Moving away from the window, Gordon went to the terminal, inserted his card into it, and then saw a message on the screen.
[Gordon Stanfield. Welcome to the spaceport of the planet Krul 2.]
[Current rating - Zero]
[Market. Exchange. Orders ... ..]
After going through the long list, he finally got to the [Rules], and then plunged into a long reading.
After a while, after reading all the legal norms, he can sum up that the rules regarding mercenaries vary regarding the state in which he is located. But mainly these rules relate to tax laws, the circulation of prohibited goods, as well as weapons.
Therefore, we can say that the basic laws are: Do not kill, but if you kill, then cover your tracks. Don't steal, but if you steal, then cover your tracks. Don't harm your customers, it's not easy to clear your name and reputation. States are relatively neutral about mercenaries, but government officials have many ways to harm you.
Having finished with the study of prohibited things in the Republic, as well as the nearest states, he finally moved on to the most interesting - the list of tasks.
Immediately on the screen popped up a lot of different proposals that instantly appeared and also instantly disappeared. Everything was here: Escort, cargo delivery, material extraction, target destruction, combat support, etc.
Sighing heavily, Gordon sorted out the shipping requests, set a price range, and began sorting out the mess.
After half an hour, Gordon finally chose the task that suits him.
[Job type - Cargo delivery]
[Payment 43,500 credits]
[The place of receipt of the goods - on the spot; Place of delivery - Tisi System. Mining orbital station.]
[Item Type - Mining Equipment]
Having dealt with all the routine and loaded the cargo onto the ship. Gordon stood in the cargo hold, analyzing the locked cargo boxes. While this was worth less scientific points than analyzing the open equipment, Gordon still couldn't print the box.
But he found another useful function of his system. He can understand the contents of the box without opening them, which means that if there is something forbidden there, he will immediately know about it.
[Physics 3 LVL 9312/10000 XP]
[Biology 2 LVL 5912/6000 XP]
[Engineering 4 LVL 12315/15000 XP]
[Information technology 3 LVL 9460/10000 XP]
[Science Points - 652]
During 2 months of his studies, Gordon devoted all his time to memorizing knowledge from these sections. In addition, he constantly analyzed everything that he saw in his field of vision and in 2 months he was able to level up and gain a lot of experience and points.
Today, for analyzing his ship, as well as everything he saw in the spaceport and at the Hyperion shipyard, he earned 652 scientific points. And now, once in the ship, he began to spend them.
[Physics 3 LVL 9312/10000 XP]
[Biology 3 LVL 6000/10000 XP] (+88)
[Engineering 4 LVL 12339/15000 XP] (+24)
[Information technology 4 LVL 10000/15000 XP] (+540)
[Science Points - 0]
Generation of random bonuses from the Biology section.
[Deep Analysis: Allows you to analyze the insides of living things]
[Biological Deconstruction: Allows you to disassemble dead creatures, the same bonuses as when deconstructing a non-biological object]
[Combat Reflexes: Improves host reflexes and dynamic vision]
Without hesitation, Gordon chose option 3. Yet it can come in handy both in space and on planets. After choosing 3 options, he felt a slight burning sensation in his eyes and all over his body. After suffering a few minutes, the burning sensation was replaced by warmth, which spread throughout the body and after a few more seconds he no longer felt anything.
Deciding to test his new ability, he took a small piece, the size of a coin, and tossed it into the air. By observing this thing, he was clearly able to see every detail of the object, which means that he really now has dynamic vision.
Putting the part in place, he sat down in the pilot's seat, started the engine, made a request to fly and took off from the planet. Once in space, he made several taps on one of the screens in order to build a route to the system he needed.
Each system is bounded by a cosmic barrier of various accumulations of plasma, gases and cosmic dust. But in these barriers there are small gaps, where there is no such concentration of all these substances. These gaps are called hypercorridors. It is through them that it is safest to travel.
Unfortunately, these corridors always lead to a certain system, you cannot get directly from system A to system C, for this you need to visit system B and only then get into system C.
Of course, adventurous researchers as well as scientists are constantly experimenting trying to create a hyperdrive that will allow you to bypass the hyper corridors. But in 90% of cases, such experiments end with the destruction of the ship and the entire crew.
The Tisi system is in 6 jumps, which is considered a fairly close distance and according to the navigator's calculations, Gordon will arrive at the right place in 8 days.
Following the navigator, Gordon approached the hypercorridor. Through his observation window, he saw many cargo and passenger ships, which were covered with bluish energy, after which these ships instantly disappeared from Gordon's vision, reaching superluminal speed and breaking through into hyper corridors.
Gordon also brought his ship closer to the hyper-corridor, pressed the hyperdrive charge button, and waited for the hyper-jump readiness bar to be ready. After a few minutes, the scale was completely filled and he pulled another lever, after which Gordon's ship rushed forward.
Dark outer space is being replaced by a long tunnel, as well as many bright stars, particles and plasma that flicker along the edges of the tunnel now and then.
After checking all the data and realizing that everything was in order with the flight, Gordon took a book about all scientific information from his bag and began to read.
After 8 days, Gordon finally made it to his destination. The first few days it was quite interesting to observe the beauty of hyper tunnels, but only then this review of the same type bored him, and only scientific books somehow helped him not to die of boredom.
Following the standard docking procedure, Gordon is dressed in dark pants, thick-soled leather boots, a white long-sleeved T-shirt, and a brown leather jacket. On his belt was also a leather holster with his favorite and only pistol.
After unloading all the cargo, Gordon, using the terminal, confirmed the completion of the task and was informed about the need to wait for 3 hours, since the cargo must be checked. It is considered late at night by earth standards at the moment, but at this mining station it is always day due to the many lamps.
Going into the common room, Gordon noticed that, unlike Krul 2, there are much fewer people here. Basically, these are only private mining and cargo ships that sell ore and buy materials from this station.
Feeling a little sleepy, and also realizing that he would have to wait for another 3 hours, he decided to rent himself a room and stay at the station until the next day.
And having spent 200 credits and a little time, he had already bathed and had eaten, lying in a soft bed in a small but quite comfortable room.
The next day, Gordon got up, went to the standard morning routine, and then went to the dining room, where he took some food and choosing a freer seat, sat on it and began to eat.
While Gordon was eating his breakfast, a fat man in miner's clothes, with a slightly dirty face and greasy hair, suddenly approached him.
The man sat down next to Gordon and said, "Hi boy. This is not your ship Banova L15, which docked with the station yesterday? "
Gordon nodded openly. The man smiled "It's good. Your ship is pretty nimble, huh? And theoretically, wouldn't you have a problem walking past the scanners? "
Gordon narrowed his eyes, he was not a fool and understood what this man was driving towards. "Theoretically, this is so, but without the proper motivation, I would hardly do this."
The man nodded "Let's say, for example, if in theory you were paid for a few adult toys, let's say 600,000 credits."
Gordon choked slightly on his food, cleared his throat a little, he asked, "Hmmm .. What kind of adult toys are they so expensive to deliver?"
The man thought for a few seconds, "You know, in the dark sectors, some adults are like children. They constantly need to entertain themselves with something "
Gordon already realized that he was offered to take contraband on his ship and bypassing the scanners of the republic, he must deliver the cargo to one of the dark sectors.
The dark sectors are places where the security level is almost zero. These are either promising colonies that, due to inept management, have turned into a breeding ground for illegal activities, or simply poorly explored places, without the protection of the fleet.
Gordon said, "What if these grown kids want to use me as their entertainment?"
The man immediately shook his head "By no means, although these people are really not the most pleasant character, their leader takes all deals very seriously." After a little silence, he added, "I recently read the news, it said that the bounty for Thane Castiglion's head had been raised to 52 million credits. Imagine how happy that lucky guy will be to receive such an award "
Gordon nodded, remembering the man's name in his head. Thane Castillon is the leader of a large pirate syndicate, whose members constantly raid many trade shuttles in the dark sectors, and also have covert control over several colonies.
A month ago, Thane's syndicate carried out a daring raid on a military base, killing dozens of soldiers as well as capturing at least 500 people. In addition, a lot of weapons, ships and various modules were stolen from this military base.
It was after this daring raid that the Republic raised the price of his head to 52 million. And no matter how serious Thain takes the deals, Gordon is 100 percent sure that it will be very easy for him to find out all of his past. And when it is revealed that he is a former graduate of the military academy with honors, who unexpectedly decided to become a mercenary and after a month he already interacts with Thane, this can cause many problems for Gordon.
So, regretting that he won't be able to get easy money, he shook his head "Unfortunately, all this requires an experienced pilot, but I don't have such skills, you should look for someone else."
The smile on the man's face disappeared immediately. Without stopping, he got up, "It's very stupid of you," after which he went home.
Gordon shrugged and continued his breakfast. After a while and having eaten his fill, he left the dining room and went to explore this mining station.
Although this station is mainly occupied with mining and smelting ore, there are also residential and commercial zones where you can spend a few credits and get what you need.
First of all, Gordon needs basic materials to bring his skills to life, and he also hopes to find something technologically advanced to earn some scientific points.
While exploring many shops looking for something interesting, he suddenly noticed 2 people chasing him. Either that fat man didn't like Gordon's rejection, or it's just 2 small fish that are aiming at Gordon's wallet.
Not wanting to be persecuted, he decided to deal with it. Traveling through the station, he found a quiet and peaceful place, having entered there, he began to wait for his guests.