A Smuggling Transport Ring

The place that we found ourselves in was not the type of place that I had expected.

Nor did Ura expect it.

It was a massive warehouse-looking place with a bullseye on the front. When we entered, we found ourselves in a unique large firing range in which a small group of people were firing guns. At the front, there was a sign saying that all surveillance in this building was strictly forbidden; those caught would be shot and killed. 

Interesting. 

Then, there was a second sign saying that each lane was sound-shielded from all the others, and I just shook my head. This place was serious about anti-surveillance as a man walked up to us. He was a human man, and he grinned, "Hello, ladies, I see you are armed, good! Good! This galaxy is not one for the faint of heart, and the guns on our backs are all that keep us alive. The Federation is always seeking to deny us our rights and freedoms, and this place is a refuge. If you wish to enter, you must go through a surveillance search. All listening devices, recording devices, or anything that will allow you to collect information and store it is EXPRESSLY not allowed; I will shoot you if you try to bring it into my store, and as per the Planets laws, if I notify you beforehand and you attempt to do so anyway. I am allowed to defend my company's policies from your intrusion."

"The only thing that this armor does is a form of camouflage that records the surroundings but does not store them."

"Perfect," The man said, "I like you, Armored lady. You are perfectly allowed to do so as long as I find no way for that temporary storage to transmit any form of information out of here. Do either of you have anything else you wish to question me about?" The man asked, "Oh, and my tech comes from the Core worlds as I used to be a core worlder. I have the best tech available in the federation to detect surveillance. Trust me, I will find your devices."

Ura looked down at her, and she pulled out a tablet and handed it to the man. "Can I ask you to hold onto my tablet for short-term safekeeping while I enjoy your services here?" Ura asked, and I hit my head lightly, pulling out one of my own.

"Mine too?" I requested, and the man's smile brightened, and he nodded. 

"Of course, in fact, I provide special lockers for this." The man said, "But before we bring it forward, do you have anything else to declare before I scan you? Then we can put those government spies in their isolation cells."

I thought it over, "If there is," I said, "I do not know about it or think of it as a recording device. Or a spy put it on me without my knowledge."

That man somehow smiled even brighter and then looked at Ura, "Well?" He asked.

"I am much the same as my armored companion," Ura replied.

"Perfect, I will admit. I have found people who have been being spied upon who did not know so. So!" The man grinned, motioning us over to a desk and pointed at the floor. "Stand where it tells you, " the man said. I looked down at the circle, nodded, and stood in it.

A moment later, I saw a blue translucent light come from the desk. The man walked over to his computer and looked at it in thought. "Hmm, I see those cameras you were talking about. No storage devices; I see charging ports. Looks like you're clean," the man said, and he grinned. I like you, Rish. You are appropriately armed and would never let the Federation disarm you. Please, your companion next."

Ura did the same, and the man frowned, looking at the computer,r and looked at Ura. "Those are some interesting clothes you are wearing. Is it for you, Rish Companion?" The man asked with a massive smile, "Not my business anyway," The Human man said and came to pick up the tablets, and the wall opened. "These are special isolated storage devices. Nothing will be able to see out of them. Your tablets will be off the grid and unable to connect. Is there any reason you cannot have that happen?" The man asked.

I shook my head, and Ura shrugged. "I have nothing of real personal use on that tablet," she said. I have another tablet for things like that. That one doesn't leave the ship," Ura said.

The man's smile grew brighter. "Would you marry a man like me? A woman as paranoid as me is close to my heart," the man joked.

"I use mine for bounty hunting," I replied with a shrug, "That is it. Maybe sometimes to buy some parts. Other than that, I make everything myself."

"I love you, ladies, in fact, TEN PERCENT OFF!" the man announced, pressing into his keyboard. All my facilities will be slightly discounted. Bless your paranoid hearts," the man said. "Please," the man said, handing up something. This is a device that allows you to see your devices." He said and walked away, "Enjoy my Facilities."

With that, he departed, and I shrugged, and Ura did the same. We walked deeper into the place, and I found a cafeteria, which we went to. We grabbed some food from the front since we had not eaten, and I pulled off my helmet as we sat down. 

"I thought you were covering your identity," Ura said.

"No, I wasn't; it was for protection," I replied honestly. "We have been ambushed a lot recently. Or I should say, you have been ambushed a lot lately."

Ura pouted, and I noticed a gold woman coming toward us with four large hard containers in her hands—one for each. She walked up and sat down beside us. 

"Well," the Asura woman said, "I did not expect to hear from you so soon. What did you wish to discuss."

"I have a contact," I said, cutting in before Ura could. "Or I should say we," I 'corrected.' "But we have an issue with them," I began.

"What is it?" the asura woman asked.

"We can get as many ships as we can get our hands on at this time from him." I told her, making her frown in confusion. "Legit ships, and we can get probably ten ships modified with top-of-the-line military-grade technology that no tier-one world will be able to detect," I told her, and she nodded happily.y

"That is great news," She said with a grin.

"But that is also the problem," I told her, and she frowned. 

"What happens when a Military has too much graft?" Ura cut in, asking, and the woman looked at her.

"At first, we all have a heyday—" the woman cut herself off, frowning deeply. "I see what you mean now."

"Too much graft brings the attention of the authorities. The increasing civil disturbance in this area will bring more attention to the area."

"Which means less time to get your modifications done."

'Which means too much risk for us," I said.

"You would not be here if you planned on rejecting me. What are your plans?" The woman asked.

"You want us to create an organization?" I asked, "Well, I have no problem doing that. It will take a year or two to get it fully functioning and more than one or maybe two ships. But," I shrugged, "The risk is too high. We need matching ships, we need to blend into the background of common ships, and we need top-of-the-line Military assets to get past all tier-one world security. Even core world security!" I announced, "But this is our only contact, and we need to make the order quick, and we may lose half of it, if not more." I said, "So we want terms that allow us not to take on so much risk."

"You seem unworried about the authorities," The woman said, and I smiled.

"We have a backup plan for the person who knows the most about our purchase," I said with a massive smile. The woman's eyes narrowed for a moment before they brightened, and she smiled.

"I think I like you ladies even more. What do you need?"

"I want two things." Holding up my armored fingers, I said, "More money than you wish. We will be greasing a lot of palms, meaning these ships will be expensive but worth every penny to have modified." I told her bluntly, "We also need to buy cover ships of the same to make that look the exact same to blend the smuggling ships into the background and make us look more legit. I want to put in an order for ten modified smuggling ships," I said, "And that means I need thirty ships to hide those smugglers."

The woman looked at me wide-eyed, and she instantly looked down. "That is a risk," she said.

"I am not done. We might be burned, remember," I said, and the woman grimaced. "So, I want to be forgiven for the debt in case the ships are not delivered."

"No, that is too much," the woman said, frowning. I can go low interest."

"Zero interest on the ships that we have to burn or no deal." I cut in.

"I can-"

"Please, I am not kidding here. I understand we are getting a lot out of this deal," I said bluntly, "My contact, I am ready to burn for this, is not someone low down in the organization. I have put work into setting up the backup plan and having Miltary top-of-the-line stealth technology in small, fast ships. That man will be dead before he can even speak where these ships are 'lost,'" I told her bluntly, "You will have natural insurance that we can dodge even battleships in case of war. We use slipstream drives, making us nigh uncatchable." I shrugged, "You will have guaranteed smugglers that can bring in all their cargo undetected." 

The woman was thoughtful, "But on our end, I am burning old contacts; I have to find thirty legit crews with bounty hunters to give us a cover. All of these have to be some form of Competence and trustworthiness. Then!" I took a breath, "I have to find people like myself who do not care what is in those containers to protect them and without a criminal record to go around shooting other criminals to keep up the cover." I leaned forward and looked into her eyes, "I need Credits to do that too. If I get burned, I will never be able to catch up if more than three get burned if you put interest in it. I would be fucked!" I shrugged. "Fine, No forgiving the loan, but on the credits that went toward the ships that got burned? I want zero percent interest, period. And no interest until we have the ships in hand."

I looked at her solidly, and I hoped the old times when I negotiated my contracts from Call of Duty were helping me. I had to play hardball with the few people willing to contract me. I wasn't the best-paid pro player at the time, but I was suitably compensated for the time that I was in the pro circuit.

The woman looked thoughtfully at us. "Military top-of-the-line hardware?" she asked.

"We will only use the best. If our contact tries to do less, I have no problem with paying him a personal visit. The Doctor on our ship is morally bankrupt." I informed her, "and she loves to experiment."

The woman looked at me with a massive smile. "I like you, Rish. I like you a lot. Honestly, Zero percent is a hard ask. But that is only in the case that you are burned and only for the ships that are burned. Okay." She said with a growing smile, "There is nothing that will enforce this but a handshake between the two of us. The authorities cannot hold over our heads things that we do not commit to writing. But we will both stand to profit immensely from each other, and we both know I have what it takes to put a bounty on you." The Asura woman threatened. "Fine, I will accept these conditions. The Interest will even be held back for as long as you do not have those ships in your possession. But once you do, and I will have a watcher." The woman warned, "You will have one month before the interest starts for that ship. Understood?"

"Understood," I replied, and Ura smiled at me.

"Perfect. We can wrap up the details before you leave the planet. In fact, I would rather you collect the credits on another planet. Give us a degree of removal." The asura woman said, looking at the food, "Do you want to check out the toys that I brought you?"

"Please, show me," I said with a bit of excitement, and the woman grinned massively.

"I have brought a couple of things that I don't think you will have. All Rish should have something heavy in ordnance. I saw you did not have one; it has to be ballistic, so I thought. Why not a launcher?" The woman grinned and opened a box, which was a meter long and rounded square. There was a large round box at the back, and the asura woman grinned. "This is a high-velocity grenade launcher that shoots up to thirty-five grenades in one clip!" The woman announced, easily pulled it up, and showed me the clip. It was a large box with a cut out to where it docked into the gun. "This shoots fifty-millimeter high velocity or parabola mode. So, a lower velocity. Both of which have a bounce mode which can be changed on the interface," the woman said. "This is not for inside ship combat, though, unless that is a military ship. This will blow a hole in Civilian grade armor."

"Noted," I said, picking up the clip and bringing it in front of me. "Is there an empty cartridge that I can use to make my own form of grenades? " I asked as I pulled out a grenade and looked it over.

"Absolutely," she grinned. Custom means that you will have to produce your own detonator, though, or purchase our shock detonator or percussion detonator." The woman replied.

"Hmmm," I hummed, and I loved it. This would be a great example to use in the future if I needed to make something like this. "Interesting, I would love to try it out," I said, and I looked at the launcher itself, which she handed to me. I liked the feel, stood, and realized that this was an underarm weapon.

"Is there a way to aim this better?" I asked.

"An interface program for armor and helmets," the woman said, pulling out a chip from the gun in front of me. It slides into the port of your armor or helmet, links to the interface, and projects the angles for you in the mode that you are in."

"Excellent, great for newbies," I replied, handing her the launcher again. "Show me what else you got."

"Absolutely," she said, pulling out a large gun with a large box in the middle and a backpack feeding into that box. "This is a Military grade Faccett gun," She said, "it is meant for ship boardings. These, though, are not good for armor; they are mostly anti-personnel. However, there is an Armor mode where it turns into a precision instrument that you would really rather not miss. What he is mainly used for is moving forward and shredding anything living in your path." She took a deep breath, picked it up, and put it on her back, "It shoots sharp circular disks that bounce on metal. This is why the anti-armor mode is more of a gimmick. But the space suits? This will rip through them. It will kill anything in a long hallway and shred organic to bits. I suggest caution with this." She said, and I nodded.

That thing was fucking scary, and Ura looked scared of it, and the Asura woman smiled, "I love hand-to-hand combat, but even in this day and age, I know," She said with a wry smile, "Armor is needed to fight properly."

"What else do you have?" I asked. She put the Faccett gun away and opened another box. She pulled out a large thing that she shoved her arm into and lifted up with another arm.

The thing had green glowy things and five large spikes out the top. "This is a Magic Fuel Cannon. This thing here has no customization," She remarked, "But it is for blasting things that are in your way. This has a tracking system built into the magical round, but it is not maneuverable compared to Military equivalents. This is for surface-to-air destruction. Have a shuttle about to come down on you ladies? This will blow it out of the sky as long as it hits." The Asura sighed, "Honestly, we are still working out the kinks on this one. You can take it with you in exchange for any data that you collect when you use it. Personal impressions work." She said, "It is a little heavy, though. More for defense than offense." 

I whistled and remembered an old game called Halo that many older VR players sometimes cried about. I played the game with the boys, and honestly, it was a shame such a game was just considered a classic. In many ways, it was much, much better as a shooter than Call of Duty. It made more sense that you could take a few shots, too.

Still, game companies messed up good IPs, which was what happened.

"That is interesting," I replied, "Probably won't need it, though.

"True, still, take it; you never know," the woman said, putting it back in the case. Then she moved on to the last one: "I thought I would show you something that you might want to buy for the last one. This one is good for bounty hunting," she said.

She pulled out the smallest gun yet. I frowned, which did not mean much against what she had been showing us. It was clearly an assault rifle. "This is a 5.62mm Assault rifle, but it has magic round enchanting," she said with a grin. The Chamber is enchanted and obscured through recent technological advancements. Each round is enhanced to do more damage. It is basic but is useful for new users. They don't need to be as accurate if they do almost twice as much damage."

"Interesting," I replied, but I did not really care. Sure, double damage sounded nice, but what did that mean in a realistic game? I would rather have an armor break added to my ammo or an electric enchantment. "So, that sounds moderately useful," I said with no enthusiasm.

The woman's smile was a bit strained for a moment, and then she grinned. "Why don't we use these facilities and try them out a bit before you go?" The Asura Gladine said, and I smiled.

"Why not?"

---------------------------

Hey Everyone,

Just as an announcement, I have come out with an AUDIOBOOK, not for this book yet unfortunately but for one of my short stories. It is Called A Damaged Innocent Futanari Book 1 

If you are looking to read into everything about it, I have a Patreon post where you can read more into it. Here.

Also I have a new Short Story that is out! It is Called Ascension of a Hot wife, Book 1: Discovery.

Sally is a Driven Married woman with an Ambition to reach the top of her field one day as an Engineer. She has just been promoted to run the Planning department of her company, and she is finally seeing the light after being in a male-dominated company. Her life is looking up until she comes home and learns a secret her husband has been keeping from her.

Will they be able to get over this hurdle in their relationship, and will the relationship ever be the same afterward, or will it be for the better? Read and enjoy this Kinky Story.

Link here if you want to check it out!