First thing…
The room we were given was pretty nice.
There was a spacious living room connected to two bedrooms with each having their own attached bathrooms that even boasted a bathtub.
Each bedroom had a king sized bed and the room also came with their own minibar stocked with alcohol and synthfood.
Amber immediately flung herself onto the couch and sunk into it, “Ahhhh! This is definitely worth the price! The couch is so soft!!”
I looked around the living room, mentally making notes on how I would like to decorate my new ship when I got one eventually.
I have nothing against my current ship but while it does fulfil our needs, it could still be better.
In my old apartment, I at least had better accommodations than what my ship has right now. The most telling thing was the fact that we were still sitting on the floor to eat our meals and we did not have a proper dining table.
I’d like to have a ship that at least had a proper kitchen with a dedicated dining area by itself. Then another room that could function solely as a hydroponics garden to give Lea more space to work with.
With all that and the requirement of having a hangar bay big enough for two ships, that meant we’d need a rather large ship which was out of my budget for now.
Well, we’re not in a rush to get a new ship so it’s fine for now at least.
What’s more, with a bigger ship, we’d need more crew members to maintain it as well. Right now we don’t even have a mechanic which is quite problematic for long voyages.
We’re still getting by right now since we make short trips and could simply rely on the maintenance crews on the stations we visit to help check on our ship, but if we start travelling to further systems, we’d need someone on board to make sure everything is running smoothly.
It would be a death sentence if our engines were to die halfway and leave us stranded in space.
I was pulled out of those morbid thoughts when I felt someone grab my hand and pull me forward.
I found myself falling and I landed on top of Amber, my blonde haired lover smiling up at me as she entwined her fingers with mine.
“What are you thinking about over there with such a serious face, Tera? Maybe… How you’re going to have your way with me on this couch right now?” She grinned.
I grinned back, “And what if I said yes?”
She gasped and shifted her hands down to the hem of her pants to try and take them off before I stopped her.
“Not now, Amber. Control yourself.”
“Ahhhnnn~ But we’re on vacation right now, aren’t we? What’s a good vacation if you aren’t going to be fucking me all the time?”
I pushed myself up from her, “First of all, this technically isn’t a vacation. We’re here to hide from those thieves that have been going around trying to steal organic food so that they don’t track us to our ship. Second of all, we’re not alone. At least think about the other two who are with us.”
I turned to gesture at our companions, only to see Mara completely absorbed in eating the food I made for her. The doctor was slowly taking very small bites of her food while her face looked like she was in a trance of sorts.
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On the other hand, Lea was standing at where she was and raised her hand when she saw me looking at her, “Please don’t mind me Captain. Just continue.”
…
“Ahem, as I was saying, we’re not exactly here for vacation. Who knows? Those guys might still come back for us.”
Amber also sat up on the couch to point at Mara, “For what? To steal something that would already be in her stomach? I doubt they’d be crazy enough to make her vomit it back out just so they could sell it.”
Honestly… I’m not even sure about that because I have a feeling that they might even do something like that if given the choice.
Amber continued, “Anyway, even if they do try and attack us, they’d have to get through the security of this hotel first. Unless they plan to wage war on this cartel, I doubt they would even attempt it.”
“Now you’re just raising flags… I bet they’re definitely going to attack us now.”
She waved her hand, “Ahahahaha~ Alright, alright~ But even if they do come here, they would target the hotel itself instead of us, right? Since the hotel kitchens do have organic ingredients, they would aim to steal that instead of coming after us.”
Ok, that makes sense. Which meant that while the hotel might be a target, we would not be affected by it. Except…
“That’s not good. What if they stole all the food before we got to eat them? We would be left with synth crap instead.”
Amber gasped, “Oh shit… Yeah, that would be a problem. Hey, do you think the hotel would let us help them fight those thieves if they appear?”
I smirked, “What happened to being on vacation?”
“Well, not if they are going to ruin our vacation with their presence!”
I’ll agree with her on that one.
I got up from the couch, “Anyway… Wasn’t this place meant to be a place where some illegal trade is being held? What do we need to do to get into that?”
Amber turned to Mara’s direction, but the doctor was completely absorbed in eating my food and didn’t even notice that we were looking at her.
I guess she’ll be occupied with that for the rest of the day until dinner time with how she was eating it.
Amber chuckled, “I guess our information broker is out of it at the moment. Ehehehe~”
“Why not just contact one of the staff members?” Lea suggested innocently. “Just let them know about your interest and that you know about it. The worst that could happen is that they claim not to know what you’re talking about, right?”
Huh… I guess since we already know that this place is a front for a cartel, they wouldn’t be calling the police or something to arrest us for asking, right?
But…
“What if they think we’re undercover police though?”
“Pffft, if anything I bet they already have the police in their pocket for them to be able to build a place like this in the first place! Besides, they wouldn’t be paying for a suite for one night just to try and bust them.”
I guess that’s true.
Alright fine.
I went over to the small console by the door that functioned as an intercom between the guest and the staff of the hotel.
Tapping on the screen to activate it, I quickly called the room service and only needed to wait for it to ring once before it was answered.
The screen changed to show a young woman who immediately bowed when the call connected.
“Thank you for calling, honoured guest. How may we assist you today?”
“Where is the market in the hotel?” I asked without hesitation.
I thought that if I showed that I already knew about it, the likelihood of them telling me about it was higher.
Plus, I didn’t really specify what type of market I was talking about so it could be a legitimate market for all they know. But if they are receiving those kinds of clients here, then she should know exactly what type of market I was referring to.
There was a very brief pause and I noticed that her gaze seemed to shift a little as though looking at another screen for a split second before her eyes moved back to me. An action done so quickly that you would have thought it was merely a trick of the light.
She maintained her smile, “Will you be interested in going there right now?”
I nodded.
“A staff will be there to guide you in a moment, honoured guest. May I ask if there are any goods in particular that you are looking for? Perhaps you might have an appointment with someone to purchase a specific item?”
I shook my head, “No, we’re going to be browsing.”
“I understand, honoured guest. Please wait for a moment for a staff member to guide you there. May I ask if you will have companions joining you?”
I turned towards the room and I found Amber and Lea nodding at me. I guess they’re also interested in looking around.
As for Mara… Well… She still seemed completely absorbed in eating the food I made for her… And I doubt she’s going to be responsive anytime soon so I guess we’ll just leave her here.
“Just two more,” I answered her.
“Thank you, honoured guest. The staff member will arrive in a minute. We hope you have a pleasant day!”
She bowed again and I shut off the call.
Well, that was pretty straightforward. Much easier than finding the black market with their passcodes and everything… If you ignore the price of entry that is.