I know the whole section with the Wells Hotel had to happen story-wise, but there are no words to express how glad I am to be out of that fucking hotel. I really, really, really missed changing scenery. I also missed conversations between characters. I REALLY missed that.
The interaction, and reaction, between your characters keeps this interesting and well off the pace of the standard Space Opera.
@Dragonrider, I talked about this with a friend of mine once, and we came to the conclusion that none of this works without the characters being as strong as they are.