"So... this is your equivalent of a library." RC looked around the massive chamber as the tiny orange crab gestured wildly with its claws. The room had no books. No storage. Instead, it had a neatly arrayed grid of display terminals, each with controls at the bottom level; most of the swarmed by crabs that didn't even reach a human's knee. She couldn't hear just what was going on... but her first impression was that this was serving as a school, with each of those terminals being used for lessons with a cluster of surrounding children.

She assessed the terminals themselves. Easy to control, likely hooked up to the local database. The interface... actually had both a free, low-level bandwidth option, and a paid, high-level bandwidth option. Familiar enough. As she approached one of the terminals further from the door, Ripper set a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back at him; the ridiculous dyed hair seeming to surround his face, pressed in by the helmet.

"We're being followed. Two of the tentacle-handed ones. Armed."

RC glanced back. She had, of course, seen them. But she hadn't realized the two silver-shelled crab creatures were following them. Interesting. The assassin was competent at this. Most likely watching for tails was standard procedure in his line of work. "Keep an eye out, but don't kill them unless they attack. Don't want to create an incident."

Ripper frowned, and released her shoulder as she pressed her credit chit against one; and the display came to life. She started rapidly manipulating it, bringing up page after page of information in a language he didn't understand, as he watched the surroundings. Most girls were either attracted to him, or afraid of him. This cyborg chick was neither. She was friendly enough, but seemed oddly distant.

A hand on the shoulder from someone like him might get you anything from a backhand to a blush, depending on the girl, but she was just matter-of-fact. Maybe she was a lesbian? Or just didn't view Ripper as anything but a co-worker?

He went back to staring at the two aliens, who were now just leaning against the doorway, hands... well... masses of tentacles.. away from their weapons. Sort-of. They had both 'hand'-held rifles and some sort of shoulder-mounted weapons; and the shoulder ones were constantly sweeping around. A couple of the other crew were at nearby terminals; using some of the generous allotment of credits to review information.

Really, Ripper's interest had mostly died when he saw the presentation on alien species. He'd genuinely hoped for a chance to bang a hot alien girl on this trip; the sort of bragging rights that no-one from earth had for thousands of years. But aside from a couple of shape-shifting species that could look like most creatures they wanted to, none of them were really attractive.

Why couldn't the universe have some cute Twilekks or Orion girls out there? Even worse, the shape-shifters either had no bodily fluids at all, or the other one had toxic ones! If he somehow met one of the incredibly rare aliens that could look good, they would either poison him with a kiss, or feel like dry rubber.

And if he wanted to try alien food? He'd been warned to test it, because it was likely toxic; and if it wasn't it would taste bizzare, and have no nutritional value. Just terrible. This whole trip promised to be boring as hell unless maybe those aliens picked a fight.

He studied them closely. They... weren't even watching the humans. They were watching the smaller, orange crabs, and all the other aliens out here.

The posture, the methods, the fact they were standing out in the open... they were security, sure. And they were here... to protect his team. Great. Don't even get to kill any aliens. Yet.

***

As the teams wandered through the market, checking out what was on offer, making a few minor purchases to be delivered back to the Jeanne, Dax glanced at the surroundings for a moment, then back at Eyeball, as he was perusing a rack of exotic alien weapons; most of which would need modification to fit a human hand.

"Sir. RC is having some luck in her investigations, but there's actually something I would recommend we look into you may not have considered."

Eyeball looked over the rifle he was inspecting; essentially an 'ice' gun that somehow drained ambient energy from an area, sucking up that heat and turning a target into... well. Ice. The weapon was build for something without hands; it had a long pole with a gripping surface made to be held by a tentacle, and a single firing stud on the top.

"And what would that be? I thought most of this stuff was below what we or the Jotun already had?"

"With a few exceptions, it is, sir. But... the locals here are terraforming experts; and experts at rebuilding dead worlds. I've been reviewing the catalogues, and I strongly suspect we could acquire equipment capable of terraforming Mars, Venus, and Europa for us without a problem, and reviving Earth as well."

Eyeball blinked; and set the gun back on the rack. He turned to the squid-like creature running the cart; resting beneath what seemed to be a humidifier. "No need for the gun itself, but I'm interested in the plans behind it. Not familiar with the mechanism."

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The squid gave off a low burble. "Exclusive rights to sell weapon in Imperial space, we have. If you want make your own, we can custom-build to order."

"Hmm. Can I simply buy, say, five hundred guns from you, without actually taking any of the hardware but this one piece, and sign an agreement not to sell weapons based on them in Imperial space myself, and, in exchange, you give me the plans?"

"...You have ship. Full of marines. Easily able to manufacture more guns. Bring back to your world. This could cost me much potential profit. For plans, four thousand ninety-six rifles you buy. Also first rights to sell the guns on your world." The creature held up its tentacles, gesturing as it spoke. The thing used base-eight math, so for it, that was a round number.

"I'm not against the idea, but to be clear, my world is in the Forbidden Zone. You wouldn't be allowed to sell there from what I'm aware."

The creature suddenly drew back inside its cart, slamming the entrance, and stopped speaking; the display racks of weapons all sealed up as well; leaving Eyeball standing there empty-handed. He blinked. "Well. That was... unexpected. Alright. Sure, Dax. Lets go check out these terraformers."

***

Ripper glanced at what RC was doing; she wasn't even reading, just constantly flicking through entries and taking pictures, from what he could tell; before looking back at what he'd been checking with the marine; details about the various less crab-like species. One of the two shapeshifters were naturally blob-like creatures, and could only vaguely assume a shape at first; but with time, could become almost anything. The others were a bipedal, four-limbed humanoid race; that could appear to be all sorts of things, but the core 6-limbed skeleton was always there.

The latter was an easy kill; just go for the center of mass; while the former had a tiny nerve-cluster brain the size of an eyeball, and until you destroyed it, it would keep altering its shape and moving. One of them was... all over. The six-limbed creatures had scattered to the four winds, and could be anywhere. The blobs... were mostly just in one little corner of the galaxy.

Not good odds to see either. As Ripper turned away from the display, RC glanced over at him; and smiled. "Still looking for cute alien babes?"

"Ehh. Not much point. Find what you're looking for?"

"Not quite. The Emperor doesn't keep to a schedule. The Empire tells him what worlds are offered as tribute, and he goes where he likes, when he likes. Sometimes he just spends a year straight feeding, world after world... sometimes he goes home and visits his species' grave. Sometimes he visits the worlds of similar species and toys with the locals. He was last spotted at his homeworld; so no clue where he'd be by the time we got there."

"Too bad. So we have to use the whole 'sacrifice a planet to draw him in' plan?"

"Precisely. I've actually found quite a few excellent candidates. We'll probably let everyone have a bit of shore leave and do some shopping before we go... those guards have been ordered to execute anyone who messes with our crew on the spot... including other guards."

Ripper stared at the silver duo. ".,..What?"

"Likely concern about pissing off Cronos."

***

The structure was old, barely occupied. There were no displays, no racks of merchandise; just a counter, with a sleeping orange crab immersed in a tub of fluid behind it. Eyeball looked around as he entered, and stopped. "...This the place? Really?"

Dax stepped inside, smiling, and gently wrapped one seemingly-delicate hand on the crab's shell. "Sir! We'd like to speak with you."

The creature abruptly stirred; water splashing in every given direction, splattering across the counter, Dax's uniform, and the floor as it abruptly focused on her, covering its face protectively with its claws. "Not hiding! Work here! Supposed to be!"

Eyeball glanced back at Kezia and Montrose; their new marine, now that Pelletier was back on the Jeanne; then to the crab. "I'm looking for terraforming equipment. Is this the right place to buy?"

The creature rose up, tilting its body and raising both claws. "Yes! Yes yes yes! Terraforming equipment! We sell! Expert terraformers! We sell! Make cold, hot, wet, dry! Move rocks, deflect light! Grow life!" It seemed incredibly excited, practically vibrating with joy. It may not get many visitors, or customers; but if so, how did this place stay in business?

"I need something to fix a planet with a toxic, acidic atmosphere; get it mostly oxygen-nitrogen; and help it stay cool. Something to stabilize a planet with huge temperature extremes and long days... and something for a world that gets too cold."

The creature rapidly tapped buttons that were seen only to it on the counter. Images appeared of... a world surrounded in a strange, green swirl. Of metal posts embedded in the ground. Of a reflective surface floating in orbit of a planet. "We help! Usually just make worlds temperature stable again after all life die, atmosphere go crazy, and get cleansed. But we can fix acid! Hot, cold, all!"

"Good. I'd like to get complete packages delivered to one of the docked ships; the Jeanne D'Arc. What sort of pricing are we looking at?"

"Oh." The creature blinked, staring at the screens; and tapped a few more buttons. A series of options displayed over the screen; ranging from the cheapest option at a few hundred credits, up to about fifty thousand for the most expensive. Eyeball nodded. "We'll take the best option. How much space does it take up?"

The creature tapped a few more keys. A series of rectangular containers appeared; able to be connected together or disconnected for ease of transport, it showed an inventory and listing for each. "Dax?"

She studied it for a moment. "We've got space in the cargo bay, no issue, if you let me take a few hours to move things around... will make launching the gunships slightly tricky if we have to do it in a hurry otherwise."

"Hmm. You think our people will be safe here?"

"The locals are exceedingly cautious about offending us. We'll probably be safer here than the Imperials themselves are."

"Good." He turned to the creature. "We'll take it. Can you arrange delivery in... six hours?"

The creature consulted its translator, seeming to be checking on its own timing. "...Yes-yes! You pay, can deliver all in six hours! We will be ready!"

Eyeball sighed. "Alright then. This will work out well enough. Surprised at how cheap it is. Any luck on our intel, Dax?"

Dax made a show of tapping her handset and checking it; with Kezia around, and not knowing the truth, it wouldn't do to seem to know everything RC did. "We don't have what we wanted, but we have what we need. Tracking the Emperor is a no-go. We'll need to get him to come to us."

He nodded, and tapped his helmet. ~Captain Moreau, this is Eyeball. Plan A is a wash, we'll be going with plan B. This place seems fairly safe; I'd recommend the buddy system, but if anyone wants to take some shore leave and shop on an alien starbase, now would be a good time. We should be leaving in about eight hours.~