A Job From The Information Broker

Even though I said to be productive, it's not like we have anything planned for today anyway…

Well… Aside from Mara who has to go and run her clinic I suppose, but Amber and I had nothing to do today.

Or rather, we had nothing planned for today at least.

Mara obviously noticed since she was already dressed and ready to leave for her own work while Amber and I were simply watching her get dressed.

Hey, she also had a nice ass, it would be criminal not to watch that right?

"Don't you two have anything to do today?" She asked.

Amber waved at her, "Not at all. Unless you count me flirting with my lovely girlfriend as something that is."

Mara ignored her and looked in my direction.

I shrugged, "We don't have any jobs for today if that's what you're asking. We recently just finished one with a big payout so we were taking a break."

"Hmm… Well are you done taking a break yet? By how you chased us out of bed, I thought you might be in a rush to get somewhere."

"Meh… I just don't like lazing around in bed," I half lied, not wanting to tell her that it was a habit I got from my other life where I had to always be up to deal with sales problems almost all the time.

She then placed a finger on her chin, "Hmm… If you are up for it… I do have a hustle for you if you want to accept it."

Amber gave her a pointed look, "You? Who did you piss off this time?"

Mara rolled her eyes at her, "Not from me directly, someone else that I know of."

Amber then leaned over to me, "That's another way of her saying that she heard this from somewhere or someone else. Probably eavesdropped or something."

The doctor huffed, "Yes, yes. I'm an information broker if you forgot and I'm giving you this information for free unless you want to pay for it?"

"Ha! Free she says! After how she enjoyed an entire night of food and sex here!"

"This is not repayment for last night, mind you. I'm giving this information to you just because it's you so do you want it or not?"

"Geez, how good is that information then?"

Mara ignored her and instead focused on me.

Ah… Err…

I cleared my throat, "Umm… Yes please."

She smiled at me, "Perfect. Well let's just say that if you were to walk down Bolter Street and turn down to Hujal Lane, you might come across someone who looks very distraught. Maybe you might even hear him mumbling about a lost shipment of goods that he wants recovered and the shipment just so happens to belong to a group of rather… Shall we say… Intimidating individuals?"

Amber immediately understood, "Right. So this guy can't post a job in the guild's job board because those 'intimidating individuals' might find out about it and come after him. But he can't just leave it as those same guys would also come after him as well."

Mara shrugged, "I'm just saying that it's a possibility and you most definitely did not hear this from me."

I raised an eyebrow, "And how long has he been there?"

She grinned, "Oh, he isn't there yet. But he will very soon be there."

What the heck? How does that even work? Did she really predict that the guy would be royally pissed even before the guy got pissed? How?!

Amber waved at her, clearly not seeing the weirdness that I already have, "Yeah, yeah. We got it. Now go run along to your little clinic."

"Tera, if Amber ever bullies you, let me know. I'll come here and give her a good spanking."

"Hey!! I love her more than you, ok?!"

Mara didn't even respond and simply turned and left the ship, only giving us a simple backwards wave before she disappeared.

Amber then turned to me, "So… I know she said all that but we don't exactly have to do what she said, you know?"

I nodded, "I know, but I think it's a good opportunity for us since it's not like we have anything to do for the foreseeable future anyway."

"Alright then. I suppose we should get dressed and then head out?"

I got out of bed and walked towards the shower, "I'm going to take a shower first… Want to join me?"

She leapt onto her feet, "Oh~ Don't mind if I do!"

I think we went two more rounds inside there before we finally got dressed and left the ship.

Hey, things like this happen, ok?

*

I looked up at the street sign that showed Hujal Lane being on my right.

"Looks like we've reached the place," I commented, turning down the street while looking for our guy with Amber following beside me.

It wasn't that hard to find him since there was a haggard looking man cursing and swearing up a storm just after that turn.

"Those damn… Cunts! I… I knew I should not have… Arrghh!! What do I do?!" He grunted, kicking the wall with his foot.

Amber looked at me and I gestured for her to go ahead.

She approached the guy with a casual air, "What did the wall do to you to get so much hate, my guy?"

The man turned around and looked like he was about to cuss her as well but he managed to rein in his anger to regard us.

"What's it to you?"

Amber shrugged, "Just curious. It's not everyday I walk down the street and see some random dude that isn't drunk or high on drugs attack a wall for no reason."

"No reason?! I have a fucking good… Ugh… Sorry, not your fault… But just… Just something happened ok? And I'm fucked."

"What? Is someone going to kill you? For the right price, we could be your bodyguards."

The man's eyes widened, "Bodyguards? Wait… Are you two Mercs?"

Amber thumped her chest, "Of course we are! Gold ranked myself! So wanna hire us?"

The man's eyes darted between Amber and I for a moment before leaning forward slightly, "Do you have a ship?"

Amber grinned, "Heck, we have two ships! So what do you need?"

He looked around before gesturing for us to follow him, entering the building he had just been kicking the wall off.

He took the stairs up until the second floor before turning to a door with a number on it, opening it with a keycard that made the door slide open.

Inside was a mess with clothes, papers and other stuff littered all around the place as though a tornado had just happened in this room.

"I would invite you to take a seat but… I got a little upset when I heard some news which was why this room is in this state. So shall we get to business then?"

Both Amber and I nodded.

He picked up his personal terminal and tapped on it to display a holographic projection of a transport ship.

"This is a ship containing some rather important stuff on board. But as of an hour ago, that ship has gone missing and I need it to be found before the people I work for know that the ship has gone missing."

Amber raised an eyebrow, "So you want us to find it?"

He nodded, "Yes. And I need this to be done quietly and as fast as possible, I will not be able to distract them from this for too long."

"Ok… Do you have the location of where the ship was last seen?"

"Yes, I'll send it to your terminal now."

Amber's personal terminal beeped and a map popped up to show a red dot at least half a day's travel using travel speed to get there.

"Right here," He gestured. "That's where I was last able to get its ping before it disappeared."

I frowned, "Do we know what happened? Pirates perhaps?"

The man shook his head, "I'm not too sure about the fate of the ship itself but I would also say that it is quite possible that those guys are the reason why the ship went missing."

"And if the ship was destroyed when we get there?"

"Ugh… In that case… I would need to trouble you to search through the debris to find a black box that should contain what I need. Is that fine?"

Both Amber and I nodded.

"And how much is the reward for a job like this?"

The man lifted a hand with five fingers splayed out, "Five hundred thousand Credits."

Amber scoffed, "Yeah right, you might as well just toss it to the guild for that price. We owe y--"

"Alright, one million?"

"Hmm… I wonder how much more I could get if I were to find your employers and ask them dire--"

"Fine, fine! Two million!"

"Each?"

"Wait you can't just--"

Amber leaned forward, "What?"

"Ugh… Fine… Two million Credits per person…"

Oh wow, as expected of Amber I suppose?