"Hey, so what are you doing after this?"

"Probably going to bed with my lover."

"Oh, that blonde chick right?"

"Yes."

"Could I talk to her for a bit?"

"No."

"Aww… Just for a little bit? I saw her just now when she was talking to you and she looked like a pretty cute gal."

"Ah I… Did not… Achka… You're… Can't hear…"

I pressed the button to end the call and cut off power to my comms systems.

Amber giggled from behind me, "You should have done that from the start, Tera. That was so not worth it."

I groaned, "Ok, I admit. I thought that he might at least get the hint like an hour ago but I guess that was too much to expect from him.

"Even I have to agree with her on that… People like that… Their skin is too thick to feel any shame. I'd bet if you slapped him, he would feel like that was an invitation instead," The Merc we rescued muttered.

Amber laughed, "Hahaha! At least he gets it!"

I turned to him, "Might be a little late, but I don't think we've actually introduced ourselves."

He smacked his head, "Aye! Pisei na bola! I messed up! I'm so sorry! How could I show such disrespect to my benefactor?! Not exactly an excuse but I was so caught up with everything that it completely slipped my mind! I am Saulo! It's an honour to meet you!"

The Merc with the messy brown hair stuck out his hand and I only just realised that both his hands were mechanical from the wrist down.

I half turned in my pilot seat and grasped the extended hand, "I'm Tera. My lover over there with the amazing blonde hair and personality is Amber and the Alv with the best sharpshooter skill I've ever seen is Lea."

"Oh Tera, stop it you~" Amber giggled while Lea was trying to look busy by focusing her attention on her console.

Saulo turned to face them, "Nice to meet you as well and thank you for the help."

At least this guy is much better than the other one, who was still following us despite me showing absolutely no interest in him, by the way.

I checked the external cameras of my ship to make sure the wreck of Saulo's ship was still anchored properly to mine before turning to him.

"By the way… Could I ask you a question?"

He nodded at me, "Shoot."

I pulled out the data chip I found on his ship, figuring that it would be better to just ask him about it right now.

"Do you know what this is?"

He narrowed his eyes at it, "Is that… Oh, that's the thing that was sitting on top of my shelf in the storage room right? I actually don't know what it is. What about it?"

I pulled out one of the other data chips that I had obtained from the pirate lord to show it to him and reveal that they were pretty much the same.

"This is something that's part of a set that I'm collecting. I'm curious where you got yours from?" I half lied.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He scratched his head, "Hmm… I don't exactly remember… I think I got it as loot from a pirate I captured. I never found out what it was since I couldn't plug it into anything to read its contents. Assuming that there was anything in it in the first place. So what is that?"

"That's actually what we're trying to find out actually. Do you mind if we take this?"

He shrugged, "De igual. I don't mind. It would have just been sitting on that shelf anyway, since I don't know what to do with it and it's not like I know enough about it to sell it for a good price either. Heck, I might have just chucked it out if I had found it when I went through the wreckage later if it was still there."

Well, at least now I have his permission so I don't need to feel guilty about 'stealing' it from him anymore.

I'll probably need to contact Mara and ask her if there were any Decoders around here that I could use to read this data chip once we get back to the station.

"Just to make sure, that's not payment for saving you right?" Amber asked from the side.

"Huh? Of course not. There's no way I would think that something I had already deemed to be worthless would be suitable as compensation at all."

"Good. I might have just sent you out the airlock if you said otherwise."

"Hahaha! I know when to pay my dues so you don't need to worry about that. You did save my life after all and if you wanted to rob me, you could have just left me in the cockpit to die and taken everything while I was stuck there. But you didn't and for that I am grateful."

Amber turned to me, "Yes, my lover is really kind, isn't she?"

"That I agree."

I decided to pretend I was busy checking that we were still on course and didn't hear them talking behind me.

Just as I looked up from the console, the ship that the other Merc was flying suddenly flew across in front of me, almost causing me to crash into him.

The autopilot detected the sudden appearance of a foreign object in front of it and took control of the ship's thrusters by bringing us out of travel mode and engaging the ship's reverse thrusters at full power to slow us back down to cruising speed.

I was saved from being thrown forward by my seat belts but Amber and Saulo weren't so lucky.

Amber was at least still ok since she crashed into me and her face went right in between my boobs. On the other hand, the poor Saulo was sent stumbling forward and he tripped over to fall face first onto the floor.

Ouch.

I let Amber pry herself away from me before checking the map, confirming that we were alone and that there were no external threats nearby before I wondered why the hell did that Merc do that.

It should be common knowledge that if a ship was on autopilot and in travel speeds, you should not be impeding them by blocking their way unless you could not avoid it.

Seeing that we were literally in the middle of nowhere, there was no reason that this guy should have done what he did.

Despite being dropped out of travel speed, my ship still maintained its course towards Denibi station so I did not need to make any adjustments to our heading, giving me time to wonder why the heck did he do something like that?

Wait… Was he just upset that I cut him off and he wanted to harass us now?

I mean… I can see him doing that but was he that petty?

I watched as his ship spun a circle around mine before returning to my ship's right side while keeping pace with my ship.

Narrowing my eyes, I saw him looking at me through his cockpit and he was making some kind of weird gesture with his hands.

I don't understand… Was he cursing me or was he looking for something?

"He's asking you what's wrong with your comms," Amber explained helpfully, her face appearing beside mine so that she could rub her face against mine.

Oh my god, can't this guy just get a hint already? Do I actually need to say it to his face that we want him to fuck off before he actually understands how unwanted he was?

"If you like… I could help you deal with him," Saulo offered.

Amber turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And how were you planning to do that?"

"I could just tell him to his face that no one on this ship was interested in him. He should get the idea and leave us alone."

"And does that idea include making him think that we are part of your harem or something?"

He made a face at Amber, "Well… If he knew that there was another guy here, he might back off."

"Pfft, I'm not sure if you were just doing that to give yourself an ego boost or you genuinely believe something as stupid as that. Of course he wouldn't back down. In fact, he'd fight you once we get back to the station and we'll be placed as the 'prize' of your inevitable dick measuring contest. Then Tera here would have to come in and show the both of you how much better her dick is…"

My blonde haired lover then paused for a moment, as though realising something.

"Oh hey, that actually sounds like a good idea now that I think about it. Tera can come in at that time and then show you just how much better she is by screwing me right there--"

I covered her mouth with my hand, "Nope, nope, nope. Perish that thought right now."

"Awww… Hmm… I guess you're right. Showing you off to them is too good for them."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the Merc flying beside us and made a random gesture before pointing down at my controls, leaving him to figure out what that meant before I engaged my travel drives again.

I then boosted off, leaving the guy behind to chase after me.

Ugh… I bet he's going to come find us in the station later too…