After finishing our docking procedures, our escort job was officially completed.

There was a final call between all of us where Reese thanked all of us for escorting her and we were given the confirmation for job completion.

We bade Samson, Maurice and Clandice farewell before ending the call, only to receive a private call from Reese soon after.

“Alright, I’m supposed to wait for the guy on my ship, no idea how they are supposed to know I’m the one transporting it but I was assured that they would find me. So come on over here.”

She also attached the location of her ship so that we could find it easily.

I made sure to lock my ship properly before leaving it to meet up with Amber, since we're on a station full of outlaws after all.

Amber was already waiting for me outside my ship with a rather sour look on her face.

“Honestly, I think we should have just shot her back at the station and be done with it.”

I grimaced, “That would have made you a criminal wouldn't it?”

“Meh, we'll just kill her, dump her body in that incinerator of hers, fly her ship out into space and blow it up. No evidence, no witnesses, minimal risks.”

“Uh huh… And what do we tell Samson and the others?”

“Just say that she took off on her own or something. Wouldn't be that surprising to be honest.”

“What? Do merchants just leave their escorts without paying them halfway through the journey?”

“It certainly wouldn't be the first time it happened in this part of the galaxy.”

Really? I guess I should be happy that Reese wasn't screwing us over.

“Well, we’re already here anyway… And I’d like to avoid killing someone that hasn’t exactly done anything to us.”

Amber slipped her hand into mine, “You’re too nice for this galaxy, Tera. Come on~”

With her holding my hand, we made our way towards Reese’s freighter.

Along the way, I noted that the people around us were all visibly armed or at least looked like they were ready to throw hands with anyone that pissed them off.

Yep… Definitely a place of outlaws I would say.

Reaching Reese’s ship, we found her waiting at the ramp with her arms crossed, looking less jovial than she usually would.

“What? Having second thoughts about this deal after all?” Amber asked.

Reese scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous. In this place, you need to look tough or thugs would just take advantage of you. Now come on, help me move the boxes out from my ship.”

“Huh? Can’t you just use your bots to do that?”

“It’s to make them think you’re part of my crew in case anyone is watching.”

I raised an eyebrow, “You think they are already watching you?”

She shrugged, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were considering where we are. So let’s go.”

The freighter captain turned back to the ship and we followed after her, letting her guide us to her storage room where the boxes were kept.

We wordlessly started carrying the boxes towards the loading ramp.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

As we reached the top of the ramp, we found a group of four cloaked figures waiting at the bottom of the ramp. No doubt these were the people that were waiting for the delivery.

Their cloaks completely covered their features to the point that I couldn't even tell what gender they were.

They waited for us to bring the boxes to them and we plopped them down in a row at their feet.

“Captain Reese?” One of the cloaked figures asked, their voice sounding like it came out from some machine.

I suspect it's some kind of voice modulator that hides that person's real voice.

Reese nodded at the figure before speaking up, “I brought these from Lenny.”

I was confused about what she was talking about when the figure replied without hesitation, “Daniel sends his thanks.”

Reese then gestured to the three boxes, “They're all there. Do you want to check?”

I realised their earlier interaction was giving each other the password to identify each other while three of the cloaked figures stepped towards the boxes.

Reese, Amber and I moved away to allow them to open them up and they carefully picked up some of the bags to start inspecting them.

Even with my inexperienced eyes, I could tell they weren't exactly inspecting the bags but simply digging through them to search for the locked crate.

When one of them lifted up another bag, the surface of the crate suddenly came into view and they immediately dropped the bag they tried to pick up back down, hiding it again.

That particular person turned towards the final cloaked figure and whispered something before moving to close up the boxes.

“This is satisfactory, Captain Reese. Your payment, as promised.”

The cloaked figure reached out one of their hands to reveal a Credit Chip there.

Reese went forward to take it and I saw, just for the briefest of moments, that the hand holding the Credit Chip was not human in nature but some kind tentacle instead.

If I wasn't sure about Amber's claim that selling this away to someone on this station was a really bad sign, I certainly was sure of it now. Just what the fuck is that thing?

Reese barely even reacted so either she didn't care or she didn't even notice just what was holding on to the Credit Chip in front of her.

She simply plucked it out from that tentacle's grasp and slotted it into her personal terminal to check the Credits loaded into the chip before nodding.

“I have received the payment. Thanks.”

“Don't mention it,” The tentacle thing replied, gesturing with its ‘arm’ to indicate that its comrades should secure the containers.

We watched each of the tentacled things lifted up one of the boxes like it weighs nothing before scurrying away without a second glance back.

The moment they left, Amber sprang into action and grabbed me by the arm to pull along with her to follow after them without saying anything to Reese.

“Let's go, Tera!! We need to stop that from leaving this station!!”

I looked at her, “What are those things? Was I seeing things or did I really see a tentacle reach out to Reese?”

Amber turned to me, “That's one of the aliens that come from The Confederation! As if things can’t get any worse!!”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought that they were just selling to another group within the USC itself, not selling it to someone outside of it!! Do they even know what will happen if they manage to replicate that?! They have sold the entire USC out!!”

I’m not exactly sure what was going on but I at least know that those guys were basically betraying not only humanity but also our own allies by what they’ve done.

“So how do you want to deal with this? Are we just going to run up to them and shoot them in the face? Surely you’re not--”

“That’s a great idea, Tera! We’ll just wait until they get to one of the crowded spots and blast them in the face before running off with the box! Then it will look like we were only after the drugs inside them! Let’s do that!”

… Huh… I actually think that might work…

Before that…

“What kind of drugs are those anyway?” I asked.

“You mean the ones that are used to cover up the box? They’re widely known as White Powder, a kind of recreational drug that gives people feelings of euphoria when mixed with liquids and drunk. It’s pretty harmless on its own but people make use of it for all kinds of things so they’re sold everywhere.”

“Right… I’m not against the idea but I’d like to point out that there’s only two of us and there’s three boxes… All three of them look the same so we don’t even know which one contains the thing. How are we going to run away with all three? We’re not going to just destroy it right in the middle of the street, right?”

Amber stayed silent for a moment though she continued to follow those tentacle aliens.

“I… I can carry two. Tera, you’ll just carry one of them.”

“No, no, no… You’re forcing yourself, aren’t you? I have a better idea.”

She nodded at me to show that I should explain.

“Once we deal with those four, we’ll pretend to lose our grip on one and spill its contents. If it’s the one with the crate, we spill another one and pack up the spilled over one to take away, leaving the other one for everyone else to grab. If it’s not the one with the crate, we leave that and take the other two boxes away. How about that?”

She grinned at me, “That’s a great plan, Tera! Let’s do that! We can even sell off the drugs later for more profit too if we want to, this is perfect!”

“Just one thing… You sure the people from that Confederation or whatever they’re called won’t try and start a war over this?”

“Pffft, we’re in a Free Trade zone, Tera. No one can complain if they die here.”

Alright then… Then let’s get this show on the road.