Hard Luck Hermit

“Hey, you conscious yet?”

Corey let out a very low, muffled groan.

“I am now,” he grumbled. Something he resented. The last thing he remembered was popping a few painkillers Farsus had given him. Judging from the way his body felt right now, it was probably good he didn’t remember much else.

“Farsus would like to apologize,” Tooley said. She leaned a little closer to Corey’s ear as he laid in bed. “Apparently your species is a little more sensitive to panthetelomal than most.”

“Cool. Lesson learned.”

“I was going to ask if you were...available,” Tooley said, with a sly twist in her voice. “But you look like you could still use a lie-down.”

“Yeah, going to have to pass on the ‘almost died’ tradition,” Corey groaned. Tooley sat on the floor next to Corey’s bed and looked up at him.

“And you’re the one who almost died, even,” Tooley said. “Huh. I might even have to let you be on top next time.”

“Yeah, sure, great,” Corey groaned. “Could you get me a glass of water or something?”

“Just use the panel,” Tooley said.

“The what?”

Tooley reached up and over Corey’s chest, and pressed her finger against a narrow section of the bedroom wall. A small niche in the wall near Corey’s head opened up, revealing what looked like a small spigot and drain. There was also a slightly dusty plastic cup.

“Huh...has that been here the whole time?”

“Duh.”

“Is there anything else in this room I should know about?”

“Maybe,” Tooley said.

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Tooley said. “See you later, Corvash.”

“For the record, Doprel gave me the full tour,” Corey said, as he took a seat next to Tooley. His room had a whole suite of hidden features that were apparently bog-standard for spacefaring vessels. Tooley shrugged indifferently. She’d never been interested in playing tour guide anyway.

“Whatever you’re talking about, shut up,” Kamak commanded. “I got us another gig. Material transport.”

“More of this fucking stalling,” Tooley groaned. “What is wrong with you?”

They had exactly one lead on the forces that had been harassing them, and that was the far-off haven world of Paga For. They were now three jobs and several swaps deep in Kamak’s “tactical stalling” and they’d actually gotten further away from the planet, not closer.

“You’re half what’s wrong with me, Toobertas,” Kamak said. “Luckily I know just what’ll shut you up. The job takes us to Malum Ves. From there it’s a straight shot to Paga For. Plausible deniability, just like I planned.”

“Yeah, great, let’s just hope every fucking lead hasn’t gone cold by the time we get there,” Tooley grumbled. She hopped out of her seat and into the pilot’s chair, not wanting to waste any more time than they already had.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Kamak said. “I know a guy.”

“Better be a good fucking guy,” Tooley grumbled. She had very little faith in Kamak or any of his hypothetical guys.

“Have a little trust, Tooley.”

“You got me stabbed!”

“We don’t know who’s after us or why,” Kamak said. “Could be your own damn fault, for all we know. You piss people off as much as I do.”

“I piss people off in a way that makes them shout insults at me, not send assassins,” Tooley said. “You hunt people for a living. And you’re an asshole about it.”

“Oh, people have gotten stabbed for less than a few snide comments,” Kamak said.

“While we’re considering options, somebody could be after me,” Doprel said, in a blatant attempt to defuse the argument.

“Shut the fuck up, Doprel, everyone loves you,” Tooley said.

“Not everybody loves my species,” Doprel said. Tooley bit her tongue. She’d forgotten about that particular bit of bias. Corey, who hadn’t known about it in the first place, was just confused.

“We were galaxies away from Doccan space when these incidents occurred,” Farsus said. “Few who have not been immediately affected have reason to be aggressive towards the species, and those who have are usually more focused on working with the Anti-Doccan Front than on attacking random individuals.”

Tooley shrugged. That was a fair assessment of a problem they’d only brought up about five seconds ago. Corey was just confused. He considered asking why Doprel’s species had an entire Anti-them Front, but wondered if that might be offensive to Doprel.

“There is the distinct possibility that Corey Vash is being pursued, however.”

“What? Me?” Corey sputtered. “I haven’t even been in space that long.”

“Yeah, but you have killed like fifteen people in that time,” Tooley added. “Could be some buddies of those cannibal guys you shot.”

“Or somebody mad you escaped that slave ship we found you on,” Kamak added.

“Or maybe that weirdo cop back on Centerpoint is really interested in getting you to register with her,” Tooley said with a chuckle.

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Kamak said. “Point is it’s too early to point fingers. I’m still working things out with my guy on Paga For, but he’s probably on board. He can get us some good info, then we can start pointing fingers.”

“Who is this guy of yours anyway?”

“The kind of guy you don’t talk about behind his back,” Kamak said. “Relax. Odds are you’ll get to know him soon. He’s interested in meeting you guys.”

Kamak scanned the stars ahead of them, and then cast a sideways glance at Corey.

“Some of you more than others.”