Galactic Badlands 2: A LitRPG Space Western, page 1
part #2 of Galactic Badlands Series
GALACTIC BADLANDS 2
By
Zachariah Dracoulis
Galactic Badlands 2 Copyright © 2019 by Zachariah Dracoulis. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by Flame Croowz
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For Gaige,
You’re the best, bro. Never change
1
F irst thing I saw as I got up out of that comfy, comfy bed was Amy sprawled out and slightly more naked than she’d been when we’d all passed out.
Now, I ain’t the type of man to shy away from a little bit of indecent exposure, mind you in her case it was definitely decent exposure, but upon noticing a good deal of goosebumps trailing up her back I decided to do the right thing and pulled the blanket off my legs and draped it across her as best as I could without disturbing Roxy.
Which, naturally, brings me to Roxy.
In case y’all hadn’t noticed, nothing interesting happened between the three of us.
Sure, we were all naked, but that didn’t necessarily mean we had to have sex, not that I would’ve minded going down that route.
But no, we were all too tired, and by the time I’d gotten my gear off I was completely and utterly unable to do anything even remotely in the realm of hanky panky.
Still, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least hoping for a little something-something the following morning when we were all slightly less dead on our feet, and when it became clear that the girls needed another few minutes at minimum I felt just the tiniest bit annoyed.
However, not willing to let my day revolve around that, I decided to go ahead, get up, and get a start on what I was hoping was going to be a productive, if slightly less strenuous day.
Not wanting to sound whiny or anything, but I kind of felt ready for the weekend.
And a shower.
Boy, did I need a shower.
I didn’t particularly smell, nor did I feel like I’d had bugs exploded on me, it was just that a shower seemed like the right way to start the day of finding out what was really going on with that brothel.
Anyway, it didn’t take long for me to find the private bathroom attached to my room, it wasn’t exactly hidden after all, and it took me even less time to get cleaned up thanks to this weird, all-in-one, multicolored foam the showerhead dispensed about halfway through.
Honestly, I felt like a moped going through an automatic carwash, only instead of getting mercilessly whipped, I was blinded and literally tasted the rainbow.
Talcum powder and low-grade bleach, in case you were wondering.
That tasty experience aside, I actually got what I wanted out of the shower and, after a few minutes, enjoyed the relaxation of just about every muscle in my body as I patted myself dry with a towel and walked back to my room.
Disappointingly, the girls were still asleep, having coiled together in the time I’d been away.
It was sweet in a way, sure, but it undoubtedly left me wondering if I’d been keeping them separate all night.
I wasn’t particularly worried if I did, I didn’t think it would have been all that easy to sleep if I’d had a variety of limbs across my face and torso, though the curiosity was still there.
After some deliberation, most of which revolved around coming to the conclusion that I didn’t want to drag a couple of semi-conscious people around, I got dressed using the pod that had apparently been moved to the room at some point.
What? I needed clean clothes.
Besides, as soon as I stepped out of the pod I discovered that the ones I’d been wearing had gone ahead and evaporated, so it wasn’t like I was about to create a world covered in cowboy fashion.
Anyway, after that I had to backtrack my way through the surprisingly maze-like base, my memory of the night before doing less for helping me than my internal compass which still felt slightly askew.
I made it outside eventually though, and was quick to note just how barren the brothel made the land look even with the brilliant desert sunrise playing over it.
I’m not sure what it was, but something about having a second building in close proximity gave it less of a lonely building vibe and more of an unfinished one.
There was more work to be done right there at home, of that I was certain, and as much as I wanted to pursue that whole thing with taking over the moon I knew it was more important to establish a good foothold before prancing around the moon playing cowboy.
So, with a confident stride, I made my way over to the brothel, stepping through its broken and creaky doors with the expectation that I’d be greeted by the sight of dozens of women and drunken men.
I was wrong.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as a beautiful, snake-like woman in an immaculate purple dress made her way down the stairs beside the door.
“The girls are upstairs resting and the men… well, the nicer men are probably lying to their wives about where they’ve been all night.” the woman replied before coming to a stop a few steps short of the bottom, “Pleasure to meet you, mister..?”
“Stargun,” I said, extending my hand as I did so, “folks mostly just call me Chuck.”
“Nice to meet you, Chuck,” the woman replied after finally shaking my hand, the gesture on my part apparently throwing her off guard, “I’m Madame Kirstain, but you may call me Lorrain.”
“You’ll be takin’ over here then?” I asked, finally joining Lorrain on the stairs as she led the way from the foyer.
“I shall,” Lorrain replied, “I’m guessing you don’t remember me from last night then?”
“No, sorry,” I said, feeling the itching at the back of my head that told me I did, “it was dark and, well, I had other things on my mind.”
“I don’t blame you,” Lorrain quietly chuckled, gesturing for a table by a window as we got to the first-floor landing, “it wasn’t like I was wearing this last nigh-”
“That’s right,” I practically blurted out, my memory finally ticking over, “you were the one that talked to me while everyone else thought I was there to kill y’all.”
Again, Lorrain laughed, “And here I thought I’d have to make myself more memorable,” she said after we’d taken our seats, “so, I’m sure you’re wondering how this is all going to work, yes?”
“This has all moved a bit quickly, yeah,” I replied amusedly as a scantily dressed girl came up the stairs with a tray bearing two cups and a steel coffee pot, “not that I’m complaining.”
“No, you don’t seem the sort to complain.” Lorrain remarked with a smile before nodding to the girl after she’d placed the tray on the table between us, signaling for her to leave.
“I try my best,” I murmured, watching the tea-bringer’s ass as she made her way downstairs, “any reason why girls like that aren’t making business boom?”
“For one thing we’ve had a very recent change in location and management,” Lorrain replied after taking a sip of her tea, “and for another it’s the morning. Our clientele are probably at home telling their wives about how busy work was last night.”
“Heh, I s’pose this ain’t exactly the type of business that runs nine-to-five.” I chuckled before pouring myself a cup of the clearly still near-boiling tea.
“That actually brings me to a question about our operating hours,” Lorrain said, “typically we don’t make a lot of noise, these walls are shielded and do a good job of keeping the various howls of the night from pervading the quiet air.”
“Is that your question?” I asked amusedly, weirdly enjoying the strong tea despite my inclination towards coffee, “Because it doesn’t sound like a question to me.”
“I admire how direct you are, Stargun, it’s a heavily sought after trait in these parts.” Lorrain replied with a flirtatious smirk that betrayed the formal attitude she’d kept up until that moment, “My question is, would it be alright if, on rare occasion, we do some sort of celebration?”
“Like a grand opening?” I asked, “Fireworks and flashin’ lights all hours of the night?”
That threw Lorrain off for a moment, but she was quick to regain her conversational footing, “Like I said, it wouldn’t be a regular occurrence.”
“Well, that’s a shame,” I said disappointedly, “sounded like good, clean fun. Good, profitable fun.”
And with that, Lorrain relaxed and nodded, “I’m not so sure about ‘clean’, but it will most certainly be profitable. Might even bring your agency some business.”
I scoffed amusedly at that, “Not so sure that folk lookin’ for bounty hunters and the like spend their nights in establishments such as this.”
“You’d be surprised,” Lorrain remarked, nodding towards the rooms that lined the wall behind us, “most of the folk that come here are running away from something. Most are spouses, but there are more than a few that pass through here that are scared, alone, and looking for a way out.”
“Seems whoever’s chasing ‘em will give them a way out,”
“Not especially worried about how things are run?” Lorrain asked concernedly.
“It’s not that,” I replied, taking another long drink, “I’m just confident that you know how to run your business far better than I ever could. Company ink and all that.”
“A voracious one then?” Lorrain suggested, her smirk returning, “And here I thought you were in a committed relationship.”
“I ain’t sayin’ I’m not,” I said, thinking of Roxy still asleep, “although I doubt I would be if I was to take charge here.”
Lorrain let out an amused huff at that and smiled, “Well, I suppose I’m glad there’s no competition for my position. Now, onto the matter of payment.”
“Payment?” I asked, worried that I’d somehow signed into a deal that I had no real way of paying.
“Yes, payment. Rent for the land, your cut of the profits, that sort of thing,” Lorrain replied, easing my beating heart, “have you got an accountant that I can straighten all this out with?”
“I… have not,” I said, hiding the mild embarrassment I felt, “it’s on the agenda though.”
“Good to hear. I should keep it going through Linda in town then, yes?” Lorrain proposed, “I realize that means the Nexxies will be withholding a good amount of the income, but at least it will all be aboveboard.”
“That would probably be for the best, yes,” I replied, ignoring the voice in my head screaming ‘Taxation is theft!’, “and your girls, is this there any need for protection from the Stargun Agency or..?”
“I assure you that we take care of our own,” Lorrain said before letting her mind drift to a worse time, “even with that pig of a man we did our best.”
My brow involuntarily furrowed at the thought of just how long the former owner had been allowed to operate as he had been, but there was a part of me that knew bringing it up was more than likely only going to bring on painful memories.
“Is there anything else you’ll be needin’?” I asked, fighting off the urge to offer a counselor.
“Nothing comes to mind, no.” Lorrain murmured, her eyes glazed over as she stared out the window before suddenly snapping her full attention to me and perking back up, “But I know where to find you if I come up with something.”
“We’ll try our best to be hospitable neighbors. Bag o’ sugar, ride into town, coldblooded murder, whatever you need we’re there.” I joked before getting to my feet, “On a more serious note, it might be an idea for me to get to work findin’ that accountant. Doubt there’re many men in that line of work around here.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Lorrain replied knowingly as she stood, “but I’m sure a man in your line of work will eventually stumble upon someone.”
“We can only hope,” I said with a tip of my hat as I made for the stairs, “thanks for the tea, we’ll have to do it again soon.”
“That we shall.” Lorrain murmured coyly, “Is there anything you want me to keep an eye out for? Potential clients, employees, that sort of thing?”
“For now I’ll be keeping the staff and jobs I have,” I replied after reaching and opening the front door, “rapid expansion without the means to back it up has ruined its fair share of businesses.”
“And moons for that matter,” Lorrain chuckled, “can’t imagine what it would’ve been like here if the Nexxies had actually done their job.”
“Can’t imagine there’d be much room for folk like you and me in a world other than this,” I said, looking around at the barren but beautiful desert that welcomed me, “certainly wouldn’t be able to set up shop wherever we wanted.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Lorrain agreed, “anyway, it was a pleasure to host you. Have a nice day.”
“You too.”
With that I left, walking purposefully towards the agency without actually knowing what I was going to do once I got there but at the same time not wanting to look aimless.
Pride’s a funny thing, ain’t it?
2
I felt stuck between a rock and the fact that it wasn’t exactly a reasonable time to be awake for most folk.
Normally I’d have just kicked the day off by myself, maybe even gotten a bunch done before anyone was up, but the stuff I wanted to do was all pretty big picture and affected the agency in the long term.
It wasn’t so much that I didn’t know what to do as it was that I knew too many things to do and felt like I could use a push in any given direction.
It’s funny, topside I took charge, a real ‘this needs to happen, so let’s get it done’ type of guy, but in my new life… I don’t know, it may very well have been something as simple as the fact that I didn’t want to make the ‘wrong’ call and lose the people I’d gained so far.
That and, you know, I genuinely didn’t know where to get started. I could head out to town and ask around about an accountant, although, as far as I knew, I could have had a person on hand already.
Amy had run on her own for a long time and Roxy helped around the farm so they must’ve had at least some idea about the financial workings of a business, right?
It was right about that time that I started rubbing my forehead and wondering why I didn’t spend more time studying economics and stuff in my younger years.
“Mags,” I said after about five full minutes of standing just inside the doorway, “Mags is smart.”
And just like that, I decided to visit our resident engineer, hoping that I wasn’t going to catch her off-guard or get surprise hugged or eviscerated by Fiddles.
I imagined it was fifty-fifty.
“Hey, Mags, you up?” I asked as I descended into her spacious workshop.
“As always,” she replied, working on some kind of holographic framework with Spencer in the corner where the pod had been, “what’s up?”
“Just wondering if you knew anything about accounting.” I said, trying and failing to get a look at what Mags was toying with as she clapped her hands and it disappeared.
“Do I seem like the kind of person to know a lot about accounting?” Mags asked amusedly as Spencer and I exchanged a wave.
“No, but I figured I’d ask anyway,” I replied coolly after the lift had finally stopped and I could start walking over, “what about Fiddles?”
“Fiddles is the last person you want touching your money,” Mags laughed, “also he’s kind of busy at the moment.”
“Doing what?”
“Trying to escape Spencer,” Mags said, pointing to our rocky friend’s stomach, “dipshit thought it’d be funny to test big guy’s patience.”
“I regret nothing!” Fiddles proclaimed, lighting up a section of Spencer’s chest which he then proceeded to punch.
Hard.
“So, business as usual then?” Mags asked after a few moments of waiting to see if Spencer had just killed Fiddles, “With the obvious exception that I have to keep an eye out for an accountant?”
“Nah, nah, I’ll head into town, see if I can shake anything loose.” I replied, mirroring her concern that Fiddles was crushed beyond repair, “But, if something does happen to slide past you-”
“I’ll let you know, yeah.” Mags interjected with a nod, “Spence, is Fiddles alright in there?”
Spencer, in true Spencer fashion, looked between us, then at his chest, then back to us and shrugged.
“Well, that’s comforting…” Mags trailed off.
“Naw, you guys like me!” Fiddles chirped happily.
“Nobody said that, Fiddles.” I said with a relieved smile, “See you three around, make sure to tell the girls I’ve just gone into town.”
“Maybe you should find a secretary while you’re out today,” Mags replied jokingly, “I mean, as long as we’re hiring we may as well go all out.”
“Heh, sure, as long as you don’t mind our collective cuts shrinking.” I chuckled as I made my way towards the lift.
Mags’ brow furrowed at that, “I’ll let them know. Oh, and before you go, what are we doing in regards to that whole ‘conquer the moon’ idea? ‘Cause I’ve got a bunch of-”
“For now we’re going to focus on bolstering what we have here,” I replied, figuring that she wouldn’t mind the interjection given her last one, “maybe even touch on that ship idea.”
