Condition Evolution 3: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure by Kevin Sinclair (early readers .TXT) 📗

to pick up enough contracts to buy synth crates and fuel. Though it’s damn near impossible to look after two huge ships and 150 people on the scraps we’ve had. Elyek was worth a thousand senlars to us. Would’ve kept us fueled and fed for a couple of weeks, at least,” Astrid said. I could see the stress on her. I noticed the other two looked frazzled as well.

Ember and I looked at each other again. She smiled a little, while I tried to keep a poker face. “You thinking what I'm thinking?” I asked her.

“Yes. I am, Shaun… Astrid!” Ember said, questioningly, looking from me to Astrid, “What exactly is your overall plan?”

“I really am just trying to keep everyone alive. There’s no way we can ever go back to Earth, and we aren’t welcome here either. To be honest, we are just floating without direction or clue.” Mick nodded in agreement. Gus was fiddling with a handheld terminal.

“I have a proposition,” Ember said, dramatically.

Astrid looked confused, “Okay?”

“Shaun and I have actually set up a company. We’re called Uprising and our goal is to build a mercenary army. We’ll be taking the best military contracts we can find, and hopefully attract more warriors along the way. The more new recruits we can attract, the bigger the jobs we can get, until we’re a force to be reckoned with. The question is, will you join us? Though I must make it clear from the beginning, Shaun here is our leader,” Ember said, patting my shoulder.

I didn’t know what response to expect from Astrid, but it definitely wasn’t that she’d start laughing her ass off. The expression on her face as she looked at Gus and Mick in disbelief irritated the fuck out of me. As if to say, ‘Are these guys serious?’ Thankfully, Gus and Mick didn’t share the same reaction. They looked tentatively interested. She finally calmed and turned her attention back to us, “Nice one, Ember. I don’t know if you’re taking the piss, or if you’re serious and just delusional.”

I could feel Ember’s rage building. She was about to turn our ‘Join Uprising’ pitch into an irretrievable argument. I had to step in, even though I was just as pissed off myself with Astrid’s rudeness.

“Astrid, I like you, I do. But take a little care. I’m the leader of the Uprising, and I offer you the same as Ember just has. Before you respond, take a moment.”

“I don’t need a moment, Shaun,” she butted in aggressively, “Do you have any idea how much stress I'm under? How much Ogun has dropped on my shoulders? Grand dreams are great, but life in this galaxy isn't built on dreams. It’s built on money and power. I have none, and you have less. While I respect you both and what you’ve done so far, I don't think you appreciate the demands of looking after so many people. Can you even guarantee work for us all? NO! You fucking can’t. So stop dicking around. I’ve already lost 1000 senlar for letting you keep Elyek, but that puts the Seshat and Thoth in real dire straits. We’ve put all our resources into hunting them down. Now we need to find something else, quickly.”

Ember was practically vibrating with indignation at Astrid’s words. I don't know if it was my improved stats, but I could understand where she was coming from. As a rarity, I managed to get in before Ember could start shouting, though I could see she was now fuming with me for interrupting her twice in a row.

“Fuck me, Astrid. You’ve made this so much harder than it had to be. Just join the Uprising and you won't have to worry about surviving, only growing stronger,” Ember was about to jump back in, when I held a hand up to stop her. “We’re going to look for more crew members for work and for repairs to our ship. If we can’t find work, we can look after you all indefinitely until we do. Just wind your neck in and accept the proposal. It's not like it can hurt you any, by joining with us.”

“Do you have any idea how much it will cost to look after us?”

“Yeah. Around 500 senlar a week. You just told us,” Ember snapped, finally getting a word in.

“Yes. Exactly! We’ve had to sell things from the ship just to cover our basic needs.”

“We can cover you,” I said without emotion.

“How? How do you even have that ship? We left you on a backwater shithole to die, yet here you are months later, thousands of light-years away in what basically looks like a sports-car spaceship, offering to cover our bills? How much money do you have?” she asked, finally starting to come around.

“More than enough. Join us. Help build this army, or we can go our separate ways. If you do choose to leave, we’ll even give you 5000 to help you out,” I offered.

Ember glared at me, “Five thousand? You goddamn cheapskate!”

“I want them to join, don't I? I'm hardly going to throw a million at them. They’ll just fuck off!”

“We won’t leave!” Mick shouted, “We believe in you both.”

Astrid was looking between us and Mick, frantically. Finally finding her words, “You could give us a million?”

“Easily,” I said, “but I'd rather give you a chance at a future and a way to eventually help Earth.”

She let out a massive exhale of breath, “Goddamn it. I'm in! I can't handle this responsibility anymore. All of these people's futures in my hands, and I’ve got nothing. We’re just slowly dying out here.”

“That’s cool,” Ember said, “Dipshit here is the man for that job. He’s too stupid to realize when he’s beat and always seems to come out the other side better off. Just hang onto his coat-tails like I do, and somehow everything will be okay.”

Mick and Gus broke into laughter at Ember's description, with Mick saying breathlessly, “One of my last images of you, Shaun, is