Corey shut the door to the cockpit behind him. He was glad the Wanderer’s doors had better soundproofing than the Hermit. There was a chance this might involve shouting.

  Tooley had sprawled herself across the pilot’s chair, facing away from the cockpit window, as if she could not bear to look into the blackness any longer. Her hair was a tangled mess, her clothes were dirty, and she smelled of alcohol.

  “Rough couple swaps, huh?”

  “No, I’ve had a great time,” Tooley grumbled. “Nothing to do but drink and listen to the universe call me a failure.”

  “Oh god, you’ve been watching the news,” Corey said. He’d managed to power through about three headlines before shutting down his datapad and ignoring any new updates.

  “It’s been real fun watching myself go from greatest pilot in the universe to washed up has-been in real time,” Tooley said.

  “It’s the news, Tooley, they’ll say whatever gets them a view,” Corey said. He sat down in the copilots seat opposite Tooley.

  “Well they used to say I was great,” Tooley said. “It’s almost like I fucked up the one thing I’m any good at.”

  “Tooley, you’re not-”

  “Would you just let me bitch for a minute, asshole,” Tooley said. “I don’t want to feel better, I want to complain!”

  She slammed a fist into the console, and made the controls shake.

  “Fucking things up back on Turitha was bad enough,” Tooley growled. “But I’ve never claimed to be good at putting up with bullshit. Take a lot of pride in not putting up with it, actually.”

  The defiant pride left Tooley’s body, and she deflated, shrinking in on herself.

  “I’m supposed to be good at flying,” she mumbled. “I’m supposed to be the best. But I fucked up. Our best chance at stopping that crazy bitch, and I fucked it up. I could’ve stopped all of this, and I fucked it up.”

  Tooley leaned backwards in her chair and stared out at the empty void of space. Corey watched it with her, until he’d counted out twenty ticks.

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  “So, am I allowed to make you feel better now?”

  “You can fucking try.”

  “Tooley, I heard what that station worker said about that stunt you tried to pull, it’s a miracle you made it through that with the ship intact,” Corey said. “I count that as half a win, frankly, and even if you don’t, that still makes you one for two on pulling off billion-to-one miracle maneuvers. That’s a pretty good record. Hell, a lot of people have vaporized themselves trying to pull off your first stunt.”

  The FTL evasion stunt that had helped defeat Morrakesh had yet to be replicated, despite dozens of attempts and dozens of vaporized daredevils.

  “Even your biggest loss is still better than a lot of people’s biggest wins,” Corey said. “It sucks, and you’re allowed to feel bad about it. But you still have a hell of a lot to feel good about, too.”

  Tooley didn’t go so far as smiling, but her deep scowl did at least shift into a neutral expression.

  “And come on, Tools, we need you,” Corey said. “Not going to solve this thing sitting in the dark, somebody’s got to fly us to the next step.”

  “Are you-”

  Tooley pivoted in her chair and glared at Corey, looking offended.

  “How the fuck do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Be...like that,” Tooley said, waving a hand at nothing in particular. “We lost, Corey. We’ve failed in every way it’s possible to fail, and you’re just out here saying hey let’s go, next step, onward and upward. I know you know how to mope, you spent like two years doing it about your mom. Why don’t you ever stop and mope about this bullshit?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Corey said.

  “That makes it worse! You just...go! All the time,” Tooley said. “It was like this with Morrakesh too! You just look at the worst situation in the universe and decide to keep going.”

  Corey shrugged off the praise. At best he thought of himself as stubborn, but not exceptionally so.

  “I know what the end looks like, Tooley,” Corey said. He’d watched his mother lose her battle with cancer, and he would never forget the light leaving her eyes when she finally gave in -long before the cancer had claimed her. Matilda Vash had lost the will to live long before she’d lost life itself. “This isn’t the end. Not as long as I’m breathing.”

  “Then maybe I should strangle you,” Tooley grunted.

  The pilot chair pivoted again as Corey grabbed Tooley by the shoulders, turned her to face him, and looked her dead in the eyes.

  “Try it, pussy.”

  Tooley hated Corey for being dumb enough to say that, and she hated herself for being dumb enough to laugh at it.

  “Sometimes I wonder why you put up with me,” Tooley said. “Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you.”

  “Sounds like a perfect relationship, then,” Corey said.

  “I’d kiss you but my mouth tastes like cheap booze,” Tooley grunted. She stuck out her tongue and made a little retching noise to really emphasize how disgusting it was. “Fine. What’s the next step, champ?”

  “I don’t know,” Corey admitted.

  “See, that’s why it’s kind of annoying,” Tooley said. “This determination would make more sense if you had an actual plan.”

  “I’m going to ask To Vo about things,” Corey said. “She probably has all the case details memorized.”

  “Might as well,” Tooley said. Small steps forward were still steps.