“How do you know?” EJ scowled, some of the fear dissipating as she grew indignant.
Nokx just looked at her, waiting, and eventually her face reddened. She clenched her fists. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Like you didn’t do anything wrong sneaking onto this ship?”
“That was survival,” she said. A hint of desperation crept into her voice, and she took a step toward him before she remembered where they were and retreated as far from him as possible. “They would have killed me. And there were—there were a lot of things wrong on that ship. It wasn’t like any other gen ship I’ve seen. Something is really wrong with the owners and the crew. I don’t think the passengers know what they signed up for.”
Nokx pretended disinterest, though she got his attention. He went to the wardrobe to retrieve clean clothes so she could layer something over the awful gray uniform. Maybe hide her enticing shape so the other males wouldn’t notice the softer parts of her appealing anatomy. “Like what? What was so wrong with the ship?”
She hovered at the edge of his peripheral vision, her gaze on the door, but she worked her hands together in front of her as the nerves built up. “There’s not enough crew for the full trip, and they didn’t have the right stasis pods. They delayed putting everyone in stasis, too. Like they didn’t expect to need them to survive the duration of the trip.”
He made a thoughtful noise and continued poking through the wardrobe. He rather liked the idea of her in his old robes, even if he’d have a hell of a time making them fit her. “What else?”
“Supplies. They keet having to stop for supplies,” she said, warming up to the topic. She edged closer, lowering her voice as if she still feared being overheard. “That was the third port they stopped at. A true gen ship would already have the full load of supplies on board and wouldn’t waste the fuel or time to stop. They should have put everyone in stasis and been done with it, but instead it’s like a—a damn pleasure cruise.”
Nokx handed her the outer robes and flopped onto the small couch next to the bed. He laced his hands behind his head and hoped she had more evidence of malfeasance than just a shitty crew. Plenty of generational ships were poorly managed by inexperienced owners and crew. While technically criminal, no one had ever survived to levy charges. “What else?”
“Skeleton crew,” she said. EJ held the robes without looking at them. Her gaze grew more intense. “Outside of the prisoner sections, they didn’t even try to guard anything. No real security posture, just a couple of guys wandering around trying to look intimidating.”
“Don’t say that around Faros,” he said, shaking his head. “He’ll hunt the ship down even faster.”
She frowned at the robes, as if confused over where they’d come from, then tossed them on the bed and fidgeted with her hair and the messy rope she’d twisted it into. “It wasn’t just that. I was... exploring the ship and searching for places to... help and—”
Nokx laughed. “You were sneaking around where you shouldn’t have been and looking for more stuff to steal?”
EJ’s face reddened and she put her fists on her hips. “That is absolutely not what happened.”
He didn’t bother to wipe the grin off his face and just watched her, more entertained by this version of EJ than the one who’d attempted to tease her way into his bed.
Her lips thinned and turned down at the corners, though her eyes gleamed with otherwise hidden mirth. She struggled to sound disapproving and serious as she went on. “While I was searching for how I could help the crew, I happened to overhear them talking about a planned intercept. They didn’t say who, but apparently the reason they had to do multiple resupplies was because they’d been expecting some ship to interdict the Hollbrd and do something to it so the supplies wouldn’t be needed. Which is crazy. Why would they send a gen ship out just for it to be intercepted and turned around?”
Nokx tapped his chin. “What else did they say?”
EJ’s whole face lit up with excitement and she hopped onto the end of the bed, leaning forward. “Half the passengers are criminals and the other half paid to be transported by some company in the Rikul sector. Something about supporting residents of underperforming worlds and giving them an option