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A bad start

A woman stormed into the room he was in. She was in tears and holding her stomach. She wanted him to know what he had done, even though she knew he wouldn't care. He never did, he had rescued her from the slave ship going to Malta because he loved her. Well, he use to. Now he uses and abuses anything female on two legs. She wouldn't be able to handle this on her own, she wasn't ready for this. She shook her head as she thought she probably never would be. She walked up to the bed and told the other woman and hit her across the back of the head.

"Get out you whore. He's meant to be my damn husband..."

The other woman stood up, tears welling in her eyes and grabbed her clothes. She quickly got dressed and left yelling something back about how much he owed her now.

"What the hell are you doing??!! You should learn your place..."

The woman glared at him, and interrupted him mid sentence.

"I'm pregnant you fool. Hope your happy. Its your's."

She threw a picture of what looked like a scan of a baby. "Eighteen weeks, its a girl." He looked up at her stunned.

"How do you..."

She laughed and swore at the man. "Some of us weren't sleeping with everything that walked." She shook her head and shrugged. "You're gunna help raise this thing, I want 500,000Sc a month. Every month. Its not my damn fault you lied about not being able to have bloody kids."

With that, she turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She knew too well she would have to fight to get the money off him. On the way out of the room, he yelled out to her

"Get you're own damn cash, not my fault you ain't gunna get the tart knocked on the head. You know too bloo..." She sighed and muttered as she couldn't hear him any more

"Thank god that's done..."

She kept fighting with the man for the remainder of her pregnancy. He kept refusing to pay. She never gave up smoking and only cut back on drinking when the smell of it made her vomit. The time came for her to give birth and she had nothing prepared short of a few outfits people had given her in pity, and an old cot. She was alone with the nurse in the medical wing. Tired and scared. She still wasn't ready for a kid. After she had given birth, the nurse gave her the newborn and left to deal with a more serious injury. A Rogue had been shot out of space trying to fight off some LPI officer. She looked at the baby, instead of love she felt resent. This little 'tart' had ruined her life and her relationship. She thought for a moment and named the baby Pita. She sighed. A part of her hoped the baby would do well and make something of herself, most of her wished it would die.

Pita was an unsettled child. She had developed separation anxiety not long after being born and refused to sleep until she was exhausted. Her mother never fed her enough milk, and she was left alone for long periods of time while her mother went to the bar on Alcatraz. The other children began looking after her, playing games and keeping her occupied. The children loved dressing her up in their old clothes and taking her exploring around the base. Ruby began to take an interest when she noticed the child loosing weight and becoming more restless. She began watching the child, seeing whether circumstances changed. Months went by, and nothing did. Ruby began giving the children milk to feed the child as part of their games. She would often talk to Moka about Pita,

"This could be the one to take my place... We all know I won't be around forever...."

Ruby had a plan in her mind. It wouldn't be hard to achieve with the attention Pita wasn't getting.

"I can't have children of my own, but I can become her 'mother'... Groom her to how I want her to be."

Pita began to gain weight, and become a talkative little toddler. This was when Ruby really began taking an interest, teaching Pita her first words. She would crawl around the corridors yelling "NO" and "Mum" with a big smile on her face. It wasn't long before the children lost their interest once they started going to school and moving off the base when their parents began spreading out to take advantage of the traffic in Galileo. It wasn't long before she began picking up other words and began talking in sentences, even if they didn't always make sense. Moka quickly grew to find her annoying, starting to ignore her and developing a stand off-ish attitude towards her. Ruby quickly made it clear she wasn't going to be going anywhere as she had plans for the girl.

Pita's favorite sentence became "Two million. Now."

She would say this to all the Rogues who walked past, getting upset if they didn't pretend to give her credits, and laughing and clapping when they did. She became more unsettled whenever her mother was around, and never knew who her father was as he was always at the bar. drinking with his latest fling. He still refused to give her mother any credits to help with the child. Her mother didn't care, she had long since lost interest in Pita.

Pita began stealing things at a young age. A freelancers wallet left in his ship overnight, jewellery of the Rogues mistresses, anything that looked shiny. She was becoming more and more of a terror as the weeks passed, refusing to do things she was asked, and doing things she knew she wasn't meant to. As word spread of Ruby's intention, the Rogues stopped telling her off for these things in fear of upsetting her and Ruby finding out. Pita started becoming violent, crying and telling the Rogues that her invisible friends made her do it, they brushed this off as a childhood phase, not realising it was the beginning of a life time of problems. Moka became increasingly distant, and Pita soon realised annoying him was the only way to get attention.

"You're name suits you, your a pain in the ass" he would mutter as she skipped away, singing songs.

Her favorite soon became the Rogues alphabet, she would sit and sing it to her dolls while playing dress ups with them.

"A is for Avenger, quickly shoot it down
B is for Buffalo the best place around,
C is for Colorado, Lets go create a crisis
D is for Defender, they claim it is their finest
E is for Eva, a Queen in her prime
F is for Fortaleza, where they have the best time...."

Pita soon began to having arguments with her dolls, throwing them across the room when she lost the argument. She became increasingly irritable with these voices, slowly loosing touch with reality. Soon she was skipping around the base playing games with imaginary children, taking non-existent animals for walks, and crying out in terror at the monsters hiding in the dark. Ruby decided not to take any action, deciding these monsters could be used in her favour. She began playing on these, teaching Pita how to walk and talk.

One day before her fourth birthday, Pita was told by Ruby "As long as you stay a Rogue, those monsters wont ever hurt you. If you leave, they will kill you."

Pita nodded, believing she was safe as long as she was with her. The monsters never tried to hurt her from that day on.

Pita was told stories of the adventures of the Rogues in space, and how the navy had tried to kill them. Pita decided the navy were bad people, and they wanted to kill everyone. After hearing more stories, she soon had convinced herself they were liars as well. After all, why would the Rogues lie to her. The more gun cam images she was shown, and injured pilots coming back to base, the more she developed a hate for the people who were trying to uphold the law.

Pita soon grew to understand what the Rogues were doing, listening to the conversations she became aware of the constant death around her. Pita watched the men being brought into the medical ward, often in a bad state. She would stand on tip toes next to the beds watching the medics work their magic. Most of the times they would save the men. The minor injuries never were too much of a problem, often the stitches used to close wounds didn't warrant using local anesthetic. The men would yell and swear at the medics in pain.

Pita would laugh and tell them "Stop being silly... It doesn't hurt that much!" before skipping off to a small table in the corner.

Here she would draw pictures, they started out as a mother and a father with a baby, after the years had passed and Pita began to realize she didn't have the normal family, they became dark black scribbles and people in pain

She kept playing in the medical wards and the surrounding corridors, finding little hiding holes and secret passageways to mostly unused parts of the base. As she spent more time in the medical wards, it didn't take long before Pita saw a man die. She watched the medics cover him up with a white sheet, blood slowly seeping through where his chest would be creating a bright red stain. Pita stood on a small chair, watching the blood spread until it couldn't any more. She put her finger on the blood stain and drew a picture of a smiley face where his head would be. The medic saw her and told her to go away, so she skipped through the corridors until she found Ruby.

"I saw a dead man, I saw him die!"

Pita skipped off with Ruby watching her, a slight frown of concern on her face.

Pita became interested in death after that experience, and the voices in her head had become worse. She was convinced her dolls talked to her. She would scream and cry telling the dolls to be quiet. When they wouldn't, Pita would go silent and tape their mouths shut. She realized this didn't work, so she found some needles and thread and began stitching their mouths closed. This solved the problem temporarily, but they soon began speaking to her again.

She began cutting their eyes out, saying "They can't talk to me if they can't see me...."

Pita began to go downhill again after this, having manic episodes where she became violent, and 'waking up' from them to continue skipping and singing down the corridors like nothing happened.

Ruby became concerned, keeping her worries to herself as she didn't want Moka to interfere and send Pita off. Ruby had gotten far more attached then she had wanted and couldn't let this girl go. She began setting up tea parties and playing dress ups with Pita, occasionally slipping some Synthetic Marijuana that had been made into an oil into Pita's drink to calm her down. This worked for a few hours at a time, before the effects would wear off. As Pita developed what seemed to be a resistance to the Synthetic Marijuana, and the effects weren't nearly as apparent with the amount that was used, Ruby stopped using it. This set Pita off on fits of anger as she suffered withdrawals. Within a week of the withdrawals, Pita had head-butted a wall, knocking herself out. The Rogues sent her to the medical ward for some treatment and a check up. Ruby told the medics it was an accident, and she had run into the wing of a ship in the hanger so Pita wouldn't be admitted for self harming.

Pita was discharged from the medical ward without any problems, Ruby was starting to gain some respect and power over the boys. The Rogues were concerned but Ruby had managed to stop any questions before they started. Pita seemed to not be able to recall the events leading up to her being admitted and gaining 3 stitches in her forehead, when asked she grinned and would repeat what Ruby had told her to say.

"My dolly did it. She got grumpy."

Pita would then skip off singing about her next tea party she had planned to have with her dolls, most of which had lost their hair by now in Pita's fits of anger.

The smallest things would set her off after banging her head, it was almost like a switch was flicked in her mind. Not getting the right lolly when offered one would be enough to send her off smashing things and yelling. When she wasn't angry, Pita was indifferent to the world, she didn't care what was going on around her. Her interest in death grew, and she would often watch the stations gunners destroy hostile whips who happened to venture into range of their guns.

A few years past and Ruby began to resort to a mix of relaxant medication, with the occasional sedative to keep Pita calm. Ruby found this worked well if it was given before Pita was worked up over something small, so she kept giving her doses throughout the day to keep on top of her anger. Pita began to change on the drugs, she became a lot quieter, to some she seemed almost depressed. They noticed a side of her personality they hadn't seen from Pita before, she would go through phases of extreme happiness. This was a change for most of the Rogues who had never seen anything more then an angry little girl from Pita. Ruby began to start training Pita in controlling her moods, she was unsuccessful for the most part but still refused to send Pita to get the help she needed.

Pita's parents were making more of an appearance in her life, demanding she do stuff for them. She would go and buy her father alcohol in the morning, and organize the latest stripper on the base to meet with him in the back room. She would then go and get the morning order of cardimine her mother relied on. Ruby allowed this to happen, watching Pita closely to see how she would react when things were asked her of the people who had never acted as her parents. It didn't take long for Pita to get upset with her father over him giving her the wrong coins in return for her getting his alcohol. He slapped Pita across the face, she ran back to Ruby in tears. From that day forward, even though she longed to spend time with her father, she never went near him again. Pita soon realized after that incident Ruby was giving her stuff in her drinks and tried to refuse to take them from her. She began only pouring her own tea from her own teapot, but Ruby soon began putting the drugs in there too. Pita never realised the lollies were pain relief and continued taking them when offered. Pita began to loose faith in most people, not taking what anyone said as the truth until she saw it for herself.

At the age of 9, Ruby decided to take Pita to a psychiatric unit on Freeport 2 to get a general understanding of Pita's mind. The results were predictable, but Ruby refused to allow them to put her on medication. The doctor was concerned, and had come to the conclusion she wasn't being looked after adequately with the Rogues. The Doctor decided to attempt to get pita removed from Ruby's care by calling in the authorities on the station. After a long argument, Ruby decided she was going to take Pita back whether the doctor liked it or not. Ruby pulled out a gun, and pointed it at the doctor. He raised his hands and let Ruby stand up, she motioned for Pita to do the same. Pita stood, and walked over to stand beside Ruby.

"Pita, I can make the monsters go away, you just have to stay with me." The doctor pleaded with her, to no avail.

The stations authorities entered the room, and Ruby held onto the back of Pita's top. She loaded her gun and flicked the safety off before saying,

"I will shoot the brat if you come any closer."

Pita looked up at Ruby, she was scared. The authorities stepped back, letting Ruby and Pita pass. Ruby took the copy of the report, and made sure it was destroyed, not realizing there was a carbon copy left on the pad the doctor was using. It wasn't long before they were back in the safety of the spaceship.

Pita frowned and asked "Would you have really shot me, Mommy?"

Ruby didn't look up from the controls, seemingly un-affected by Pita's question. "You would be better off dead then with them. If I didn't get you and they didn't send you to jail, the monsters would have." Pita fell silent, nodding quietly.

Back on Buffalo Ruby told the Rogues there was nothing wrong with pita, she was just growing up. Claiming there was no problems, no one questioned her. Ruby increased the amount of synthetic marijuana in Pita's tea, and kept giving her medication normally prescribed as pain relief. Pita began to question Ruby's intentions. One day, Pita confronted Ruby about why she wouldn't let her get the help to make the monsters go away.

"The doctor wanted to keep you to himself and do awful things to you, you would have been put in jail and sold as a slave. He can't make them go away, only I can do that. And I wont until I know you will be a good girl."

Pita went to argue, and Ruby slapped her, telling her never to talk back to her again. Pita put her hands on the side of her face where Ruby had hit and ran off in tears.

Quote:

General Psychiatric report


Name: Pita **********Age: 9**********Gender: F
Weight: 35.5kg******Height: 140cm***** DOB: Unknown

Initial observation:

Pita describes 'monsters' hiding in shadows. Claims they will kill her.
Gets upset and angry when talking about Ruby, also lawful authority.
More interested in toys then talking
Refuses to talk about father or mother, claims Ruby to be the only one who cares about her.
Underweight - concern Pita is not being fed adequately.
Unable to determine emotions from images, self doubting
Traces of opiate analgesic & Synthetic marijuana in system - blood confirmed
Clothing & general appearance show signs of parental neglect - suggest authorities remove child from care

Ruby refuses to allow Pita to be prescribed required medication to help condition.

Diagnosis:

PEAT test: fail

ADHD: 97
Bipolar: 50
Depression: 30
Schizophrenia: 107

Testing shows signs of ADHD with confirmed schizophrenia. Treatment is urgently required.

Blood results:

Opiate (opioid) Analgesic: Positive
Alcohol volume: 0
Cardimine: Negative
Synthetic Marijuana: Positive

Pita began to get restless, Life on Buffalo wasn't all it was said to be when that was the only place you were allowed to go. Pita knew the base better then the back of her hand, all the hidden passages, the hangers and the un-used rooms. Her birth parents hadn't been seen since Ruby took her off Alcatraz, Pita didn't mind, the Rogues here seemed friendlier. Pita would follow the mechanics around, handing them the tools they needed to fix the ships that had been damaged in a fire fight. She made a game out of guessing what happened, coming up with the most ridiculous theories. Pita finally felt like she fit in somewhere, like she was at home. This was to be short lived.

The Rogues noticed something off about her, and started sending her on tasks that would keep her away from them, she would be told to go and find a red and yellow handled Phillips screwdriver in the far hanger. There never was any there, but she would always go to find one regardless. Pita realised after months of following the Rogues orders that they didn't want her around. This upset her, and she began to become more introverted, keeping to herself and avoiding people on the base. She started becoming more aggressive towards her dolls during the tea parties, resorting to cutting out their eyes again, and stitching their lips shut. She claimed "The dolls told me to do it...." whenever she was caught doing something wrong. Her invisible friends became more prominent in her life at this point, they were the only people she felt she could trust.

Moka was promoted to the Rogue Warlord, and Ruby his Hussy. Pita was upset by this news, knowing that the only person who cared would now not have time for her. In one of her anger fits, Pita stole the keys to a small bactrain freighter. She jumped into the ship and started it like she had seen the engineers do many times before. Pita played with the controls until she was happy she had a fair idea on what each of them did. She was cleared for un-docking, and slowly left the station. Adrenaline was running through Pita's system like she had never had before.

She was free for the first time in her life, not having to listen to anyone, or follow any orders. Pita played with the ships controls, teaching herself the basics on how to fly, narrowly avoid certain death by crashing into asteroids multiple times. Pita slowly gained confidence, and soon found herself heading towards the edge of the badlands. Pita grinned, and pushed the trigger shooting off the guns into space. She heard a noise, like someone talking, and frowned before realizing it was coming from a headset laying on the floor by her feet. She picked it up to hear people yelling at her to get back onto the base. Pita put the headset back on the floor and carried on, only to find a bloodhound on each side of her ship moments later. The pilots motioned for her to get back on base, she refused. They opened fire on the bactrain destroying it in seconds.

Pita was in shock, not being able to react fast enough the bactrain was destroyed around her, the escape pod kicked into action automatically, enclosing her into a small pod and ejecting her from the ship at the last moment. The pilots pulled her pod into the cargo bay and returned to base. Pita was rushed to the medical ward, followed closely behind by Ruby who was muttering and cursing under her breath. Pita closed her eyes when she was laid on the bed in the ward, pretending to be asleep so she wouldn't have to face Ruby until she had calmed down. The medics told Ruby to leave as Pita needed rest, she argued with them, but they would not let her in. Pita attempted not to smile in her pretend slumber as Ruby walked away, furious. It wasn't long after this she took the keys to her fathers arrow, fooling an engineer into believing it was a gift, he changed the call-sign to something he saw as fitting, LR-I'm.Not.Annoying.

Pita began taking more and more trips off the station, Rogues would follow her to make sure she was safe, and not out to do anything stupid. Ruby became more lenient with her, allowing her to spend nights on Alcatraz away from her. Pita was forbidden to go any further then Cortez, or Bering. Ruby figured the kid would either get killed or talked into another life out of her reaches. For the most part pita behaved, she followed the Rogues when they went pirating, helping out where she could. They began giving her more responsibilities and by the time she was 12 she was allowed to leave on her own. Pita hadn't grown much mentally since the doctors visit, Ruby wouldn't allow it. She wasn't taught the basics of life, and many things people said to her she would just nod at because she didn't understand.

Pita encountered the navy first hand, a lone fighter seemingly lost in the badlands. She laughed when one of the Rogues suggest they capture him, excited that she might finally get a play mate for a while. Ruby had killed the last one when he began telling Pita about how good life could be if she helped him escape. Pita missed human interaction, as most of the Rogues wouldn't play with her, all she wanted was a friend.

"He can come play tea parties with me!"

This was about to be the first combat situation she would face with the arrow she had obtained from her father.

The pilot was going for the heavier fighters, ignoring Pita, she used this to her advantage and fired missiles, one connected with his ship. There were small explosions, and his escape pod could be seen floating away from the now critical spaceship, before the ship was completely destroyed. Pita flew over, and beamed the escape pod into her cargo bay, bringing him on board Buffalo. She cut it open and watched as the boys dragged him to a cell in the belly of the base.

She kept Lambert safe from the Rogues by threatening them playing with her if he was killed, and began to grow fond of Lambert, she didn't know why, and assumed it was because he was quiet. It wasn't long before he managed to escape. Pita was furious when she found him, but something in her mind told her to take him away from this place. She struggled to get him into Ruby's wasupu and left the station. After being intercepted by the navy SAR team, Pita let him go, after Moka encouraged her to do so. Pita went home, upset he had gone. It wasn't long before she saw him again.

Pita went for a fly around Liberty, running into two navy ships outside Planet Manhattan, she stopped and decided to talk. One of them recognized her, and started telling the story of the pilot who she had grown to like. The realization that this man was who she had almost killed hit her hard, he had a life, friends, possibly family, and she was going to take that away from him. He was asking her all sorts of questions, most of which she answered, she didn't see him as a threat and ignored the other pilot who was there for the most part. This conversation was the start of many for Pita, there was a constant argument in her mind, he was navy - her, a Rogue. She knew this shouldn't be happening, but she did nothing to stop it. Time passed and Pita became more and more confused with the situation. Buster didn't seem to try to stop her, adding to the confusion.

---

Pita grew fonder of the navy man she had once held captive, never willing to admit it she always did as the Rogues told her. She ran into a pilot flying a bison, the girl piloting the ship introduced herself as Cate, and offered Pita a sandwich. Pita began talking to Cate, getting onto the subject of computers. Cate gave Pita the equipment required to fix her one, that had been broken by a bounty hunter. Pita was confused, everyone seemed to be so nice, it was nothing like what Ruby had told her. Time passed and Pita started doubting Ruby.

One afternoon she found herself at a gate, it was nothing like she had seen before. Images of her parents and a doll house had bought her here. She looked around, Bubba and Moka were there too. She frowned as her warning light flashed 'incoming missile', her ship came to a stop, the engines disabled temporarily with the cruise disruptor. It all made no sense.

"Why did you stop me..?"

Pita was overcome with a urge to jump into the gate.

"Something is off."

Bubba speaking bought Pita back to reality

"My mum is in there..... You just want to hurt me"

She shook her head as she moved closer to the gate and the blue glowing being that was next to it.

"That's not yo mama. and i would never hit a girl let alone a kid"

Bubba frowned, Pita sounded different, like it wasn't her thoughts she was relaying

"That right there is one o'dem space jellyfish."

"Ruby was going to shoot me at the doctors" Pita sounded distant

Bubba yelled out in pain, "what....is ...this...."

Pita knew all too well what was happening, she cried out in defense of Bubba "No! Don't hurt him!....... But you hurt him...." She was seemingly talking to herself, but in her mind her Mum was telling her to jump.

"Feels....like..aarrrggghh"

"Stop it...!" Pita demanded.

"Urgh.... why does my head feel funny? ...... What is this squishie doing here?" Moka's voice rang out over her comms sounded aggravated.

"Mum... Mum is there."

[i0] "Pita.... you're.... you're coming home... You don't have a mother"[/i] Pita looked helplessly at Bubba as he was muttering in pain.

"Let her... go!" Moka spoke with force breathing laboriously.

Pita closed her eyes, but that didn't stop the image of her Mum and Dad calling her across the gate. "See... Mum and Dad are there...."

"No! It's just an illusion! Don't believe it Pita."[/i

Bubba started fighting to gain control of his mind back. Bubba downs an entire 1 liter masonry jar full of moonshine, shaking his head [i]"Well, that's slightly better"

Moka rubbed the back of his head "Just because I don't.... favor you... Doesn't mean we don't... love you"

Bubba told her to stop as she edged closer to the gate.

Pita shook her head "Ruby wont stop the monsters..."

Bubba frowned slightly "what are these monsters?"

"I.... I.... Make it stop!" She cried out

Moka yelled at her to snap out of it, telling her she has a place among the Rogues. Pita was acting like she wasn't hearing their pleas to get her to go with them.

"But.... You want to hurt me.... Mum wants me...." The argument in her mind was drowning out the conversation around her She shook her head "They aren't my mum and Dad... they hurt me..."

"That Monster is trying to trick you!" Moka sighed, changing tactics.

"Monster?" Pita sounded scared.

"That one glowing blue.... The one that speaks to you.... That is the real monster. If he wins, you aren't Pita any more, you're a monster.... You don't want to be a monster do you?"

Pita shook her head, not sure what to say.

"You saw it hurt us.... Only monsters hurt people like that. the way it did.... Do you want to hurt us Pita?"

"No... They hurt my head... No..... He can't....." She put her hands over her eyes, trying to ignore the images of Moka screaming about how hard she is to handle.

"Lil' miss whatever it is saying or showing you is an illusion, a lie.... Come on now Pita, the things you see aren't true, come home with us. Lil' miss what about your dolls?" Bubba spoke up, seeming to be in less pain then before.

"They talk to me.... I have to stitch their mouths shut to make them stop...." She shook her head and looked at the ground, refraining from biting her nails. "The monsters to go away.... But Ruby wont.... She's the only one that can make them go away..."

"What about your friends? sounds like a little sheep...la..lamb....." Moka smirked, knowing it would make her think about it.

"Brenna.... Lambert... He was nice."

" Lambert, thats the one. He would miss you if you left"

Pita shook her head, seeing him shoot down two Rogue ships "Hes... a navy man.... Navy is bad.."

"But Brenna wasn't, was she?" Bubba added. "Brenna is off being a good person, not hurting people"

"Where as this monster is tricking you, making you look silly. You don't want to be silly, do you?" Moka said offhandedly.

Pita shook her head again "You will shoot me...."

Moka laughed "No, fortunately for you I have a special bond to you. One of those love/hate kinda ones... Why? Because, my child, I have plans for you. You will be someone. And you won't need your mom and dad, You'll need just your family at Buffalo."

Pita closed her eyes, wincing at the image she saw of her dead under Alcatraz's floors.

"You can trust me, little girl. You will be someone in the Rogues."

"And.... And Ruby wont hurt me?"

"I can assure you she won't. She is the one who convinced me you were worth chasing. Now look, I am here right? If we didn't care for you, we'd have let you go"

"I... I want to go.. But my parents...."

Moka scoffed "We are your family, that blue thing is nothing but a monster"

"Your a... Your the monster..... Moka and Bubba are good..."

Moka and Bubba sounded relieved. "Lets go"

Moka sighed. Pita turned to the blue thing as they went to leave "You are a monster... I want to go home..." It took a matter of moments before Pita cried out in pain covering her head with her hands, the nomad was causing her pain. She squealed, "That hurts!"

"Bubba! That monster is harming our girl!"

Pita was crying, the pain was getting worse "They... Stop hurting me!"

"I think I have something around here that'll help...." He transferred across a bottle of Moonshine, Pita managed to drink some of it before putting the lid back on. She dropped the bottle on the floor as she passed out due to a combination of alcohol and pain. The pain slowly subsided as Moka and Bubba took Pita home again.

Pita rubbed her forehead. She didn't want to talk about last night, but Buster was insisting. She played with her hair, tying it up before pulling the hair tie out again. She was going to look a mess irregardless of what she did. She closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat of the arrow, flinching when Amy spoke.

“Hey there Pita. I was looking for you yesterday.”

Buster frowned slightly, sounding un-impressed “Everyone was.”

Pita smirked but didn't move "So I hear.... People need to worry less.”

“That moonshine did quite the number on ya eh? Good stuff... Not sure I would've given it to a child though.... Not for her first time.” Buster sounded unimpressed as he finished what he was saying.

Pita snapped at him “Don't talk to me about that stuff. I feel awful.... I look it too.”

Buster shrugged. “From what Moka told me, it was necessary.”

Pita began to tell buster why, deciding against it, claiming it made her sleep. Lambert arrived and Buster made his presence known. Pita opened her eyes and attempted half a smile.

“You don't look so good Pita.. What happened?” Lambert raised an eyebrow.

"Moonshine” Pita said in a sing song voice. Lambert sighs,

“Why am I not surprised it would be something like that...”

Pita frowned and jumped into defend herself, after all, it wasn't her choice. “It was either that or the stupid monster thing killing me.... It hurt my head like you wouldn't believe....”

Lambert and Buster looked at each other “Monster thing?”

Pita nodded, closing her eyes again, the light was bright, it hurt her head. “What kind of monster honey”[/i Buster asked.

Pita didn't take any notice of him calling her honey, as odd as it was, she didn't care.[i]“I dunno, a blue squid looking thing.”

Lambert looked at Pita, pulling off a good poker face “You mean a nomad attacked you?”

Pita shrugged “I don't know what it was.... But it said my mum and dad were there... through some kinda gate thing.”

Buster asked if it had a name, Pita paused, silent for a moment while thinking. “Anaema....” She rubbed her forehead “Aenima.... Look, I don't know exactly what happened....” She sighed as she decided to tell them what she remembered. "I remember seeing mum and dad, and a doll house. But mum and dad were... happy. Next thing I know, I'm on my way to where I saw it. Moka's following, Bubba stops me outside this gate thing.... At least that's what I thought it was..”

Buster nodded “Explains why your signal went black not long after you entered Kansas.” Pita raised an eyebrow, contemplating asking why he was tracking her, but decided against it, continuing with her story “Mum and Dad are telling me to jump.. The thing is telling me that no one cares and you all just want to hurt me...” Pita was upset now, she put her head in her hands to hide the fact she had started crying. “I saw Ruby shoot me, and Moka yelling about how he doesn't want me.... and it kept showing me that.... I mean.. I know people don't like me, but that was awful!”

Buster smiled slightly “Thats not true, Pita."

Lambert looked lost in thought “These things it showed you, were they like things that really happened?”

Pita nodded silently.

“Oh, guess its not so “untrue after all.” He sighed. Pita was crying, and shaking her head, mumbling about how Ruby didn't actually shoot her. “I wondered how it could possibly know these things. I had assumed it was fabricated but....”

Pita interrupted, still in tears “It hurt me when I didn't go with it....”

Lambert stopped, and looked concerned [i9]“Yeah, how? This is... troubling”.[/i]

Buster looked slightly confused “ Like? It shot you?”

Pita shook her head and pointed to her temple “It felt like it shot me here.”

Buster nodded a little “So not only did you “see” it happen, you felt it too?”

Pita nodded "Except for when I went, then it just hurt.... enough to make me drink most of that moonshine Bubba gave me....” She attempts a grin, deciding its too painful to move she stopped. “I don't know what it wanted, but it showed me a city.. it wanted me to go to the city somewhere... but it wasn't like any I've ever seen.”

Buster looked at Lambert “Why would a nomad want you to go to their city...”

Lambert shook his head “I can't think of any reason that would be a good thing. Think it should be assured it meant you harm, Pita.”

Pita shook her head, speaking quietly “My mum and dad were there... They were happy... It made me feel warm and strange... Like.. um. Happy, and that someone cared and wanted me there.”

Buster shrugged “Pita there are no humans on nomad cities. Just abominations and squiddies.”

“I saw it... I saw them... It all makes no sense....”

“They have very sophisticated techniques to enthrall a person into joining them. I had no idea.” Pita carried on talking, ignoring Lambert, she didn't understand what he was saying “I... Moka and Bubba gave me the moonshine to stop the thing from being able to hurt me.”

Lambert nodded “Probably a good idea.”

“Wait... Moonshine kept it from hurting you..?”

“It probably clouded her mind, kept it from getting in” Lambert replied, thinking aloud again.

“I can see that....” Buster nodded. “Well, my mind is made up. I want this blue punchbag found and killed.”

Lambert nods in agreement, saying something about answers. Pita sat up in her seat “NO. It will hurt you....” She starts tearing up again “I don't want it to hurt you....”

Buster looked at Pita “Honey, I'm almost constantly hammered. If being drunk keeps it from getting inside my head, I think I'm set.”

Lambert laughed softly and shook his head “We don't know that for sure. But if you have some backup....”

“And whose gunna be my backup navy boy? Your boys in blue? Ha!” Buster smirked.

Lambert shrugs “Not the rest, but I would.”

Pita looked confused and Lambert explained how the nomad was more of a threat in his eyes then the Rogues at the moment. Pita puts her hands over her eyes and shakes her head. Buster asked if she was alright, Pita nodded and Lambert looked concerned

“Pita, you sure?”

She shrugged and looked up at Buster

“It doesn't still.. talk to you does it?”

“With all the other voices... I don't know any more... I can't tell if its real or not... Lambert.. Can I talk to you for a second, Buster, I'll be right behind you, alright? I'll meet you on Buffalo...”

Buster shrugs “Sure little lady, don't be long... Mr. Lambert, Don't get it twisted, were not working together. Just let yer boys know that this Aenima Nomad is not to be trifled with. I think I can trust you will do her no harm...”

Lambert looked at Pita “You have my word, no harm will come of her.”

---

Pita bit her lip, waiting for Buster to get out of earshot, she almost seemed relieved when he wasn't there.

“What did you want to talk about, Pita?”

She waited a moment longer, deciding whether to tell him, but before she came to a decision she had already started talking

“I shouldn't be telling you this... But I can't tell the Rogues.. I'd be killed...” She took a breath “I'm scared... The voices... The blue thing... Ruby was going to shoot me.... I just don't know ho... I don't know what to do.”

Lambert spoke steady, he had what pita thought could have been a hint of concern in his voice “Pita... I'm worried about you. Ruby actually threatened you... with a gun?”

Pita nodded "At the doctors, they wanted to take me off her...”

“Doctors? What doctor? On Buffalo?”

Pita shook her head “the doctor on Freeport 2. She grabbed my shirt, hand held a gun to my head... making me go with her. She won't let me go to the doctor on Buffalo, she says they will just give me pills that will make me empty....”

“Was it a mind doctor”

Pita shrugged, she didn't know, Ruby never told her. “He did a whole lot of tests, made me have to concentrate and stuff.”

Lambert nodded “Yeah, sounds like a shrink.”

Pita looked confused momentarily. “I don't know what that is.....”

Lambert missed Pitas comment, “Pita, do you still feel safe with Ruby and the other Rogues?”

She was silent for a few minutes, trying to decide how to answer that. “Ruby... No. Buster and Bubba and stuff, more safe than anywhere else I've been...”

He nodded “But you use to trust Ruby, right? More than anyone?”

Pita looked at Lambert hiding whatever emotions she was feeling at that moment “because I have to.”

Lambert thought for a moment “Well, look at it like this.... Ruby use to treat you better than the other Rogues, but she showed you her real self that day when she threatened you.”

Pita grinned slightly, her eyes still full of sorrow "That wasn't the only time.”

Lambert frowned, “Oh? Tell me about the other times?”

“I've already said too much....”

He wanted to push to get some answers, but decided not to “I.. thats ok Pita. You don't have to tell me. Listen, I... got you something. A present.”

Pita frowned, not understanding what he meant “A what....?”

“Its just a small thing. A gift.”

Pita looked really confused, something wasn't adding up in her mind

“Wh... why?”

“I'm not entirely sure myself... I saw it at a place down on the planet, and I thought of you. So I bought it..... Has no one ever gotten you a gift before, Pita?”

She shook her head “No.... But... that makes no sense... I almos... you....”[/ii]

Lambert interrupted her [i]“I know, I still don't understand myself. But like I told you before, I don't blame you for any of that.”

Pita looked confused “You're... You're a strange person, you know that?”

Lambert showed a slight smile “You know what? You're right. You know something else? You know me better than any living person out there right now... So I guess its true.”

"I didn't tell anyone about what I heard.... or saw.... Ruby wanted to know, but I told her I wasn't sure” Pita pulled up the sleeve on her shirt, showing a bruise on her arm “She didn't believe me.”

Lambert winced as he saw the bruise “I can't thank you enough for that. If she had found out the truth... It would have been very bad for me.”

Pita smiled slightly “You told me not to tell... This, its nothing. At least she doesn't know.”

Lambert shook his head, before putting the box into a canister and shooting it out into space. “Here, I still want you to have this.”

Pita beamed the canister in, and took the box out, looking at it cautiously, she had never seen anything like it before.

“Its called a charm bracelet on Manhattan, go ahead, open it.”

Lambert encouraged her to open the box. Pita did and was lost for words, she wiped away a tear before Lambert spoke again.

“Its yours.... They even had a charm shaped as a guardian, so I put it on there... One is a guardian, another is Manhattan, the last charm is a pretty flower.... The point of these is to put charms on them that have personal meaning, so you can put your own things on here if you want.”

Pita stuttered, still not sure what to say “I... This is... This is the nicest thing anyone... anyone has ever done.... Thank you...” Pita ran her fingers over the charms, amazed by their beauty. Lambert beamed

“You're welcome.”

"But... I don't understand...”

Lambert looked at her “What don't you understand?”

Pita shook her head, not looking away from the bracelet "Why? I'm supposed to be the evil pirate... And your... You're supposed to be the man I almost killed..”

Lambert took a deep breath “Pita, despite everything, I have grown.... Attached to you. I care, Pita. I really do. And I happen to feel that you deserve better.”

“I still don... wait... You care?”

Lambert nodded and smiled “Yes, I do.”

“Like I said, strange.....” Pita played with the bracelet and the charms, not making an effort to cover up the scars and bruises on her arms, Lambert shrugged

“I guess there's a bit of humanity left in these old bones after all.” He laughed ironically. “But, you're just a child still, and you've been through a lot. I want you to have a chance at a better life.”

Pita shook his head, she shrugged, as if to say she didn't care “I'm not going to be given a chance, you know.... I'm a Rogue, born and raised. If I did leave, Ruby would kill me before I got to the edge of the badlands...”

“Ruby isn't all-powerful. Surely you know that.. Say, if you were to fly with me to Manhattan now. That's a place she couldn't touch you.... Or the Missouri might be a better example.”

Pita shook her head with a slight laugh“She will get there somehow. A Junker or Freelancer contracted... She did it before. How do you think Sam went? Sam tried to leave, she thought she got away. But.. I was in the control room... Ruby got the boys to shoot her ship... And they left her there... In space. She wasn't much older then me...”

Lambert winced as she told the story. “There are places you could go where people can protect you.... I promise they would. I would too.”

Pita bit her lip [ci]“Only Ruby can stop the monsters....”[/i]

Lambert took a deep breath and sighed “Pita. Ruby can do nothing about the monsters. Is Ruby going to hunt Aenima? No. I am, and so is Buster.”

“Not that monster... The shadow monsters... They are always there. Always watching, talking...” Pita glanced around the ship quickly, obviously worried about them.

“Listen to me.” Lambert looked directly at Pita “They aren't real. Ruby made them up to scare you into listening to her. Don't you think she'd do that? Doesn't that seem like something she'd do?”

Pita sighed and shook her head “They were there before that. Before she started controlling them... Always in my head.”

Lambert mentioned help for that, Pita almost seemed to get upset. “The funny lollies and bad tea only make me feel... strange...”

Pita fell silent before talking quietly and quickly. “Ruby is looking for me.” She started biting her thumb nail again “I need to go..”

“Pita. Please. At least think about it.”

Pita nodded hesitantly before turning her ship toward Buffalo "I'm coming with you to kill the blue thing... I want to see it gone... And I don't want it to hurt you, or Buster.”

Lambert chuckled “ Who would have thought I'd ever be undertaking a mission with a couple of Rogues! … But I'll do it, for you.”

“I guess it's lucky I did take you off Buffalo... I'd rather Ruby be mad at me then kill you”

Lambert smiled “Me too.”

Pita had hope in her eyes, rather than the usual sadness “I'll see you soon....”

---

Pita found herself outside Planet Pittsburgh, the images had bought her here. She was crying out for the nomad to stop hurting the sandwich lady, she didn't need to be hurt. Pita was trying to get it to leave her alone and take her instead. It didn't work, the thing landed on Doe Industries Space Port, she was left in space alone after Cate and Lambert docked to follow it, trying to warn the staff on base to evacuate. Her comms lit up, giving her a fright, through the silence Lambert's voice filled the ship

"Pita... this is Lambert. Do you hear me?" She nodded slightly

"The Nomad, it docked on this station. Myself and two of the DSE employees have docked to warn people and attempt to take it out."

There was silence

"Pita: Are.. You ok?"

Pita hadn't seen the ship undock but a fighter was now sitting in front of her, DSE) tagged, its guns ready to fire. Lambert sounded concerned when all he received from her ship was static

"Pita?"

The man on the fighter spoke, he sounded different, almost not human, Lambert un-docked to hear it speak

" -you- think -you- can stop me? -your- light'less existence -i- will end..."

Pita jumped into action, avoiding the fire from the fighter "Wh... Wait, what?"

Lambert yelled out to the man that was DSE)'s Marco "Wait..."

Pita fought back, firing missiles at the ship, trying not to get killed, not wanting to destroy the ship. She closed her eyes as she fired the two missiles that would be the end of Marco. The ship exploded around hers, just as the DSE) staff evacuated the station. All they saw was a Rogue killing Rinoa's husband. Pita was stunned

"Did you... I... I had to...?"

Lambert flew his ship next to hers "I saw."

Pita put her head in her hands "I... I never" She was in tears "I had to do it right?"

"If you didn't he would have killed you."

A female voice rang out over the comms, full of sorrow "Where is he.... Where's Marco...?"

Pita fell silent.

"I did not see him Rinoa"

A male voice replied, a familiar voice added "He's no where on the station, I checked."

Rinoa saw the Pita, she sounded furious "Where is he Rogue?!"

Lambert jumped to Pita's defense "Marco was.... He was infected"

Pita was still in tears, silent, she didn't understand what had just happened. Rinoa yelled at Lambert, her replied calmly, Pita wasn't sure what they said.

"Where is he..." Cate asked hesitantly

"There.... wasn't any other way. I had to do it."

Lambert looked at Pita and nodded slightly, she realized what he was trying to do and couldn't let that happen, they would kill him if she didn't say something. "I... I killed him. It was self-defence."

Pita shook her head and flinched as Rinoa yelled at him, Lambert stopped her

"No, no. She had nothing to do with it. Merely an observer. He did threaten both of us, though. And shot at us."

"I told it to take me.... It wouldn't... Its not his fault... " Pita shook her head looking at Lambert, she knew it wasn't his fault, it was her own.

"Lets go Pita...." Lambert said wearily, ignoring her last statement, hoping the others would too.

"If I left with it... It wouldn't have come here... I should have just gone." She shook her head and moved slightly closer to Rinoa.

"No...." Lambert tried to get her to leave "It wasn't your fault..... He... the nomad... he tried to capture her. She's just a girl."

Rinoa yelled at her, telling her how she would end Pita's life.

Pita snapped back "He wouldn't, so you may as well."

Lambert shook his head as Rinoa opened fire on her, Pita made little effort to avoid it.

"Pita. We need to GO."

[color=#87CEFA]"I'm... I'm sorry."[/i] Pita mumbled

Cate yelled out, her outburst stopping Rinoa "god stop, more death wont solve a thing! ... is "it" gone now? Cause Marco's death can't be for nothing..."

Lambert nodded at her "Yes by god its over. The Nomad is dead. It died with its final host.... For my part, I am sorry. I should have been able to kill it before it could land on your station"

Rinoa was in hysterics, crying "I'm gonna go... I'm gonna go now."

"Lambert, I want to speak with you again sometime, I have questions... but right now Rinoa needs me"

He nods "Its the least I can do." Lambert turned to David as the two girls docked

"You are welcome to ask questions too, David." David responded with something about not having any, still in shock with what he just saw. Lambert sighed and turned to Pita once David was safe on the base

"let's get you home. Okay?"

Pita shook her head, looking terrified. "Ruby... She will kill me.... I can't...."

---

“Pita. What are you going to do now?”

She played with the bottle cap, avoiding eye contact. “I guess.... I guess I go home...”

“Is Ruby going to hurt you? You said Ruby was going to kill you.... That's not true is it?”

Pita put the bottle of moonshine to her lips, almost emptying what was in the bottle. "I'll be fine.”

Lambert sighed “No you won't”

She nodded and said to him as reassuringly as she could manage“I will be..”

“Pita..... I don't trust Ruby. I think she hurts you and scares you. She doesn't care about you Pita...”

“She does.”

“She cares about using you. There's a difference.”

Pita was oblivious to his reasoning and started playing with the bottle cap again. “Its still caring.” She looked out at the debris field, wincing as she saw the ship explode in her mind again

“Its not the same. Not the way I care.”

Pita finished the alcohol in the bottle, she was starting to feel it. She dropped the bottle on the floor unintentionally, but decided not to pick it up. “Its.... Still caring...”

She was starting to noticeably slur her words“She.... She won't hurt me.....”

“But she has before, hasn't she?”

Pita was noticeably drunk, on an empty stomach it didn't take long. “Only a little bit... But I needed that..”

Lambert shifted uncomfortably in his seat “No... You never NEED that, not ever. Is that clear? ... You need to go somewhere safe tonight.”

"Ruby... No. I needed it. Ruby can't control me otherwise, how do you think I got these?” She put her arms out in front of her, showing the scars, she was shaking.

“Ruby shouldn't control you! No one should control you. You are a human being, Pita... With freedom... Not a slave.”

Pita put her head in her hands taking a few deep breaths to try and help clear her mind.

“You can do as Ruby says, or you can do what you know you really want to do.”

Pita shook her head with a slight laugh “Ruby will only let me go when I've been good.... And I killed a man.... And.. and that's not good. Well.. Ruby might think it is, but it isn't..... I should have gone to that jump thing and gone and it would have not come back....”

“That wouldn't have stopped it. More people would've died if you'd gone to him.”

Pita was silent, looking confused.

“He would have taken over your mind, like he did that Marco man. Then he would have used YOU to go and kill more people.”

“I wouldn't have gone and killed more people.....”

“You wouldn't have had a choice. He wouldn't have made you... Do you think Marco had a choice? Do you think he wanted to shoot at you?”

Pita giggled uneasily “ Everyone wants to shoot me... I'm a Rogue... That's what we do, is get shot.”

“He didn't shoot you because you were a Rogue, did he? I think you know that this is different.”

Pita was silent for a few minutes, lost in thought. “But I killed him. I never killed anyone before.... The stories... They are just stories.... I didn't want to look bad..... But, I killed him...” She bit her lip, it quivered ever so slightly as she tried to hold back the tears.

“Yes, and if you didn't kill him, he would have killed you. Or me. Or both.”

Pita leaned forward on the control panel of her ship, using it to steady herself “I wouldn't want him to kill you. That would make me...... sad.”

Lambert smiles briefly “I know. And I wouldn't want him to kill you either.... And I worry about you the same way with Ruby...”

Pita grins a little and brushes a bit of hair out of her eyes “Ruby.... Ruby can go away.... I don't like Ruby.”

“Yes. Ruby is bad. You don't have to go back to her.”

"Yes I do. I have to. If I don't, I get killed like Sam.”

Lambert nodded “I won't make you come to Liberty. But you can't go back to Ruby. Especially in this condition....”

Pita looked worried “I don't wanna go home.... Don't make me....”

“No, I won't. I think I know just the place. Pita, can I take you somewhere safe? Somewhere outside Liberty?”

Pita nods before pausing to think “It has to be free.... I have no money... They don't like people staying with no money... And no ques... what's the word... Questions. People don't like me.” She started biting her nail and looked at the bottle on the ground.

“Thats ok. I'll take care of you... Come with me”

Pita followed Lambert, frowning slightly “You're silly. You know that? Its a good silly... but still silly....” She took a breath. “I feel funny. Like not quite the funny tea... but still not normal”

“I'm not sure what that could be. Perhaps you're nervous?"

Pita lowered her voice and whispered to Lambert not to let Pita find her. They traveled for some time in silence.

Pita frowned, trying to make sense of something in her mind. “I... I had to kill him right?” She had started biting her nail again.

“Of course you did. Otherwise he would have killed us.”

“So I'm not a bad person then.....”

“No. No you are not.”

“Even though I..... killed someone.”

“I've killed people before who were trying to kill me. Sometimes you just have to.”

Pita nodded some more ”But.... That's not bad.”

Lambert reassured her it wasn't. “If you kill someone just because you want to, then that's bad.”

Pita thought and smiled slightly. “What if I don't want to, but don't have to?”

Lambert didn't answer the question. There was silence for the length of a trade lane.

“I've never been this far out before.... Normally I'm not allowed out further than the badlands.”

“ Yes, its pretty far out here. One hop from Rheinland, there's a whole big universe out here to explore.”

Pita looked really confused "Rhe... Rheinland. What's that?”

Lambert looked toward where the jump gate would be. “Another house. Kind of like Liberty, but we are at war with them. They have their own governments, their own police, their own planets...”

Pita nodded as they initiated docking procedures “So... There is more than just Liberty, and that is like Liberty... but worse... because they like war?”

Lambert chuckled as they got out of their ships on-board the Freeport “That's a rather fitting description actually.”

Pita nodded and yawned.

“Come with me, we will get you settled.” Lambert offered Pita his hand, she took it and walked next to him

“Will you stay here too.... I... I don't want to be left alone again...”

“I will if you want me to.”

She nodded and yawned again as she climbed into bed, amazed at how nice it is. “Its.... All soft and nice.... and clean!” [i]

[i]“And all yours. I think you're ready to go to sleep.”

Pita lay down cuddling a pillow and falling asleep. Lambert looked down on pita for a long while, then reaches down to pull the covers over her. Pita snuggled into the blankets, still smiling slightly as Lambert left the room.

Pita couldn't help but wake up smiling, she had a better sleep than she ever imagined possible. The monsters didn't keep her awake all night like they did back on the Rogue bases. There was something about Freeport 2 that Pita liked, she thought for a moment before putting it down to the freedom. She wasn't going to admit she felt safe with Lambert, and she definitely wasn't going to admit she wanted to stay with him. Pita yawned and slowly got out of bed, frowning slightly as she realized Lambert wasn't in the room. She got dressed and admired the bracelet, she still had no words to describe how she was feeling, it was all so new and different. Pita had never felt this way before, she wasn't worried about anything - there was no reason to be, Lambert would look after her. Pita stretched and walked to the door, opening it before stopping dead in her tracks.

“The hell is that girl....”

Pita knew that voice, Buster was here. He had started being nice to Pita, that made her uneasy, people are only nice when they want something.

“Ohh no...” She mumbled before putting her hands over her mouth realizing he heard her.

“Pinged her.”

Pita stepped back inside the room and shut the door, sitting with her back against it. “I'm not going back....” She said as she looked at the roof wondering where Lambert had gone, hoping he would be back sooner rather than later.

“Well, why not?” He said back to her. Pita paused for a moment and shook her head, deciding not to tell him why.

“I'm not going...”

Buster attempted to talk Pita into opening the door only to get silence in return. “Please don't make me break down the Zoners door...”

Pita didn't recognize the tone he had in his voice, she wasn't sure if it was a threat or just concern. “And then what, we sit here and talk...?” She hesitated, her voice shaking slightly with nerves.

“If you want to.”

Pita went back to being silent hoping he would just give up and go away.

“Pita I'm not here to chastise you.”

She swore under her breath and spoke quieter, just loud enough for him to hear her. “No, you're here to take me back.” She stopped and waited, hoping he didn't hear that.

“Not if you give me a good reason why I shouldn't....”

Pita shook her head, making up an excuse “Because I don't feel good after that stuff Bubba gave me...” She smirked when she realized how bad of an excuse that really was.

“Pita, there are dangerous people here, Xeno, Navy, you name it..”

She refrained from mentioning Lambert and closed her eyes. “I don't care.”

Pita jumped up and squealed as the door broke open, her weight did nothing to stop Buster from opening it. She stood in the middle of the room crossing her arms as Buster took a seat on the bed and patted it next to him, motioning for her to take a seat. She didn't move and shook her head. “Oh now C'mon. Talk to me. There's nothing in this world I don't understand.”

Pita shook her head again, glaring at Buster. She wasn't going to tell him who she was here with.

“So yer just not going to speak?”

Pita sat on the floor silent her head hurt and she was hung over, the last thing she felt like doing was talking to someone about the events of the past few days. She watched him stand up and walk to the door. “Well, guess I gotta take back that custom made doll house”

Pita winced as the memories of the nomad encounter flooded back.

“Its a shame, damn things as big as a bactrain”

Pita tried not to let Buster see what she was thinking, it obviously failed as he handed her a PDA. “Mines no vision, dear.”

Pita looked at the PDA and could see Bubba working on it, she looked back up at Buster with a just short of emotionless expression on her face. “See? its really there.”

“And what does Ruby want to allow this.” She watched Buster as she stood up slowly to see what his reaction to that would be, he claimed Ruby didn't know as it was being built on his base, Fortaleza. Buster lead her to the ship and Pita undocked. Lambert saw her leave.

“Pita!” She stopped for a second, losing track of where she was at with her control checks.

“See? Dangerous people.” Buster remarked as he entered the trade lane. Pita followed close behind arguing with herself as to whether to stay or go.

“Where are you going? What's going on?” He almost sounded concerned, Pita felt awful, she was full of guilt, she didn't want to upset Lambert, but if she didn't go she knew Ruby would find her.

“I.. With Buster” She replied without realizing while still arguing with herself, trying to reason why it was ok that she leave.

“Buster? I should have known.” Lambert sounded irritated.

“Am I not allowed to take my favorite person home?” Buster asked Lambert

“Not if she doesn't want to go with you!”

Pita closed her eyes, she didn't want them to fight.

"Pita. I didn't force you to leave, did I?”

Pita opened her eyes again and hesitated. “Not... exactly.”

“Look Rogue, she's had enough of being coerced by people like you.” Pita looked to where Lambert's ship was, She didn't understand why he was willing to put his life in danger to help her.

“Better her with me then on Freeport 2 with some crazy nomad running about” Pita swore under her breath, he didn't know. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat in the Arrow.

“Crazy nomad? You mean dead crazy nomad, someone's behind the times”

Pita refrained from grinning at that comment, before remembering the explosion of the ship, the man she had killed. Pita shook her head, having missed some of the conversation she said quietly “I killed... he was infected.”[/]

Buster spoke with almost a hint of humor in his voice[ci] “Mr. Lambert, I didn't take you to be a man to take credit for a kill you didn't commit.”

Lambert hesitated for the briefest of moments “I... She doesn't need the blame for this one”

Buster still had the humor in his voice “You're a terrible liar, Mr. Lambert. Your voice cracks with untruth.”

Pita looked at her nail, realizing there was next to none left, she started biting the other one. I.. killed the DSE man.. He shot at me. I had to...”

Lambert put Busters ideas of her killing the DSE) out of his head almost as soon as Pita stopped speaking. “The nomad was controlling the DSE fellow.”

“I thought I told you to keep her safe.. Lambert”

“She killed the nomad. She was safe, I even protected her from DSE. If she hadn't killed it, I would have.”

Pita shook her head slightly and started listening to the conversation again, she had heard them argue about why Buster wasn't told of her whereabouts, and why she didn't go back to a Rogue base for the night. Pita shook her head at Lambert, visibly upset with what he said. “I didn't tell... why did you...?”

What he had said would be enough for her to get into a lot of trouble if any other Rogues found out. Pita frowned, confused as to why Lambert would do that to her.

“Now I am going to take her to Fortaleza, and you are going to leave, and you not say anything to anyone about where we are.”

“Do you want to go with them?”

Pita played with the charms on her bracelet for some time, thinking, before answering “They want me to go.”

Lambert shook his head “Pita, That's not an answer. They want you to go, I don't want you to...” Pita bit her lip as Lambert asked “but what do YOU want.”

She couldn't answer that, she knew she would hurt someone no matter what she chose to do.

“If you want to go with them, I won't stop you, but I want to hear it direct from you first...”

Pita was fighting back tears as she put her head in her hands “I... No... I want things to be happy... and.... I don't want them to hurt you.”

Lambert looked at Pita “See, she doesn't want to go with you!”

“Pita, If you choose to go with Mr. Lambert, I won't stop you... But Amy here. I'm not going to stop her from shooting you”

Pita stopped, speechless for a moment, she was being given a choice. She was able to leave. “Amy... You wouldn't shoot, would you?”

“No Pita, I will not stop you.”

“I'll tell you what, I'm going to fly off... And if she follows, you do not stop her.”

Pita frowned, now she really was confused. Ruby would have his head if he let her go like that. Something wasn't right. Lambert sighed with resignation

“Very well...."

Buster grinned “Alright, it's settled then.”

---

Pita made her choice, she returned to where Lambert was and hesitated, her mind was full of 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. Pita started biting her nail and briefly checked over the controls, everything was normal - for now. She expected the Rogues there to shoot her because of this, just like they did to Sam. She was turning her back on those who were supposed to be her family, the be all and end all of her life.

“It's going to be ok Pita”

Her heart skipped when Lambert spoke, she took a deep breath and stopped biting her nail before looking across at his ship in space. For the first time in her life she believed it, she was going to be ok. For the first time in her life, she felt like someone cared. Amy's voice bought Pita back to reality,

“ Or come back with me and Buster. I'll make sure nothing will happen to you.”

Pita frowned when she noticed the controls flashing red, steering was showing as disabled, autopilot on.

“Amy.... What... What are you doing to my ship...?”

Her voice full of fear. Busters voice came across the comms “Lets go.”

Pita was speechless, unable to respond for a few moments before bursting into tears “Amy! Stop!”

Amy responded as if she didn't know what was happening, and the screen went black, her communications system cut out. Pita started crying harder, smashed her fists against the controls of her spaceship as the screen went blank, nothing was responding and she was being pulled further away from Lambert, back to The Rogues. Pita heard voices through the comm unit, but didn't pay attention to what was being said, she was desperately trying to get control back over the arrow. Pita was still fighting, hitting and kicking the controls to no avail.

“Cut her loose! Now!” A static filled transmission came through, she tried to respond, but it was like someone had almost completely disabled all of her systems.

Pita put her head in her hands, mumbling, “no... no this can't be happening... don't hurt him... please no...”

Pita heard Buster say something about a deal being a deal, she shook her head and looked up, everything was flashing red, the oxygen sensor was showing the levels inside the cockpit to be decreasing fast. Thoughts and memories raced through her head, she was trying to calm down enough to think of a way out of the situation. Pita held her breath as she heard Lamberts voice

“Pita.... I will find you, and get you back.... I promise.”

This set Pita off crying again, he was going to let her go, he was going to let them take her back to Ruby without a fight. Pita was yelling, trying to steer the Arrow off the path to Puerto Rico, she knew once she was in there she would lose Lambert. She knew she was being taken to Humboldt, that was the only reason they went this way, she knew once she was there she would never leave. Buster appeared on the comm device again for a moment

[i3]“I am glad you didn't go with him... you’ll be thankful for this some day...”[/color] he sounded off, almost upset. Pita became still, silently crying and falling back in her seat as she approached the jump hole. She stopped fighting realizing there was no point any more. The only comfort she had was knowing Lambert was alive. She closed her eyes “He will forget me.... He... He won't come to find me here....” Pita frowned and opened her eyes quickly, the warning alarms had stopped, the controls weren't flashing. Without thinking she searched through the comm unit, not sure how long she would have before they realized she had gained back some access to the ship, and sent a message through to Lambert.

“They... They have control... I can't stop the ship... "

She looked up at the stars and hoped that something would have gotten through, if not to him, to anyone. Moments passed and her heart sank, she jumped when a voice was heard, it was familiar and she smiled slightly. He hadn't left her yet. “Where are you, can you see your map?”

She shook her head, unaware of whether he could see her or not, “Nothing works....”

She fell silent as she realized the docking sequence had been initiated, she swore as she realized she should have paid attention to where she was. She didn't recognize the base or its surroundings, and she couldn't see Buster. The door to the arrow opened, and Pita cried out as a Rogue she didn't recognize picked her up by the back of her shirt. He didn't pay attention to the flashing lights, alerting them the communications device was left on. Pita was fighting, trying to get away from the man. Snippets of the conversation were getting through to Lambert's ship. Pita was yelling and abusing the man who had a hold of her, he laughed. There was the sounds of a struggle then silence before a female voice could be heard.

“She got was was coming to her.” The sound faded out for a moment before picking up again “Leave her to starve to death out there. One day a miner might find her...”

The voices faded away and a door slammed shut before a quiet static, anything said was too quiet to be heard. Pita kicked and tried to hit the man as he half dragged, half carried her to a Rhino pushing her into the cargo hold, she yelled and made as much noise as she could hoping someone would come to help her. The door to the cargo hold was shut and she was left in darkness. She felt her way around, there was nothing there, she sat in the corner and hugged her knees while playing with the charms on the bracelet. She felt the guardian charm and started crying again. She wanted Buster, at least she knew he would keep her safe. He was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't sure on how long had passed, but she hadn't let go of the guardian charm. She frowned before taking it off and slipping it into her pocket, she assumed it was worth money, that meant they would take it if they saw it. Pita covered her eyes as the door opened, the light was bright and hurt her eyes. A familiar voice was heard

“Pita, darling, what were you doing... I didn't teach you to be a traitor. Did I? Don’t worry, Buster had no idea what was going to happen. He thought he was doing you a favor.... ”

Ruby laughed as Pita flinched as the door was shut, and a dim light was turned on. She looked up to see Ruby standing above her. Pita shook her head silently. She heard Buster calling her name - it sounded like he was desperately trying to find her, she went to yell out to him but Ruby pulled out a gun.

“Buster...” Pita whispered as his voice got further away.

Ruby smiled “Lets go for a fly, love, I hear Humboldt is nice at this time of year....”

After they had left the station, Pita looked at the ground, and stood up when Ruby ordered her to do so.

“You know what this means, Pita.”

She took a deep breath trying not to cry, that only ever made things worse. Pita put her hand over where the bracelet was in her pocket, Lambert was right all this time. She stepped backwards until she her back was against the wall. “No... don't....” was all Pita managed to mumble.

Ruby laughed slightly. “If you hadn't been so comfortable with the Navy....”

Pita stood there for a few moments unable to speak before Ruby hit her, two rings left deep gashes on her forehead, Pita cried out in pain and covered her face with her arms. Blood started dripping down Pita's face, she wiped it with her sleeve, wincing when she touched the cuts.

“No..... “

Pita spoke quietly, barely able to be heard. Ruby pushed her against the wall, putting enough pressure on Pita's throat to prevent her from being able to breath. Pita struggled, her toes were just touching the ground.

“You useless child, made me waste all this time on you....”

Pita stopped fighting after a while, she was slowly suffocating and the little energy she had was gone. Ruby dropped Pita and before she could fall to the floor, she took another swing, her fist connecting with the side of Pita's face. Her legs gave way, she lay on the floor unable to move. She closed her eyes tears streaming down her face silently.

“Useless....”

Ruby kicked and her foot came into contact with the back of Pita's head. Blood slowly starting to turn her hair a shade of red. “I’m not done with you yet, child.” was all Pita heard as she lost consciousness.