To Vo stared at the universal map for a solid thirty ticks in complete, dead silence. Farsus was slowly drawing out new lines throughout the universe. Not trade routes, but potential angles of attack. With the Bang Gate situated outside the Arkenne Galaxy, they had a straight shot at the center of universal civilization, and from there, clear avenues to every major transit hub in the universe. With most reinforcements bottlenecked due to the restrictions on Structuralist and Doccan travel routes, a sudden surprise attack could cripple Centerpoint, if not outright destroy it, ripping out the heart of universal society and leaving Morrakesh and the Horuk free to spread across the known universe.

“We have to do something,” To Vo mumbled.

“You’re damn right we do,” Kamak said. He reached out and manipulated the map controls, centering their view on the secret Bang Gate. Then he looked as far away from it as possible. “You guys think Paga For is a good place to lie low? Thoth already likes us, and it’s far away as all hell.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Not really a priority target for anyone invading,” Tooley agreed. “Same if we could find Arf.”

“Earth,” Corey corrected. “And what the fuck are we talking about?”

“Hiding places, Corvash, keep up,” Kamak said. “Storm’s coming, best place to be is where it isn’t. To Vo?”

“Yes?”

A brief glimmer of hope flickered into her voice.

“Where’s your homeworld at? If you’ve just recently been uplifted it’s probably way out there,” Kamak said. He quickly browsed the outskirts of the known universe for the furthest possible place from the oncoming war. To Vo clenched her fists as that flicker of hope died.

“I was born on the outskirts of this galaxy,” To Vo said, pointing to a far-flung cluster of stars. “But my home is here.”

To Vo put her hand on the map controls and forcibly put Centerpoint back in focus. Kamak tried to shove her hand away from the controls, but she latched on with surprising strength and held her ground.

“We have to do something,” To Vo repeated, far more insistently this time. “We have to help.”

“Even if we could, why would we? And how? What the hell do you expect us to do?”

“We have to warn someone, at least!”

“Okay, let’s play that out,” Tooley said. “Let’s say we go to the Galactic Council, and we don’t immediately get arrested, and we don’t immediately have everything we say get dismissed as the ravings of some mad criminals, then what?”

To Vo wrung her hands and recalled the protocol for situations like this. There hadn’t been a large scale interstellar war in decades, so the knowledge was obscure even for a protocol-obsessed peon like her.

“Then...the galactic representatives would discuss the matter in a forum…”

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“Oh good. They can have a forum. Where we’ll get, let me guess, thirty percent who are either bribed or blackmailed, thirty percent who don’t care or don’t believe us, and thirty percent more who want to make a half-assed response. And that’s me being generous.”

Democracy was Tooley’s favorite style of government, if only by virtue of every alternative being worse, but that didn’t mean she trusted the process. Even in the best case scenario, the complex bureaucratic tangle of the Galactic Council would only do too little, too late.

“There’ll be a chance,” To Vo said. She knew better than to try and plead the Council’s case in front of this particular audience. “Even that’s better than nothing.”

“Not by much, and especially not for us,” Tooley said. “Because, again, that bullshit is the dream scenario. Most likely outcome is we all get arrested and no one believes us.”

“Nobody likes it, To Vo, but we’re not in a position to play hero,” Kamak said. “We can tell a bunch of people who won’t listen or won’t matter, and it won’t change a damn thing. Every time we get involved we just make things worse.”

To Vo La Su stomped her feet in a petulant display of frustration that did nothing to help her case.

“Doprel, please help,” To Vo whined. She could count on Doprel to have a conscience, though it turned out his conscience was pulling him in a very different direction.

“I don’t...I think Kamak has a point,” Doprel said. “We should stay away. Maybe warn Thoth, let them do the rest. But Morrakesh made us his targets for a reason. We’re a lit match, and we need to stop throwing ourselves at powder kegs.”

To Vo looked like she’d been stabbed in the gut, and the betrayal only deepened when Farsus started to nod in agreement.

“Doprel is correct. Thoth has connections. They will handle this better than we can,” Farsus said. “No matter our intentions, our presence antagonizes the situation.”

“I get what you’re going for here, To Vo, I really do,” Kamak said. “Maybe it’d work if we were anything but pieces of shit, but that’s what we are.”

“Fuck off.”

To Vo turned to the side to see who had voiced the admittedly crude support. It had come from an unlikely source: Corey Vash. He stepped up, banished the map entirely, and put his hands flat on the table.

“You’re some of the best god damn people I’ve ever met,” Corey said.

“You’ve got very low standards, then,” Tooley scoffed.

“Shut up. I didn’t say you’re good. You’re awful. All of you,” Corey said. Nobody even bothered to be offended by that. “I’m awful too. But when you compare what we are to what we could’ve been, we’re fucking saints.”

Corey pointed an accusing finger at Tooley.

“You could’ve been a genocidal xenophobic fascist.”

Tooley bristled at the comparison to other Sturit, but said nothing. Corey then turned his ire towards Kamak, Doprel, and Farsus.

“Soulless corporate assassin. Emotionless cannibalistic thief. Apathetic anarchist lunatic.”

For fairness’s sake, Corey put a hand to his own chest.

“And let’s not forget the serial abuser cultist,” Corey said. “Nobody here is good. But we’re all better than we could’ve been. We all got put in shit situations with no way out, and we got out. We can do that again. We can be better.”

Corey paused, and waited. So did his audience. The silence proved hard to break.

“Everything else aside, half decent speech, Corvash,” Kamak finally said.

“Thanks.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Kamak said. It was nice to hear somebody thought he was anything other than a complete asshole. Didn’t happen often. “But it doesn’t do much to change the logistics. Even if I wanted to play hero, I genuinely don’t believe us getting involved is the right thing to do.”

“We have to try,” Corey said. “At least think about it.”

“Look, kids, this’d be hard enough to do under normal circumstances,” Kamak said. “What’re we going to do, rally the universe, whip up an army and save the day? Even if everyone already liked us, that’d take ages, and a hell of a lot of work. And thanks to our good buddy Morrakesh-”

Kamak froze mid-sentence. He had a look on his face like he’d just struck gold. Slowly, a sly smile parted his lips.

“Everyone in the universe already hates us.”