“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 telling me to levitate you into a massive mob of armed aliens. I said no, and you just charged them anyway. So I threw you up and you came down like a tornado. Apart from Gus here, it’s possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“It was spectacular,” Gus said, laughing even harder.
Astrid looked puzzled, but a small smile lit her face, “To be honest, Ogun told me there was something special about the two of you, and though I liked you both, I just couldn’t see it. I felt like he had put you above me in all but name. Turns out, he was right about you, and now here I am, putting you above me!”
“It’s not like that, Astrid,” said Ember. “But we want to build a fleet. You’ll need to continue looking after the Thoth. Shaun will basically just guide our overall plan, as we actually have one. The only difference is, now you don’t have to worry about supplies. It’ll give you some breathing space to think. You're one of us. Don’t worry, he’s not going to start lording it over you, or I'll kick his ass,” she laughed.
“I thank you for your kind words. You haven't even met Rufus, the Captain of the Seshat, yet. He’s a good guy. I hope you’ll make the same allowances for him as you would for me. I’m sure he’ll be happy to join once he knows that I’ve agreed. He also is aware of the high regard that Ogun held you both in, and will probably respect that more than I do.”
“Before Ogun left, he told us both that he'd made a huge mistake leaving you. He believed that you in particular, Shaun, could have been the difference in our war. I just thought you should know that.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Ogun has gone. And honestly, I'm just buzzing to have you on board. The Uprising grows stronger.”
“We're glad to be on board. You’ve no idea how stressed and depressed everyone is here.”
“Quick question,” Ember asked, “How did the Thoth pay for things?”
“We’ve a sort of ship's bank. Computerized of course. We wouldn’t want to be carrying thousands of coins about, Fystr or Galactic,” Gus interjected.
“So, when you buy things, you do it through transfers, rather than currency?”
“Exactly. Why do you ask?” Gus replied.
“Gus. I need you to talk to Elyek and arrange a transfer of funds. We’ll transfer some senlar over, just so you’ll be okay in case anything were to happen to us, or we got separated. Just keep it in the account. We’ll cover any expenses going forward,” Ember said, then pressed her personal comm and asked Elyek to come to our room.
Astrid grinned, “Sorry, who’s in charge?”
“Ember,” I said, returning the smile.
“Shaun, but he forgets things. A lot,” Ember replied smugly at almost the same time.
“Not anymore, I don’t, Ember. You may remember I’m ahead of you in Mental Clarity, now.”
“Well, whoop-dee-doo for you! Would you like some help carrying that massive fucking head of yours around, instead? Perhaps I’d be better suited helping with that job?”
“Ha, ha, ha,” I drawled. Luckily, I was saved from going any deeper down this rabbit hole by Elyek’s arrival.
“Hey, Ember. How can I help?”
“Once we’ve finished this call, could you talk to Gus here about transferring some funds between us and the Thoth?” Gus nodded. Elyek smiled and waved at him. Ember continued, “Say 100,000 senlar to be shared between the two ships? They’re part of the Uprising now.”
“Oh, that’s great news. Of course I’ll do that, Ember,” Elyek turned to Gus, “Hi, Gus. I look forward to working out the details with you.”
“Hey, Elyek. Me too,” he said, sheepishly; his quiet, unconfident demeanor returning at the arrival of a stranger.
“Good. I'm glad that’s covered. Now, Shaun. Why don’t you tell Astrid and the boys our plan?”
She had my head spinning. “Right. Yeah… We’re, er, we’re going to a planet,”
“Moon,” Elyek corrected, “The moon of Tanath. It is named Arus.”
“Yeah. What they said,” I indicated Elyek with my thumb, “We’re hoping to pick up more Veiletians. They’re the race of people that Elyek here is from. They’re really fucking intelligent, if Elyek is anything to go by. And they’ve got the ability to go invisible. Apparently, there’s not many of their kind left, but I’d imagine that would be hard to gauge, right?” I laughed. Though I’d clearly misjudged my audience, since my laughter was a solo endeavor. “Anyways, they’re highly prized as slaves, which is why they’re secreted away around the galaxy. Another injustice I wouldn’t mind sorting out in the fullness of time.
“For now though, if we can get them on board with us, we’re going to be so much stronger. We’ve just gained 30 Torax, and trust me when I say that those fuckers are tough! They’re laser-resistant and can turn into balls of fire. But even they are pretty much kept as slaves on their own planet. Which is something else we hope to address as we develop.
“First, we need to focus on strength. If we can get a decent military contract, we hope to mop up a few mercenary groups who aren’t part of the big two,” I finished.
Astrid responded immediately, “I don’t know what you mean by the big two. But you seem to have a plan, and money, so that’s good enough for me.”
“Cool, then. We’ll leave Gus and Elyek to sort out the finances,” I said, making ready to leave.
“Not so fast!” Astrid shouted, taking us all aback, “Before you go, I want to know how the hell you’re here… like this?” she gestured with her arms. It didn't make any sense, but I knew what she meant.
“I’d like to know that too!” Mick added.
“Me three!” cried Gus.
I shrugged and set about telling them the whole story. Occasionally, Ember stepped in when she thought I'd got something wrong. Even Elyek added some choice details and perspectives on occasion. The three humans on screen sat dumbfounded at the tale we wove together.
When we had finished, their amazement was obvious. Typically, only one question was asked, and that was from Astrid, “So, how much did you get from the bank? Elyek’s five million would be amazing enough. Although it’s clear you’ve got a lot more.”
“Uprising Inc. has approximately 60 million senlars,�
�� Elyek said.
Both Ember and I turned to look at Elyek in disbelief.
Astrid laughed, “Thanks, Elyek! These two would never have told me.”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Ember said, half smiling, “You’ll be wanting new clothes and everything now.”
“No. I don’t want anything; I’m simply happy to be part of the Uprising. And thanks for having us.”
C7
Brighten Up!
We traveled for just over a week before we approached Tanath and its moon, after making two depressingly short jumps with the folding drive; we now had to stay within the Thoth’s and Seshat’s capabilities. We were just under a day away from the moon using our standard engines. Again, it was a slower pace than we would have done with our ship alone, but I'd have to stop whining about that. It was what it was! And having another 150 friends out here did, kind of, negate that disappointment.
I asked Elyek to sort out the video links to the other two ships, so I could have a meeting with Astrid and Rufus. I'd had a comm link with Rufus on the way to give us time to become acquainted. He came across as a good man, steady and calm. And he seemed incredibly happy with the new situation; apparently, our merger had caused a massive increase in morale on his ship, which was always good to hear.
We had the meeting in our room. There were plans to be made and things to discuss. Astrid popped up first on our screen, then the screen halved as Rufus and his quarters appeared.
“Hey, guys,” Ember said to start off proceedings, “How are you both doing?”
“Great, thanks. This last week has been a breath of fresh air,” Astrid replied, “People are starting to have ambition once more, rather than just desperation.”
“Yeah. Same over here. It’s just the little things, like the noise level in the canteen. Now, there’s the constant buzz of chatter in there at mealtimes, rather than the low intermittent groan of people grumbling,” Rufus added.
“That's really great to hear, guys. Hopefully, we can make it even better for everyone once we’ve been to Tanath,” I said, happily.
“I thought we were going to Tanath’s moon?” Astrid replied.
“Oh. Well, we are. But afterwards, we’re going to go to Tanath to pick up work. We don’t know if the Uprising has been marked as a wanted vessel after the Torax incident. Elyek assures us we can get repairs on Arus, the moon, and run less of a risk of being stopped or checked there,” Ember explained.
“Why would the moon's inhabitants be any less likely to stop or detain you than the planet? That seems rather odd,” Rufus asked.
“From what we know, the moon is kind of a smuggler haven. According to Elyek, its existence is well known by the Empire, but they turn a blind eye to it. I’m sure it's convenient for them on some level to allow such places to exist and remain unmolested,” Ember replied.
“I can’t imagine politicians are any less a bunch of lying wankers in space than they were back on Earth. Nonetheless, that’s where we’re going,” I added.
“So it makes sense for one or probably both of you to go to Tanath, as we will need a lot of supplies, I’d imagine. But it’s the only viable option for picking up some mercenary work.
“While you're there, make sure to fill your cargo hold with an extra full load of fuel and synthesizer supplies, and anything else you can think of. We should be able to get what we need for the Uprising from Arus.”
“Sure thing,” Rufus said. “We really do need a stop off. Everything is running dangerously low. It’ll be nice to have some back-up supplies, as well.”
“Hey. While we're on the subject, do you guys have any more of these uniforms? Because mine has taken a fair hammering. I know it’s self-repairing, but it doesn't seem to be doing it very well anymore. It's started to look pretty jaded.”
“For someone who has achieved so much, it’s surprising how little you know. We can make as many suits as we’ve supplies for,” Astrid said, a wry grin on her face.
“Really. How so?” I asked. I was used to brushing off the insults of assholes, even if I did like those assholes… Ah, shit. Stupid inner monologue! That’s not what I meant!
“We’ve a textile synthesizer, similar to a food synthesizer,” Astrid continued, and I was happy to be brought out of my head.
I thought this was supposed to get better after I had increased my Mental Clarity? And if it was just down to a personal mental deficit, I thought the game had fixed all that shit? There was a lot I still didn’t know or understand, but one thing was for sure, now my Mental Clarity had increased, I suddenly had an appetite for learning. I wanted to know exactly what the fuck was going on in every facet of my life, and in this stinking fucking galaxy. I realized I had once again gone off into my own little world. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to respond. “How much raw material do you have?” I asked, thoughts and plans springing up in my mind.
“Quite a bit still. We haven’t had any reason to use it that much. In fact, funnily enough, I think you probably accounted for around 80% of what we had used, anyway,” Astrid replied.
“That’s actually pretty funny. But seriously. Could we make uniforms for the Torax and Veiletians, too?”
“We may need to stock up a little afterwards, but sure,” she answered.
“Can you make it fireproof?” Elyek said dryly from my side. It was a valid point.
When Astrid responded, it was with uncertainty in her voice, “Oh. I'm not sure. I mean, I think they’re pretty fireproof anyway, as standard. To be honest, I’ve never used the machines before. I’ll give Gerome a quick shout. He’s the whizz in that department.”
“Yeah. That would be great, because fireproof-ish won’t be good enough for these crazy bastards. They need their uniform to be totally fireproof, like chuck them in the Sun and pick them back up a week later kinda fireproof.”
“Okay, one moment,” Astrid said, and spoke into her comm.
A second later, I’m assuming Gerome picked up. We heard his voice, “Hey, Captain. What can I do for you?”
“We’ve a request from Shaun to make some completely fireproof uniforms. Can the textile printer handle that?”
“Um, sure… I think. I’ll have a look at what options are available. From what I know, we may need to acquire specific materials to do that.”
Astrid looked at me questioningly.
“Great!” I said, “Find out what you need, and when you're on the planet, pick it up. We should arrange and issue new, official Uprising uniforms to everyone. The Fystr are kind of our mortal enemies. Wearing their uniforms kinda takes the piss out of what we’re supposed to stand for.”
“Yeah. You actually make a really good point. I mean, we’ve worn them purely because of their functions and durability. It’s a bit of an insult to continue to wear them if we don't need to. It feels right that we should create our own identity,” Astrid replied.
“Yes, I can definitely agree to that sentiment.” Rufus added. “I had honestly never even thought about it, but now it’s been mentioned, I feel dirty just wearing this thing.”
Ember patted my arm, “Yeah. We should definitely get rid of them.”
She was just about to continue, when Gerome’s voice came through the comm.
“Sure I can do that. Forward me some designs. I already have everyone’s size. I’ll start printing them off as soon as we have a decision.”
“Two for everyone!” I shouted, so he could hear me over the comm.
“Sure!” Gerome shouted back, “Though I might need more materials for that.”
“You're going to get everything you need. As for the style of the uniforms, stick to the same as we have, only with a new logo and the Uprising name.” I said.
“And a different color! This color is shit, I don’t like navy!” Ember shouted after me, then she spoke at a normal volume, “Any suggestions on color, guys?”
Rufus shrugged, “Gold?”
“Green! A nice dark green,” Astrid said.
“I
f I had to choose a color, I’d go black, like a panther,” I winked at Ember. She smirked but also blushed slightly.
“That leaves you with the deciding vote, Ember,” Astrid said.
“We can have all those colors if you like, guys. Trust me, I can combine them to have us all looking fabulous,” Gerome announced.
“I’m happy with those colors, I would have picked black, so Shaun has already done that for me. I can’t wait to see what you come up with, Gerome.”
“Keep it cool though, I don’t want to look like a bloody Christmas tree,” Rufus added. I had to agree with the sentiment. The ‘fabulous’ statement had me slightly concerned, too.
“I'd like to see a sample before you churn out over 400 of them,” I threw in. I wasn't floating around in the best ship in the galaxy wearing a shit uniform.
“I can't wait to look fabulous,” Ember said, prompting a smirk from Astrid.
“Right. Enough about bloody clothes, for now,” I snapped, “We’ll work on a design, and you guys can, too. Put the word out across the ship if you like, and we’ll choose from the best ideas.”
“Should make it a competition,” I heard Gerome’s voice again over the comm.
“Ah, Gerome. You're still here. Welcome to the captain’s meeting,” Ember said, sarcastically.
“Oh, right. Sorry! Gerome out.”
I shook my head, smiling at the ridiculousness of the last five minutes. “Back to business, guys. Once you have what you need on Tanath, and that includes a good job for us to take on, meet us over on Arus,” I said.
“Okay, Shaun. Are you sure you want us to split up? Seems unnecessarily risky. You know like in a horror movie, where you scream at the TV ‘No! Don’t split up!’” Astrid said.
“It’s going to be fine, Astrid. Don’t worry. We're practically on the same planet, anyway. Plus, we’ll be in constant contact with one another; we can do hourly check-ins if you like? Obviously not us personally, but we can get set up some kind of system.”
“You clearly haven’t seen the same horror films as me, then. But yes. We’ll aim to set up a system of constant communication,” she replied.
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