I tapped on my Codex to answer the call from Mara, the screen popping up with a live feed of her being projected on it.

"Hello Mara, finally done with your meal?" I joked.

She actually took me seriously and nodded, "Yes I am. It's as wonderful as always, Tera. Where are you now?"

I looked around, "Errr… To the right of that giant tank thingy or whatever that thing is--"

"That's an ATAV Ruger Spider Tank," Ries cut in.

"Ah, yeah. I'm to the right of that ATAV Ruger Spider Tank. In front of two stalls that seem to be selling White Powder."

"Is there someone new with you?"

"Yeah… Long story, I'll tell you when you get here."

She nodded before we ended the call.

Amber chuckled, "I was expecting her to be occupied with it until tonight to be honest. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we had to have our dinner without her."

Lea seemed to agree with Amber since she was nodding silently behind her while Ries just looked confused.

Speaking of which… I think I should get a hood or something for Lea so the previous incident doesn't happen again.

This time it ended alright but we never know if something more problematic might occur in the future.

Putting that aside…

"What's this spider tank?" I asked Ries.

Her eyes lit up immediately upon hearing my question, "Oooohhh!! The All Terrain Armoured Vehicle Ruger Spider Tank! It can be used in both high and low gravity environments, has protection against high heat, freezing cold, acidic and even toxic biomes. A hundred and eighty millimetre main cannon and a ninety millimetre secondary autocannon for both long and medium range engagements! It even has the function of locking its legs down to turn it into an artillery platform! It was extensively used in the War of Nietar to eradicate a hive nest which allowed the planet to be secured!"

"Actually, that is incorrect," a voice spoke up from the side.

All of us turned to see Mara standing there with her hands in her coat pockets.

Ries frowned at her, "What do you mean it's incorrect?"

"I'm talking about the War of Nietar you mentioned. Only three were deployed there and they were used primarily to defend a landing zone against a swarm from a hive nest instead of attacking it. Sure, that culled the numbers enough for an assault to be led against the hive nest but they did not take part in the assault itself and remained behind to defend the landing zone."

The Maochatte frowned, "But that's not what was reported…"

"Oh no, the information that you have actually came from Ruger Heavy Dynamics, the manufacturer themselves, that was embellished to promote the tank. No one bothered to correct them so that became the accepted narrative."

"Can you prove it?"

"Search 'Nietar Hive assault', filter out any reports made by Ruger Dynamics and you'll realise that all of them have literally zero mentions of the tank taking part in the assault."

Ries immediately took out her own personal terminal and started tapping away frantically on it, presumably to search what Mara had suggested.

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While she was occupied with that, Mara walked over to me and jerked her chin at the Maochatte.

"So who is she?"

"Err… That's Ries. We found someone selling power armours and she was the mechanic working for that guy. Apparently the seller was trying to scam everyone and she went ahead to expose him which caused her to get fired. Long story short, we got her to show us around the place since she knows quite a bit about guns and stuff."

"I see. You should have just called me to guide you though."

"Well… You were quite occupied when we were leaving."

Mara shrugged, "Could you blame me? It's something you made after all."

I was about to point out the fact that the food I made for her wasn't really that big of a deal when a cry came from Ries.

"Ahhh! I got lied to!" The Maochatte cried out in despair while stuffing her personal terminal back into her cloak.

Mara gave her a sympathetic look, "No need to feel bad about it, you're not the only one to be mistaken about that. If it's any consolation, I did not know about the environmental protection capabilities of the machine until you talked about it."

Ries covered her face with her hands, "But to think I was mistaken about a machine… That means I didn't do enough research on it! This is so embarrassing!"

I didn't really know how to comfort her so I just stayed silent while she groaned for a while before she recovered on her own.

"Ugh… I'm gonna have to revise my knowledge of everything else at this point. Anyway, who are you?"

I jumped in, "Oh right, this is Mara. She's a Gene Splicer and an information broker."

Ries nodded, "Well, I guess that explains how you know about that… Is she part of your Mercenary group too?"

"Ah… Not really. She's a friend. We're just having a vacation trip together here."

The Maochatte raised an eyebrow, "A vacation trip staying in one of the most expensive places in this station? Are you really nobles just having fun playing Mercenaries or something?"

I grimaced, "Well… Let's just say that we're treating ourselves after completing a really profitable job."

"And you're down here because…?"

"Well, I was hoping to find some stuff here that I could potentially buy to sell off at other stations, you know?"

"Ah, so you're planning on smuggling stuff then? Oh! That means you have a ship right? What's the ship class?"

"It's not that big of a ship. It's only a B Class Heavy Fighter."

She raised an eyebrow, "What are you planning to smuggle with just a small ship like that? If you're rich enough to stay in this hotel, you should be able to get a better ship that's at least C Class right?"

I nodded, "That is true. We could definitely afford a C Class freighter ship if we want to… But we need a ship with a hangar bay big enough to accommodate two B Class ships."

Ries alternated her gaze between the other girls and me, "You have two ships? I was under the impression that all of you were living in a single ship."

"Yeah, no. We do want to upgrade though but if we want a ship with those specs, we'd need to look at a D Class ship instead."

She then pulled out her personal terminal, "I think I should be able to find a good ship for you if you can tell me the specs you want and your budget. Let's just start with your budget first."

Oh, this would be easier than just trying to find a ship myself.

"I would say… Maybe about sixty to seventy million Credits?"

"Is that the budget for the entire ship including amenities and weapons or just the ship itself?"

"Just the ship itself."

If we buy a ship for seventy million Credits, we would be left with about ten million or so to pimp it out. Not really a lot of money given what we plan to do with it but we could just make adjustments and additions to it as we earn more later on.

She frowned a little and tapped on her terminal, "For that money… That would be a little difficult finding a ship that could fit two B Class ships… How many people are there in your group?"

"You're looking at them."

"Just three of you? Why do you need three ships for three people? Can't you just sell one away? That would solve your problems and you could even get more money to outfit your new ship too."

I shook my head, "I'd prefer not to sell any of our ships if possible."

"Why? What do you even have? Because if it isn't a Verlandi, I don't know why you wouldn't want to sell it away."

Oh wow, she knows that ship too huh?

I just stared at her without saying anything.

She raised an eyebrow, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I lowered my head a little and made a face at her.

It took her a moment more before her eyes widened comically.

A gasp was just in the midst of escaping from her mouth before she quickly clamped her hand over it to stifle the sound.

She then looked around, making sure no one else was paying attention to us before she literally pressed herself against me and tiptoed just to get close to my face.

"Are both of them Verlandis?" She whispered.

"Only one. But I don't want to sell the other one if I can help it either."

She made a weird noise and ran around in a circle while wringing her hands before she pressed herself against me again. This time, her eyes seemed to be a little bloodshot.

"You have to take me to your ship! Please, please, please!! Otherwise I'll kill myself!!"

What the fuck, calm down girl!