Chapter 3: The Discounts
24 Jun 2023Nick Euphrasia
As soon as I dropped into Diaguandri, I headed straight towards Ray Gateway, “There’s A LOT of people…” I muttered, looking at my nav panel, ships moving about everywhere, commanders and pilots alike. I dropped out of supercruise and headed towards the station, quite the queue, stretching as far back as 10 kilometers, by the time I reached the 7.5kilometer mark, I requested docking access, and handed over controls for autodocking.I exited the landing pad and head towards the station. When the elevators opened, I was greeted by a crowd of people, shops everywhere, from Pioneers to Vista Genomics. I had some time to kill, so I might as well take a look around.There are people here from all sorts of factions, I noticed a group of pirates, ‘Draconis Crimson Cartel’ written all over their leather jackets. One of them noticed me and put his hands over his untucked one size small t-shirt under his jacket making out a shape of what looks like a gun. I carefully walked away and headed back to the hangar and found the outfittings station. There I met a woman in her forties in overalls covered in grease holding what looks to be a compressed air gun attached to her left arm. “Oh don’t mind this, it was an accident from an old workplace a long time ago” She said, trying not to alarm me. “So… what do you need?” she asked politely.
I tell her that I need my ship kitted out for cargo transportations “I will need some distance in my FSD too, the bubble is a little rough you know? Would be nice if I could cover less jumps from one system to another” I said as I recalled the harrowing experience I had previously encountered.
“Ah, nasty people, they got you with those interdictors eh?” She asked as I had no clue what she was talking about. “Interdictors?” I asked cluelessly, she noticed the puzzled look on my face. “Oh commander, I apologize, an interdictor is a module fitted on a ship to pull you out of supercruise and into normal space” Explaining to me what is and how it works. It took hours but she ran me through all of the available modules for a ship. As soon as she got all the recommended modules up on the transaction screen, I swallowed hard…
“That's almost 12 million credits?!” I said towards the edge of my voice running out of breath.
“‘A’ rated parts don’t come cheap commander, also this price is after trading in your current modules, at the same time we’re known for being the cheapest if you don’t count that Jameson station in Shinrarta, unless you got a permit” She said affirming me that this is the price for quality grade modules. What with only about 3.8 million credits left in my balance, I looked down, and started walking away…
“Hey, hold on there commander, I know that feeling, I’ve been down that road before,” she said trying to reassure me. “Aye, it’s a terrible economy I know, but this isn’t the only option, how about we make some adjustments to your modules and let's take it from there?” She said, trying to negotiate with me, I can't help but feel like she’s got something up her greasy sleeves… I let her lead me on anyways, if it means I am able to fit some things to get this ship in decent shape for the work I’m trying to do. Earning credits in this galaxy is no easy feat, it’s the path I chose, so I need to start somewhere with something.
“Here have a look” she pointed to the transaction screen, it looks like she swapped out the 2A Life support with 2D, and the 2A sensors with 2D, replaced the 4C Bi weave with a 4E cargo rack, a 3C Bi weave shield generator and 4D Thrusters instead of 4A instead.
As I look at the price summary, I said “that’s still shy of 12 million credits, I’m afraid I don’t have that kind of money on me” I said, still feeling disappointed even after the adjustments.
“Hang on commander, I’m not done yet” she said in a low voice, she said so as if trying not to alert the other engineers.
She pulled me over to the side of the counter,
“Listen, how about we make a deal, I have some cargo I need shipped to Rana, the job is worth 9 million credits. It’s only 32 tons of cargo, and you have more than enough space in this ship once it’s kittled out.” She said it quickly and I caught all that. But something felt off about this offer… 32 tons? 9 million credits?
“What’s the catch?” I asked silently, “cargo in question is not legal, let's put it that way, I won’t hide that fact, as a commander you need to know what you’re hauling, but they’re not toxic, they’re merely ‘taken’ goods,” she replied. “Give me a moment to think this over?” I said to her as she gave me the nod and I walked out.