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AND AS ALWAYS HAVE A NICE DAY.

Book 2 – Chapter 6

Deadman’s Port

Murphy (No Last Name) was a broker, anything you needed he would do his best to get. Within reason of course and money was a lot of reason. He’d spent the last several years establishing himself on Deadman’s Port and it was going good. Murphy was a short stocky guy with a full on red beard and short hair. His most distinguishing feature was his little phoenix medallion around his neck.

Deadman’s port was a place where credits and favors paid the way, but with power you could have almost anything. As Murphy sat in his office in the little bar he owned on his little slice of paradise he received a notification on his terminal. To his surprise someone was contacting him directly with a heavily encoded message with a tag that said ‘Bucky’s Buccaneers’.

‘That’s interesting, I didn’t imagine the little flea brain would be able to pull something so high tech.’ He thought as he put in his encryption key. What he got was something he couldn’t believe.

To Murphy,

We are the Grey Imperium, we seek your services and wish to come to an agreement with you. If you accept open up the second attachment. Be warned. Betrayal begets blood.

‘Intetresting. Well I do have some free time and this seems interesting.’ He thought as he found the second attachment and opened it.

I’m glad you wish to work with us. We have three things we need, first is we need to sell minerals about 300 tons worth, second we need you to spread a message for the good people of the Koprulu sector, and the last one we will discuss once we’re there. See you soon, we will arrive there in three hours. This will be our hailing frequency.

’300 TONS? Shit do I even know anyone who would move that much at once? Do I have to call Takiel? Shit. Then again, if they have 300 tons of minerals then they’re definitely someone I want in my corner.’ Murphy thought.

For the next two hours Murphy contacted almost everyone he knew but in the end couldn’t get anyone who could afford a few tons, let alone three hundred. Finally giving up in sigh he had no choice but to leave a message for Takiel and hope she’d hear him out. Finally two hours later she called him back.

“Murphy… how nice of you to call… you still a month before you pay up. Unless you already have the credits, then in that case I am impressed.” The woman responded. On the screen was a woman of Asian descent with electric blue hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in a nice black dress and fresh make up.

Six months ago, Murphy took out a loan on a business deal. Unfortunately the deal went south and he lost it, all of it.

“Uhh not quite, but I got something thing that might interest you Takiel. I was recently contacted by some people who want several things, most of which I can handle but there’s one thing I can’t do.” He explained.

“Oh and whats that?” She asked bemused.

“Sellin 300 tons of minerals….. by the end of the day…” he said.

Silence was in the air as she looked at him in disbelief. 30 tones was more than what Deadman’s Port moved in a week, to do it in a day would be impossible.

“Don’t play with me Murphy. Who would move that much at one time?” She questioned.

“Someone new obviously. I spent the whole day trying to learn more about them but I got nothing.” He told her.

“So what do you want from me?” she asked.

“I was wondering if you knew someone.” He asked.

“Maybe, but how do I know you’re not yanking my chain? If I tell them I’ve got 300 tons of minerals ready for them to bulk purchase and I don't deliver, I’m dead. So let me ask you again, how to I know?” She said.

This was the type of place Deadman’s port was. No one was going to stick their neck out if they didn’t have to. Murphy was in a tough situation because he knew they were real, just like his motto, ‘Anything is possible’.

“Then how about an introduction? If they flake out on me then im a dead man and you get to laugh at my corpse as it’s flushed out an airlock and if it is legit then you get a commission on my debt. Sounds fair enough to you?” Murphy offered.

“Sounds good to me. Too good. You either really believe that there’s 300 tons to be sold or you know it. Fine I’ll do an introduction if this all works out we’ll talk business later. Now call me back when you get word on the minerals, now shoo. I’ve work to do.” She said as she cut the connection.

“Dear god help me.” he prayed.

6 Hours Later

Prometheus

“So the guy comes up to my face and hits me straight in the face as im drinking.”

“Then Ira, who was right next to me, goes wham. The guy is out cold two seconds later.”

On the bridge the three men were sharing old bar stories and fights they’d been in. for the last eight hours they’d been at warp speed towards Deadman’s port. As they neared they finally got in range for communication and were about to call their new friend Murphy. Nathaniel had been having a good time with his new comrades but he was now all business.

“Hail, Murphy and see if he’s got some good news for us.” He ordered.

“Comms channel open sir.”

On the screen appeared a short red bearded man. Murphy had been awaiting this call all day.

“Hi there, I take it you are the Leader of the Grey Imperium?” Murphy asked.

“No, I am Commander Nathaniel of the Prometheus, we are here to do business. You must be Murphy.”

“That I am, want to skip the chit-chat and get down to it?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“Good, I don’t like wasting time. I have most of what you asked.” He started but before he could continue.

“Most?” Nathaniel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah. Most. I don’t know where you came from or what you intend to do what I do know is that you said you have 300 tons of minerals for me to find a buyer for. That I couldn’t do so I had to get outside help. Will that be a problem?” He asked.

After some consideration, “No. That will be acceptable so long as the circle of contact is small.”

With a look of relief Murphy smiled, “Glad to know you’re a little flexible. Now as for that message I have a group on stand-by ready to transmit as soon as I receive my payment. As for the mineral buyer, I’ll let my friend inform you.”

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Well I can try and patch her through if you’d like.” He offered.

“Please do.”

After several seconds, a head of bright blue appeared on the screen wearing a black dress.

“Why hello there handsome, I’m Takiel.” The woman said as she feasted her eyes on Nathaniel.

‘Ohhhhh he’s a cuttie.’

“Hello Ma’am.” Nathaniel said while keeping up his poker face.

‘Whoa nice rack’, Nathaniel thought as he watched her.

“Oh a gentleman as well. Be careful, I might fall in love.” She flirted.

“Now that the greeting are out of the way we can talk business. Takiel, what are their options.” He asked.

“Oh you’re ruining my fun Murphy. Fine, I could only find two possible buyers on such short notice. One buyer wants only 200 tons while the other wants 800. They’re both good on as far as the credits are going so you just have to take a pick.” She said.

“Who are they?” Nathaniel asked.

“Pardon?” She asked confused.

“Allow me to rephrase that. The Grey Imperium does want to sell minerals, yes. However the Imperium would prefer to sell them to like-minded people who share some of our values. So who are they?”

Shifting uncomfortably, “Well the first one is a weapons manufacturer while the second one is a rebel group.”

“Ma’am can you send over all the info you have on them? We wish to review it.” Nathaniel said.

“Of course.” She said, returning to her business smile.

As the data was sent over and Nathianiel reviewed it, he frowned severely at the people he would possibly be selling to.

“Miss Takiel, this isn’t going to work. These two potentials are unacceptable. The arms manufacturers you say here are selling to pirates, mercs, rebels and even the Dominion. While the rebel group is linked to attacking over twenty colonies and killing several thousand people. Surely you have someone else we can do business with.” Nathaniel told them.

“I’m sorry to hear that but unless you have 3000 tons or are willing to sell at a lower price then theres not much we can do.” She exasperated.

“We have 5000 tons.” Nathaniel said.

With a stunned look, Murphy and Takiel left their mouths open.

“We have 5000 tons of minerals, 1000 tons of gold, 2000 silver, 1000 tons of platinum and a 1000 barrels of unrefined vespene.” Nathaniel told them.

Now their faces went from stunned to shock. The two of them had never worked with that much before. Recovering from her shock first, Takiel laughed and said, “Why this is certainly a surprise, then in that case look this over.”

Through their connection they received another data transfer. It was an enormous file that detailed a group of Mercenaries, on paper they were known for defending refugees and independent colonies, but their real purpose was to fight The Dominion and save innocent lives. They were called ‘The Lions’ and an open contract to buy a steady flow of minerals, vespene, and weapons. On top it looked like they were barely scraping by but underneath it looked like they were a group being supported by the Umojian Protectorate.

“Sounds good, when can we do the deal and now how much can we expect?” Nathaniel asked.

“About 3 million in credits and at the end of the week.” She said.

“And how much is your fee?” Nathaniel asked.

“Three hundred thousand for each of us.” She said.

“20%? That’s a bit steep.”

“That’s what our services cost deary.” She smiled.

‘What the fuck? I was only going to charge them 5 percent. With 10 I can pay off my debt and expand again.’ Murphy thought to himself.

“Fine, but then I’m expecting you to work with us from now on as well.” Nathaniel said.

“Deal.” She smiled.

“Were transmitting the details of the first message now. We want that message all over the Koprulu Sector as fast as you can. As for the last thing we need, I’ll talk about it with you once I arrive.” He said.

“Sounds good, when will you be here?” Murphy asked.

“Two hours. We’ll contact you when we arrive.” He said.

They confirmed and signed off.

As Nathaniel let out a breath of relief he looked over to see Ira and Paul sweating.

“What up you two?”

“Why’d you tell them about our entire cargo? They could leak its contents and then we’d be targeted by a few hundred pirated before you know it!” Ira exclaimed.

“Oh don’t worry. They have problems of their own. During that transmission of ours we hacked their terminals, if they alert anyone we’ll know.” Nathaniel told them.

“Really!? How’d you do that?” Paul asked.

“Hmm? Its standard procedure to poke at firewalls. Not our fault that they’re under protected.” Nathaniel said.