Novel Full Chapter 928: ’Dangerous’ Transport Job
Chapter 928: ’Dangerous’ Transport Job
We reached the rendezvous point which turned out to be a military outpost floating amongst an asteroid field.
We were almost immediately intercepted by a small patrol fleet of military ships consisting of a Corvette and three Fighters which surrounded us immediately.
A hail came from the Corvette, the screen popping up to show a woman dressed in a sharp military officer’s uniform.
"Merc, you are in restricted UTSN space right now. What is your purpose here?"
I was prepared for this since I was already briefed on what would happen here and what I needed to do.
"Hello. We’re contracted Mercs that were called by logistics officer Dylan Morath, here to accept a job for the UTSN."
The woman doesn’t even look surprised by my answer like this was something she had dealt with before as she looked to the side, "Logistics officer Morath was it? Hold on a moment."
She seemed to be contacting him through their own channels so I waited patiently for her to contact Dylan before she turned back to me to give me a nod.
"You’re cleared. Go on in and get docking clearance from the station."
The patrol fleet returned to its patrol and allowed us to pass, all of us making our way towards the station.
I got Yumiko to hail the station and got us docking permissions on one of the docking arms while passing through several other military ships that were hanging around the station on patrol.
We slowly brought our ship to dock with the arm under the watch of several other military ships hovering around before I shut down the ships’ engines.
I stretched my arms before looking back at my girls, "Right... I guess I’m going to meet with our contact. Umm... They might inspect the ship so we would need to hide Freyja somewhere first."
All of my girls froze up from hearing that and looked at me in worry, acting like I had just suggested hiding some monster in their room or something.
I cleared my throat, "Ahem... Renata? Could I depend on you to hide Freyja?"
My eldritch maid giggled, "Ehehehe~ Of course, Daddy~"
I trusted her to deal with that and got off my seat to head towards the docking hatch.
I didn’t need everyone to follow me so the only people who would be accompanying me to meet Dylan were Mara, who I was bringing to read his mind in case he was planning to use us for something else, and Vier, who I was hoping to help me figure out if we’re getting a good deal.
The rest of my girls would remain on the ship and wait for us to return and... Prepare themselves in case we need to fight or something.
I mean... I’m not expecting to become enemies with the UTSN but if they suddenly say something about me being a Psionic or having two other Psionics where one of them was an escaped subject from a research facility... Or about the eldritch entity that consumed a Class seven AI... Or about the former Pirate Lord on my crew... Or even about the dog they somehow detected on board... We’re going to have problems.
Yeah... I realise my crew here really is just full of problems related to the law...
We stepped into the station to find two soldiers that were clad in full body armour and carrying ballistic rifles in their hands.
"Mercenary Captain Tera?" One of them asked.
I nodded at him.
Even though he asked that question, he didn’t seem satisfied with my answer and still proceeded to scan me anyway with his personal terminal, prompting a screen to pop up to confirm my identity.
Once they got that confirmation, they led me down the corridor and into the station proper.
Instead of letting me walk on my own though, they escorted me through the minimalistic corridors until we had to pass through a security checkpoint that scanned all three of us.
I was a little worried about what might show up for Mara and it seems like the records show that she was simply ’Mara’ and a crew on board my ship instead of some runaway Noble.
And of course, Vier’s real identity showed up on the scans and the soldiers near us who saw it sucked in a collective breath and stared at the Dragonling. Even though their helmets hid their faces, I could tell that they were either awed or in fear at her presence.
They quickly ushered us in after that and I followed them through another set of corridors before entering what looked like a meeting room.
The soldiers let us sit inside before the one who spoke to me nodded, "Officer Dylan will be meeting with you soon."
They then stepped out of the room and we were left in the sterile, minimalistic room that was really just a metallic table with three chairs on one side and one chair on the other.
The fact that the sounds from outside cut out when the door slid shut meant this room must be sound proof.
Vier looked around the room looking not too impressed.
"Hmm... If this is just about getting a Bio-Weapons license, I could have helped you get that without resorting to this," She commented.
I shrugged, "Sure but... I would rather not be accused of using you to get it since that might draw attention to our crew and... Our crew isn’t exactly in a position where such attention would bring us benefits."
My Dragonling glanced at Mara, fully understanding the implication of my words before moving her gaze back to me and cocking an eyebrow.
Right, right... I know I’m also part of the ’problem’ with me being a Psionic and someone from another universe as well... No need to look at me like that...
We waited for a while more before the door slid open again and the person whom I remember speaking through the screen appeared at the doorway.
He was young looking and was dressed smartly in his military uniform, his hair styled neatly and his piercing blue eyes scanning the room carefully when he entered.
"Tera?" He asked.
I nodded, prompting him to step inside and let the door slide close behind him.
He took a seat opposite me before placing his personal terminal on the table.
"Right... This is a favour that was asked of me by Freiderike and Rosalia so I’m giving you the fast track jobs to get the license. Normally we would need you to prove yourself for at least five years before you can even be considered, but I’ve got a pretty big job lined up that can get you qualified for one if you’re up for it."
I raised my eyebrow at him, "What kind of job is it?"
"Planet Xetarva, heard of it?"
I paused to try and recall where I heard that name before I suddenly remembered, "Was it that world that was infested with bug aliens or something?"
He nodded, "Back then we had to withdraw because we had underestimated the scale of the infestation. The colonies that we had tried to set up there were quickly overrun and we had to pull out from the planet."
Mara fiddled with her fingers casually as though talking about a problem that she wasn’t involved with, "Mmm... The UTSN took a big hit with that withdrawal. It was quite an embarrassment too."
Dylan bristled slightly at the comment, "I will have you know that we had to withdraw because we did not have a full assault battalion stationed there and it was merely a small recon squad. The biggest ship that was sent there during the colonisation was only a Destroyer."
I cleared my throat, "Ahem... So what about that place? Don’t tell me you want us to go there and clear out an entire planet of bugs?"
He waved his hand, "No... To reclaim our pride as the United Terran Space Navy... We intend to wipe that failure clean by cleansing that planet. Of course it would be easy to just glass the entire place from orbit but..."
Vier fiddled with her own personal terminal, "There’s a stockpile of Prisma located underneath the planet’s crust. Isn’t it?"
Prisma... Right... The mineral that’s really valuable because it can be used as an energy source.
Makes sense why they would want to colonise the planet if there’s a ton of them underground.
Dylan doesn’t try to deny it and just nodded his head to confirm it, "We’ll be sending an entire fleet this time... Because it’s not just that planet... The entire system is filled with it... And every planet there is filled with those bugs that we need to clean out from the planet’s surface."
"Right... So where do we come in?"
"The system is located in the Outer Colonies and our plan is to fight bugs with animals... So we need some Mercs who are willing to make long hauls ferrying these beasts to those planets. Like I said... It’s a pretty big job since you will have to be stuck with these dangerous animals over long periods of time and... I cannot guarantee your safety with them. Do you still want it? If you do, I can fast track your application right away."
...
Wait... I just realised...
He doesn’t know about me being able to control animals... So quite literally, he thinks it’s a big job because it’ll be dangerous for a normal Merc to be transporting so many dogs and other beasts on their ship as they could die pretty easily if one of them breaks free...
Well... Getting a job to transport doggos back and forth? Sign me up!!