There weren’t good mistakes. Roys was pulling my chain and I wouldn’t deny the intrigue. I always figured out the truth eventually. Everyone in the militia had one, that dirty secret that put them there in the first place, the one that was, more often than not, entirely their fault.

Arana had enough debt to have a hit out on her. She was a gambler, and obviously a bad one. All her credits went to pay off those debts unless she wanted to be decapitated and hung out of a loaners pub as a warning.

Ryker was born rich but had a rap sheet running a click long, mostly for petty crimes. Those petty crimes were for one reason only; adrenaline. Ryker was his own kind of junkie, the one who got off from the thrill of a chase. His mom’s were tired of bailing him out, so he took the one exit available.

Iylene never cracked. I got their shit from Darmin’s office while digging for booze. They didn’t deny it when I asked about the incident. Iylene was an alcoholic most of their life. Hopped in their speeder and rammed into a dock that destroyed a lot of property, and surprisingly only ruined their life.

Lilea didn’t like her boring life on a farming planet, thought she was meant for bigger things. Those bigger things ended up being the theft of a deep space ship that became a pirating vessel (albeit it, fairly unsuccessful) until she took a job too big to handle.

Zavir worked a menial job in the upper class circles, a server for the elites. He had a fair wage, all things considered, but wanted more and who better to steal from than those who didn’t remember all they had? Created quite the effective trading network, but he pushed too far, wanted too much, and lost all he ever made.

The militia collected broken things, a cupboard of unwanted curiosities. They thrived off our wickedness, off our greed and desperation. No one but the broken would give away thirty years of their life to be run ragged and thrown to the furthest ends of the universe to die gruesomely and alone. We’d all seen our fair share of death, certainly dealt out plenty of it under the militia’s orders. You had to be the kind of person who had a taste for it to survive here.

Roys had his story, tied to those marks on his arms. There were plenty of users in the militia, too many to count, though most rarely made it to the title of captain. One would think in our line of work we wouldn’t have access to such paraphernalia, and yet, I could get some back at the habitat, if I wanted. Because, ultimately, the militia needed us to remain broken.

“What’s your mistake, then?” Roys removed his shirt to hold under his arm. Even with the cool temperature, all our walking brought on a sweat, and perhaps the fabric irritated his wounds.

“Why would I share shit when you wouldn’t?”

“I gave you a hint. Give me one for yours.” He threw a smug smirk over his shoulder. “There are sure to be too many to remember, so I likely won’t guess.”

“Keep aggravating me, see what happens.”

“I’m terrified.” He feigned a shiver, then stopped. The scanner blinked and he frowned.

I lowered a hand to my blaster. “What now?”

“There are two more passages ahead of us.”

The cavern we found ourselves in wasn’t as large as the others. A stream bled through it, disappearing under a rock ledge. Worms crawled on the walls, illuminating the potential exits. Roys stood at the center of the room where water dripped from the stalactites.

“The scanner shows the same oxygen level from each, so there are two possible exits,” he finished.

“Or two possible deadends,” I said.

“Your pessimism is unnecessary.”

I fired finger guns at him and headed toward one of the tunnels. Using the flashlight, I moved in to check the area. Roys did the same for the other tunnel. On my end, there was no indication of any change or exit. Based on Roys’ silence, his was no different.

We were going to die down there in the dark, where the light would never reach. We’d be lost, discovered by nothing save the flora that put us there. I fled the Colony to be forgotten elsewhere, more broken pieces for the cogs of the universe. Fate didn’t like letting anyone go.

My visor beeped. Being connected to my exoskin, it read my pulse rate, finding that it had skyrocketed. I put on the visor to take a breath of filtered air that did nothing to ease me. I breathed so heavily I fogged up the visor screen. My hands shook. The world swayed. My visor kept blinking, warning, warning, warning.

We’d be buried. We’re dead. Buried like my parents, but not with Her. It’s over.

“Fuck.” I dropped my visor and shoved out of path. Staring at the worms on the ceiling, I counted them over and over. My jumbled thoughts lessened until I breathed normally.

“Do you think that’s why the flora didn’t attack us when we were unconscious?” I asked, hearing Roys hum nearby. “We haven’t come across flora here. There’s no sunlight. Their root systems are in the soil, but not in a cave. They wouldn’t do well here, so the flora may only react to stimuli above ground where the energy is.”

I met Roys in the center of the cavern. He smiled a little crooked, dare I say, impressed. Without the shirt on, my eyes struggled where to focus. I shifted my attention back and forth, trying not to admire how the sweat rolled over his firm stomach. He wasn’t the type of musclehead obsessed with the form, but strength that could easily hold me down.

“I wish you used that big brain of yours more often,” he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

“It’s a theory. Doesn’t mean I’m right.”

He knocked his knuckles against my temple. “It’s a good theory and you’d have more of them if you gave yourself the time to think.”

“In short, I will never share a theory with you again to avoid situations like this entirely.”

“Are you allergic to praise or is it praise specifically from me?”

“You aren’t that special, cap.”

My eyes, however, thought he was quite special as they had given up their attempts to remain discreet. Frankly, I preferred his distraction over the cave, over seeing one path after the other that led to the same dilemma. I admired his biceps, wondering what it’d feel like to hold them, what it’d taste like to run my tongue over that brawny chest, lower and lower. What noises would he make if I got my hands on him, what sounds would I make for him.

“Stop the staring,” Roys said, one thick brow cocked.

I shrugged. “There isn’t much more to stare at.”

And not much else to think about that didn’t involve maggots making homes in our eye sockets.

“I’m flattered.”

“I never said I was staring for a good reason,” I teased.

Roys didn’t know how to accept that teasing. Much like when I gave him my shirt, he had a suspicious look about him. “And here I thought you hated me.”

“I do, but hate fucking is always an option. We’re going to die down here and I’d rather get one more good lay in before that.”

“So you think I would be a good lay? Again, I’m flattered.” He walked around me toward the tunnel I inspected. It was annoying how passive he remained, no blush or anything. Rude. I thought I could be fairly charming.

“Let’s go this way.” He moved on and I absolutely stared at his ass. The best thing about our exoskins was how snug they were. A good view before I died, and entertainment.

“You know, the troop and I have a saying about you,” I continued, focused on his form still stubbornly searching for an exit we would never find. “That you’re made out of muscle, spite, and a pinch of dick. Arana argues the pinch is a lie.” I caught the glance he tossed toward me. “I think it’s true, though.”

Roys slowed down when the scanner took a moment longer to map out the tunnel. “You may be the biggest enigma of my life. One second you’re telling me off and the next you’re practically asking me to drop my pants.”

“For a bet. I’ll lose credits if I’m wrong.”

Roys kept his eyes ahead when he said, “Tempting, but no.”

I kept my eyes on his back, focused so intensely that the world blurred around him. “What? I’m not your type?”

Still nothing, just his usual calm voice that easily supplied a response. “I prefer partners that wouldn’t leave me to die in a cave.”

“Who said anything about partners? I’m talking entirely about fucking.”

Shaking his head, Roys muttered, “This conversation took an odd turn.”

While we went through another cavern, his expression soured and I wasn’t entirely sure it was pointed toward me.

“I’m greatly enjoying myself,” I said, not bothering to hide a grin.

“I can tell.”

The ceiling got shorter. My head knocked against it. I held out an arm and my fingers brushed the cave walls. They were too close. I hated it. Didn’t want to think about it, so I kept pushing, “You’re evading the question, which means, yes, I am your type. Fuckability wise.”

Roys tapped his temple over the nanomites as he had been for hours. “If I answer, will you change the subject?”

“No, because if you say no, then you’re lying and if you say yes, then I’ll have hopes for something to happen.”

He stopped to face me, his gaze less than impressed. “You really are incredibly bored, aren’t you?”

I kicked a pebble ahead of us. The sound of it hitting rocks echoed through the cavern. A cavern that went on and on, leading to the same inevitable destination. We would become part of The Planet, nothing more than nutrition, and that made me short of breath. The visor lit up on my belt, not quite a warning yet, but getting there fast.

“Not anymore,” I said.

“Find another way to entertain yourself.”

“You know I’m shit at following orders.”

Roys ran a hand through his short hair. All the sweating made most of it stick up at odd ends but the dishevelment of him was all the more alluring. He kept trying to call out based on the flashing on his temple. He was more focused on that than my teasing.

“Nothing will change no matter how much you try,” I said, earning a sharp glare from him.

He was irritated. We both were. Hungry, exhausted, in pain, albeit him far more than me and he didn’t hide that pain in his low voice when he said, “A call nearly went out earlier. We should keep checking.”

“That isn’t checking. It’s obsessively pointless. Aren’t you meant to be the smart one?”

“Sorry for wanting to be thorough.” He held his hands up in mock defense. “What would you have us do, take a moment for a quickie?”

“You shouldn’t try cracking jokes. You’ll hurt yourself, although if it isn’t a joke, my answer is yes.” My smile grew when his right eye gave that wonderful twitch.

“Now really isn’t the time to be irritating each other.” He reached for another candy, the last piece based on how his hand fumbled about in his pocket.

I snatched the candy. That twitch in his eye worsened. He held out his hand in a silent request for the candy. When I didn’t hand it over, he lurched forward. I backed up.

His shoulders heaved. “Stop messing around. I get that you don’t like me. I don’t much care for you, either, but we need to focus and work this out."

“Focus on what?” I held out my arms, gesturing to the cavern that would be identical to the next one and the next until we found our tomb. He took the opportunity to snatch the candy and had it in his mouth.

“We’ve been walking for hours,” I went on, trying not to look away from him because then I’d have to face the walls, endless, endless walls. “Our commlinks can’t communicate above the surface. We’re low on food and, yeah, the water canister will keep us going for a while, but by tomorrow we’ll be too exhausted to do more than lay here and die.”

“Shall we start early then?” Roys turned off his scanner and flashlight. He gestured behind us toward the open cavern. “Let’s take a seat. You can tease all you want until we start fighting over the food where, I promise, I will bash your face in on the wall.”

“You just said we shouldn’t be irritating each other and I’m fairly sure that was your attempt to irritate me. Futile, at best.”

Roys dropped his shirt to run both his hands through his hair that time, eyes pinched shut in a rage that made both eyes twitch.

I grinned and hit that final button. “Really need your fix, huh?”

Roys snapped. He shoved me against the wall where I lost my grip on the water canister. I had it half slung over my right shoulder so it crashed against the floor.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He genuinely looked curious, albeit pissed off.

I would have commented on how impressive it was that he cursed, but he had his hand wrapped so tightly around my collar that I choked.

“You are the most insufferable bastard I have ever met. Stubborn, self-absorbed, and a downright piece of shit that wants to make everyone as miserable as you are because, at the end of the day, you are a complete coward.”

His eyes blazed and when I dared to move, his hand fell from my collar to my throat. I shuddered for entirely wrong reasons. We stood there, silent, him fuming, showing more than apathy, which was impressive for him. But he was all I saw and that was all that mattered.

“What’s wrong? No witty retort? Did I touch a nerve?” Roys let go and dared to turn his back on me. “Stop starting problems for the sake of them.”

Roys was turning his flashlight on when I lunged. He called me a coward and I wasn’t interested in disproving that. Cowards lived the longest. But Roys genuinely believed I was one because he saw the move coming. He spun to catch my fist. I brought my knee against his stomach. His palm cracked against my nose. He had me against the wall again, that same hand around my throat and another pinning my fist against the wall. He knew as well as I did that this so-called fight was all half-hearted at best.

He justled me, like he thought that would knock any sense into my head. “What is wrong with you? You’re… if you put any real effort into anything, you could do incredible things.”

“Like you, captain?” I mocked.

“No, and that’s the saddest part.” His voice dipped, sending a chill up my spine. “Are you going to behave now?”

“Don’t know. Still thinking about it.” My eyes fell to his lips, slightly parted to show that shiny piece of candy, like a little treasure, between his teeth. Then my fingers caught in the belt loops of his pants peeking out of the remains of the exoskin.

“What are you doing?” he whispered, his eyes darting to my mouth then away.

“I’m bored.” I couldn’t see anything but him. There was no cave, no darkness, no tomb. Just us. His frustration. Mine. A need to do anything, to think of anything other than a worthless end.

“Fuck off,” he growled.

“Can’t really do that with your hand around my throat.”

There was no way he could miss my shudder. The light from my visor fell across the cavern wall, illuminating him, but not his eyes. They were dark and entirely unreadable. He was tense and soft all at once, fully against me yet a thousand clicks away. His hand trembled, not so dissimilar from mine, as if all the tension, fear, and realization hit us at once. Then I tested that boundary, that little thread that could snap, and leaned in to catch his bottom lip between my teeth.

Roys shoved me back. His grip on my throat tightened. I didn’t hide my moan or the one after when he kissed me.