Thomel had completely given up. With the drugs all gone from his system, the nutrient paste tasted worse than vomit. Its texture made it feel like some processed, slimy fish was sliding down his throat. Raw.
He’d taken a large spoonful of it and immediately spat it out. Reluctantly, he used some credits to purchase something actually passable for food.
The lamb in front of him failed to compare to how good those birds were during the mission, but it was still a massive step up compared to the paste.
After a few minutes of silence, while they all ate sullenly, Volly was the first to break it.
“That didn’t go according to plan at all.”
“Bet it was an upgrade for you.” Marace half-jokingly said, shooting her a glare.
“Pfff, uhhhh, kind of? I mean, it was pretty messy.”
“Messy? We went in there expecting a somewhat relaxed mission and it ended with at least a hundred of our colleagues dead. I mean there were actual people in power armour wielding plasma weapons by the end of everything.”
“Yeah, that first big guy really screwed everything up for us.”
“At least they increased the pay I suppose but man, just how did all that happen? Everything was all calm and then bam! almost all the other hunters there just straight up died.”
“Those ogres as well, used to be able to put them down with one or two shots from ol’ shotty, then it took like, ten.”
“I heard some people say it was necromancy.”
“Could we please just… leave this behind us for a few seconds?” Axel said sadly, cutting into their conversation.
“Right, sorry Axel, new day, new us.” Marace replied.
“New day, new us, new mission. What are we thinking?” Volly asked, switching the conversation topic and inviting the others to join in by pointing at Thomel and Cale with her fork.
“Honestly, I kind of want to stay away from the group stuff for a while. I’d prefer something smaller and less impactful.” Marace answered gently.
“I concur, less volatility is my aim as well.” Cale said in a disinterested manner, before gracefully plopping another thin slice of chicken into his mouth.
“I don’t mind too much but I was under the impression this would be hunter work, not soldier work. I’m happy to do stuff together or apart, but I want it to be hunting-based, nothing else.” Was Thomel’s carefully considered answer.
Axel took a little longer to respond, carefully chewing the mouthful of lettuce he had before replying. “I’m going to spend a few days trying to prepare a funeral and to recover from all this. I’d advise you all to do the same and spend a few days resting. Afterwards, I’ll be happy to consider almost any mission.”
“We had a few days to recover after the military guys got involved, time is power, we can’t let our blades get dull. Besides we had one already” Volly said, slumped slightly over her plate.
“Isn’t it ‘time is money?’” Marace questioned, looking over at Volly with his eyebrows raised.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Money is power, power is money. It’s a valid statement.” Cale answered before Volly could say anything.
“Yes, we’ve had one, everyone else who stayed behind hasn’t. Me and a few others are planning on asking around, that way everyone can send their friends off together.” Axel answered Volly, looking a bit taken aback.
“Bit off topic but where are you going to do it? We haven’t got a common room or anything have we? So you’re just doing it here?” Thomel gently asked Axel. The poor guy looked quite wound up.
“Yeah, there’s no common room since they think people would waste too much time in there instead of doing missions. It’s all about boredom, sooner or later you get tired of only being able to eat, sleep, and shower. Then you take on a mission to alleviate that boredom and the corporation makes money. So it’s just going to have to be the canteen where we do this.”
“You know, for all the people that died it doesn’t look like much of a dent’s been made at all.” Marace murmured.
“It would appear that whatever preparation phase they were in is over and they’re beginning to conscript en masse.” Cale said offhandedly.
“Preparation phase, what are you talking abo-” Marace’s words were cut off by a large yawn he failed to stifle.
“They’ve been keeping a surplus of people for months now. I’d assume that another scouting initiative has been given or they’re preparing an initial assault on a planet.”
“Woah woah woah I'm sorry what?” Marace questioned, staring incredulously at Cale.
“Either we’re going to have a lot of scouting missions in the near future or we're going to be invading a planet. There’s a possibility that I’m wrong but it’s quite probable that’s what they have planned.”
“I mean yeah but…You’ve heard what happened last time, right?”
“Correct, I don’t see how that changes anything?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“What happened last time?” Thomel said, scratching his nose and trying to keep the conversation clear of returning to talks of funerals or the last mission.
“A planet died. I mean you’ll probably find out yourself what happened. There’s quite a few missions involved with it. They pay pretty good as well, rather harmless too.” Marace responded, finishing his sentence just before letting out another big yawn.
“Hm, I’m going to go, you guys enjoy your food.” Volly said, leaving with a disappointed look on her face.
“I guess I’ll take a bit off her plate then.” Marace said, stretching over and picking up a few slabs of meat to add to his own plate.
Cale’s passive expression quickly turned disgusted at the sight; he even leaned back slightly. Laying his utensils neatly on his plate, he murmured.“I think I’ll go as well.”
“I suppose I’ll leave too.” Thomel added. He’d already finished his plate while the others were busy talking.
Marace gave him a thumbs up, and Axel gave a nod as he left the table behind.
He had showered back at the outpost, so rather than take a second one, he immediately headed towards the dormitory.
Finding a random room, he knocked, then entered inside it. Gratefully, he sat on the edge of the bed and faced the door.
Like Cale had said before, the mission had been rich in experience. Now it was time to reap the rewards for his bitter work.
image [https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/98735190/6ebb95787f5c4ec1883fce72599c6ec6/e30%3D/1.PNG?token-time=1710460800&token-hash=auUwcFg-xYwXKrtJb42sPxGUlUbDD75Z4iSGjDPg7rM%3D]
He’d already put everything into the physical attribute, but there was one thing he hadn’t done yet, and that was getting his boon.
Breathing in deeply, he prepared himself and then plunged straight into it, invasive questions rearing up and tore at his mind.
It was like being interrogated in a dream; he didn’t understand what they wanted, what they were asking, or even what he was saying back to them.
But eventually, after an endless barrage of non-stop nonsensical questions, whatever was asking them was satisfied, and he was given his new boon, Survivor