Chapter 66: God's Oasis

"Thank you Tessa." Lorelie replied with a kind smile before taking a deep breath and opening the file Spector had just sent her.

The first few files contained a number of communications between the two discussing the job and settling on a price before a digital copy of a credit transfer was displayed along with a flight plan and ship specifications.

"It seems that pirate Bonnie likes to keep copies of all her dealings just in case she needs blackmail material at a guess." Becky said as Lorelie went through the files one by one.

The final document was a communication between Drotas and Bonnie from a few hours ago.

[[Message received from Drotas: You failed Bonnie, even after I paid you upfront to capture and kill Lorelie you failed]]

[[Message sent: Excuse me?]]

[[Message received from Drotas: Have you not been watching the latest news feeds? They are reporting that pirates attacked Lorelie's ship and attempted to capture her before she was rescued. You really are useless, even after I set everything up for you.]]

[[Message sent: What the fuck happened.]]

[[Message received from Drotas: How the fuck should I know, you fucked up the job and I want my money back.]]

[[Message sent: Sorry but we have a no refund policy.]]

[[Message received from Drotas: You don't want to make an enemy of me pirate.]]

[[Message sent: Oh please, you're several galaxies away from here and I control all criminal activity around Palaxia, there's nothing you can do.]]

[[Message received from Drotas: Who said anything about using a criminal, for a pirate like you all I need to do is log a job at the Mercenary Hall.]] 

[[Message sent: Like I care, they have no idea where I am and neither do you, now fuck off, I have more urgent matters to attend to.]]

As they finished reading the message conversation the three women sat in silence for a while before Lorelie sighed and said.

"Even up until a moment ago I hoped it was all a mistake since I have been with them for so long, but after seeing this there is no mistake, she actually tried to have me killed."

"I guess you don't get what you pay for these days." Becky said with a cheeky grin.

"Becky." Tessa admonished.

Becky stuck her tongue out before saying, "Well on the plus side all this evidence the streamer sent you should be more than enough for our plan to work."

Lorelie closed her eyes for a few moments and took some deep calming breaths as Tessa and Becky watched her.

Soon she opened her eyes with resolve and purpose showing in them that made Tessa and Becky smile before Lorelie nodded and said, "Yeah."

💫💫💫

Adam had no problem leaving the station as he simply followed the same route out as he did to get in. 

Once he left the airlock his anti-gravity armour grew its glowing wings before he sped off in the direction of where Spector was waiting for him.

As soon as he was aboard Spector started heading back towards Palaxia while Adam made his way to the cockpit and took his seat.

[[Ending Stream]]

Adam landed back on Palaxia and headed back to the Mercenary Hall, as soon as he entered he received the usual boisterous welcome from the mercs who always seemed to be there.

"Welcome back." Lizzie said as Adam approached her.

"Thanks," Adam replied before indicating the boisterous mercs and asked, "Don't they ever do any work?"

"Only when they're low on beer money or a special job that pays more than normal goes up." Lizzie replied before motioning for Adam to follow her as she continued, "Though with the info you just sent back a special job should be going up soon."

"So you can report the pirate base to the defence fleet now you have a list of names who are involved?" Adam asked as they entered Andrews office.

"That's right." Andrew replied before looking up and saying, "Thankfully the head of the defence force, Admiral Dexter is not involved so we can take it directly to him, I have already arranged a meeting and I'm about to head out."

"What should I do?" Adam asked curiously.

"Nothing, your part is done until a strike plan is created which will take several hours at least. While you can take more work if you want I would advise you hang around the merc hall until a special job to join the pirate elimination strike team is posted. Also as promised I will make sure you're in the middle of the action so just relax for a few hours." After Andrew finished speaking he left his office.

"Let's go, I will make sure Greg gives you your first drink on the house for the work you just pulled off." Lizzie said.

"At least I'm getting some sort of reward for my hard work." Adam said with a smirk causing Lizzie to chuckle as she led him back out into the main area and over towards the bar.

"Greg give him a round of the good stuff, on the house." Lizzie said.

Greg raised an eyebrow in surprise before he started to pour Adam a drink.

"Hey Lizzie, why are you giving the rookie some of the good stuff for free? What about the rest of us?" Frank complained while his friends nodded in agreement.

"Because Adam just did something for the guild that's going to make you all a lot of credits, so shut up and wait." Lizzie said before heading back to work.

"Oh shit you know what that means right?" Frank asked in excitement.

"Hell yeah, it means a special job will be showing up in a few hours and we can rake in the creds." 

"What do you think the job is about?" 

"Probably pirate extermination, you know they have been getting way to active recently yet the defence force refused to do anything about it, I'm guessing Diva Lorelie's attempted capture forced their hand."

"Would make sense."

"Instead of guessing why not ask the rookie, Lizzie just said that the special job is because of whatever he just did."

"Good idea." Frank said before heading over to Adam who was not sitting at the bar and enjoying his drink.

Lizzie was right, this really was good stuff, better than anything he had back on Earth.

"Hey rookie, what's the special job about?" Frank asked as he leaned on the counter beside Adam.

"Sorry, can't talk about it." Adam replied simply.

While none of the mercs were on the list that Spector had hacked from the pirate base, it did say that there was other evidence of some of them being involved with pirates so for now Adam decided to stay quiet.

"Come on rookie, what's the harm in telling us a few hours early." Frank asked as he continued to try and get Adam to talk.

"My position on the special job, no offence but you aren't worth risking that over." Adam replied, seeing no harm in confirming that it was at least a special job.

"Tch fine keep ya secrets." Frank complained before he returned to his friends where they all started to speculate about the upcoming special job.

"What's this drink called?" Adam asked Greg.

It was blue like the ocean and had a refreshing taste that seemed to help revitalise you after every sip.

"Like it do ya?" Greg replied with a smirk before continuing, "I figured you would, we only offer it as a reward for mercs who have helped the hall. It's called God's Oasis and it's incredibly expensive and limited in supply so savour it as you may never get to try it again."

"God's Oasis?" Adam asked

"Yeah, what you're drinking there rookie is pure sea water from Oceana Seven in the Oasis Galaxy." 

"What!" Adam replied in surprise, "I thought seawater was supposed to be salty."

"HAHAHA." Greg laughed before explaining, "Yeah everyone thinks that as that's how seawater is on almost every planet in the universe, however seawater from Oceana Seven is different, it can support marine life while not being salty in the slightest, apparently there is something else in the water that supports the life while giving you that refreshing flavour that helps revitalise you."

"Then why is it so expensive and limited?" Adam asked curiously.

"Because the Merinmians who sell the drink limit the amount that is allowed of Oceana Seven each year, by limiting supply they keep cost and demand high while it also encourages those who want more to visit Oceana Seven which in turn boosts the money it makes from tourism."

"Clever idea." Adam nodded before realizing something and asking, "Wait, Diva Lorelie is a Merinmians from Ocean Seven right?"

"Yup, which is one of the reasons why everyone here is already so friendly towards you." Greg explained. "Sure saving Diva Lorelie helped protect our already damaged reputation within the universe, but how do you think the Merinmians would have responded if she died in our space?"