But the woman's false shift to professionalism was quickly shattered by Marzette.
"...No." She walked up to the desk, towering over the seated woman. "I'm not going to sit here and just act like that was normal. Explain yourself."
Knox, on the other hand, took a moment to mentally reboot.
"Ah, I think I get it."
Marzette turned to him sharply. "You get it? What could there possibly be to get?"
"It's simple, really," Knox said with a grin. "From her perspective, we're a miracle."
Leaning back in his chair, he gestured toward their silver-armored host. "Think about it. To her, we're a pair of well-intentioned slaves who escaped one of the galaxy's most ruthless army alive. Not only did we survive, but somewhere along the way, we got some serious power. And what did we do as soon as we got out? Did we get drunk our own power? Did we become just as bad as the slavers we killed? No. We came straight to law enforcement."
He shrugged. "By the standards of the universe? We're practically saints. Of course, she obviously doesn't know the whole story. Therefore, she shamelessly tried to appeal to our 'emotion' to get us on board with fighting against the Frieza Force."
Marzette stared. "...That's complete bullshit."
"Of course it is," Knox nodded with a smile. "But would you rather dwell on whatever brain disease this woman clearly has, or just accept the plausible explanation and be on your way?"
"I'd rather leave this place entirely."
"That makes two of us," Knox deadpanned. "The quicker we get this over with, the quicker we're outta here."
"...Are you both done psychoanalyzing me while I'm sitting right in front of you?" The silver-armored woman suddenly asked, her tone neutral.
"Yep," Knox agreed without missing a beat. "So, let's cut the theatrics. What's your name?"
The woman extended a hand across the desk. "B Class Officer Sakana," she said smoothly. "High Commander of the entire Galactic Patrol."
"You should already know our names by now," Knox replied, not shaking her hand. "Before we get into my offer, what do you want from me?"
Sakana withdrew her hand with practiced ease. "My hope," she admitted, "is that you'd be willing to join the Galactic Patrol outright."
"Absolutely not," Knox shot back flatly. "Non-negotiable."
'I might be a bit of a jokester, but these people are the whole circus. The only reason they're not eradicated in the future is Merus.'
Sakana didn't seem surprised. "Fair enough. But as long as your goal remains to topple the PTO, the Galactic Patrol will do everything in its power to support you. I'm willing to offer you a sort of sponsorship regarding that, in fact."
Knox raised an eyebrow. "I like the sound of that. What exactly does 'sponsorship' entail?"
She smiled faintly. "Usually, you would have to go through a bunch of procedures and paperwork, but I can vouch for you and get you instantly qualified for a bounty hunting contract under the GP. In short, you'd have the rights to arrest criminals in exchange for goods, services, or credits."
'Credits? Must be the galactic currency. Why is it always "credits"?'
Leaning forward, he steepled his hands as he mulled it over. "Sounds like a lotta trekking back and forth. I'm not interested in wasting time ferrying criminals to jail... or in hunting down every grunt or soldier of the Frieza force. My goal's a little more straightforward."
His gaze hardened. "I'm just going to kill Frieza himself."
Sakana merely slowly blinked, in lieu of a reaction.
"Very well," she said seamlessly. "We can amend it to reflect those terms. Any grunts of the Frieza Force will result in a minimum payout, while those with bounties already on their head will be slightly reduced payouts if killed."
Knox opened his mouth, then stopped, his brows knitting together in sudden realization.
"You... don't actually believe I'm going to kill Frieza, do you?"
Sakana's polite smile didn't falter. "If you were in my position, would you believe yourself?"
Knox chuckled, unable to argue with that logic. Turning his gaze, he addressed Marzette. "Well, what do you think? This seems like a straightforward benefit for us, to me."
Marzette crossed her arms. "It doesn't sound like a scam," she admitted. "but it's pretty obvious why she's being so 'nice'. She's just trying to squeeze as much value out of us before we 'inevitably' die trying to challenge Frieza."
Knox looked up in thought, then shrugged. "Sounds about right."
He turned back to Sakana. "Alright, fine. Bounty hunting it is. Though, most of our time will probably be spent simply travelling."
Sakana inclined her head slightly. "The contract stays in effect as long as you fill a certain quota every... forty-five Earth days, I believe."
"Month and a half, then." Knox confirmed, hands resting on his knees. "Now, before we wrap this up, let's talk about the other elephant in the room. My ship."
Sakana raised an eyebrow. "The war vessel, you mean? It's standard protocol to requisition a ship of that class. You see, the-"
"Yeah, I'mma stop you right there," Knox cut her off. "I don't give a rat's ass about whatever laws are in place. The ship is mine."
Sakana hesitated, watching him warily as he continued. "That said, I'm willing to part with it if you're offering a replacement. Something of your design, made to suit my needs." He leaned back in his chair, his grin growing. "A little give and take, yeah?"
Sakana gave him a measured look before nodding slightly. "That… could be arranged. I assume you have specific 'needs' in mind?"
Knox's grin turned sharper, all teeth. "Oh, you bet I do. I just have one question,"
He drummed his fingers on the armrest of the chair, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he leaned forward.
"What's the heaviest metal you've got in stock?"
__________
The sleek, dark gray walls were accented with strips of dim orange lighting, giving the interior a futuristic yet cozy feel. It had that new car smell, not a whiff of blood or grime to be found like their old ship.
"So…" Knox broke the silence, hands on his hips as he glanced back at Marzette. "What's the verdict? Worth the trade?"
Marzette stepped past him into the corridor. "We haven't even checked the rooms yet."
"Oh, come on, this is way better already. No dents or scratches anywhere, no mystery stains. And look, working lighting!" He gestured up at the ceiling's crisp illumination before following after her.
Pushing open the reinforced door, they were greeted with rows of neatly arranged equipment, and a giant window bolted to the far wall.
Knox's jaw dropped as he approached the dumbbells. "That was... insanely fast, wasn't it?"
It had only been a day since they'd spoken to Sakana, and the patrol had already finished the custom set of training gear he requested.
They might not have an overt level of power, but it was clear they excelled on the technology side of things.
Sadly, they didn't have any gravity machines.
Marzette turned around from what she was looking at. "What's blowing your mind now?"
Knox gestured toward the individual plates stacked along the rack, their metallic surfaces gleaming faintly. He ran a finger across one of them and whistled. "See these bad boys? Just try and pick that up."
Marzette squinted, did no such thing, and read the weight aloud. "Fifteen tons." She glanced at him skeptically. "You actually plan to lift this while suppressing your Ki? You can't handle something at this level..."
"Oh, not yet," Knox said. "But eventually? I'll lift every weight in here at the very barest level of Ki. And when I punch, it's gonna be with the force a billion damn tons. You'll see."
Marzette tilted her head at the weights, contemplating something, but she eventually just shook her head. Then she peeled off toward the kitchen.
It wasn't long before her incredulous voice echoed through the ship.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Knox jogged into the kitchen, worry on his face. "What? Did it catch fire? Did you try cooking some..." The sight of that bland ass nutrient goop being neatly dispensed into a serving bowl answered his unfinished question. "...thing."
He didn't mind eating it, seeing as he didn't have to stick to a diet as long as he was eating it, but she... wasn't exactly a fan of the nutrient paste.
Marzette pointed accusingly at the dispenser. "What is wrong with space people?! This 'food' is not food at all! Not everything in life needs to be optimized! Food is a sacred-"
Knox shoved past her to open a separate compartment, revealing rows of foods he didn't recognize. It looked like fruits, vegetables, dried grains and... other stuff.
"Well, look at that!" He said with a smile. "You've got all the food you could want for... however long this stuff'll last. I ain't cookin' though, I'm just gonna eat the paste."
Marzette clicked her mandibles, huffing. "Thank the stars. I'll gladly cook if I never have to eat that slop ever again."
Satisfied with the kitchen, Knox continued through the corridors, opening doors and inspecting the tedious accommodations in rapid sequence before arriving at the control room.
His eyes immediately gravitated toward the glowing navigation screen that projected a holographic map of the Galactic Patrol's territories. Tiny labeled markers dotted the map's surface, scattered across nebulous voids marking every protected planet under their jurisdiction.
"Huh," Knox said casually, sitting down. "They actually gave us full access to their information, too? Jackpot."
Marzette joined him just as he scrolled through the directory, pausing at a specific entry.
"Earth," he murmured, pressing one of the interface keys. The coordinates snapped into focus, and a faint dotted line traced the path from their current position to the tiny blue dot far across the galaxy.
"Looks like we're about…" Marzette trailed off as the autopilot interface calculated their destination.
"A whole year away?!" Knox blurted before she got the chance.
"It says the autopilot has a slower flight speed than if you were to pilot it yourself." She glanced at him. "With a pilot it'll only be two months."
Knox groaned, dragging a hand down his face in exasperation. "Well," he said flatly. "This sucks."
"Either we slow down and figure out how to properly fly this thing, probably taking even longer…" He squinted at the barely helpful holographic controls. "...hire some poor fool to pilot it for us... or...."
He didn't say another word at first, staring out at the vast expanse of scattered stars before them.
Knox didn't want to admit it, but he was getting tired of the emptiness of space. He loved getting stronger, don't get him wrong, but... there just wasn't much to do in between those times.
The destinations were fun. The journey itself? Not so much.
Knox leaned against the back of the pilot's seat, a rare frown on his face. Marzette stepped closer, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder.
He gave her a small, easy smile, before turning back to the stars.
With a huff, he pushed away all his negative thoughts to the side. Hand on his chin, he slowly sifted through the planets available to travel to, one by one.
Then he paused on one.
"I'd forgotten about this place..." he murmured. "It could work if we play our cards right..."
Plus, it was far closer than Earth. It was only a week away on autopilot time, and if they went now, they could hopefully avoid just taking that year on the chin.
With a decisive press of a button, the ship thrummed to life.
Marzette glanced at the glowing name on the screen, then back at Knox. "Uh... where are we going?"
He settled back into the seat, arms folded, gaze fixed firmly ahead. The stars streaked into long silver lines as the ship accelerated, the hum of the engines swelling to a steady roar.
"If we're lucky? To find a pilot."