Chapter 13
Trouble Ahead.

Rhuba took a punch to her gut and was kicked down to the snow.
Before Garagus could land another hit, she was able to push herself up and blast away from the ground to gain some altitude.
Hot on her tail, Garagus tried to grab her ankle, but suffered a heel to the head.

"gotcha," She muttered under her breath as she dropped behind him and landed a few jabs to his ribs before he swung his arm back to get her.

But he missed, she was gone already and another kick landed on his spine.
Swinging his arm once more, he'd missed the sight of her again, receiving another kick between the shoulder blades this time.
Growling under his breath, Garagus began to swing his arm, but instead stomped his foot straight down, connecting with Rhuba as she tried to swoop under and pop back up on his blind spot.

"Did you really think that would work a third time?"

"Would you be surprised if I said yes?" She winced, holding her shoulder. "How long have we been at this?"

Pulling his scouter to his face, Garagus determined they'd been sparring for at least two hours.
"Tired? Bored?"

"Maybe a little," Rhuba yawned, stretching her arms. It had been only a few days since she started flying on the planet's surface. Being able to manoeuvre in close quarters combat was proving to be her most demanding test yet, even with him taking it easy on her.
"Still having those dreams?" She asked, charging a small energy blast and throwing it to him.

Garagus cupped his hands together and caught the blast before it collided, and gently sent it back.
"It was just that one time."

"I forgot about that stupid snake," Rhuba smirked as she returned the energy ball again.

"You mean my massive snake?"

When it bounced to her this time, Rhuba smashed it to the ground below.
"Next one's going at your snake…" She scowled, lining up her shot.

Garagus narrowly dodged, but intent on not losing his point, he pursued after her energy blast and managed to overtake and catch it.
"Let's see you take this…" He added some strength of his own. The blast got bigger, growing to about four times its size before he decided any bigger would likely hurt her.

Even at a distance, she could see what he was doing and could tell what he was thinking.
"you're gross…" She sighed, preparing to doge whatever comes her way.

"Rhuba! You prepare one too! I want to see what happens if they collide!"

Shivering, Rhuba reluctantly agreed.
After all, it'll be good practice to take aim at and hit an oncoming target.
"Ready!"

"Three!" Garagus called.

"Two,"

"One!" At the same time, both fired their blasts at the other.

Rhuba's seem to pop on impact, but Garagus' maintained form and kept going for its intended target.

"Whoa!" Rhuba reeled back and fired another, which also did nothing. "Stop!"

"Just dodge!-…" Garagus noted his scouter detect her power level rising suddenly. "Oh Sh-" With half a second to spare, he evaded an incoming beam of energy fired from Rhuba.

"How did you… do that?" Flying over, he found his wife in frozen shock and at a loss of breath.
Rhuba lowered her trembling arms, but couldn't let herself relax from fear of falling from the sky.
"Come here," Garagus held her hand and gently guided her to the ground.

Once on solid ground, Rhuba hunched over wheezing from exhaustion.

"Chief- I mean King Vegeta used to use attacks like that. I never saw them up close, though." Garagus told her.

"I didn't like it, it hurt…" Rhuba held her arms. "well, no… I was numb, and felt like I was bleeding."

Garagus checked her arms all over. Not a single cut or gash to be seen.
"Like this?" He grazed his fingertips down her arm.

She nodded, explaining that it was under her skin, perhaps even in her bones.

"Nothing to worry about them. You've just never released that much energy at once before, and with all the flying you've been doing, it's not a wonder you're feeling this way. I find hitting something helps come around from it." When he opened his palms to her, Rhuba tried punching them. At first, she was unsure, but her arms did start to get looser as she did.

"These last few days have been fun," Coming off the ground, Rhuba brought her fist down harder, deciding to make the most out of it.

"Yes." He blocked and pushed her punch away. "Tell me how you did that beam, though. The scouter said your power shot up by two hundred points."

"And you got scared I'd hurt you~?" Rhuba teased. "I just panicked and shot everything I had in one attack… And just kept pushing."

"Like when we fly?" Garagus looked at his hands. To him, energy blasts are like punches. You release in single or rapid bursts. To punch someone and keep pushing the fist against them, it's surely impractical.

Putting out one hand, he tried to put the theory into action.
At first, a single energy blast shot out as always. Pushing too long, only charged the blast until it 'popped' in his hand.
"Ah!" He hissed, recoiling from the pain just as he noticed Rhuba holding in her urge to laugh.

"sorry it's just," She snickered again. "I've never seen you get annoyed like this before. How does your Alpha pride feel knowing a mere Dirt Dweller did something you can't?"

"shut up…" Shoving her aside, Garagus tried again. This time with two hands. As before, the blast grew to a certain size before becoming too unstable to sustain and blew up in his face.

"Ouch!" Rhuba hissed.

Thinking he'd hurt her too at first, Garagus laughed to learn that she tried to do it herself and failed just as he had.
"What's the matter, Dweller?"

Not deterred, Rhuba flew from the ground to try again.
She thought out loud how that there are certain things the ship can only do while airborne, so perhaps this works the same.

"Why would that be the case?" Garagus couldn't think of any time an attack would need to be made while in flight.

"Maybe it's like stretching? Using some of my energy to keep me up while changing more into my hands makes it work?"

"Okay. Me and my twenty years of energy manipulation will just sit here and watch you."

"Your twenty years isn't ready for this!" arms out, Rhuba had another attempt blow up in her face. "Darn it!" She fired out a few more blasts aiming at nothing in particular, but once she got the feel down, she tried once again combining both hands together and charging a larger one.
"HA!" She cried out as a bright beam shot from her palms and refaced a wall of the canyon. "Did you, see…?"

Garagus caught her and gently sat with her on his lap until she came to.
"You need to train more," She heard him say as she shook herself awake.

"What happened?"

"Flying isn't the answer. But I think I know how to do it."

Rhuba scrunched her lips as she weakly slapped him.
"show me." She yawned, hopping off his knee and standing back to watch.

Paying close attention to his movements, Garagus made the motions without effort just to get a feel for when it was time to go for real.
"You shot a few blasts to start with, but I don't think that's needed. Instead, channel your energy through your arms…" Garagus saw her doing as he was, so slowed down to let her follow along. "At this point, bring both thumbs together, arch your fingers to trap the energy but not so much that it can't grow."

Rhuba bared her teeth as the orb of concentrated energy started to grow.
As pressure built in her hands, she extended her fingers and pushed out.
She and Garagus fired their blasts together. The destruction caused was comparable to their respective strengths.
However, since Rhuba was new at regulating herself, she again passed out from exhaustion.

"moron…" Garagus scooped her from the snow and cradled her all the way home.

Waiting for the sky people's return, Cuppa, the chief's granddaughter, was waiting by their ship with her spear twirling and spinning around her body as she fought her own shadow.
This would be her first time meeting with the sky people on her own, but she felt as future chief, she should have a word in what happens going forth.

A pair of steps landed behind her on the ramp to the closed airlock.
Turning on the spot, she was greeted with the sight of one sleeping in the arms of the other.
"Yagon!" She called, stabbing her spear into the snow as she approached.

"Stand back a moment," Garagus asked. From the air, he was able to take hold of and hide Rhuba's tail, but it'll be easily seen up close.

Cuppa stood annoyed at having to wait for him to carry his mate inside as she really needed to speak with them.
"Is she okay?"

"She's just tired." Garagus quickly brought Rhuba to her bedroom just as she was waking up. "We have a Dishian outside, put your tail away."

With distant eyes, Rhuba looked up at him and simply ask if she made the energy beam, then smiled warmly as she snuggled into her pillow, more than satisfied with his answer.
When Garagus left, Rhuba stared at the opposing window. The tint was darkened to keep the light out, but she didn't feel sleepy enough to turn in for the night.

Humming to herself, she grabbed her scouter from the bedside table and set the audio to huddle mode, which makes it speak out loud for all to hear.

Noticing a call request from Rhuba, Garagus answered and set his scouter aside as he welcomed Cuppa aboard the ship.

As the Dishian expressed her surprise of the interior, Rhuba snuggled in again to hear the reason that brought the native girl on board.

"Granp-… excuse me, Master Karburd has already left. The other guardians will meet with him soon, I wondered if you were going to help him?"

Rhuba leaned on her elbows as she listened. This was the first she'd heard of any of this. Garagus too by the sounds of it.

"Kaburd's the master of this hot spring. Others like it have tribe settlements too. But none are so wide as ours. We can fit the whole village over the heat, where others need to stay small or some of their people will freeze."

"So another tribe guardian is coming to take yours?"

"Not exactly. The guardians mostly have respect for each other, it's a blood oath. Each guardian swears to protect his tribe with his life. To lose even one female out of incompetence or weakness is unredeemable. Blood must spill as penance, and to make sure weakness doesn't fester."

Rhuba smirked. That sounded like something her people might come up with. "Filthy dweller, shut your mouth!~" She teased herself with a rough voice, remembering her final confrontation with Russell. Her face fell however when she heard Garagus' next words.

"Did a girl go missing while we were gone?" He asked. "Does Kaburd need to kill himself?"

"No!" Cuppa objected. "Granpa is one of the best." She cleared her throat, not to boast that she is one of the few to carry his blood. "If a guardian falls in battle, or dies of age having protected his tribe with his life all those years, He is honoured. But to lose someone and make it back alive, he is a failure. And taking his own life is the only way to pay for it…"

Rhuba heard the frustration in Cuppa's voice.
"Some cowards choose to run away. Like our last master, he lost someone and ran! That's when Kaburd, as the strongest and most skilled of our women, she be changed into our new master and has protected us with his life ever since."

Rhuba was wearing the same puzzled face as Garagus. But unlike her, Garagus restrained from asking.

"The thing is, grandpa broke one of the laws, and has been fighting for his choice ever since." Cuppa sighed. "He spared the last guardian's offsprings, insisting that their father's crime was not theirs to suffer for. Blood penance was not paid, so if another guardian comes here and kills Kaburd, he'll have the right to both springs and merge the tribes into one."

Rhuba tucked her tail around her waist and left her room to join Garagus and Cuppa.
"Don't mind me, just going for some air!" She said with a friendly wave as she headed outside.

The moment the open sky was above her, she scouted out Kaburd beyond the far side of the village and took off towards him.
Despite the seriousness of her intentions, she still felt giddy about the fact that she could fly. The feeling in her stomach may never stop.

Her search for Kaburd's signature took her a good few miles away from the village, but across the frozen tundra with the frosty wind blowing in her face, she wished so badly she'd picked warmer clothing.
It was below freezing after all, and the springs weren't near by for proxy warmth.

But the cold didn't concern the old master, sitting on the ice with his spear resting at his feet. He prepared once again to fight for his family and his tribe.
He will once again fight alone, as the only fighters in his tribe are still too juvenile to fight for their lives yet.
Yagon and Sorpper were a good choice, but asking them with the future so uncertain, it wouldn't be right.

"Hello? Kaburd?" Rhuba called out before crash landing and skidding up snow as she slid to a stop.
Her arm burned a little from the landing, but she was back on her feet and ready for whatever came their way.

"Sorpper, why are you here?"

Rhuba kept forgetting her fake name but rolled with it.
"I have two questions." She admitted, still walking off a small burn on her hip. "Did you used to be a woman?"

"Excuse you?"

"Cuppa mentioned that you changed, how does that work?"

Kaburd's face was changing colour from being flustered at all the questions being thrown at him so randomly.
"Y-Yes!" He roared, hand out to silence the impudent sky person. "As with all life, I started my existence as a female. But as the tribe's dependency fell on me, I changed to become master." His fists tightened above his knees as he sat cross-legged. Children get this talk from their mothers, why is this adult sky person needing to know?

"thanks." Rhuba nodded. "And my other question is, why didn't you just ask us to take out this other tribe's guardian?"

Kaburd rose from the ice, spear in hand and approached Rhuba.
"Cuppa told you?" He demanded. "She shouldn't have. I choose not to involve you for a reason."

"Okay. May I ask why?" Rhuba watched the look on this elderly master stiffen once more before he finally gave in.

"Your mate told me about your own world. I was afraid allowing your continued residence would endanger my people…"

Rhuba felt like bashing Garagus' head on a rock. Whatever possessed him to share this with the tribe's elder, it needs beaten out of him.
But she noticed Kaburd's eyes lock on something behind her.

Even against the darkening tundra, they could see the other warriors who'd challenge Kaburd's position approach.
"I could not ask your aid before deciding what I was willing to risk from you being here." He spat, voice full of regret. "You should leave this world, I'm sorry… But right now, I must fight."

"If you want us gone, we'll respect your decision." Rhuba crossed her arms. Dishia is a beautiful planet, the springs are amazing and the people are interesting. But it's always cold, she never thought she'd miss dirt so much, nor did she think eating giant birds would ever get boring.
Just one more question lingered on her mind.
"If you lose, will your tribe be spared?"

Kaburd was ready to fight tooth and barb to win, but he dared not think of what may happen.
But Sorpper kept persisting.

"I do not know!" He finally declared. "Those with the blood of a coward are not so easily forgiven. I may have defended my children with my life for these long years, so there is no weakness in me, but I am still a traitor so my daughters and granddaughter will probably be killed."

Rhuba rolled her eyes. No wonder Cuppa was so eager to get her and Garagus involved.
"Where I come from, even considering asking for help in a fight like this would be considered weak or cowardly."

Kaburd narrowed his eyes.
"My children are more important to me than anyone's opinion."

Rhuba smirked.
"Well said." Turning on her heel with their shoulders together. "I'll have to warn you." She sighed. "I cannot spare anyone who sees me here today, and after we go you must force your tribe into a vow of silence… Ga-… Yagon and I never came here, understood?"

Sensing her plan, Kaburd held his spear out to prevent her from advancing.
"NO! This is not your fight, I cannot ask you to."

"If you die here, your whole tribe might be slaughtered."
Kaburd shook his head. His whole tribe isn't likely, but even one was too many.
"We weren't able to help our people," Rhuba looked at the spear-welding tribesmen ahead. "Yours were kinder to us than they were."

"Do you have to kill them all?"

"If you demand they stay silent about me, will they listen?"

Kaburd lowered his head. He had no authority over them, and she has no reason to spare anyone she can't trust.

"Kaburd!" Called out the first challenger. "I am Durawr! Firstborn of my Guardian you slew many moons ago. I respect mercy when called for, but for the sake of our survival, weakness must be purged!"

"I am Sorpper!" Kaburd needed a double take as she spoke. "Firstborn of my mother you never met. I respect a fair fight and swift ends to my enemies, so for the sake of fairness and my freezing tits, all of you come at me at once!"

All eyes were on Rhuba as she took her battle stance, a chilly wind blew her jet black hair over her eyes, but not once did she lose focus.

"Who are you, stranger!?"

"I… Sorpper! I just said so!" She called back. "Look, I came here in a hurry and forgot to bring gloves, so just attack me so we can get this over with!"

As Durawr approached, spear in hand, Rhuba quickly sidestepped and in a movement so quick, Durawr hit the ground as a loud crack rang in everyone's ears.

Kapurd saw the young warrior lay there motionless with Rhuba standing over, her open palm still lingering from where she struck Durawr's neck.

"You look conflicted, Kaburd." Rhuba asked. "Remember, if you die, your tribe goes."

Looking up with devastation in his eyes, he saw Rhuba's expression.
It wasn't a warning, it was a promise.
Understanding what was at risk, he hung his pride and agreed to let Rhuba win this for him.
"Don't let them suffer…" He pleaded.

As Rhuba turned her attention to the attackers, all five remaining decided to take her offer and treat her as their ultimate threat.
As two spears came at once, Rhuba grabbed the ends and stopped their wielders dead in their tracks. She kicked one in the side then dug her heel into the leg of the other before disarming them both and killing them with a single punch to the head each.
For the final two attempting to flank her, Rhuba charged and shot a weak energy blast to stun the first while she despatched the second. Taking his spear, she threw it like a javelin through the other's heart. At least that was the plan, but she missed him entirely.
"never mind…" She charged forward bare knuckle punched his lights out.

"They fought bravely." She muttered, wiping her knuckles clean with snow. "But I am not sympathetic to their cause."

Kaburd was in shock. He'd washed the blood of his own kind from his hands before, but what he observed was something else.
A battle that would have been six separate but continuous rounds possibly lasting hours all in for him, took Rhuba less than a minute from the first kill to the last.
"What are you?" He asked.

Rhuba turned to him. He already gave his word, and he owes his life and that of his tribe.
"I am Sorpper." She offered her hand. "Do you need help with the bodies?" Her intent was to help carry them somewhere or help dig a grave.

"I do not take the bodies, only the heads."

"eh?" Rhuba watched, who she considered to be a sweet but strong old man, collect heads one by one with his spear.

"I keep the skulls as trophies."

Rhuba kept a frozen smile. You learn something horrifying every day.
"Well you seem busy. Wouldn't want to keep you." As she was about to fly away, she reminded Kaburd not to tell anyone and to ensure his tribe's secret. "And one more thing, if someone representing Freeza or his forces should come here, surrendering is your best chance at survival…" She felt a crushing weight fall on her.
Surrendering, being subservient, doing his dirty work. The Saiyans did this and more. But it didn't save them.

"You maybe saved my life today." Kaburd admitted, severed head in his arm. "I'll never forget your kindness."

"I insist you do. For your own sake. Bye!" At that point she took off, following her scouter all the way back to her ship.

Halfway there, she met Garagus flying to meet her.
"Woah!" they both drifted by each other as they attempted a sudden stop. "Where you going?"

"I caught-t the end-d of-f your-r battle-tle." Garagus opened the spare coat he brought for Rhuba to slide her arms into.

"one-ne second-econd," Rhuba forgot her scouter's transmitter was still turned on, making a feedback issue between them. After turning it off, she slipped into the warm coat Garagus brought her. "oh, thank you~."

"Did he really start cutting off heads?"

"Without a second of hesitation. With a spear!"

Garagus rubbed the back of his neck, hoping they were actually dead.
"So, the tribe is safe?"

"For now. I think we've outstayed our welcome…" Looking back at the spot she just came from. A whole new light was shining on their neighbours. "New planet?"

"New planet." Garagus agreed, taking her hand and gently leading her back towards the towering steam cloud that marked the tribe's location.

"Although…" Even though it was night, the springs were right there. "We may never get a chance again." Dragging Garagus with her, Rhuba divebombed towards the hot water.

"No!" Garagus grabbed her from the air and brought them both to a halt. "You're too cold right now."

"That's why I want a hot bath before we go."

"Put your hand in."

Rhuba stuck one arm elbow deep in and nearly woke the whole village.
Apparently going from sheer cold of a frozen tundra to roasting hot water with almost no adjustment time is a terrible idea.

Aboard the ship, Garagus prepared for take-off while Rhuba fought tears with her arm in a bucket of freshly harvested snow.
"I can see you laughing you bastard!"

Garagus just looked at her.
His heart melted for the pain she must be in but one of these days she'll have to learn to just take his advice.
"It would have been so much worse if I'd let you dive in."

While waiting for the engines to power on, Rhuba was still a little pouty over her bright red hand.
"I liked Dishia." She sighed, "What should we look for now?"

Garagus didn't know.
Dishia was just a place to readjust to the fact of their home being destroyed. He never really intended for it to be a forever home.

Rhuba turned to her usual console, beckoning Garagus to look.
"I did some checks. Under the layers of ice, there are ore deposits."

"That's not uncommon."

"Yes, but look at the consistency. This is twenty miles around us."

Garagus thought what he was looking at was small deposits over maybe a single mile, maybe less. For the scanners to pick up deposits that size over such a radius, meaning this planet will be highly sought after.
A mining base would have been sent within days of the report getting back. Or more accurately, until a few months ago, a team of Saiyans would have been sent to subdue the inhabitants and exterminate any resistance for when the mining team does arrive.

"If only we had a way to refine the ore ourselves," Garagus muttered. "We'd be rich on a neutral market."

"And we're not in the business of selling planets." Rhuba reminded him. "The point I'm trying to make is, pretend for a moment a scout vessel comes here tomorrow. Unless we detect and kill them immediately, this world will be crawling with Freeza soldiers in no time, whether we're here or not. But if we were Here when that happens…"

"Freeza will send a kill team…" Garagus growled.

"Or come himself, in which case, we're done no matter what. It's just how many Dishians we took with us."

"So we need to find a planet that's liveable, but with so little value that Freeza's scouts won't think it important enough to report back on."

"Ehh, not exactly…" Rhuba reported back every planet they found as Granate said it was protocol, even if a team will never come. Dishia of course is the one exception. "We need a planet that's on the unremarkable end of the scale."

Garagus crossed his arms as he sat back in his seat. It could be months before they find another planet, let alone one that's unremarkable while still liveable.
"Maybe a planet in Freeza space? We might not even need to look aimlessly if we just pick one he's already scouted."

"That could work," All they would need to do is access the register and they'd have a whole catalogue of planets to choose from.
But Rhuba felt uneasy at the mere thought of heading towards that monster. Her skin crawled as the unimaginable fear of being discovered took over her. "No, absolutely not. We go anywhere else."

"I'm just trying to think logically, the last place he'd look is…"

"He's not looking! He already thinks we're dead."

"More the reason why we might be safer-"

"Please, Garagus!" Rhuba had to tamper her scream as she pleaded with him. She thought through tears as she curled up in her chair. "I hate arguing, I hate this… just please don't do this…"
For a while, after her planet was taken from her, Rhuba also felt that she'd lost Garagus too.
He seemed so in control and focused, and she felt helpless in their bedroom.
They bickered, teased, and even had friendly fights before since they were children. It was one of the cornerstones of their relationship.
Recently, she felt their bond rejuvenating from scorched soil. How is it that the mere thought of Freeza had the potential to destroy them all over again?

The slight touch of Garagus' hand felt like a knife in her back, bringing Rhuba screaming back to reality.
"I just said we'll go where you say," He assured her. "as long as you're safe, I don't care what planet we're on. Are you with me, Rhuba?"

Rhuba stared at him. The last time they were in this position, she was lost in her own mind in their bed feeling so helpless she couldn't even dress herself.
Although she may never completely heal, she at least knew where she is now.
"Always." She promised.

"This is the charted Galaxy. The red zones are Freeza space, the Blue belongs to the…" Checking his notes. "Galactic King…" He could see Rhuba's unamused face. "Anyway, we're near the edge of the galaxy. Freeza space is between us and the blue zone. We can stay on the outer rim, and risk detection sooner rather than later, or we can bullet ourselves through the red and into the blue."

Rhuba cringed at the idea of going through Freeza space. But he can't be everywhere at once, and going through is not the same as staying.
"Even at full speed, that's going to take an awfully long time."

"Yes." Garagus sighed, putting up the projection of their flight path. "The autopilot is programmed to calculate the shortest path to our destination while conserving power. It'll slingshot around planets and stars, moving like a comet. Only changing course and adjusting thrust as needed."

Rhuba watched the line drawn on the map. She didn't understand how going around planets made their flight suddenly go faster, but she took them at their word.
"How long, Garagus?"

"Eleven years." Garagus could see her 'just kill me' look.

A few days into their search, Rhuba let out a big yawn as she waited for the ship to arrive at the next star.
She knew the drill enough to take solo shifts while Garagus slept.
Arrive outside a star system, let the computer find if any planets occupy the habitable zone, if so, enter the star system and check the livablity of said planet.

Just as she was drifting off, an alert went up to let her know they'd arrived.

"Four worlds… No, no, yes… no." Digging deeper, with a new twinkle in her eyes. "hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen!" Showing a grin, she was about to wake Garagus. "oh…" It had three moons, and according to the computer's predictions, less than three days of the month would have no full moon in the sky.
Dangerous.

Garagus was tossing and turning in his sleep when Rhuba came to wake him.
"Garagus?"

In a panic, Garagus almost punched her as he came out of his dream, only missing her because she hit the wall so fast in her effort to dodge. "Oh Rhuba, s, sorry…"

"It's okay…" She gasped, feeling her heart pound as she came over to tell him of the planet.
The three moons weren't a deal breaker for him, but only on one condition. "I'm not cutting my tail off."

"Then we can't live there."

"Come on…" Rhuba pleaded. The next planet star system was ten whole years away at top speed.
She saw he was back under the covers. "Hey!" Crawling onto the bed and slumping over him, she intended to be as annoying as she could until they could come up with a better plan "I can't do ten years in this ship, Garagus."

"hypersleep…" Garagus mumbled.

"Booo," Rhuba rested her head next to his. She remembered her first time in the ice box. Captain Granate placed a ripe fruit right in front of her pod as the three of them went in. Rhuba felt herself getting tired under the mechanical 'hissing' noise, and when she woke up the fruit was black and rotten after eight whole months had passed.

'They did that to me on our four voyage,' Rhuba thought happily to herself as she snuggled in with Garagus. 'Just a few days after I left my planet for the first time…'

Garagus woke up to find her napping beside him. On duty no less.
"Wake up."

"Ahow!" Rhuba hissed, rubbing her nippy backside. "What was that for?"

"Leaving your post." Garagus yawned, stretching his arms. "We need to follow our sleep schedules until we find a planet."

"I know…" Rhuba rolled out of bed and made her way back to her post. The projections were still the same for the next planet. "ugh…" She slumped on the chair staring at a white ice giant that defiantly wasn't habitable.

On the controls, she could see Garagus' projection to the blue zone of the galaxy. Even now, so far from where the plan was conceived, the autopilot was constantly adjusting for when it's finally given the go-ahead.

It's all ready to go. All she needs to do is step into the pod that forces her to sleep for days, weeks, months, years at a time while ageing only a few hours.

While under, the ship enters a form of sleep mode itself.
All the rooms are depressurised apart from the room occupying the pods, and all excess oxygen is returned to the recycler.
Lights are off. Communication can be set to automatic or off. Food and water storage is also deep frozen.
The autopilot reserves fuel for the main essentials to make sure they arrive safely.

"If you've not eaten yet, I can take over while you do." Garagus announced, drying off his hair from a quick shower.

Rhuba shook her head. She won't need to eat for at least eleven years.
"You have our destination. Tell me what we need to do before we set off."

Despite it being his plan, he was also harbouring fear.
Even Granate expressed worry under all the levity and jokes before going into hypersleep.
But, it is the best way to keep sanity when travelling through space.

They set about preparing the ship for eleven years of inactivity.
Cleaned everything up, ate the last of the food in the fridge, all while mentally preparing themselves for the jump in time they were about to take.
The ship simply did all the fine calculations down to the last decimal point.

Then it was time. Standing face to face with the two pods. Their fingers and tails entwined right up until they had to step in.

"See you in eleven years." Rhuba smiled weakly as the door closed on her.

The was a moment of pause. Only her breath and the slightest of her own movements could be heard echoing in the capsule.
The room suddenly went black, just for a moment until their eyes adjusted to the low green lights in the corners as well as the controls on the inside of the pod.
From inside, she could see the ship's final calculation on how long it would take to arrive.

"Rhuba, can you hear me?" Garagus' voice spoke through a speaker behind her head.

"Yes. I'm setting it to the same as the ship's arrival time."

Garagus was setting his to wake a day early and was going to suggest she do the same. But waking a day early meant he could look around for a good planet in whatever system they arrive at.
It would be a nice surprise for her to wake with solid ground under her feet.

"Sounds good, Rhuba. See you when you wake up." Garagus entered in his rest time, and instructed Rhuba on how to let the autopilot take over for the voyage. "lastly, press Launch."
Garagus heard the hissing from her side, and her quickening breathing. "relax, Rhuba, try to stay calm… Rhuba?"

His screen showed her capsule go from green to blue.
"I'll see you soon, love," He hit launch himself. Like with Rhuba, the hissing filled his years as the creeping cold made his body stiffen.
Struggling to take his own advice, Garagus hyper-ventilated as his hyper-sleep began.

Author's Note: Guys and Gals, I'll admit that recently I've been in a slump.
I get sick of Youtubers begging for subscribes too but, unless you know first-hand, no idea how validating it is when someone favourites or follows. Even reading comments bring me so much joy.
If you don't mind, I'd much appreciate your thoughts on this story so far :)