“That was quicker than expected,” Ralgau greeted me when I made my way over to the bar. “And seeing her face, I gather you didn’t take the job that you were offered?”

I shook my head. “Nah, not my kind of job. Sorry that you will be losing out on the 5% but personal values and all.”

“Belief me, I understand that reason probably better than anybody else,” he said. Then he added in a lowered voice: “When I had to decide between dying and piracy, I felt like I was betraying my personal values just to survive. But I had a chance to save lives when we went after ships and outposts. That was the only way I could hold on to who I was and wanted to be. It would have been a lot easier to just go with it and make good Ice but… I believe being able to get up in the morning and look yourself in the eyes in the mirror is much more important.”

I nodded in agreement. “Besides, there is some stuff I need to discuss with you and it might even include a way to make more than some credits for information.”

“Sounds good to me. Let me finish up here, my shift ends in about 2 standard hours and we’ll head over to Tower and you treat me to a ReelSteak.”

I rolled my eyes. Why did my business meetings always ended up with me shelling out for Steak for someone?

Since I had some time I headed over to the bulletin and pulled up the section about salvage and salvage rights. The main part of it was that who finds it gets to keep it. This applied especially in the dark, which the zone outside the star systems was called. As soon as you wanted to salvage inside the system, you needed to apply for a salvage title with the system or with the closest planetary government if there was no unified system government. However, you needed to point out what you wanted to claim and then said officials would evaluate what you would gain from it and what they would lose if they didn’t salvage it themselves minus the costs for the operation.

What I learned from my nearly two hour foray into this topic was: Do not salvage inside star systems because it is a nightmare and nearly always costs you more than what you actually make from it.

So any kind of designs I had on the ship in the asteroid, they had to be put on ice because there was no legal way to get to it. Of course I could start an off the book operation but best case scenario was that I would be fined. Worse punishments that were regularly used in illegal salvage cases were imprisonment, deportation, removal of faction ties or execution. So yeah, I wasn’t so keen on this part. Man, I hope Ralgau would have an idea.

Yes, I wanted to let him know about my find and get his take on what I could do. Yes, I knew him for barely any time and yet, he had treated me well and I had a really good feeling about him. You know, trusting your gut. At the same time I decided I would not share all the information with him that I had. Just as a precaution.

On a whim I decided to search for impound cases on the system net and pretty immediately found his. It seems any legal cases not involving corporations were considered matters of public interest and thus publicised. In his case, the Ship was impounded for unpaid fines and criminal activity. To get the ship released he needed to pay 50k ICU and to make the charges against him go away it was another 25k. Turns out until the 25k were paid he would not be allowed to leave the station even if he would hire on someone else’s ship. I wondered what criminal activity was going on. Did he decide to go back to his pirate ways in this system? I guess I would have to push him for the full story after our steak.

* * * * *

Okay, if I would have checked out the Tower before visiting the Rambler, I would have never met Ralgau. Because if I would come here first, I would have never stepped foot into the latter. There was simply no comparison. The tower was on one of the highest levels of the station on +64. You actually entered through the asteroid and then you got into a dome. Said dome was constructed out of triangular sections of some transparent material or other. Then it was surrounded by an even bigger dome that was built the same way.

The interior was strange but stylish. I guess it came with the territory that when you catered to Aliens, you would only appeal so much to the human mind until it seemed strange. But overall, it was amazing. Clean, relaxed, with enough light to see but not enough to impact the view into space. Ralgau slapped me on the shoulder when I stopped in the doorway to gawk. To be fair, he probably just tapped me on the shoulder but with his mass, I actually had to take a step forward to steady myself. Damn, that guy was strong.

A waiter ushered us to a table and when I wanted to look at the menu, Ralgau held up a finger and ordered for us. Either he wanted to make sure that he got his worth out of me or he wanted to surprise me. I shrugged. May as well. So far the food and drink had not convinced me but then again I had so far lived off of nutrient bars, water and the concoctions that the Rambler served. Shortly after the waiter put 2 glasses with a red-golden bubbly drink in front of us.

“Red Nebula Ale. Try it,” Ralgau said when I eyed my glass. “It’s one of the best ales we can get around here.”

Beer? I guess alcohol in its various forms truly was a universal constant. Or it was that the devs brought in something that us earthlings would enjoy. Either way, I sipped it and it was equally refreshing while also having a strong flavor. Malty, hoppy, a little citrusy. Very, very nice.

I took another sip and started the conversation we had come here for. “As you can imagine, I am once again in need of information. It really seems that the more I figure out, the more questions I have.”

He nodded. “Okay, what do you need to know?”

“Hmmm, let’s start differently. What I need to discuss could be serious money and I know you are in need of money. I trust you but at the same time I need to make sure that what we are going to discuss is not something that you will use to your advantage.” I hesitated. Should I say more?

“I see,” Ralgau somehow… deflated. “I guess you looked up my legal case?”

I nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, I feel like a stalker and I don’t like that feeling. At the same time I had an idea and needed to know what and who I am dealing with. And while your case tells me the what, I am curious and hope you fill me in on the who. What happened and why do you have that case open against you?”

He took a deep breath. “I really try to forget this whole debacle but… if you can help me in any way, I guess you should know what happened.”

After a big gulp of his ale he started: “I told you that I had partnered up with someone and we got into the cargo business. We got the tug on credit and started the whole business thing and in the beginning everything went perfect. We managed to pay off the credit over the course of a little over a year. Then we got a pretty big delivery of low value goods to this station. I should have seen the signs but I really didn’t pay attention.

“I think after my time with the pirates I was so desperate to put the whole mistrust and always watching your back behind me. And while it was difficult in the beginning, I eventually managed. So I didn’t pay attention. When Greccion wanted to stay behind on Amber I was wondering but he told me that he will be setting up more contracts so that when I was back, we could go straight for the big money. He was supposed to take out a four million bond, which would have enabled us to carry the good loads.

“Well, when I arrived here, it turned out that the delivery was late and we were in breach of contract. That was 40k right there. Then I tried to contact him without getting an answer. After some investigation it turned out that he had dissolved the company, liquidated all the assets minus the tug and taken off with about 12 million ICU. When I found out, I was so enraged that I jumped into my tug trying to get to Amber and pick up his trail to confront him. Hm…, “ he shrugged his shoulders. “To be honest, at the time probably to kill him too.

“But since the tug was held as collateral, I was committing a crime when I tried taking it out. I just couldn’t think straight. I was so angry at his betrayal. When system security tried to stop me I bumped one of their corvettes out of the way and damaged it just intend to get to the gate. Well, they got me and on top of the 40k for the contract, they added another 10k for the damages to their ship and for my ‘crimes’, I got a bill of 25k that I have been trying to save up for ever since I got stranded here.”

Wow. That was a lot to take in. Betrayed by a business partner in that manner sucked. I could only imagine what I would feel if Ben took off with my money. What would I do?

We sat in silence after that reveal, both pondering Ralgau’s story. Or at least I was. He looked somewhat dejected. Then our food arrived. And it looked awesome. Triangular pieces of meat accompanied by vegetables that I could not place. The smell alone was heavenly. Normally I don’t really try to cheer people up. Just because often enough it is a losing proposition. If someone is stuck in sad or angry thoughts or feels victimized, they just repeat the same thought pattern until they are ready to let it go. But this was a special situation. There were amazing smelling steaks and the enjoyment of said steaks on the line.

“Listen, if everything goes right and you help me figure out a way with my problem, I have a proposition for you. Not sure you would want to take it after hearing your story but my gut tells me that the whole thing that this might actually work out perfectly. Now let’s enjoy this delicious smelling food.”

I don’t know what my words had done but there was a sparkle back in his eyes and he suddenly looked just this little bigger and back to his former self. He gave me a grin and then we dug in. And, oh gods, was this an amazing meal. Take one of the best steaks you have ever had and then multiply it by two. And you have an idea how awesome this was. When I put the first bit into my mouth, I had no control over my body. It just closed its eyes and groaned. I mean, I would never do that!