Val lead the way to the ship, not waiting for Tien to catch up, which he would do eventually. She frowned at the size of the ship, realizing it was smaller than she initially thought, which might mean less to glean from it than she had hoped. It looked like King Cold could hardly fit it there comfortably. Nevertheless, she went up the gang plank as quietly as she could, ears straining for any sound beyond the echo of her own footsteps. She could hear Tien behind her. Other than the two of them, it was dead silent. Walking the halls was like walking through a forgotten dream, a forgotten nightmare. The lights were still on, but the air tasted stale and recycled. The smell came back to her like a long lost memory. She passed a tiny med bay, disappointed a healing tank was not it the tiny room. She went to the command center, finding it easily. She had squeeze her way passed both throne like chairs, one a bit big for her to sit on and one three times to big for her to sit on. They occupied far too much space for any of the other men to maneuver around quickly if there was an emergency.
"Selfish," she swore, kicking the smaller of the two chairs before going over to the command center to power it on and turn off any tracking device if it was already on. She slipped under the console, opening up the large bottom flap, and digging through the wires. She found it, smiling that it was already switched off. She disabled it to keep it from ever turning on again to find the ship. Then broke it for good measure. "Must have wanted his revenge done off the books," she cheered to herself.
"What did you say?" Tien's voice echoed over to her.
She sat up from under the console, looking over at him. She could half see him standing in the doorway, hands pressed up against either side. He looked paler than usual. "Are you alright?" she asked.
He puffed out a breath and shook his head. "It's not going to take off and sends us into outer space, will it?" he asked breathily.
"Uh... ah," she hummed. She bent back down under the console and dug through the now exposed wires, finding the next one she wanted, snapping it to ground the ship permanently. "Not anymore," she called out, closing the flap.
She stood back up, going over to the top of the console now, clicking around to get the computer to turn on and display its files. There was no log for the events going to Earth, but just in case she wiped any data from the travel to Earth. She started to peruse through them, annoyed that nothing here, just like nothing on the flash drives Vegeta had given her contained anything about healing tanks. She brought her hands down on the console, tapping her fingernails impatiently. Hardly anything was new to her, most were even duplicate of the files from the flash drives. None of this was worth copying over. The new stuff she could remember if she wanted it.
"How do you know what you're doing?" he asked, stepping over to her. He noticeably avoided the chairs.
She threw a look over at him, seeing how green around the gills he was. He kept his eyes down low, avoiding looking at large window that loomed out over the landscape. "I was on a ship like this for years," she answered. "I didn't grow, so I had to earn my keep someway while waiting for someone to come along and trigger me. I'm most familiar with equipment in the med bay than out here though. This I know mainly from studying schematics. I'll go look there when I'm done here, see what I can glen more from there."
"Then we can get out of this tin can?" he griped.
She looked up at him, remembering back to how terrified she had been when she was first dragged onto her first ship. "You get used to it," she said. "I was petrified when I was first dragged onto a ship by Raditz, and then double that when Vegeta dragged me in front of Frieza who sat in front of a glass pane at least ten times bigger." She pointed over at the window in the current ship. "Looking out there at the black void of space was terrifying, but eventually became darkly beautiful."
He looked over at her, looking paler at the very idea. "Vegeta brought you to Frieza?" he asked, looking displeased.
She turned around, away from the console and leaned against it. "Raditz took me from my planet, which had a kill all inhabitants order, in hopes to restart the Saiyan race when I grew up physically. Vegeta taking me to Frieza probably saved my life because the immediate reveal when he was in a good mood," she explained, nose twitching in disgust.
He studied her. "But you didn't grow up until you got to Namek," he recalled.
She nodded, bringing her hand up to her necklace. "I resisted it, as Asa, my carer, told me to do until I managed to escape. For years. When Raditz died, Napa seemed keen to take over the hopes of using me to save the Saiyan race."
He pressed his lips into a thin line. "And after he died?"
She hummed, explaining, "Vegeta never looked at me like that, it was kind of refreshing in comparison. But by then, Asa found out since my cursing had blossomed into something, Frieza wasn't going to let me get away. The plan became to essentially rent me out as the 'race saver,' but keep me close for my curse ability, which I couldn't even control back then." He looked even more pale at that.
"That's why he told you die trying," he recalled.
She nodded. "Vegeta's not interested in me like that, and I'm not interested in him either. It takes two to be interested," she explained again. She tapped him on the shoulder, walking past him. "Not that I'm going to stop living with him at Capsule Corps anytime soon, nor not use the data he stole."
She left the room, heading down to the med bay. She went in the room, going to the cabinet on the wall, rummaging through it. This was a mini gold mine, even if there was no healing tank. Antiviral medicines, healing agents, pain relievers, bandages, amongst other things. She heard him follow her. He joined her in the room. She pulled three bottles down from one of the shelves, looking them over. She tossed the best option for him. He caught the bottle, looking it over perplexedly. "What is this?"
"Take one of those. It'll help with your nerves being in this ship," she explained. "Or you can just be forced to live on one for years. That also works," she joked. She rummaged around, finding a bag, and began filling it up with the medicine and medical supplies in the cabinet. It was a jumble she would have to take now and sort later. "Or you could go outside and get some fresh air." She hauled up the bag, shaking to make sure everything was going to stay there and stay in tact. "This is all that is worth taking," she said, sounding disappointed.
"That's all you want to steal?" he said, still holding the unopened bottle she had tossed at him.
She walked over to him, sighing, and feeling a wave of pity go through her. He needed to get outside. She took the unopened bottle from him and put it in the bag. "Only things worth taking," she sighed. "The stuff on the computers is more or less the same from the flash drives."
She side stepped around him, walking down the hallway, giving it one last look over before the ship. She left the ship, getting some distance from it. She drew a deep breath, enjoying the freshness of the air. She saw him come out, moving pretty quickly now. He took a series of deep breaths, bringing his hands crossed over his head. She felt another wave of pity for him. More color seemed to come back to his face. "Those hallways... those rooms... too small..." he huffed out, shaking his head.
She gave him a patient yet amused look. "You're not going to space anytime soon, are you?"
He shook his head, dropping his hands back down to his sides. "Nope," he sighed out.
She looked passed him and at the ship one last time. "Me either," she decided. She sat the bag down by her feet carefully. Then she summoned up the heat to her hands. He saw the flames, eyeing them cautiously. She took aim behind him, blasting the ship. He started at that, not expecting it. She shook her hands, letting the leftover flames char the ground, but not touch the bag. "We should get back to the others." She picked up the bag with one hand, and held the other one out to him.
He hesitated, eyeing her bracelet on her outstretched hand before he stepped over and took it.