Rocket went through the usual routine and asked Yondu a few questions.
The victor ruled, the loser submitted. Yondu was straightforward enough, answering every question.
But they learned nothing useful.
He had planted a tracker on the Milano before accepting Sovereign's commission. However, Yondu had never intended to fulfill its terms. He had no plans to hand Star-Lord and the others over to Sovereign; all he wanted were the Annullax Batteries Rocket had stolen.
Compared to the bounty Sovereign offered, the energy batteries were probably worth only a quarter as much. But personally, Yondu regarded Star-Lord as his own son. There was no way he would sell Star-Lord out for such a small profit. Publicly, the entire Nova Corps owed the Guardians of the Galaxy a huge favor. Offending the Guardians of the Galaxy meant offending the Nova Corps. How could scattered interstellar hunters like them possibly contend with an organized military force like the Nova Corps?
Because the Nova Corps had been so incompetent during the Ronan the Accuser incident, some people had come to look down on them.
If you could not contend with someone and still provoked them, that was not courage. That was stupidity.
His subordinates could not understand Yondu's intentions and assumed it was all selfishness on his part. That alone showed the Ravagers had no future.
A civilian ship like the Milano really did look old-fashioned, its exterior resembling an Earth bus from the eighties. But there was something truly miraculous about it—it had been burned black like overcooked meat skewers, and the impact of landing had even split it in two. Yet after Rocket and Drax worked through the night for more than ten hours, it had somehow regained its basic shape.
After some more repairs to the details, it was once again