Chapter 15.
Any Port in a Storm.

Garagus opened his hypersleep pod and fell on the floor, finding Rhuba already lying there just as groggy as himself.
"Don't move, let your body recover."

Rhuba felt weak, a side effect of sleeping so long. But Garagus forced himself up to turn off the annoying red alert lights.
After a moment to properly wake up, Rhuba pulled herself to her feet and hugged the back of Garagus like she hadn't seen him in years.
"Missed you~"

"uh, we have a problem…"

There were a few words she didn't ever want to hear.
And after being asleep for so long, Rhuba did not want to hear that.
As Garagus showed her the screen on the wall, she noted that they'd been woken by the autopilot four years early.

"It shouldn't have done that…" Garagus attempted to open the door to the hall, but it was sealed shut and pulling any harder would risk breaking the door.

"What's going on?" Rhuba felt herself panicking as the map of the ship showed black sectors, but not half as much as the look on Garagus' face.
He was chalk white with beads of sweat dripping down his brow.
"Garagus!"

"The hull has been torn open…" His eyes were emotionless like he didn't want to belive his own words. "The storage deck is a complete vacuum, ventilation is off for the hall and the bridge."

"What does that mean?" Rhuba squeezed his arm.

"The doors sealed as a safety function. I have to recompress the ship, but we can't access the storage deck at all." Garagus felt like he was going to throw up as he comprehended the report. Entering the override commands, he could see the black sectors of the ship turning grey as they filled with breathable air.
The door unlocked and even swung open, allowing them both to run through to the bridge and get a full rundown of what happened during their sleep.

Rhuba scrolled throw years of repetitive data collection until finally reaching the last half hour.
"We were breached twenty-seven minutes ago." Looking back at him, he was putting a space suit on. "Are you going out?"

"I'm going down."

"But you said we can't get to the storage."

"The doors won't open unless the pressure on both sides is equal. So you need to follow my movements and control the pressure from here."

Rhuba nodded slowly. Stay put and push buttons. That sounded simple enough.
"What if I make a mistake? I could kill you."

"I'll be wearing a suit, and there are safety functions." Garagus came over to show her how it works. This is where we are and where You'll be staying. Do not depressure this room. I'll tell you exactly which rooms to take control of."

So obvious, but she needed to hear it.
"Anything else?"

"It could take a while. So if you need the bathroom, go now. The hall will be depressurized until I get back."

"Good, I've been holding in a pee for seven years." Rhuba skipped off the bridge and fled to their room.

While she was gone, Garagus continued fastening his suit while also going over the security footage from the lower deck to try and see how extensive the damage is. But the camera was offline.
Suspicious, but checking back. Whatever tore the hole knocked the cargo free. A box simply smashed the camera.

By the time Garagus had his helmet on, Rhuba had returned.
"Why did you even hold that in?"

"I was too nervous about being frozen to go before."

Fair enough. Garagus thought as he tested the communicator.
"The ship doesn't need to be stationary, but try to give me a warning if you're about to move us."

"Yeah, I'm just not even going to touch the controls until you get back." But she did sit at the captain's chair. "Hey, Garagus?"

"Yeah?"

"Which one of these buttons shoots me away at light speed leaving you alone in space forever and ever?"

"Goodbye, Rhuba." The hall door closed behind him and he made his way to the lift. "Okay, decompress me."

"Okay, decompressing your suit."

"N!- hmm" He nearly fell for that. He saw the warning lights around him flash for 15 seconds before the room started to decompress.

"I got you, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"Hehehe~ Ahow!…"

Garagus waited for her response.

"In case you're wondering, yes I did spin in my chair but no I didn't bang my knee on the desk."

"You know my suit has a live video feed of the bridge, right? I can see you."

Rhuba looked up at the camera, and with nothing else at hand, she simply balled up her shirt and throw it at the lens. It lasted all of two seconds before falling, leaving her in not but her light brazier and leggings.

"If you throw something else, I think it'll work this time."

"Yeah, watch me."

"That's the plan."

"JUST! Shut up and fix the ship."

With the hall fully decompressed, Garagus opened the lift door.
"I need you to send the lift up to me."

"Got it!"

As he stared down the shaft, waiting for this ride to come to him, a thought dawned on him.
"Remember when we were captured by the Tuffles, and were nearly swept away by all water down a long dark tunnel?"

"Yeah?"

"Was that an elevator shaft?"

Sitting there in her spaceship, Rhuba finally after understood how the room changed so suddenly all those years.
"Crazy to think. We grew up playing in dirt, living in borrows and didn't even know the word for space. Now we live in a, Flying, box…" She tried to say words that would have been used back then. "Granate always said first contact is different for every planet, but I think we adapted to the culture shock pretty quick, huh?"

"You can say that again..."
Garagus aimed a flashlight down the shaft, watching his ride slowly come up to him. He backed away then waited for the inner doors to allow him access, and then rode down to the storage deck.

In his way was a huge cargo container blocking the door that he simply pushed aside. Once he did, it didn't take him long to see the issue as he watched the container tumble into space through the massive hole in the floor.
"I didn't need to take the lift." He hoped through the hole, to chase after whatever was in that box.

Rhuba stared at the offline security feed, listening to Garagus tell the situation.

"Once I secure the cargo, we can keep flying through space. But the damage is too severe to land on a planet. We'd burn to a crisp." Garagus explained.

Rhuba looked into the infinite vastness of space. Never feeling the wind on her face or seeing another sunrise.
She suddenly felt very claustrophobic being on the ship. More so now that she knows there's a massive hole torn in the bottom.
"We'll fix it." She muttered into her mic. "That's all we need to do, then we start looking for a planet again."

"Not that simple," Grabbing the weightless container and towing it through space was harder than he thought. Usually, objects stop when he puts them somewhere, but in zero gravity the massive boxes were bouncing off the walls. "I can do simple repairs so we can ventilate the cargo again. But we don't have the materials to reconstruct the entire under hull."

"So, what do we need?"

Rolling his eyes as he flew back outside, Garagus asked if she could scan for more containers that may have spilt out.

"Sure but, Garagus. What do we need to fix this?"

"We'd need to get to an orbiting repair station. Like the Freeza bases, only Not a Freeza base because they'll kill us."

"Then, what about…"

"And before you mention the Galactic federation, we're flying a Freeza ship. They'll kill us too."

"Okay, so we'd…"

"We'd need a neutral, off-the-books station and hope they have the parts we need."

"Then can we try…"

"But space is so infinitely huge, that chances of us finding one nearby are a quadrillion to one."

"Garagus!"

Sighing deeply.
"Yes, Rhuba?"

"I've got a space station on radar. It's two hours away, and it's not registered in any of my logs. It's got an advert saying 'Relax, Refuel, Repair'… should we try it? … Garagus?"

Sliding the next cargo box back into place, Garagus asked her to repeat herself, then a few more times as he collected the rest of the space debris.

"From cargo fraters and warbirds to one-man pods. We repair while you relax at our hotels and entertainment parlours. Accepting all recognised interstellar currencies, no questions asked. House rules apply."

Garagus had been silent since she first told him about the ad. And even now he was still in shock as she read out the house rules.

"It even says they don't discriminate between races, we should be fine right?"

"Maybe they don't, but what if other Freeza soldiers are there? They'll report us and then Freeza blows the station up!"

Rhuba had already tucked her tail away. To the unsuspecting, she doesn't look like a Saiyan. Just a regular soft-skinned humanoid.

"It's more the ship I'm worried about," Garagus muttered. "If a soldier sees us flying it, they'll ask questions. Name, rank, scouter number."

"We don't talk to anyone. Ask for discretion. It says it's off the books. And any station that fixes those big fraters is going to be big enough to hide a little ship like ours. It's either them or we look for another place in the infinite hugeness of space, as you put it."

He didn't like it. But it's their only chance.
At the very least, they can go and look.

Flying with the ship half in a vacuum had a noticeable change in how it was handled. But regardless, they found themselves arriving at the repair station and, they'd seen the dark sides of moons less shady.

"Hate it." Rhuba sighed, seeing what the hotel looked like. "Not the sort of relax I was hoping for."

"We're just here for repairs."

As they approached the docking zone, a small drone with flashing lights overtook them.

"What's that thing?"
Before she get an answer, a message appeared on her comms.
"Oh, follow it. It's taking us to a dock where the underside can be fixed easier."

Garagus carefully followed the little drone towards the edge of the station until it slowed. The white ring light around the back slowly turned red, as the ship got situated between huge magnetic clamps.
When the ring was filled red, Garagus stopped completely and the clamps attached the ship's hull, with the airlocks and ramp in line with the dock.

"We're to disembark and meet someone at the end of the dock to talk about repairs and payment."

"Let's get this over with."

When they stepped off onto the dock, their little ship did fit in with the dozens of others getting repaired too. The noise of welders and drills was overwhelming, as were the spotlights and the smell of burning metals. There was also a nip in the air.

"Do you want to stay in the ship?" Garagus called over the noise.

"What?" Rhuba couldn't hear a thing he said. "Is that who we've to meet?"

Near the end of the dock, a trio of aliens came walking to meet them. "Welcome. I'm I had a quick look as you flew over, what happened to you out there?" Asked a tall one with dark green skin and slit yellow pupils. He wore the clothes of someone who deals with the business end of things without getting his hands dirty.

"We hit something while in autopilot."

"Lucky you got away, I hope. Was there anyone else aboard?"

"No, just us." Rhuba crossed her arms, tightly. It was rather cold in the dock, though nowhere near as much as Dishia. Still, she was thankful for Garagus' arm wrapped around her.

"Follow me inside." While waving Garagus and Rhuba to follow, a slender fellow with bright yellow skin and a bald head immediately pulled out a bright torch and scaled under the ship to have a look at the damages, while the far bulkier one standing close behind with dark pink skin and pudgy arms looking ready to step in if a 'disagreement' were to happen along the way.

Rhuba and Garagus were taken to a temporary room with a couch and some refreshments. A hot drink did help them relax.
Lying back with Rhuba snuggling up to him, Garagus just wanted the moment to last indefinitely.
"Can we drop our guard here?" Rhuba asked softly between yawns.

"Not a chance." Garagus felt tired too. All those years of sleep don't actually offer mental rest. It felt to both of them like only three hours had passed since they got in those pods. "You have a sleep, I'll go get your quilt."

"You don't have to..." Rhuba mumbled as she was carefully let down on the armrest while Garagus made his way out.

Getting her quilt was just a convenient excuse to go back to the ship and fetch his scouter.
It was with a sharp realisation on his way to the temporary room that Garagus regretted not checking power levels on the station before docking.
To assume blindly that he could win any fight with the aliens on the station would be foolish.

The walk wasn't long, but over-stimulating after living on a calm ice planet.
The noise, the smells, the crowded walkways with people carrying tools or drones moving heavy machinery.

His plan was to not reveal that he could fly, and it was his intent to ask Rhuba to refrain from it too.
Not many species can fly on command without wings, so he didn't want to give information too easily.

At the ramp to his ship, Garagus was stopped by the reappearing yellow alien that had been under his ship the whole time.
"We'll need to replace the entire hull and the frame underneath. It takes time, effort, money, and you're better off just replacing it with a new one. And being a Freeza ship n'all, the parts are mass-produced but getting 'em out here will cost a few digits."

Garagus deeply inhaled. He hated sales jargon.
Captain Granate dealt with them back when he was around.
"I just need a minute." He stated before attempting to board the ship.

"Okay but, decide quickly. Free docking is only for people getting repairs done, if you stay longer than an hour, those magnets will start costing to come undone."

Garagus felt his fist tightening. He could already see a countdown on the sides of the clamps holding his ship in place with less than forty minutes to go. And the size of them implied they'd rip the ship in two before letting go.

Garagus simply grabbed Rhuba's fur quilt and their scouters.
He also went down to the storage area via the lift and moved by hand the more valuable cargo to their bedroom.
Sadly, not all of it could fit through the doors, but at least some of it could be protected behind a passcode.
Somehow he didn't fully trust these repairmen while the cameras were offline.

Rhuba woke to find her white fur tucked around her. Garagus was sitting at the table going through a database.

"What's going on?"

"The ship's fixable, but it's out of our price range."

"Terrific, so what are you doing, pricing others?" She assumed the cargo and the parts salvageable from the Freeza ship would earn them some money, however, upon looking at the database, she noticed he was looking at jobs. "Eh?"

"These guys have a trading network. With all the money we have, we can cover the rest of the expense by doing a few errands for them by renting out our storage capacity."

"Don't say Freeza space, Do Not say Freeza Space!"

"I don't know where. They did say to watch out for the 'authorities' so they might be meaning the Galactic Patrol."

"The who?" Rhuba shook off their title. "So we just drop off the whatevers, and we're done? Free to fly away from here and find a new home?"

"If we're lucky, we might find a home at one of the drop points." Garagus showed the route he was given. "Not including the orbiting stations and star bases, I have two moons, and three planets to deliver to."

"p-pardon? Just how long is this going to take?"

"Two years."

Rhuba's tale smashed the koohii table behind her in two, but Garagus dragged her aside to pull her out of the tantrum.
"Rhuba, we can't enter planets right now. This is the only way of doing it. Let's not add the price of furniture onto the debt, okay?"

Rhuba was fizzing. Shaking with anger.
Garagus wasn't the focus of her rage, but he did hold up his palms for her to punch into.

"I, Hate, This!" She yelled as her knuckles turned white as she battered away at Garagus' hand. "Last time we worked for shady people we lost our planet!"

"Well, we have nothing to lose but each other now, so we need to stick together on this, okay?"

"But Garagus!"

"Please," He grabbed her hands mid-punch. "Two years, and we'll find a planet."

Rhuba tried to pull away, but she had no fight. Instead, she broke down holding onto him.
"We woke early, Garagus. It's two years before we can get back on track. Two years still in the red."

That was true. The planets needing drop-offs were not necessarily owned by Freeza yet, but they may be in his territory. It's only a matter of time.

"Want me to steal us a ship?"

"…yes."

"Me too." Garagus held her tight.
Of course, it would never work. Even if he could magically learn the controls and quirks of the first ship they hijacked, getting away from the station in and of itself would be near impossible.

With a knock at the door, and not waiting for an answer, Rhuba quickly pulled her tail into her trousers before the dockmaster walked in.
"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything…" He saw her messing with her trousers only for a second, with her husband's hands around her waist, and the table smashed in two. "hmm… Anyway. Your ship will take a while to get, well, shipshape. Lucky for you, we have a lone you can use for the first drop-off. It's being loaded right now on dock 21.32. Bright blue with red thrusters. You can't miss it." With that, the dockmaster stepped outside to let them gather themselves and follow.

Sighing deeply, Garagus nudged Rhuba to grab her things while he picked up the shipping manifest.
"One more thing," Garagus whispered. "Are we Sorpper and Yagon?"

"No!" Rhuba hated those code names. Plus she kept forgetting who was who until someone reminded her. "I'll be… R, Rhu."

"Rhu?" Garagus rolled his eyes. "Fine… Call me Gus."

"That's stupid!" Rhuba pouted before they met their guide outside.

"A room is being prepared for you in the hotel. I'm sure you'll find it to your liking."
The dockmaster suddenly found himself down the noses of two very on-edge Saiyans.

"Sorry, what?" Garagus demanded.

"I can't stay here," Rhuba stated. "I'm going with him!"

Clicking his tongue, the dockmaster gave a much-repeated answer to their concerns.
"The ship and the cargo you're borrowing costs more than the ship we're fixing for you. Therefore, we need some form of collateral in case you never come back. By all means, you may go in his stead. But one of you needs to stay at the station. If these conditions are not acceptable, then we'll be glad to unclamp your ship and wish you good luck." Seeing the pilot of the two check the time, he smarmily promised to ignore the deadline for free docking under the circumstances.
After all, why throw salt on a wounded animal?
Their ship won't make it to any planet, they essentially have no choice but to accept the deal.

"Enough with this. Let's go."

Rhuba felt his fingers tighten around her wrist. Before she knew what was happening, she was being pulled away.
Garagus simply spoke what she was thinking, doing what she was hoping for.
To be away from him for that long was a crushing notion. She didn't want to be alone.
But they need their ship working again. They need a planet.
"G, Gus! S-stop!"
Coming to a halt there, still in view of the dockmaster, Rhuba held him once more, like it might be the last for a long time.

"I can't leave you here."

"I know… I don't want you to go." Rhuba knew he had the worse end of the deal, but he's the more experienced pilot. He's the only one who can do this job. "Tell me the plan, I don't care what it is. Go somewhere else. Steal a ship. Do the job. Just tell me A plan and I'll follow whatever it is."

Garagus looked over the scrapped ships below being cannibalised for parts.
At the far end of the dock, he could see theirs with drones already lining up to begin the repairs. They just need the word to start.
Without their assistance, there is no future.

"Let's go see your room, then." He sighed, letting go of her wrist and instead taking her hand as they begrudgingly followed the dockmaster to the hotel.

The foyer was crowded with lines of people. There was a view through a window of a gaming hall.
"Are all these people getting repairs done?"

"Actually, the repair shop is the newest enterprise we have. We branched out after some of our more ambitious gamblers put their entire ships down as collateral and are working off their debt by putting their engineering skills to benefit the other guests. Plus, we wanted a third 'Re' word for the 'Refuel and Relax' logo."

"Hmm." Garagus never liked gambling. Even against Granate on friendly games that weren't for keeps, he found himself getting too angry whenever his luck ran out. "Don't you go betting our ship away."

Rhuba and Garagus both saw their escort's ears flick when those words were mentioned.
As much Rhuba wanted to dispute the idea that she even would do such a stupid thing, it was crystal clear that they Want her to gamble them both into more debt.

"So what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" She meant it mostly rhetorically, but also to see how he answered.

Sure enough, he gestured to the game's hall.
"It's not just dice and chips. There are many ways to entertain yourself here, but don't be shy to make money in what you're good at."

"As in what?" Rhuba looked up at Garagus. Power levels aside, if there's a fighting arena, maybe they could tag team their way through it all like gladiators working for the hotel until they can afford to leave.

"There's night dancing."

"Hey, you're a good dancer!"

"Shut up," Garagus grumbled, face turning bright red.

When they arrived at what would be Rhuba's room for the next two years, they didn't know how to feel. Even when Saiyans got colonized, with the exception of a few personal things sitting on shelves or hanging on walls from their tribal days, their taste in décor remained simple.
This room had deep crimson-themed wallpaper and furniture, although the walls were bare as were the tabletops with the exception of one overabundant thing.
"How can a room with so many lamps be so dark?" Rhuba tried the first couple at hand, and they were all on. "This will be my life while you're gone…" She rolled her eyes when Garagus immediately jumped onto the bed and spread himself out.

"As far as prisons go, I've seen worse." Garagus wasn't happy about leaving her either. But at least she'll be comfortable while they're separated. It's hardly a Tuffle prison facility, and it's not staring down the length of Freeza's finger.

"I think being compared to a prison is the worst review our hotel has ever gotten." The dockmaster didn't even try to hide the offence.

"Well I'm not allowed to leave, am I?"
As frustrating as it was, Rhuba couldn't help but feel some sympathy. They were fixing their ship. She just wished there was another way of going about it that didn't involve separating from Garagus.
"Can't you use drones instead?"

"How will us using our drones help you pay your debt? We can have them to other work while you do yours."

"Then, what about if someone went with us? To make sure we don't try to bail on you?"

"No one is lining up two years of planet hopping. And if we're paying them for their time we may as well have them fly the ship."

"You can have our ship as collateral if you let us go together."

"You wouldn't be the first to leave us with a half-wrecked ship and disappear with the loaner we gave you."

Before Rhuba could say more, Garagus held her shoulder.
Truthfully, he was touched that she was willing to go this far so they could stay together. But they've not even seen his ship yet. These traders never intended for both to go, so it might not even have two seats let alone sleeping space for both of them.

"Oh no…" Was all Rhuba could see on Garagus' behalf when their eyes fell on the 'ship' meant to be his home for this trip. "Why is it lopsided? Has it lost a section?"

"Goodness no, that container on the side is the cargo needing dropped off. Once you're at the coordinates, just release the magnet clamp and return to base. Our contact will collect the cargo at the drop point."

Garagus was looking at the nameplate on the ship.
"The last captain's name was Rusty?"

"That's the name of the ship. O'l Rusty." The dockmaster gave an almost loving glance at the ship.

Rhuba openly wondered why a ship, that would have started its life brand new and shiny, would have a name like Rusty, only to learn that it got named Rusty recently.
"Isn't that bad luck, renaming a ship?"

"Only if you're superstitious."

Captain Granate was, and even with him gone, Rhuba and Garagus still don't board a ship left-footed and always docked pointing to the planet's north in hopes of good luck, like the sort that kept them off planet during its destruction, and the sort of luck that had them be so close to a repair station when their ship got wrecked.
Lucky.

The inside wasn't much better.
The ship had three main areas accessible to the crew. The airlock which links the flight deck and living quarters maintained the pressure with three doors, one separating the inside from the out, and the two other areas.

"That's where you sleep." Garagus was pointed to the back of the ship. "Oxygen, space suit, food sympathiser, the ship is completely electric s don't attempt to enter moons or planets or you'll never leave again."

"What about the controls?"

"There's a manual under the seat for the finer points, but ships these days are fairly universal."

Rhuba wandered the cabin Garagus would be living in.
'I complained about my room, it's a palace compared to this.' She sat on the hard bed. "At least he can get a good sleep." She lay down, it was almost nostalgic for how the bed felt.
Her gaze turned to the skylight dome that Garagus would get to sleep under every night. He'll have a spectacular view too.

Hearing the men talk through in the cockpit, Rhuba silently thought of something.
It would be so quick. Run up, snap the dockmaster's neck, take the ship and go.
How long before someone noticed? An hour? Two?
How far could they be by then?
Shaking her head, she didn't want to kill without reason. Plus, the ship can't enter planets. If they were going to do that, they may as well use their own ship.

"Hang on…" Rhuba sat up and stormed through just as Garagus was getting a run down on how to launch the cargo.
"What if we took our ship on this mission? We're hardly going to flee in a broken ship that needs repairs. So you don't need collateral for this mission, do you?"

"Hmm." His smile was almost convincing. "Sorry, it truly warms and breaks my heart to see people so close." He sighed. "It's not just the ship. It's the cargo." He walked them both over to see the container from the window. "Very expensive ore. More than your ship and this one combined," Taking a glance at Garagus, "Don't get ideas of filling your pockets, Gus. Unless you want your next bowel movement to glow bright purple." A subtle hint of how radioactive the contents are.

"upgrade." Rhuba smirked before getting a slap.

"We're also tracking the container. So we'll know if you sneak off course and will be in touch if you do." He started making his way out of the ship as he spoke. "Do this mission, and we'll feel confident in trusting you with another ship, with more cargo. That, is your goal, my friends. Once that ship is empty, your ship should be repaired and your dept repaid."

Garagus felt the fingers tighten around his hand.
"That console in the back, can we use it to talk to each other?" Rhuba asked

"I hope you do." He said, smiling at them. "You mammals are very social beings, so please keep our pilot here sane during his long voyage." He left. He actually left them alone for a moment. "You may take time to say your farewells, or not if you are indeed, superstitious."

Once he was truly gone, Rhuba leapt at Garagus, hugging with all five appendages.
Arms around his neck, legs around his waist, tail coiled around his.
Their tails pulled tight for just a moment before gradually sliding down their legs and entwining again.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Garagus kissed Rhuba square on the mouth before letting her go. "And we'll speak tonight."

"You better…" Rhuba couldn't turn her back on his as she nearly tripped on her way out the door and down the ramp.

It was like the first time he disappeared to hope around the stars when he first joined Captain Granate.
Only now, both will be isolated. Not a single familiar face to comfort them until they can reunite.

It was with a heavy heart that Rhuba waved his ship off.
It was eery watching as the Ol Rusty left the shielded bubble surrounding the station.
From the thrusters powering up with a humming roar as Garagus gained acceleration, to deafening silence once he entered the vacuum of space, not to be heard from again until she would see him at her screen that night.