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"Same as you, I would think," I said. "The desire to free all those Freytaurians from their evil clutches."
"Do you really think they are evil?" he asked.
I paused. "The hosts themselves?" I asked slowly. "No. Whoever is behind them, yes. I mean, you'd have to be evil to plot galactic domination, wouldn't you?"
"I suppose you would," he agreed. "Unless you thought the galaxy was better off as hosts."
"Do you?" I asked. This was a strange conversation, for sure.
"Certainly not," he replied. "Freedom is something all species should have."
"Tarvun fancies himself as a philosopher." Rayax sat behind Tarvun and gave him a fond smile.
"He thinks too much." Navor took a seat beside Rayax.
"Maybe you don't think enough," Tarvun suggested.
Navor scratched his antenna. "It doesn't pay to think too much," he said. "Thinking is overrated."
"How would you know?" Tarvun asked, clearly teasing.
"I've seen you do it for the last year and it hasn't made you happy yet," Navor said.
"Excuse them." Hamit sat on the other side of me. "They're always like this. Captain Marshall should probably break them up, but she hasn't done it yet. Probably because they would complain and drive her to distraction."
"Navor would complain," Tarvun said. "He would miss me too much."
"Says you," Navor said.
I couldn't help but smile at them, especially the glances between Rayax and Tarvun. They obviously had something going on. I couldn't complain about anyone else mixing business with pleasure. I suspected if Brinley started anything with Rayax, Tarvun would come too, as part of the deal. Who ever said we led simple lives? Our love lives were as messy as my hair, as J'avet would say.
The pod engines thrummed and we lifted off the deck.
"Navor might need to know where the vomit bags are," Tarvun remarked.
When I looked at them in alarm, they all grinned.
"Don't scare the poor girl like that," Hamit scolded. "It was only one time he was sick while on a pod."
"Yes," Navor agreed. "I ate too many of those things you humans love. Tacos?"
"Oh." I smiled. "Yeah, they are addictive, aren't they? I mean, not literally." Although…
"Those and nachos. Humans know how to make food," Navor said appreciatively.
"I'm glad we're able to make some kind of contribution to the galaxy," I said. No, really, I was worried all we'd ever bring to the IF were pink nipples and drinking beer out of a shoe. Both of those are amazing, obviously, but nothing in comparison to space travel and the show Centauri Shores. Yeah, TV shows are still trashy, but they all go well with popcorn and a few glasses of alcohol.
"I'm sure humans have done a lot to advance the IF," Rayax said. "Like…"
I waited.
He looked apologetic and shrugged. "Humans are cute?" he finally offered.
"No argument from me," I said. What else could I say? He wasn't wrong there.
I looked toward the cockpit window to see we'd already left the pod bay and were almost clear of Gamma. A few moments later, we slipped smoothly out into space.
"Set the course," J'avet said.
