Playing with the Asura’s toys had been fun, and I found myself fearing the Faccet Gun. That shit was meant for military boardings and would annihilate all in its path, with one major drawback. You better have some damn heavy armor, or those blades could bounce back and annihilate you.

The Facility showed those little blades mincing anything without armor into ground beef, if not smaller, and that made me shiver. I also had absolutely no need for it, which she understood. Bounty hunters needed to keep their bounties in enough pieces to be somewhat identifiable. I could see situations where you were facing many that it might be good. But I did not want that thing on board at this point because of the bounces.

As for the Grenade launcher?

That thing was now nicely packed with two clips of explosive grenades courtesy of the Asura woman. As for the rifle for newbies that she gave me, I decided to take it along with a couple of clips for Emma. She was still not ready for battle, but she had been working out like a fiend to increase her strength and stamina. She was having issues with cardio and was without something to run on.

We would have to work on that. In the meantime, I was allowing her to use an unloaded rifle as a weight, ensuring that she was at least able to carry that as a weapon. Then, I took one for the Magic Fuel Cannon, too, just in case. You never know when you might need one. For now, it was going to sit in the corner, unloaded with the five rounds included.

And it would stay unloaded, and the clip of Magic Fuel rounds away from the cannon itself.

Because that was a damn smart thing to do; if I had a safe that I could lock up those rounds, I would be doing so. Because I didn't, I started to lock my room to everyone else when I was not inside because of the sheer number of arms inside the room. The parts also were starting to overfill, and that would become a problem in the future if I did not start to use some of them up and toss out the junk.

Then again, I still needed to practice a lot.

Now, after coming back to the ship, Ura placed an order with her contact in her old military for thirty small light cruisers with slipstream drives like this one and ten modified ones to be modified into Smuggler ships with top-of-the-line military tech for hiding things.

This then spoke to the largest problem that Ura and I needed to start solving: finding crews for the ships. We were about to be in desperate need of personnel, all of which we would not be able to find crews for easily. Then we also needed bounty hunters, and Ura and I were lost for a bit.

“We are going to need to use some form of recruitment agency,” I said bluntly.

“Those agencies can be problematic, though,” Ura said with a frown. “They can put in people who plan to betray us and then skip out with our ships.”

“Then we use multiple Recruitment agencies!” I said, exasperated, as Ura took us out of orbit to enter a slipstream toward the next planet. Honestly, we get one agency to get us a couple of engineers, another one a couple of captains, and then we bring them together. The bounty hunters, we can do a little of the same, although I do have an idea for one team of bounty hunters, although they were not that good now that I think of it.” I said with a frown.

“How restrictive of contracts do you want to be?”

“One year contract,” I said bluntly, “with a three-month probation period for results. We can ensure we start bringing in money, and we are also going to need someone full-time somewhere to start doing all our legitimate shipping.”

“Oh, no, that I can handle,” Ura said with a smile, ”With a combination of artificial intelligence and the amount of time that we are in space, I think you do not realize how picky I have been with ship cargo. I have tons of offers for small, fast ships in the area. With our slipstream drive? They save on our large fees too. Seriously, I don't think you understand how much they save on insurance.”

“So you are just going to start optimizing their routes?” I asked.

“Yep, I can even automate it to some extent. Then, we can have individual captains pick between a selection of deliveries. Then, we can have a bonus structure and a punishment structure. To top it off, we will have a profit share incentive so that employees don't have the risk we take but have the benefits of a Dividend bonus structure. So those at the top get a bonus, let's say top two, then a share in their ship. That way, we don't have to worry about people taking control of the ships and going pirate. It also helps that although these are ships that come from the military, they are unarmed, making them not the greatest pirate ships.”

“I see that you have been thinking about this,” I said to Ura, and she smiled.

“Well, I have been coming up with a draft, and then I plan to have a federation Lawyer go over the laws and make everything very official. We are also going to incorporate! That way, everything is going above board. I will also go over with my contacts how to make the ships look second-hand and older from the reserve, but those are all basics at this point.” Ura said, “Oh, We are about to enter slipstream,” Ura commented.

We both went silent and then, after we entered slipstream space, she turned to me fully. “We will have various things to set us up for success; the problem is the bounty hunters that we want to protect our cargo,” Ura said.

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“Which means hiring small teams or maybe even contract-based for the ships.”

“Contract-based?” Ura frowned, “That might do it.”

“We can also put up a notice on the bounty board, I think, for ships for protection and freedom while exploring the universe with a minimum level and a base salary or profit incentive like the other employees,” I said and shrugged.

“Too much for now. We will be picking up the credits at the next stop, and it will be harsh to pay them off. We are going to be indebted to Gladine for a while—a very long while,” Ura said, and I smiled wryly.

“Yup, but if we do this right, not as long as we both think. With twenty million credits a pop for each spaceship and sixty million for the modified,” Which made me wince, “The fact that we are also paying each one separately from each other and no interest until then?” I shrugged, “The profit margins are much higher for us,” I smiled brightly. “Who is to say that if things start going south on us, we can just burn them?”

“The fact they would hate us?” Ura replied.

“Ura, they would, but they also cannot push us,” I said bluntly, “We have hands in each other's pie. That is why we have a low interest rate, and most of it is to be paid in services. Gladine clearly wants smugglers, not debtors. The fact that we can burn each other and that separation is what makes both of us valuable to the other. We prioritize her, and we both win. We get a fleet of forty small liners, and if things go to shit around this part of the Federation, what do you think will happen to Insurance rates?” I asked.

“Oh,” Ura started to chuckle, “You're saying that as we start smuggling guns into these places and start stirring the pot in this sector, the insurance rates will go up. Then we can charge more even while saving the customers money.”

“Exactly.”

“That is diabolical,” Ura said, clapping, “I guess with those things in mind, there was a reason when we were setting this all up, you refused that fixed rate. I can’t believe I did not think of that as we were negotiating.”

“Honestly, I thought it might be a good idea to go with a fixed rate for the smuggling, but I thought, if things are getting dicey around here, maybe we can charge more later.”

“Well, I think we have everything set up for now. We can't really do much more without the extra funds, and my payment to the loan company for our ship is paid up again. We have credits flowing into our pockets and high-profit margins. Are you thinking about bounty hunting?” Ura asked.

“Absolutely,” I told her with a grin. “No way do I want to sit in the background. First, I plan to train myself in crafting, though. I feel hopelessly out of depth with a lot of my tools. I will move forward once I can craft some basic traps with more technology.”

“Then we do not have much more time before your contract ends. It is only six months, and we are on month two. You should send the money, and we should start to hire more bounty hunters, too.”

“Yeah, I think I will start with Emma, but I believe we should get slaves for the other smuggling ships. Ones that we can indenture to us for freeing them. I am sure we can find some questionable people out there that will suit our purposes.”

“Or you can capture them,” Ura said, and I smiled.

“Or I can capture them; that might be a good idea,” I said slowly. “I would have to look into that. The bounty hunters are where I think everything will become the hardest.”

“What are we going to call the Corporation?” Ura suddenly asked. “We need a name for when I incorporate, and we do not have one.”

“Planet Express?” I asked with a grin.

“Um,” Ura looked down. “Nah, it's too small-sounding, in my opinion.” The reply was serious, but I guess Futurama was not in this universe.

“Milky Way Deliveries? Smugglers Inc? Slipstream Deliveries?” I frowned, “Actually, I think it would be a mistake to call ourselves after just a delivery service. Especially because bounty hunting is in our image.”

“Hmmm,” Ura was thinking, too, and we both were lost.

“How about Sleepy Corp?” I asked.

“Just your name?” Ura asked.

“Nope, I was thinking that was a good way to hide what we really mean. Sleepy, Smugglers, libel, Express, Extraction, Procurement, Yield,” I said with a grin, “I know it is stupid, but I mean, What can we do to add both our names? Sleepy Ura Corp?”

“You're right; I think your first name is better. It is either that or Wonder Corp, but there is a major corporation with that name. We are looking for a tier-three corporation name at this time, and I don't think Sleepy corp is taken. Sleepy Limited is a major bed corporation and sells around the Federation, but Corp? I don't think so. We will see; for now, it is better than anything else we got.”

“Okay, we can go with that then,” I said, turning to leave. “I am going to go to bed; I will see you in the morning.” I grinned. “You are perfectly allowed to ride me as long as you want,” I told her with a grin, and Ura blushed.

I walked out of the bridge, past the med bay, and noticed it all locked up. Emily was walking by, covered in grease. “Ah, SleepyWonder. The ship is in good shape. Is it possible for me to get some extra parts in case things go wrong?” Emily asked, and I nodded.

“Of Course. We have limited room, but you can have what you deem necessary. Ura will back that up. Um,” I paused, “I have a question for you.”

“Shoot, I am your slave after all,” Emily said with a hint of saltiness, and I shrugged.

“We are thinking of expanding. I was wondering if you know anyone who would be interested in a start-up corporation in your field?” I asked her. “I promise that the contract would be great.”

“Better than mine?” Emily asked, then shook her head. “Sorry, you are much better than what I could hope for. You have not mistreated me at all. Um, it depends on the contract terms. Slipstream engineers are in demand and can punch their own tickets.”

“What if we gave them part ownership in the ship that they have to sell off back to us and dividends from the corporation as bonuses and bonuses for those who perform above and beyond?” I asked.

“Hmm, that is actually a lot better than the industry standard,” Emily said, thinking, “Actually, I might have a couple of people interested depending on the wage that comes along with those benefits.”

“We need like forty,” I said, “and ten that are willing to do what we are doing.”

Emily looked at me, a little shocked, “That many?!”

“Over two years,” I said.

“Hmmm,” Emily looked thoughtful.

“I might know two that would be willing to do what we are doing for greater returns. They have a bit of a gambling problem, but that comes with risks.”

“I see. Do you mind probing them for interest?” I asked.

“Absolutely. You have been nice and have not bothered me with my toys. As long as your Promises are held, I am willing. I will look into it for you.”

“Thanks, Emily. I honestly would love to hire you after we free you, and I plan on doing so,” I told her.

“We will see,” Emily said, then started to walk away, “You know, if you are going to expand a lot, having a physical place where you can run things would be highly beneficial. You can hire people on that planet to do things you can't do in space, like making various things like traps and Drones. Things that might help you out,” Emily said, looking at me, “think about it. You don't need to do everything, SleepyWonder.”

Emily was about to leave then stopped, “Also, we need to have a conversation about my compensation. When you purchased me, you said you would pay me instead of forcing me. I think that we should have a conversation soon about that.”

With that, she moved toward the bridge, and I continued to walk and think about what she said. I could not help but agree. “Absolutely,” I said as she left, and I was left with a lot to think about.

I grabbed a snack, fed my character, and logged out.

Tonight was date night.