I completed the landing sequence of my ship in the docking bay, officially arriving at Theeve station once again.

It actually hasn't been that long since we left here but after all that happened, it certainly felt like a pretty long time.

We helped him unload his stuff from my ship and we finally went our separate ways, concluding our business with him.

Also, just saying… That guy lost about ten thousand Credits after our Poker game.

That's why he currently has a sulky look etched on his face right now. I guess it's almost like he spent ten thousand Credits to hire us to give him a ride here, which is quite a rip off when you take the fact that he only had his own food to eat into consideration during the trip as well.

At least sulking was the only thing he did so there wasn't any trouble between all of us.

We bade our final farewells and we went our separate ways with Bimic, the Merc going off to search for a place where he could stay to wait for his pickup.

Now that we were left to our own devices again… I wondered what we should do now?

I turned to my two companions to ask that specific question.

Amber grinned, "We can always fly out to that Pleasure Station right now~"

I rolled my eyes, "I don't mind but… At least drop by Mara's place first, don't you think? Anyway, I made some food for her already so let's head over there first."

"You're really spoiling her a lot, Tera. Are you really trying to buy her over with your food?"

"She's been giving us information for free when she could be charging us money for it so I would like to return the favour at least."

"Oh, trust me when I say that what you've given her is more than what she's given you, Tera. Why else do you think that she's willing to give you the information for free?"

"Maybe as payment for taking you in?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, that could be true too. Ehehehe~"

At least she seems happy about that fact…

Lea then turned to me, "Should I be concerned, Captain?"

"Eh? Concerned? Concerned about what?" I asked.

"Concerned that you may be attacked because of me."

I blinked at her, "Why would I be attacked because of you?"

The Alv then gestured towards the side and I turned to see several other people who had been walking past quickly avert their gazes.

They were clearly watching us just now and after realising that I was looking back at them, they tried to pretend they were busy with something else.

When I turned back to face my companions, I noticed from the corner of my eye those same people slowly turned back to look in our direction.

"Why are they looking at us like that?" I asked, feeling a little creeped out.

"Me, Captain. They are looking at me."

I was about to ask why again when it clicked.

"Wait… Is it because you're an Alv?"

She nodded while Amber chuckled.

"Can't blame them, I'm sure a number of them have never even seen a real Alv with their own two eyes before. It's pretty much only humans on this side of human occupied space after all~ We'll need to travel further before aliens become a more common sight."

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I could feel concern creeping up my spine, "Is it a good idea for us to come here then?"

Surprisingly, it was Lea who had answered instead, "It's fine, Captain. I do not mind. It would not even be the first time I would be subjected to such kinds of attention. I was merely voicing it out so that Captain is aware of it. If anyone were to attack Captain, I will do whatever I can to protect you."

"Don't you have it backwards? The people here are more interested in you than me, right? So wouldn't it make more sense that they would be attacking you instead?"

She gestured to her collar, "They might want to own me instead so they would approach you to try and buy, beg, coerce or force you to transfer your rights over me to them."

Great… So we need to worry about assholes trying to steal or kidnap Lea away from me here…

Now I'm really thinking we shouldn't have come here…

As though reading my mind, Lea raised her hand again, "Just so that Captain knows, in certain parts of the galaxy, the opposite would be true and the other races might see Captain as the one they wish to steal away from me."

… Err… Ok? Seems like aliens are all weird no matter which part of the galaxy you're from, huh?

I sighed, "Alright, guess we'll have to be careful around here while you're walking with us. Let's go and meet Mara first then. And like you said, there might be unsavoury people around who might plan something bad so stick close to us, ok?"

"Understood, Captain. Then if you would excuse me."

I turned to her, wondering what she wanted to be excused for when the Alv came up to my side and slipped her arm around mine before slipping her hand smoothly into my palm and then interlocking her fingers with mine.

I stared at the Alv who was busy looking out into the crowd and not meeting my gaze, acting as though she had not just done what she did.

"Wahhh! Not fair! Me too, Tera!!" Amber gasped, hurriedly moving to the free space on my right and hugging my arm with hers.

I looked at the two girls, "Ermm… This would make it difficult to walk, girls…"

""It will be fine!"" Both girls answered almost at the same time.

… Alright then… I'm not dense enough to know what they're trying to do so let's just shut up and enjoy the touch of the two girls cuddling themselves on me as we made our way towards Mara's Gene Clinic.

Along the way, we obviously drew quite a bit of attention from the people around us as we walked down the street arm in arm.

Truthfully, I think the problem could be solved if we just got a hoodie for Lea to wear which would hide her Alvan features anyway. Wouldn't doing this have the opposite effect where we now pretty much drew more attention to us?

Or was it just because it's better to show that the Alv was already taken and to get others to back off?

I suppose it worked in a way since no one approached us and merely just watched from a distance.

We then reached the more unsavoury parts of the station where Mara's clinic was located and we had to move in a single file because of how narrow the alleys were.

But even then, they still insisted on holding my hands while we moved and I decided not to protest.

Just like earlier, the people we passed by were staring at us, though I could practically feel that the lust rolling off them as they watched us with their gazes.

I almost thought that a few of them might try something but surprisingly they didn't. In fact, they quickly averted their gaze when they either saw Amber in front of me or Lea who was behind me for some reason. It almost felt like they were intimidated by them?

We turned the corner and we finally reached Mara's clinic, only to see several armed men wearing a sort of uniform while red and blue lights were blinking around the area.

Wait, what the heck? Is that the police? Why are they in front of her clinic?

Sensing that something was clearly wrong and fearing the worst, I rushed towards the clinic only for an armoured guy to step in front of us and block the way.

"Woah, hold it there. This is a crime scene, you're going to need to take the long way around, ladies."

I gave the guy a look, "What's going on here? There's supposed to be a Gene Clinic, right?"

"Police business. You don't need to know. Please move away from here, lady."

I pointed at the clinic they were standing in front of, "Our friend is the owner of the place. Please… Is she alright?"

"Lady, I'm telling you to fuck off already, did you not hear me the first time? If she's really your friend, then go somewhere else and wait for the news of something."

I was about to start demanding for him to tell us whether Mara was alright when a voice came from behind the police officer, "Is that you, Tera? What are you doing here?"

The police guy stepped aside to reveal Mara walking up to us still dressed in her doctor's coat and looking none the worse for wear, which meant whatever happened here was not life threatening, thank gods.

"Mara! What happened here? Why is the police here? Are you alright?"

As though my words triggered her, she suddenly stopped and her face changed significantly.

"I was robbed… Something very important was stolen…"

Oh shit… Mara's an information broker so the things that she kept might have been very important information that might ruin someone if someone else found it, right?

"What was it?" I asked, expecting the worst.

She sucked in a breath, as though to mentally psyche herself up while she straightened her back.

She then gave me a very serious look and told me two words and nothing else, "Your food."

…

I'm sorry, but what?