Karuk swallowed the mushy, nutrient meal and met her gaze. "No.”
"Not surprised," she replied and continued on her way.
"Come on, let's go make this food up," Bardon said. "Much better than the gruel they're serving today.”
"Absolutely," Cher said, smiling as they headed back to the private apartments. The two of them carried a private relationship that granted them a lot of time alone. No one else on the team minded.
Karuk didn’t care. If they were together, then they were away from him.
Karuk normally ate alone in his room, but today, he ate in the main hall where everyone was.
Watching.
Though why, he wasn't sure, just an impulse that he needed to be where he could see the others.
So far, there was nothing new to see here. Just workers getting their meals, those with packages going through them. A buzz of conversation filled the air as many socialized. A general sense of camaraderie seemed to permeate the sterile silver and white room.
Occasionally, some looked his direction, but it was merely for a moment, before they looked away. His other team members, Resko and Girrick, had their own table with another group of workers.
Like him, most of the workers on the station migrated from location to location, working on projects throughout the galaxy and moving on to another project in another place.
He wasn’t the only one who didn’t socialize. There were a few others he saw who kept their distances from others. They weren’t friends, but they all seemed to have a mutual agreement of distance, unless working. Some faces he recognized from previous jobs, but very few.
They were a long way away from the Galactic Alliance’s borders.
The unusual assignment gathered those who didn’t want to be noticed, or paid that much attention to.
Exactly why Karuk chose it.
Far away from the past. From his mistakes.
A chance to start again, to begin life anew. No longer the King's Assassin. A top position in the King's Guard, Karuk did what the king ordered without question or remorse. For many years, he did exactly what his king ordered, with no hesitation. A position that required relentless discipline.
Karuk thought he was strong enough to do the job.
He was not.
A failure in his king's eyes, he would die for questioning the king's orders. The King's Guard would hunt him down until they killed him.
For a while, Karuk had considered letting them. Finding purpose after the incident had been a challenge, and it seemed it was a wasted choice. Another would have fulfilled the order without hesitation.
And his moment of rebellion would be the death of him.
Though every day he lived outside of the king’s reach was another day that he proved his point.
Blindly following a king was just as dangerous as questioning one. His being alive would make a much bigger impact than his death. If they caught him and killed him, he would be forgotten.
If he were alive somewhere? Then they would remember him.
So he fled, if only to keep the importance of his choice alive with the people.
That’s what he told himself while eating the mushy gruel.
That his choice meant something more than just disobeying orders.
He forced a few more bites down just to finish it. He stood to take his used utensils back for sanitation, and as he placed them down, a commotion drew his attention.
“And this is the cafeteria,” came the booming voice of a Charro. His green tail flicked from side to side as he spoke.
