NOVEL NEXT We're Heading Out
We were meeting with the trader who had hired us as his escorts.
We weren’t the only Mercs that he had hired so we’re not alone in this job.
The meeting point was set at the hangar bay where we would do a little self introduction before immediately heading off. I guess that guy must be on a tight schedule or something.
When I reached there with Amber, I found three other people there. Two men and one young woman with one of the men having a robotic left arm in place of a real one.
Honestly, he looked like those middle aged uncles that you might find working as the cool and silent type of bartender who would listen to your story and offer advice, especially with that short ponytail and beard.
The three of them turned and gave us a curt nod in greeting before turning back, resuming our wait for our client.
I leaned over to Amber and whispered, “Do you know any of them?”
She shook her head, “They're most likely new around here. Maybe they're the trader's original escorts and they're just hiring us as an additional muscle.”
“Oh, was the job only looking for one more Merc team to escort him or something?”
Amber giggled, “Nah, it’s just we’re the only ones who took it. Remember that there aren’t a lot of Mercs with ships out here, Tera.”
Ah, right… This isn’t a job that could be done if you have no ship after all…
But the trader must be pretty rich to be paying five hundred thousand Credits per Mercenary team that takes up this job.
“Also,” She continued, still whispering. “The place we’re going isn’t a place some rookie Merc would go.”
I blinked at her before pointing at myself since, you know, I’m only a Copper rank level two…
She chuckled, “Please. You’re anything but a rookie, Tera. There isn’t a Copper rank out there who can match what you can do.”
I wanted to say that most of it was due to my ship though, but the Merc with the robotic arm swivelled to face us when he heard Amber’s words.
“Copper rank? Girls, this is a Gold ranked hustle, why the fuck is a Copper rank here?”
Ah, I was expecting one of them to react like that. I’m betting he’s going to start demanding that we get lost or something.
Amber wrapped her arm around my shoulder, “Don’t worry your little ass over it, she’s with me and I’m the Gold rank here.”
“Hmm… She’s your crew, I take it? I can accept that then.”
“Nope, she’s my partner and I’m her wingwoman, got a problem with that?”
“Bloody hell lady, you’re gonna get her killed. You do realise we’re making a stop at the Cietai system right? We’ll have our hands full if pirates attack us so we’re not going to be able to babysit her. Or are you saying you’re good enough to protect both our client and your partner at the same time?”
Amber waved her hand dismissively, “Please, it’s her that would be watching my back. She’s only Copper rank because she joined the Mercs late, she’s hunted pirates even before becoming a Merc. Hunted down Holoface Yirfa and even wiped out her entire base all by herself I might add.”
Unexpectedly, the man turned to me and inclined his head slightly, “I see, I apologise for the earlier comments in that case, I was not aware. In that case, I’m glad to have you on our side.”
Wow… He’s actually a pretty nice guy huh?
I shook my head, “It’s alright, I get that anyone would have doubts if they were to hear about a low ranked Merc joining such a job. Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”
He nodded before sticking out his hand, “I’m Samson, pleasure to meet you.”
I grasped it and shook his hand firmly, “Tera. And my partner here is Amber.”
He released his hand and stuck out his hand to her but Amber surprisingly did not shake it.
“Sorry, but I don’t like touching others.”
Eh? Really? I didn’t know she was like that.
Samson didn’t take offence and merely nodded while withdrawing his hand, “I understand. The two over there are Maurice and Clandice.”
The two of them waved but said nothing.
Right then, a voice came from the side, “Ah, perfect! Seems like everyone is already getting along fine!”
We turned to see a relatively plump woman stoll towards us, her hand adjusting the monocle that rested over her left eye which brought attention to the fact that her right eye was a cybernetic implant.
She stopped in front of us with a grin, “The three of you already know but for the two new Mercs, I’m Reese! I’m the client for this little escort job! Are you guys ready to head out?”
All of us nodded.
She clapped her hands together, “Perfect! I shall be in your care for the duration of this journey so I hope we all get along! I’m not a Merc so I’ll leave it to you guys to decide how you would proceed with the escort formation. I’ll send you guys the route once we leave the station and if anyone has any suggestions or concerns about the route, do let me know!”
Reese said it so naturally that I assumed that she must have said the same thing multiple times before.
She then sent us the location of where we will form up to begin our escort a short distance away from the station and all of us dispersed to head towards our ship.
I felt a little lonely when I had to separate from Amber but I expected her to be docking on my ship as usual once we head out.
Settling into my ship’s pilot seat, I double checked that my ship had everything prepared and everything was green before requesting for take off permissions.
After buying all the supplies I needed to keep this ship running for a long haul like this one, I was left with about six million Credits.
Quite a significant amount for a normal person but nowhere near what I want to have since I do want a better ship and the good ones are really expensive.
I also took the time to send a quick message to Mara telling her that we were leaving and wishing her all the best and hoping we will meet again.
With the message sent and a notification about being cleared for takeoff, I started up my ship’s engines and coasted out of the hangar bay and into the void of space.
Looking to the side, I could see Amber’s ship also leaving the hangar at the same time, both of us turning in unison to head towards the meetup spot.
When we got there, four other ships had also just arrived, two of them being A Class ships and the other two B Class ships with one being a Heavy Bomber and the other a Freighter.
I’m guessing Samson was piloting the Heavy Bomber and a scan from my ship showed that it has really impressive armaments.
While my ship might be faster than his, his guns can rip apart C Class ships with ease and even fight while being outnumbered against ships of his own class.
I’m looking at Kinetic mortars, energy chainguns, railgun turrets and even torpedo and missile launchers. It’s basically a flying tank.
I received a notification about an incoming call through the comms channel and tapped on my screen to accept it.
The screen came to life to display the faces of everyone including Amber all seated in their ship’s pilot seats.
Samson was the first to speak, “You’re flying a Verlandi? Damn. Now I know you’re really suited for the job.”
Reese raised an eyebrow on her screen, “Oh? Why is that?”
“You don’t know huh? With her armaments, she can just keep out of range of me and shoot me down while I can’t even run or engage with her. The ship’s already out of production for years because of how expensive it is to make so I’m quite surprised you have one in such great condition too, almost like it’s new.”
I scratched my cheek, “Err… Thanks.”
Reese chuckled, “Alright, sounds like this trip might be a good one! I’m sending you guys the route now so if there’s anything wrong with it, let me know!”
My map was updated and a line indicating the route she mentioned was displayed on it.
It involved travelling towards the Warp Gate at the edge and jumping to the next system but immediately heading to another Warp Gate in that system to jump to the Cietai System. From there, we would be moving directly towards the Cietai Trading Hub which was literally floating in space since that system only had a star and no other planets.
“Samson spoke up, “If I may, I would suggest moving in this direction instead.”
The map changed and instead of heading straight for the Cietai Trading Hub when we jumped through the Warp Gate, the route curved around in a half circle instead.
“Eh? Why?” Reese asked.
“I’ve heard reports that there were quite a lot of ambushes between the first route so some pirates must have set up over there to ambush ships travelling to and from the station to the Warp Gates. I’m not saying that this route is a hundred percent safe but it should have fewer pirates than if we were to travel straight there.”
“Oh, sounds good. Let’s do that then!”
So this is how an escort is done huh,
With everything prepared, all of us engaged our travel drives and pointed our ships in the direction of the Warp Gate.
With a final look at the station behind us, I engaged my engines and the station rapidly disappeared behind me.
Time to head out!