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

big your heads are. You can't take credit for everything we've done that's a success. We're a team, and we’ve worked together to get where we are now.”

“I know that! I'm not trying to take credit for everything!” I said, offended.

“Really? Because it sounds to me like you're trying to take all the responsibility for everything that's gone wrong or isn't very nice. You can’t have one without the other.”

“No, it's not that. All those deaths are on my hands, including the ones I just ordered.”

“No, they’re not, Shaun,” Mick said next. “All of those deaths are purely in the Fystr’s hands. Every last one. Now, you're a crazy, odd bastard, and I don't know how you achieve one-tenth of what you do, but I'm proud to follow you. I think I can speak for every single person of the Uprising when I say that.”

“You do for me,” Gus said, while the others nodded agreement.

Then Gus added: “Although it’s closer to one-fifth for me,” which brought some chuckles.

Calegg bent down. “It’s worse for me. I don’t want to put a number on it, but I’d still follow you to my death,” he said as he patted my shoulder.

Ember leaned in. “Right, Shaun. That's enough of us all blowing smoke up your ass. We know why you're feeling like this, but you need to give your head a wobble. We’ve just won an impressive battle, and that’s what the people of the Uprising need to see and hear from you. Not this morose, motherfucking self-pity. We only let you off because we're pretty much a family, but those guys out there need a lot more from you.”

“Argh! Fuck off, all of you, okay! I just needed a moment to pull myself together, and you all ruined it.” I pulled myself to my feet and gave everyone a red-eyed smile. I hadn't cried, but I’d been bloody close. Especially after they all started trying to make me feel better. They were right though; I had a job to do, and I needed to keep going for everyone else. I decided I'd just cry my ass off in my favorite hiding spot tonight: the shower.

We all walked back off the ship, and I pretended I was overjoyed with our victory and filled with confidence. I actually felt bad that I was lying to everyone with my body language, but I pushed it down to the welcoming recesses of my mind.

I saw the main security officer was standing next to Rufus, looking distraught but cowed. We all walked over to see how we could help, because so far, I was not hugely impressed with Rufus’s decision-making.

“We’ll remove all the bodies,” Rufus was saying.

“The place is ruined,” the security officer said, outraged. “I’ll get into so much trouble. This is a Galactic-Empire-sanctioned docking hanger. I’ll have to report everything that has happened, and I’ll be punished. No matter,” he whined. He was about five feet tall, with a body covered from head to toe in coarse, yellow hair, and he showed large, flat, white teeth when he grimaced.

“What would it take to report none of this?” I asked.

“I must report it. If anyone turns up and it's in this state, there’ll be even more trouble.”

“We’ll fix it then,” I said, feeling a little irritation growing in me.

“With what? My maintenance budget won't cover a fraction of this!”

“So, how much do you need not to report it and get it fixed up?” I sighed. “For fuck’s sake, man. What I'm saying is, we give you money, you don’t report us, you don't get in trouble. You dig?”

“Dig?”

“Arrrggghhh!” I yelled in frustration. I was clearly on edge. “Give me a number and make it reasonable. Or, I can just kill you and deal with the next in command here.”

“Urr… I’m not sure. It’s all a bit much today,” he stuttered. His body quivering in fear. I felt terrible, and really wished I hadn't just threatened to kill him.

“I think 50,000 senlars will suffice for repairs,” Elyek said, helpfully.

He stuttered again, “Urr… okay.”

“Will that buy his silence and pay for the inconvenience, Elyek?”

“Perhaps not. We can go to 80,000, but I wouldn't give more.”

“How does that sound?” I asked the head security guard.

“Y… yes…,” he stammered. “That's more than fair. Thank you, thank you. And, if you don't bring great warrior enemies along with you, come back any time. You’ll be honored guests!”

“Sounds like a fair deal,” I said, turning away from him to talk to my friends. “I suppose now I’d better speak to the whole crew.”

“Yes. That would be wise,” Elyek said. “I will arrange for everyone to gather.”

“Thanks, do we have the names of who we lost yet Elyek?”

“I will find out,” Elyek said, reaching for their comm. A few calls later, and I had the sickening list. Twenty-two people had died in total. Somehow only four from Uprising, not that it mattered which ship they were from. I recognized only one name on the list, and my stomach lurched. Janet! Poor, hopeful Janet. I’d only spoken to her the once but she appeared in my mind with crystal clarity. The bastards had killed Janet. I decided I would kill a Fystr in her honor, next time I came up against them.

Ten minutes later, a weary crew stood in front of me, and I had to strengthen my backbone once more. “Well, everyone! That was a very unexpected visit from the Fystr. Being so far away from their territory, I honestly thought it’d be a long time before we saw them again. It appears even this far out they’re dogged in their pursuit. Hopefully, we won't be seeing them for a while.

“The ships they’ve kindly left us look to be their finest advanced Hunter ships, which explains why they had the ability to catch up with us. But now we can use them to defend ourselves and become an even more formidable force!”

The crowd cheered at that, and I was happy to pause for a few