I managed to get the hyperventilating cat girl to calm down for now.

Seriously though… I now understand why the ship is special but I don't think people would respond like this right?

If someone else told me they had a time machine in the shape of a certain car, I would just ask to see pics of it and that would have been enough.

I then explained to Ries that we were keeping away from the ship now because of some circumstances and we needed to wait for some time before we could return to it.

She was obviously not that happy about it but at least she's no longer looking like some crazy girl that was starved for several days.

"How long would you be away from the ship then?" She asked as we continued looking around the rest of the floor.

"Honestly, we were planning to stay here for maybe two or three days before heading back."

"Nngghh… That's so long… Could I just go take a look at it myself?"

Amber answered for me in my stead, "Assuming you owned a Verlandi yourself, would you trust someone you just met to go and take a tour of your ship unsupervised?"

"Fuck no."

"Then of course we're not letting you go and take a look at the ship on your own."

The Maochatte clucked her tongue, "Fine…"

Lea spoke up right then, "A question, if I may, Captain?"

I nodded at her to go ahead.

"Why are we even entertaining her request though? We do not have any obligations to do so, do we?"

All of us turned to look at Ries at that moment and the cat girl stared back at us.

There was silence for a few seconds before Ries slowly pointed at herself, "I… I can't?"

Mara stuck her hands in her pockets, "She's right though. I was under the assumption that you owed her something, Tera. Why else would you be so accommodating to her?"

Amber also nodded, "Yeah! She was even mean to us at the start!"

"Wait, wait! I already apologised for that didn't I?! And I paid for it by guiding you around too!"

"In exchange for saving your ass from the guards."

"Ngghhh… Please? I've always dreamed of seeing one up close! I'll do anything!"

Amber immediately smirked at that, "Anything?"

"Yes! Anything!!"

"Would you spend an entire night eating us out just to get on the ship?"

"Yes!" She answered without a moment of hesitation.

"Damn, I was joking but I guess you're really desperate huh?"

"It's a Verlandi! Do you know how rare it is to come across one in this galaxy?! You'll have better luck finding a Credit Chip containing a million Credits floating around in space than finding a Verlandi!"

She then paused for a moment as though processing her own words before she gave me a look, "It is an original Verlandi right? Not some imitation made in its image?"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"It's an original," I told her.

I'm pretty sure it's an original at least, considering how I obtained it.

Ries then nodded sagely, "Then I rest my case! Anyone who knows what a Verlandi is would be foolish to give up on this opportunity!"

Lea then shook her head, "That was not the question though. I was asking why Captain should even listen to your request?"

The cat girl hesitated for a moment before clapping her hands together, "Oh! You're looking for a new ship right? I can help you find one! And I won't even charge you anything for it! I can also help you do some maintenance on your ship free of charge!"

"That sounds like something that would benefit you more than it would benefit us?" Amber pointed out.

"Ughh… I would pay you for it but… As you saw, I didn't even get paid for my last gig so money's a little tight for me at the moment… I don't really want to join the maintenance crew on this station for work since I would be stuck as the only Maochatte around here… If you're staying for more than a day, I'd need to spend Credits to extend my stay too…"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Are you staying in this hotel?"

She scoffed, "Of course not. Do you think I'd still work for a sleazy human like that bastard, no offence, if I could afford a room here?"

I guess not.

Amber gave me a look, "Are you going to suggest that she stay with us or something?"

I gave her a wry smile, "Well… To be honest, I was just thinking about how our crew didn't have a mechanic for a--"

"I volunteer!!!" Ries raised her hand immediately even before I could finish my words. "Please allow me to work with you! I graduated at the top of my class for Ship Engineering and Maintenance and I have six years of experience working with and on board ships!"

Amber narrowed her eyes at her, "You just want to join us for the ship, don't you?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

At least she's honest about it…

Amber shrugged and turned back to me, "You're the Captain, Tera. I don't mind her at least."

I scratched my cheek, "Well… We can have you on probation for a while and see how you do? Plus we need to discuss salary too."

"Oh! As long as I'm fed, I don't mind just being given the bare minimum pay as long as I can work on your ship!"

"What even is the bare minimum pay for ship engineers?" I asked.

Mara smiled at me, "As of this year, it's at nine hundred Credits a month."

I blinked at her, "Don't you mean nine hundred Credits a day?"

The woman shook her head at me.

Wait, wait… Nine hundred Credits a month?! That's like ninety dollars a month, you know?! How the fuck does anyone survive on that?!

Mara continued, "Just saying, it was five hundred a few years ago, so it was only recently increased."

I turned to Ries, "And you're fine with that?"

She shrugged, "Unless I have to buy the parts to maintain the ship myself, I don't need that much money. And I'm not that picky about what I eat either so you don't need to worry about my diet. I'm fine with just eating synthfood leftovers too!"

"Wait, that's not the point though. How does anyone survive on that kind of pay?"

Lea raised her hand slightly, "That's the salary that debt slaves would get, Captain."

I blinked at her, "But you don't take a salary?"

"I'm not a debt slave, Captain. The minimum was set so that a debt slave would at least have a salary to pay off their debt eventually. For a slave like myself, I'm bound by the agreements we had made in the contract."

Ah, so that's actually not a wage that a person is expected to survive on.

Amber giggled, "Did you forget, Tera? If they are on your ship, their living expenses are taken care of by the ship Captain. They might only need to spend that money when they wish to purchase items or luxuries outside of the ship."

I guess I forgot about that…

Sorry, this is just me remembering about my old life where I had worked minimum wage jobs at one time to make ends meet and those were not good times. That's why I wouldn't wish the same fate on anyone else either.

"So what's the normal wage I should be paying her then?" I asked.

Ries spoke up before anyone else could answer, "I don't need that much! Please just give me the opportunity to work on your ship! Let me try out for the position and you can pay me whatever you want!"

I'm not sure if I should even accept a condition like that… I guess we can just accept her suggestion for now and we'll decide whether we're keeping her after she has worked for us for a while.

Who knows, she might turn out to have a lot of theoretical knowledge but not much practical skills. Why else would she land herself in a job with that scammer, right?

Wait…

"Why did you even agree to work for that guy in the first place?" I asked.

"That slimey human? Because he was coming here of course. I wasn't going to turn down a way to get into this market field with all sorts of hardware you don't normally see in the open market and even get paid for it," She explained as a matter of factly.

I knew it… This girl doesn't care about making a living at all, she's basically just placing her passion above everything else.

I bet if I told her that she would need to pay for her own food and accommodations on my ship, she would have also agreed to it and probably worked another job just to be able to stay on my ship.

Of course, I'm not an asshole so I won't be doing that if she's competent.

Anyway… I guess we found our mechanic crewmate?