Finally got around to translate this chapter and I am so, so sorry for the grammer mistakes.
I bet there are a lot of them this time, for this was a huge pain in the a** to translate. I am sorry.
Anyway, I hope you still like it.
Chapter 6
Booooooooring.
That was the word that wouldn't want to get out of Peters mind that day.
For what felt like an eternity, he lay on his bed, his arms crossed behind his head, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He had his headphones on and listened to music, but even that got increasingly boring after a while.
Heaven and hell, he was here on a real pirate ship, even in space and lay around here and didn't know what to do with himself and apparently nobody had time to take care of him today. Not even Kraglin, since Yondu had given him a job in which he had to wade the ship's systems along with a few other crewmembers, and that took too much time and thus he couldn't take Peter with him. And if the boy was honest, he didn't really want to go for another mechanic tour through the huge spaceship. He already did that only a few days ago.
No.
He wanted action, wanted to go out there and experience something that he would talk about in many, many years.
That this was highly unlikely happening any time soon, he knew as well as anyone else, because Yondu didn't even allow him to explore the ship on his own, because he wanted to keep him away from the other crew members and yes, Peter could understand that well. Not all Ravagers were as friendly as Tullk or even Kraglin, and he preferred to stay away from them. The last time he'd run into a smaller group of Ravagers, he'd had to scrub the caboose for hours and he didn't want to repeat that. Especially since he could imagine that the punishment for the next time would be much harder...
Nevertheless!
He wanted to do something, but he didn't know what.
It had to be something that didn't jeopardize his safety at any price and where he didn't come across any of the others. With a shudder, Peter remembered the last time he was alone in the corridors of the huge spaceship, as he had wanted to go to the showers. And then he had met a group of Ravagers and he still remembered how they had scoffed at him and how they had told him that he shouldn't get too close to them, because they liked to eat small, helpless Terrans.
Small helpless Terrans...
If Peter remembered those words, the anger boiled up inside him, but there was nothing he could do about it. At least not yet. But one day he wouldn't be a small, helpless child anymore. No. One day he would be as strong as these Ravagers and then he would get his revenge on all of them!
But until this would happen, he had to subordinate himself and do what Yondu told him to do, even if that wasn't so easy. After all, he was still a child and children wanted to be amused from time to time.
But since nobody was here to spend some time with him, he had to come up with something for himself.
It was a pity that Yondu or Kraglin had no time for him today.
Over the past few months, the bond between them had become stronger and Peter often found himself begging the two of them to spend some time with him and also noticed that he had been spending a lot of time with Yondu lately and that he was hardly scared of him anymore. He liked it when Yondu didn't let the brutal space pirate hang out whenever they were alone in the room. A side, that Peter liked very much about him and yes, he liked to fool around with the Ravager leader whenever he allowed it and whenever he was in the mood for it, but that hadn't happened so often lately. Yondu had been busy, planning their next raid for days, so he had no time for the boy and Kraglin was busy keeping the ship going. And he preferred to avoid the others...
Often he asked himself what the others experience during their raids.
Yondu had never allowed him to leave the ship and yes, slowly Peter was tired of always staying behind, but he could somehow understand the Centaurian. The universe wasn't a place for a small child and often Yondu had told him about the terrible creatures that lived there. They tried to avoid such dangers as much as possible, but even an experienced Ravager couldn't say what could happen on one of their raids, so Peter had to stay aboard the Eclector, where it was safe.
However, he hoped eventually to leave the ship as soon as possible, if only for a few minutes. That would be enough for him.
How nice it would be to feel the wind on his skin after such a long time in space and to fill his lungs with fresh air...
Before his mood ended up in the basement, the boy decided to turn off his Walkman, sit up and take off his headphones. He grabbed both and put it onto the small table that stood next to his bed. He then let his eyes wander around the room, hoping he could find something to pass the time with. But apart from some sort of wardrobe, a table, a chair and his bed, there was nothing really exciting in his room. Until...yes, until his gaze caught the ventilation duct that was set in the wall, right next to his door.
The ventilation shaft was large and Peter remembered that Kraglin had once told him that the ventilation ducts ran through the entire spaceship.
Did he fit in there?
There was only one way to find out...
Without waiting any longer, the boy jumped off his bed, grabbed the metal chair and placed it just under the ventilation shaft and climbed on it. It took a few tries to dislodge the grille from the ventilation shaft, but since Kraglin had already taught him some tricks, that was not a big obstacle for him. Gently he put the rather heavy grid next to the chair against the wall and risked a look into the dark ventilation shaft. The air that greeted him was cool and smelt strange, as if the ventilation shaft hadn't been cleaned for an eternity and when Peter put his hands in it, it was confirmed in the form of a small cloud of dust that came towards him. But that didn't bother him much. He braced himself and slid headfirst into the ventilation shaft, coughing as another cloud of dust was hurled into his face. His eyes needed a moment to get used to the darkness. His body just fit in there and he was able to move forward quite well.
Slowly he crawled forward, until he reached a turn in a few meters and stopped there for a moment, thinking.
Where did he want to go?
Hmm...how about Yondu's quarters?
He had never been there alone and had never had the opportunity to look around properly there and since Yondu wasn't there anyway, that would be the perfect opportunity. Besides, this room was not far away from his own room.
Peter didn't wait any longer and sat back in motion and this time he also had a goal in mind.
The darkness in front of him was punctuated by a series of beams of light that penetrated the grates that he passed here and there and whenever he did so, he paused to peer through the grates into the rooms underneath.
Many of the rooms were empty, probably because Yondu had gathered most of his crew on the command bridge. At least Peter thought so, because why else did he not see any of the others?
He almost toyed with the idea of getting out of that dark, stuffy ventilation shaft, but he was afraid he would meet some of the others and besides, this was the only way into Yondu's quarters, for the Centaurian had probably locked the door and only he knew the code for the door lock to open it from the outside. So Peter had to stay in the ventilation shaft. He just hoped it was worth it...
After a few more minutes, he had actually arrived in the captain's quarters and it didn't even surprise him that the grid was not secured here, because no Ravager would fit into this ventilation shaft at all. Even for Peter it was already tight enough. An adult would get stuck in there for sure. A thought that made him grin slightly, as images sneaked into his head, but he quickly tried to get rid of said images.
Concentration!
He flinched, as he undid the grille and when it landed on the floor of the room. Peter paused briefly and listened, but no one seemed to have heard it, because it remained silent in the room and he heard nothing in the corridor either. No footsteps, no voices, nothing at all and he relaxed a bit again. Still, he remained cautious, slowly shuffling out of the ventilation shaft and as he stood in Yondu's quarters, he took a chair and fastened the grille back in place. Just in case somebody came into the room and saw the grid, because then he knew something was wrong. Anyway, Peter wouldn't make it back to the ventilation shaft so fast and he had to hide somewhere else in the room instead. All he had to do was wait for the man to leave the room then. After all, he was able to unlock the door from the inside.
But he didn't want to think about that now.
When the grille was back in its rightful place, he put the chair back against the table, brushed the dust from his shirt and pants and then let his eyes wander across the room.
So that's what Yondu's quarters looked like, huh?
Granted, the room didn't look really nice, but what did Peter expect?
And it wasn't really looking like the quarters of a pirate either.
It looked more like a bomb had exploded here, because there were things everywhere on the ground. Only the bed was neatly made and on the metal table there was an almost too picture-perfect order. But he couldn't say this about the rest of the room though.
He grinned again, because that reminded him of his former room on earth.
How many times his mother had admonished him before he finally cleaned up?
It all seemed to him as if this had happened in another life...
But before a wave of sadness rolled over him, he pulled himself together and he preferred to continue exploring the room.
He started at Yondu's desk, looking at all the pieces of paper, scattered across the table and Peter wondered why the Centaurian was still writing on an ordinary piece of paper instead of an electronic logbook as usual. He picked up one of the carefully stacked notes and tried to recognize what the strange signs meant that were written on that paper, but he gave it up quickly and put the note back on the pile from which he had taken it from. He had to admit that Yondu had a nice font, but unfortunately he couldn't read what was written there. Peter had never seen these signs in his life before. In addition to the slips of paper, all sorts of pens (Peter now simply referred to them as pens) lay on the desk and he also saw the electronic logbook Yondu liked to use.
As he walked on, he found even more strange notes hanging on the wall, but even there Peter couldn't read what was written on it. The boy couldn't help but giggle when he saw the mug shot, which hung right next to all these slips. It was really a shame that he couldn't read what was written there, but Peter could already imagine it. Most likely, a generous bounty on Yondu was exposed. No wonder, since he was a terrifying space pirate . As it seemed, half the galaxy seemed to fear him...
The boy left the notes behind him and arrived a little later at his wardrobe and the little Terran couldn't keep his curiosity to himself and opened the electronic doors. As expected, Yondu's closet was full of Ravager clothes and they were all in dark red leather. But among all the leathers clothes, he also saw red pants made of a fabric-like material and when Peter reached his hand out to it and let his fingers brush over the fabric, he felt how soft it was. Next to the pile of comfortable trousers was a pile of no-less comfortable white undershirts. The boy had seen Yondu wearing these things many times already and many of the other Ravagers wore them as well. A giggle sneaked out of his throat when he saw a pile of underpants that didn't suit Yondu at all. And these things had clearly seen better days for sure...
Shaking his head and still with a small grin on his lips, Peter closed the doors again and he kept walking. He stopped in front of a rather high shelf and curiously looked at the contents. His eyes began to twinkle, when he saw all the small figures Yondu kept on this shelf, which he had lovingly placed in a row. The figures showed strange beings, like a weird looking green elephant thingy for example. Another figure looked like a black cat. For the others, he wasn't so sure what they should be, but somehow they looked pretty cute too.
He reached out for the black cat and carefully removed it from the shelf. He then moved back to Yondu's desk and sat down on the chair. Carefully, he turned the cat in his hands so that he could look at the figure from all sides. The material felt cold in his hands, almost like glass.
A black cat.
An animal, which he hadn't seen for almost an eternity and he thought he would never see anything of earth, his home, ever again. Okay, this cat looked different from the cats that existed on Earth, but it was still a cat, a small souvenir of his home world and that thought was enough to make him smile.
He set the figure down on the table, put his arms on the metal tabletop too and rested his head on it and his eyes continued to look at the small figure.
He lost himself in his daydreams so much that he heard the footsteps out in the corridor too late. When he heard them, they were almost at the door and Peter had no time to put the figure back on the shelf. Quickly he jumped up, ran over to the bed and just as the door to the captain's quarters opened, he had managed to hide under it.
Just in time, because Yondu entered the room with a grumble and immediately closed the door behind him again and locked it. Apparently he was in a bad mood and that alone was enough to speed up Peter's heartbeat.
He so hoped that he wouldn't find him here...
His eyes were fixed on the Centaurian's feet, as he moved to his closet, opened it and picked out a few comfortable clothes. Then he peeled off his boots and leather clothes, threw them carelessly onto the floor and put on the more comfortable clothes, before moving to the bed. Peter gasped, hardly daring to breathe, as Yondu sat down on the bed and sighed softly.
Then it was quiet in the room, until...
"What the... ?!" Peter heard a low growl and the Ravager got up again and walked straight over to the shelf where the boy had taken out the black cat before. Apparently Yondu hadn't seen the figure standing on his desk when he walked past to get to his closet. No wonder, for the cat was jet black and the room was generally quite dark.
But how the hell did Yondu immediately realize that a piece of his collection was missing?
He really had to love his collection.
At that moment, he reminded Peter more of a dragon who protected his treasure and noticed it when only a single small piece of gold was missing...
"Whoever stole one of my figures will pay for it!" Peter heard him growl and he shuddered as he thought of the punishment that would probably await him, would the blue man get his hands on him. He hadn't stolen the cat and he had never intended to do it.
If only he had had a bit more time to put the cat back onto the shelf...
But it was the way it was and Peter had to come up with something now to save his skin.
He had to leave this room, but how should he do that?
The door was locked and he never managed to get into the ventilation shaft unnoticed. Especially since he had previously put the grid again in front of the entrance of the ventilation shaft. No matter how he turned it. He knew he was screwed.
Lost in thoughts, he slid backward to better protect himself from Yondu's gaze, but he forgot about his surroundings and it wasn't long before his foot hit something heavy, which toppled over. The noise, this something made, sounded like an explosion in Peter's ears and he stopped in all his movements and his heart almost stopped beating.
It was suddenly dead quiet in the room and when Peter turned his eyes back to the spot where Yondu had just stood, he shuddered again, because he could no longer see the Ravager anywhere.
And then something grabbed him by the ankles and before he realized what was happening, he was already pulled out from under the bed. A surprised and scared scream came from his throat, as he now dangled upside-down. When he opened his eyes, he saw Yondu's stomach and when he let his eyes wander upwards, he looked into the pirate's stern face and the sight made the boy swallow hard.
Yondu held him by one of his ankles with one hand, the other one was placed on his hip and with an icy cold-blooded look he looked at the Terran, who looked back at him anxiously.
And at that moment Peter knew that he had gone too far...