While Elyek looked thoughtful Ember said words I never ever thought I’d hear from her again, “Shaun. You’re a fucking genius!”
“It’s certainly an idea to pick up the most powerful outcasts of the galaxy. It would be a massive shock to the major powers. If we do it right we could potentially become unstoppable,” Elyek said.
“This is a great plan. We can do this. Let’s go torture Calegg for names and places,” I said.
“Hold up, Shaun. We do still need a ship, and the money,” Ember pointed out.
“Fuck me, Ember. You were the one who was all excited about this a second ago.”
“Yeah, I am. I just meant we need to talk ships too.” She smiled sweetly, and we all jumped up to go tell Calegg our new plan. The fucker’s head would be spinning in a minute.
C14
Role Play
Calegg, as usual, was bent over reading a display screen. “Hey Calegg. Do you need glasses?” I asked as we walked in.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re bent right over to see that screen to read it. Do you need glasses?”
“Oh. Right, yeah. It’s a racial thing. Torax have shit eyesight. Probably in lieu of being able to shoot fire.”
“Yeah, but would glasses not help?”
“I can see better than this orange bat, and I’m a bloody axe!” Havok said in my head. I mentally chuckled back to him whilst listening to Calegg’s response.
“I’m fine, and I’m happy,” he diverted and turned his attention to Elyek. “Oh. Hello prisoner. Are you ok?”
We all looked at Calegg strangely.
“Calegg, this is Elyek. Now a full member of the crew. We’ve a lot to talk to you about. Do you have a minute?” Ember said.
“Yeah, sure. I always have a minute for my favorite captains.”
“Captains?” Ember asked, confusion wrinkling her face.
“Well, I fully respect Shaun as the captain, but in my opinion you’re kinda like a dual-captain. I mean, if you tell Shaun to do something he’s pretty much going to do it. Yet, I can totally see that Shaun is himself a driving force. So, with that in mind I kind of think you are both the captains.”
“I totally agree,” Elyek said. “You act as one. Do you know what common sense is?”
Ember and I looked at Elyek like they were stupid. “Of course we know what common sense is,” I said.
“Well, from my limited observations, Shaun is the focal point of most events that happen around here, but you are Shaun’s common sense.”
Ember started laughing, “I have to admit, you’re probably right. I’ve even said the same thing myself a seemingly long time ago in a weird fucking game. Shaun finds the roads and I lead him down them, while he kicks the shit out of everything we find along the way.”
I responded with a confirmation shrug.
“So, it’s agreed. On this weirdest ship, captained by the weirdest aliens I’ve ever met, that you are joint-captains,” Calegg said.
“Absolutely,” I replied. Always happy to share responsibility around a little, especially when things went horribly wrong, I thought. But wouldn't dare say out loud.
“Man the fuck up, Shaun. The captaincy is yours. You’re the bomb. Own it!” Havok said to me.
“Thanks, Havok. It means a lot to me that you think that,” I thought back.
“I know, Shaun,” he replied, but I had to block him out to listen to what was being said.
Elyek was speaking, “I agree. However, I don’t care either way. You could be second in command to Shaun and that would provide just as much clarity.”
“Shaun is, and should be the captain. He’s a complete doofus, but trust me when I say none of this would be happening without him. He has a really frustrating knack of…well…I can barely put it into words, but if there’s one person in this universe I’ll follow knowing that things will turn out better than they were before, it’s Shaun. You haven’t seen it yet, but trust me. Besides, it’ll just lead to confusion if we're both in charge. I’m his second in command and that’s an order from the captain. Isn’t it, Shaun?” Ember said, grinning her ass off.
“Whatever you want, leopard lady.” I knew better than to argue on things like this, and she still had the next most important position to me, so it was all fine.
“In Veiletian, from what you say, Shaun would be known as an Onnekus. A person who everything goes right for,” Elyek stated.
Ember laughed, “In our language he’s known as a jammy bastard. Now, with that stupid shit out of the way let’s get to the point of this discussion.
“Calegg, we want to recruit as many Torax as possible. We’re going to build a big ass army. We don’t want to take over the galaxy, but we want to be able to if we fucking wanted.”
I had never seen Calegg smile so wide since we met him. “You know how crazy that sounds, right?” he said.
“Totally, but what choice do we have? All the people with power are total shitheads, and we’re sick of people abusing us and everyone else just because they can. So, can we count on a few more Torax if we get the new ship?”
“You better believe it. I can get you Torax crewmates,” He said, then turned serious for a moment. “But, realize we’ll be hunted if you go down this path.”
“We know. We’ll keep it concealed as best we can until we have such a complement. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. Now, do you know where we can find more of your race?”
“Of course I do. Our home planet, where we’re rarely allowed to leave. Only, if you want to get there and back out again. We’re gonna need a crazy fast ship and a reason for going.”
“What’s the fastest ship you know of?” I asked.
“I believe it’s the Furfola 890,” Calegg said.
“That’s probably the
