“Hmm… I was half sure that you might pick something boring like trash collection as your first mission,” Amber commented as we walked down the streets of the station.

“Well… I will admit that I do have a need for money seeing that I seem to be flat out broke at the moment… And trash collection doesn’t pay that much.”

In the end, I picked a quest that reported a few pirate ships hanging around a certain area ambushing merchant vessels heading towards the station. They’re requesting Mercs to search the area and hunt down any pirates there.

We would be heading out as soon as I notified the local security forces of my new status as a Merc as well as confirming the sale of the loot I brought.

Amber turned her head and raised an eyebrow at me, “Aren’t you going to get some money from selling a pirate ship you towed in?”

“Well… How much would that get me?”

She smirked, “How much were you thinking you would get?”

“In order for me to even formulate a guess, I would need to know the basics of the economy here… Seeing that I don’t even know how much a pair of boots might even cost, I don’t think you would get a satisfactory estimate from me.”

She turned back and scoffed, “Fair enough. To answer your question, a pair of boots might cost anywhere from five hundred credits to several tens of thousands, depending on where you’re buying it from. As for the ship in question, you might get anywhere from ten thousand to a hundred thousand if you’re lucky.”

Huh… That big of a difference?

As though expecting me to have that train of thought, Amber continued, “Don’t be too surprised. It really depends on who’s buying the ship. If no one is interested, then it’ll be the scrappers and they’re only interested in tearing that ship apart for scraps and scraps aren’t worth much.”

“I see…”

“This is why most people don’t bother trying to capture and sell ships. The risks involved are too great for the reward earned.”

Makes sense… You would need to try and disable the enemy ship while they are trying to kill you and even after disabling it, you would need to subdue the crew inside as well.

It’s easier to just blow them up and then search through the wreckage afterwards.

“Here we are, finish your things and get to your ship. I’ll wait for you in the docking bay,” Amber nodded, gesturing at the security outpost that we had arrived at.

I gave her a wave before entering the office, the officer behind the counter looking up as I did so.

Coincidentally, it was the same guy who had brought me in for questioning.

“Oh, it’s you again. I take it you are officially a Merc now?”

I nodded, “Just got registered earlier. Umm… So about the ship…”

“Yeah, you’ll want to head to the hangar for that. There’s a Trader Union rep over there that can help you with it.”

“Trader Union?” I parrotted.

He looked at me for a moment before smacking his head with a palm, “Ah… Sorry. I forgot you had the memory loss. They’re basically the people you go to when you want to buy and sell anything.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Anything? There’s no shops or anything like that around here?”

“Ah, sorry. That wasn’t a good explanation. They have this network of theirs that pretty much everyone doing business would use and you can list the things you want to buy and sell on it. So you can just find a representative there and list what you want to sell.”

“I’m going to assume that they take a cut of the sale?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He nodded, “Unless you know where to buy and sell your goods directly, most would just rely on the Trader Union to do it for them. Less hassle. Plus, their network extends to the entire known galaxy too.”

So they’re basically like some kind of online marketplace except on a bigger scale.

“I see, thanks. I’ll do that.”

He gave me a two finger salute, “No worries lady. Be careful out there.”

‘Lady’?

I looked down at myself.

Ah fuck, I forgot I was still stuck in this body I created as my character…

I leaned against the counter, “Hey, just curious… Is there a way for me to… Get myself a dick?”

He didn’t even stop to think before answering me, “You mean on this station? Yeah there is. There’s a few Cyware Clinics and a couple of Gene Splice Clinics, depending on what type you want.”

“Err… What’s the difference?”

“Well… If you want a cybernetic dick, then you’ll have to go to the Cyware Clinic. They’re the cheapest option if you just want to fuck some people with something attached to you. Although if you want the thing to actually give the feeling of having one, that would cost quite a lot. Then the Gene Splice Clinics would have you grow out the thing from your own body but that might cost around the same as the premium ones from the Cyware Clinics depending on your requirements.”

I blinked at him, “You know a lot.”

He shrugged, “Not surprising, I use the Gene Splice Clinics to mod myself.”

I didn’t get to ask what he modded himself with before a reptilian tail appeared from behind him, waving in the air.

“I liked snakes when I was little so I saved myself some credits and spliced myself with some mods that gave me a tail. It’s prehensile too, pretty useful. But well, I usually keep it tucked against my leg so they don’t hit something when I turn around.”

… That… Is actually pretty cool.

“How much?” I asked.

“To get yourself a dick or my tail?”

“The dick.”

He thought for a moment, “If you want an organically spliced dick that is an actual functioning Terran one that matches your body… Pretty costly to be honest. Maybe around a million or so Credits.”

I… Don’t even know if that is considered expensive or not?

I mean… Of course it’s a lot of money considering the maximum I could sell the pirate ship I towed back was a hundred thousand Credits… That meant I need to go and sell ten ships just to afford a dick…

But I’m not sure in terms of these body modifications, would that be considered cheap or expensive?

Either way… I guess it doesn’t change the fact that it was still a substantial amount of money that I do not have at the moment…

The quest I took to hunt pirates was only paying five thousand Credits for patrolling that area and an additional three thousand Credits for each pirate we find and take down during the quest…

Ugh… I can already feel the grind needed to just get the money required for that body mod…

The disappointment must have shown on my face because the guy gestured for me to lean closer.

I did as he asked and he whispered, “There exists underground clinics that might be selling body mods for cheaper… But I’m not actually suggesting you go find those. Those places are not only highly illegal, but there’s a high chance that the mods they use on you would have really bad side effects… I’m only telling you these places exist so that you know they do and to avoid them.”

Huh… Well good to know.

I guess it’s normal for these places to have the legitimate and illegitimate versions of them, especially when the legitimate versions cost that much…

I nodded at him, “Thanks for the heads up, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Just so you know I’m serious… I used to have a friend back in the past who went to one of these places… He got some kind of chip implanted in his head that supposedly would give him better eyesight and… Well… That chip ended up frying his neural circuits and he ended up blind. I’m telling you, not worth it.”

Ok… Definitely sounds bad…

I thanked him again before leaving the security office.

Despite that rather morbid warning at the end, I actually feel quite hopeful.

Hey! I just found out that I wasn’t permanently stuck in this body! I can potentially mod myself back to my original self!

The only thing preventing me from doing so is money! Which honestly is a small problem!

I made my way to the hangar, relying on my memories to show me the way and I found myself back there easily enough.

The place featured a large open area with landing bays that ships could land on. If your ship was above a certain size, you would either need to park your ship outside and fly in with a boarding craft or make use of the station’s docking bay if it had one.

And sitting in one if the landing bays was my ship, just waiting for me.

I thought about looking for the Trader Union guy first but decided that I could just come back again with any spoils I got from this quest and sell everything together for better efficiency.

Alright then, guess it’s time to make some money!