“Alright, is everyone here?” Litvir asked as he counted heads, checking as everyone filed into the main observatory on the Thantir Two. Its sister ships Thantir Three and Shield Six had been undocked from the top of the ship, and there wasn’t much else that needed to be done apart from final checks. After all, the ship hadn’t flown in a while, but everything seemed to be working.
Currently present aside from Litvir were all eight of the Thantir Decaylings, as well as fellow Decay Lords Retvik, Vikalos and Galyn. Litvir quickly noticed that someone was missing.
“Galyn, is Itaviir not joining us?”
Galyn crossed his arms and grunted. “No. Itaviir hates malls. He wishes to stay here.”
“But we have been here for a while, does Itaviir not want a change of scenery?”
“No. Vikalos and I already asked him.”
Litvir shrugged, then turned to the other Decay Lords. “Retvik, dear, do you mind helping Galyn with the final ship checks while I run through everything with the Decaylings?”
Retvik nodded and very quickly led Galyn out of the room, closing the door behind him before heading down towards the cockpit and out of earshot. Vikalos crossed his arms and grunted, the exact same way that his partner had just done, but with more emotion.
“I do not like this subterfuge. It feels cruel and wrong, they should know about this.”
Litvir took a deep breath and sighed. “I already explained this to you, Vikalos. Deep down, they are still Phantai, and the Phantai will shake them down if they work out what we are doing. We gave you the option to opt out and you chose to help us.”
“I know, I know… So what are we all doing? I thought we were just going to this space mall?”
The young Thantir leader smiled. “Glad you brought us back around. Technically, we ARE just going to the space mall, although while we are there, I have handed out some shopping lists for extra items we might require. But as we travel though, I want multiple vok on navigation at all times, recording anything that comes even remotely close to us. I also want someone in our two thankfully rather underused gunner bays at all times.”
“Why?” Tenuk asked, raising his hand. “We’re in Phantai territory.”
“We are also in an active war zone. Better safe than sorry, dear.”
Tenuk opened his mouth in an attempt to say something witty, but couldn’t think of anything so he quickly fell quiet. “Ah, fair enough.”
Litvir went back to smiling, thankful that he didn’t have to slap down yet another annoying Kronospast joke. “Anyway, because, like I just said, we are in an active war zone, we are going to be using restricted auto-pilot, so we can more quickly switch away should we run into trouble. Yes, we are travelling through what are considered controlled Phantai areas that are mostly safe, I want to reiterate, this is an active war zone and we need to be vigilant. Tenuk, Tahvra, Teekay, you three are all by far the best pilots here, you will be taking it in shifts over the six hour trip, an hour each. You will have two Decaylings and a Decay Lord with you at all times-”
“Are you really going to put Galyn and I on gunner duty?” Vikalos interrupted.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You and Galyn are ancient enough to remain alert but in a boring place for weeks at a time, and go to sleep about once a week. You can spent 3 hours in the gunner bays, with Akah, Elkay, Retvik and myself swapping with you. It also keeps Galyn out of the way and stops him asking too many questions.”
“Ugh… Fine…” It was clear that Vikalos did not like being bossed around by Litvir, but Litvir didn’t really care. Admittedly, the fact that Itaviir wasn’t coming along did mess plans up a little bit – Litvir had originally intended to just stick the former Phantai soldiers in the gunner bays and have them stay there. Not only were they diligent soldiers, but ever since Galyn had handed control of the Thantir over to Litvir and Retvik, both he and Itaviir seemed more submissive to them these days.
“Alright. In the mean time, anyone not on a specific duty, I want you in the observatories, keeping an eye out on, well, pretty much anything that moves…” Litvir took another deep breath, then went back to smiling. “On a more positive note, while yes, most of us Thantir are, to put it in Kronospast terms, poor as fuck, extra funding has been set aside. Since you are all Decaylings and do not get a Deathven-sponsored income, and because Retvik and I were never real deities, our own Deathven-sponsored incomes are pretty low…”
“You do not get an increase for being Higher Decay Lords?” Vikalos asked.
“No.”
“Really?”
“No.” Litvir repeated himself. “At the very least…” Litvir trailed off. “I will be honest, the fact that my Decay Lord Trio is called The Missing is somewhat cool but it is also pretty stupid. Anyway, thankfully, it turns out that, despite being stuck inside a universe, Arkay has still been receiving his income. While Arkay has very limited access, he has generously given all of you 200 Deathvenbucks-”
“They are not called that!” Vikalos snapped.
“Are you going to keep on interrupting me?” Litvir snapped back.
“You are being annoying and you are monologing.”
“Vikalos, you have known me for nearly half a decade now, you KNOW I am annoying and prone to monologing and you are well aware that I am about one level above a Saturday morning cartoon villain-”
“Oh come on now, you ain’t that bad!” Elksia protested. “Like, I killed way worse cartoon villains than you, Litty dear!”
“Yeah, you’re actually being pretty informative!” Teekay agreed.
“Vikalos just got authority issues!” Eksi teased. “Not used to not being in charge!”
“I appreciate the backup, dears, but, Elksia, please do not call me Litty…” Litvir sighed.
“Too late, it’s stuck!”
Most of the Decaylings snickered but quickly fell silent, not wanting to piss their boss off further.
“As I was going to say, Arkay has very generously given you all some spending money, and Kal have also given you some extra money too as a thank you for us getting them the paint and tools they need. At the same time, I do not know when we will be able to come back to this mall, so I suggest you all stock up on whatever you cannot get your hands on. Phovos, we have put aside a little extra for you, since you need to buy an entire new wardrobe for yourself since all your casual clothes got somewhat shredded.”
Litvir looked around the room.
“Any questions?”
Everyone shook their heads. Vikalos tutted.
“Alright!” Litvir beamed, clapping his hands together. “Tenuk, Elksia, Phovos, you three will be with Retvik and Galyn in the cockpit for first shift. Akah and I will take first shift in the gunner bays once we are in the air. Until then though, you all sit tight while Vikalos and I go and have a quick chat.”
Litvir swiftly left the room, heavily hinting that Vikalos follow him.
“Do you no longer want part of this?” Litvir very bluntly asked, as soon as he checked no one was listening. “You have been acting out of sorts this whole time.”
“I do not like this secret-keeping!” Vikalos hissed. “It feels wrong. Deceitful. My partners deserve to know. They would understand. And after we have been reunited? Makes things feel worse.”
“I get it, Vikalos. Maybe, closer to the time, we can tell them. But we both know that the Great Blades have been regularly shaking both them and us down for information, and Galyn and Itaviir have no defence against Psehon’s telepathy. You understand that, yes?”
Vikalos gave in. “I do. I apologize for being snappy.”
Litvir patted Vikalos on the shoulder. “It is fine. We all have bad days. Come on now, let us check on our partners and get this nice little trip of ours started.”