "What does our dear Captain want with a sweet lil' thing like that?"

"That's need-to-know information, Zira," Kraglin said flatly.

"So you don't know either." Brahl chuckled.

"Awe, and I thought you two were besties." Hazira mocked him.

Brahl was right, but Kraglin didn't like his tone. "If I tell Zira the whole ship would know by morning."

"Hey!" Hazira put two hands on her hip, then pursed her lips and dropped her hands to her side. " Yeah nevermind, that's fair."

Kraglin nearly dragged Brahl into the kitchen. They served food from too many different planets for Kraglin to keep track of what was safe to eat and what was mildly poisonous. Usually, he stuck to the freeze-dried imitation of real Xandarian food. Brahl wandered down one of the buffets pointing out what was safe for Gamora to eat. Kraglin found a yellow heavily processed sweet bread. He guessed they were those cakes the kid was babbling about and put a few on the plate. Artificial food was easy to make and transport, which made it dirt cheap. Kraglin couldn't remember the last time he had a real, honest to stars, steak. Most people claimed that you can't tell the difference between artificial meat and the real stuff. Most people are wrong. When Kraglin walked towards the table, Gamora held up the bag of clothes. "Hazira made these for me! I got a dress and sweaters, and pajamas, and, and!"

"I know, that's her job." Kraglin tried not to smile, it was adorable the way she got worked up over the little things. He wasn't made of stone, damn it.

"And they're brand new!" She pulled out a soft gray sweater. Hazira had hand stitched fluffy cartoon creatures into it. "They're so pretty! She made these for me." The kid hugged the bag to her chest.

Kraglin set the tray down in front of her. "Here, eat." He rehydrated juice with a splash of vodka, for Gamora. He had vodka with fruit juice.

Gamora slowly set the bag down on the seat next to her. She stared at the stack of cakes on her plate. Three days worth of food, for one meal. Gamoras hands were trembling as she picked up a fork. She thought about every meal she'd eaten alone. Every time her family had to ration food, or when her mother didn't eat so Gamora could. This was the first time someone sat at a table with her to eat, and it was them. It looked so good. She took a small bite. "This isn't fair." Her vision blurred and she pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. She wouldn't cry.

Kraglin looked confused, "Food can't taste that bad."

Gamora sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve. Kraglin handed her some napkins. "No, it's good. It's really good." She took another bite. She's not going to cry.

The cafeteria was getting crowded. Yondu was making his rounds to check on the crew when he stopped at their table. "Aw hell, Krags wha'd'ya do ta her?"

"I didn't do nothing." Kraglin poked at his own meal. "Says she's crying cause the foods good."

"That's not it." Something inside her snapped. All the tears, anger and guilt came out at once. Her meltdown felt all too familiar to Yondu. "Mama tells me you have to work to eat, and I-I haven't done anything. The people I care about will go cold and hungry while I have this feast and sleep in my own bed. It's too much! And you kidnapped me! I'm never going to see mama again because of you! I should hate you but you're being so nice to me. Why are you being so nice to me? I don't understand, I just don't understand." Gamora slumped in her chair suddenly feeling exhausted. She didn't have the energy to care if her captors saw her upset.

The chair scraped against the floor as Yondu sat down next to her. He seemed to stare at nothing for a while, trying to decide what to say. What he could he say? "This ain't being nice. This is the bare minimum. Even prisoners get food, shelter an' clothes."

"Is that what I am? A prisoner." Gamora muttered, her eyes were empty and distant.

"You can choose to be more." Yondu pulled the jacket out of the bag Hazira had left. "You want to pay me back? You put on the damn jacket and stop brooding." Gamora touched the soft leather, it was heavier than she thought it would be. Prisoner or criminal? Wasn't much of a choice. Gamora unfolded the jacket, red always was her color. "Atta girl."

Gamora thought of her mother and felt a pang of guilt. "I'm only going to work until I find a way out of here. I won't forgive you, I hate you."

Yondu chuckled, the girl was stubborn as hell. "I should've spaced your ass, girly! I take you in, give you a job, and you're still a brat. You owe me your life!"

"That's not how that works!" Gamora yelled back, "You don't save somebody's life by not killing them!" She sank back into her seat as Yondu walked away. A full minute later she whispered to Kraglin, "Wait, was he serious, or was he teasing me?"

Kraglin laughed into his drink, "Oh no, he's fully serious." Gamora didn't look convinced. She turned back to her plate. This wouldn't be forever. She was going to go home to her mother. No matter what it took.