Chapter 2 :Arrival at Tarmein Prime
The three ships I'd already taken down were carrying 19,000 Ener worth of goods that I was able to salvage, plus I was able to get a few still intact data caches, if I'm lucky they would show the coordinates of the pirates home base and sell it to the Imperial Army.
The 19,000 Ener wouldn't buy a whole ship, but it would probably let me refuel Krishna, stock up on ammo, and do some maintenance.
"Might as well go for the trading colony, then."
I set my sights on the largest trading colony in the star system.
According to my information, I'd also find the army headquarters stationed in this system on that colony. It would be a convenient place for receiving my bounty and selling the information I stole.
I set the main generator's output to cruise and turned the ship toward the trading colony. A little nudge on the throttle got the ship up to ample acceleration so I could activate the faster-than-light drive.
The engine roared. The scenery around me bent and warped. Stars bled into streaks that flowed past the windows.
I didn't know the practical theory behind the FTL drive, but I knew it was mostly used for long-distance travel within star systems and I could definitely tell why.
I was moving insanely fast. The universe rushed past my windows. Debris pinged against the ship but didn't leave any real damage. My energy shields were doing their jobs, but this also showed that I needed more energy packs.
My beloved Krishna also had a system for navigating between star systems: hyperdrive. The ship could slip into the hyperspace lanes between star systems to travel at speeds far faster than light.
I didn't know the particulars of the underlying theory, but the important part was that it'd let me hop between star systems. I didn't really need to know all the confusing details to make it work. I just had to sit back and enjoy the ride, which was fine by me.
I could also travel super-long distance via wormholes. Of course, it wasn't as easy as just hopping into any old wormhole I happened to find.
They were usually managed by Nobles belonging to galactic empires, and heavily regulated. Some people could help out the empires and get access to wormholes, but a normal mercenary like me wouldn't be so lucky.
Even as I sped along pondering the mysteries of interstellar travel, I passed an enormous gas giant. The incredible sight made me want to turn off the faster-than-light drive and admire the awe-inspiring scenery of space, but I had to hurry to reach that trading colony. If I sat around ogling the wonder of space, I could get attacked by more pirates and while they were good for making money I really needed to get to a colony and refule, then begin looking for a crew to help me find the one piece.
***************************************************
I was still stargazing when the Krishna's support AI notified me that I was approaching my destination.
I braced myself to turn off the FTL, reducing all that momentum from max to zero is a great undertaking for the machinary, and while the shields absorbed most of the enertia, I could still feel a bit of a jolt.
I used a touch pad in the cockpit to message the trading colony and request permission to dock in their hangar.
"Control of Tarmein Prime, this is Captain Monkey D Luffy of the SS Krishna, requesting permission to dock, Over"
They responded promptly. "This is the Port Authority of Tarmein Prime, accepting your docking request. Captain, heard for docking bay 3, Over"
"Message received Control, thank you." with that my journey as a mercenary had begun.
***************************************************
"And where did you obtain all of this Rare Metal in your cargo?" The Port Authority seemed intent on interrogating me.
"I got all the stuff in my ship from defeating and looting space pirates.
Any other problems?" I was fortunate that alcohol wasn't contraband in this colony with how curious they were about the Rare Metals. I had no clue where I had gotten it, so my only option was to play innocent.
Fake it till you make it, they say.
At this point, I was an unaffiliated, uninteresting, self-styled mercenary with no reputation.
How would you feel if a guy like that strolled in with tons of precious metals? Yeah, suspicious. Extremely suspicious. I couldn't blame the Port Authority worker for being thorough in his questioning.
"And you absolutely cannot tell me where you got it?" he pressed.
"I've been telling you where I got it: from the pirates. This pointless questioning is really irritating." Was this guy talking in circles intentionally?
Was he waiting for me to get annoyed and blow my own cover? Or did he want something else, like a bribe?
Oh ho ho, I know what it is. I bet he wants to make me suggest a bribe first so he can use that to either arrest or extort me. It was a waste of time to play along with stupid games like this.
What to do, then?
I was still pondering my predicament when someone barged into the questioning room without so much as a knock.
She was a young woman; maybe "girl" was more accurate? I'd be lying if I said she wasn't pretty darn hot, too. Nice features, shiny blonde hair, red irises, and a pure white uniform with a red mantle. Her dress made her look like some heroic lady knight or war maiden.
My Port Authority "friend" quickly fell to fawning. "O-oh my, Lieutenant Serena. What brings you here?"
"I saw an unfamiliar ship in the hangar. I presume he is the owner of the craft?" she asked, pointing at me.
"Y-yes, ma'am." The Port Authority worker broke out into a nervous sweat as he handed this military woman the tablet he was holding.
She skimmed the tablet, and then her gaze turned to me.
"That is quite the quantity of Rare Metal. I trust it wasn't obtained through unsavory means?"
"Swear on my life," I replied.
"Hmm… Are single mercenaries capable of defeating space pirates?
and it shows here that you've recently registered to the international mercenary guild (IMG) . Do you have anything else you'd like to report?"
"There was coordinate data on their ship that seems to point to their home base. I got that info from analyzing the data caches of the destroyed pirate ships. I was hoping to hand over that info while I grabbed my bounty, but I got dragged here as soon as I revealed what was in my cargo." I shrugged for good measure, just to emphasize how little I really knew about all this, and laid all the blame on my Port Authority friend.
Something in her bearing reeked of galactic police. She clearly outranked my buddy from the Port Authority. If I made it clear I planned to cooperate, maybe she would help me out here and get my friend into a bit of trouble.
"You have no proof that his cargo is stolen, correct?" she asked the Port Authority guy.
"Y-yes. That is true."
"Then I don't see the issue. Will he be selling his cargo to the colony?
We're awfully lacking in Rare Metal, so this could benefit us greatly."
"B-but…" "But what? Do you have some sort of information that I, the daughter of Marquess Holz, should know about?"
"Er, well…" "Because it seems to me like the real problem here is a Port Authority worker holding up incoming ships' cargo in the hopes of extorting bribes."
Lieutenant Serena grinned at the Port Authority worker, who shook like a leaf under her glare, to be honest; despite the smile, she was terrifying.
"I-I would never do such a thing!" he said.
Let it be known to all that I was laughing at the dude in my heart the whole time, that's what he gets for trying to swindle me.
"Here's what's going to happen. We will buy the Rare Metal from him at a fair price. This upstanding, self-styled mercenary will receive Ener for ridding us of space pirates. Then, he'll likely use that Ener to buy things from our colony. Everybody wins, no?"
"Y-yes, ma'am, of course! I will process the paperwork right away!"
The Port Authority worker jumped up from his seat and bolted from the questioning room like a prisoner making his escape. Maybe he was. Maybe he really wanted to escape those heavy glares that badly. Either way, it left me alone with this Serena.
After the Port worker's exit, she turned to me. "My apologies. Sometimes he is a little too…dedicated to his work." oh so you going to stick with that lie then, OK I'll bite you did just help me out.
"No I understand, and I should say congratulations having such hardworking subordinates, must make work much easier" it must have hit a nerve because her face showed the tiniest of signs of anger, but as a noble she quickly took control of her emotions.
"Well my lady it was nice seeing you, but I must be really on my way, thank you for the help" as I was about to leave she stopped me dead in my tracks with words that shock me to my core.
"Say hello to your Grandfather for me"
"I don't know what you're talking about" was all I could force out.
"Oh is that so?" she asks in an amused manner, I might not be looking at her right now but even I knew she had a mocking look on her face as if to say I got you.
"Then I guess you're not the Monkey D Luffy who is the grandson of General Monkey D Garp, I sorry I mean adopted grandson" with that information I gave up trying to fake it so I dropped all pretences and turned around.
Sigh " OK ok you got me, but how exactly did you know that, I'm pretty sure I told the old man before I left to consile that information?"
"Oh that!, it's simple, while others might not have the clearance to get through a general's directives, I as a Nobel get a free pass,"
"And I don't know why you want that information to get out there, but I will not get in your way, I just wanted to meat the grandson if one of the men I admire who's not a Nobel, also I want you to have this" she then handed me my terminal.
You might be wondering why I'm hiding my familial connections, we'll I just figured out it would be easier being a mercenary who was not related to a man who was of the few who commanded the military of an intergalactic Empire that ruled the entire eastern part of the universe.
What you thought I was ashamed of my old man, that preposterous, I mean whole in their right mind adopted a kid from a strange shop, on that front again who in their right mind left an infant alone on a spaceship again, oh I know ROB,
But the moment that thought is finished I start to feel a heavy pressure on my mind, body and soul.
OK ok ok I'm sorry ROB, I wont bad mouth you again will stop already.
'HMPH' PS did I mention ROB is still hanging around, but just as a voice in my head that only talks when it wants to he says his he's because my life seemed interesting.
"Take my contact info, I just like knowing that I have people in my corner, and when you get into trouble I will give you a hand" taking a moment looking at her outstretched terminal I touched mine to it and a new contact was added to my contact list. 'Serena Holz'
Having now found my old friend, the Shady Port Authority worker, "Now, in exchange for your Rare Metal, we will pay you 2,500,000 Ener," the Port Authority worker said. "Is that acceptable?"
"Sure." I opened my terminal, something like a smartphone, and found 2,500,000 Ener deposited into my account.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Need anything else? If not, I'm off to the Army HQ so I can get this bounty and take a nice nap, and a bit of food, Cool?"
"Right. Well, later." There wasn't much use in getting mad about the whole debacle at this point. I left the Port Authority behind.