"Should we look for a job to do?" I asked the next morning.

Both girls still seemed to be lost in the breakfast I made for them and I needed to repeat my question one more time for them to snap out of it.

"Uhhhnnn… Huh? Oh! Yeah, why not? That's what we're here for right?"

I took out my Codex and went to the page that showed the potential jobs posted around this system.

Hmm… There's a couple of escort jobs and interestingly, most of them only needed to be escorted to the Warp Gate instead of their actual destination.

I guess they were only concerned about the pirates on this station robbing them outside the station.

Actually… It looks like these escort jobs are the most numerous here. There's even quite a number of escort jobs within the station itself.

"Should we get an escort job then? Seems like that's pretty much the only ones here that actually pays well."

Amber giggled, "Ehehehe~ I'm up for anything with you, Tera~ But I would say that it's a good chance to teach Lea about her responsibilities on board the ship."

Oh yeah… Lea hasn't really operated as a crew member on my ship before.

I turned to the Alv, "You were on a colony ship right? Were you familiar with any roles?"

She grimaced, "I was… The one who tended to the plants, mostly… What capacity do you require me to operate on, Captain?"

"Umm… I could use a gunner or a comms officer… Maybe even a navigator but I can mostly handle them myself if necessary. Are you familiar with any of these roles?"

"I… I'm afraid I am not, Captain."

Amber smacked her on her shoulder, "That just means you have to learn on the job!"

I turned to her, "I don't mind her just taking care of our garden though."

"Uh huh, so what's she going to do while we're in a dogfight? Sit inside the room and talk to the plants?"

Err… I guess that wouldn't be preferable and would be a waste of human resources. Besides, I suppose it wouldn't be good for her mental health if she's stuck somewhere where she doesn't even know how a fight is going.

Perhaps when I get a bigger ship, things like that wouldn't matter but right now it's best if she stays with me in the cockpit while I'm flying it.

Additionally, it's also much safer since the cockpit would be the sturdiest part of the ship and less likely to suffer a hull breach than the other parts.

I turned back to Lea, "Were any of the positions I mentioned earlier something you are willing to take up?"

She did not even hesitate for a second before answering, "I can be your gunner, Captain. But I am also willing to learn and occupy the other positions as well."

"Err… You don't really need to go that far though?"

"Captain, if it would place less burden on you if I were to help you more, then please allow me to."

Amber smirked, "Translation: She doesn't want the quality of your food to drop because of stress."

The Alv made a face at her, "That is definitely not the reason."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Mmhmm… Keep telling yourself that."

I cleared my throat, "Ahem… Anyway, I suppose we can just do one of the lower ranked ones to start off with. Shouldn't be that big of a problem, right?"

Amber leaned closer to look over my shoulder while scrolling through my Codex, "Hmm… I suppose… We should look for the ones where they are just looking for Mercs to supplement their existing escorts. That way, even if we do get into a fight, we don't need to worry about being perfect since there's others to cover for our mistakes if we make any."

Makes sense…

I filtered the list to match the requirements that Amber listed and found a few that we could take.

One of them involved starting the escort of a 'high profile client' from within the station and safely escorting him back to his ship before we proceed out of the station and continuing the escort to the Warp Gate within this system.

Once the client has safely warped away, the job will be counted as completed and we would receive our pay.

The job is also ranked as Silver so there shouldn't be that big of a problem. The guy was probably looking for more hired muscle to be on the safe side.

Sounds simple enough so why not?

I pointed at the specific job in particular, "How about this one? I think this one is good and it pays quite well too. Ten thousand Credits per day needed to complete this job."

Amber nodded, "This would probably take three days so that's thirty thousand Credits total split amongst the three of us. That's not bad. We can take it."

"Alright, then let's take it. Oh, the client wants us to start right now and meet him at… Err… 'The Sloppy BJ Club'? What kind of name is that?"

"Hey, you'd be surprised at the names here. The first bar we went to was called the 'Shut Up And Drink Bar' in case you didn't notice."

I did not notice at all…

Whatever, at least it gave us a map to where the bar was located so we could head there as soon as we suited up.

While I was putting on my gear, alongside the other two girls, I remembered the loot we had brought back yesterday.

"Are we going to sell the loot today as well?" I asked.

Lea turned to me, "It would be better if we sell more in bulk to the Trader Union, Captain. We might get a better price that way."

Amber nodded, "We might be able to get more loot on this escort hustle so we'll just sell everything together after we come back~"

Well, no complaints from me there.

I then looked at Lea, "Speaking of which… Do we need to get Lea signed up as a Merc as well?"

Amber made a face, "Yeah… We probably should… But it won't be possible to do it now before we go and meet the client without getting penalised for it… So I guess we'll just have to do it after we come back but that means this hustle would not be credited to her achievements."

Lea gave me a reassuring nod, "I am fine with that, Captain."

Hmm… I suppose that's fine. Let's go then.

I started loading my shotgun before I paused, "Do I even need to bring this?"

Amber looked over before nodding, "Yeah. The fact that they want us to start escorting them from within the station means that they probably expect or already know they will run into trouble here before they even get to their ship. So it's probably best if we prepare for a shootout."

Alright then.

I strapped my shotgun to my back while sliding my pistol into my holster before making sure I had spare energy cells and shotgun shells.

Once I was ready, I left my ship with the two girls and followed the map to the place in question, which actually brought us back to the entertainment district where we had been drinking the night before.

Just like the time we had came here when it was in the 'day', the place was relatively empty as compared to last night where it was packed full of people.

The bar in question was an establishment rather far in the middle of the district and there were a few mean looking guys standing outside the bar, all of them visibly armed.

I counted at least twenty guys and about half of them turned to look at us when we approached.

While most of them turned away almost just as quickly, a few of them had their sights linger for a while longer, though I realised that they were looking at us more to size us up instead of ogling at us.

One of them who was wearing what looked like a leather jacket peeled away from the crowd and approached us with a confident step.

"I assume you are Amber and Tera? You girls also accepted the escort mission?"

Amber nodded, "Yeah. Are you going to tell me you're the client?"

The man shook his head, "Not at all. My boss is still inside the club and we will move once they come out. But hold on, who's this?"

The guy was looking pointedly at Lea who was standing behind the both of us.

"I am a slave belonging to Captain Tera. I serve as her gunner and sharpshooter."

I thought that he might object to her presence but surprisingly, he nodded at her, "Very well then. We'll be moving soon so get ready. Depending on how things go inside, we might need to fight our way in or even out."

Just as I was about to ask him what he meant by that, the doors to the bar suddenly blew open and a guy flew out.

Almost at the same time, the sound of gunshots came from inside the bar and the guy we were talking to cursed before pulling out his pistol.

"Come on guys!! Get in there and protect the boss!!"

The others gave a warcry and charged in.

What the hell did I just sign us up to?