Ship Upgrades

Amber brought me back to the hangar past the customs where a large building was standing.

The ground floor seemed to be some kind of workshop and there was already a crowd of people gathered there.

"There's so many people looking to upgrade their ships as well?" I asked.

Amber shook her head, "The shop also does maintenance and repairs so they're mostly here for that. There should be a separate counter for ship upgrades over here."

She guided me to another counter where a single man sat behind the counter looking rather bored since there was literally no one lined up over there.

Amber stepped up to the counter and the man barely acknowledged our existence, merely waving his hand which brought up a screen in front of us that listed the ships in the hangar.

I scrolled through the list until I found my ship and tapped on it.

The moment I did so, the clerk sat up to face us, "So, what are you after?"

Amber stepped aside to give me the floor.

"What do you have?" I asked, hoping he had some kind of list or something like the game.

He tapped on a tablet and my ship appeared on the screen.

"Shiiiit… Is that a Verlandi Heavy Fighter? I thought they stopped making those years ago. Didn't think I'd see one all the way out here."

I was quite surprised by his words, "Oh, you know this ship?"

"Sure do, I used to work in the inner colonies before I got stationed here. Seen my share of these ships before they got pulled out from production. This looks brand new too, how much did you pay to get it restored?"

"Erm… It was a gift," I half lied.

I mean if I were to be technical about it… The character creation gifted this ship to me because of my starting perks so I actually didn't lie at all.

"Damn, that's some luck you have, I know a few people who would kill to get a ship like that," He whistled.

"Why was it discontinued?" Amber asked, peeking over my shoulder.

The clerk tapped his cheek with a finger, "As good as they were, they were pretty expensive to make and they didn't really have a target market for it. It's too expensive for beginner Mercs to purchase, too little cargo space for merchants to consider and veteran Mercs would prefer ships with larger rooms if they are doing long haul hustles. It's basically a jack of all trades but master of none ship."

Amber turned to me, "Are you really sure you're not some noble, Tera?"

I just shrugged and turned back to the clerk, "So… Don't tell me that my ship can't be upgraded at all because its model has been discontinued?"

"Nah, the ship's not that old to be incompatible with the current gen parts. Anything specific you're looking for? Or should I just show you a list of upgrades?"

"A list would do fine, thanks."

He tapped on his tablet and the screen in front of me changed to show a list of ship parts that was sorted by different categories.

Amber also tapped on another screen beside me, "Might as well see what I can get for my own ship too. You have anything for my ship?"

The clerk looked down at his tablet and wordlessly tapped on it, changing her screen to display a list of ship parts as well.

Looking at my own list, I found that the screen was quite similar to the game's ship upgrade screen.

I could tap on each part of my ship to see the compatible parts of each section and there's also a list of the parts that I could add on top of my ship both internally and externally.

The main difference was, of course, it would take time to install those upgrades on my ship instead of being instantaneous. 

Changing out the generator would take five days it seems… I'm more curious on how they would even disconnect the generator on my ship and take it out to fit in a new one?

Scrolling through the list, I don't see any internal parts that I would like to switch out since they were either a downgrade from what I have or would take too long for me to switch the parts which would be inconvenient since I intend to take more jobs in the meantime.

Sure, I earned quite a lot of money from the sale of Yirfa's ship but I'm already spending a million of it on the mod and the gun. With ship maintenance and resupplies, the current money I have left would only be enough for me to go without work for maybe a year….

…

Actually that's a lot of money huh?

No, no, no… I can't just rest on my laurels now, there's an entire universe out there to explore and I'll be damned if I just let myself be content with just staying on this station.

There was, however, one thing I was interested in.

"Do you have a stealth module for sale?" I asked.

The clerk raised an eyebrow at me, "Those are illegal, lady."

I turned to Amber.

She chuckled, "Yeah, Voidshade got his through illegal channels."

Damn, I was intending to use it as a way to ambush pirates in case I have to fight them again…

"Why is a stealth module illegal though?"

"It lets you slip past patrol fleets and get close to merchant convoys without tipping off their escorts after all."

I frowned, "But that would mean that only outlaws have access to it, wouldn't that be bad for Mercs like us when they can slip away from us but we can't do the same?"

Amber shrugged, "It's not like it's easy to get something like that in the first place so even most outlaws wouldn't have that."

She then suddenly leaned close to my ear and I almost thought she wanted to kiss me but she just wanted to whisper in my ear.

"Besides… We can get them through black market channels too if we really want to~"

Ah, so it's more like it's publicly acknowledged as illegal but nothing is stopping us from getting it through illegal channels ourselves as well.

The clerk must have also known what she was whispering to me but he said nothing to us.

I guess that means it's a secret known to everyone huh? Works for me I guess.

Speaking of which… I've gotten the information on the station's black markets from Yirfa but I've yet to go and seek them out yet. Maybe I can do that after this?

I scrolled through the list again, this time looking at the weapons they were offering to see if any of them could replace the ones I currently have mounted on my ship.

Hmm… Ion blaster… Torpedo launcher… Missile turret… Energy blaster… Nothing good I guess… Oh well.

Amber seemed to have also decided that there was nothing worth changing on her ship so she closed the window and turned to me instead.

"Is there anything good on your side, Tera?"

"Not really…" I admitted.

The clerk shrugged, "What do you expect when we're all the way out on the frontier here? If you want the good stuff, you'll need to head to the inner colonies or place an order for it. Heck, you might even get better deals at the Trader Union."

Well… I kind of figured that out already.

Nevertheless, we thanked him for the time and he waved us away, returning back to looking bored while fiddling with his personal terminal.

Amber and I left the building and I just had a thought cross my mind since I was thinking about earning even more money.

"Do you have something you are aiming for, Amber?" I asked.

She turned to me, "Does sleeping with you count?"

"Are you a succubus or something?"

She giggled, "Well, I like what I like. No point in hiding it right? And I love you."

"Nnghh… I umm… I like you…"

As I said, love is still too strong a word for me to use but I know that I at least have some affection for her.

I then shook my head, "What I meant to ask was if you had some long term goal that you're aiming for? You know, like getting yourself the best ship in the galaxy or something?"

"Huh… Honestly, I never really thought about it… I suppose before I met you, I would just think that I wouldn't mind having a partner I guess? So I would say I already obtained that goal. What about you, Tera?"

I scratched my cheek, "Honestly, at this point I just want to see what else is there out there. You know, since all I remember is that I came from Ea--"

I stopped myself before I said that word.

Earth does exist in this universe but the location of it has been lost.

Even though I definitely preferred my current life as compared to my old one, I kind of want to return there to see how it has changed and whether I would even still recognise it in this universe.

Actually… I want to see if the places I know are still there. Maybe even just live the life that I did not have while there.

I think… Yeah… I think I would like that.

"I want to find Earth."