So good news… I guess we're on our way to making forty million Credits which would give us the money we need for the new ship.

Bad news… We had to separate from Mara for this job.

I actually thought she would be the only one to be ok with the dogs but she looked to be just as concerned about them as the others as well. Heck, I wasn't even surprised to see Lea keeping away from them but Mara was definitely a surprise.

We had to resort to covering the cages with the tarp and making use of drones to carry the cages back to my ship and keeping them in the storage room.

I also learned that the Credit Chip he used to transfer me the money effectively marked me as the courier for this package so if anything goes wrong, the client would be looking for me instead of that trader.

Basically, he passed the hot potato to us.

No wonder he ran off immediately after that since he didn't want us passing it back to him.

I initially wanted to put the cages in my room but Amber was vehemently against the idea, stating that she would definitely not be able to sleep if they were in the same room as her.

Thus, I had to put them in the storage room which also meant they would not be approaching that room for the entirety of the trip.

At least the drones were the ones that loaded the cages into the storage room ahead of us so we only needed to worry about getting ourselves to the ship after checking out of the hotel.

"Umm… It was nice seeing you again, Mara," I told her as we collected our weapons at the hotel entrance.

The doctor smiled at me, "You're speaking as though we wouldn't see each other again for a while."

"Face to face at least."

"Mmm… I suppose that is true. Thank you for everything once again, Tera. If Amber makes any trouble for you, just punish her in my stead."

"Hey! I heard that!" Amber protested.

I chuckled before sticking out my hand to shake Mara's as a sign of farewell.

She took one look at my hand before grabbing my wrist to pull me towards her, her head leaning forward at the same time to capture my lips in hers in a kiss.

I was surprised by the sudden movement but quickly recovered and kissed her back.

We kissed for a good long minute or so before she finally pulled back from me with a mischievous smile.

"See you soon, Tera."

Then, without another word, she stepped out of the hotel and disappeared from view.

Before I could say anything, I found myself being pulled into another kiss, this time with Amber.

She even stuck her tongue inside my mouth and swirled it around before pulling back.

"Hehehe~ My kiss was better, wasn't it, Tera?"

"It's not a competition, Amber," I groaned. "Come on, we're on a time limit right now if we want to earn that extra five million Credits."

Amber, Lea and Ries groaned in unison as I reminded them about our current job and started making our way back to the hangar.

"Seriously though… What's wrong with dogs?" I asked.

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Amber sighed, "A lot of things, Tera… Unless you have a really experienced exotic animal handler, there's definitely going to be some injuries on board your ship…"

"It can't be that bad right? They're in the cages anyway?"

"Yeah… But you still need to feed them and good luck trying to do that when they're literally trying to chew out your throat."

Hmm… The guy did leave some food meant for dogs for us to feed them with which I realised were too big to fit through the cage bars, meaning we'll have to open up the cage to feed them.

And since they're supposed to be expensive cargo, you can't mistreat them either unless you're prepared to pay several million Credits as compensation.

"And what's this about some guy's ship being blown up for them?"

Ries shuddered, "As bad as they are, exotic animals are expensive… Pirates and thieves would also want to steal them too… After all, if they managed to steal one, that's several tens of millions in profit…"

Ah… I get it now.

"But… The dogs came from Earth as well, didn't they? Didn't that mean humans brought them into space?"

Amber nodded, "Dumbest thing we did, if you ask me. Why would you bring our natural predator out into space with you? I mean… Sure, they must have thought about using them as war assets or something but heck… It worked so well that everyone is afraid of them now…"

"Huh? Wait… What do you mean by using them as war assets?"

Ries looked at me, "You don't know about the Dog Disaster?"

Amber answered for me before I could, "She lost some of her memories so it's not weird that she doesn't know. Basically the Dog Disaster was a small conflict where a number of dogs got loose from a human ship and attacked an Inucanian settlement. I heard the entire settlement got wiped out…"

What the fuck? Are you sure they brought dogs?

Also…

"Human's natural predators?" I asked.

"Yeah, this was mentioned in a lot of the archives. Actually, a lot of information on them was lost during the AI Rebellion war, but we all know that they are pretty dangerous. Normal people usually just stay away from them."

Ok, I can see two possibilities here…

One, the dogs of this universe are completely different from the dogs in my universe. Two, the real information about dogs has been lost and now there's an incorrect idea about what dogs are like being spread around.

But that doesn't explain why those dogs acted like that to Amber and Ries…

I'm pretty sure it should have been an easy misunderstanding to solve if they could approach dogs but it looked like the dogs really don't like them for some reason as well.

Maybe… Actually, I don't know why they're like this. But whatever, it's not like it's my job to find out anyway.

We soon reached the hangar and Amber had to separate from us to board her own ship while we headed for mine.

As we reached my ship, I was just about to board it when I heard a loud gasp from behind me.

I thought something else happened and swivelled around to see Ries staring up at my ship with wide, sparkly eyes.

"Oh wow, wow, wow, wow!!! No way, no way!! That's… That's a Verlandi!!" She squealed.

I grinned, "I wasn't lying, was I?"

"Oh my gosh!! This is the best day ever!! An actual Verlandi!! And it's in pristine condition too!! Oh wow!! Can I really board this?!"

I smirked, "Welcome aboard, crew mate."

"Nyaaaa!!" She cheered before rushing towards my ship.

Oh wow, she actually said 'nya'. I want her to do that again.

I led the way on board the ship and Ries was practically looking around the entire place like she was a kid lost in a candy store.

I thought she might start squealing again when she suddenly stopped and her eyes widened.

I thought she saw the dogs out of their cages or something but she swivelled around to face me with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Boss… How did you get your hands on an Original Verlandi?"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "What do you mean by 'Original' Verlandi?"

She straightened herself, "There were many variations made of the Verlandi. The one used in the movie that made it well known was the original design that only a small number was ever made. The cost to make one was too much so designs were changed to try and decrease its cost and the original design ended up being scrapped… Boss… Your Verlandi is an original design Verlandi…"

I raised an eyebrow, "Is that a bad thing?"

"No!! In fact, I can't believe I'm standing in one!! This ship is a treasure! Only an Original Verlandi has two bedrooms with their own attached showers and kitchenettes!! Ohhhh! The engines!! The reactor!! Those must be original too right?! And the storeroom! I must see the storeroom!! Could I please see the storeroom, boss?!"

"Err… Sure?" I agreed without thinking.

Lea's eyes widened and she grabbed me on the arm, causing me to jump in surprise.

"Captain?" She called out with concern in her voice.

I wondered what she was so scared about when I realised the storeroom was where the dogs were.

I immediately turned back and tried to stop her from going in, "Wait! Ries!!"

Unfortunately, I was too late as she went into the room the moment the door slid open and…

"WOOF! WOOF!!"

"BARK!! BARK!!'

The sounds of two angry dogs could be heard immediately and the cat girl let out a shriek before scurrying back and away from them.

She was even tearing up as she escaped from the room.

Ah… Sorry about that, Ries… I'll make some fish for lunch, ok?