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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟗
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

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After discussing their plan one last time securely within the four walls of the small room, the group of six go to prepare for the upcoming battle. While Peter took the others to one of the changing rooms to prepare, Primrose walked with Gamora to the other side of the ship where her old room was. A comfortable silence settled over them as they made their way through the halls until they finally reached their destination. The moment the Quill girl opened the door to reveal her former quarters, a wave of nostalgia washed over her.

It wasn't much, just large enough to hold a bed, a dresser, and a bookshelf, but it still brought a smile to Primrose's lips. The brunette girl was completely unaware of the blank expression on Gamora's face as the former walked over to her dresser and pulled out two Ravager uniforms.

"Hopefully, this will fit you. Even if it doesn't, there aren't many other options on the Eclector," Primrose said before turning around to face the Zehoberei woman. When the brunette girl finally saw the frown on Gamora's face, all her joy faded and was replaced with confusion. "Is everything alright?"

"This is where you lived?" the raven-haired woman questioned, earning a small nod from the Quill woman in response before the former continued speaking, "for how long?"

Primrose just stared at Gamora in silence, still perplexed as to why the Zehoberei woman was so focused on her old room. It wasn't long after that when the brunette woman finally answered her question. "Until I was sixteen. It wasn't until then when Peter finally convinced Yondu to let me go with him on his excursions."

"This room is barely bigger than a closet," the raven-haired woman stated as she took a few steps into the small space before stopping right in front of Primrose, "I can't believe Yondu let a member of his crew stay in here."

"Well, that's the thing. Yondu never really considered me part of his crew," the Quill woman explained while Gamora continued to stare at her with a hint of curiosity in her eyes, "the only reason I know what I know and am who I am is because of Peter and the books on those shelves...well, and Kraglin. But he only talked to me because Yondu always put him on 'babysitting duty.'"

"Is there a reason for that?"

"Not one that I know, and trust me, I tried to figure it out," the brunette girl stated before letting out a long sigh, "my guess is they only wanted to abduct Peter and I just came along for the ride. Lucky me."

Gamora instantly saw the happiness that surrounded the younger Quill sibling fade away. Her usual playful smirk was replaced with a frown and her eyes refused to meet the Zehoberei woman's gaze. Gamora barely knew anything about the woman standing in front of her, but Primrose's current emotional state made the raven-haired woman's heart break. Without thinking twice, Gamora placed a hand on Primrose's shoulder, causing the latter to finally look up at her. The moment their eyes met, a small smile appeared on the Zehoberei woman.

"Honestly, I think Peter's the lucky one. He wouldn't have survived this long without you," the raven-haired woman told the younger woman, earning a small chuckle from the latter before Gamora grabbed one of the Ravager uniforms from her, "now, come on. We gotta get out there to make sure the boys don't mess anything up."

"Knowing them, it's probably too late," Primrose responded before they both laughed and went to change into the red clothing.

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It wasn't long before they finished getting changed and made their way to the observation deck of the ship. There, Peter instantly brought up a bunch of different screens displaying all the information they would need for their upcoming battle. Everyone stood there for a moment and examined all the screens before Gamora and Primrose stepped up to help Peter explain their plan.

"The Stone reacts to anything organic. The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge," the raven-haired woman explained as she pointed to the screen that had a picture of the Stone.

"All Ronan's gotta do is touch the Stone to the planet's surface and zap. All plants, animals, Nova Corps. Everything will die. So Ronan does not make the surface," Primrose continued for the Zehoberei woman, completely unaware of the hint of pride in Kraglin's eyes.

"Rocket will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hill," Peter explained while showing a diagram of how he intended that part of the plan to go before tapping on two of the ships, "then, our craft and Yondu's craft will enter."

"Won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside?" Kraglin questioned before Drax let out a loud scoff and drew all attention to him.

"I think of Sakaaran as paper people," the Kylosian man stated, causing Kraglin to smirk and playfully punch Drax in the shoulder. His actions immediately caused the Kylosian man to glare at him, which made the smile on Kraglin's face fade away.

"Once they know we're on board, Ronan will isolate himself behind impenetrable security doors on deck. Which I can disable by dismantling the power source," Gamora continued, drawing all attention back to her as she pulled up an image of a glowing cylinder.

"We'll make it to the flight deck, and I'll use the Hadron Enforcer to take out Ronan," Peter added as a large grin appeared on his face.

"Once Ronan is dead, we will retrieve the Stone," Primrose stated before one of Yondu's men began passing out metal orbs similar to the Stone's original one, "use these devices that Rocket and I made to contain it. If you touch it, it will kill you."

"I'll contact one of the Nova officers who arrested us," the Quill man said before letting out a long sigh, "hopefully, they'll believe we're there to help."

As soon as Peter was finished speaking, Rocket walked into the center of the circle of screens before turning to face the Ravagers surrounding them. "There's one more thing we need to complete the plan," the raccoon paused and pointed to a man with a robotic eye, "that guy's eye."

"No! No, we don't. No, we don't need that guy's eye," the redheaded man stated while Primrose and Gamora let out annoyed sighs.

"No, seriously, I need it! It's important to me," Rocket told them before he began laughing uncontrollably.

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It wasn't long after they finished explaining their plan when they arrived at Xandar. Everyone instantly made their way to the hangar to get their ships ready for the upcoming battle. While Rocket chose one of the Ravager's ships to fly solo, Primrose, Peter, Gamora, Drax, and Groot piled into the Milano. Once everyone was set, the Quill man started his ship and followed everyone out into the sky. As they flew through the air and mentally prepared for the upcoming battle, Gamora let out a long sigh while keeping her hands tightly gripped around the steering wheel.

"This is a terrible plan," the Zehoberei woman muttered under her breath from the co-pilot seat before Primrose saw a smirk form on her brother's face.

"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends," the Quill man stated, earning an annoyed look from Gamora and making his sister's nerves double.

As soon as the Dark Aster appeared in the Xandarian atmosphere, the Ravagers began flying toward it. Primrose silently prayed for their survival under her breath as her brother picked up speed. Just as the front of their group of ships was about to reach the large ship, Yondu had his men fire two canons to reveal where their shields were. Ronan's protection was revealed in an instant, making the Quill woman's eyes widen. It wasn't long after that when Peter and Gamora followed everyone's example and submerged under the shield.

They soon made it to the other side of Ronan's barrier before the two pilots of the Milano slowed down their speed. Everyone inside the ship instantly looked out the window to see three more ships fly past them.

"Rocket, hurry!" Peter called out to their ally after seeing his ship zoom past them.

The only thing that the crew of the Milano could do was watch as Rocket and the other Ravagers flew toward Ronan's ship. The three ships instantly started firing at one of the sides of the gigantic space vehicle at the same moment Ronan dispatched his battleships. Primrose's eyes grew to the size of small planets at the sight of how many enemy ships were coming at them. It wasn't long after that when chaos broke out across the sky as the fight between Ronan and the Ravagers began.

To keep in line with the plan they came up with on the Eclector, Peter made sure to stay close to Yondu's ship as they swerved to avoid the oncoming fire. Gamora sent a few blasts at one of Ronan's fighters before knocking it out of the sky entirely. While the pilots continued to make sure they survived long enough to get to the next part of their plan, Primrose sat behind them with her hands death-gripping her seat. Her eyes were glued to the window in front of her while her brain went over every possible outcome of their plans.

Even though she wanted to show everyone what she was capable of, the Quill woman was scared. To be more specific, this was the most terrified she'd ever felt flying through space. She never had the training Peter did and had barely left the ship on their adventures. Primrose wasn't made for flying through the sky toward imminent danger. Unlike the rest of the people sitting in the Milano, she was meant for a life on the ground. Maybe that's why Yondu never wanted her to leave the Eclector in the first place.

But despite all this, Peter was always flying through space and looking for danger everywhere he went. That was what he was trained by Yondu to do...even if he was a lot more reckless than the rest of the Ravagers. And wherever her brother went, Primrose would always follow. Because like Gamora said back on Yondu's ship, Peter wouldn't have survived this long in the galaxy without his little sister.

"Quill! Yondu! Now!" Rocket shouted, drawing Primrose's attention back to the situation at hand right as Peter picked up speed and raced towards the Dark Aster.

They swerved through the ships that surrounded them and dodged the shots fired at them without losing speed. Just as they were halfway to their destination, the sound of Yondu's distressed voice came over the radio. Confusion flowed through Primrose's veins as she looked out the window to where she last saw his ship, only to see it damaged and falling toward Xandar.

"I'm going down, Quill! No more games with me, boy! I'll see you and Rose at the end of this!" the leader of the Ravagers told them before his voice faded away.

The Quill girl couldn't help but look over at her brother, who continued to stare out the window in front of them. Even though he tried not to show it, Primrose could sense his nerves from a mile away. He and Gamora continued to fire at Ronan's ships to clear a path toward their destination despite how clearly outnumbered they were. It wasn't until a piece of debris from a destroyed ship hit one of the Milano's wings that everyone began showing the emotions they were feeling.

"There's too many of them, Rocket!" the Zehoberei woman stated as she looked around at all the ships that surrounded them, "we'll never make it up there!"

As soon as she finished speaking, more shots began firing at Ronan's ships out of nowhere. Everyone looked around in confusion before the Nova Corps ships appeared in front of them. A smile instantly appeared on Primrose's face as she watched the star-shaped space crafts takedown Rona's shops to help clear a path for the Milano.

"Peter Quill," a voice that was vaguely familiar to the brunette woman said over the radio, "this is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you here. Prove me wrong."

The moment the man finished saying his last three words, Peter pushed one of the levers on the dashboard as far as it could go. That caused the ships to speed up faster than before as they flew through the path the Nova Corps created for them. Primrose braced herself the best she could as they got closer and closer to Ronan's ship. It wasn't long before they flew through the hole Rocket and the Ravagers made for them and made it onto the Dark Aster.

The Quill woman's grip around her armrests tightened until her knuckles turned white as they skid across the floor of the ship. The only sound that could be heard above the scraping of metal was Drax's laughter. Primrose sent him an annoyed look while Peter and Gamora exchanged a confused look before turning their attention back out the window. Ronan's men soon began firing at them, causing Primrose to grab the controls in front of her and use the Milano's cannons to blast them. As soon as Peter realized what his sister was doing, he turned the ship so that it was facing their opponents before they were all taken out.

"Yes!" Drax exclaimed with his hands straight up in the air as this laughing continued, causing Primrose to send him another annoyed look.

"We're just like Kevin Bacon," Gamora said before the Quill woman turned her attention toward the front of the ship to find her and Peter staring at each other with smiles on their faces.

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