CHAPTER EIGHT

SPACE - UNKNOWN LOCATION – Yondu's Mothership

The hustle and general cacophony of the ship died down all around her as Eyien took in the implication of what she had just discovered. Anger and frustration were the primary emotions ruling over her as she scowled at the pad, unsure whether she should scream or punch something; maybe she needed both. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, the knuckles turning white with the tension. Why did the universe saw it fit to send so many problematic individuals her way? Had she been cursed without realizing it?

She stared at the unmoving face in front of her with unconcealed distaste and just an ounce of surprise, though not the good kind.

The dead should stay dead, it was what her mother had always replied whenever she inquired about her father and uncle; but in Yin's life, this simple rule seemed to be broken more times than not.

The last time she had heard of Dexta it had been through an unanswered distress call, after which she had assumed her former partner had lost her life. Maybe she should have checked more thoroughly, but she had been satisfied enough when a report had come her way about Dexta's ship going up in flames. And now her negligence had come back to bite her in the ass.

How typical.

Whatever reason had pushed the other woman to infiltrate her security and sell her out, Eyien was not sure she neither wanted nor cared to know. The only thing that really mattered was that they had found their leak, meaning they were one step closer to solve the problem, even if it meant using an…unorthodox approach.

"Go back to our cabin, grab all the portable consoles we have, and meet me in the comm room in fifteen. We need to make a call" she finally said, folding her arms in front of herself, her weight shifting all on her right feet.

"Are you sure this is the safest move?" Fey asked, brows lifted in doubt. Xe had never crossed paths with Dexta, having come into the picture when the woman was already gone, but Yin had told xe all that had transpired between herself and her former partner; where xe was concerned, Dexta was not to be trusted, which was why xe was doubtful that talking with her could be even remotely helpful.

"These days, I'm not sure of anything" Yin sighed, her head sagging foreword for a moment, displaying all the vulnerability she was feeling. "But if she left behind such an easy to find trail, than I'm assuming she actively wants me to contact her" she explained, well knowing that if she had learned anything in her years with Dexta, was that the woman was a hundred times more scrupulous than Eyien was, almost bordering paranoia. The fact that she had left an easy to follow trail was obviously bait. But, since she didn't really have much of a choice, Yin was going to take it.

"Fine. Are you going to inform him or should I presume we are doing this behind their backs?" xe asked, xir eyes darting quickly to the middle of the now dispersing crowd. It looked like the Captain was finally tension free, and had left the stage to his crew.

Eyien followed xir line of sight, grimacing slightly when she noticed Yondu looking their way. The moment the mercenary's eyes met hers, he turned around, giving her his back.

Indignation rose abruptly in her stomach at the display, and her blood started to burn with defiance.

"Don't bother. We'll take all the necessary precautions to mask our broadcasting. Whatever happens, no one should be able to trace it to the Mothership" she decided, a side of her incapable of endangering the security of the Clan despite the other raging with indifference at the mercenaries.

No, she told herself, I'm just ensuring my own safety and taking precautions. This way they won't be able to accuse me of foul play.

"As you say. I'll meet you in fifteen then" Fey acknowledged, throwing one last glance to where Yondu was talking and laughing along with some of his most trusted men. Once xe was almost out of the bay, xe flicked a look at xir partner, founding her observing the mercenary Captain with a strange kind of intensity. Xe shook xir head. Whatever was going on with those two, xe wasn't sure xe wanted to know.

Attention everyone! This is Eyien talking, your best – and only – tech specialist. Just wanted to let y'all know that our comms are about to go off-line for five to ten minutes, do not be alarmed. This is just a safety upgrade issue routine, please do not try to manually restart the comms; if you do, there is a 90% probability that we'll go "boom". Thank you for your kind attention, Yin out her voice said, gradually disappearing through a ship wide echo.

Once she was done, her finger released the speakers button and she trotted towards the chair standing in the middle of the room, casually plopping down on it.

"We'll go boom?" Fey repeated, throwing a skeptical look over xir shoulder.

Yin shrugged.

"Bit dramatic, I know. But better safe than sorry. If Dexta catches wind of where I am, we're gonna have bigger problems than a pissed off Yondu, believe me" she replied pragmatically, already focusing on her typing on her private console.

"If you're sure. I'm ready whenever you want to hit the override" xe said, more than eager to defer to her in the matter. Xe still wasn't convinced it was the better way to go, but certainly xe could agree that the worst that could happen to them was having Yondu pounding angrily at the door, demanding an explanation.

Yin kept typing for a while before she nodded to her partner, giving xe the okay.

"We are off-line, put us through" she said, setting the console aside and turning to the screen right in front of her.

The call went through, and barely two endless seconds later, Dexta's face appeared.

Her first reaction was to sever the connection immediately, but she just tightened her grip on the armrests and schooled her face in a neutral expression. She saw the recognition in the other woman's eyes the moment the line became stable, on her face she could clearly point out the same amount of distaste that was surely mirrored on her own.

Ah – finally. I was wondering how much longer I'd have to wait. I thought I left a pretty easy to follow trace Dexta began, a finely polished hand darting up to fix a stray brown curl behind her ear.

Yin's grimace only got worse at her words, but she imposed herself to remain civil until she at least knew what was going on.

"Yes, well, I've actually been busy lately. It comes with the international bounty on my head, I guess" she deadpanned, unable to completely leave the venom out of her voice.

Believe it or not, that wasn't my idea. I was happy enough to be believed dead, especially if it meant never having to see your face again. But, alas, here I am Dexta sighed dramatically while Yin began to silently seethe.

"And so here you are. What exactly happened then? Because I was happy to believe you were dead as well, if that's any consolation" Eyien replied through gritted teeth, her knuckles going white from the pressure.

Money was the main reason, of course. Maybe revenge, if you want to be petty. But my…employer wanted to attract your attention she explained matter-of-factly.

Yin frowned hard.

"And the both of you couldn't come up with a better solution? Like, you know, trying to contact me through my private encrypted channels" she scoffed, releasing the armrests and crossing her arms, putting a barrier in front of herself.

The point was to render you desperate enough to be unable to refuse his proposition. But something didn't go according to plan, and you conveniently went off the grid. Tell me, whose skirt did you run up to, crying for help? she asked, clearly mocking her with her words.

But Eyien was more interested in the knowledge that had just been revealed; she didn't remember shutting down all her channels. A quick furtive glance towards Fey confirmed that xe had been the one to make her go dark.

She filed the information away for later, her eyes discretely shifting back on the screen.

"I'm not you, Dexta. I don't run away from my problems. Going silent was the first thing to do once I realized I'd been compromised. That you couldn't track me down on your own just goes to show who's the better one between us" she replied with a nonchalance born of bullshitting her way through life. The truth was that she hadn't even considered covering up her traces since she had been…taken in by the Ravagers. She had been convinced that the Nova Corps would not chase her outside of Empire Space, and the thought that whoever had sold her out could be looking for her hadn't even touched her.

Don't give yourself too much credit – she scoffed, obviously annoyed by the mere thought of such fiendish concept – I just followed the instruction that I have been given. The plan was for you to come to us, so I dare say it worked she finished, smirking at her own cleverness.

"Whatever – Yin dismissed her words with a wave of her hand – I don't really care. All I want to know is who this employer of yours is and what he wants with me" she said, not as much asking as demanding the information she needed.

He, for some reason, wants to hire you. He is convinced you're the best out there in what you do, and he requires your services to find something. If you're interested, you can meet him here Dexta explained, displaying a list of intergalactic coordinates.

"And what if I'm not interested? I already have my hands full at the moment" Eyien rebuked, definitely intrigued but at the same time extremely wary of the whole deal, especially seen who the source of it was.

Oh, did I phrase it as if you have a choice? Because you don't. If you don't show up in the next forty eight hours, your bounty will become a death warrant Dexta informed her, the most infuriating self-satisfied smile painted on her blue lips, stretched thin with pleasure.

Yin's red eyes almost bulged out of her skull.

A death warrant?!

Who the hell was this mysterious man that could afford such a thing?

Fear started to crawl up her spine, unwanted but certainly not unexpected once the notion truly sank in. Only a fool would not be scared of a death warrant, and not only because of what it entailed.

She breathed deeply a couple times, imposing her head to remain lucid.

Ah, another thing; call it an incentive if you will – Dexta chirped up again, her lips curling at the sides, already tasting the victory – My employer tells me he has information you might want, information about what really happened to your mother and sister.

Yondu was on his way to the shower room when Eyien's voice rang through the whole sip, announcing a temporary but complete shutdown of their communication system. He wasn't a fool, and he knew his way around his own ship better than the palm of his hand, her bullshit of an excuse was a smokescreen good enough only for the more ignorant of his men, but certainly not for him. He had no idea of what was going through that girl's head, and since she hadn't mentioned anything about an upgrade of the systems, he was rightfully suspicious of whatever she was up to.

His suspects were proven funded when, upon arriving at the comm room, he found the door shut and unresponsive to his opening command. Anger surged through his veins for a fraction of a second, before he could remind himself that the girl hadn't done anything to jeopardize either him or his crew up till that point; he took a deep breath and then firmly pounded on the door.

"Lassie, whatever you think you're doing in there, open this door or so help me!" he shouted over the metallic door. Ok, maybe his anger hadn't completely receded yet.

Silence met his words, and for a minute he considered the possibility that he had made a mistake in thinking she was in there. But then, a shuffling sound coming from the inside confirmed his previous thesis. He was about to pound again against it, when the door suddenly shifted and retread into one side of the wall. Eyien was standing in the middle of the room, her personal console tucked away under her right arm, and when he met her eyes, she smiled tightly back at him.

"Sorry, I just needed to take care of some business. The comm links are back up and fully functional" she explained, anticipating his questions before he could voice them. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" she continued, nodding at him quickly before brushing past him on the way out. He turned to look at her retreating back once again, and did not miss the way her shoulders were tensed and her stride brisk. In the past weeks they had spent together, he had come to learn to read her body language when her words got elusive or vague, and what he was seeing was telling him quite a lot on her state of mind.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing and-or saying, don't. It's not gonna work" another voice piped up, startling him. His head whipped back to the room, and only then he noticed the astran standing off in one corner, xir attention almost fully held by the pad xe was holding.

"And why is that?" he asked carefully, fully aware that xe harbored no particular fondness for his person. A mutual feeling, if he had to be honest.

Fey lifted xir gaze from the data mining process rolling on the screen of xir pad, xir golden eyes shifting on the Captain's figure by the door. It seemed the man had at least had the time – and decency – to put on a shirt before walking up to them, but by the disheveled look, xe imagined they had disrupted his cleaning up. Or at least xe hoped. The whole ship didn't really seem as if its inhabitants appreciated the concept of water.

"Because she has just received a very heavy dilemma to mull over, I doubt your input would be of any help, at the moment. Unless you have the money to out-buy a death warrant, that his" xe said, letting the last bit of information slip off xir tongue nonchalantly. It wasn't xir place to explain to Yondu what had happened, especially because it pertained aspects of Yin's past, but it didn't mean xe could not nudge things along.

The mercenary's quick reply died on his lips at the mention of the death warrant.

What in the screaming void had she gotten herself into? Those warrants were very difficult and extremely expensive to obtain, and even more so to either dissolve, survive, or out-buy. That she had become involved in one of them didn't bode well.

"Are ya messin' with me, kiddo? Because that ain't something to joke about" he deadpanned, unable to tell if the astran was bluffing or being serious.

He hoped it was the former.

"I've never been more serious in my life, Udonta. But I stand with what I said: going to her now won't help either of you. Give her space and she'll seek you out before the day is out" xe repeated once more. The pad's screen lit up a second later, alerting xe that the mining had been completed.

"I have to go take care of this. Just trust me on this, alright?" xe went on, clutching the pad in xir hand.

Yondu watched xe leave the same way as Eyien, his mouth sealed and his head throbbing with the telltale sign of a fucking migraine. With a defeated sigh he pushed himself off of the side of the door.

Let her come to me, he says! He scoffed to himself as he started to make his way back down to the showers. After the way their little sparring session had ended, he wasn't sure she would even consider asking for his help. He had made it pretty clear where he stood, and he wouldn't be surprised if she decided that, whatever her implication with that death warrant was, it was none of his business. After all, they barely knew each other outside of their respective careers, and in her position he wouldn't have trusted himself either. He was using her for his own ends, selfish as they were, why should he expect her to trust him enough to come to him for help?

A part of him reeled at the idea of being shunned so easily, while the other seethed at the thought that such a petty and insignificant matter could and would bother him.

Either way, he decided to put the whole thing aside; at the very least he would shower in peace.

Yin paced the floor of her shared cabin for what seemed like an eternity, her mind reeling at the not so many possibilities she had in front of her. On one hand, she really wanted to just give this elusive bastard the finger, to be defiant and just send a massive 'fuck you' his way; but on the other, both the death warrant and the information regarding her mother and sister were incentive enough for her to accept. Dexta presence in the picture also didn't help; their story had been a complicated one, and neither of them held the other in much regard anymore. They had used to be best friends, real partners in crime, for a really long time; it had been about ten years since the last time she had heard of her death. Their friendship had ended, after fifty whole years, only one before that. Dexta had been there for her through her whole service with the Ravagers, had disapproved of it rather sternly, but had helped her out regardless. Their falling out had happened barely after her mother and sister disappearance, marking her desertion to the mercenary company.

She took a deep breath as she tried to push the memories away, back into the locked server they belonged in. She could not afford the luxury of reminiscing.

A decision needed to be taken, and the more she waited around, the less time remained to prepare for either course of action.

The door of the cabin swooshed open, and for a moment she had to repress the hope it could be Yondu coming after her. She scowled at the fleeting idiocy, feeling sort of relieved when she saw Fey entering instead.

"So, I've run a mining on the data I managed to collect during the exchange. Dexta's signal was bouncing off a lot of serves through the galaxy, but it was otherwise unprotected; if you want to pay her a visit I definitely know where to find her" xe announced, xir voice steady and sure. Xir presence helped her calm down slightly, infusing her with at least a little bit of confidence.

She took another deep intake of air.

"No, we don't have the time. But keep the results, we might need them if we decide to eventually deal with her too" she said, stopping her feet from pacing.

"Ah, does this mean we are going to meet this elusive man?" xe asked, raising a perfectly shaped brow her way.

Yin shook her head, and Fey frowned in response.

"I'm going, you're staying here. Can't risk falling in a trap. If something happens to me, you have to find the bastard and finish the work for me. Also, you are my eyes and ears, that's why I need you up here while I'm gone" she declared, ready to fight with xe for the plan if necessary. To her surprise, Fey simply hummed xir approval as xe made xir way inside, dropping the pad on the desk and sitting behind it.

"Yeah, that would be for the best. Though I have to insist you bring someone else along, if it really could be a trap you need to be prepared, and as of now, the best you can do is punch someone to death. You have no knowledge on how to handle guns and-or melee weapons, you're basically useless in a fight. So, you need backup" xe said, maybe a bit too strongly. Yin felt a dagger through the chest for each accusation, knowing that xir words were not only accurate, but simply true. Her scowl returned back in full force on her face, the more stubborn side of her ready to battle.

She opened her mouth to argue, but her friend lifted a hand to stop her.

"Yin, I don't want to see you injure yourself again. I will come to your rescue, if necessary, but you must bring someone with you" xe insisted, xir golden eyes as serious as she hadn't seen them in a really long time.

"Fine, I'll bring Kraglin along, I'm sure he won't mind" she sighed finally, relenting to xir request.

"No disrespect to him, but I was thinking more along the lines of Yondu" Fey immediately added, halting her on her way out. Eyien made a sharp turn, throwing a glare xir way.

"Why?" she asked, definitely suspicious. Something must have transpired between the two of them when she had left them alone!

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Kraglin knows how to handle himself, but could he take out a whole room filled with hostiles just by whistling his arrow around?" xe pointed out oh-so-helpfully, smirking satisfactorily when xe saw her flinch at xir intentional wording. Despite the scowl that kept deepening on her features, Fay could pin-point the exact moment xir argument had won her over.

"Fine! I'll go talk to him!" Yin finally huffed in all her displeasure "For whatever good that'll do. And here I thought you didn't even like the man…" she trailed off, clearly still not ready to give xe the satisfaction of her full acceptance.

"It's just a hunch" xe said, scrolling xir shoulders in dismissal. In all honesty, not even xe knew why xe was pushing the argument with her. Maybe it had been the look in her eyes back in the docking bay, maybe the way his jaw clenched when xe told him he couldn't help her. Xe still didn't harbor any good feelings towards Yondu, but xe could at least see the advantage of having him around; that, and xe had a feeling he would keep Yin safe, for his own sake and ends if nothing else.

"A hunch, uh? Yin repeated, throwing xir one last skeptic glance as she made for the door "Well, if it'll make feel better" she relented.

"Thanks" xe replied earnestly, smiling as Eyien walked through the door, shrugging at xe.

Eyien had been to Yondu's private cabin just once since coming aboard his Mothership, but the extensive research she had poured over its design meant she had a pretty clear memory of where it was and how to get there. She walked slowly through the maze of rooms and corridors, took the elevator several floors up, and finally came to stop just outside the closed door of the Captain's private quarters. She hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to follow through with Fey insistence or just do as she wanted. She would be lying if she said she still wasn't a bit hurt by his dismissal, but the more pragmatic part of her knew that she needed his help regardless. So Yin steeled herself, taking the couple steps towards the door with her fist raised, ready to knock and announce herself. Instead, the metal panel slid up as the movement sensors picked her up, opening up unprompted.

Inside, at the sound of the door opening, Yondu whipped around with an insult on his lips for whomever had disturbed him, which died the moment his eyes landed on Yin. She was standing, frozen with her hand up in a knocking motion, barely outside the entrance, red eyes wide in surprise.

Eyien had to take a metaphorical step back once she realized she had been staring for over thirty seconds; despite Yondu's apparent lack of any kind of clothing, it was rude of her to just point blank check him out, especially since she had already promised herself to respect his boundaries.

Quickly, she respectfully turned her back to him.

She wasn't embarrassed by his nudity – Universe only knew how many naked bodies she had seen back in her days – but somehow she couldn't quite help the flush that rose to her violet cheeks.

She cleared her voice once, both because she was feeling a lump in her throat, and to signal she was about to speak.

"I'm sorry, I was about to knock, I swear" she said in her fist, bowing her head slightly forward, sheepishly.

"Ya, damned door is bugged. Never remember to get it fixed" Yondu replied amicably, apparently not that bothered by the sudden intrusion. He stared at the nape of her neck for a while longer, then resumed getting back in his leather red uniform.

"I could take a look at that – if you want. Should just be some configuration problem" she offered. Yup, technical problems, she could get behind that. They weren't stressful or hard to understand.

"Sure, thanks" he said as the long coat slipped over his shoulders, completing the outfit. "You can turn around now, Lassie, nothing else to see" he continued, mirth coloring his voice at the display.

Yin turned awkwardly, eyes still downcast as she did so. Only when she noticed his boots she lifted them from the floor, resting her glance somewhere on him.

"Did ya need anything?" Yondu asked, casually.

Was she there to ask for his help? If she was, he would have to acknowledge that her friend had been right, something he wasn't looking forward to do.

Eyien seemed to sober a bit at that, and she nodded emphatically.

"How much time can you spare?" she asked, a bit of her trade-mark snark dripping from her tongue. If he were to help her, she would prefer he knew the extent of her involvement with Dexta, to at least avoid any accident during the job. One could never be too careful.

"How much time d'ya need?" was his quick reply, to which she couldn't help but snort.

"Make yourself comfortable then, this is gonna take a while" she replied, all awkwardness forgotten. maybe Fey had been right, and Yondu was the safest choice for the occasion, but she still had yet to see if he would agree to help her or not.

She still was his prisoner, after all.