“You sure about this, Kamak?”

“Relatively,” Kamak said. “Compared to a lot of decisions I’ve made recently, I’m very confident about this one.”

“We know what we’re doing,” Corey said. “Mostly.”

While waiting for their plan to come to fruition, the crew of the Hard Luck Hermit had discussed several possible plans of action. Boarding Morrakesh’s ship had been one of the less likely options, but they still had a few ideas. If only a few.

“Only mostly knowing what we’re doing is better,” Doprel said. “Morrakesh can’t read our minds if even we don’t know what the plan is.”

‘The master of optimism, ladies and gentlemen,” Tooley said.

Farsus finished up preparing the guns and handed them out to his comrades. Hopefully the high-powered rifles would be more effective against the Horuk than Kamak’s pistol. To Vo kept the edge of the crowd, never stepping forward to receive a weapon. There wasn’t one waiting for her anyway.

“Apologies for not handing you a weapon, To Vo La Su, but someone else must stay aboard the ship with Tooley, in case of emergencies,” Farsus said. “The boarding tunnel goes both ways, after all.”

Tooley had secured them to Morrakesh’s ship, and the boarding apparatus was in the process of carving a hole in the Empyrean Absolutist’s hull. It was a surprisingly long process, as the durable purple shell of Morrakesh’s flagship resisted any intrusion.

“I understand,” To Vo said.

“So you will be using this gun,” Farsus said. He reached into his armory one last time and withdrew a repeating blaster so massive even he struggled to lift it. Doprel assisted him in hauling the gun into place in front of the boarding tunnel and deploying mounted legs, turning the massive weapon into a stationary turret emplacement. Farsus gave the gun’s rotating barrels a quick spin and slapped the side of the gun for good measure.

“Be careful with that thing, though,” Kamak said. “Don’t blow any holes in my ship.”

To Vo cautiously brushed a finger against the turret. It was almost as large as she was.

“Mind the recoil and you’ll be fine,” Farsus said. From behind him, the boarding apparatus started to make a loud grinding noise. “It is almost time. Are we fully prepared?”

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“Locked and loaded,” Kamak said. Doprel shouldered his gun and nodded as well. Only Corey showed any hesitation.

“Uh. One second.”

Since he had no way to make a graceful exit, Corey decided to embrace the gracelessness. He grabbed Tooley by the elbow and pulled her back towards the cockpit. She let out a small yelp of surprise as Corey slammed the door shut behind him. Kamak set his gun aside and crossed his arms.

“Better be fast about it,” he said. “Should be no problem for him, right?”

To Vo didn’t get it. Doprel and Farsus got it, but they still didn’t laugh.

Inside the cockpit, heedless to Kamak’s mockery, Corey cleared his throat and steeled his nerves.

“Listen, Tooley, before I go...”

“I do not want to hear any ‘deathbed’ love confessions from you, Corvash.”

“Well I want to-

Tooley slapped Corey in the face, then grabbed him by the collar and gave him a kiss that was almost as sudden and violent as the slap.

“I love you too,” Tooley said. “Now go murder some aliens and save our lives!”

“Right, murder, be back soon,” Corey said. Tooley’s face had turned a shade of blue that Corey now recognized as a blush. He might’ve joked about that, except he knew he was blushing too. Tooley all but threw him out the cockpit door.

As Corey stumbled his way across the Hermit, the boarding tunnel gave out one final hiss and finally broke through the hull of Morrakesh’s ship. Corey seized on the excuse to get moving and started hustling down the tunnel. Kamak followed behind and gave Corey a firm punch on the shoulder.

“Really appreciate the energy you’re bringing today,” Kamak said. “I appreciate the injection of weird, horny confusion into this life or death situation.”

“You jest, but it actually will be quite useful,” Farsus said. “Every thought turned towards Tooley is a thought not lingering on our plans.”

“That’s- oh god damn it, you’re right.”

The full capabilities of Morrakesh’s mind-reading was yet unknown, but thanks to Thoth, they knew one thing: it was damn near impossible for a Worm to read anything other than what one was actively thinking about. To that end, it would actually be very useful for Corey to be lingering on relationship issues. By extension, it might, unfortunately, be useful for Kamak to be angry about said relationship issues.

“Alright, keep talking,” Kamak sighed. “Tell me all about you and Tooley’s totally healthy and definitely not co-dependent relationship.”

They reached the end of the boarding tunnel and dropped into Morrakesh’s ship, pulled through the air for a moment as the source of artificial gravity changed. The quartet landed on their feet and examined their surroundings. In retrospect, Kamak wished he’d done more than just cower in the hangar last time he’d been aboard this ship. Having some sense of where he was would’ve helped the mission a lot.

“You know what to do,” Kamak said. They didn’t know if Morrakesh could read their minds, but he could definitely hear them, so rehashing the plan out loud would only get them killed. He had to trust his team to do what was best -even as he was forced to listen to Corey rant about his feelings.