6 Hours Earlier.
Strife and I sat on our chairs. Strife started the ship. We radio out the clearance codes. As we received the clearance to leave the planet we immediately did so.
Strife fiddled with his controls. "Searching for optimal route to Sima Giaia."
"I found one. We have to jump through three warp points though." I said.
"You know I don't like to travel with a lot of warp points" Strife rejected my idea. "Here. Total of four hours travel time. And only one warp point"
"Alright. Punch the coordinates and put her in auto." I said as I left my chair and went to the cabin.
Julia looked at me. She pulled out a fold-out tablet. "I almost forgot. You and Strife need to sign this." She said.
"What's this?" I asked.
"This is the contract. Stipulating everything we need to do on this documentary."
"Yes. In case you want to threaten us with legal actions" She prepared the tab to show the contract. "Strife it's better if you could come here too"
Strife finalized the autopilot and joined in with us. "Alright lay the legalities Julia" he said.
"Here is basically a non-disclosure agreement. Basically can't talk about how you were selected, how much you're getting paid, and any other thing before this project gets released"
"Straightforward. Okay" I said.
"And also you have to wear body cams in you and will be accompanied camera drones."
"Where's my privacy?" I complained.
"Will only be worn if you're on the field" She immediately replied. "Also we'll be installing cameras on the ship. Which also a part of the contract."
"Strife can help you with that" I pointed at Strife, he nodded.
"And lastly. The pay as stated, fifty thousand credits."
"And I get to keep the item"
"Yes." She nodded. She hands me the tablet. "Please sign over here."
I did what she asked. I signed and gave it to Strife so he can sign as well. Julia took out two body cams and drones.
"Here are your body cams and drones. Remember only on the field a.k.a outside"
"Understood. Strife help her set-up the cameras. I'll just lay down a bit." I went to my bunk and settled in for a while. I tried to catch a few sleeps. While I was out sleeping. Julia and Strife installed the cameras on the ship. Every place where we could be, a camera is placed.
"Hey, is it okay if I asked you a question?" Julia asked Strife.
"Yeah" He replied.
"How long did you know Rover?"
"As long as I could remember. He, well… Can we keep this off record?" Strife said in an intimate voice. Julia nodded. "I owe him my life."
"Wow"
"Yup anyways. We still have two hours left. Why don't you sleep for a while or whatever." Strife walked to the cockpit. "I'll make sure we don't go off course."
We waited for a few hours and the ship made itself to the system close to our target planet. Strife maneuvered the Carpenters to enter the upper atmosphere. It notified us that is was already entering Sima Gaia. Strife operated and asked for landing clearance which they gave us.
"So where should we go now?" Strife asked Julia.
"We'll be on our way to the galactic embassy. Hand out the permits and forms they handed out and we should get an access card."
"Okay. Guess we'll be going out now" I said
"Where do you think you're going?" Julia stopped me. "You're contractually obliged to wear your bodycam."
I sighed. But I caved in anyways. I put on my body cam and we went out to go to the embassy. It was a few minutes ride, so we rented a car. Honestly this is why I don't do 'legal' expeditions.
As we got out of the car, I was impressed by the size and look of the embassy. It looked modern, and at the same time acknowledging aspects of its history. We walked in and asked the guard where we could submit it. He gave us clear instructions.
After walking a few steps. We are on the office the guard told us. A native of this planet was on the counter booth. She was wearing the office uniform and glasses. I felt a little sassy-office worker vibe here.
"Good afternoon. I'm the journalist representative, on the documentary." Julia said politely. "Here are the documents requested. Everything's filled out and approved." Again she said in a very polite manner.
"Please leave your number so we can contact you." The lady replied dry.
"I'm sorry. They told me that we can submit this and we can do it on the same day."
"Was I the one who talked to you?"
"No..." Julia felt down.
I moved Julia aside, pulled out a crew credits out of my pocket. I secured it on my fist and put my hands on the counter. "Well you know… if you could probably do something for us… it'll be great" I said in a segmented fashion to persuade her.
"Are you threatening to bribe me sir?" She said raising her eyebrows.
"No..."
"Please put your money back sir."
I gave an irritated smile. "Alright listen-" Strife shoved me aside.
"I'm sorry ma'am, for my colleague here. But you have to understand our situation." Strife said in what I can only say is calmly intimidating. "We are trying to make a documentary about space scavenging. Which I believe will boost your tourism, by promoting historical tours and adrenaline rushing destinations." We both smiled. Strife continued. "Now, this lovely lady here and her network have secured all the necessary permits and documents for this expedition." He said pointing at Julia. "They paid lofty amounts to make sure they can do it on this planet. Which for starters is a very hard process to begin with. Most of the scavenging community would not even dare to pass your system. But not us, because we believe we can help this planet. Now I know that you're just doing your job, but we have passed all requirements given to us. And so, you can either give us the necessary access we need. Or you can keep wasting our time" Strife's intensity built up yet it wasn't on a rage level. He still kept his composure. "But do note, if you keep wasting our time. We'll be forced to waste your time by pursuing legal actions. And I'll admit we do have the time and money to do so" Strife ended with a smile.
Julia was amazed but kept her poker face. I sniggered. The lady took a minute to internalize. She stamped all our forms and permits. And took something out of here drawer.
"Here's your access card and your planet map, it's marked on the boundaries of your expedition… both of these are needed to be put on your ship's computer to register to our database and tag you legal" She handed us a keycard that looks like an ATM card. "Thank you sir."
"Pleasure doing business with you" Strife took the card and smiled.
We exited the city hall. Strife was laughing his ass off for giving that speech.
"Legal actions really?" I laughed.
"Well it worked." Strife replied. He hailed a cab to take us back to the port.
The moment we got on the port we wasted no time to board the Carpenters. Strife installed the access card. We asked for clearance and headed to our expedition site.
We travelled for about thirty minutes until we landed on the middle of the forest. Strife turned the ship on park and I got to the back.
"Since we have drones that follows up around. I want you to stay here with Strife." I told Julia. "And Strife, you know the drill." I told Strife.
"Yup. Keep the engine and coms running. If you sound like a little girl, pick you up." He sniggered.
"Whatever" I sighed. I activated my drone. It immediately hovered around me with considerable distance. I opened the door. "Oh. there's cameras all over so don't misbehave" I laughed while I walked off into the middle of the forest.
And a few minutes of exploration and scuffle with another aliens. I am now on top of my ship and screaming. So I think we're all up to speed.