Nick couldn't blame Jarett for hating him -- after all, Nick was responsible for the whole crew's well-being, the standard of which had been low for the last two years. He'd flown the ship before hiring Jarett, and though he never went so far as to fly naked, he could understand why Jarett would want to.
Being able to sympathize with Jarett didn't assuage Nick's desire to step into the void, or at least collapse where he was, and remain in place until he was no more. Even assuming Estermere had been a success, he was nowhere near providing a better quality of life for his crew.
Footsteps, quick and heavy, drew him back into the hallway. Hep approached from the maintenance hall to his right, moving with purpose. He stopped near Nick, and a moment later Nick realized it was because Jacq stood in his path.
Nick introduced the two of them, to which Hep responded with a grunt, never taking his eyes off the grated floor. "Thirds," Nick added, "we need to talk about our next move."
Hep nodded, shuffling from foot to foot until Jacq stepped aside, pressing against the wall to let him pass.
Jacq; yet one more weight on his conscience, as if Leru wasn't enough. He had no idea why Lerru stayed with him any more than he knew why Jacq had put so much effort into running away with him. Leru had saved his life, she owed him nothing, and Jacq had lived in luxury.
Nick didn't know if he believed in karma, but there were times his life seemed like a sick joke told by a psychopathic god: He'd wanted equality for the workers on his home world, and he'd been framed and enslaved in retaliation. The woman he'd loved had been at the center of this betrayal, and now innocent women seemed drawn into the swirling vortex his life had become. Jacq barely qualified as a woman, he guessed, but somehow that didn't make him feel any better.
He blinked hard at the kitchen door, remembering Jacq was right behind him, and he'd been standing there for what must have been at least a couple minutes. He took a deep breath of Perseverance's stale, muggy air, and forced the door open.