For the first time in a long time, Kamak found a moment to sit in silence. After setting them on the right course, Tooley had once again retreated to her room, and Corey had retreated to his own room to get some rest. To Vo had disappeared into her quarters as well, leaving Kamak and the reasonable adults to enjoy a moment’s peace. Or at least as much peace as one could enjoy while being hunted by multiple murderous organizations. Kamak lounged on a couch opposite Doprel while Farsus occupied himself cleaning, repairing, and recalibrating their guns for the thousandth time. The hypnotic clicks and snaps of metal against metal nearly put Kamak to sleep.
“If I’d known we were going to be adrift this long, I’d have hired a chef,” Kamak said. He could only stomach nutrient dumplings and prepackaged rations for so long. “You two are good, but not that good.”
Neither Farsus nor Doprel were too offended by the slight. Farsus had never specialized in cooking, and Doprel had no taste buds, so neither was too defensive of their cooking skills.
“I miss actual food,” Kamak said. “You never realize how much you like just sitting down at a restaurant or a cheep food stand until you can’t do it anymore.”
“Indeed. The creature comforts of a simple pit stop seem heavenly now,” Farsus said. Even the worst shithole of a rusty space station was better than being stuck aboard the Hermit forever. On the rare occasions they got to land, they could not go far or stay long. Farsus, ever a man of action, reviled being cooped up for so long.
“There has to be somewhere in the galaxy we could stop,” Doprel said. “Somebody’s got to at least be neutral in all this.”
“Neutral won’t save us if someone like Khem or the Structuralists come knocking,” Kamak said. “Even if we went somewhere so out of the way no one had ever heard of us, we’d still run the risk of a hunter following us.”
“Our only possible safe haven is Paga For, and even that is a gamble,” Farsus said. “The tenuous truce that keeps the peace there may work in our favor. Or…”
“It may result in everyone deciding to shoot at once,” Kamak said. Paga For’s lawless settlement was a weaponized democracy, where every gun got a vote on who got to live and who got to die. The vast majority didn’t want any trouble on Paga For, but if that same majority all decided they wanted the same target (namely, Kamak) dead, the entire city would become a death trap.
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“Shame,” Doprel sighed. “We could really use a chat with the Worm right about now.”
“Yeah, whatever Corvash called it, Thoth,” Kamak said. He’d never been sentimental enough to bother giving the plant-like information dealer a name. “If anyone in the universe knows what the fuck is going on with Morrakesh, it’s them.”
After recoiling the energy compressor on a plasma rifle and slotting the complex mechanism back into place, Farsus sealed the casing shut with a click and looked up from his work. A thought had occurred, and he looked towards the bedroom doors. The door to To Vo La Su’s chosen quarters had a sign on it bearing her name, which she had made by hand and adhered to the exterior herself to “avoid confusion”.
“Captain,” Farsus said. “We do have someone aboard who is not, as far as we know, being actively hunted.”
Kamak followed Farsus’ gaze to To Vo’s door. He snorted derisively at the very idea.
“And what’s she going to accomplish?”
“Asking questions,” Farsus said. “We can disguise our ship’s ID signature long enough to keep us safe on Paga For for a short time. All the former officer must do is ask the right questions.”
“And that’s the problem,” Kamak said. “She won’t ask the right questions. She doesn’t have the knowledge or the intuition.”
No pre-supplied list of questions could cover every base, and knowing To Vo, she’d treat anything they wrote down as a checklist to follow exactly rather than a guideline to get started. Kamak needed someone who could extrapolate information and think about, and question, every conclusion drawn.
“Then I can accompany her,” Farsus said.
“No way.”
“It has been noted before that none of our pursuers have a particular grudge against me,” Farsus said. “I am not an active target.”
“We don’t know nobody’s hunting you,” Kamak said. “You’ve got a display case of spines, Fars, there’s good odds somebody out there has their sights set on you.”
“Those spines were collected with consent,” Farsus said.
“The point stands,” Kamak said. “Your whole lifestyle revolves around breaking people and things. Somebody out there is at least a little mad at you.”
“We shall see. As it stands, To Vo and I are the least likely to be attacked on sight. If we do intend to gain information from Thoth, we are the best candidates.”
“This is assuming To Vo agrees,” Doprel said. He’d been waiting a while to make this point. “We’re not forcing To Vo to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
“Of course not,” Kamak said. He didn’t really want to push her around anyway, but more so, he knew it would not be necessary. To Vo was a people pleaser, especially when it came to authority. She would do whatever the captain asked of her -for better or for worse.