As if to look behind the ship, Alexander glanced over his shoulder, I guess that was more common in cruisers and luxury ships, so I thought nothing further of it. Alexander had found a handkerchief from seemingly nowhere, “The Tyze system, Tyze 5, to be exact. I have my office there, it’s nice and a bit more… secluded. I’m certain a person of your character can appreciate that.” That last remark was probably a slight stab at scrap-sellers. Not all scrap-sellers were able to find wrecked ships, and it was a lot easier to get the exact part, if they were taken from perfectly functional ships. Where could one such person find a lot of ships, just sitting there? The answer; a ship-seller’s lot. I had never scrapped anything from functional ships, too much risk, and I prefer my tail un-zinged by laser-blasts. I decided to not let the words get to me, and started typing in the coordinates for Tyze 5 into the dashboard, the autopilot would handle most of journey anyway.
The Tyze system wasn’t a place for a girl like me, well not unless I was looking to act as a gold-digger, I would stand out like a pulsar at an anti-matter gathering. A central system, Tyze was home to wealthy persons, Tyze 13 was commonly known as “The Imperial Holiday Planet”, high-ranking Imperial officers would enjoy time off from their duties to the Bufadeach Empire. Tyze 13 was as such the only planet to not be guarded by the TDM, the Treaty for Mutual Defense corp, a private army, funded by merchants and philanthropists seeking refuge and solitude from a galaxy in turmoil. TDM was currently responsible for upholding law and order for the Tyze, Jahilt and Emeryne systems, a total of 35 planets, more than a 100 moons and several other objects, protecting the daily lives of about 63 billion lifeforms. Despite their high-class client-group, TDM aren’t likely to shoot on sight, and will only use force in response to force. It was vastly different to the standards under the Empire, part of the reason I made plans to stay far away from the Empire at all times.
I turned to Alexander, I don’t think he noticed that I slowed the ship down a bit, “So, a three stock drive flux capacitor for a cruiser, eh? How many do you get in the net with that one?” I had a blaster hidden under the seat, just in case. The whole ordeal, and how nervous Alexander appeared, something had to be fishy. He looked genuinely surprised however, “Pardon? I’m not sure what you are implying here…” I waggled a finger at him, “There is something you’re not telling me, about this job, about yourself, or perhaps why you’d ask a scrapper at a Nexus station for aid. I don’t know what it is that you’re hiding, but, and trust me on this” I showed him a fanged grin, “I would have no qualms ejecting you into the void, should you fail to tell me the truth.” Alexander now looked more worried than before, he was unarmed, and probably aware that you don’t usually want to corner a black tiger. Or was that a rat? I can never remember, but my message seemed to have gone through, Alexander was now actually looking scared, “Uhh, whoa now, there’s no need for such rash deeds, I can assure you. I will tell you everything right away, no secrets, I-i-i promise.” My tail was swishing, I had always slightly enjoyed scaring and interrogating people, a useful skill when it came to haggling the price of something down or up. “Good, I’m glad we could reach an agreement on that.”
Alexander took some time to wipe his brow once more, trying to get himself comfortable. “So, what knowledge do you have of the Knives of Darkmantle?” This was surprising, coming from someone like Alexander, Darkmantle was a system on the edge of galaxy, it’s three dark planets housing different horrors in their own. The Knives were known as the best, deadliest and most expensive bounty-hunters and assassins in the Galaxy, the dark-feathered crows were known for cruelty and for their intelligence; few survived having a mark of execution on them, when the Knives made their moves. Their ships silent, cloaked on most radars, their units swift and stealthy. “So, what in the name of Tongudd, would a salesman like you be worth for someone to send the Knives after you? Made a bad deal? Sold a faulty ship?” Alexander sighed, “No, well a bad deal is the right word for it, alright… So, you know of Zymwah 2, the planet where the young Bufadeachan Officers receive their new grades after finishing the academy? Well, the yearly party where the officers celebrate is good for business, the officers have plenty of money at ready, and many of them are influenced by SwampVodka, I’ve gone for three years in a row and made good money every time. But this time was different, there were several high ranking officers from outside the academy, I’m still not sure why exactly. Anyway, so I make a couple of deals for some speed-cruisers, ships that’d violate several Imperial laws, when this one young frog coming up to me, showing the Mark of the Knives, saying if I could not deliver a luxury cruiser with a three stock flux capacitor, I was a dead man within a year.”
Alexander spoke fast, but I think I understood what had happened, I needed clearance though before I was going to agree to help him out of that pickle, “So this frog… He wouldn’t happen to have bight yellow markings around his eyes, pale-blue skin elsewhere?” Alexander looked surprised, “Yes, in fact, very much so… How did you know?” Well, this was bad, I reached over with a serious glance, padding Alexander’s shoulder lightly, “Well, let’s just say that I keep notes on who important Imperial people are, and how they look. You’ve gotten into a deal with a bad one of the kind. The yellow markings are the Emperors own clan-markings, and the pale-blue skin, plus the dubious deals… That would be Galreth Prime, the Emperor’s highest ranking spawn, and the potentially Emperor-to-be. He have been scouring Imperial space for objects of power to secure his position, or perhaps take over from his father. Best advice is to stay as far away from that one as possible, but that advice is a little late to give now.” Alexander’s look of worry was now even more visible. I nodded understandingly, “So, I can see the problem you have… Now, normally I’d stay out of any and all deals regarding the Empire, but you have yet to say how much you think this job is worth. Let’s just say that I COULD be interested, but as you can guess, this won’t be cheap…” Alexander nodded, his worry had turned into determination, I’m guessing he wasn’t good at backing out of deals, even if they were bad. To be fair, it didn’t sound like he had much of a choice though.
The Scrap Eagle’s CommsUnit beeped, and began to glow, someone was hailing my ship. I looked to Alexander, “You expecting someone? My radars are not picking up any signals of ships nearby.” Alexander nodded, “We should be close to TDM protected space, I know they have orbital stations cloaked around, it is most likely one of those. Does my seat appear on the holo-projector?” I shook my head and turned to the console, the “accept call” button was buzzing slightly, I gingerly pressed it, and the holo-screen lid up in my face. A part of the ship’s front-window turned green, then dark and finally lit up with a helmeted, white-uniformed person. “Tidings pilot, this space is under the protection of the TDM, the Treaty for Mutual Defense corp, a file have been sent to your ship detailing laws and etiquette, while faring in TDM protected space. Can you please state your name, gender, occupation, ship-type and ship-name for identification.” I hesitated slightly, but seeing as I had no prior history with the TDM, I saw no reason to not comply, “Jade Khezad, Female, ship-parts merchant, custom built cargo-ship, the Scrap Eagle. So, as good customs go, who am I talking to?” The guard on the other end seemed to be busy, possibly typing my information in, he didn’t even look up as he spoke, “This is TDM OG3 station speaking,” he paused, seemingly running the data into the computer, “well, we have no prior data on you, miss Khezad, enjoy your time in TDM space, OG3 station, out.”
With that the screen turned off again. As if used to dealing with the TDM, Alexander, reassuringly said, “Do not worry, you can trust the TDM, they are notoriously hard to bribe, I have tried, and they are generally honest about their methods.” I nodded and looked at the autopilot’s monitor, there was still a small amount of time till the Tyze system, with it’s crowded 22 planets. Tyze-A itself was a dim, dark-blue star of decent size, I looked out the window; far in the distance I could see the vague blue light. A bit closer to the ship was a bright green star and a massive, off-pink/purple star a bit off to the right; Emeryne-A and Jahilt-A. The Emeryne system had a lot of luxury companies, such as the Olbany Cruiser Head-Quarters and main factory was the only thing present on Emeryne 5. As for the Jahilt system, things seemed a bit shadier, with only three planets, and all of them far from the star and always covered in thick atmospheres, they rarely saw as much traffic as Emeryne and Tyze. The awkward silence in the cockpit after the call eventually got to me, I needed something to talk about.
Obviously it shouldn’t be something that would make Alexander more wary of me than he already was at this point. “So, how long have you been dealing in luxury cruisers?” To my surprise, it seemed the silence wasn’t Alexander’s cup of tea either, he looked pleasantly happy with it being broken.
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