Loose and Freya'd Ends

[S46]

The weird box provided security from her captors however she couldn't stay there forever but was afraid as well to leave.  There were many like her, like they who had taken her.  Strange structures and flying objects she couldn't describe.  She didn't have the language to.  She heard voices outside.  It was them she could tell by their sounds, she would know it anywhere.  They were close but they were not that close they spoke but she didn't know what they said.

"I saw her run this way I tell you.  She gotta be in one of these ships.  Hold up.  Look at there.  Ain't nobody with that kid.  I got a buyer likes 'em younger.  Lets get her."

Their voices trailed off but she could still hear them then a loud scream.  Something young.  She opened the box a crack and saw them with a younger her, they made noises at passers by and nobody intervened.

"This here be my daughter she just havin' a tantrum."  He assured the crowd.  She didn't like this.  They were bad and they would hurt smaller her like they did her.

Charging out she lunged and bit the neck of the bigger one before climbing up his body and pressing off to lunge at the other one, she latched onto his neck and swung around him, her momentum causing him to lose his balance and his grip on the smaller her.  In their disarray she grabbed the hand of the small one and began to run in the clearest path away.

[Freya]

Freya had been making her way toward the ship they'd been interested in, slipping between boxes and around scrap metal, keeping her eye out for the oaf who'd brought in a human on a leash. She'd lost track of him once or twice and by the time she reached the gangplank to the ship that would hopefully become their home, he'd gone around a corner and out of sight. "Well...Oh well," she murmured to herself, turning her back on the junkyard so she could better peer inside the bits of the ship she could see, gaze sliding over the boxes and empty crates that had either been left behind or dumped in there for storage.

Before she could move into the ship proper, she felt a hand curl around her upper arm. Assuming it was one of her new crew, the young girl looked up curiously, startled to see the face of someone she didn't know. Panic set in and Freya began yanking at her arm, kicking at the man's shins in an attempt to get him away from her, all the while looking around for her crew. It wasn't until he began dragging her away from the ship's ramp that she screamed, hoping her new captain would hear her.

Luckily for her, someone did hear, although it wasn't who she'd been expecting. She almost found herself on the ground with the way the man's grip tugged on her and then suddenly released, her eyes wide with confusion. "Wh-" she managed before the savage woman grabbed her hand and pulled her after her. Freya looked back, saw that the men were likely only temporarily incapacitated, and decided not to stop running. F-word would find her soon, she was sure of it, and then he'd kung fu these idiots in the face and be done with it. She hoped.

As it happened, the path they were taking through the ship/junk yard led to an old and barely functioning shuttle, likely salvaged from a ship too damaged to repair. It looked like it might have belonged to a Firefly class vessel and had a chipped and faded painting of a woman on the side, although it was far too scuffed to pick out any further details. Its hatch was open, likely so customers could peek in and check it out. Yanking a couple times on the woman's hand to get her attention, she pointed toward the shuttle, "Go there, go there," she urged her!

[S46]

She would not have stopped running if not for the little one tugging at her arm.  She called out something to her but it was nothing she was going to understand.  She did however stop and look at the girl who pointed at a small cave, looking like home.  It would do they could hide.

She let go of the girl to allow her the freedom and ran inside the box.  Once in she pressed against the wall catching her breath.  The little one seemed a little tired as well she wanted to make sure she was alright so she made a series of gestures at her not sure how to communicate what she wanted to know.

They had given the bad ones the slip but their noises were closing.  Looking around she found a strange stick made out of a cold material, it was heavy though and if they came in she would make sure to hit them hard with it.

[Freya]

Glad the other girl seemed to understand, she raced into the shuttle after her and hurried to the pilot's seat, looking the console and levers over with a frown. When she turned back to see if they were being followed, she noticed the strange woman gesticulating at her. "Uh..." Her brows furrowed as she followed the motions with her eyes, trying to piece anything together. After a moment of having no clue what was going on, she gave the lady a thumbs up and a smile, "We're fine, I'm fine, you're fine, the world is fine," she assured the woman, pretty sure a smile was universal. Probably. Now, the world wasn't really fine, not at the present moment.

Hearing the men's voices getting closer, Freya moved to the console and started flicking just about every button she saw, working through them one by one until lights flickered on in the shuttle, "Okay! That one means 'On!'" she exclaimed. She was much better at fixing the ships than she was at getting them going. Now that she ship had power, she could shut the door, and shut it she did! The hatch slid shut with a comforting whir and thud, although it was probably only comforting to someone who knew what a ship was... or what a door was...

Hoping that would buy her crew some time to find them, the girl flopped down into the chair and swiveled around to stare at the bitey lady. She wasn't thinking about trying to get the ship up into the air because surely, someone was going to come find them before the idiots chasing them could. Right? Freya grimaced.

[S46]

The little one was touching things on the cave wall, there were little stars flashing and then the cave growled.  What was this she was in?  The little one didn't seem afraid so it must not be dangerous but she hugged the stick tightly as the cave shut.  She moved to where the entrance once was and saw the bad ones outside.  They too saw her however and started hitting it from the outside.  The little one did a weird thing with her lips earlier what did that mean?  She wanted to be back with her friend with the plants, this new place was frightening and strange and she was the only one who seemed not to recognize things.

She was also hungry.  She turned inward to the ship figuring the bad ones were stuck out of the cave and looked around.  She poked and pulled and pried at different things looking for a plant or one of the scurriers.  Eventually she stumbled upon a ration pack and found weird blocks but they smelled like food so she bit into one of them.  They were coated with some crinkly material that she had a hard time chewing, it was shiny and didn't come on food she ate back home.  She looked to the little one, maybe she would know what it was and how to get the food out of it.  She held the bar towards her hoping she would understand based on the grunt she was given.

[Freya]

Freya winced a little at the banging, beginning to doubt whether or not her crew was going to get there in time. "Yī dà tuó dà biàn," she cursed to herself. Turning back toward the console, she started peering around until she found what she was looking for. A good old instruction manual.

With the book in tow, Freya made her way over to where the girl was fighting with the food, her brows raising when it was held out to her, "What the..." she whispered to herself. With another glance at the door, she tucked the manual under her armpit and reached forward to take the bar. It took her longer than usual to open up the thing, old wrapping and what not, but eventually she took it off about half way and held the food out to the lady once more. "There ya go," she told her, smiling again.

With one disaster taken care of, Freya moved back to the chair and laid the book open on the console, flipping through it in an attempt to find something that would help her get the ship up off the ground.  Maybe some hovering around would scare the guys away and draw her crew to her. Plus, it wasn't stealing if she didn't leave the yard...was it?

[S46]

Little one peeled something off and handed it back to her.  More noises but they didn't make sense to her, she took a bite of the food and realized how hungry she was.  She hadn't eaten since the bad ones came and took her.  Little one had something in her hand, it was flimsy and wouldn't make a good weapon but she seemed to be attentive to it.  Remembering that she had hit the tiny stars and shut the door she decided to try it herself.  She moved to the console and began pressing random buttons.  The cave shook and she noticed they were now higher off the ground and climbing.  Fearfully she backed away from the console and moved to where the bad ones had been banging on the cave wall.  They were no longer there.  In fact all she could see now was the sky, things seemed to get smaller beneath them.

It was too much for her and she curled into the corner, shaking and fearing what was happening.  She didn't understand any of it and little one didn't seem too confident either.  She tried to go back to words she'd heard from the men and the girl for a sound that might sum up her feelings and get some help.

"Fahn.  Fahn."  She tried to repeat from what little one said earlier.  She said it several times so she hoped it was something useful.

[Freya]

With a smile, the younger girl watched the older approach the console. She seemed nice, if not a little confused about just about everything. Freya was sure they'd be able to get along oh my god what was she doing?! "Wait, no, oh, wait wait!" she exclaimed as the stranger started mashing buttons without know what any of them did. Freya had the manual and even she didn't know what half of them did.

Freezing in the chair, she looked out the front window when the ship shuddered to life, "Oh, oh no," she began whispering to herself, quickly setting her hands on the steering apparatus and sitting on the edge of the seat so she could reach everything better, "Oh god, oh no, ooooh ri shao gou shi bing... juh guh jee hua juhn kuh pah..." As it was, she could only risk going up. She hadn't figured out how to go back down and landing would probably kill them both.

"Fahn.  Fahn."

"What the..." Freya turned her head when she heard the woman saying her last name over and over, which was surely a coincidence. "Okay I'm very mad at you right now but I can't really deal with that at the moment so please don't touch anything," she told the other girl calmly, all of her energy focused on trying to slow down the ship as they headed off world.

[S46]

"Okay I'm very mad at you right now but I can't really deal with that at the moment so please don't touch anything,"  She spoke to her and the words seemed angry so she assumed little one did not like her.  She drew her eyes to the floor and away from little one, wondering what she did that was different.

"Shuttle 34928 Delta.  You have no clearance to take off.  I repeat you have no clearance."  The dash came to life as one of the controllers at the docks spoke.

"State your reason for departure or we will be forced to land lock you."  The voice continued as the shuttle stopped it's ascent and hovered.

[Freya]

Freya fussed over the console in an attempt to find some way to reach out to her crew down on the ground. She flipped rapidly through the manual, brows furrowed and shoulders tense.

"Shuttle 34928 Delta.  You have no clearance to take off.  I repeat you have no clearance." 

"Oh! Yes!" She turned to the woman and pointed down at the console, grinning, "This is good!" She assured her before returning her attention to both the manual and figuring out how to respond. "Ok, where is the button I need," she asked herself.

"State your reason for departure or we will be forced to land lock you." 

That was also good! She wanted to get back to the ground. Well, unless they planned on putting them back down where the kidnappers were. Trying out a few buttons, she was able to locate the one she'd been looking for. "Yes! Hi! Uh. I guess... Shuttle 34...something something Delta to uh, whoever you are. We did not mean to take off! There were some child molester types down there and we hid in the shuttle and...well here we are now!" She explained, looking back at the woman with another thumbs up.

[S46]

A random voice came out of no where.  The cave was speaking to them, she looked around and realized it was coming from the tiny lights and little one did that thing with her mouth again.

"Yes! Hi! Uh. I guess... Shuttle 34...something something Delta to uh, whoever you are. We did not mean to take off! There were some child molester types down there and we hid in the shuttle and...well here we are now!"

There was silence for a few long moments before the comm. crackled back to life.

"Shuttle Delta we've dispatched units to your take off point, we've also transmitted coordinates for you to land where you'll be greeted with another unit... for your protection."  The voice added the last part, possibly believing Freya was a kid just pulling a prank while she went for a joy ride.

"Do you have the ability to fly the shuttle to the destinat..."  The comm. went dead as the shuttle shook from an impact on the exterior.  Looking through the rear windshield the slavers ship had taken to the air and had fired on them.  They had to swing around for another pass but thankfully Alliance fighters had taken off and engaged the ship which peeled off for the black.  However this left the shuttle shaking and far above the clouds with no sight of the ground and no communications.

[Freya]

Her expression remained hopeful while she listened to the voice, her hands flipping through her book so she could figure out how to fly the damned thing right while they handled sending over the coordinates. She had the general hang of things but their trip to wherever they were going to be sent was going to be a bit of a bumpy one.

She leaned forward, ready to respond, when the ship shook and she almost fell out of the chair. Swiveling around, Freya tried to see what had hit them, bluegreen eyes widening at the sight of the other ship. The girl looked over at the terrified woman and gave her a half hearted smile and a thumbs up before returning her attention to the console, "Commincation's array took a hit, signal's all distorted, and the gorram coordinates they sent us are gone," she muttered, feeling a lot more talkative considering she was pretty sure her new friend couldn't understand her.

"Okay, okay, if I go down, we're gonna explode and it'll be a real shame, if I go up, we'll be out in the black..." she murmured to herself, turning around again to look at the woman. She stared at her, considering things silently. "Okay lady, you decide," she told her. With that, Freya pointed up and raised her brows, then down, doing it a couple of times and waiting for some kind of response or reaction or anything she could pretend had been a response.

[S46]

Little one was trying to communicate with her, her arm going up and then down and back up and down.  What was she saying?  She realized she was trying to get her to do something but really didn't know.  She mimicked her movements raising her hand up, then down but that didn't seem to be what she was doing finally she deciphered that it was some sort of direction.  Taking her stick she began hitting the roof, trying to open up an escape for them.  That must have been it they had to escape up or down, the stick however barely damaged the metal ceiling of the cave.

"Shut... lta... I re... tl... a... Yo..."  The comm crackled and intermittent spurts of words passed through.  Fearing the disembodied voice she poked at the dash with her stick trying to stop the cave from talking to them.

[Freya]

Freya hopped up from the chair and approached the woman, reaching out to rest a hand on her arm in an attempt to calm her down and get her to stop smacking their ship. They were going to need in intact, especially if they were headed up into the vacuum of space. "Hey, hey, I get it, up. But stop hitting things," she urged the lady, trying to talk gently so she wouldn't freak her out. A freaked out wild woman likely meant more frantic smacking of the ship.

"Shut... lta... I re... tl... a... Yo..."

Clearing her throat nervously, Freya returned to the seat and eyed the comm in frustration, "I...don't...kn-ow what you're say-in," she muttered, mimicking the way the voice came in in a jumble of half completed words. Leaning forward and hoping they'd at least be able to hear her, she sighed, "Uh, this is Shuttle Delta, again. Not having the best of days. Can't hear anything you're saying to us. Our comms are down, probably, and the coordinates are gone. I'm going to go up. If you can hear this, it'd be real shiny if you sent someone to help us once we're in the black. If not...then what am I doing," she muttered.

Freya eyed the wild woman and held her hand out for the stick, "I'm gonna need you to give me that," she asked, pointing at it and then holding her hand open again. "And you're gonna need to keep your hands to yourself if you don't want to 'splode, yea?" she added, knowing by now that she had no idea what she was saying to her.

[S46]

The little one reached out and touched her arm, she flinched at first but realized she didn't mean her any harm.  She tried to communicate with the cave again but she couldn't tell if she was successful or not.  Eventually she turned back to her and reached her hand out, pointing at the stick.  Defensively she pulled it back to her, fearing what little one might do to her with it but eventually she conceded and held out what was in fact a metal pole likely part of scaffold that had been discarded.  After handing the stick over she quickly backed away into the corner wrapping her arms around her legs as she cowered.

The shuttle began to rumble again, this time it was due to hitting atmo and eventually into the black.  Luckily for them the shuttle was capable of breaking atmo itself and didn't burn up as it exited.  The calm peaceful black now surrounded them.  Looking up through the windshield it was the first time she'd seen the night close up, though she had stared endlessly at it back home wondering what the little lights were.  She moved from her spot in the corner and pressed her face up against the glass to take in the encompassing darkness.  As she looked she again started to feel the annoyance of the collar on her which was a metal ring with barely enough spare space for her breaths to get through, she pulled at it some more but it wouldn't come off.  On the collar bore the mark S46 likely an indicator to keep their slaves straight.

She looked to little one wondering if she knew how to get the collar off.  Remembering her using her fingers before she copied the action pointing to the collar with a whimper.

[Freya]

With a thankful smile, Freya set the metal pole down on the ground near her chair and returned her attention to getting the dang bird to go up. Her jaw clenched as they moved through the atmosphere and a little image played out in the back of her mind of the ship falling to pieces. However, they finally made it through! With a large exhale, the girl sat back in the chair and slumped down a little, wiping her hand across her forehead and fanning herself with the other. That had been the worst. Using the tips of her feet, Freya slowly turned her chair around one tiny step at a time, until she was staring at the wild woman once more. Although she was a little annoyed and slightly worried about the whole 'what now' issue, the lady's obvious awe brought a smile to her lips. "Ain't seen the black much?" she asked her, not expecting a response.

Another deep breath lifted and lowered the girl's shoulders, although she paused when she noticed the woman pointing at the collar around her neck. "Oh! Want that shit off your neck? I could probably do that," she told her, nodding and patting along her own body, looking for something. Feeling her lock picks near her chest, Freya reached down the front of her shirt and rummaged around until she was finally able to pull it free.

"Hup," she said as she got to her feet and made her way over to the lady. First, she circled the woman, getting a good look at the thing. "S46, that's a terrible name," she observed, chewing on the inside of her cheek a bit. Reaching up, she eyed the woman, hands paused right near the collar, "Don't bite me," she told her before finally setting her hands on the metal. Putting her lock pick kit in her mouth, Freya started fiddling around with the tiny electronics on the thing. "S, forty six. Fooourr-deee six," she mumbled around the little canvas container in her mouth, only half paying attention to what she was saying.

[S46]

The finger thing worked, the little one pulled something out of her clothes and began poking at the collar with tiny sticks.

"S46, that's a terrible name...Don't bite me... S, forty six. Fooourr-deee six,"

She repeated noises that sounded the same and she wondered what she meant by them.

"Ezzz.. Fow zich."  She tried to repeat the words, to learn to communicate with the sounds the little one was making.  She grew tired of describing little one, she needed something to get her attention when she called out.  Maybe once she picked up on the sound patterns she made she would be more able to copy the language.  She always just growled back home with her wolf.

"Hello!  Emergency protocol has been initiated.  Please state the emergency.  I sense two life forms aboard."  A different voice came from the console, a face appeared on a view screen.  The tone was robotic and didn't seem to be personalized to them.

[Freya]

Freya paused and tilted her head to peer at S46's face, brows lifted. "Hey! Yea! That's your awful name!" she praised, eyes alight. Turning her attention back to the collar, Freya grabbed one of her tools, a bit of copper wiring, and started inserting it all over the little circuits, waiting for them to short out when they'd been connected wrong. It was a lot of work and her arms were getting tired, her shoulders a bit sore now. After a bit more poking and prodding, the wires zapped Freya's fingers once before the collar came undone. The girl yelped and backed up a bit, putting her stung finger in her mouth and eyeing her work with a grin.

"Hello!  Emergency protocol has been initiated.  Please state the emergency.  I sense two life forms aboard." 

"Uh...what?" she asked, turning around to stare at the console and the little face. "...what?!" Freya exclaimed again, putting her tools away as she made her way back to the chair. "How specific do I gotta be?" she wondered, thinking maybe this fancy tech might require some specific instructions. "Whose shuttle was this?" she asked herself incredulously, poking at the screen and grimacing.

"Okay, ship lady. Uhm. The emergency is we're in the black and I don't know how to fly this gorram fancy shuttle. Oh an' we're bein' chased and shot at by kidnappers. Them fancy brass down below are probably heaps mad at us for up and leaving. And this lady here don't speak English. Also, I think I need to pee," she told it, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning. Let's see what it does with that, she thought.

[S46]

As the collar came off it singed her neck slightly, she cried out and tossed the collar across the ship growling at it but then turned to the girl who had also been hurt by it.  She recalled the calming grip the girl had and repeated it herself grabbing her by the arm, maybe a bit harder than she meant to.  When the voice came to life she jolted and moved away from the console before following the young girl over and watching over her shoulder.

"Processing last request...."  The voice said before going silent for a moment.

"lavatory is located in aft and portside wall.  Please see lever to the left for access."  The voice  then went silent, providing no further direction.

[Freya]

"Lavatory is located in aft and portside wall.  Please see lever to the left for access."

Freya stared at the screen, completely still, absolutely silent. Then, with a breath she turned to the woman, "We're gonna die," she told her, nodding and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"How is that- that's the least of- why would-" she stammered, rubbing her face with her hands now. She did, however, turn a bit to look in the direction of the lavatory. Did the lady know how to use one? Was she going to have to worry that she'd pee inside the sip? Freya eyed S46 in horror for a second or two, her gaze looking her up and down once before she shook her head. One crisis at a time.

"Okay, ship. Broadcast a distress call on...all frequencies," she began, grimacing again, "Well, on any that ain't broken..." she corrected, sitting in the chair again and lifting her legs so she could sit criss cross apple sauce, her hands on her ankles, "Begin recording?" she asked, clearing her throat a little. "This is Shuttle...some amount of numbers...Delta? We're stranded, a bit. Also, I'm a child and should not be piloting this thing. Can someone come pick us up? Someone who ain't a slaver, or general terrible person, that is. If you're listening and are one 'a those...we're fine and ain't floatin' about..." she corrected."End recording and put our coordinates somewhere in there," she asked, peering down at the screen and the console.

With another smile up at the woman, she offered her another thumbs up, "We're gonna be fine, DeeDee," she told the other woman, making up a name which she'd probably change later. But she didn't want to keep calling her some weird number.