Well, the guy survived at least.
We did have to pay for him of course, but we intend to get the money from the guy later.
After we got the confirmation from the robot doctor that he was fine, we were allowed to see him after we paid another extra five thousand Credits to 'rent the room for the patient to recuperate'.
Fucking bloodsucking corporates…
Whatever, the money will come from the Merc himself anyway so he's going to foot the bill.
We found the Merc sitting up in the bed and at least looking healthy as compared to earlier when we first got him into the clinic.
In fact, I'd even say he looks better.
Now I actually feel a little regretful for not paying to watch the procedure.
He groaned while turning to us, "Where am I?"
"We're back at the station in one of the clinics. You feeling alright?"
His face paled, "Oh no… How much are the medical fees?"
"Thirty five thousand Creas," Amber answered for me."
"... Oh. That's… Cheaper than I thought… Err… Where do I pay?"
"We paid for you, so you pay us."
"Ah… Alright. Umm… So… What happens now?"
Amber raised an eyebrow, "Aside from you paying us and rewarding us for saving your life?"
"Sorry, I do intend to pay of course. Just umm… Where's my ship? And err… Did you happen to see Andy? He's my crew mate. I tried calling him when I was trapped in the cockpit but I never got a response. I assumed he was also stuck in the same situation as I was."
I grimaced, "Oh… I have bad news for you about that… I found a guy crushed underneath some rubble while making my way to you… I'm assuming that's him? Sorry about that."
"Ah… That's a shame… No worries, he's a slave I bought as a crewmate so it wasn't that big of a loss to be honest. I'm more concerned about my ship actually…"
Ok…. I guess that's one less concern for him but it doesn't really make his situation any better.
"If you want to hear the truth… Your ship's pretty much in shambles. We're planning to tow it back to the station after this so you could come with us if you want. We could also settle the matter of payment and reward for the rescue I guess."
His face fell, "That bad?"
Amber gave him a look, "You were literally stuck in your cockpit with no way to escape and you thought your ship was actually still ok?"
He grimaced, "I meant… I thought there might still be a possibility for it to be repaired or something…"
"If you ask me, from what I could see from your ship's exterior, you'll be better off buying a new ship instead."
"Damn it… At least I have the reward money from that client of ours I suppose… Wait. He did make it to safety right? You guys didn't fail the mission?"
I shook my head "You don't need to worry, he made it through the Warp Gate just fine. They promised us that we will receive the payment in a few days."
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Ah, that's great. If err… If you girls could pull my ship back to the station, I'll properly compensate you for the troubles."
Amber held up a hand, "Let's talk about rewards then. What are you intending to offer for saving your life?"
"I… I can't give you too many Credits since I need them to purchase a new ship for myself… Please understand."
I waved at him, "We're not unreasonable people, don't worry."
"Oh gods, you're going to enslave me aren't you? You're going to keep me as your boy toy on your ship…"
I was a little surprised by how quickly his suggestion changed to that.
Amber scoffed, "Oh please, we're not interested in that. You're not that special."
Oof… I mean sure, we weren't interested in having him on as a slave but that's a little harsh, don't you think, Amber?
I mean, the guy was afraid that he would become enslaved right? He's clearly just-- Wait… Why does he look disappointed?
He actually lowered his head slightly when he heard Amber's declaration, "O… Oh… Ok…"
The atmosphere became a little weird.
I cleared my throat, "Ahem… When do you think you would be ready to leave?"
"Ah, right now is fine too. It's not like I have anything that needs preparing anyway. Also… Most of my money is on the ship."
Because he has nothing right now… Yeah, my bad.
He got up and gathered his stuff before following us out of the room.
The robot doctor turned towards us, "Hello there. May I trouble the patient to rate your satisfaction with your treatment on a scale of one to ten with ten being very satisfied and one being not satisfied? Do note that a review of more than eight will grant you a discount of one thousand Credits to your treatment."
Oh wow, this isn't even subtle at all. They're literally buying positive reviews with this…
Is this even allowed?
Oh, what am I saying? No one cares, obviously.
I turned towards the Merc, giving him a subtle nod to show that I'll leave it to him to decide.
"Err… Nine?"
"Thank you for the positive feedback, a discount code will be sent to your personal terminal which you can proceed to our site on the GalNet. Proceed to the discount code page to type that in and the Credits will be sent to your account after thirty business days."
The guy blinked, "Ok… Sounds easy enough. Thanks."
"You are most welcome. Please come again."
Wait what? Who the hell tells a patient to 'come again' after leaving?
None of us decided to comment on it so we just left the place and headed directly towards the hangar.
We would be taking my ship, of course, while Amber's ship would be left behind in the hangar.
He was quite interested in my ship and was looking around in wonder as he boarded it.
"No way… Just what rank of a Merc are you to afford a ship like this?"
"A Gold rank," I answered him easily enough, since I am officially now a Gold rank.
Speaking of which, we still need to get Lea registered as a Merc with us. Guess we'll do that after we tow this guy's ship back and extort-- Err… I mean… Collect our rewards from him.
The Merc turned towards Amber, "Ah, I guess that makes sense."
Lea then gestured towards me, "She is the Captain."
He swivelled his head to me, "A Gold rank?"
Amber was quick to step towards him, "What? What's wrong with her being a Gold rank?"
He raised his hands placatingly, "Wait, wait… That's not what I meant. I'm a Gold rank myself and… Well… I believe that each rank of Mercs have a different feeling about them. Like I could tell right away that you are a Gold rank, but I would have put her at around Bronze rank or maybe just a non-combat crew member…"
Now that got my attention, "Why would you say so?"
"It's just… Well… It's hard to explain but it's just that there's different auras for the different rank of Mercs? You don't really have the feeling of a Merc that has been in this job for a long time."
I nodded, "That kind of make sense, I only started working as a Merc for… What? A month or so? Not that long, really."
"What?!" The man screeched, stopping in his tracks right before we reached the cockpit.
I turned back to him and raised an eyebrow as a silent gesture of asking what was wrong with that.
He shook his head, "You went all the way to being a Gold rank in just a month?"
"Give or take a week or two I guess but yes. Apparently I'm the fastest one to rise up to that rank in history so you could look it up if you want to."
"Damn… That's insane… So whose dick did you suck to get fast tracked to that rank? Hahaha."
I recognised it as a joke so I chuckled, "Actually, it was the other way around. I let your mom suck my dick and I got the rank for giving her the best cream she's ever tasted."
He grinned, "You got me there, hahaha! But seriously, what did you do? They don't just approve of such jumps in ranks."
"Helped the military come up with a plan to defend against a pirate lord's attack with three to one odds and also was the one responsible to capture said pirate lord when we boarded their ship."
He nodded, "Ok, fuck. That's impressive. I doubt I could even do that. I mean, I guess I could see the difference in skill considering I got wiped in this escort mission and you didn't."
I shrugged, since I could also attribute some of it to luck for the outcome.
Anyway… I suppose we should get going.
Wait… Is it just me or does it suddenly feel colder in here?